World Champs day 2: M2x Heats
Beautiful day here in Chungju. Sunny, hot, and flat water.
When we got to the course today I was surprised to see my Dad waiting for us to get off the bus. I was very surprised since he had told me he definitely was not coming! It was great to see him. He helped me a ton this summer overseas racing the 1x, so it brought good vibes to see him.
Ben and I were definitely feeling some pre race jitters this morning. I think it was mostly due to just not knowing the field and having no idea how we would stack up. I tried to keep the mood light by joking around more than usual..I think it helped, haha, but who knows. I felt like Coach Roock was being unecesarily serious in our pre-race talk. Yeah its a big race, yeah everyones really fast, yeah there are a lot of uncertainties, but shit, this is also going to be an absolute blast. We get to go out on a perfect race course, against the best doubles in the world, and race it UP! I know thats not the way he meant for his speech to come off, but I felt like it was important that we get on the water feeling loose and not tightened by the pressure of a big stage.
It was definitely the least nervous I have been for an international race. We had a good warm up and were not late to the line! We got off the line pretty well and at 250m down, we were a little bit up on the field. We then shifted to base. Right when we did that, everyone else kept pushing and came through us. This is something we will never do again. It was not a mistake, because its what we always do. But we just cannot afford to let that happen. My sense is that we can stay high a little longer and stay with the leaders longer. Either way, we were still right with the pack and the boat was feeling pretty smooth. I think we were a little conservative in the middle of the race, but hey, thats fine. We had a solid middle thousand. By the time we got to 500 to go, NZL and GB had established themselves a few seconds ahead of us, but we were very close to the Aussies right next to us. We started moving through them in the last 500, but we did not really access the top end speed of our sprint. The aussies responded well to us and finished a couple seconds ahead of us. We missed qualifying straight to the Semi but all in all it was a good run down the course. It was a pretty consistent piece. I think we will have a pretty steep learning curve throughout this regatta which I am pretty excited for. I know we can squeeze more speed out of ourselves. I always find that over the course of a regatta like this you really find the most efficient way to cover the distance. Bottom line is that we are in the game. First things first, we need to make it into the top 12, AB semi. One race at a time and you can never take a rep lightly. All of these boats are legit. That being said, I think we still have some speed up our sleeves and can make a big splash in the days to come.
We have the day off tomorrow to work on a few things, then Rep on Wednesday. Top 3 to the AB semifinal.
When we got to the course today I was surprised to see my Dad waiting for us to get off the bus. I was very surprised since he had told me he definitely was not coming! It was great to see him. He helped me a ton this summer overseas racing the 1x, so it brought good vibes to see him.
Ben and I were definitely feeling some pre race jitters this morning. I think it was mostly due to just not knowing the field and having no idea how we would stack up. I tried to keep the mood light by joking around more than usual..I think it helped, haha, but who knows. I felt like Coach Roock was being unecesarily serious in our pre-race talk. Yeah its a big race, yeah everyones really fast, yeah there are a lot of uncertainties, but shit, this is also going to be an absolute blast. We get to go out on a perfect race course, against the best doubles in the world, and race it UP! I know thats not the way he meant for his speech to come off, but I felt like it was important that we get on the water feeling loose and not tightened by the pressure of a big stage.
It was definitely the least nervous I have been for an international race. We had a good warm up and were not late to the line! We got off the line pretty well and at 250m down, we were a little bit up on the field. We then shifted to base. Right when we did that, everyone else kept pushing and came through us. This is something we will never do again. It was not a mistake, because its what we always do. But we just cannot afford to let that happen. My sense is that we can stay high a little longer and stay with the leaders longer. Either way, we were still right with the pack and the boat was feeling pretty smooth. I think we were a little conservative in the middle of the race, but hey, thats fine. We had a solid middle thousand. By the time we got to 500 to go, NZL and GB had established themselves a few seconds ahead of us, but we were very close to the Aussies right next to us. We started moving through them in the last 500, but we did not really access the top end speed of our sprint. The aussies responded well to us and finished a couple seconds ahead of us. We missed qualifying straight to the Semi but all in all it was a good run down the course. It was a pretty consistent piece. I think we will have a pretty steep learning curve throughout this regatta which I am pretty excited for. I know we can squeeze more speed out of ourselves. I always find that over the course of a regatta like this you really find the most efficient way to cover the distance. Bottom line is that we are in the game. First things first, we need to make it into the top 12, AB semi. One race at a time and you can never take a rep lightly. All of these boats are legit. That being said, I think we still have some speed up our sleeves and can make a big splash in the days to come.
We have the day off tomorrow to work on a few things, then Rep on Wednesday. Top 3 to the AB semifinal.
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