Prepared to Race

We have less than one week until leaving the USA for Bulgaria for the Senior World Championships. Aside from the excitement we all feel to show ourselves at Worlds, I really enjoy training at this point in the cycle. Now is very much a time to find your limits, how fast you can go when you're tired, how well you can row, how perfectly in time you can be with the rest of the boat, and how much you can stick with the plan under duress. It's not supposed to be easy, after all. The next step where we go overseas is less about finding our limits or reaching for a new level, and more about tapping into all the work we've already done. Once over there, we will be calling on the training and the focus we've invested session after session and putting ourselves in a position to execute our race. I feel perfectly prepared.

Racing prepared is fun, as fun as it is to challenge your neighbor to a sprint barefoot from one end of the lawn to the other. All four of us, Sam, Bob Shane and I all have slightly different ways of psyching ourselves up (or down) for a competition. Personally, although I like the idea of being all fired up for a race, my best performances have come from putting the test out of my mind, knowing that I cannot change the outcome before it happens, instead focusing on all the little things like recovery, nutrition, rehydration and team dynamics. When the gun goes off, I am certain my body and mind will be ready to race.

Practices have been going very well. All four of us and Coach Craig Hoffman are a bit more relaxed, because when things are going well in training there's no need whatsoever to deal with practice outside of practice. The work is done, and usually I forget all about it until it's time to take the first strokes the following morning. Even then, it's as if each day is a new day and mentally as a boat we feel fresh. Next week we'll begin to feel fresh physically as well, something we have discussed as a team to address and how we plan to move forward calmly into that last step, the racing itself.

As one of our last practices before we leave Wednesday, this Sunday in Princeton we will be racing the Junior Men's 8 for the third time, another opportunity to find out what we can do with another crew beside us. Racing them the past two weekends has been an irreplaceable aspect of the positive progression of our training. Thank you again to the Juniors and their coaching staff.

Thank you also to our WONDERFUL donors to our unfunded boat, you all will be right there with us at the line in Bulgaria. Without your generosity this trip to represent the United States would not be possible! If you were thinking about donating and have not so far, we are still a long ways from our goal, and it is not too late to join the growing list of outstanding people who are helping to send our boat to Worlds.

http://natrowing.donorpages.com/SeniorNationalTeam/maltabc/

If you haven't noticed, it's the Olympics this week, and the rowing events have been fantastic to watch. Specifically, it has been such an inspirational moment in my life to watch my former teammate and good friend Anthony Fahden Dartmouth '08 racing in the USA light men's four. Yesterday morning I watched his boat live come second in their B Final, moving through Germany in a gutsy sprint that almost brought them ahead of France for the win. In an EXTREMELY competitive event the race put the USA crew at 8th overall, ahead of past world champions and Olympic medalists. Anthony's crew reached the Games via the most difficult possible avenue, winning the Olympic Qualification Regatta. While at Dartmouth I had front row seats to Anthony's rowing ability as he stroked our varsity eight to many wins (I usually sat 7 seat right behind him). It's been so cool to watch him race at the Olympics, and I can't wait to hear all about it. Congratulations Anthony.

More updates soon, let's go USA!

Dave