Independence Day Regatta: Year Two

It’s amazing to me that the last time I updated was the middle of June. This summer has flown by and it’s easy to see why – every single day is packed! With five hours of rowing a day, there really isn’t a lot of time for other things besides going to work, prepping and eating food and sleeping. 

Independence Day Regatta has come and gone. IDR marks the moment last year when I first started thinking about rowing for a summer program. My IDR experience last year – car-topping a single and crashing on a couch- was completely different from this year. Last year I raced the Intermediate 1x (unaffiliated), this year, the Intermediate Light 1x, Open 2x and Open 4x for Penn AC. I was originally supposed to be in the Intermediate Light 2x but the Tuesday before IDR, my double partner broke her hand in a biking accident and I was put in the single instead. Both of us were really disappointed because we had been working very hard in our double and planned on racing towards a good result. This change of plans meant that my race and therefore my weigh-in was two days earlier than expected. My first weigh in as a 130 lightweight was definitely a tough one, but I hit the mark exactly: 130.0! Can’t say I’m not accurate. 

 I had a fair race in the heat and was able to make top two without pushing my hardest. The final on Saturday was a completely different story. I knew I had tough girls to race and had to have a good race to even hang with the pack. Unfortunately, my nerves got the best of me and I overgripped my oars, giving me the worst forearm cramps I’ve ever experienced in my life…beginning at 1500m to go. I crossed the finish line in last place at 26spm barely able to hang on to the handles. I was very disappointed with this, not just because I got last, but because I felt I wasn’t able to row to my potential at all and test my skills against girls I feel like I could compete with. However, the bright side is that I did at least make the final and got more racing experience. Now I know what to work on and that I have a lot of room to improve!

On Sunday, I raced in the Open 2x and Open 4x. The 2x was a last minute entry in order to give me a race in a double after we had to scratch the lightweight double. We had an okay race, we were just racing people way, way faster than we were. Like World Championship medal faster. As someone who should not only be racing as a lightweight but also in the intermediate category, this was definitely intimidating. But once again I gained more racing experience. We encountered the same situation with the quad. We put together a good race but were just outclassed. But I have to say that even through all the last minute changes and tough racing, I learned a lot and was fairly pleased with the weekend. 

 I love rowing for Penn AC. Every single person comes to practice excited and ready to row, even when we’re exhausted. Rowing in Philadelphia has refueled and revitalized my love for the sport completely. As far as my transition to a lightweight rower, things have definitely been hard but not unmanageable. My diet has worked great and although it is challenging to pass on beer and burgers when I’m out socializing, the reward has been worth it. It also helps that most of the people I know here are rowers, former rowers or coaches and understand what I am going through. The support is amazing. I definitely have a lot of thoughts about my shift to a lightweight rower so there will be a whole post about that at some point! But for now, enjoy a picture of what I eat on a regular basis. 

This Wednesday begins Club Nationals, a race I have never participated in before. I will be racing in the Intermediate Light 2x, Intermediate Light 4+ and Intermediate Light 4x. I am very excited for lots of racing over five days with a great team! GO PENN AC!

Independence Day Regatta: Fireworks and Rowing, Now That's Patriotism

July 1-3: Independence Day Regatta

Independence Day Regatta is one of the biggest summer regattas and despite eight years in the sport, I had actually never been before. Although I was signed up for a triathlon that day, I asked to defer my registration fee so that I could attend IDR.

Because the classification rules for the Schuylkill Navy are different from the rules for US Rowing, I had to row in the intermediate instead of novice single. This meant that I had to race my first 2k in the single. My heat was at 5:18pm on Friday so I left for Philly in the morning after de-rigging, packing up and washing my boat. After a little traffic and about five bathroom stops, I made it to Philly around 1pm. This left a good amount of time for rigging, socializing and a quick nap under a tree. 

 One of the things about rowing the single that is still taking some getting used to is how much it is all about you. This seems obvious to anyone who knows about rowing but I don’t think that I realized what it was really like until I started racing by myself. When rowing for a team, there’s always someone to launch you or carry your oars or travel with you or check your equipment or high-five you on the dock. When rowing an unaffiliated single, you need to be able handle everything yourself. As much as I really enjoy rowing the single, that is the one thing that makes it very different. Rowing by myself is very enjoyable, it’s doing everything else alone that threw me for a loop at first.

My race in the heat was not the greatest. Since there were 21 boats in the Intermediate 1x category, three boats in each of the four heats moved on to semis. I was in Lane 1, and had been warned about the turn. However, I still took it badly. I ended up with my starboard oars on the buoy line instead of my port oars, the way I was supposed to and actually ended up off the course before the marshal waved me back on. I definitely lost some time because of that. Fortunately for me, I got lucky with a slower heat and qualified anyway. A lot of that race was a learning experience for me. I was trying to learn how to handle the length of a 2k in a single and couldn’t really think about anything other than crossing the finish line with a place good enough to qualify. I finished third and got to move onto the semis, on Sunday morning.

Dinner on Friday was spaghetti and meatballs at Angellino's

Friday night I stayed with a friend of Sean’s old roommate and Marist crew alumnus, Andrew, who lives in Philly with his fiancée and Penn AC junior team coach, Rebecca.  Andrew’s friend, Steph, used to compete in Ironman races so one of the highlights of my stay with her was getting to see real Ironman medals. The other highlights were her two dogs, Tracker and Betty. I spent most of my stay with her playing with my new furry friends.

Breakfast was a cinnamon raisin bagel on Saturday morning at RyBread 

Since I had all of Saturday to hang out and not race, I got to see a good deal of the city of Philly as well as a lot more racing. I think that most of the people who were rowing for a team rowed in multiple events, something I did not envy on such a hot day. On Saturday night, I stayed with my parents, who had come to see me race.  That night, we saw an amazing display of fireworks from the hotel window. Philly definitely goes all out to celebrate 4^th of July: these fireworks were awesome.

Video of Sean's heat, taken by Andrew from his bike

My friend from high school, Andy, walked onto the Bucknell Men's Crew team and is rowing for NYAC this summer. For more video from Saturday's races, click here.

Chicken and whole wheat penne with pesto at Maggiano's with my parents

On Sunday, I was happy to race in the morning. I think that one of the reasons my race in my heat was so bad was because I was exhausted from traveling and spending a day in the heat. Obviously, a good rower should be ready to race in any conditions, so that’s no excuse for a bad race. Needless to say, on Sunday I was glad to be racing at a time where I felt I was strongest.

My race was at 8:36 a.m., but things were a little behind so I didn’t actually end up lining up until 9ish. Everyone in the warm up area was a little tense, but we all got some laughs when the girl from St. Catherine’s (Canada) asked “Do you think they’re behind, eh?” It seems weird to be friendly with your competitors before racing, but the best rower is going to win anyway, not the nicest (or meanest) person.

On this race course, the start is staggered because of the turn. Because I was in Lane 1, it seemed like I started ahead of everyone, though things were evened once we went through the bridge. Despite this false sense of being ahead, I felt that my start was very strong, as were my first power strokes. A couple of the girls shot off the line but I was able to hang with the main pack for about 600 meters. I made a middle move of 15 strokes at the St. Joe’s boathouse, where I could hear my mum cheering for me. (One of the best things about not having a coxswain is that you can actually hear the spectators!) At that point, all the rowers but one were ahead of me. Through the 3^rd 500, I tried to focus on lengthening out my stroke and relaxing my hands, two things I had worked on in practice.

Photos taken by the paparazzi, aka my mother

Once I hit the island, I knew that I probably didn’t have a chance of qualifying but I was going to sprint anyway. I wanted to show the people in the grandstand that I wasn’t completely defeated. I took the hardest power 25 that I think I’ve ever taken in my life before I heard the buzzer signaling that I had crossed the line…in 5^th place. I hadn’t qualified, but I was very happy with my race. Throughout the weekend, I had successfully doubled my racing experience in the single. I had also learned from my mistakes in the heat and had a better semi because of that. Despite reservations earlier in the weekend about whether giving up my spot in the triathlon was the right thing to do, I am very glad I went to IDR instead. 

Results of the races can be found here. 

Rowing back to the dock

Another thing that I liked about the race was that the organizers sent a survey afterwards. This showed me that they really cared about making it a good race for everyone. Even though it’s been around since 1880, they are still working to improve it and that impressed me. I also met the race organizer, Clete, who was very friendly and genuinely cared about my racing experience. The only thing that I wish had been different was the time between heats, semis, and finals. Having 36 hours between heats and semis, and then less than 2 hours between semis and finals seems uneven to me. But since I didn't actually make finals, I was unaffected.

 

Intermediate Women's 1x Final on Sunday morning....wish I had been in the race, but it was exciting to watch too

Thanks to my parents, for coming to watch me race, to Steph, for giving me a place to stay, to Andrew, for cheering loudly, and to Mulvey and Sean, for their amazing ability to keep my ego in check while still giving me moral support.

Check back next week for updates on my first triathlon of the season!



Schuylkill Navy Regatta: Don't Forget the Medal!

June 17, 2011: Pre Race

Loaded Izzy all by myself!

Since Philly is about four hours away from Poughkeepsie, I wanted to stay overnight somewhere closer. Marissa, my friend and a fellow Marist rower, lives in Jackson, NJ, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Philly. Her family was kind enough to feed and house me before my race (and also let me play with their cats!)

Amusing Dexter with a flashlight

Marissa's mom's AMAZING dinner: chicken and potatoes and salad

Tigerlily is happy for the attention

June 18, 2011: Race Day

Rigging in the sunshine

Marissa and I only had to get up at 5:45 a.m. to hit the road for Philly. We left at about 6:30 a.m. and despite very confusing Google Maps directions, we made it to the course around 8 a.m, just in time to set up and help Sean launch.

Sean launching

View from the launching dock

Sean Clarke, 1st racer on the water

 

My race was at 10:35 and Sean had recommended that I launch about half an hour before. Even though my race was not a 2k (it was a 1k), he said that I still had to follow the traffic pattern for the people in the 2k races. I assumed that this meant I had to go all the way to the 2k start and once I launched, that’s where I headed. I had a decent amount of time to warm up once I was down there but suddenly, it seemed like I was the only boat on the river. I had to row up the course until the Strawberry Mansion Bridge before I saw anyone who looked like they were in my race. Apparently, all the other novice singles had waited at the Bridge for our race to start. Well, at least I got a good warm up in…about 3k more than my competition!

 

I raced from the 1st blue line (1000m) to the 2nd yellow line (finish line)

The Race

I was in lane 2, with my competitors in lanes 3, 4, and 5. Even though I’ve raced in Philly tons of times, I had never only raced 1000m. The start for my race was at the dock of the St. Joe’s boathouse, which is the halfway point during the collegiate spring racing season. I hoped that this would make the race feel easier. However, even though 1000m is shorter than 2000m, it still feels really long. 

Once again, as soon as the official said “GO!”, my brain shut off. I know I did a start, and I think I did some power strokes but I was focused completely on keeping my bowball ahead of the other racers. After about 250m, the girl in lane 5 went off course and veered into the middle of the course. Fortunately, she was behind the pack so she didn’t interfere. The three of us pushed a little bit over to the middle of the course, so I was in lane 2 ½ (if there was such a thing) when I passed the start of the island. I knew that, even though there was a good chance I was going to win, I wanted to push it. My body seemed to know that the island meant “sprint” without me even thinking about it.  I passed the island and knew that in an 8+, the end of the island meant 20 more strokes. 20 strokes in an eight is definitely not equivalent to 20 strokes in a single. I think I took 30 more strokes before I finally heard the “BEEP” signifying that I had finished the race.

 

 See more video from Schuylkill Navy Regatta on my Youtube channel. 

After the race, I was my normal oblivious self and missed the fact that the officials were waving me to the medal dock to get a medal. I knew that winners got a medal, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind after the race. Like I said before, I think my brain shuts off when I row…and sometimes forgets to come back on. This meant I had to walk all the way back to the grandstand to get my medal. The officials thought that it was pretty amusing, at least. 

After much ado...

Schuylkill Navy Regatta medal

Since Sean unfortunately didn’t qualify for his final, we de-rigged the boats and headed off an adventure for authentic Philly cheesesteaks. We ended up at Dallesandro’s, which was AWESOME. I definitely plan on making a return visit when I head back for IDR.

Small place, big cheesesteaks

Perfect for hungry rowers!

Results
Can be found here.

Overall Impressions of the Race
This was a good step up from Derby. The officials were more official, but it wasn't so crazy or crowded that they were intensely scary. I got to race on a course that I have raced on many times throughout my rowing career, but I got to experience it in a different way. It was a relaxed atmosphere while still being a competitive race. And the medals were cool, once I made it to the grandstand to get mine! I think this was a good race for me at this stage, worth the travel time and money.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Marissa and her family for being generous enough to give me a delicious meal and a place to sleep. It was also great to have Marissa at the race for support and a lot of laughs. Once again, thanks to Sean for taking video and lending me oars. And special thanks to my beloved car, Izzy, for not hating me for the 450+ miles that we traveled.

Maybe if I can just get my bow close enough, I can spear a watermelon! (Picture taken safely at a red light on the trip home)