Lightweight Eats

Read about yesterday's racing here.

Racing has concluded on the second day of NSR1. By qualifying for the semi-final yesterday afternoon, I essentially guaranteed myself a spot in the B final, so all I had to do today was get myself down the course.

Weigh-in was early again, and a bit easier this morning than yesterday. It's still not my favorite experience, but it's so worth it to be competing against rowers of the same size. I'm so lucky that I am the right size to row as a lightweight. It certainly takes effort, but 5'5"-5'8" is the typical height range for lights, and I fall right in the middle of that range at 5'6.5".

I used the race as an opportunity to practice racing strategy. I had no illusion that I would make the A final. I certainly gave it a go for the first quarter of the race, but after that re-focused on my boat and my racing.

Photos from most of my races are posted at row2k.com

I have some technical issues I've been working on--I'm rowing a different boat than I row at home and it's a bit bigger than I'm used to. That was great in the windy time trial, but since I float higher in the water it takes a bit more effort to keep the blades seated in the water. (I'm also using a different brand of oars, which may be contributing.)

 I've also noticed that the boat pulls to my left, so I was trying to figure out what was going on there.

I finished last in the semi-final but I'm happy with the time I posted relative to the effort I put in. Now I'm just trying to make it through the last day of super focused eating and drinking before tomorrow. I race at 7:52AM EST, and races will be broadcast live at http://www.youtube.com/user/usrowingorg

I will be in lane 6 and my boatmate from the WL4x in Australia will be in lane 2.

Kristin and Stesha both made their respective A finals, and Ann will be racing the B final tomorrow morning.