I have made the big trip from Otay Lake, Chula Vista (pictured) and am again training in Princeton, NJ.  It is good to be home where I have a full closet, my own room, and a car.   I also have to cook for myself and clean my own house.  Such is life.  I already miss the amazing dining hall, sports medicine, and palm trees at the Olympic Training Center.  Then again, who wouldn’t?

 

When training out West, we had some incredibly opportunities provided by the great supporters of our team.  To say the least, I am very thankful to ZLAC Rowing Club, the San Diego Crew Classic Stewards, Helen Frykman, the Shoemakers, and the Barbies.  Collectively, they provided our team with great food, memorable adventures, and encouragement.  I offer up my great thanks for helping the team work happily through our most intense training period of the year.   To give you a few highlights:

·        Rowing on Lake Casitas, site of the 1984 Olympics and the last US women’s gold medal in the eight

·      Enjoying a yacht of all yachts from San Diego to La Jolla - and back on a 90 degree day, brunch, swimming, watching dolphins…

·        A Mexican feast with a burrito the size of my head

·        A tour of the oldest women’s rowing club in the world

 

Here comes the spring racing season and the time when performance opens up doors to race internationally and earn a place on this year’s World Championship Team.  Up first is National Selection Regatta I.  I will race in a pair with someone as yet to be determined.  This race will help prepare me for NSR II, where the winner has the opportunity to hit the time standard and be named as the pair for worlds.  Our team this year is deep and strong.  There will be some great racing so keep posted and watch for the exciting results!

Here’s a quick update to fill you in on what I’ve been doing here in sunny San Diego…. yep, you guessed it, we’re training!

 

It is going well for the women here at the Olympic Training Center.  We just wrapped up our erg testing week.  We need to submit a 6k and 2k erg test each year and we now have that done and over with.  I was very pleased with both of my tests because I pulled a PR (personal record) on each one.  This was the first time I have had a PR for a 2k or a 6k since my junior year at the University of Washington.  Not bad, every six years, I get a bit better…  This just goes to show that training for the national team does not focus on erg tests, but they are still a part of the training process.  I simply find it amusing.

 

So far, we row in both the big boats and the small boats.  For the next few weeks we will do all of our hard race pieces in the pairs and our afternoon rows in the eight or the four.  We are preparing for the National Selection Regattas where we all hope to make our boat of choice.  These races are the first chance to be selected to compete for the US in the small boats of one or two people.  For me, I am shooting for the pair.  Our team is very competitive and there is more than one fast pair combination. The next month and a half will be quite exciting as we all duke it out.  We all must stay friendly of course because we hope to bring the pairs together to make a fast eight as well. 

 

Here’s to the last 18 days of training in San Diego!