Ergomania

I won the lightweight division for the 2011 Northwest CRASH-B qualifier. I went 6:28.1, which is not a PR but is a season best. I think I was much better prepared for this test than others; I was more warmed up and had better nutrition and race planning/pacing. I busted out the best sprint I have ever had on a 2K. It was great.

SRC did well as a whole. We won the lightweight collegiate, openweight junior girl, and took second in the open men and open women events. My Holy Names girls made a strong showing and took 3rd in the lightweight junior girls event with a number of PRs in both the openweight and lightweight events.

We just bagged a bunch or Rowperfects for the boathouse and Carlos Dinares is moving in to provide coaching to masters in the Seattle Area. Folks around here should get excited as Carlos is a quality technical coach with access to tremendous resources. Seattle U has also moved into the boathouse. The club is doing an excellent job of diversifying its revenue sources without expanding costs.

I am getting pretty pumped for our opening Spring regatta in Victoria in a month as well as for more erg testing. The goal is 6:23 or fast this season.

ID Camp

Sam and I went to the Northwest Senior/U23 ID camp yesterday at the UW boathouse. USRowing sent out Sloan DuRoss to run the testing. We conducted a 30 second, 500 meter, and 30 minute test. I was under the bar for the shorter, sprint tests and brought the heat for the 30 minute test, as I would expect. I did not set a personal best for the 30 minute test, but I came very close and with the rate caps I was happy with my performance. We had to set our drag factor to 125, much heavier than Sam and I are used to (I am usually at 115). My 500 meter test was a personal best.

I had the good fortune to get boated in an 8+ after the erg testing. I had not rowed sweep in a serious boat since Spring of 2008. It was a little disappointing, to be honest. I was hoping that more of the top Huskies would be out for the camp. As it was, it was mostly younger athletes mixed from UW and OSU, including a couple of other small guys. I Have this assumption that a boat like an 8+ should just be set. There is no excuse for less than perfect rowing on such a stable platform. However, we were far from perfect and far from stable. Thank goodness I scull and don't have to deal with such hodge-podge lineups.

We have our next 2k test this Friday and after that I leave for a weekend in Long Beach to visit my family and girlfriend and to do some rowing under the sun.

Winter Training

We are deep in winter training for the 2010-2011 season and it is a slug fest. My teammate, David Smith, summarized it best: "some programs focus on high intensity, others on high volume. [Coach] Conal does both at the same time!" We are gobbling up 150K a week between the erg and water, plus mileage running, biking, and time getting huge in the weight room. Video review is becoming more regular, and the presence of visiting athletes during the holiday season increases the competitive intensity of the boathouse.

We recently completed a battery of erg tests - everything from 60 minutes to 10 strokes - in order to find athletes' weaknesses and strengths. I am looking forward to several weeks focused on maximal power.

Next on our race agenda is Ergomania to cap off the winter season. After that we will undergo a long stretch to prepare for the NSR regattas which begin in late April.

In the mean time, the focus is on developing fundamentals and avoiding injuries.

Head of the Lake: Intro to Winter

I had and excellent Head of the Lake in the 1x this year; I finished second, my best performance ever. I beat out Meenk and Austin, both of whom had beaten me last year. Meenk finished 5th at Charles too, which leads me to believe that my race performances was not as superb as it felt. I was happy to also finish ahead of Van Bolt, a smaller UW rower who seems to be training at Pocock. Warren North was the only one to finish ahead of me. He continues to lead me in our on-the water encounters, having also beaten me at NSR I and Head of the Lake last season. My internal sense of my own race performance suggests that I had a lot of room for improvement by simply calming down and turning my focus inward. I became frantic during the race and lost a lot of time as I turned my attention to my opponents' performances rather than my own. I must learn to focus better.

Lindsay Meyer finished 10th at the World Championship Regatta. We are all very proud of her and wish her a well-deserved rest as she gathers herself for a return to Stanford in the Spring.

Sam and I now go into winter training until the next NSR I in late April. One of my goals is to make it through all of my workouts this winter and avoid any injuries that may inhibit my training. Already I have some agitation in my shoulder reminiscent of an injury I suffered my third year of college. But I persist. The goal is sub-6:20 by Ergomania and sub-20:12 for my 6k test. I would like to finish somewhere in the B final or better at NSR this year, which to me means breaking 7:15 on the Seattle 2K course. I am very excited for this season.

HoCR Photos

HoCR and Worlds

Fantastic showing at Head of the Charles for the Seattle Rowing Center. I finished 10th in the lightweight 1x with a time of 18:41. This was well within the 5% margin needed to automatically qualify for the 2011 Charles Regatta. The race was good for me: aggressive and thoughtful. There were a few boats ahead of me that I would have liked to take down, but I will press on and try to make a comeback at Head of the Lake. Our junior women's 2x finished 10th as well with a time of 19:54, also qualifying automatically for a return trip in 2011. Our club single entry, Sam McVeety finished 37th and unfortunately did not qualify for next year.

Lindsay will begin racing at the World Championship Regatta in New Zealand on Sunday! Her training has gone particularly well in the lead up to the prestigious competition. She has been joined by Coach Conal Groom. Our thoughts and prayers are with her on this momentous journey as the USA's youngest female single sculler ever!

Next on my race agenda is Head of the Lake, after which we will go into winter training until the National Selection Regattas in the spring. With the recent PR on my 6K, I am pumped for what this season has in store.

Grinding into Fall, Trials, and Head of the Charles

After a discussion with Conal, I decided that the best course of action for myself is to abandon my attempt at the 2010 Senior Team Trials and begin preparing for the 2011 season. I have not demonstrated sufficient speed to make a legitimate attempt at the lightweight men's single.

Lindsay Meyer continues her preparation for the open women's single and we on the elite team are all rooting for her and helping her to push in her training. I am very excited to watch her hard work put to use at the Trials in about four weeks.

Sam and I have our sights set on Head of the Charles in late October. We are working hard to build up our power and base and hope to make a drop on the rest of the field - much of which is still preparing for sprint races as we begin our head race training. Lots of endurance weights and moderate distance, moderate intensity power work on the water.

My new boat will be here in about a week. A special thanks to Greg Moga Productions. Without their support, I would not have been able to afford the new shell and oars that I will be using to compete this year.

The Seattle Rowing Center is looking very sharp these days. Conal and Carol have a superb operation in the works and it is impressive how far they have come in so little time. I think we will see a larger than expected contingent of junior athletes joining us this Fall. We have some beautiful new boats already on the racks and more on the way.

I am also very jazzed about preparing the HNA women for their fall season. We on the coaching staff are seeing some very impressive work being put in for the Head of the Charles selection process and other athletes looking further ahead to other races.