U23 World Championships

This U23 Worlds was amazing with a total of 19 new world records by the end of Sunday. Of course I support France and USA all the way with the occasional cheer for SA boats, who both did very well. Lets go through all podium spots:

-France: Not only did Jérémie AZOU take first place in the lightweight single ahead of Greece and USA, but also now holds the new world record. In the lightweight men's 2x, Alexandre PILAT and Damien PIQUERAS took second place behind the Germans who stole the world record title. The lightweight women's 4x with  Chloé POUMAILLOUX, finished second behind the chinese. Also for silver, the men's  lightweight 4- had a great race. For the bronze, the men's 4+ finished with a great last 500m.
Both AZOU and POUMAILLOUX are re-selected for Bled.

-USA: Mike Teti's men's 8+ finished not only with goal but a new world record title. This boat consisted of rowers from the top successful college programs around the U.S. and it definitely showed. Grace LUCZAK and Felice MUELLER first won gold and a new world record, which MUELLER set last year) and then finished with bronze in the women's 8+. Another bronze (men's lightweight single) was achieved by the remarkable Andrew CAMPBELL who obtained a bronze last year at Junior Worlds and then went on to become part of the Harvard Lights this year.

This was definitely an exciting regatta, and sets the mood for Senior Worlds!

PS: A year to go until London 2012!!!

Final Race of the Summer

Wow that was a hot day! Non-stop the sun was pounding and was making it a lot harder for everyone, especially me with because of having to race 4 times. This is my little race recap of the Halifax Regatta by event:
-Men's Open 1x: first race of the day but I was fresh and ready to go; it was a combined race with the open lightweights; we all went off the start fast as I expected it to be but after 250m we dropped the lights and began fighting, with a small lead of about 2 seats, I tried to relax and save up as much energy as possible instead of repeating myself at regionals, at 500m I went for a strong 10 and picked up more speed but the other two wouldn't let go and made up their lost ground right after, at 300m to go, I gave a quick look to see where I was and decided to make a move, my plan was to be ahead and stay ahead so I I stayed strong until the 250m buoy and then powered up for the last 20 strokes; the competitor from ROCCS to my left was 3rd most of the time until he hit the 250m buoy and ramped it up to try to catch me, which gave me even more motivation to finish strong, and ended up passing the Halifax rower by less than a second. It was a great race all around.
-Men's Open 8+: my friend Marvin called me to replace him in his club's quad so I decided to add that race, only to find out the next day that his coach wanted me in his 8, in the stroke seat; wasn't really ready for that but I accepted it anyways; I hopped in a boat with people that hadn't rowed together and a novice coxswain: not the greatest boat composition; I took it seriously but it was hard to compete in that race with other practiced boats; we finished 2nd.
-Men's Open 4+: this boat was fun because Brian Cosmillo and I decided to compete with Jess Mellinger and a few other MRC kids (Jp Gutierrez and Chris Congora) to win the four even if we were marked as the B boat; we had practiced the day before and Brian has had a sprung wrist for a few days but we did it anyways. We sat in lane 5 with four other boats wanting to including the cocky MRC A boat. From stroke one we had the lead, and every push was opening the gap even more; with a rating no higher than 30 we powered through the race with no problem and finishing first by over 15 seconds. It was a great summer reunion race for the JU team.
-Mixed 2x: as I walked of the dock with the four, I traded the four with the double. I hot seated into this race, but took my time to get there because I was hot, tired, and thirsty. My double partner was Jonnie Smithson and was sitting stroke seat; she hasn't really been rowing this year but still pulled off a great warm-up and race. With a cross win and choppy water, I sat in bow not worrying about a thing but having fun and keeping her relaxed. After a great start, I looked over and we had had already a half boat length lead. With that notion, I coxed her and made her stay relaxed. She didn't want to disappoint me so she rowed clean and pushed enough so we could stay ahead. Great plan if you ask me! At the 500m mark, we took a large 10 stroke burt of power to open the gap because we wanted to beat the next heat's best time. With 250m to go, I let myself push whatever was left and we finished the race with more than 6 seconds to spare. That was a great ending to my day and regatta.

So at the end of the day I ended up with 3 golds and 1 silver (I won all my planned races) and got to race with my teammates.

PS: congratulations to Casey Baker for stepping up and competing in this regatta and finishing second by  less than 0.6 seconds because of handicap, and to Jake Combs and Andrew Stebbins for winning the Jr. double and having good performances in the single.

After A Small Break

After taking a few days off this week, I decided to get back on the water this morning. Those days consisted of spinning class, running, and laying on the couch. For some reason, I couldn't find enjoyment days earlier when we went for early hot rows. But after finding out that Casey was rowing at Halifax too, it was my queue to start back up before I got too fat! After a quick stretch, we did a long steady state row for about 10-12k before deciding we needed to start doing intervals of 30 strokes on, 20 off. Even though it wasn't fun at all after the long kilometers, it definitely made us pick up speed. 6-7 sets of that really made me work hard and make my row a successful one!

This week = bleh!

It has been so hot and unbearable lately, that I haven't had the feeling to get on the water. Instead I've been running, fishing, surfing, and gym. Not that I'm over rowing or anything, but I know that I'm going to be on the water and on the erg everyday when school starts up so why overdo it. We will see what happens towards the end of the week because I am racing three times on the 23rd.

I'm so bored because on top of the heat, there is no surf or fish at the beach. bleh!

JU Team 2011-2012

2011-2012 Signees 

This upcoming season is going to be very interesting since a few good seniors are done and incoming frosh looking pretty solid. Who knows what will happen with line-ups after last year, but hopefully the talent will move up and the frosh won't enter the Varisty 8. I'm not saying it is a bad thing, I did it, but the tension on the team, the dislikes and jealousy are too much to handle on top of work and competition. Another reason I wouldn't want frosh in the boat is because it limits the team to send boats to IRA's and such.

Besides that, I'm looking forward to the following additions to our team:
-Nick Duncan
-Andre Sander Paul Kleijn
-Ryan Rowe
-Jacob Strauss
-Jeremy Sobiech

Halifax Regatta

The Halifax Regatta is the next race on my list. It's fun, small, fast. I enjoyed it last time because there are a lot of the older rowers from around the State and it's only 1000m. 

Of course I will be entering the single, but this time I will also be entering a 4+ with Jessica Mellinger, Brian Cosmillo and others from MRC. It will be fun because I know for a fact we will dominate. 

Back in Melbourne

After a week of calm and relaxation, I'm back on the water with Casey. No matter what time we go out though, it's still so HOT!

Ever since regionals, I've been analyzing my stroke and trying to apply the work I did in France here without a coach, which is a little difficult, but today while doing a B2 workout (2x20' @20-22), I found that ease in the arms and upper body while still applying a good amount of pressure. I haven't had these sensations since I've been back in the U.S. so it is a god feeling. Automatically, this gives me more speed.

Hopefully, I lose some weight with training and this heat because my little vacation cost me a few pounds!

The plan for the next few weeks is to get a lot of kilometers in out in the single with drills and workouts testing speed and endurance, get a little weight training at the gym, and other cross workouts so that I can easily show speed at the Halifax regatta and be ready for fall training at JU.