Semi AB

Woke up pretty early this morning with most of my usual vigor, but could feel something missing. At first it was difficult to put my finger on it, but quickly came to the realization that I feel different because we no longer can make the A Final this year at Worlds. That goal has not been met. Every day this year I have woken up with that goal in the forefront of my mind and now it is no longer a possibility. Yesterday, we rowed 1500 meters of A final caliber rowing, but stalled when it came time to lay down an A final caliber sprint. Our base rhythm was the best it has been all year and we saw that when we row like that we are up with the best. Unfortunately, we have been feeling a disconnect in our sprint and it was really highlighted in the last forty strokes yesterday. We lost over a length to the field in 250 meters. You aren't going to win many races doing that. We were all understandably crushed after the race, upset to not have put all the speed we are capable of out on the course, but the reality of the situation is that we have great capacity and are a few small changes away from special things in the future. I think we need to be really careful to not get too down on ourselves and continue to objectively improve. On the day yesterday we did not have the finishing 250 we needed, but one day we will, and that will be the sprint that matters, the one that everyone remembers. This one is important, no doubt, but our boat is nowhere close to a finished product. Each race this year has had elements of trial/error to it. That is just the reality of where we are right now. I think we were capable of rowing a last 500 that would have put us in second place yesterday, but the fact of the matter is that we didn't show that enough in training for it to be automatic. No doubt that the sprint will continue to be the focus as we prepare for the B final tomorrow and moving into next year. 

We have one more chance to blaze down the course together this year. We will be up against world record holders, Russia, among others. I think we are all looking forward to putting down our most complete race tomorrow and celebrating the work we've done together this year. We may be in the B Final, but we take confidence in the fact that the top is closer than ever, and that we closed the gap this year. So much work yet to do, but the trend is positive, and I cherish improvement by any margin. 

Probably world record conditions again out there today, we'll see how close we can get.