Henley Day 8

Hard to believe that we've only been rowing together a week - have packed in the sessions and am pretty proud of getting the boat to where it is now. But it's pretty obvious that physically we're undersized and likely undertrained to make a big impact.
Listed to Yale come through FIT on regatta radio  and went to the enclosure for a very short amount of time then back to St. Andrews for sleep and chill out time.

Warmed up similarly to yesterday and was very prepared for a tough race. We were ahead at the island and the Barrier by 2 seats and then a weed patch, wake, and bobble hit us and we lost our rhythm...felt short again and maybe too high but that's likely because Combined Services was pouring the pressure on. They pulled to about a full length up and we made a good push where I still felt like we had the chance to take it (4-5 seat move)...I'm not sure we ever made a decisive strike but they ended up winning by a length.

We were pretty disappointed afterwards but very thankful for the opportunity - not sure what to think really other than that we probably earned our result...The equation of practice, age, fitness, and weight probably didn't help us and perhaps it was hubris to think that we could make it to Friday again with 7 days of rowing together. Questions we'll have to answer later on I suppose.

More to come later.

Henley Day 7

Wednesday June 29 - The beginning of the regatta is always pretty special as the course, grounds, and enclosures look immaculate - the wear and tear of so many rowers and spectators hasn't accumulated and the excitement is palpable. Even though there are very few close races on Wednesday the nerves for everyone are pretty apparent as steering, breakage, and boat stopping crabs can take an excellent crew out on the very first day. Enjoyed the Stewards Enclosure from the stands and after lunch headed back to St. Andrews Road...had a quick nap, foam rolled for a good twenty minutes, stretched out, and arrived at 4:00 PM for the 6:30 PM race (maybe too much time). Warmed up on the C2 Dynamic as I had been doing on all of the other days and the machine is growing on me...Good feedback from the body but I wish there was better monitor feedback for what is happening during the stroke.

Had a pretty good warm up though we were interrupted by some massive barges (not surprising) and eventually lined up against Thames 'C' on the Berks station while Four Score and Four RC was on the Bucks station. We had a solid start that worked well but had a hard time finding a base that worked...again we were a little short. We ended up winning by 1 and 3/4 lengths but it hadn't felt truly easy and we weren't able to cruise. Nevertheless a win at Henley is pretty sweet and we enjoyed it with some Thai food afterwards.

Very clear from times and margins that tomorrow was going to be very tough...Combined Services RC (a combination of British Navy, Royal Air Force, and Army men with prior rowing experience at UL and Leander) at 6:00 PM - right after the tea break.

Henley Day 6

Tuesday June 28th - the day before racing. Two practices again...one at 10:30 and another at 6:30 PM. The boat felt a little better and we were able to avoid a lot of the traffic on the course - did some inside arm, start work, and 18-22 spm steady state. Made progress but in retrospect we probably could have demanded more ratio from one another...would it have made a lot of difference? Who knows but much better to try and not leave it as an unknown variable. Our 2nd lap felt better and our final trip in the evening was better still. Despite not a lot of time in the boat we were able to take some short bursts that felt legitimately long and quick. Scheduled to race at 6:30 PM tomorrow evening - one of the last races of the day!

Henley Day 5

Monday June 27th - rowed at 12:30 PM to give ourselves a less busy time on the course and to get a little more recovery. Went at it pretty hard and did 2 x the Henley Distance (2112 meters) at full rating with no start. Rowed pretty conservative times (slow!) into a pretty strong headwind but did get used to rowing base rating a little more. The ratings were high and also felt high but the second piece felt a little longer as we were able to let the boat do more of the work for us. Tough!

Came back in the evening for 1 session and the wind was still blowing hard. We were able to do some shifts, 5, 7 & 7s and some saw better improvements on the speed coach. Ended the evening playing hearts as the sun went down...Pretty sweet day all the way around.

First opponent on Wednesday was "Thames 'C' who qualified the previous Friday.

Henley Day 4

Woke up and the general feeling amongst the crew was that we were a little beat up from the volume of rowing in the previous three days. Also tried to come up with some ideas about how the boat could feel pretty solid, reasonably balanced, and we were rowing a competitive rating but still be SO slow in the first 40" but then be okay at base. Conditioning and strength was something we obviously couldn't change but our line up and the physics of the shell were something we could alter. Rowed at 10 AM and did only 2 trips...worked on some flying starts, did some other speed work and thankfully Colin was able to watch us and give us a few tips about staying long in the water and not punching at it. Eric Den Besten Yale '97 hosted us at his wonderful London apartment at Cranleigh Gardens - saw his 5 week old son with his lovely wife Ruth and had a good chat with them about what they were likely to experience at Henley and some of the group challenges they would have to overcome. Have been really fortunate to be at Henley in 2000, 01, 05, 08, 09, and now 2011. Ended the evening with dinner at the Anglesea Arms. Great wild boar sausages...

Henley Day 3

Saturday June 24th - Reading Town Regatta. We took cabs to the course and sat in a ton of traffic. To get Colin back into the groove of what we had been working on during the long row we did a quick shake down row and the boat felt better again...Always really encouraging to feel better every time you put the boat on the water. We lined up for the Elite 8+ sprint race - 800m only against Kent School Alumni and Hobart College USA. Feeling rather unprepared given that we hadn't really practiced a starting sequence we blasted off the line and took an early lead on Hobart while Kent moved out. Hobart gradually worked back through us and we ended up finishing about 1/2 length back. Awesome to feel the intensity of the action even as my body started locking up with about 20 strokes to go. Petey arrived straight from the airport and we went out for a 2nd race in the Senior 8+s against Kent and Shiplake. We were blown away off the start and were sitting a full length down to Shiplake before we started coming back. Finished 2 feet shy of Shiplake and closed the margin to Kent by about a length. Improvement again and it gave us lots of stuff to work on in the coming days.

Had a quick chat with one of the Leander coaches and spoke about a neat erg demonstration as well as some sports psychology ideas. Awesome to see the Bourke and Naylor families supporting their sons!

After a quick bite to eat (leftover pastries!) we left Reading at 6:30 PM to row back to Henley. This time the locks had to be manually operated and we finally got back around 8:45 PM. Rowing in the evening was GORGEOUS! Boat felt smooth and pretty relaxed though we could have given the boat a little more time to run. Visited the Asiana Indian Restaurant for some delicious chicken korma as Andrew Kaiser regaled us with stories of living in Moscow.

Henley Day 2

Friday June 24th - two rows scheduled (though it's always a little hard when there are group decisions being made). I woke up fairly late and felt pretty jet-lagged - rowed at 10 AM with Colin once again in advance of John Petersen making his way to England. We did three trips of the course. 1st trip - drills & steady state, 2nd trip - drills & steady state, and 3rd trip 4 x 3' - tough choppy rowing at 36 spm...The rating was likely too high but we thought it best to push the envelope early to try and acclimate ourselves to the turnover speed as soon as possible. Visited Sainsbury for a quick readymade sandwich and lucozade (so quintessentially British!).

Had a special guest rower for our trip to Reading through the locks - Petey still hadn't arrived due to work obligations with the DC public schools and so we were able to get in some good long strokes. Found out how much inside arm rowing helped our length of time in the water. The trip only took about 90 minutes total as we hit each lock at exactly the right time. Celebrated that evening at the Three Horseshoes again with the 2011 IRA National Championship Yale Lightweights. Good to see the common threads and developments of the last decade!

Henley Day 1

Arrived at Heathrow and somehow met up with Dave Werner, James Higgins, and Joe Fallon for a quick taxi ride to Henley-on-Thames. Met our wonderful hosts, the Brassey family on St. Andrews Road and then picked up our shell at the course...we were well prepared for the shell.

A quick rig, check of the internal components, and the aid of Colin Farrell to replace one of our late-arriving members we got on the course for a quick two laps. Felt amazing to be back on the water...though everyone felt a little crunchy and consequently the rowing was short and choppy. Went to dinner at the Three Horseshoes and felt really blessed to be in the UK as a competitor again. Special thanks to Nigel the proprietor of the Three Horseshoes.

UK Bound - Next Stop Henley-on-Thames

Sitting at JFK and am about to board for a nice long flight to Heathrow to meet up with the Four Score and Four rowers who will be racing in the Thames Cup. I can't really describe how excited I am to be rowing in a competitive eight again on a stage as storied and prestigious as the Henley Royal Regatta. There's an idea about self-motivated training and the enjoyment of trying to make a boat go fast that is ridiculously fun, fascinating, and totally engrossing.

The story of Trinity Women's Rowing this past season is one of great highs and surprising lows...and I'm looking forward to recapping it over the next few posts but more importantly I'm excited to look forward towards helping create a new standard for 2011-2012.

Season Recap and Henley Bound

I'm going to resurrect the blog after an exciting season of racing. Congratulations to our rowers who put together a team-wide strong effort in bringing us another ECAC and New England Overall Team title and to all of our competitors for making the season so exciting and rewarding. I'll have to add some reflections on the spring for our parents, alums, and recruits because it was a one filled with challenges, triumphs, and defeats.

On another note, I'm leaving for England tomorrow morning to race with the Four Score and Four boat club (Yale lightweight alumni) in the Thames Cup. It's a return to Henley after our last campaign in 2009 and one that I think we're better prepared for...It's amazing that training through the calendar year will be focused on about 12 rowing sessions before we race. With limited opportunity comes great focus and I can't wait!