11^th. It doesn’t seem like a particularly important number when it’s just sitting there, all alone, lacking any sort of context. Just two ones, thrown together, hanging out, minding their own business. Of course, once you start to fill in the blanks, the weight of 11^th makes itself known. At the 2010 World Championships in Karapiro, my partner and I finished 11^th, a result that was meaningful only in that if we were able to repeat that performance, we would be able to claim an Olympic spot for the US in the lightweight men’s double. I’ve spent the past year training with that in mind. There were other markers along the way, improvements in erg times and in the weight room, speed in the single and the double, winning NSR2 and racing well at World Cups.

But at the end of the day, 11^th was the goal of the year, and this year we missed the mark.

As I starting writing this, it seemed to be turning into an argument about why we’re still really good, how we did everything we could to get into the A/B semifinal, how, like seriously guys, come on, we’re really pretty good! But that’s not where I meant to go, so (previous sentence excluded), I’ll move on to my point – failing really sucks.

Like it or not, I’m not racing in the Little League of rowing. The World Championships are the highest level of competition in rowing, and within the Olympic-class lightweight events, the margins are vanishingly small. We’re all the same weight, most of us are using the same equipment, and so any differences in speed are due to fine examples of rowing, raw fitness, and more often than not, brass balls. Coming into the 2011 Worlds, I felt that we had made meaningful changes to at least two of those three categories, with the understanding that all the events here are getting more competitive with Olympic spots up for grabs. We were rowing cleaner, pulling harder than last year, and certainly seemed to be going faster.

Unfortunately the realization that it’s not enough usually comes at a pretty crappy time, and for me it was a couple strokes shy of the finish line in the quarterfinal, four seconds down on the Portuguese. The end result is what matters here, not how hard you tried, and so with the deepest respect to my competitors, and with the full appreciation of just how hard I tried, I can say with authority that it really, really sucked.

Fortunately, the dream ain’t dead. There are two more spots up for grabs in the lightweight double this coming summer in Lucerne at the ominously named Last Chance Qualifier. While it’s hard to peg exactly what you did right and what you did wrong, there are some clear areas of improvement, and while it would have been nice to spend this next year training knowing that the US had a slot, this could be the kick in the ass that I needed to push through to the next level of speed.

Congrats to all the US crews, and, grudgingly, crews from other countries, who secured slots in the Olympics.

- Brian de Regt, USA 2011 LM2x

shivs

As in every pre-Olympic year, this year’s Team carries with it the additional responsibility of qualifying events for the upcoming Olympic Games. With Finals beginning tomorrow, some crews have already faced elimination from this year’s qualification pool and will have to try again next year in Lucerne to grab the few remaining spots for London. My crew and I had the honor of being the first USA crew to qualify a boat for London with our performance in yesterday’s Rep. As the top seven quads at this year’s World Championships punch tickets for 2012, our advancement to the A Final guarantees at least a 6th place finish for us, and more importantly that a women’s quad from the United States will line up to race for medals in London. We may not be the four athletes sitting in those seats, but the point is that four United States athletes will have the opportunity.

Qualification changes things. It adds a dimension to racing and advancement at the World Championships that just isn’t present the the other two years of the quadrennium. While my personal philosophy is not to let anything–qualification included–change who you are as a racer or a teammate when it comes time to put it on the line, this is a hard one to ignore. In our meeting the night before our Rep, it was one of the last things we talked about as a group. We kept it brief, but I wanted to make sure that the four of us acknowledged that we had the opportunity to qualify the boat the following day; that it was an important part of what we were here to do; and that we weren’t going to let it affect our race plan. We were still going to race hard, make the Final, and then go from there.

That having been said, as we closed ther last 350 meters in our Rep and we were a seat up on GB and down one to China, I was thinking only one thing: QUALIFY. It was what got me through the last strokes of our piece.

My coach in college always used to say: “Race hard, all the way to the line. Stay focused on what you can do in your boat. And when you cross the line, look up and see what place you got. That’s all you can do.” When we crossed the line yesterday, I didn’t know if we had crossed first, second or third. But without seeing the results board, I pounded on the side of the boat and yelled, “Yeah USA!” to my crew. We raced tough against some very fast crews all the way down the course. We pushed the pace and forced other crews to react to us. As a young crew with not a lot of experience, it was a great step for us, and something that not many US Women’s sculling crews have been able to do. With or without the result, we had a great race Looking up and seeing USA in first position on the results board was just the cherry on top.

Now that the dust has settled and our Final for tomorrow is set, the attitude isn’t different, but it is amplified. The most important part of our job here is done, and I can say that with that comes a significant sense of relief. Now we get to line up with the five other fastest crews in the world and do it all over again, without the pressure of qualifying the boat for next year’s Team. Tomorrow we’re racing for medals.

Now the fun starts.

Long Live the Dream,

- Megan Kalmoe, USA 2011 W4x

shivs

shivs

Any kind of traveling is tough as a lightweight, but air cross-continental travel can be brutal.  Airports are littered with calorie rich goodies.  If you talk to any rower they will tell you that most lightweights have a serious sweet tooth.  I, from experience can tell you it is a mental challenge to not inhale sweets all day.

To avoid this predicament I have learned to travel prepared.  If I do not bring some food along I WILL end up snacking on trail mix, candy or tuna salad sandwiches (tuna salad in airports is mostly mayonnaise).  Trail mix may sound great too, but it is loaded with fat that does not make weighing in 2 hours prior to racing easy.  So I bring fruit, vegetables and premade sandwiches.  This trip was a pretty good one.  I had an apple, a crown of broccoli and baby carrots.  Obviously, I don’t think many people could last an entire trip on those foods alone so I do eat some airplane food.

Airplane food can be very dangerous.  It’s mass produced food, which I’ve had plenty of while in the navy, meaning it’s probably not healthy.  However, there are healthier versions.  I choose to not eat quite a bit of it as well.  Last night’s flight was a choice of bbq chicken and vegetable pasta.  I went with pasta.  The meal came with pasta, salad, bread, crackers, cheese, ranch dressing and a brownie.  I ate most of the pasta, the salad without the dressing (Tim McLaren would be proud), a little bread and of course the brownie.  There are a lot of bad calories in ranch dressing and the cheese that I don’t need.  The brownie is not the healthiest choice, but everyone needs a vice….

The best part about this entire process is the looks you get from fellow travelers. (Click here to read the rest of Jimmy’s blog)

- Jimmy Sopko, 2011 USA LM8+

Please consider supporting the USA LM8+ on their journey to the World Championships. Not all boats are funded and many athletes pay the costs to represent our rowing community from their own savings. Please consider making a donation at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/2011uslm8/2011uslm8. Every little bit helps.- shivs

Our first race in the heat, we had a decent piece for our first full 2k together as a crew, but it left everyone in the boat a little underwhelmed. We knew we had more speed to show than a third place finish in this preliminary race, and we were determined to prove it in the repechage. Fueled by this collective belief and a little desperation to avoid being relegated to the B final for the second year in a row, we asserted ourselves and steadily charged through the race to best both our North American rivals, the Canadians, as well as the home-country favorites New Zealand. It felt good to finally show some of the speed we knew we possessed.

Now we have a chance to show the defending world champions and the rest of the field that the USA men’s eight is returning to form in the Grand Final. We’ll have Germany, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands to deal with. Be sure to watch. It’s going to be a race for the ages.

- Brett Newlin, USA 2010 M8+

But rowers aren’t just mindless machines muscling the boat down the course (despite any stories our coxswain might tell you!). We also require some mental warm up in order to race at our best. In fact, some coaches might argue that given two crews of equal strength and skill, the crew with the greater mental preparation will almost always prevail.

Positive affirmations, reviewing the race plan, pump-up music—all of these factors help get our mind ready to race. But the most effective part of our mental preparation occurs even before we leave the hotel: visualization.

Visualization is a key part of our routine the night before a race.  We envision ourselves at the starting blocks, cool and relaxed. We picture ourselves in the heart of the race, matching our opponents stroke for stroke. And as we see ourselves powering toward the finish line, we recall the roar of the crowd and the burning in our legs.

By visualizing our race on land, we can remain unperturbed despite any unexpected glitches on race day (the general chaos of the warm-up area can unnerve even an experienced crew!)

So in the last 500 meters, when our legs are burning and our lungs are aching and we see blackness at the edge of our vision, we can ALL remain unfazed. We KNOW that we can power through any doubts or pain, because we already visualized it on land!

- Jamie Redman, USA 2010 W8+

So when the gentle breeze turns into a blustering gale only hours before the Opening Ceremonies, forgive us if we groan in frustration at Mother Nature’s cruel sense of humor.

However, rowers are experts at waiting out weather-related delays. We stretch, we nap, we play cards, we read… everyone has their favorite way to fend off boredom as we wait for the wind to die down. When officials announced that indeed yes, the course will remain closed for the rest of the afternoon (thus eliminating the possibility of another row), Team USA didn’t miss a beat.

In a planning session this summer, US Rowing decided to send ten rowing machines to New Zealand, in the event that the NZ springtime weather proves temperamental. So even if we can’t go out on the water this afternoon, rest assured that Team USA is maintaining fitness… albeit in the hotel parking lot.

Lucky for us, the wind is supposed to die down by the time the Finals roll around on the weekend. But if not, no worries! We have trained in worse (think springtime college racing in the Charles River basin!), and we are ready to race in whatever conditions Mother Nature has in store for us!

- Jamie Redman, USA 2010 W8+

Check out Jamie’s new blog site at www.jamieredman.wordpress.com! – shivs