HOCR

As I sit in our living room in Craftsbury, enjoying the warmth of the wood stove, I am dreading venturing out into the grey and wet 40 degree late fall weather. It seems like each year after the Head of the Charles, someone flips a switch, and it changes from all the things that are beautiful about the fall to all of things that no one wants to remember about it. Before that switch was flipped and before I had left for Boston, I definitely had some expectations about how the week would go, about how I would race and about the speed I could produce( in the single). I was leaving Craftsbury feeling, by all measures, faster than in the single than I have ever been. The fact that I was going to be rowing in a throw together eight on Sunday with some of the best scullers in the world was more of an afterthought.    Sure, I had done a huge amount of organizational work over the last couple of months to put the crew together and to make sure they were all comfortable with their set-up in Boston, but there's no doubt that I was going to Boston on a mission to show everyone what I was capable of in the single. When all of the guys in the eight started flying in on Monday night, I began to realize that my goals might have to take a backseat this week. Every night we had some sort of function as a crew and from the first moments together as a crew it was hilarious. By Wednesday night, I began to understand that these guys were here to have a great time and by no means was this an event that they were planning on being in top physical form for. It seems to me that these guys, the guys who push the international rowing season to its limits, winning medals at the World Champs and Olympics, they see October is a time when they should not be at their best. If they are at their best, then some other part of the year( the parts that really matter) will suffer. I think that is something that we Americans can learn a lot from. The first three nights I got a combined 12 hours of sleep. The way these guys took me in as part of the crew was  difficult to believe. Naturally, as  peer pressure goes, I didn't want to be the lametard( like I usually am), who values sleep and rest over staying out late drinking with friends. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, but it was just not consistent with the speed I planned on producing in the 1x on Saturday afternoon. Although I tried to trick myself into thinking I could do everything, somewhere deep down I knew that I was sacrificing my single sculling for these guys. Fast forward to my single race.

I felt slow from stroke one of the warmup. In the back of my mind, I knew how this week had gone, I knew how little sleep I was running on, I knew how much busy work I had been doing, how much I had been on my feet. Still, I tried to rally because this was the race I wanted, not the eight, the single. I knew that with my best race, I could lay down speed that would be tough to beat. And for the first time, I felt like I knew the course well enough to make a real impact. By the time I was queuing up for the race I had tricked myself into thinking that all was well and that I was ready. Unfortunately, after about a minute of rowing, I knew that was far from the truth. I had come up on Julien Bahain, but it was obvious that my rhythm was labored. As I passed Riverside BC, a few minutes into the race, my muscles felt achy and powerless. I kept trying to move the boat and stay on pace for the next few minutes, but I just was not sculling with my usual reserve of power and energy. Ben had moved up on me and by the time we were going around the big turn around Cambridge, I was just waking him and sitting a couple lengths ahead of him. So, I made the call to yield to him. Yes, you could say it was the easy way out and I should have just hunkered down and finished out strong. I may have even been able to pick myself up  and move away from Ben again in the back end of the race. But I guess deep down I know that I was not at my best, far from it. I could see that Ben was having a really good piece and I did not want to take him down with me. I would rather one of us have a great piece. So, I yielded to him, and told him to GO. He did a good job and finished fifth just a few seconds behind Mahe Drysdale. It was awful paddling through the Eliot Bridge. There were so many people watching who I wanted to show my speed. There were so many people on the shore who expected things from me and honestly, that hurt the most. It hurt so much paddling back to the dock, knowing that I had just given away an opportunity. It hurt not because its the Head of the Charles, the regatta doesn't really mean anything as far as my bigger goals go, but it hurt because it is a chance for fan's of the sport who can't normally watch me row to see me row in person. Instead of being a shining example of the hard work, dedication, and technique it takes to row at the highest level, I put on a display of mediocrity. For the next 20 hours or so leading into the Champ 8 race, I could not stop thinking about this race. I knew that I was just tired and worn out, but when asked why I did so poorly in the 1x, I can't just tell a 14 year old kid that I stayed out late drinking with Mahe Drysdale and Ondrej Synek for a week! I knew conceptually that I would bounce back but that didn't change they way I felt. It stung to have so many people watch me row so far below my best. All of that being said, I was super impressed with Andrew Campbell winning the event. He obviously has his racing lines down and a lot of speed. He is a guy who time and time again shows up in big races and I really respect him for that. I was happy for him and jealous of him at the same time. I knew that he had prepared the right way for the race and he got the result he deserved. Speed in rowing cannot be cheated, no matter who you are, no matter how much training you have done. This was a good reminder of that to me. 

Needless to say, when we got in the eight on Sunday afternoon, I was pissed off and ready to rid my rowing of mediocrity. There was nothing lukewarm about Sunday at the Head of the Charles. For the first time all week, the guys decided that we should get a full nights' sleep since it was the night before our race. I was pretty happy to hear that they felt that way. So I woke up feeling pretty good on Sunday. My girlfriend Felice demanded that we eat a huge breakfast because the race was at an awkward time for eating, 2 pm. We went to City Diner which ended up being amazing. I had three pancakes, three scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and lots of coffee. NEW LIFE! Smart girl, Felice. After that meal, I began to realize that I had been running pretty low on fuel. I got down to the course a couple hours later and made my way to the tent where all the Great 8 athletes were hanging out. The sweep guys and the scullers were all relaxing, but there was very little interaction which was the case all week. All the guys get along pretty well but it was obvious all week that this was not just for fun. The sweepers wanted to end this notion that scullers are better boat movers than them. 

Our rows leading up to this race had not been great. In fact, the rowing we did in the warm up was by far the best we had done. I didn't have a sense for how we would stack up against the US Team or the sweep great 8, but I knew that we were cooking with gas in that warm up. We were ripping off base pace 10's at under 1.20 into a massive headwind. Julien Bahain and I, in the bow pair, were really focused on rowing clean and making sure everyone had a platform to work from. From stroke one to the final strokes of the race, I felt like we did a great job of that. We rowed a clean 35-36 spm down the course into a headwind. As we approached the last 500m of the race, I knew we were having a good piece, but when we shifted to 40 spm for the sprint, the rowing was exceptional. The hollering began.  For the last minute or so of the race, the boat was on rails, very light, and increasing speed with every stroke. It was a feeling I will never forget. Very simple, direct, connected, and always accelerated. After we had crossed the line and had paddled for a little bit,  Mahe turned around and said, " That was good, boys. If they beat us, they deserve it."

We stepped off onto the dock and hugged each other like we had just won, but we wouldn't hear results for about 45 min. It was a special moment. Each guy appreciative of the other, so happy to be a part of it, and probably a little nostalgic already. Or maybe that was just me. Once we put the boat down, we went over the Sweepers to shake their hands. They all were grinning and I assumed that they had heard the results confirming that they had won. But, there was such a big gap between the boats at the start that it would have been impossible to tell. Honestly, after my single race the day before, I was just happy to feel like I had unloaded all of my fitness and rowed well. I was standing with Coach Larry Gluckman, my coach at Trinity and coach of the Great Sweep 8+, when I refreshed Twitter for the hundredth time since being off the water. It read, Men's Champ 8+ 1. Craftsbury 14.20, 2. Taurus 14.23. Hahaha, now that's what's up!!! I tried to keep my cool, since no one else had heard yet. I showed Larry my phone, but he had to get his glasses out to read it. I don't think he expected to read the result he was about to read. He smiled and congratulated me. The German, Richard Schmidt, and Hamish Bond were close to us and overheard the result. It was obvious that the result was what they had feared. I told Roel Braas the result and he began screaming with zero humility. It was a hilarious scene once the entire boat found out. The sweep guys were really gracious and congratulated us all. Olaf Tufte exclaimed, " WE DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO ROW!!!"True. It's also pretty wild to think that this race was Hamish Bond's first loss in any boat in almost 7 years. I know its just the Charles, but thats amazing. While he was very nice to all of us after the race, I am sure he will be back with vengeance next year. 

I am now 0/4 in the Champ 1x at the Charles and 1/1 in the Champ 8+! Not bad, right? All you have to do is invite the seven best scullers in the world to come row in a boat with you! It was truly amazing getting to share the victory with those guys. I guess the bottom line here is that yes, I sacrificed my single result this weekend to have fun with the guys in the eight, but I have no regrets. I would do it again, 10 times out of 10. But it is also important to note that it was not a planned and conscious sacrifice. I did a poor job of managing my stress levels and it cost me. Still, no regrets. 

Now that I am back home, it's time to treat my body well again, get a lot of sleep, put in the miles in the single, and prepare for the Fall Speed Order in a couple of weeks. I am eager to get a lot of good rowing in over the next few weeks before the lake begins to freeze. Yes, that's right, freeze. Skiing season is almost upon us. But I am not quite ready to close the door on 2014.  It soon will be time to start skiing, erging, and preparing for the 2015 season and Olympic Qualification, but not yet. There is still some speed out there for me to find this year. After such a poor lead up to the Charles, I am keen on doing it the right way leading into the Speed Order. 

photo credit: Katie Steenman