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