First day of Summer and my California Life

Today is the first day of Summer Solstice, which means awesome trips, the much-needed sun, and slowing down the pace of life. It is also the first day of my American life, this time on the West Coast. Let me place into context that this is the third time I’ve moved back to the U.S. from France.

During the last two years, I’ve been living in France with my mom and going to school. Even though it wasn’t the easiest of situations given my girlfriend still lived in Florida, I cherished this time back to the place I came from. I think that having traded Paris for Melbourne (Florida) was a very good choice, but also cost me. Those 7 years spent in Florida made me more into an American, which isn’t a bad thing, but takes away from my native side. So when it came time to start my master’s in France, I was truly behind, having a hard time expressing myself verbally and not using the right syntax. Through each month being there, I’ve been able to bring my French level back to an equilibrium with my American level.

It wasn’t easy saying goodbye to my French life though. Going to school, literally having fun at work, training with some of my best friends, and getting to pop in and out one of the best cities in the World. I loved cycling everywhere I went, living on an island, being part of the French Institute of Sport, because every one of those things are special to France. While I’m moving away from that life, I’m sort of bringing it with me to California to start something new. Luckily, we are right next to the most European city in the U.S.: San Francisco!

It does seem like I haven’t stopped moving from one place to another, but isn’t that what everybody tells us to do in our 20’s? Yes I’m sort of settling down, for now, but the main reason for coming to California is to finally live with Emily. We’ve put up with a mighty distance relationship including a 6-hour time difference and not much time together. It wasn’t easy, but it’s over now. Another reason for coming out West is to search for gold. I’m just kidding, this isn’t 1850! The Bay Area is full of start-ups and other opportunities for sport science, which makes me super excited.

I can't stop thinking about how lucky am I to have such an insanely great group of people that surrounded me every day. Without them, this experience would have been dull. I got to make new friends as well as reconnect with my old ones. The opportunities with them have been stellar from spending 20hrs in London to a weekend in Vilnius as well as traveling France for rowing. 

On the rowing side, the past two seasons were completely different from one another, but allowed me to learn about how performance isn’t only about training and includes adapted approaches based on your situation. I’ve rowed and raced about every type of boat possible with some really good rowers. I think I’ve evolved into a better all around athlete and need to focus more on my power application. At least that is what has been a negative factor in my training. I am not sure about what this year has planned for me, but once I figure out which club I’ll join, it won’t go unnoticed.

One door closes and another one opens, that’s the only way I can describe this transition. I’m excited for the future and wish you all a great summer. I’ll be hitting up Hawaii for now. Enjoy.

Much love.

Getting Out of Town - Training Camp

Small boat season is over with and now it’s time to hop in the 8+. Back at JU, I wasn’t often worried about my spot in the top boat, but here things are a little different. Ever since I switched to starboard, I have been a lot more focused on my stroke than before, which is good and bad at the same time. I don’t trust my automatic reaction to irregularities as much as on port.

Out of 10 men, the coaches had to pick the top 8 rowers for this boat. Some spots were already assigned due to qualifying performances at small boat nationals. For the remaining four spots in boat, we had to race 4 x 750m all out sprints in different crew combinations. That weekend went well for me as I won 3 out of 4 races with the smallest losing time gap.

With the end of classes nearing and inter-team racing, I felt a lot more relieved. Since then, we’ve done a lot of rowing and a ton of heavy lifting due to the fact that we are now racing a 500m sprint. It feels so good lifting and working on my max weight. We’ve been extremely lucky to be given a new-ish Filippi 8+ and be put in the best equipment. In the past month, there has been some work in the 8+, but also in the 4- since some work late or were out of town on vacation. I was able to leave for a little over a week to head back to Jacksonville and watch Emily and my friends graduate as well as work on my papers for finals week.

Once I landed back at Charles de Gaulle airport, I had just under 24h to get situated at school, work, and practice before leaving that next morning for training camp. It gets old rowing in the same place all the time especially when the weather doesn’t agree with you. So we packed for a long weekend, thanks to a national holiday, for Brive la Gaillarde near the South West of France. 

We got to work on just rowing the 8+, put a lot of miles in, and focus on working together all while adjusting our own little issues. I am sitting 7 seat right behind the stroke, who couldn’t come and was replaced by our top rower Romain DELACHAUME. Last year, he finished 6^th at the World Championships in the 2+.

We did a little bit of racing, but this upcoming weekend is our first race (Thomas will be missing from the lineup) to see where we stand amongst our region. We have about a month before Nationals. I have one week of finals starting today, training goes on, and no jetlag. I'm a happy guy!

Until then, here is a little video of our coxswain killing it at 5 seat for our first session while filling in for Thomas.

Quand le barreur tient la baraque 😉 - when the coxswain does more than his job!#teamencou #8encou #aviron #rowing #remo #rudern #monbarreurcestgladiator

A video posted by Msc Sport Conseil (@msc_sport) on May 6, 2016 at 1:58pm PDT

Much love.

New Chapter

This year, 2015, will stay in the history as one of the worst beginnings for France. It's been a sad week and I can't stop thinking about what I would like to do with my life and what I want to accomplish. I think writing my thoughts down again will help continue fueling my experiences, and allowing my friends and family to endure what I go through, good and bad, because life seems to be stopping at every corner lately.

I haven't looked at this page in a very long time and it's been a true walk down memory lane. Has it been that long? All I know is it's all very different.

I have started a new chapter in my life, similar to the previous one, but in a very different context.
If you haven't noticed yet, I live in Nogent-sur-Marne, France where I grew up and left when I was fifteen. I chose this specific place for multiple reasons: to reach goals I had set before graduating college.

The main reasons for coming back to France and putting my "American life" on hold are a step in the right direction to get closer to my dreams in every area of my life.

In academics, school was a tough decision because I couldn't find an institution in the U.S. that satisfied my interests in exercise science and wasn't going to leave me like many of my fellow graduates: broke. Luckily, a few minutes away from home is the mecca of elite sports, INSEP (National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance), where a master's program caught my attention and I was able to make the cut to be part of the small class accepted. On another note, school in France is practically free compared to the U.S.
Training has never left my thoughts for one moment even while I took a long break this past summer to clear my mind, enjoy my life, and reboot for what seems to be a fast pace year. With only one thing one my mind, getting faster has become an obsession, and my Filippi single that is currently drying from my last session has been my best friend and confidant while I put in long hours fixing small details to find more speed.  After what I will most likely call one of the worst experiences of my life, I could only choose to go forward and up. A small hint, I believe I was unjustly thrown away by the very same program I gave everything to, but that is all in the past now. Things are the opposite at the moment. Here, I am able to walk to practice within 1 minute (I live next door), have an entourage of skilled and willing athletes and coaches to help me surpass every limit, and I am lucky enough to be trusted with someone else's quality equipment.

After reading this you might think, "Damn, that's a lot of I's!" and I agree with you, but it is for a dreamy reason. I have been part of a team and school the entire time I was in Florida so that being said, I'd like to focus on myself and discover what I can do.
For now I'll leave it to that as I have had time to adjust to my new surroundings and getting close to very important regattas.

Growing up here around Olympians and elite level athletes from all sports, INSEP has been an important place in my family's life. Being part of this tight nit family is very exceptional as my mom trained there too so it is extremely upsetting to watch such amazing athletes and champions lose their lives in a tragic accident that still seems surreal. Rest in peace Alexis Vastine, Camille Muffat, Florence Arthaud


Much love.

Club Nationals '12

Phew that was a rough few days, not because of my results but more because of being tired mentally and physically. When people ask me how my heats went, I described them as well as possible but it seems like I'm just laying out excuses, which isn't the case, I'm just plain tired. As we wrote my summer training plan, we decided to peak for this regatta with a good physical showing at trials. As I look back, I do believe that I peaked well at trials, and as soon as I got home to train for Clubs (a week), things didn't feel right. You are feeling a little disappointed but just trying to push yourself even though it seems dumb.

On Wednesday, I raced the Senior 1x and that was a huge wake-up call; yes the other guys are fast but I could tell at that moment, I was running on fumes. After the first 1000m, I knew I'd finish 4th so I decided to keep as much energy as possible for that afternoon's intermediate 2x. I felt ok when we rowed up to the start, and we actually had a pretty good race. The first half wasn't too taxing but the third 500m was a little difficult for us and is why we got edged out a little. We did sprint but the other boat had the last stroke before the line to keep us out of the semis. What is frustrating at these big regattas is that they throw random heats together which aren't always fair instead of a time trial. For example, our time was faster than two other heats' qualified boats by 20 some seconds. But what are you going to do?
I had all of Thursday off to relax and try to reenergize a little. So this morning was my last chance to advance and things didn't go my way. The initial 500m were great as I was part of the leaders but when it was time to dig and keep up with the deep fielded heat, I just couldn't.

I am finally done with racing for this summer and it feels good to watch some races and relax even though I'd love to be in a bigger boat and keep racing. I will stay here until Sunday and then head back down to Florida. I'll have a day to get some cleaning done before heading back to the homeland and get some quality time with my mom. I haven't been back in over a year so this is a much needed trip. I won't be taking time off at first and will work on adjusting my technique. The reason that this is so important to me is because I know how much it is holding me back, not just on the water but also on the ergo. I know my times don't match my boat moving skills so if I can improve both than hazzah!

Good luck to Mary Mosier and Matt Sobotka for the finals.

Only a few more days until London and U23 finals are coming up the next two days! 

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!!!