The Torch

If there's anyone out there that is still interested in this blog, thanks for your patience over the last couple of months. I guess I just felt like it would be better to wait until after this race for a big update. This was not quite like Steph Curry deleting all of the apps off of his phone or LeBron not using social media during the Playoffs, but I didn't want to create much of a stir before this race by writing about how training has been going and what I plan to do after. I just wanted to prepare well, race hard, and execute, without any distractions. That was slightly affected by the article Row2k published about Ben Davison and I between the Heats and the Semifinals this week: Bound by Shared Olympic Dreams. In fact, that was exactly the type of buzz I didn't want to create at the time. Everything in that article is true, it was just not ideal timing for either of us. But I guess, in a way, it was good to make our intentions known. The interesting detail about choosing to pursue the 2x with Ben is that the majority of my time will still be spent training and racing in the 1x. He will be in school until the summer of 2019, so I will have to truly enjoy life in the single while still maintaining a longterm focus in the 2x. This week racing at the first domestic race of the new quadrennial was a great way to start things off. Given the way the year is laid out, with late Trials and late Worlds, I had planned on racing the first World Cup in early May. The goal was to use the Speed Order and WC1 as a mini competition phase before getting back to training. So back in late March, I petitioned to go to WC1 under the condition that I won the Speed Order. I knew that if I could manage racing well in Princeton, I could have a shot at a great performance in Belgrade. However, that is a big IF. In the past, I have showed up to NSR's and Speed Orders very well prepared and tapered, determined to put down my very best racing. Learning how to do that is vital, but there is certainly a cost. A huge mental, emotional, and physical cost comes from truly pouring everything into a four day regatta or even just one race for that matter. A great example of this was last year at Olympic Trials in the M4x. We had a Final only and the race was not even close, but because of the stress of the buildup and the incredible weight lifted off our shoulders by getting through that race, all four of us got sick after the race. We were miserable for at least a week and I have to believe that affected our performance in some degree at the Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne. As a I planned this year and looked at what I could improve upon, this was a huge focus. If the goal is truly World Cup performance or World Championship performance and not just to perform at NSR's and Trials, then my training and approach would have to shift. In the last few months, my main focus has been 2 x 6k speed, strength in the weight room, and 4 x 2k @ 24.  My 2 x 6k improved 1.5 splits on the C2 since last Fall and I'm hoping that by improving this system, I will be able to get through a 3-4 day regatta without burning the candle too low. Especially at Worlds in 2015, it occurred to me that we were just not able to repeat our speed in the same way other crews were able to. We could hang with the A finalists in the Heats and then gradually drop off throughout a regatta. So it definitely took a leap of faith to come into the Speed Order with minimal race prep, but as Gregg Stone reminded me, " Thats what Time Trials and Heats are for!" Despite some tough headwind conditions, I really enjoyed racing again last week, and I feel ready to go lay down some great racing in Belgrade. I am training in Princeton this week with the men's team and then flying out of Newark on Sunday. Carlos Dinares will be meeting me over there and helping me throughout the week. This week I am putting in a normal week or training with modest mileage and 3 x 2k on Wednesday with the sweep group. I saw the entries for the M1x at World Cup 1 this morning but it looks like they took them off the website. They will definitely be released tomorrow. It is a pretty stacked field especially for the first world cup of the post olympic year. There are 21 entries including Damir Martin, Martin Sinkovic, Angel F. Rodriguez, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, and many other proven scullers. I couldn't be more excited to go up against a quality field and see what I can do. While its a lot of fun to get caught up in who will be in the lane next to me, I will need to stay focused and just maximize my speed in my lane; after all, I have the experience to know how hot the pace will be and I have been preparing all year to handle the heat. That being said, this field is full of Olympians who will be at various stages of returning to training, so it will be important not to take too much stock in the results, good or bad, and use everything as preparation.

After I get back from Belgrade, I will be waiting a few weeks for Ben to finish up racing with Washington, and then we will get to work in the 2x. If Washington goes to Henley, I will go and race the single at Henley and then return back with Ben to prepare for Trials. I'll try to keep writing while I'm in Belgrade. Back in October, I wrote about racing Damir Martin at HOCR and how the goal now is to race him toe to toe for 2k. Well, here it goes. Thanks for all the support.

Go Green, Go Blue!