The Torch

It's a shame there was not a live stream of the race on Tuesday morning, but it's probably for the best; now we will move onto the next phase of training and the challenges of the Final Qualification Regatta without spending any time looking back and reliving our final. But I will write a little recap to make sure there's at least some account of what happened. I am tempted to get nostalgic. I am tempted to write about our crew and about our process, but it's not the time for that. This is far from over. So instead, I'll stick with how racing went and what our plans are from this point on. 

When racing began on Sunday evening with the time trial, we were hungry to get on the course. We had been paddling around doing easy 12k's for the last week and we were getting stir crazy. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the wind was conspiring against us. It was a 17 mph cross headwind for the time trial and it was a success just making it down the course without major incident. We felt confident in our speed going into the race, but if there was a condition that might not let us show what we can do it would be a headwind like this one. I thought we did a great job of staying together and tying our body weight together on the drive to lean into the wind and make the boat feel light. This piece was about opening up our aerobic systems and making sure everything was ready to go for the real race on Tuesday morning. We agreed that we would keep things internal and not look into the results of the time trial at all. We knew what we were doing and what our plan was and it was irrelevant what anyone else did. We crossed the line, got our recovery snacks from Coach Gluckman, brought the boat in and cooled down on the erg for 30 min. We knew it would be extremely important for us to recover quickly because Tuesday morning would arrive quickly. 

Tuesday morning was not as windy as the Time Trial, but it was still a cross head wind at 6-8 mph. My guess is that someone from USRowing or Benderson Park paid Ed Moran a little extra to write that our race was " nearly windless" because that is a bold faced lie! Being outweighed by 20-25 lbs per man by CRC, we were cognizant about how slow conditions would play into their favor. As we sat on the startline, I could feel how well prepared we were. I knew exactly what we were about to do because we had already done it so many times together. I knew that all the nerves would go away once we blasted off. Once we got out of the blocks the four of us would be at home in the boat doing what we love: rowing sweet rythym and racing. When that light went off it was a huge relief for me and probably everyone else in our boat. Sitting at the start line, I felt like a boxer who was being forcefully and uncomfortably held in his corner. A boxer who was ready to go toe to toe for as many rounds as it took. We did not plan to deliver such a quick knockout punch but I think we underestimated just how excited we were to get off the blocks. Our first 250 gave us confidence to add relaxation to our aggression, a potent combination that allowed us to continue to build a lead with really solid rhythm in the middle 1k. We were not thinking about to finish line just thinking about tying our weight together and picking the weight of the boat up together, making it light for each other in the headwind. When we race in a few weeks against some of the best quads in the world we will not have the luxury of finding rhythm while being up a length, we will have to be confident enough to trust our easy speed no matter what the other crews are doing. We did not need to uncork our sprint at Trials but that will be a point of emphasis over the next few weeks. Our next race will almost certainly be decided on the final strokes so we need to be prepared to own that part of the race.   Crossing the line at Trials was certainly a memorable moment but I think more than anything we were all just excited to have the focuse now fully shifted to the Final Qualification Regatta. When this boat came together last November, the goals we laid out stretched far beyond winning Trials; we found common ground in our collective purpose to do something truly unique and authentic. If anything, crossing the line at Trials validated that purpose just like some of our scrimmages this spring have , as well. Tell tale signs that we are progressing and that our process is effective. One thing that is clear is that this boat loves to race. Eveytime we have  lined up together against another crew I've been in awe of the way each guy rises to the occasion. Whether it was racing Harvard's varsity eights or CRC, we have made a habit of turning the volume up as loud as it goes on race day. I'm excited to see how we respond when the stage gets much bigger and the competition gets faster. 

For the next two weeks we will be back in Craftsbury before we fly to Europe. We will spend a few days at the Empacher factory in Eberbach, Germany befor moving over to Lucerne the week before the regatta begins. Can't wait.