NSR1.
Back up in Craftsbury after almost two months away. The last couple of years, the drive back north after the Clemson camp and NSR 1 racing has provided a chance for reflection and perspective. I can remember clearly how I felt leaving Craftsbury in early March after a long winter and a huge body of work, and what my expectations and intentions were for the spring/summer ahead. It's usually somewhere on 91 N, a little bit north of Hanover, when I start to feel the calm of the Northeast Kingdom come back over me. Dwight Eisenhower made these roads so straight that I can let my mind wander without worrying about the next turn. So NSR 1…
To put it simply, my body did not feel ready to race this week. We left Clemson too late, did not row for two days leading up to the time trial, and could not practice on the course all week due to wind. In other words, for whatever reason, we did not roll out the red carpet for this race. Maybe that was by design but what really worries me is that maybe it wasn't. We need to put a higher value on how we are treating our bodies in the week leading up to race. I think we have done it very well in past races, but I would give us a C- for logistics. And yes, maybe we won't hit every race perfectly, but WHY NOT!? There aren't enough races on our schedule or in my life to let one slip away. With NSR 2 right around the corner, we will have a chance to redeem ourselves.
Like I mentioned, this week in Princeton was tough because of the wind. There were no practices between races. Ben and I rowed together four times total from Saturday before the regatta to Saturday of the final. I can't believe I just wrote that. It's comical. Our warmups before the racing ended up being very important moments for us. Ben and I match up very naturally, but there are technical nuances that give us a lot of easy sustainable speed that we just weren't really able to tap into this regatta. Not to mention, I missed two weeks of rowing in Clemson. Coming off a full winter of skiing, we need every day we have in South Carolina to get back up to speed. I missed a good chunk of that development. It was disconcerting to be not rowing at our best technically, but there is a lot of rowing left this year, and I know its just a matter of a little more time in the boat. With Ben I never doubt that we can do something, it's just a matter of spending the time and effort to address it and improve upon it. I am looking forward to getting on the flat water in Craftsbury and logging quality miles.
This was not a race that I think back on fondly. It was lukewarm. We blasted off and set our intentions in the first 1k. We had a plan and an idea of what we should be shooting for in a tailwind and I felt like we had the horsepower to do it. At 1k, I lost my oar briefly and with it a lot of confidence. I wanted to make sure we finished off the race smart without an incident. Just a few weeks earlier I lost an oar and it snapped in half. So instead of beginning our 3 x 40 stroke explosion to the line, we softened up in the water and just took it to the line without enthusiasm. We were fortunate enough to have a big enough lead so that we could do that. If we had been really pushed, I would have needed to regain my composure and get after it no matter what. Bottom line is that this type of effort/performance is not the way we are going to qualify for the Olympics or win a medal. I will not dwell on it too much other than just noting that it needs to be much better. And it will be.
A little side note regarding the actual hull that we raced. I will preface this by saying it has nothing to with HOW we raced. That being said, I would be fine if I never again race the actual hull that Ben and I rowed this week. We have been extremely fortunate the last couple of years to row Peter and Tom's beautiful 84kg Filipi. It is the perfect size for them and us. Anytime we have done anything good in the double it has been in that boat. The only problem is that its Tom and Peter's boat, so when they are around they get dibs. I have no problem with that, its just too bad that I know for a fact we go faster in it. The week before racing, we went 4:38 for 1500 in flat conditions with a light tailwind. I felt given the right conditions we could go 6:10 at NSR 1. That was something I had my sights set on for a while and I felt like we actually were in a position to do it. Unfortunately, once we switched boats we were never flirting with that type of base speed again. The boat we rowed this week was a brand new boat we got this spring but it is a 2x/- and has some quirks. It is definitely for heavier guys than us and as a result we sit extremely high out of the water. Not to mention it is almost 2kg heavier than the other boat. It just never felt right. Not the end of the world, but another contributing factor to a less than ideal NSR 1 for us.
Our race can be seen here( skip to 20 min in):
Now it is on to NSR 2 and the 4x. There is not a whole lot of time before we will be back in Princeton and we have plenty of work to do prepare ourselves. I have spent probably 6 hours breaking ice over the last couple of days and went for the first row on Hosmer this afternoon in the 1x. It should be completely open tomorrow. More to come as we get back in the 4x and start tuning it up.
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