Fall Rolls On

Post # 182

Oakland, California - It's been a productive few weeks back at home filled with work, coaching, and training. While most people are grumbling about the afternoons getting darker earlier, us early morning exercisers were counting down the days until Daylight Savings. Finally we'll be able to see what we're doing for the first hour of practice!

Just a nice Sunday morning coaching session

Artemis put up some impressive results at Head of the American last weekend, most notably a third place finish in the lightweight men's double. That event wasn't a junior event, which means they were racing people of all ages. I've been helping coach their erg workouts and it's been really cool to watch the change in energy of the kids on the team. The boys are more committed and enthusiastic this year because they see their own potential on the regional and national level. They've learned how a far off goal can change your daily approach to practice and motivate you to push the envelope every day, knowing that it'll all add up in the end. Plus they have a lot of fun doing it, which makes going to practice so great. 

As the fall season rolls on, the kids are preparing for a couple more local races and I'm preparing for the USRowing West Coast Fall Speed Order in two weeks. Our rowing club hosts it and it's the last chance to show your speed until April. If you're in the area and want to come watch, pencil the morning of Saturday November 15 into your calendar! 

50th Head of the Charles

Post # 181

Oakland, California - I got to Boston on Thursday morning after a redeye flight and it was nonstop action until I touched down at SFO this morning. I loved that the long weekend was filled with family and friend time: eating my mom's apple crisp while catching up around the table, throwing a foxtail around the back yard with my dad and the pup, going out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend, and sharing stories and laughs with plenty of old friends. Oh, and there were a few practices and a race, too.

Head of the Charles is the only regatta where people from all ages and skill levels - from novice to elite - regularly compete, making it a massive reunion. This was the 50th anniversary of the regatta that began with a few people racing down the river and has grown into a two-day event featuring 400,000 spectators and over 10,000 competitors. The regatta organizers hosted an anniversary gala on Saturday night where they commemorated the history of this iconic race. It was a pretty special feeling to be in a room with 1,000 other people who have such a love for the storied rowing tradition that is Head of the Charles. It made me remember the joy of watching crews race by from the banks of the river as a kid, long before I ever touched an oar.

I raced on Saturday afternoon and was happy with how it went and where I am in my training right now. I came in fourth place in the championship single. Gevvie Stone, a local competitor, crushed it and took the win. The full results are here, and here's a good shot of my pain cave grimace in the last 1k.

One of the guys on the Hudson support staff showed me the swiss army knife he bought at the regatta that featured the same picture of me that was on the banners around town. I went to the Victorinox tent, told them that those were my legs, and they hooked me up with a free one! Kind of creepy, but strangely cool.

One more thing: congrats to Ben True and Sarah Groff, who got married this past weekend, officiated by the lovely Amory Rowe. A "true" ITA wedding!

Boston Bound

Post # 180

Oakland, California - The countdown is on: only 13 days until Head of the Charles in Boston. It'll be my eleventh time racing at this regatta and I'm really excited to go back to my hometown. Maybe it's the 90+ degree weather out here in California that's making me long for some crisp fall air and my mom's apple crisp or maybe it's the fact that I didn't really have a chance to visit at all this summer. Either way, it's going to be a great trip.

There are twenty one athletes racing in the Championship Single this year (the event I'm racing in) and the start order has just been published. I'll be the 6th boat starting at 4:39 pm on Saturday October 18th. If you watch the live stream and listen to the commentary, note that we probably won't be racing around the bend where they announce until 10-15 minutes after the start time. Results will be posted here.

Artemis isn't going to be racing at the Charles this year but they're bookending that weekend with two local races. It was awesome to hang out with the kids earlier this week and we're plotting to do a trail run together sometime soon. Since each of them is growing another foot in height each week, they'll probably kick my butt, but oh well...

Onward!

Downtime

Post # 179

Oakland, California - Here's a recap of what I've been up to for the last few weeks:

I came back to the US after Amsterdam and was right back at work the next day. My travel had been so unexpected this summer that I had a lot of loose ends to tie up when I got home. The first week back was busy but I was glad to be sleeping in my own bed again. Also happy to see this view: the estuary and docks where we row. 

My boyfriend Hans and I went up to Seattle for his best friend's wedding last weekend. It was a super quick trip but we had such a blast. The weather was gorgeous and we actually got dressed up like real people. 

While I was in Seattle I met up with Grace, who I rowed with at Wisconsin. Grace is proof that the bonds you make when training and racing together on a team last forever. She and I hadn't talked much in three years but we picked back up like not a single day had passed. I loved catching up with her.

The day after I got back from Seattle, my dad came to town. It was the first time he's visited since I moved here so I had to show him all the sights. We packed in as much as we could in the days we had together, including beaches, ferry rides, driving tours, and some cool views. 

It's been a busy couple weeks and now it's time to get back to work. The Head of the Charles is the next big thing on my schedule and it's less than four weeks away. I got this picture in a text from a friend in Boston saying, hey, isn't that you? Turns out the race committee decided to put a picture of my legs on the banners that are now lining the streets along the Charles River. If you're in town, say hi! 

Worlds 2014: That's a Wrap

Post #178

Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Worlds 2014 came to a close on Friday for me and my three teammates in the lightweight quad. Although we didn't have the finish we wanted to have here, we fought hard in the B final and put up a race we're proud of. We placed first in the second-level final for a 7th place overall finish. We came within two seconds of the World Record, but the conditions were so fast that the standing record was then broken by 8 seconds by the host nation later on in the day. They did that en route to a gold medal in the event.

The US has picked up medals in a handful of events so far, with three more opportunities coming tomorrow. The strong, building tailwind is causing lots of World Records to fall at this regatta - some of them very, very longstanding (yesterday one was 1994 was broken). In the lightweight women's quad, all three medalists went under the old World Record pace. Yeesh!

I've written a little on this blog about the turn of events in early July and Kate having to get emergency abdominal surgery. She was able to rehab enough to get herself to Amsterdam, then continue her recovery process here thanks to excellent team physical therapists. Against all odds, she raced the lightweight women's single event and placed third in the final yesterday. A bronze medal! The story of her summer is here, and it's well worth a read.

Go USA!

Worlds: Heats Tomorrow

Post # 177

Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Race day is upon us and we're in a 5-boat heat with Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Mexico. The top two finishers will advance straight to the A-Final on Friday, with the rest of the boats having to go through the repechage on Wednesday. We're racing at 3:08 pm local time - that's 9:08 am on the east coast and 6:08 am on the west coast.

Follow along on World Rowing's live race feed (where you can only track boats go across the screen for now - live video coming later this week). World Rowing's Twitter feed (or USRowing's) is also a good spot to find results, and throughout the week you can also follow my Twitter feed. Admittedly, I'm pretty distracted during race week and not the best at tweeting updates, so it may be best to try the others first.

Team USA had a great opening day of races, highlighted by the lightweight men's single, women's pair, and women's quad winning their heats and a slew of other US boats qualifying out of the heats. They set the tone for the team and it's time for the rest of us to keep that going tomorrow.

Whirlwind

Post # 176

Amsterdam, The Netherlands - I'm not sure I could've been more spot on with foreshadowing the rest of my summer more in my "Constantly Changing" post from late July.

I last left off at Trials, where Nancy and I raced the final of the lightweight double.

Nancy and me, two days before our final race together

We came in three seconds behind the Oklahoma double. With that result, we'd failed to punch tickets to the World Championships in Amsterdam. My long, crazy season was over.

Or so I thought. I was visiting my family in Boston when I got a call that one of the girls in the lightweight quad heading to Worlds got injured on a training run and it wasn't looking like she was going to be able to race in Amsterdam. They needed someone to fill in, and they needed it to happen fast. I was in Philadelphia for practice the next morning and jumped into the quad with the talented team of Hillary, Sarah, and Mary. Two days later, we were on a flight to Europe.

The three of them have been training in the quad for the majority of the summer, so when I joined them, I wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible and not mess up the good stuff they had going. We've now had a week together in the boat (hooray!) and are starting to feel more comfortable rowing together.

Amsterdam so far has been...rainy. Every five minutes the weather changes between pouring rain/thunder/wind to pockets of sun and warmth. The course has been filling up more every day and by now most countries are here. My favorite parts of pre-race week are seeing athletes, coaches, and support staff - either from different countries or just different parts of the US - that I haven't seen in a while and feeling the anticipation of racing build by the day. Only two more days until the start of racing and three more days until my LW4x races our heat. Go USA!

- Full schedule of racing
- Results page
- Gallery of us training together in Philadelphia
- Press release on the switch

Trials

Post # 175

Princeton, New Jersey - The final day of Trials of the year is tomorrow and we've got CRC boats in three events:

7:30 am - Men's Single featuring Ryan Shelton
7:40 am - Men's Double featuring these guys and these guys
8:00 am - Lightweight Women's Double

Nancy and I have a two-boat race with the Oklahoma double, which means there are no rounds of racing leading up to the final; it's just a one-and-done.

As always with Trials, it's winner takes all. In this case, the winner of each event gets to compete at the World Championships in Amsterdam in the end of August.

Results can be found here and live video is available as well. Here we go!

Constantly Changing

Post # 174

Princeton, New Jersey - If there's one thing that's consistent about rowing (and really, life) it's that it's always changing.

Kate and I started training in the double after returning from our last round of Trials in New Jersey but shortly thereafter, she had to get a very random but essential surgery. Everything went really well at the hospital and, in true Kate style, she was such a champ about all of it. In terms of rowing, we knew pretty quickly that she'd be unable to compete at doubles trials. So after talking to Kate (who is dealing beautifully with the difficult task of recovery, I might add), Bernhard and I called up a few other lightweights to try to make a new doubles combination for Trials. Nancy Miles was super interested and was miraculously at CRC the next day to row with me. Nancy is a student at Stanford and stroked last year's US lightweight quad to a silver medal in Korea. The energy and enthusiasm that this twenty-one year old brings to the double is awesome, and she has a great work ethic as well. She's been a fun person to get to know and work with. We only had a week or two to row the double in California, but have already made some great progress. I'm happy with how far we've come in a short time.

Nancy and I flew to New Jersey last week for what will be my eighteenth regatta at this course by her count. Not sure whether to be proud or slightly depressed about that one. We'll be racing Trials next week and so far the entries show just us and the Oklahoma City double of Michelle Sechser and Devery Karz gunning for the line. Those were the two who represented the US at the World Cup in France earlier this year.

None of us really had any time to digest this turn of events because it unfolded so quickly, but if it's possible for the dust to settle this year, maybe this is it. Kate and I had to let go of the idea of racing the double together. I had to adapt really quickly to rowing behind a new person with a new style. Nancy and I had to get to know each other both as racers and people in a short amount of time. Bernhard had to decide whether this new double even stood a chance at Trials.

Only now do I realize that this big challenge is actually really great for me - and probably for all of us. If things were always normal and comfortable and we weren't forced to test ourselves in new and different ways, we wouldn't learn how to deal with difficult situations. Rowing has taught me that as much as you want the path to success to be as straightforward as possible, it takes you on what feels like the most roundabout, strange way and leaves you wondering whether you're even on the same path you started on.

It's kind of like this. (Credit here)

I'm lucky to have the support of my teammates, clients, roommates, friends, family, and everyone else back in California that make a trip - heck, a season - like this possible. Is this life's way of keeping me on my toes?

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.