Season Wrap-Up

Post # 173

The Artemis season came to a close this week, which is bittersweet. It's always hard to say bye to the kids and wrap up a year, but the team has come a long way since last September.

But let's rewind to 2012 for a second, when I first met these kids. Many of them were shy, not super confident in their abilities, and it didn't feel like they could completely be themselves on the team. It's been incredible to watch the individuals and team change over the past two years. The shy kids are now like Dylan is in this picture. The unconfident kids have now won medals at the Regional Championships. And the team has gelled through common experiences, whether they be fun, tiring, nutty, or nerve-wracking.

I've said it before but I'll say it again: I'm excited to see where this team will go from here. Much of it is in the hands of the athletes on the team and they're taking it to some pretty great places. With three boats making it to Nationals, not to mention an awesome Regionals performance, fall regattas, and an entire year of team bonding, we head into the 2014-2015 with a great platform to build from.

The Road Ahead

Post # 172

Well, it's been quite a summer so far. CRC came back from Trials last week, where Kate and I notched a 1-2 finish in the singles. That finish places Kate on the World Championships team, if she chooses it.

Here's the hitch: the lightweight double that beat us at the NSR back in May recently raced at a World Cup overseas and came in 8th. They had to get top 4 to be placed directly on the World Championships team, so that means the event has been opened up again and another trial will take place in New Jersey in August. Kate and I have always loved the double, so we're excited that we'll get another crack at it this summer. Now having raced fully three separate regattas on the same New Jersey course so far this year, you could say we're getting used to racing there.

If we win that trial in August, we'd be directly placed on the World Championships team in the lightweight double. If not, Kate could still race Worlds in the lightweight single.

Confusing? Yes. Check out this row2k article on the squad so far, which has a blurb about each race at Trials, and an attempt at clarifying some things.

Onward. Go USA!

Trials

Post # 171

CRC is in New Jersey for Under-23 Trials and part of Senior Trials. So far our results have been headlined by our awesome Under-23 lightweight women's quad, who won their final today and landed themselves spots on the U-23 World Championships team. Big congrats to them.

Photo: Bernhard Stomporowski 

The men's quad is also here to race for a spot on the senior World Championships team and Kate and I are racing in lightweight singles. The guys in the quad have been our main training partners for over a year. When all seven of us (quad + me and Kate + Bernhard) were stuffed into the minivan on the way to practice the other day, we joked that it's like we were a big family. It's pretty true, though. We interact with each other every day, both on the water and off, so we cheer for each other's highs and help each other through our lows. We compete with each other all the time on the Oakland Estuary - mainly for best percentages, but everyone knows that bragging rights are really what's at stake. We've experienced crazy, eight hour practice days together and seen each other when we're absolutely dog tired (that's when everyone's in the best moods...). We've eaten countless meals together and been on long rainy hikes and long sunny runs together. I wouldn't rather have another group of people to be on this team with.

Check out the live video feed of the final day of the regatta. CRC is racing in two finals:
7:30 am - men's quad (far lane)
8:58 am - lightweight women's singles (me and Kate, middle lanes)

Go CRC, go USA.

Youth Nationals

Post # 170

This weekend was the Youth National Championships in Sacramento and for the first time ever, Artemis had several boats racing there. Of the three doubles that competed (two girls' boats and one boys' boat), two of them reached the finals and both ended up with 16th place finishes. That's seriously awesome for a group of freshmen and sophomores making their first appearance at Nationals. By the way, one of the girls' doubles was also the one featured in Row2k's Photo of the Day last week - and for good reason!!

The bonds created in high school rowing are so strong that they last well beyond senior year. Case in point: my high school coach is visiting the Bay Area for the week and I get to see him this afternoon AND at a big reunion dinner tomorrow for all of the Community Rowing alums in the area. It's been ten years since I graduated high school (scary) but every time we all get back together, we fall right back into reminiscing about the good times we had in high school. I'm so fortunate to have had that experience and to hold onto so many great friends from it.

Here's a BIG congrats to all the Artemis kids - I can't wait to see you guys later today!

Diana Nyad

Post # 169

Oakland, California - I'm not one to watch commencement speeches. I've heard a few pretty good ones, but otherwise the ones I've listened to or watched haven't been that memorable.

That's why this commencement speech is worth sharing. One of my teammates just graduated from Middlebury and told me I had to watch the commencement speech, delivered by none other than Diana Nyad. Diana is a long-distance swimmer who, among other incredible achievements, completed the first swim from Cuba to Florida last summer. In this speech, she describes how she goes about squeezing every last drop out of life. She challenges the audience to live a life so full and wonderful that you can look back on it and say with confidence that you couldn't have done it any better.

As we hiked the hours away together, my teammate told me she couldn't have had a more perfect speech given to her at her commencement. And even though it wasn't my own graduation, I think Diana's speech is a reminder for all of us: life has its ups and downs, but in the end, you just have to ask yourself the fingernail question. Take a look:

#HowWeBean

Post # 168

When ITA announced its partnership with L.L.Bean last week, I was pumped. Not only are the two such a great fit for each other, but I've always been a huge L.L.Bean fan. Growing up in New England with two VERY outdoorsy parents, my family took a trip to the flagship store in Maine every year to stock up on all the hiking/camping/swimming/playing/traveling gear we needed. As a kid, I was always decked out in L.L.Bean stuff.

It's no surprise that after I left home and started traveling for college racing and, later, international racing, L.L.Bean bags were the ones I used. I've used my tried and true red rolling duffel to haul my stuff to every college race and training trip. It sat in the back seat of my car when I drove across the country in 2011...three times. It has come with me to every World Cup, World Championships and to the Olympic Games. By my quick count, it's been with me to about half of the states in the US and roughly ten different countries. That's one well-traveled bag...and that's just one of my bags. Turns out I have racked up a few of these things:

Four L.L.Bean bags in one picture. I was heading straight from the Collegiate National Championships to U-23 Worlds selection camp and simultaneously trying to move some stuff back to my parents' house in Boston. 

Bushwhacking to the beach in Rhode Island with my striped tote

Heading to the 2009 World Championships in Poland with my L.L.Bean rolling duffel 

The newest addition to my L.L.Bean bag family: the ITA tote

A big THANK YOU to L.L.Bean for getting on board with ITA. We can't wait to see how great this partnership will be.

Nationals: Junior and Elite

Post # 167

Princeton, New Jersey - Artemis is awesome. They competed at Southwest Regionals last weekend, facing crews from all over the lower left quarter of the country. Over the years, they've worked their way up the results table, and this year they finally broke into the Youth Nationals qualification spots: the boys' lightweight double got third place and qualified! It was a first in Artemis history...and these guys are a freshman and a sophomore. I'm so proud of them. Youth Nationals is in a few short weeks in Sacramento.

 Big congrats to Josh and Kenyon in the LM2x!

(this is what happens when you give Dylan and Chris your camera...)

Over on the east coast, Kate and I are through the first two rounds of racing at National Selection Regatta 2. We won yesterday's time trial and this morning's semifinal. In typical New Jersey spring style, we battled a strong, gusty headwind. This photo is a good representation of what racing was like today. We're pumped to get on the course tomorrow for the final. Only the winner gets to race internationally at the World Cup regattas.

Our CRC men's pair sneaked through the semifinal today to make the A final in their event. They race tomorrow morning at 7:20 am and Kate and I are at 7:30. Check out the USRowing results page and follow California Rowing Club on Facebook. We also have teammates racing in Germany and Mexico City this weekend. We're everywhere!

National Selection Regatta 1

Post # 166

Princeton, New Jersey - Another NSR is in the books and I have to say, that was one of the more interesting ones.

When the lightweight singles launched for Thursday morning's Time Trial, the wind had been building. It was still rowable though, so USRowing was running races. While I'm not going to say the warm-up area was pleasant to row in, it was manageable. Just when the lightweights lined up at the starting line (we were the last ones to go), the officials called it off. The wind had picked up too much and we were instructed to row surf back to the dock.

Yeah...not so nice. (Photo by Row2k.com)

Because of the cancellation, the racing schedule got completely reshuffled and suddenly four races (TT, heat, semi, final) got condensed into two. Friday morning's time trial results now counted for a lot more: only the top six would make the A final, the next six to the B final, and the last six to the C final. No second chances.

On Friday morning, Mercer showed us the nicest water of the whole regatta. I placed second in the time trial to Michelle Sechser, who rows out of the Oklahoma City Training Center.

This morning, the top six time trialers actually got to race side-by-side. It was an exciting race; me, Michelle, and Devery Karz all traded spots down the course. Props to Michelle for taking the win. Here are the full results.

Kate raced in the heavyweight event and got to play with a bunch of friends/former Princeton Training Center buds out on the course. She placed third in a competitive field.

I'm about to hop on a plane back to California, but New Jersey will see our smiling faces in just a couple weeks for NSR 2. I'm psyched to get to work in the double!

(Photo by USRowing)

Coast Hopping Begins

Post # 165

Oakland, California - Over the past few weeks, we've been upping the race pace work, which is always tough at first but I start to love it as my body gets used to it. It's all because the NSRs (National Selection Regattas) are upon us, which means only one thing to West Coasters: time to start the cross-country treks. The two NSRs are only three weeks apart, but jobs and a team in California make it a challenge to stay out there in between. Good news is we'll be racking up some frequent flyer miles.

California Rowing Club will be racing three singles (Ann, Kate, and myself) and one pair (Nick and David) at the first NSR. It's the season opener and pretty much anyone who is interested in making the national team this year will be there. It's a perfect opportunity to see where my winter training has taken me. Here's the schedule:

Thursday April 24: AM Time Trial, PM Heats
Friday April 25: AM Semifinals
Saturday April 26: AM Finals

I'll be updating this with info and how to follow along as the regatta gets going. There are 22 entries in my event - that might be the most in any NSR I've ever raced at. I'm glad to see the field growing.

Looking forward to finally letting it loose out on the course!

Experiencing Mexico

Post # 164

Mexico City, Mexico - I'm always down for a trip to explore what's around the places I get to train. This time around, we had the chance to check out the ancient city of Teotihuacan on our afternoon off. I remember learning about this place in high school, but in my mind, you can never really grasp a place until you go and experience it.

Teotihuacan was thought to be built over 2100 years ago and, at the time, it was the largest city in the Americas. We climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun (in the background of the photo below), which is the third largest pyramid in the world. Pretty incredible, considering all the ones in Egypt.

One of the friends we've made through rowing in Mexico City gave us the full tour. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a local spot. I was in the mood for some traditional Mexican cuisine so I got a cactus salad. Kind of strange, right? 

Other than this adventure, life in training camp is exactly how it should be: uneventful. Kate and I are the only CRC members here so we're getting a lot of quality time together...which is to say, I hope I don't drive her totally insane by the end of it or vice versa. I'm thankful to have such a good friend and buddy. I definitely wouldn't make it through without her.