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.

U23 and Seattle Rowing Center

First and foremost, a hardy congratulation to Lindsay Meyer. She recently finished 3rd at the Under-23 world championship regatta in Brest, Belarus. Once again, Lindsay is setting new first for the United States of America - she is the highest finishing US athlete in the women's open single EVER. This is already on top of her historic performances in the single as a junior, the women's U-23 quadrupole scull, and the Beijing quad. She is a continuing inspiration to her teammates and we all wish her the best as she continues to train for the 2010 US Senior Team Trials in September. She will be taking the fall off from school to make a bid for the open single and a trip to New Zealand for the World Championship Regatta.

I am also preparing for the 2010 US Team Trials in the lightweight men's single, and while I like to be optimistic, my goal is to simply beat some scullers who I lost to in the Spring. I have been doing very well during this last training cycle and have seen some big increases in my power and efficiency. I am using a heavier rig to emphasize the locked-on feeling all the way to the finish of my strokes.

I am also shopping for a new boat. I am trying to buy a brand new Fluidesign EL and sell my current Fluidesign Elite to help cover the costs. Very exciting for me. I have been using my new set of Dreher APEX sculls (to replace my 9 year old set) and have been very satisfied. I would be happy to accept Dreher and Fluid as sponsors ;)

Most importantly, I want to share Conal Groom's recent professional change. He has decided to leave Lake Union Crew and is starting a new rowing organization geared towards Junior, Development, Collegiate, and Elite athletes. The organization is called Seattle Rowing Center and at this point I believe has a lot of potential given the quality of its staff and wonderful location in the ship canal by Ballard Bridge. I encourage all eligible parties to check out this new organization - I, of course, will be going with Conal to continues my training.

Canada

Two weekends ago, I found myself in Victoria, BC for the BC championship regatta. This regatta is a race platform for Northwest elite and developing athletes. So I was happy to walk away with a 3rd place finish in the light 1x and 5th place finish in the open 2x. It was by far the most relaxed and logistically simple regatta for me as I stayed with the LUC coaching staff in a hotel. Our travel team included a number of Jr, collegiate, and master athletes as well, so it was not nearly as lonely as regattas earlier in the year.

My races in the 1x were my best yet. Fast pacing on the red-line the whole way down the course. In my final, we were mixed with some open weight entries and I just barely lost to my fat weight rival, Austin, who left us for Pocock's team. I guess if he's going to be 40 lbs heavier and 6 inches taller, he might as well be 3 seconds faster.

I will not be attending Canadian Henley as I missed the entry deadline. So my final sprint will be the US lightweight 1x trial in late September. Afterwards, I will be staying in Boston for a couple of weeks to compete in my first Head of the Charles if I do not win my trial.

This season has been transformative. After several injuries and new personal records, I have learned a lot about my body and limits. Most importantly, I know I have more to give. This morning, I was doing pieces against Wales and a bolt came off my rigger. Even with the loose equipment I still whooped him. I have picked up a lot of boat feel and power in my first 11 months as an Elite athlete.

ROOH,
Twist

Nationals Recap

While I did not come home with any national titles, my teammate Lindsey Meyer qualified for the U23 National Team in the 1x in a commanding fashion. LUC teammate Michael Wales also had a strong performance, though did not qualify for a post on the U23 team.

This regatta is being chalked up as another learning experience, though I wish I had learned to win. My performance was much stronger and more consistent than at NSR I, but I am still reaching for the grand final finish. I have also significantly exacerbated the tendinitis in my left arm and will begin a physical therapy process to address it.

The new strategy is to work me with more power-based training. We have increased the load on my boat in the hope of getting more run per stroke. While I have been told that I am rowing technically well at this point in the season, I just don't seem to be getting the same amount of run per stroke as my competitors. I wonder how much of this is a lack of horsepower. I am aware that I have lower erg scores than many others in my racing category, but I would not think the difference to be so large as to explain the deficit I had this last week.

Anyway, onward and upward. Next on my racing agenda is British Columbia Championships in a week and a half, then a month later out to St. Catharines, Ontario for Canadian Henley. Canadian Henley will be my next major regatta to check in on my training and how it affects my performance.

Pre-race

Nationals around the corner and new PRs

I have all of my logistics taken care of for the next trip out to Princeton - I will be flying out on the 22nd and returning on the 27th. I am staying with the Baran-Wagner family once again and will be using Michael Wales's new boat and oars for my racing. I think this will end up being cheaper than the NSR I trip thanks to better planning on my part (not taking more own oars, tools, or renting a boat).

Last weekend I set a new personal best on the 2K course through the Cut, clocking 7:23. I think that if conditions are fast in Princeton, I can expect to go under 7:15, maybe even 7:10. That puts me near the top of the lightweights. However, I will be competing as both a lightweight and heavyweight at Nationals. The entries for the lightweight event are so few that I would not be able to get very much good racing in. However, by racing as a heavyweight as well, I can potentially add three more races and compete for a more prestigious title.

This week is filled with solid, high-intensity work. I am being very careful with my body and minding all of my stretching, physical therapy, icing, and nutritional plans. I am feeling 10 times stronger than I did leading up to NSR I and look to show it on the water.

Off Cycle and 2Ks

This last 3 weeks have been a bit rough for me on the water. I have been feeling like I am relearning how to row, like I can't get more than 10 or 20 strokes in a row with consistent and effective application of power. The last three days, however, saw an abrupt about-face. On Friday, I threw down new 1-rep maxes in the weight room with 190 on the bench press and 265 on squats. I was pretty pumped about this, especially given my floundering workout earlier that morning. Then on Saturday, doing 250s with Lindsey, I started to see a return of some of that explosive power that I had in February that seemed to disappear for the last couple of months.

Today, we did a 2K and I lined up with another lightweight 1x and a lightweight Jr. 2x. On the warmup, as I took some power 10s and 20s, I stopped to double check my speed coach because I thought that someone may have tampered with it. Speed was just coming much more easily at lower stroke rates and I was caught off guard. I rolled with it and along with a renewed focus that I had been building up over the previous 24 hours, I made it down the course in 7:31. Not where I want to be, but leaps ahead of where I have been. It also marked my first 2k victory over my training partner, which will pay off in confidence at later races and training sessions.

I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we ramp up leading into the National Championship Regatta in Princeton at the end of the month. I will be rowing solo once again, focusing my energy on the 1x.

As the training group grows for the Summer, it is easier to stay pumped up as the workouts become more challenging.