Lightweight Eats

When I left off, we were just headed into the finals on Saturday morning.

Our 7:14AM race time meant the weigh-in window began at 5:14AM. I was incredibly thankful to not be worried about weight—I heard of others waking up in the 3's to sweat down to 130 pounds for the weigh-in.

Everything went according to plan, and the six rowers in the B final took off down the course more or less together. It was great racing—the field was really tight the whole way. The early leaders, Mary Foster and Emily Schmieg, ended up in first and second, with my teammate Sarah Giancola coming in third. Lauren Ayers and I were head to head the whole course, but she opened up about a second lead in the last 400m to take fourth. I came in fifth, followed by Morgan McGovern in sixth.

This was a much closer racing experience than last year's NSR1, despite not going through the full progression of racing. It will be fun to see how all of the lightweight women stack up when we pair off into doubles for the next regatta—the second national selection regatta.

This weekend, Sarah and I will be headed up to Boston to do some informal racing in doubles with some of the girls from Riverside Boat Club. It will be a good chance to connect with more of the lightweights training around the country—we are so dispersed that I regularly race people I've never met!!

Over the next few weeks, I will also be losing weight—what fun! For the single, at NSR1, all competitors are required to be under 59kg (130lbs). For the double, the average weight of the crew must be 57kg or under—four pounds lighter!

Based on results from my DEXA scan and previous experience, I've planned on getting down to a bit under 57kg for NSR2. This is fairly light for me, but I know I don't lose as much strength as many other lightweights as I drop in weight. I never imagined myself as a "weight maker" but I'm glad to have the option—my erg scores aren't fast enough yet for anything else!

Did you race at the first NSR? What did you think? What are your plans for the rest of spring and summer racing?

Follow me on Twitter! If you like what you read, please share it using the buttons below!

We arrived in Princeton earlier this week to blustery weather and choppy water. Yuck! Not ideal for rowing at all. But racing must go on, we thought.

Thursday morning, we arrived at the boathouse and weighed in at 6:15AM, ready for our 8:15AM race time. Conditions were fair, but not ideal. As we rowed up to the start line, I could feel the wind pick up. The warm-up area was challenging to row, but not unmanageable, I thought.

(Note: My boat is two sizes too big, so I've got some great clearance from the water—perfect for rough conditions. My teammate in a smaller boat was less thrilled with the waves crashing over her.)

The men's and women's lightweight singles were bunched up, ready to begin our time trial, anxious and excited. And then the announcement came: racing was cancelled, head home to the dock. I practically surfed back to the dock on the waves—what a blast!

Thursday's racing was postponed and our schedule compressed from four races to two. So this morning, we were at it again. Our time trial went down the course at 10:30AM in mild headwind conditions.

Photo from US Rowing Check out that sweet backsplash. And yes, those are my favorite JL shorts.. ...so happy we don't have to wear a unisuit

I placed 8th among an incredibly competitive field of lightweights. I wish I'd had the opportunity to race through the heats and semi-finals, but my 8th place finish puts me into tomorrow morning's 'B' final.



We're racing incredibly early: 7:14AM EST. Hopefully, we'll have fair conditions (although I can't say I'm not hoping for some wind and waves). See you on the other side!

Results should be posted on the US Rowing website shortly after the race:
http://usrowing.org/NationalTeams/OlympicSeniorNationalTeam/SrNTSelectionEvents/2014NSR1/2014NSR1Results.aspx

Follow me on Twitter! If you like what you read, please share it using the buttons below!

Greeting from South Carolina! Today was our last day of training camp down in Aiken, SC. Starting tomorrow, we'll be in Princeton, preparing for the first National Selection Regatta. For lightweight women, this is an opportunity to race in singles and see how we stack up early in the season. I'm looking forward to it!

This week, we've been doing a lot of race prep work and spending a lot of time getting used to our boats.

Leaving California, I also left behind the single I was rowing (it was a club boat). Moving to GMS, I've had to find a new boat. I started out in a club Filipi, but after a few days, I'm back to a Hudson, and happy about it for the time being. The Hudson is big for me—two sizes larger than the one I rowed in California—but it still feels quick.

I'm considering a boat purchase soon—a big decision! (If you know anybody selling a 2-3 year old lightweight women's racing shell, let me know.) I'm hoping to try out a few different brands over the next 6-9 months and find the one that suits me best. So far Hudson is in the lead, but I've yet to try an Empacher or a Fluidesign.

Wish me luck with racing this coming week! I'll try to post an update as I have more information, but as of now the racing is as follows:
Thursday AM - Time Trials
Thursday PM - Heats (for top 18 boats)
Friday AM - Semi-Finals and C/D Finals
Saturday AM - A/B Finals

More information can be found here:
http://usrowing.org/NationalTeams/OlympicSeniorNationalTeam/SrNTSelectionEvents/2014NSR1.aspx

Follow me on Twitter! If you like what you read, please share it using the buttons below!

Apologies for the radio silence! We've been busy welcoming spring here at GMS.






Follow me on Twitter! If you like what you read, please share it using the buttons below!