Full Steam Ahead

Post # 156

Time is flying. The Speed Order wrapped up about a week ago and already Kate and I have been to New York, Colorado, and back, and now somehow the holidays are here. Here's a quick recap of the last couple weeks:

The Speed Order went well - better than expected even. I pulled a personal best time on the 6,000 meter erg test on Saturday to take second place for the lightweight women. Kate, my doubles partner, beat me, which I guess I'm okay with since she set a new WORLD RECORD in doing so. No big deal. I took third place overall for the women in the race on the water - and second place for lightweight women.

The regatta was a chance for everyone to check in and see where they're at right now, and I'm happy with my results. Here's a video from the event, which gives you a good idea of what the erg race and singles races were like. On the erg, there's lots of noise with fans spinning, music blaring, and people cheering. On the water, it's super quiet. (If you're looking for me in the water coverage, go to about 3:15.)

A couple days after, Kate and I went on a trip to New York City and Colorado Springs. You'd never know I grew up in New England or went to school in the upper midwest if you'd heard me grumbling about the cold in both locations. By the end of the week, we'd dubbed it the "2013 California Appreciation Trip" and vowed to no longer whine about the 45 degree mornings in Oakland.

We were in New York City for the Golden Oars awards dinner. We got to see lots of familiar faces, revel in how awesome the people in this sport are, and I got to cheer Kate on as she accepted the 2013 Female Athlete of the Year award. It's the coolest one to get because it's voted on by all the women on the national team, some of whom are pictured here:

Look mom, we're a silent auction item! 

Less than 24 hours later, we were off to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. We got in a few days of testing and altitude training, which, for the record, is a lot more challenging than sea-level training. Everyone at the OTC was amazingly helpful, as always. Whenever I go to one of our Olympic Training Centers, I'm inspired by all the athletes in other sports. This time around, we watched some of the little wrestlers flip huge tires in the weight room and saw the male gymnasts do their work. If ever you feel abnormal for putting so much time into your sport, a trip to the OTC will solve that problem.

Now we're back in California and right back into training. The Speed Order finished out the fall racing season, so now my team is starting the long stretch of winter training before spring selection events roll around. Full steam ahead!

West Coast Fall Speed Order

Post # 155

Oakland, California - This weekend is the West Coast Fall Speed Order. It's a USRowing race designed to "order our speed" or rank us against each other in three areas of the country: the east coast, midwest, and west coast. The other two Speed Orders were last weekend which leaves the west coast one to round them out.

This regatta is pretty brutal; it's a 6,000 meter test on the rowing machine on Saturday followed by a 4,000 meter race on the water in singles on Sunday. There's a lot of time to get anxious ahead of the weekend and not a lot of time to recover between tests, which makes it a unique challenge. One of my teammates wrote an article about what it's like to race at a Fall Speed Order and I'd say it's spot on.

Even though it'll be tough, I'm feeling good about this weekend. It'll be the first time I've done a real, standard erg test in over three years and I'm eager to see what kind of numbers I can pull. The race on the water on Sunday will be on our home course - a luxury I don't think I've had for the last ten years of rowing. 

If you're in the area, the best viewing will be from the High Street Bridge or from the Oakland Strokes boathouse (Tideway Boating Center at 4675 Tidewater Ave, Oakland). Race information will be posted here.

Good luck to everyone at this WCFSO and to Artemis at the BIAC Regatta!

Champ of the Champ Single

Post # 154

Head of the Charles has wrapped up and it was a great weekend. Kate, my doubles partner, won the whole thing! Pretty impressive considering she is a lightweight racing in the heavyweight (open) event.

I came in sixth, which I'm really happy with. It was my first time racing the Championship Single and I'm so glad I got to see where I stack up against some of the fastest scullers in the world, heavyweight or lightweight. An opportunity like that doesn't come along too often. 

It was so cool that my parents, family friends, Amory, and her whole family were there to cheer me on. They stationed themselves in the middle of the last big turn, which turned out the be the perfect spot. It's towards the end of the race, when your lungs and legs are burning, and it's in a traditionally quiet spot in the race course (no bridges for people to stand on in that section). I loved getting some positive energy there! 

The Artemis girls raced on Sunday and did an awesome job navigating the tough course with 83 other youth eights. And it was their first time racing an 8 at the Charles! 

The racing was definitely the most fun part of the weekend, but the most unique experience was being the subject of a full moon photoshoot on Friday night. My buddies at Row2k invited me to come down and row towards the Boston skyline right as the moon came up. Pretty neat: 

Photo by Erik Dresser/Row2k

It was great to catch up with so many old friends and teammates at the Charles. My only complaint was that it all went by too fast. See you next year, HOCR!

Head of the Charles

Post # 153

This weekend is going to be awesome. It's Head of the Charles in Boston, which means I'll be home for four days soaking up the crisp fall weather, seeing friends from high school, college, and everywhere since, and having some fun racing on the Charles. This event is the largest two-day regatta in the world. So many people from the rowing world come to this race that there's not even enough time to see everyone you want to see.

I'm racing in the openweight event this year (listed as the Championship Single). I've raced the lightweight single for the past four or five years and this year, I signed up for the tougher event. I'm bow #8, racing on Saturday, October 19 at 4:41 pm. Here are the first five bow numbers in my event:

1. Gevvie Stone, raced in the single at the London Olympics. She's also a fellow Boston native, and trains on the Charles. She knows this tough course better than anyone.
2. Ursula Grobler, my teammate in the 2010 Worlds silver medal winning quad, now rows for South Africa
3. Emma Twigg, New Zealand's top single sculler for many years, won a silver medal in Korea in this event
4. Kate Bertko, my doubles partner!
5. Mirka Knapkova, 2011 World Champion and 2012 Olympic champion in this event

So, uh, that's who I get to chase down. Wish me luck and if you're there, come cheer! The Artemis girls are racing in the youth 8+ event (bow #58), along with 84 other crews at 1:22 pm on Sunday.

Here's where to find the live video and results.

Wine Country Classic

Post # 152

Petaluma, California - It's been a blast to start coaching at Artemis again. When I showed up a couple weeks ago, I came without telling the kids (on purpose) and I'm not sure who was more excited to see who: them or me. I brought my medal to pass around. I can't wait for the day when one of them brings me their Worlds medal. It's always a possibility and it can certainly start here, at a hardworking middle/high school club.

Moire wearing my Worlds medal

The kids raced at the Wine Country Classic up in Petaluma, CA today. In the first race of the day, they executed the race plan better than they had at races last year by being more consistent and aggressive. Then, every subsequent race went even better than that one. The day ended with the boys' 4+ winning gold! I'm proud of what these guys are accomplishing. Their excitement about the sport and desire to learn is so fun to be a part of. 

Bow 5 of the 8+

Gold medals ! 

"Back to California Where It's Warm"

Post # 151

After being gone for over a month in Korea, Boston, and Chicago, I've touched down in California again and I'm glad to be here. It was a fun trip and so great to see my family and friends during the weeks after Worlds. Now that I'm back, I'm easing back into work and training. This time of year always tests your patience as an athlete because you feel so slow even though a couple weeks ago you felt so fast. It's tough to wrap your head around when you're on your first couple rows back and you're watching how slow your speed is on the GPS. Somehow it always works out but it never feels like it's going to.

So what's on tap for my fall season? I'll be racing at Head of the Charles again this year, this time in the Championship single. For the past five years I've raced in the lightweight single and this year I'm stepping up to the big leagues and racing past heavyweight Worlds medalists, among other incredibly talented scullers. That's October 19th and 20th. I'll probably do a couple more races, but I'm still sorting out which those will be. More to come!

Happy to be back with the California Rowing Club team 

World Silver Medalists!

Post # 150

We won a silver medal in a tough final race at the World Championships on Saturday!

The field was tightly packed through the 500 before the Italians nudged ahead and led for the rest of the race. Behind them, we fought with the Germans for second place during the entire middle thousand with New Zealand and Great Britain pushing us from behind. In the last 500, we were deep in the pain cave but slightly ahead of Germany and trying to wind it up to get to the line. Once I heard the Italians cross first and scream with elation, I knew we could hold the silver medal position.

Happiness (and waves of pain) after crossing the line

For the record, that Italian girl is standing on her tippy toes

Check out the photo gallery of the medal ceremony as well as video of the race. 

Huge props to the Italians, who earned the first ever women's World title for their country in any event. That's an incredible feat and one that is so well-deserved. Congrats to the Germans, as well - their longstanding partnership is really starting to rack up some medals now. 

For me and Kate, it was absolutely thrilling to win a medal in this event. It was my fourth time racing the lightweight double on the senior team and though I'd won World Cup medals, I'd never laid claim to a World Championships medal. For Kate, it had been a hard couple of years and now, in her debut year as a lightweight, she won a Worlds medal. She also now has medals in both lightweight and heavyweight events at Worlds. That's pretty badass. Here's our post-race interview with USRowing (yep, I'm still out of breath).

It was a great weekend for Team USA overall; we won medals in eight events. Between that and the Lucerne results, it's been a solid first year in the Road to Rio and everyone, regardless of where they train or what event they're in, seems ready to get back to work and build towards next year. 

Thanks for the support and for following along. Go USA! 

Our women's 8 won their seventh consecutive World Championships title

A pair of bronze medals for our men's sweep program: congrats to the four and eight. 

Yeah lightweights! Our quad won a silver medal. 

Worlds - Last One, Fast One

Post # 149

Chungju, South Korea - With a second place finish in the semifinal yesterday, only one race stands between us and the end of the season: the World Championship A Final.

Our race will be STREAMED LIVE at 3:48 pm tomorrow. That's 2:48 am EST Saturday morning and 11:48 pm PDT Friday night. Set your alarms!

We'll face the exact same countries and athletes as we did at the World Cup: Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.

You can also check out World Rowing and ITA's Twitter accounts for up-to-the-minute results. I'll update mine later on in the day.

To all the Team USA crews racing in this weekend's finals: let's make this last one a fast one!

Last few strokes of the semi. Full photo gallery here. 

Winner winner chicken dinner: men's four gets their bowball across the line first in their semi

Powerful women's pair stays ahead of New Zealand to take second place in their semi

Worlds: Semifinal Day

Post # 148

Chungju, South Korea - The last few days have dragged on. We had three full non-racing days and that's provided a lot of time to for practices, but also for rest and mental preparation for our semis and finals. I've been polishing off yet another book and closely followed my teammates' heats and reps racing via online tracking to break up the monotony.

The good news? Tomorrow is our semifinal. The draw has us in Semi 1 at 10:54 am, which is earlier than the original schedule due to predicted storms. We'll face Denmark, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, and Argentina. Something interesting about our semi draw is that all three Lucerne medalists are in the same one. Yup, gonna be some fun racing. Top 3 will advance to the A final and a shot at the medals.

You can WATCH LIVE video of this one - 9:54 pm Wednesday for the east coast, 6:54 pm in CA. And if you're going to watch my race, it's well worth your while to watch the ones before and after mine as well. It'll be a fast, tight, crazy morning of racing for Team USA. Here's the full schedule.

Go USA!

World Championships: Heats

Post # 147

Chungju, South Korea - Sitting on the starting line in the last moments before any race is tense, and rowing races are no different. Once we're locked on and ready to go, everything goes silent (save for the cameramen's shutters clicking away) and you can feel some intense nerves in the air. We were in full-on race-mode today when that tension was cut by a grasshopper that unexpectedly landed on Kate's hand. She tried to flick it off and instead it jumped onto my hat, right near my eye. This of course startled me and gave us both a laugh - maybe just what we needed to stay light.

Grasshopper crisis averted

Overall, day 1 of racing at the World Championships was a successful one for Team USA with four crews winning their heats. Kate and I are excited to be one of these crews and will advance directly to Thursday's semifinal. With Worlds being a week-long regatta instead of the the three day boom-boom-boom formula of World Cups, there's more of an opportunity for recovery between races. We'll have a few days to sharpen up and get ready for the big races ahead.

Results sheet select "LW2x" under "Select Class," then click on the  >  for heat 2's results.
Bio on World Rowing to see just the final result

Report from Row2k on the whole team

More to come later this week!