Hello from Eberbach, Germany, home of Empacher racing shells!
We arrived here with very little stress on our day of travel and were even able to get out for a row on the afternoon that we arrived. The boat was just as we left it in Lucerne a little more than a month ago but unfortunately our oars were put on the wrong trailer and ended up in Italy with the rest of the US squad. In the meantime, Ben and I rowed a set of Empacher blades that they had lying around the factory. As we got in two solid low intensity rows alongside Andrew and Josh of the LM2x, Coach Roock drove 6 hours south to Erba, Italy to retrieve our oars. He got back at 1 am last night and we were able to do pieces this morning with our oars because of his efforts. Dan played it off like it wasn't a big deal because the scenery was so beautiful on the way down and he got to drive 100 mph + on the Autobahn, but it should not go unnoticed how much effort he put in just to make sure we had the proper equipment.
We are staying in a house with Gevvie Stone, Greg Stone, Andrew Campbell, Josh K, and Scott Roop. So far its been a great group. I am realizing how much we missed having a team environment on our stay in Europe this summer. It's great to have a mix of personalities around to keep it light. We will be here until Monday, when we will load our boats on the Empacher trailer headed down to Aiguebelette. We will then go for our first row on the World Champs course on Tuesday morning.
This morning we did our first bout of high intensity pieces alongside Andrew and Josh. The plan was to do 3 x 4 min but we ended up doing a 3:30 piece, a 2 min piece, a 3 min piece, and a 4 min piece because of a combination of running out of space and encountering barges. It really was not a big deal. We got a very useful workout in despite the constrictions. I felt like Ben and I were moving nicely together this morning. It felt like we had a nice platform to work from. The rates shifted up as the piece went on and at the 34 spm, we were finding very good length, relaxation, and speed. As it shifted up it seemed like we got into a grey area where we weren't quite getting all the run we should have been getting and as a result were not increasing speed too drastically. I know we can have a deadly sprint as we crest 40 spm and above, but these pieces didn't quite get us there. These pieces showed us that we might be able to find some sweet run in the middle of the race at a slightly lower cadence and save energy for our stage 2 rocket launch at the end of the race. Our boat seems to work best when there is an initial rocket launch off the start for the first 250, then a strong composed base for 1500 m, then a second rocket launch in the sprint. What might need adjusting is that middle 1k. We have been rowing 37 spm down the course at base and based off today, that isn't our most effective rhythm. If we can shift down slightly and find relaxation, that might help us keep our speed even through the middle of the race. The lightweights do a very good job of increasing speed as they shift in rate and they have a strong back half, which is really helpful for us to train against. We would get a decent lead for the first couple minutes and then spend the second half of the pieces having them come up on us as they increased speed and we stalled a little bit. I thought these were incredibly productive pieces because our two boats are kind of perfect for each other. We have good top end speed which is an area they are trying to improve on, and they have very good endurance and base speed, which is what we need work on. Not to mention, they are just good guys that we enjoy hanging with.
Ok, nap time. More to come in the next couple of days as we move down to France. But, so far so good.
We arrived here with very little stress on our day of travel and were even able to get out for a row on the afternoon that we arrived. The boat was just as we left it in Lucerne a little more than a month ago but unfortunately our oars were put on the wrong trailer and ended up in Italy with the rest of the US squad. In the meantime, Ben and I rowed a set of Empacher blades that they had lying around the factory. As we got in two solid low intensity rows alongside Andrew and Josh of the LM2x, Coach Roock drove 6 hours south to Erba, Italy to retrieve our oars. He got back at 1 am last night and we were able to do pieces this morning with our oars because of his efforts. Dan played it off like it wasn't a big deal because the scenery was so beautiful on the way down and he got to drive 100 mph + on the Autobahn, but it should not go unnoticed how much effort he put in just to make sure we had the proper equipment.
We are staying in a house with Gevvie Stone, Greg Stone, Andrew Campbell, Josh K, and Scott Roop. So far its been a great group. I am realizing how much we missed having a team environment on our stay in Europe this summer. It's great to have a mix of personalities around to keep it light. We will be here until Monday, when we will load our boats on the Empacher trailer headed down to Aiguebelette. We will then go for our first row on the World Champs course on Tuesday morning.
This morning we did our first bout of high intensity pieces alongside Andrew and Josh. The plan was to do 3 x 4 min but we ended up doing a 3:30 piece, a 2 min piece, a 3 min piece, and a 4 min piece because of a combination of running out of space and encountering barges. It really was not a big deal. We got a very useful workout in despite the constrictions. I felt like Ben and I were moving nicely together this morning. It felt like we had a nice platform to work from. The rates shifted up as the piece went on and at the 34 spm, we were finding very good length, relaxation, and speed. As it shifted up it seemed like we got into a grey area where we weren't quite getting all the run we should have been getting and as a result were not increasing speed too drastically. I know we can have a deadly sprint as we crest 40 spm and above, but these pieces didn't quite get us there. These pieces showed us that we might be able to find some sweet run in the middle of the race at a slightly lower cadence and save energy for our stage 2 rocket launch at the end of the race. Our boat seems to work best when there is an initial rocket launch off the start for the first 250, then a strong composed base for 1500 m, then a second rocket launch in the sprint. What might need adjusting is that middle 1k. We have been rowing 37 spm down the course at base and based off today, that isn't our most effective rhythm. If we can shift down slightly and find relaxation, that might help us keep our speed even through the middle of the race. The lightweights do a very good job of increasing speed as they shift in rate and they have a strong back half, which is really helpful for us to train against. We would get a decent lead for the first couple minutes and then spend the second half of the pieces having them come up on us as they increased speed and we stalled a little bit. I thought these were incredibly productive pieces because our two boats are kind of perfect for each other. We have good top end speed which is an area they are trying to improve on, and they have very good endurance and base speed, which is what we need work on. Not to mention, they are just good guys that we enjoy hanging with.
Ok, nap time. More to come in the next couple of days as we move down to France. But, so far so good.
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