NSR I

Last week, Jon Greer and David Smith traveled to Chula Vista, CA to race in the Men's Open 1x Selection Regatta for the first chance to represent the USA at the Olympics at that event. They finished 12th and 29th respectively. Upon the conclusion of the event, SRC ranks have further swelled with the appearance of James Dietz II, an experienced hand who has come to Seattle to prepare in the Men's Open 2x with Jon for the upcoming Olympic Trials Regatta. Dave and I are back to the double, hitting it hard. We continue to push our weights down and stay aggressive on all fronts. Two weeks to sunshine in Long Beach!

Elk Lake Summary

These regattas always pass by in such a blur, particularly when I am as race-focused as this one. The emotions and thoughts in the moments are hard to recover and often clouded by the reactions to race outcomes.

Dave and I had a fantastic time trials in our 2x. We finished 4th overall, just a few seconds behind the Canadian Light 2x. The wind was a light cross-head, and we race the piece at a 32 with moves at the beginning and end that saw us scratching a 34 and 35. We were very excited and full of bravado. We sealed the event with a 20 minutes cool down on the ergs and some rest time spent derigging and loading boats.

We then both ventured forth into our throw-together 4x race, which we won handily, but not handily enough. Chris and Aidan did an excellent job as the book ends for the boat. The strategy was haphazard, but the result within acceptable bounds.

Finally, Dave and I went back out for the final of the Open 2x, racing three Canadian National crews, a Canadian club crew, and the SRC heavyweight 2x. We were unable to repeat the morning's performance and finished in a distant 5th,, well off the winning pace. I attribute this fall in our performance to two causes: nerves brought on by high-level racing and insufficient fitness to race at max effort three times a day. The worsening water only added to the air of nervousness and flustered reactions as we were unable to respond to the speed from other crews. Back to the drawing board for a touch.

SRC as a whole did very well. The top three finishes in the Open Women's 4x were all SRC, and we had strong finishes in other open, lightweight, and junior events throughout the day.

Next on the calendar: Dave and Jon travel to Chula Vista to race in singles at NSR I. I will remain in Seattle and race at Green Lake in the 2x with Steve Souvall, a former teammate of mine from my Puget Sound days and current coworker at LUC. Then we have a brief period before we are off to Long Beach on March 31 for our final push to Trials. In the interim, I have a number of Holy Names regattas to which I need to attend as well: the HP Development Camp this weekend, Green Lake the next weekend, and Oakland for two regattas on the 24th and 25th.

Elk Lake 2012 Regatta Report: Day One

The wind started with a moderate cross-tail and built into white-caps over 20 mph by the late morning. Afternoon races were cancelled, including finals for all of the single scull events. But the heats went well. Lindsay was first in her heat, Helen and Michelle finished second and third in the other heat. Emily won here heat, and Liz finished third in hers for the light singles. Corrina and Sarah Wolf finished last in their heats. Aidan was second in the light single. Chris and Sam finished third and fourth respectively in one heat, Dave finished second in his heat, and Jon and I finished second and third respectively (posting the second and third fastest times of the day as well) in the open single. Alas, no races for us for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow we move into team boat racing. The Canadian National Team has packed the events - the A-finals for the men's singles would have been a blend of SRC and Canadian National Team boats. I look forward to bringing the heat tomorrow. The foul water give me a strong advantage over others. I am excited to give our lightweight double with David Smith its first go-around. It is sure to be a barn-burner.

Scrimmage

I got back to my regular training protocol this week. My orthopedist has informed me that the Baker's cyst in my right leg cannot be reasonably treated aside from the use of anti-inflammatories and ice. It is likely that my condition will be on-and-off through the season and I will just have to manage the pain. The underlying cause is arthritis in my right knee - aged well beyond my years. But I have managed to get the discomfort to a reasonable level and will be working hard through trials.

Today we scrimmage with Pocock and Steve Souvall from LUC. SRC brought its A-game for sure. I won both of my pieces with the light men in two sets of 2K with building rate caps. It was a fun tussle. I am looking forward to Elk Lake regatta - it will be a fun chance to show my best in the single.

I have had a few chances to row with Chris Wales, the 17 year old on the SRC Junior squad and younger brother of former teammate Michael Wales. Props to the little guy and the 140 lbs he can hurl down the course at startling speed.

Time for a restful weekend.

Ergomania

Yesterday was Northwest Ergomania, the regional satellite erg race for the CRASH-B indoor rowing championship. Seattle Rowing Center made a decent showing in many events. Lindsey Meyer, Helen Thompkins, Michelle Trannel, Liz Robinson, Aiden O'Sullivan, Sam McVeety, and David Smith all competed on behalf of the elite team, with Lindsey qualifying for the CRASH-B competition and winning her division. The Junior team also had a strong performance, with solid finishes in all categories. My Holy Names team set a number of personal bests. This bodes well for Spring as we start to move away from a more erg-intense schedule to more rowing.

For me, Ergomania has always been the demarcation between Winter and Spring training. I have competed in 6 of the last 8 Ergomanias, missing only 2009 win I lived in Oregon and this year, as I currently am experiencing a hamstring-oriented injury. So here we go, counting down the days to Olympic Trials.

Dave and I have secured a boat from the Long Beach Crew, a 2005 Fillipi in good shape. We will be heading down to Long beach about nine days prior to the start of the regatta to rig and train. We will stay with my mom while we are there, and then drive to Chula Vista when the course opens and stay in a hotel nearby through racing. This seems like a brilliantly easy way to have organized ourselves for racing and I am looking forward to some California racing.

In 3 weeks, we head up to Victoria for the Elk Lake Regatta, a fun event that generally showcases some solid competition. I should be back on a normal training schedule by then. Currently I am swimming and lifting to stay in shape. I get my MRI results tomorrow so that I can more specifically address the problem. I am confident.

Fall Wrap Up, Winter Update

It has been a long time since my last update - I have been busy working extra to get the bills paid from traveling so much last Summer. Now I can try to do a quick recap of how the last few months have been.

Head of the Charles was great - I finished 7th, stronger than last year and beating a few people who had beaten me in 2010. It was a strong race, but not quite where I wanted to be. John Winter rocked it out, kudos to him. The rest of SRC did well: Dave Smith finished 11th, Liz Robinson finished 5th, and Lindsey Meyer finished 3rd in their respective events.

I managed an 8 second PR on my 6K this Fall and have dropped half a split on my 60 minute test.

For Head of the Lake, Dave and I teamed up to win the Open 2x, my first HotL victory in the 7 years I have raced it. It felt damn good.

I have begun a regimen of Creatine, Glutamine, and Beta-Alanine supplementation to see if I can eek out performance benefits that I am not rocking through training.

Winter has been productive, with a pretty even split between rowing, erging, and cross training. Huge strength gains, getting my dead lift up to 300 lbs for two rep and holding 1000+ joules on average for 10 minutes on the RP.

Lots of fantastic new people around the boathouse for the holidays: college kids coming home, new juniors, and a few new faces with the development group.

This is also the first Winter during which I have taken a long break away from Seattle and the boathouse. I just spent a week in Long Beach, CA with family, doing some light rowing bust mostly getting my bronze on and catching up on sleep. I feel recharged, ready to hit the training hard again. My mindset for this Spring is as such: I will be the scourge of my competitors. I will continue to pour as much work and effort as needed for every bit of speed gain. No cost is too high.

Buy PowerBars. Or not.

New Season, New Fall

We have start Fall training at SRC and things are getting heavy fast. We are geared up for the Olympic year, with 18 workouts per week. Many of us are preparing for Head of the Charles - there will be five rowers representing SRC in Boston this year. Our training is focused on power per stroke and shaping our force curves at lower rates, with the occasional race-pace tempo work on the weekends.

I have largely set aside my car and have been biking everywhere. This is usually the time of the year that I feel like I am getting fat, but currently, with all the biking, I am struggling to hold onto my weight. It is awesome.

It has been great to be back in Seattle. The ranks of the elite and development team have swollen, with more coming in all the time. Seems like we're the cool new place to be on the West Coast.

The Holy Names athletes are underway with their season as well, having just completed their first ever sculling races at Row for the Cure. They have an entry at Head of the Charles in the 4+ and 8+, which is handy for me as it helps reduce my own travel costs for racing.

I am uber fired-up!