Lightweight Eats

My last race in Princeton, I missed every single goal on my checklist. This time, I nailed all but one. My goal coming into this regatta was, first and foremost, to learn a lot. A tight race in the heats between me and Cara Stawicki checked that one off easily.

Things are looking up for me. pc: Dan Copenhaver

Before the heats, I was so nervous I thought I might throw up. I'd beaten Cara in the time trial the night before, but not by much.

The time trial was 1900 meters.

Off the start, I knew Cara would be fast. I didn't want to let her get too far away, but the pace was smoking hot. I had to make a decision to let her go, even though Guenter told me not to. I was a boat length down, plus maybe some open water, coming into the halfway point, and definitely scared.

But I did what I came to do—go fast. I kept my head in my boat and let the speed come to me instead of forcing it. As I moved to level in the 3rd 500 meters, I definitely had some doubts. Again, I refocused on the present and put in an awesome sprint for the win in the heats. (I crossed the line at 40 strokes per minute and 1:49/500m pace.)



That win earned me the day off on Wednesday (and helped me get my nerves under control). I went to the race course anyways, to spectate and mingle.

While I was there, I got to watch the quad from Potomac (whose selection camp I skipped) qualify for Worlds. I'm super excited for all of the girls in that boat but it was definitely difficult to know that their choices had led them to a place where I so want to be someday—Team USA.

Watching that race definitely revved me up for my race the next day: the FINAL! Although a win was never realistic for me, I knew that one of my other goals was to set myself up for next year. Coming in second place overall was crucial to achieving that goal, and the closer I could be to Mary Jones, the eventual winner, the better.

The final was similar to the heat—I was down at the start, and moved through both Cara and Kat Schiro over the middle 1000m of the race.


In the end, I was 11 seconds behind Mary. I would have liked to sneak under 7:50, especially as many of my training paces indicated that was reasonable, but I was ecstatic with second place. I know I have my work cut out for me, narrowing that 11-second margin

For the month of August, I am scaling back my time in boats and giving myself a mental break from the grind of training. I will be running, lifting, and occasionally picking up some oars, but also trying to do all of the things I don't normally get to do—gardening, visiting family, hiking, maybe drinking some alcohol?

I will also be running some road races and posting some of my workouts on Twitter—follow me (@lightweighteats) if you want to see what a "fun" month is for an elite athlete.

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ICYMI, I've been racing at World Championship Trials all week! A link to results should be posted on the US Rowing website and available from herenow.com. 
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Good weight management has been a foundation to my athletic success. I've found a place where I can put the scale away for a month or two in the fall and winter, but still get myself within 100 grams of my target weight on race day. I'm really proud of how I've achieved precision without obsession.



A big part of that is knowing the plan in advance. So, here was my weight plan for the past season, with feedback for myself below.

I came out of 2015 Seniors Trials in June. I weighed in around 56kg (123 pounds), but I played a lot of tricks with salt and carbs to get there. I pretty quickly came up to 58kg and then put the scale away and slowly gained weight until September.

THE PLAN
Start: end of September - 133-134 pounds

--> two and a half weeks to lose 1-2 pounds
**October 17 - Head of the Charles - 132 pounds

--> 3 weeks to lose 2 pounds
**November 7 - Fall Speed Order - 130 pounds
**November/December/January - 132-136 pounds

In preparation for trials, I scheduled weigh-ins about every two and a half weeks, starting February 10th. These were just for me—no coaches involved—but the weigh ins helped me stay accountable.
--->10-12 weeks to lose 10 pounds

Weigh in reminder in my training log...

...and weight recorded the next day.

Weigh-in date --- goal weight --- actual weight
Feb 11 --- 60kg (132.2lbs) --- 60kg (132.2lbs)
Feb 29 --- 59kg (130.0lbs) --- 60kg (132.2lbs) <-- oops!
Mar 18 --- 58kg (127.8lbs) --- 59kg (130.0lbs)
April 5 --- 57kg (125.6lbs) --- 57.8 kg (127.6lbs)
April 19 --- 56kg (123.4lbs) --- 56.5kg (124.6lbs)

**April 21-24 - Olympic Trials - 55-56kg / 121-123 pounds
[n.b. to make this weight, I did NOT lose 2-3 pounds of fat in two days. I lost some water weight via reduced salt/carbs and sweat out 1-2 pounds in the mornings, pre-weigh-in.]

--> come up to 125-126 quickly, then slowly gain 2-3 pounds
**July 18th - Worlds Trials - 128-129 pounds


THE GOOD
I did better than expected managing my weight in December and January when I was visiting family. I didn't have a scale for most of that time, and came back late January at 133-134 pounds despite copious holiday eating.

I fell behind on weight loss in February, but instead of freaking out, I adjusted my plan. Instead of the original plan of losing 1kg every 2.5 weeks, I adjusted my goal to 1.2kg every 2.5 weeks, or about a pound a week. Since my original plan was a little generous, I ended up losing weight in a very sustainable way.

March through July have gone great. I didn't lose too much muscle coming down to 56kg. That has allowed me to add muscle compared to where I was in February, as I come up to single racing weight. What fun.

Looking super lean at 125lbs for 2015 Elite Nationals.

If you race as a lightweight, I'd love to hear how your plan is the same or different. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome! This is something that not a lot of lightweights address publicly, and I get a lot of questions about it.

Racing begins Monday evening on Mercer Lake in New Jersey. Because not all boat classes are represented at the Olympic Games, the World Rowing organization also hosts a non-Olympic World Championships. For lightweight women, five of our seven available seats are contested at this event.

US Rowing

This trials event selects the athletes who will represent the USA in Rotterdam in late August. This year, the race also coincides with Junior and Under-23 Worlds, so these boats will also be selected this coming week.



I'll be racing the lightweight women's single. Heat sheets will be posted at herenow.com after the athlete meeting on Monday afternoon and live results will go up during racing. I will try to update my Twitter so you can follow along. Typically, US Rowing also live streams the finals, so if I make it through to the final, check the US Rowing YouTube page.

I appreciate all cheering, but if you'd like to be a super fan, I've gathered information about my competitors below.

Approximate Race Schedule (weather permitting): all times EST
Monday 5:45PM - Time Trial (all advance)
Tuesday 10:50AM - 2 Heats (winner to Final, rest to Rep)
Wednesday 11:20AM - 2 Repechages (winner to Final, rest eliminated)
Thursday 8:50AM - Final (winner to Worlds)

Competitors (7): Mary Jones, Michelle Sechser, Cara Stawicki, Kat Schiro, Michaela Copenhaver, Sydney Taylor, Annie Couwenhoven

What to expect:
Mary Jones and Michelle Sechser are the big guns in this race. This quadrennial, Mary represented the USA in the lightweight quad at the 2014 World Championships and in the lightweight single at the 2015 Pan American Games (where she won gold). She is coming off of an impressive 2nd place finish in the open weight double at Olympic trials.

Michelle has represented the USA in the lightweight women's single at the 2013 World Championships and 2016 World Cup 2 (coming away with a fourth place finish, less than six second back from current world record holder Zoe McBride). Michelle was also part of the USA lightweight double in 2014 and 2015, and helped qualify the boat for the Olympic Games.

A lot of experience is an understatement.

Cara Stawicki, Sydney Taylor and Kat Schiro all recently switched clubs. Cara made the move from Vesper down the street to Penn AC (racing as Schuylkill Navy) while Kat made the move cross country from SoCal Scullers to Potomac Boat Club. Sydney moved from Lincoln Park BC in Chicago to join the Pocock RC in Seattle.

Cara, Kat and I have all traded back and forth wins. In 2014, Cara made her way into the A-final at the first National Selection Regatta. Kat (who represented the USA at U23 Worlds in 2011) earned a spot in the final at the 2015 PanAm trials, where both Cara and I were eliminated in the semi-final round with near identical times. Shortly thereafter, I bested Kat at Elite Nationals, after racing together in the quad at Senior Trials. I suspect all three of us will be racing for a spot in the A-final, and looking to close the gap to Mary and Michelle.

Kat in stroke seat (left), with me in bow (right), for our lightweight quad in 2015.

Cara (far left) and I won gold together in the light quad at the 2014 National Championships (where she also won the light double)

Sydney will also be looking to join the mix with Cara, Kat and me. After a strong debut result at PanAm Trials last year, where she beat me in the time trial and bested Cara in the heats, she's had a tough spring of racing to start 2016. Sydney is one of the youngest athletes in the group.

The biggest unknown in the field is Annie Couwenhoven. She has raced in a few U23 trials as an open weight, but this will be her first appearance at a Senior trials event.

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As I gear up for another four year cycle of training, I am thinking about the things I want to do better this time around. I'm really bad at asking for help, but the few times I have asked, the outcome has blown me away.

These past few years, I've been hosted by generous families, borrowed equipment, used expertise and been buoyed by your love and support. I suspect there are more of you out there who would love to help, but don't know how.

So, I came up with a list of the things that mean the most to me and keep me on track even through tough times.

1. Be a super fan.
Find me on social media (Twitter Instagram Facebook), where I post regular updates and upcoming race information. Tweet at me, comment on my photos, and get your friends involved. Share this post with your network!

How it helps:
After a hard race or brutal training week, there is nothing better than loving words from my fan club. It helps me be proud of even bad performances, and that means I can learn from them and do better.

As I try to secure sponsorships over the upcoming year, your support will help me show companies that they want to back me.

2. Send fan mail.
Want to be a super fan? You can send me postcards, letter and care packages! I can be reached at the boathouse:
Michaela Copenhaver
c/o GMS Rowing Center
172 Grove Street
New Milford, CT 06776

If you're sending a care package, my mom is a care package professional, so if you know her, ask for suggestions! Otherwise, please keep it veg friendly and remember that we don't have a lot of space for knick knacks so consumables are preferable.

How it helps:
Getting fan mail makes me feel like a rock star, and when I feel like a rock star, I treat myself like one.

3. Help me save money.
Travel is a huge expense for me. Road trips to Princeton, Boston and Florida. Flights to warmer weather (and hopefully to international races). Hotel stays for racing.

Most people love to travel and use their rewards points to the max. BUT if you travel for work and have a lot of rewards saved up, you can help me save a lot of money on race travel. Most rewards programs either allow you to transfer points or book travel for somebody else.

If you don't travel because you live someplace where the weather is perfect year round, you can help me save money on a training trip! I'm looking to take a 2-3 week trip in December, and would be looking for a host family and a host club with equipment I could borrow.

How it helps:
Every dollar I save on racing and training trips allows me to either reallocate that money to nutrition and equipment or take on fewer hours at work. That makes a huge difference in the quality of my training.

When I do travel on a budget, I can't always book the best accommodations. Sleep is one of the most important factors in successful racing and better housing begets better sleep. A good hotel could help me win a race.

4. Connect me with companies.
Over the next year, I'll be looking to secure corporate sponsors to help support my training. Know a small company in Connecticut that would benefit from associating their brand with a dedicated, high performance athlete? Have connections in a major sports-related retailer? Let me know! Examples include real estate agents, financial services, sports/running stores, health food manufacturers, or clothing companies.

How it helps:
Cold calling is hard. Your introduction can help my conversation with these companies start on the right foot. Even if our specific needs don't match up, it is useful practice and helps me learn what companies need.

5. Donate.
Your time and energy mean the world in supporting my journey. At the moment, I am not prioritizing donations, but I know that they represent your time and energy. If you have the resources to support my journey this way, know that donations make a huge difference and I cherish every one.

Donations are tax-deductible, and can go through the Northeast High Performance Rowing Foundation.

How it helps:
This spring, I used a donation to cover all of the costs of our 6-week training trip to Florida—something that has set me up for a lot of PRs in the single this summer. Donations help me cover race fees, equipment maintenance, and proper nutrition. Mostly importantly, they help me focus on being the best athlete I can be, rather than how to fit training needs into my budget.

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