Lightweight Eats

When I was at the gym in Oregon, a lot of people noticed me training. It's not often that gym-goers push themselves to exhaustion day after day. And a lot of these people came and asked questions or made small talk.

All of it was super encouraging, but two comments in particular left me unsure how to respond.


Both situations were very flattering. I have worked hard for the body I'm wearing. Still, that was never my goal. I never picked a physique and aimed for it, or went to the gym with the hopes of one day fitting into size 0 pants.

All of those things were byproducts of other goals: being stronger, fitter, faster.

Never have I ever gone to the gym thinking, "Gee, I hope this helps me look stronger." I go to the gym and lift weights because I want to BE stronger. And if I still looked weak, I wouldn't mind.

Next time you head to the gym, I challenge you to embrace that mindset—fitter not thinner, stronger not leaner.

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The process of qualifying for the World Championships in the United States is extraordinarily confusing. For those of you following my journey, I thought I would explain the process.

First things first:
As a lightweight woman, there are three boats that compete at the World Championships, held in August each year—a quad (4x, four people/eight oars), double (2x, two people) and single (1x, one person). The double, the only Olympic class boat, is the premier event and has a different selection procedure than the 1x or 4x.

Let's start with the DOUBLE
Every spring, US Rowing hosts two "national selection regattas"—NSR1 and NSR2. For sculling (two oars per person), NSR1 is in singles (1x) and NSR2 is in doubles (2x).

Lightweight women from around the country show up at NSR1 as an opportunity to show how fast they've gotten. US Rowing calls this a "speed order" event, and it's a great way to find a partner for NSR2, about three weeks later.

NSR2 is the first opportunity to make the US National Team for lightweights. The winner of this regatta earns the right to represent the USA at one of the three World Cups. (This year, I placed fourth at NSR2.)

NB: The World Cup Series different from the World Championships. There are three World Cup races are various locations throughout the year. They are international racing opportunities hosted by World Rowing that culiminate in a points trophy.

IF that double attends a World Cup AND places in the top 4, they earn an automatic spot on the team for the World Championships.
Otherwise, US Rowing hosts a trial. The winner of that trials race earns a spot on the team for the World Championships.


But what about the 1x and 4x???

Since those boats are non-Olympic boats (bummer!), they have a different qualification system. Both 1x and 4x go directly to trials. Individual clubs host camps and send athletes to compete at trials, and the winner earns a spot on the team for the World Championships.

It seems simpler, and for the 1x it may be, but there are a lot of politics behind the assembly of four athletes into a 4x. Getting enough and fast enough athletes in one place for enough time for a fair selection process can be rather tricky. That, however, is a topic for another day.


Does that make sense?? Any questions I didn't answer?
Expect an upcoming post on the Road to Rio, and how the OLYMPIC qualification works.

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When people find out I'm vegan, they usually ask why. Great question! People go vegan for all sorts of reasons.

Since weight-restricted athletes also often have very specific eating habits, a lot of people assume I'm vegan to help me make weight. At first, I thought it might help as well. Not the case! It's actually quite difficult to balance making weight, athletics and veganism.

I can't go more than 3-4 hours without eating—no matter how much I eat, it's like throwing twigs on a bonfire. This is especially true when I'm cutting calories to lose weight. When I'm hungry, I descend quickly into hangry (so hungry I'm angry) and that's bad for everybody. If I'm out and about and hunger strikes, I often can't find balanced food to eat, so I have to bring my own snacks everywhere.

Of course, that means I eat better food when I'm on the road, and stick to normalcy even when traveling. But I have definitely been caught out longer than expected with nothing to eat!

So why did I become a vegan?

That's a hard question to answer, but it all starts with vegetables. Have you ever tracked your daily vegetable intake? Are you getting the recommended servings? When I was really honest with myself, I wasn't eating enough vegetables (unless you count cookies as vegetables).

Vegetarianism was a step in the right direction—it got me thinking about my food, branching out to new plants and generally eating better foods. But cookies, muffins, cakes and fried mozzarella sticks are all vegetarian. Veganism has pushed my diet in the healthiest direction and I needed that help.

Trying veganism/eating more vegan food is very different than being vegan, though. The reason I've stopped buying leather and wool, started using cruelty free soaps, and opened my eyes to the exploitation around me? It's the right thing to do.

Once you make the connection between the items around you and the life that provided them, it becomes very difficult to ignore. I would abandon my dreams before abandoning that compassion for the lives around me. There are certainly drawbacks to veganism—but nothing that justifies taking an animal's life or free will to avoid.

Are you vegan? If so, why? If not, what's your favorite vegan food?

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Although winning Nationals was a great mid-summer confidence boost, I'm back to work chasing my dreams. I spent last weekend in Philadelphia racing at the Independence Day Regatta and celebrating July 4th with friends.

Although it was great experience, and I came away with a 2nd place finish in the lightweight women's single, it was a tough weekend physically and mentally.
The race course is in the middle of a park, which makes it extraordinarily isolated—on Friday, I walked 8 miles round trip to get some coffee and lunch. It was hot and unprotected, with high winds and strong current. Given the circumstances, I'm proud of my performance, but it certainly was not my best.

Going forward, I'd like to re-focus on getting faster. Over the last month, I've gotten a good sense of where I am and where I need to be. It's time to close the gap between those two.

I took Monday and Tuesday of this week off to recover from the whirlwind of racing and traveling. Wednesday, I hit the weight room, and Thursday I complete a tough workout on the ergs.

15' warmup
3x3000m (1k@23, 1k@25, 1k@23)
#1 11:54.6 (1:59.1)
#2 11:58.4 (1:59.7)
#3 11:59.3 (1:59.8)
15' cool down

I would have liked to be in the 1:58's, but for being off the ergs for several months now, it wasn't terrible. I'll definitely be checking back in with that workout over the rest of 2014, and hopefully seeing good gains.

I'm now fully back into the swing of things. This morning, we did a 75' row and this afternoon is an epic weight-lifting session. Tomorrow, I'll duke it out in the single with the rest of the GMS athletes for four by 500 meters.

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We're just settling back in to life in New Milford, after a crazy fun week of racing. Last week, US Rowing held Senior World Championship Trials and the Elite National Championships at Mercer Lake in New Jersey.

To recap my week of racing, let's take it one day at a time:

Monday: 
This was the first race for Trials. I raced former teammate Kristin Hedstrom and current teammate Sam Brecht. Top two progressed directly to Tuesday's semi-final. Despite nerves, everything went as expected—I had a solid race and did exactly what I needed to.

1		California (K. Hedstrom)	8:18.05
2		GMS Rowing (M. Copenhaver)	8:21.77
3		GMS Rowing (S. Brecht)	8:50.45

Things played out about as expected across the other three heats, which the exception of newcomer Mary Maginnis. In her first race as a lightweight, she posted really fast times that got everybody talking.

Tuesday:
Semi-finals proved a tough battle for me. I faced off against Kate Bertko, Nicole Dinion and Laurissa Gulich. I had a great race and pulled my best time in the single, but Nicole managed to hold me off for the second spot in Wednesday's grand final.

1		California (K. Bertko)	7:57.53
2		OKC Riversport (N. Dinion)	7:59.86
3		GMS Rowing (M. Copenhaver)	8:02.47
4		Riverside (L. Gulich)	8:26.93

Despite not making the final, I was really happy with my performance. I've gained a lot of speed in the single already this summer, and it is really beginning to show.

Wednesday:
No racing! There was a time-trial scheduled for the evening for Nationals, but enough people dropped out of the regatta that it was cancelled.

Thursday:
The twelve athletes were placed randomly into two heats for the morning session. Only the winner of each heat went directly to the final—everybody else went to an afternoon repechage.

1		Potomac A (E. Schmieg)	7:52.760
2		GMS Rowing A (M. Copenhaver)	7:58.278
3		Vesper A (E. Euiler)	8:07.730
4		Vesper B (E. Maxwell)	8:10.592
5		ROWONT A (A. Fogarty)	8:21.148
6		GMS Rowing C (O. Jamrog)	8:27.992

Tailwind conditions made for fast times, and I made one of my summer goals: break 8 minutes in the single! Emily Schmieg took the top spot, and sent the remaining 5 athletes to the afternoon repechage.

I drew a mostly GMS rep, and had another outstanding race, almost hitting the 8-minute mark again, despite already-raced legs.

1		GMS Rowing A (M. Copenhaver)	8:01.811
2		Craftsbury A (S. Keller)	8:05.877
3		ROWONT A (A. Fogarty)	8:13.003
4		GMS Rowing D (A. Shapiro)	8:19.359
5		GMS Rowing C (O. Jamrog)	8:26.949

Friday:
Two races again! First up, the single.

1	4	NTC - ON A (T. Berkholtz)	8:26.900
2	5	St. Catharines A (L. Sferrazza)	8:33.464
3	2	GMS Rowing A (M. Copenhaver)	8:33.832
4	3	Potomac A (E. Schmieg)	8:45.040
5	6	Craftsbury A (S. Keller)	8:50.900
6	1	Vesper A (E. Euiler)	8:59.208

I'd let the results speak for themselves, but it would be as exciting. The first and second place crews were both Canadian, and therefore ineligible for our national title. That put me, unknowingly, in first place among American competitors! I'm the NATIONAL CHAMPION in the lightweight women's single!!

As for my second race, I got an email mid-week asking me to jump into a lightweight quad that was missing a rower. It was only one race, it was after all of my single racing was done, and it didn't even require an additional weigh-in, so I decided to go for it. Our first row together was the race day warm-up, but it felt pretty great.

And despite racing on tired legs and in a new boat and line-up, we managed to put together another really great race.

1		Vesper/Riverside/GMS (C. Stawicki)	7:05.005
2		Potomac A (E. Schmieg)	7:10.987

Our time wasn't spectacular, largely due to windy conditions, but we managed to win another national title.


Overall, it was a great learning experience. This holiday weekend, I head down to Philadelphia for another weekend of racing at the Independence Day Regatta. This is a much less formal regatta, but it's an opportunity to face off against some of the lightweight women I haven't raced much this season.

If you or anybody you know is interested in sponsoring my trip to IDR or any future racing, please be in touch! You can reach me by email (lightweighteats [at] gmail [dot] com) or via social media.

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