Jan 2017

When I walked through our apartment door after twenty hours in the car driving back from Florida, I didn't expect to feel the profound sense of comfort that came over me. I couldn't quite put a finger on it at the time, but for the last few months I had been missing "home", a concept that gets more and more fluid as you get older.  I dropped my bags, looked around at the combination of Felice's and my stuff all around the apartment, and felt so happy that we created this space together. When I left Ann Arbor in early December, I felt like I was just leaving a place that I had been living in for a month or   so, but something about the act of coming back turned this apartment into home.  

The impetus for my departure three weeks ago was to go check in on how I was sculling and make sure that when I returned to land training in January and February that I had a clear idea in my mind of how I am trying to row. Truthfully, I have not felt sharp in the single for quite some time. I hadn't rowed twice in a day since June of last year. I had trained twice a day, sure, but I have been skimping on the attention to detail in my sculling pretty much since we lost at the Qualification Regatta. I don't regret that, I think it was healthy to dial the focus back and give my mind a break. There is certainly a cost though. It made me appreciate just how in tune I had gotten to the nuances of the stroke and how I had learned to create speed without necessarily creating more power. Achieving this feeling in the boat is what brings me and so many of us back for more. Throughout the Fall, I was rowing decently and moving OK but all of the speed I was producing was taxing. I was unable to tap into rhythm that could sustain itself. So before I locked in for a formidable period of winter training, I wanted to go someplace warm, find my swing, and take notes. I am confident that I am going to emerge from the winter watts factory that is Ann Arbor stronger and fitter than I arrived, but that will mean nothing if I am putting it into the wrong framework. 

I spent the first week in Sarasota, home of the 2017 World Championships. After spending so much time in Florida last year, it was emotional driving into the empty boat park and rigging up where we rigged the 4x so many times. We came over probably four or five different times from Canal 54 to do pieces with College 8's during February and March leading into Olympic Trials. I spent the first couple days as the only one out there but then was joined by sculling prodigy Ben Davison! Ben rolled in, got out of his car, and we both looked at each other, smiled, and I said, " Hey man. Ben and Pete are late." Ben said, " Typical!" It was superficially light hearted but I think we were both joking with a lump in our throats. To think of all of the resources and effort that was put into last year and then to be standing with Ben in Sarasota with no one else around, having not made the Olympics together, it was a little sad. I thought Dick and Judy, Troy, Larry, and how special and meaningful it was to all of us that they and so many others wanted to be a part of this journey. I thought of the piece of artwork I gave Larry before our Final at Olympic Trials and remembered how he rekindled my belief in the Process. 

But very quickly that moment of relfection was gone and Ben and I were side by side in singles between the buoys, right where we should be. We ticked off 18k together, got some burritos, and then came back a couple hours later and launched in the 2x. Ben and I had rowed the double many times last year over the course of our training in the quad but it occurred to me minutes before we launched that I hadn't rowed in a team boat for an embarrassingly long time. I felt like I was moving the single well but I was apprehensive that I may have forgetten how to match. That sounds incredibly stupid once I write it out, but hey, I was just scared I might suck at rowing a double! Like the NBA Stars after the MONSTARS steal their talent in Space Jam. That sort of thing. We hopped in, adjusted our feet, and took it off arms only. Then back, quarter slide, and out to half. Oh yeah. I know this. From stroke one it was clean and crisp at both ends, smooth on the drive, and matched in the way only two people who know the same stroke could be. The lesson here is that while fitness comes and goes, the miles that we put in together last year just don't go away. We proceeded to cruise up and down the course rowing the double just like the quad-- loose at the front, gently locking onto the same patch of water together, and then slinging the boat past that point. Relaxed length and suspension all day. This row is more evidence to support why boats, especially sculling boats like the double and quad benefit from athletes sticking together and rowing together for multiple quadrennials. See: German men's and women's quads and many others. 

The next day, Ben and I lined up against each other in singles for 4 x 2k on 5 min rest at 22-28 spm. Once again, we were alone on the water and it felt poetic for us to be out on the World Championship course ripping each others heads off without an audience. I don't want to go into too much detail about these pieces but I'll just say that we both won two. Ben won the first and third, I won the second and fourth. Neither of us like losing, but I think we both recognized that it was really high level racing and great training. On the pieces I lost, I wasn't upset, it was more of a feeling of " Ok, wow, I just had a really good piece and you beat me. Now lets see if you want to follow me down a couple more splits." Ben is great motivation for me to keep pushing for more speed. If I don't, it's only a matter of time before he's taking all four pieces. In other words, adapt or die! The double with Ben is a real option but obviously his school and commitment to Washington come first right now. For now and regardless of the plan, the best thing both of us can do is to continue to get fast in the single and on the erg. This mini camp showed us that we are still on the same page technically and that if the fitness is there then we can produce a lot of speed. We both agreed that we are not interested in waiting till 2019 to get our shit together. If we learned one thing from last year and from the crews that succeeded in Rio, it's that preparation is king and that making a plan early and committing to that plan is key. The best examples being Gevvie and Andrew and Josh. All that being said, it's important to note that its very early, our governing body is still figuring out how best to proceed, and Ben and I are not the only people out there training hard. I have lofty goals for this year and this quadrennial but so do many others and I am constantly reminding myself to rid my pursuit of any self-importance and approach this next set of challenges with patience and humility. It is difficult, however, to stay patient when there is a corporeal fury in me every time I hit the water or even think about getting the chance to race again. Maybe that fury comes directly from not making the team last summer or just wanting to prove myself in the upcoming quadrennial, but I would say much of this energy was sparked by one particular message I received a few days after we heard about the Russian doping disqualification this summer.  Nils Jakob Hoff (Norwegian 4x this summer and M2x that won Worlds in 2013) messaged my brother Peter and I and wrote, " If Rio is off, the work you did this year will pay off next season, I promise you. If you guys can use this energy as positive fuel for the coming winter, there will be amazing opportunities on the other end...if not, then what you did in that the quad, the quality of that rowing, is still world class..you know it, I know it, but if you want that medal to show for it, you'll just have to do another push. My heart is with you guys and right now it hurts, but no matter what happens, whichever road you choose, this is not the end...it's the beginning!" That has stuck with me. The female rowers of the world call him "Norwegian Fabio", but I am very lucky to call him a good friend. 

Ben and I cruising in Sarasota. 

Double thumbs up.

After spending Christmas with my family, I met up with the Michigan women's team down in Orlando and set up camp on Lake Pickett. Apart from training, I was responsible for grocery shopping for the team of forty. By the end of the trip I had it figured out for the most part, but I was definitely on a pretty steep learning curve. On the first day, I misjudged the portions to a large degree and I felt like I quickly got on the girls' shit list!  Honestly, if I were in their shoes and some guy didn't buy enough food I, too, would be upset. So, the next day I went all out and attempted to win their hearts back with a bounty of Nutella, fruit snacks, Snack Packs, and Tostitos(Hint of Lime, obviously). As quickly as the sugar triggered the dopamine release from their brains, I was back in their good graces and I gotta say, it felt great. 

Publix customer service is top notch. 

The majority of my time on the water in Orlando was spent doing drills and putting in easy miles, but I did come up for air a couple of times to stay in touch with speed. On New Year's Eve, I finished off 2016 with a 2k Time Trial. I was hoping to do it side by side with the Michigan Novice 8, but they had other plans and I ended up doing it alone. I was not totally unhappy with it but it felt fairly lukewarm. At the time it felt like I was passive during the piece and didn't push or go faster when I needed to, but looking back I think that is just a common and obvious symptom of doing a 2k in the middle of the winter without any speed work leading into it. A couple days later, I jumped in against the Michigan women's varsity 8's for a 250 on/250 off workout. This was incredibly fun for me and brought a playfulness to my rowing that I haven't had in a while and that is very difficult to have when training on your own. Being a part of a team environment is what can make high performance really enjoyable and sustainable. I appreciated the coaches letting me tag along and am excited to race these girls more this spring.

UCF Boathouse on Lake Pickett. 

Now that I am back in Michigan, I will be putting focus back to getting stronger in the weight room and doing biweekly erg pieces with the Men's Team. At the end of the month, I will be going out to Lake Samish to train with Carlos for a week in Bellingham. I have never been to the Pacific Northwest or been coached by Carlos before so I'll go out there with an open mind and see what I can learn. Thanks for reading and happy 2017!

Back in Ann Arbor. 

Kjetil and Nils. 2013 World Champs in M2x. 

Finish Tower going up in Sarasota.