Good Times in Philly

Anthony on the left, with his boat Robin Prendes,
Nick LaCava, and Will Newell

The post has to begin with a hearty congratulations to my former teammate and friend Anthony Fahden, Dartmouth '08, who sat bow seat in the USA Lightweight Men's Four that recently won the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, beating out a very savvy Dutch crew and a world champion in the New Zealand crew on his way!  Anthony is going to the Olympic Games!  Outstanding! I feel honored to have him as a friend, and I look forward to following his boat's progress at the Games.  Anthony was also a member of last year's Light Four, mentioned in this post.

Yesterday morning Sam and I took out a double to mix up the training a bit, also switching our lineup around and putting me in bow, him at stroke, to replicate where we sit in the quad and work on matching up better.  It had been a few days since we did any hard work, so we did 2x1000m below race pace on the last half of the Philly race course.  As Sam pointed out before we started, having raced here many times in college, the last 500 meters on this course were "easy" (his words) because you typically have a huge crowd on the shore, in permanent bleachers, their cries of encouragement reflected off the water, the bridge near the finish line, and the island opposite the bleachers bordering the course.  Times don't mean very much in rowing, especially on a river, where current can add considerable velocity... or drag out a piece for way too long.  With a tailwind and the current in our favor, I must say it was "fun" (my words) to finish both 1k's in 3:02, 3:02, because sometimes in the single a piece that length can take almost 4 minutes.  Yuck.  The "we've started, we've strided, we shift, we're done!" feeling reminded me of eights rowing in college.

It doesn't hurt that Sam is very strong.  On the build to the finish line, sitting behind him I've got front row seats to the kind of power that his double displayed at the Olympic Trials in April.  Sometimes I even bring a bucket of popcorn, butter that s*** up, kick back and let him push me around the river at warp speed.  Just kidding.  I don't do that sometimes.  I do that all the time.

Rowing the Double

So naturally, I'm feeling pretty good and rested after these rows where I let Sam do all the work.  Besides, I need to keep the legs fresh for my real workout - biking from the house I'm staying at in Manayunk to Boathouse Row.  Today I knocked a minute off my 5:25 AM "Time Trial", 19' to 18' door to boat bay.  Is it because I hit all the green lights instead of the reds?  Maybe.  Is it because my quads are getting used to stomping the pedals on my big heavy Bianchi steel frame from the eighties?  Maybe.  Probably a little bit of both.  Just kidding.  It's the lights.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, there is a sad bit of news to share, and that is that our most recent contributor to this quad effort, Andrew Hashway, has returned to Boston to train there.  As a good friend of mine and a true ambassador of the sport, it was unfortunate Hash could no longer join us in Philly.  Thanks to Hash for giving it his best while he was here.

On a lighter note - my friend, Olympic 2012 Hopeful, and Drummer Andrew Neils has decided to start a bit of a blog himself... chronicling his mighty and impossibly brave quest into the unknown dark and forbidden limits of human capacity, all in pursuit of one Goal, one Dream, one Passion: Gold at The Cromwell Games.  As a former Cromwell Champion myself, I know the road to the Top can be a long, bitter ribbon of steaming asphalt, paved with sticky situations and inlaid with adversity.  If you can survive the training, or even, let's be modest, survive reading on the internet about the training, then you too may one day find yourself standing unequaled on a podium that few have summited previous.  Very few, son.  Winning the Cromwell Games takes the kind of focus and dedication that almost no one alive (unless George Washington and Genghis Khan are still alive) can understand unless they've been there... until NOW.  RIGHT NOW to be precise.  Because Neils is pulling no punches and sparing no detail no matter how dirty, gutsy, or glorious, to bring you to the front lines of the Cromwell Games Preparation Campaign 2012.  Yup.  That's the same link, just in case you missed the first one.  Training for The Cromwell Games starts right now! 

Actually... it's kinda late... and there's a few episodes of The Colbert Report I'd like to watch on Hulu, so... training for The Cromwell Games starts tomorrow!!  Still good, though.

Cromwell Cup 2010, Men's Open Single.  Hey Riverside - my Club, my former Home, I have just one question...
WHERE IS MY PRIZE MONEY???

Shane, Sam, Me.  Right now our quad is more of a triple.  A solid triple, mind you, but still a triple.  We have contacted several capable athletes inviting them to join in on the fun.  Some have declined, some have thought it over, but as of this posting a fourth man has yet to commit.  I look forward to seeing who it will be, and although it would be easy to let my mind wander to the future, to the result, I remind myself once again of this truth which has guided me all year: the process is the result.

Love you Mom.  Thanks for the greasy breakfast!

I know our process is sound, our training is good, and most of the work for the year is done.  This is the fun part, racing!  Speaking of the process - last weekend was made so, so much more fun because my mom was in town.  Nothing like a little parental pampering to make my weekend great.  I love my mom so much, and we enjoyed some very, very good meals and walks around the city, including delicious Cuban cuisine at Alma De Cuba.  Someone wrote an excellent review on Yelp about it.  Thank you Mom for taking me, Hash, Shane and Sam out for breakfast at Pete's Pizza (actually a breakfast place and a Boathouse Row institution).

Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing the University of Washington Huskies dominate the heavyweight events at the IRA Regatta tomorrow on Cooper River, as well as keeping my hopes up to see Dartmouth Lightweights do something Dartmouth has never done before, and make their 2012 Eastern Sprints fantastic Silver performance into Gold.  Wah Hoo Wah!

What a buncha goons... fast goons.