Getting Through Winter

Post #31

Concord, Massachusetts - After having been asked about my favorite workout songs by the high school girls I've been working with, I decided to put together a list of the best ones. These are the tunes I've worked out to a million times, but never get old. They're the ones that put a smile on my face and make me pumped up and love what I'm doing. They're the ones we blasted out of the boathouse at 6 am, knowing that we were probably waking up the entire city of Madison.

It should be noted that most of these songs were discovered and made popular (at least on our team) by Heidi. Heidi and I were teammates at Wisco and she is an awesome person. She was a coxswain on the team, which means she sits in the stern of the eight and steers, strategizes, and gets everyone working together. Aside from being a great friend and teammate, Heidi is also well known for her ability to find new workout songs and assemble them into playlists that we listened to all winter long. Her songs from college are loaded on my iPod and still get me through even the toughest workouts, especially those full pressure pieces in a big, dark, quiet erg room by myself in the dead of winter.

Heidi and I (and Margot!) at work for the Badgers at 2007 Head of the Charles

Wisco spring training trip (junior year)

Top 10 Steady State Songs:

1. Show Me, Mint Royale ft. De La Soul

2. Touches You, Mika

3. Church, T-Pain

4. Heart of a Champion, Nelly

5. Good Day, Nappy Roots

6. Daylight, Matt & Kim

7. The Sweet Escape, Gwen Stefani

8. Use It, The New Pornographers

9. Bulletproof, La Roux

10. Hard to Beat, Hard-Fi

Top 5 Testing Songs:

1. Love Today, Mika

2. Bring Em Out, T.I.

3. Lose Yourself, Eminem

4. Oh! Gravity, Switchfoot

5. Here it Goes Again, Ok Go

Building Community

Post #30

Concord, Massachusetts - Over the weekend I took a trip up to Hanover, NH to visit Amory and her family, see ITA's new home, and meet the ITANH runners. I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with everything: the delicious meals, the gorgeous house, Amory's adorable kids, the exciting plans for ITA's future, and all of the warm people - athletes and non- that I met. Hanover may have been chilly and snowy, but ITA is certainly bringing warmth to the community there.

Speaking of which, Amory and I got to talking over coffee about how we as a society build community in the age of iPhones, iPods, and iPads. Our discussion reminded me of a postcard I randomly picked up a couple of years back while training in NJ. I had been thinking of posting it here for some time, and promised Amory that would, so here's the list. It can definitely spark some thought, so feel free to let me know your reaction.

How to Build Community

Turn off your TV

Leave your house

Know your neighbors

Look up when you are walking

Greet people

Sit on your stoop

Plant flowers

Use your library

Play together

Buy from local merchants

Share what you have

Help a lost dog

Take children to the park

Garden together

Support neighborhood schools

Fix it even if you didn't break it

Have pot lucks

Honor elders

Pick up litter

Read stories aloud

Dance in the street

Talk to the mail carrier

Listen to the birds

Put up a swing

Help carry something heavy

Barter for your goods

Start a tradition

Ask a question

Hire young people for odd jobs

Organize a block party

Bake extra and share

Ask for help when you need it

Open your shades

Sing together

Share your skills

Take back the night

Turn up the music

Turn down the music

Listen before you react to anger

Mediate a conflict

Seek to understand

Learn from new and uncomfortable angles

Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.

(I take no credit for creating this list. http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/3118.html)

CRI and Row2k Article

Post #29

Concord, Massachusetts - Yesterday I did an impromptu speech at Community Rowing (CRI), the club I rowed at in high school. My coach is still there, so I always make a point of coming in to say hi when I'm home. The club is so different than when I rowed there. Back in 2000-2004, we rowed out of an ice-skating-rink-turned-boat-storage-spot. Since I graduated from high school and left Massachusetts, they've built a huge boathouse. It's a great facility with lots of space. The team has also grown in size since I was there. Back when I was on the team, there were only about thirty of us who did the winter training program. Now, there are about fifty girls doing it. I'm glad that rowing is growing in popularity! The girls had lots of great questions and it was a treat to get to talk to them.

I'm honored to announce that Row2k has done a feature article on me that can be found on today's homepage. If you want to hear all about Worlds, summer training, and my favorite races, head on over there!

Ohh Oh, Boston, You're My Home

Post #28

Concord, Massachusetts - I want to start out this post with a shout-out to the Brookline High girls' rowing team! I came to their practice and spoke to them earlier this week about my background and my Worlds experience. They had great questions - from nutrition to training to racing. We even got down the nitty-gritty details of splits and 20k times. Gotta love it! It is always rewarding for me to share my experience and what I've learned with the next generation of rowers and I loved talking with the Brookline girls.

For the first time in a long time, I'm at home for long enough to take advantage of training on the Charles. This morning, I was out there in crisp, sunny, 38 degree weather for a solid 80' in a friend's single. It was magical. I was one of the only boats out there and since I went early on a Sunday morning, even the city was quiet. There were tons of people running on the path along the river to keep me company though. I forget how much I love the Charles when I'm away!

The Charles. A friend sent this to me years ago. Credit: Charles River Conservancy

Row2k, the main source of news, results, and photos for the rowing world, interviewed me for a feature article last week. The interview is set to be posted in the next couple days, so keep an eye out for it. They even asked a question about ITA! I'll link it when I see it.

Back in the Classroom

Post #27

Madison, Wisconsin - It has been a long time since I've written a post from Madison, but here I am, back again. After 28 hours and four flights, I was greeted at the airport by two of my best friends who picked me up even though it was late at night. They are the best! I'm spending my week in Madison resting, visiting friends, and decompressing from Worlds before heading home for Thanksgiving.

I've also spent time in Mrs. Feingold's classroom again and it has been wonderful. Her new class is a great, hardworking group and it's fun to work with them. We've been working on math, reading, writing, and spelling. I do miss the old class, but I saw a couple of them in the hallways, and we were so excited to see each other!

Below are a few photos of my trip around New Zealand with my family after the World Championships. My parents were in charge of planning the post-Worlds activities and, to my initial dismay, thought a four day backpacking trip would be fun. I was tired!! But it ended up being a great trip and we got to see just how gorgeous New Zealand is.

me & my dad

World Championship Silver!

Post #26

Coromandel, New Zealand - In case you missed the news, my lightweight quad won silver at the World Championships on Saturday!! It was a great race. The Germans were quick off the line and as much as we tried to run them down, they kept their bow ball ahead to win the gold medal. They were quite a talented crew, with two of those four girls winning silver in the lightweight double the day before and one of them winning gold in the lightweight single the next day. Hats off to them for a fantastic regatta!

A whole bunch of photos can be found HERE, but I've put a couple of my favorites below. All of them are courtesy of row2k - thanks!

The fierce stern pair (Ursula and Abby) in the final strokes of the race

Bow pair (Victoria and me). China and Germany are trying to get ahead of us in the background. I'm thinking "Where is that finish line!!?"

The camera boat that enables all the races to be broadcast live on TV and online

The medals ceremony. There are about 20,000 people in the stands behind the cameraman

Medals

Germany - Gold, USA - Silver, China - Bronze

One of several interviews after the race. You can see this one HERE.

Worlds Racing

Post # 25

Hamilton, New Zealand - We have been in New Zealand for the World Rowing Championships for almost two weeks now, and the time has flown by! Unfortunately, the internet situation here isn't great so it has been tough to keep in touch with everyone. We have our two biggest races coming up tomorrow and the next day in the lightweight double and quad. For all the information, including a link to follow along with live video feed (plus if you want to check out what we've been up to for the past week or two) the quad has been updating the following blog: bellinghamquad.blogspot.com

We have our game faces on as we head into the finals and the season wraps up. Here's to some good racing ahead!!

And We're Off!

Post #24

Bellingham, Washington - Our bags are packed and we have one more training row tomorrow morning before our long trek to New Zealand for the World Championships. My bow seat, Victoria, and I calculated the door-to-door travel time tomorrow and I think we came up with 24.5 hours. Should be a looong trip but I'm really excited. I've been reflecting on the past year since the 2009 World Championships as we approach this culminating race of 2010. It has certainly been a long year, but a really great one. I've been so lucky to travel and train in many different places with many wonderful people. Of course, my time with Mrs. Feingold's class was one of my most cherished memories of the year, and I can't wait to hang out with them for a week in November when I get back to the states.

As far as results from the racing go, I'm going to try to update this while I'm in NZ. As of the current schedule, our racing starts on November 2 at 11:41 am. That's November 1 at 3:41 pm U.S. Pacific time. The final medals race is slated for November 6 at 2:18 pm, so that's November 5 at 6:18 pm on the west coast. The results can be found at World Rowing or Row2k.

On to the racing!

Preparations for NZ

Post #23

Bellingham, Washington - First and foremost, congrats to Zoila Gomez, a fellow ITA athlete, who raced in the Chicago Marathon today. Her time was 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 51 seconds which, if I have this correctly, is a new PR. Awesome! I just finished reading "Born to Run" and was thinking about it as Zoila and some of my friends from college raced in Chicago this morning.

My team (well, mini team of four!) has been back in Bellingham for a week now and we're right back into training and getting ready for New Zealand. We leave in less than two weeks. Since this is a long year (Worlds are usually in August), I feel like I have been waiting for Worlds for so long. It's slowly hitting me that it's right around the corner now. We're getting everything ready for when we leave, including the all-important oar painting so that our blades are official USA colors:

Today we had a hard workout on the rowing machine and afterwards I dragged my teammates to go swimming in the lake with me. We're lucky that the dock is right across the street! Not only did swimming help our muscles recover, it felt really good to swim (even if the water was pretty chilly).

2010 World Championship Team!

Post #22

On a Flight at 32,000 Feet, Somewhere Above the Midwest – We did it! Achieving two first-place finishes at U.S. Trials in New Jersey secured my three teammates and me the opportunity to represent the USA at this year’s World Championships.

Final #1. Credit: Row2k.com

Final #1. Credit: Row2k.com

We all feel honored to have this opportunity and, more than anything else, recognize the great challenge that lies ahead and the enormous responsibility we have to represent our country and perform.

Proudly carrying on the tradition of Wisconsin rowers competing on the world stage, I will be traveling to New Zealand with two former teammates from Wisco who are competing in the lightweight men’s four (LM4-) and lightweight men’s eight (LM8+). It is always great to have some fellow Badgers along on the trip.

The World Championships take place from October 31 until November 7. I’ll be updating this blog with links to results as the event nears. Stay tuned!

As an extra, here are some amazing shots from Joel Rogers, a professional rowing photographer who contacted us just before Trials to do a shoot during practice. It was on a day when we were doing some work in doubles. We often train in doubles because it helps develop better coordination and power for the quad. Enjoy!

Victoria and me rowing the double

Teammates Ursula and Abby

Victoria getting her blood lactate level tested by our coach during practice

Trials Week

Post #21

Princeton, New Jersey - I'm back in Princeton after not having raced for three months and I'm excited to get back on the course! I flew in with my teammates yesterday with big oar cases in hand since we brought all of our oars with us across the country. We loaded them all on the truck when our coach picked us up at the airport.

After rigging and going out for a spin on the water today, we have adjusted well to being here. I guess the fact that we brought the typical Northwest weather with us (rain...all day long!) helped.

Rigging the quad

Racing for our group starts tomorrow with Ursula in the single at 10:10 am. We'll team up to race the quad starting on Thursday. Race results can be found HERE. The quad is listed as "Women's Ltwt 4x." You'll notice that there are two finals listed for each boat class. That's because at trials, you have to win two out of three finals to qualify for the World Championships. We're ready to go and excited to race!

Countdown to U.S. Trials

Post #20

Bellingham, Washington - It's 9:30 am here on the west coast and my quad got off the water about an hour ago from a thirteen mile row. The weather in the Pacific Northwest is not what I'm used to. There are lots of foggy, rainy days which means that often times, we'll be on the water and find ourselves completely engulfed in fog. It can be a little scary until you find the land and get your bearings! Below are some photos from this morning's workout.

Training here has been going well. We are working very hard and putting in our miles on Lake Samish. Things are beginning to ramp up as as we head into racing. We leave for U.S. Trials in Princeton, New Jersey in eleven days and begin racing in fifteen. Trials is a best-two-out-of-three format, so the team that wins two of the three trials races qualifies to represent the USA at the World Championships.

This year's Worlds are particularly special because they are in the southern hemisphere meaning that the seasons are switched. It is currently late winter/early spring in New Zealand, so Worlds have been pushed back until November to ensure that it is warm enough to hold a World Championship regatta. This has significantly changed everyone's training because we are used to having Worlds in late August! The website for the regatta, which I've heard is supposed to be an amazing event, is HERE.

It has been a while since I last updated my ITA blog as I've been busy with my quad's blog. Now I'm back at it with this one, so check back on the usual two-week intervals and, for your super fans out there, I'll still be keeping up with the Bellingham Quad's blog HERE.

Bellingham Quad Blog

Post #19

Bellingham, Washington - My teammates, coach, and I have started a new blog chronicling our adventures leading up to U.S. Trials at the end of September and, if we win that, the World Championships in early November. Between the five of us, we are attempting to update it DAILY so I'm sending you over to that blog site for updates over the next couple of months.

You can find it HERE. (http://bellinghamquad.blogspot.com)

Hope you enjoy the overload of pictures/video/information!

Hiking in the Northwest

Post #18

Bellingham, Washington - Though the ITA athletes are taking a break from our normal two-week blog posts, I couldn't help but post these pictures. It has been a great couple of weeks and my team out here has hiked two mountains. Hiking is a really fun way to get away from the water and rowing machine and do some cross training. The views were amazing!

Hiking up Church Mountain

Church Mountain Summit! Mt. Baker in the background.

Hiking up Mt. Baker

All four of us with the Mt. Baker glacier in the background. It was so cloudy when we hiked...

...but beautiful when we got back down. Here's the view from the bottom.

On the Road Again...Again

Post #17

Bellingham, Washington - Yes, it really is the time of year when I travel a lot! I was at a training camp in Oklahoma City for ten days before going back home to Madison. I had two solid weeks of training in the single in Madison before I packed up my apartment, put it all in a U-Haul truck, and moved out. The next day (yesterday), I was flying over the snow-capped mountains of Washington before landing in Seattle. I'll be spending the next few months in Bellingham, a city about an hour and a half north of Seattle. It was sad to say goodbye to my cute apartment, great friends, and amazing community in Madison, but I am excited about being here. I am going to be training with two women who have already been named to the U.S. National team in the lightweight double for this year's World Championships in New Zealand. After trials in September, I'll know whether I'll be joining them on that trip. Bellingham is a gorgeous place to live and train and I feel really lucky to be here. Considering I grew up doing lots of hiking and romping in the mountains, it's great to be around them after being in the Midwest for such a long time! After settling in and getting over my jet lag, I look forward to starting an ITA project with the youth in the area.

On the Road Again

Post #16

Oklahoma City, OK - Well, as usual for this time of year, I have been doing lots of traveling. After racing at Elite Nationals, I took a mini-vacation in Rhode Island with my family. Without a doubt, Rhode Island tops my list of favorite places to be in the summer. Every time I come back (my family has been going there every summer for 18 years now!), everything slows down and I’m able to relax. I continued my workouts by going on some long runs, one of which I planned so that it ended at the beach and I could jump in the ocean!

After a couple days in Rhode Island, I said goodbye to my family (puppy included!) and went right back into training in Madison. I got to celebrate the fourth of July in Madison for the first time ever (goes to show how much I usually travel in July!) and had a great BBQ with friends. Just a week later, I packed my bags again and flew to Oklahoma City for a selection camp for the U.S. lightweight quad. Oklahoma City is beginning to build a U.S. Olympic Training site and we are some of the first athletes to train here.

I’m fortunate enough to stay with a host family here and they live in an apartment on the 22^nd floor of a downtown building. The views are cool, especially since the land is so flat here. Last night, there was a big storm that rolled through and I went out on the balcony to grab a quick video.

Elite Nationals Photos

Lightweight single race (I'm in the yellow boat!)

Lightweight single, medals dock

Lightweight double (I'm on the far right)

Lightweight double, medals dock

Wisco athletes - Lightweight quad, medals dock

End of the day group shot with our coach, Erik, and Piper, the puppy!

Double Gold!

Post # 15

Princeton, New Jersey - I am about to leave NJ with my dad and drive 4 hours up the east coast to Rhode Island but I wanted to do a quick update to let all the fans in Madison (and beyond maybe!) know how it went.

I WON both of the events I raced in at this year's USRowing Elite National Championships: the lightweight single and the lightweight double! In the singles race at 8:20 am today, I posted the fastest time I've ever gone, 7 minutes, 42 seconds. I received my gold medal and put my single on land before grabbing the double about 20 minutes later and launching for that race. We didn't really know how we were going to do in the double since me and my partner had only ever practiced together twice. We led the race the whole way down and even though it was a closer race than in the single, we still took home the gold medal.

Results from the single are HERE....results from the double are HERE.

A lightweight quad (four people) with the Wisconsin athletes that Mrs. Feingold's class met at the boathouse a couple weeks ago raced this morning as well. They won their race as well, and that was a really exciting one to watch because they were in second place until the last couple of meters. Their results are HERE.

I'll upload pictures when I get back to Madison. For now, it's time for a 3-day vacation at the beach while I visit with my family.

Field Trip!

Post #14

Madison, Wisconsin - Today I took my third grade class to the boathouse on a field trip! We just got back a couple of hours ago but I wanted to post pictures as soon as I could because I know some of you kids (and parents) wanted to check them out. Here they are:

Peeking at the Olympic trophy case

Looking out on Lake Mendota

Showing pictures to Drake and Otto

Walking through the boat bays downstairs

Checking out the eights

Getting to touch the double scull and ask questions

Seeing how heavy an oar is

Sharing my 2008 National Champion gold medal

The girls getting a turn on the rowing machine. Bryn won the 100 meter race for the girls!

Drake won the 100 meter race for the boys!

Ms. Feingold's third grade class

Flexing our muscles!!

Enjoying Babcock Hall ice cream, made right here on the UW campus

Big thanks go out to Mia, Amanda, and Dani, my teammates who helped answer questions and teach the kids how to use a rowing machine. I'm glad all you kids had fun - I know I did!