Artemis Rowing is Oakland Youth Rowing's new name. Though nothing else has changed about the program or its mission, we're welcoming the new name and making the transition to fully adopt it.
I'm still coaching the boys' team and practices have been going great. Winter is the season without regattas so things slow down a bit. That gives us time to work on technical changes and fitness that will prepare us for the spring season. Last week we had an incredible few days of flat water and gorgeous sunsets. The pictures below were taken on three separate nights, each of which was amazing.
As for my own training, I'm definitely getting back into it. My primary focus this post-Olympic year was always to earn back some money that I spent in the past four years for training, and I'm trying to follow through on that. I had to go into pretty significant debt to compete in the regattas I did and to reach my goal of competing at the Olympics, so now I'm tackling the task of recovering financially. It's still important to me to get on the water and keep my fitness up, so I'm at the boathouse most mornings. Last week, a couple U-23 lightweight girls were in town and we got together and did some work in a quad. I'm all for helping the next generation of lightweights develop, and plus it was fun for me to have some time in a big boat. (Though I will say it was strange for me to be the "old" person in the boat - I was always the youngest one around. since when did that happen?!)
Photo credit: California Rowing Club
I've got some exciting things on tap for early 2013 - stay tuned to hear more!
Salt Lake City, Utah - I've been out in Utah for a few days visiting my family for the holidays. My brother lives out here now and is a champ downhill skier (he doesn't race, but he's got serious skills). We had planned to do a bunch of downhill skiing while we were here, but I rallied my parents to go cross-country skiing with me as well. The post-Olympic period is a better time than any to try out new activities and I had always wanted to try my hand at a sport I've heard so much about. I was excited when there was no parental resistance to my idea, and we headed up to a nearby ski track the next morning.
Things I didn't know before we strapped on our skis: 1. My parents were both certified nordic ski instructors back in the day (how was this left out of the original discussion?). 2. They both still have a knack for teaching beginners (read: me).
I learned pretty quickly that similar to my main sport, nordic skiing is very repetitive and requires a lot of strength, technique, and balance. The former, I'm pretty good with. The latter two, not so much. Actually, not at all. Cross-country skiing is a different kind of motion on a different kind of surface than I'm used to. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kind of picked it up as I logged some km's. Still, I couldn't help but spend the whole time thinking about the efficiency of the motion, trying to understand how the skis moved, and figuring out how this crazy motion is supposed to look (and then asking my parents how closely I compared - they were forgiving in their assessments). What can I say, my brain is wired for efficiency.
The only picture of me skiing, and it doesn't even look like I'm wearing skis.
By the end of the day, I had gotten a great workout in and had gained huge respect for my ITA teammates Brian, Torin, and Sylvan. Major props to them. Cross-country skiing requires a lot of skill and cardiovascular fitness - not that I ever doubted them, but now I know for sure. For you three, good luck at US Nationals next week. I'll be watching and cheering from afar.
I recently found myself in a seemingly unlikely situation: I was hiking near San Francisco with three girls I had rowed with in high school. We were 3,000 miles away from Boston, where we grew up, and it had been over eight years since we sat at a starting line together. We had only kept in touch here and there during college, but once we realized that half of our high school 8 lived in the bay area, we starting hanging out again, having adventures, and reminiscing about our days at Community Rowing. Sure, we'd had different college experiences and a lot of things had happened between 2004 and 2012, but it didn't matter. We picked up right where we had left off because we had bonded in our years as teammates.
Hiking in SF the other week. We competed together over eight years ago.
The bonds developed steadily over the years, both in high school and in college. They developed each morning when we woke up early, came down to the boathouse for practice, and tried to squeeze the best performances out of each other. They developed during the hours on the water together, in practices with extreme cold/ice/snow, humidity, torrential downpours, thick fog, or insane wind. They developed during the annual fifteen hour van ride from Boston to South Carolina for winter training in high school. In college, they developed when our flights would be hours delayed on the east coast on a Sunday night and we'd play games to pass the time.
The bonds got even stronger when we raced together. I remember the final sprint of many regional and national championships. Sometimes we were ahead of the field and other times we had to make up ground on our rivals in the final strokes of the race. Regardless of the situation, everyone had each others' back and we were doing everything we could to get our team across the line first. We wanted to work hard for each other and the team.
With Wisco teammates Margot and Adrienne racing for the Badgers in New Jersey (left) and hanging out in California the night before I left for London (right). Adrienne also visited over the weekend (and came pounding on my door on Sunday morning as a surprise!).
Over the years, we learned to have each others' backs in all sorts of situations, not just during practices or races. We became each others' family, and because of that, it's not really unlikely at all that we picked up right where we left off. Even though we're not competing together anymore, we'll always be there for each other, back each other up, and be on each others' team.
Yesterday was the fall season Final 5k for the Girls on the Run of the Bay Area. I'm no longer a coach for GOTR but I volunteer with them every so often. Yesterday I was a Running Buddy for Mia, a speedster from Oakland. Running buddies are assigned to each girl who runs the 5k and their job is to help encourage them. It's great because the entire community of runners gets pulled together through the Running Buddy program; it's not just the girls running the 5k.
The morning of the 5k, it was pouring rain. As we gathered pre-race, it was coming down in sheets and we were all huddled underneath our umbrellas. The race went off anyway and despite the weather, it was such a fun time. I couldn't believe how positive Mia and the girls around her were. Even though we were splashing through big puddles, she kept on running, hitting her landmarks, and encouraging girls around her that she didn't even know before the race. I love how sports can teach you to band together as a team and help each other stay positive even if the situation isn't perfect. There were a lot of soggy clothes, tired girls, and big smiles after the race.
Luckily after a week of rain, the blue sky returned this afternoon. I'm excited to get back out on the water tomorrow morning. With last week's gusts of 50 mph, it's been too windy to row for an entire week now!
Today's race in San Mateo marked the end of the fall 2012 season for Oakland Youth Rowing. The boys raced in quads, doubles, and singles. The course was the curviest I've ever seen and had three bridges, but they handled it like pros. All of the kids came off the water with big smiles on their faces and stories of crazy, hard fought races.
The highlight of the day for me was when I was approached by a coach of another team asking if we had kids who would do a last minute race in a double. Their team was going to be uncontested in the event and they wanted a competitor. The hitch? It was starting in less than an hour and it was a mixed double (meaning one boy and one girl). The Oakland athletes were all exhausted from racing once already, but I approached two of them about doing it anyway. Before I even finished my sentence, they were jumping up and down and screaming "YES! YES WE'LL DO IT!" As we speed-rigged one of the doubles to get it ready to go, they couldn't stop talking about how amazed they were that the opportunity had come up. How great is that attitude?
In our post-race team meeting, I thought back on the last few months and all of our experiences as a team. When I first came to OYR in September, the boys team was about half the size it is now. By the end of the season, we've drawn so many more people to the sport of rowing and made tons of progress with fitness, technique, and race experience as a team. I am so impressed with how far we've come in only a couple months.
Congrats to the entire OYR family for a fantastic fall season. Can't wait to get the winter started.
I'm back in Cali after racing at Head of the Charles in Boston. The Oakland Youth doubles and I all raced on Sunday, which was a gorgeous sunny day. We had close enough start times that as I warmed up, I saw each of them power by in their races and cheered extremely loud for each of them. The boys placed 40th and the girls placed 10th. Now we have an idea of where we stand and a platform to improve on for this weekend.
My race, which started right after theirs, was really, really difficult. No races are easy, but when you have a strong headwind pushing against you nearly the whole way down the course, it feels like a constant battle with the elements. Add to that the fact that I haven't trained as hard as I normally do in this post-Olympic "break" and it was pretty brutal. I know what it feels like to race when I'm in peak fitness and now I know that it feels a lot worse when I'm not. Ouch!
It's a good thing I had the help of everyone cheering. Being from Boston, I had a lot of fans along the river: Amory of In the Arena, her whole family, my parents, uncle, and cousins, my college team, a huge Wisconsin alumni tent, my Oakland rowers, and friends scattered along the whole course. There are so many bridges and riverbanks along the course that you can really hear everyone. It was great. I got back on land and learned that I had successfully defended my title and won my event!
The doubles and I are back in action, along with about 50 other Oakland Youth rowers, in Sacramento this weekend for Head of the American.
Boston, Massachusetts - The best weekend of the whole year is almost here. Head of the Charles is a three-mile race on the Charles River in Boston and it's a weekend filled with reunions and racing. Nearly the entire rowing world in the US convenes there and this year it also has rowers from over twenty countries. More than 100 London Olympians will be competing (myself included) which means it'll be a fantastic weekend to watch live or from afar. This is the live webcast and here are the results.
Below is my own "who to watch" preview. All times are eastern, so subtract 3 hrs for the west coast equivalent.
Saturday: 4:14 pm Men's Championship Singles - bow #1 is Mahe Drysdale, a New Zealander who is the reigning Olympic champion and five-time World Champion in the men's heavyweight single. Talk about some credentials! 4:23 pm Women's Championship Singles - bow #1 is Gevvie Stone, a good friend of mine and a fellow Bostonian. She won this event last year and was the USA's women's single in London. Bow #2 is Mirka Knapkova from the Czech Republic, 2011 World Champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the single. Bow #3 is Kim Crow from Australia, who won two medals in London.
Sunday: 11:55 am Men's Youth Doubles - bow #32 are the boys I coach, representing Oakland Youth Rowing. Cheer for the teal, blue, and yellow blades! 12:12 pm Women's Youth Doubles - Bow #17 is also Oakland Youth Rowing. So excited for these two doubles. 12:44 pm Women's Lightweight Singles - Bow #1 is me! I'll be representing the Wisco Alumni with red blades. 2:55 pm Men's Championship 8s - Tons of fantastic entries in this event. The Champ 8 at the Charles is pretty much the only time that colleges get to race national teams. Bow #2 has five US Olympians in it and bow #3 are the reigning National Champions from the University of Washington. Bow #4 is the "great 8," eight of the world's premier single scullers, all from different countries, who have come together in a superstar 8. 3:08 pm Women's Championship 8s - There's a ton of talent in the women's version of this event too. Bow #5 is the USA gold medal Olympic 8. Bow #6 is the Canadian silver medal Olympic 8. Bow #8 is the women's "great 8," including plenty of London medallists. Bow #9 is a New Zealand/Great Britain mix of some of the best small boat rowers in the world. 4:45 pm Women's Lightweight 8s - Bow #1 are the Wisconsin Lightweights, my college team. Go Badgers.
Last week, I was part of a big "Olympic Day" celebration in San Fran. Kids from seven different Boys and Girls Clubs came to hang out with me, Trooper Johnson (a four-time Paralympian in basketball), and Julian Munoz (an '88 and '92 Olympic alpine skier). They learned about three very different sports, saw some medals, asked a bunch of questions, and got our autographs. Trooper, Julian and I loved being a part of it and meeting all the kids. My favorite moment was watching Trooper and Ivan, one of the kids at the club who is in a wheelchair, play basketball together in Trooper's fancy wheelchairs. Ivan had a big smile plastered on his face the whole time.
Thanks BASOC and BGC SF! (photos by Kristin Glickman)
The kids did a great job decorating the whole Boys and Girls Club for the event
Checking out my 2011 World Cup gold medal
Trooper talking to the kids. He challenged a few of them to play basketball with him, too!
Finally, a big shout out to Katya, one of my Girls on the Run from last fall, who is turning 10 tomorrow. Happy birthday!! I got to see Katya and be a guest coach for the team over the weekend, which was a blast. Have a great day, girl.
Oakland, California - As part of my ITA community work this fall, I've been coaching the youth programs at Oakland Rowing Association. Oakland Rowing is a club that started last year and is open to kids and adults from around the East Bay. We're growing fast and getting lots of people involved in the sport. In the youth programs, we've got mostly middle school and young high school kids, which is pretty crazy for me to see. I didn't know what rowing was when I was in eighth grade, and it's amazing to see how much some of my eighth graders (or the sixth graders) already know about rowing!
Much to their dismay, I've introduced some of my favorite college workouts to the boys' team over the past few weeks. They've done awesome on them though, and we've already made tons of progress in both fitness and technique. We've got a big intra-team scrimmage this Saturday (boys versus girls, it's on!) and our first race is less than two weeks away in Sacramento.
If you're interested in keeping up with Oakland Rowing, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. And let me know if you want to come join the club and learn how to row!
The boys in doubles and quads
Our boathouse
The girls in doubles with San Fran in the background
Over the last month, I've gotten to be part of several events honoring US Olympians. While I was home in Boston, I joined with other New England Olympians at Fenway Park and walked out onto the field before the game. I've been going to Fenway for games since I was a kid, so it was incredible to actually get to go out onto the field and hear the cheers from my hometown crowd. Gymnast Aly Raisman, Judo champ Kayla Harrison, and two women's basketball players threw out the first pitches.
With ITA-er, Olympic mountain biker, and Vermonter Lea Davison at Fenway Park. #12 for the 2012 Olympics.
Singing the national anthem at Fenway. Gymanst Aly Raisman is second from the right and Judo champ Kayla Harrison is third from the right.
Last weekend, I flew out to Washington, DC to join the entire US Olympic and Paralympic team in meeting the President. We landed, went straight to a reception hosted by Olympic sponsors, and woke up the next morning ready for the big event. We were so jet lagged but super excited at the same time. We mingled on the South Lawn of the White House for about two hours before taking our seats and waiting for the President. I sat right behind Michael Phelps. First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama spoke, and their messages made me proud to have represented our country. Afterwards, he told his advisors to change his schedule because he wanted to meet each and every one of us. How awesome is that? I got to shake his hand, Vice President Biden's hand, and got a hug from Michelle. They are incredibly down to earth and kind people. Here's the video from the event and it features one of my rowing teammates, Natalie Dell. Also, see if you can spot me sitting behind Michelle!
Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool on a morning run in DC
Today I joined with other Bay Area Olympians for a recognition at the Oakland Raiders game. We got VIP treatment from start to finish. We started with a tour of the training facility, then got a police-escorted bus to the stadium, watched pre-game practice on the field, saw most of the game from a suite, and went back onto the field during halftime to be recognized. The crowd went crazy when they realized we had represented our country in London. I thought I felt supported before, but to hear an entire stadium full of people screaming in support of your achievements brings it to a whole new level.
With one of my favorite Olympians, swimmer Natalie Coughlin
All of the Bay Area Olympians at the Raiders game
Each of these post-Olympic experiences have blown me away. I've been able to meet and connect with so many amazing athletes: a discus thrower, javelin throwers, sprinters, swimmers, water polo players, mountain bikers, a luger, triathletes, kayakers...the list goes on and on. Everyone has gone through so much to get to the point where they can call themselves an Olympian and it's easy for us to find common ground over the hard work and dedication it took to achieve our dreams.
When Michelle Obama addressed all of us at the White House, she recognized that becoming Olympians happened when no one was watching. It was the early mornings, months or years before the Games, days when we were exhausted but pushing through the training because we believed that someday, it would pay off. That is so true, but also so easy to forget when we're wrapped up in these post-Olympic celebrations. If I think back to all the hours of hard work it took to get here, or, even worse, all the hours it would take to do it all over again, it's completely overwhelming. At some point I think I'll crave the hard work again, but for now, I'm enjoying the celebrations and not thinking about it too much.
