Holland Beker Racing!

Racing at the 2011 Holland Beker starts tomorrow!  
We are racing as "LUC" in the W2x.  
Two separate races, one Saturday, and one Sunday.
Heats tomorrow morning, then final in the afternoon.  
Then on Sunday, an early heat, midday semis, then an afternoon final!  
We are excited to race and have many times to zoom down the course--Five 2k's over three days if all goes well!!  :) 


Click Here to find results!


(results links are on the right side of the webpage)

2011 - WOW the year is already halfway through!!

By Abby

So, where have we been??  I'll try to make this long story not-so-long!  :)

Well, as Ursula continued her training after New Zealand, moving from one place to another as she sought a different training environment, I came to the hard realization that I think many elite athletes come to at some point in their career--I needed to set my oars down for a while, pause, and let myself take a much-needed mental and physical rest.  So, from January through March, I was mostly at my home in southeastern Idaho, playing in the Teton Mountains and spending time with my boyfriend and family.  I tried out some new sports, including biathlon, orienteering, ski-orienteering, and adventure racing.  Amidst all the fun was plenty of inner turmoil surrounding my "comeback" to rowing.  I knew deep inside that I wasn't done with my rowing pursuit, but when would I be really ready to jump back into the boat?  At what point would I feel refreshed, re-motivated, and ready to dive back in whole-heartedly after the long 2010 season?  

Not a bad view from my living-room erg!

Around mid-April, I decided to go check out the scene at Oklahoma City for a week, just to see the training facility there and test the waters, so to speak!  It was great to once again be training alongside Ursula, and to be back on the water and enjoying it once again!  I went back to Idaho, gathered up my things, and drove to OKC to train again.  Now, the question was, would I be ready to race at the upcoming National Selection Regatta #2???

Yes….

But the timing was incredibly tight and by the time Ursula and I sat on that starting line again in the LW2x, we had been back together in a boat for a week and a half, and I had only a couple days of pieces under my belt since racing in New Zealand over 6 months prior.  We had a good start to the regatta, but fell short of winning by two seconds!  My cross-trained aerobic base could only get us so far, and we needed more time to make some technical changes and get into a new rhythm.

Fast forward through another series of moves and re-configuration, and we found ourselves back in Seattle, my rowing home base, training at Lake Union Crew with our new coach, John Parker.  After two weeks training in Seattle and sleeping in my own bed (ahhh so nice!), the three of us have headed to Europe to train and do some international racing!  We are currently in Amsterdam, preparing to race in the Holland Beker race next weekend.  It should be a really fun race…some fast crews will be showing up including the Canadian and GB lwts!

Where we're staying...THANKS Frans and Ineka!

Amsterdam!  SO many bikes!

After the Holland Beker, we're off to Lucerne, Switzerland, where we will race as "USA-2" in the 3rd World Cup.  This will be a big event…basically the equivalent of World Champs but compressed into just three days!  We are excited to see where our continuing momentum has taken us since NSR2.

Although by losing at NSR2 we lost our opportunity to be the 2011 USA LW2x, we remain patient and confident that we are still on track for a successful Olympic year.  We are working very hard everyday, and are keeping our spirits up--staying as present as possible as we also keep the big picture in mind!

April of next year will be the next round of National Selection, which will begin the process of determining the crew that gets to represent at the 2012 Olympics.  It's still a long road ahead, but for now, we go onward with the second half of 2011, one stroke at a time !

So, hopefully following the results from our upcoming races will be simpler than following that long update!  Look for links to our results on our blog within the next few day! 

Now that we're settled in Holland and have found our new rhythm, we will be more diligent at keeping our blog and website updated!

Much thanks to all our dedicated supporters…couldn't do this with out you!!!!!!!

Equation

LUC Welcoming and Presentation

Last night, Rome threw us a welcoming party at Lake Union Crew.
"So many of our dream at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable. And then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable".... That's how I started our presentation. I talked about how I started rowing with a learn to row class at Greenlake. From there rowed as a master for Lake Stevens, and raced Master's Nationals as a 26 year old (which was too young for the AA category and so was 'disqualified' after winning my heat in the single). So I raced the outside lane in the final and won, and was still awarded the single victory. Since then, a AAA category has been included. Abby spoke about how she rowed for Lewis and Clark in Portland and after college decided to take the risk to make the USRowing team. She moved to Seattle to do just that and medaled in the lw quad in the following years, in various World Champs.
We then moved on to talk about our coming together and the Bled experience of winning a gold medal. After Bled, training for the New Zealand World Champs. After NZ, Abby took time off, and I went to San Diego Training Center and then to Oklahoma City Training Center. John rounded off the presentation with talking about the training and goals and explaining the nature of a trials boat, which our event falls under, meaning there is no system or training center for us. But rather groups that establish to train together, and then bases or camps to do so.
The presentation ended with some great questions.
It was a greatly appreciated, interactive and sincere evening for the team.

Thank you to LUC for hosting us.

Video links that we showed at the presentation:
Main Presentation Video
Video of Bled World Cup last year
And then there's this one from NZ ...since all rowers can co-miserate with racing in the wind...

Making Donations

Thank you so much to all the people who have donated to our journey and helping us be able to train and remove a little bit of the stress factor in funding. Know that by doing this, you really help us go faster! By removing stress from training life means better recovery and a better ability to focus and absorb the technical changes. It helps boat feel, it elevates encouragement to come to practice day after day, and gives the ability to give your maximum because your muscles and mind are not in tension! There are other things like listening the alpha-music which is music at certain brain-frequencies to promote calmness that we also use. So this is just an indication of how much important removing stress from training life!

Once again, Thank you for your belief and support! Its HUGE!

Donations can also be made to the NRF here>

Where are the RowStars

During this holiday period Abby and I could not be experiencing more opposite climates. Abby has Idaho snow and skiing as daily life and I'm having South African sun and swimming as necessity.

Hard day for the RowStar Team

Today Abby and I placed ourselves on that start line. Today we were to complete a stepping stone to get to that precious final. Today our affirmations read that we are 2010 World Champions Lightweight Double Gold Medalist Rowers. However, the door on this semi-final closed on us. And the disappointment sets deep.

Abby has raced before in the double, and has placed in B finals. Today we knew our potential was nothing short of A. I was unable to race in the world champs in Poland last year, and Carlos and I have waited for a long time to get to this point. We were the favourites to win. Our grandstand had our parents watching. And in our hearts we had all the people following us from all over. But from the start the greeks and brits took a lead. We stayed focused in our boat working to get it back. By the 1500m, we were within a second, having the fastest third 500m. The last 500m, we were holding on for all we could muster, but as they say, 'one man's cross is another one's church', because our loss in speed in that last 500m, gave the homeground favourites, the new zealanders a chance for the final. The crew took us in that last 500m, and placed third to make the A final. And we will have to defend our position from the B final.

Its a hard reality that plagues in sports. But it is also the basic truth that one any given day the best lose, and we need to pick ourselves up. We played really hard to get here, and the challenge now is how we can get smarter from this. This journey is still an incredible one, with many battles. This win would have calmed a few storms, but what the heck, bring on the rough water. We seem to do better in the waves it seems, judging from our heats. I left Lake Karapiro today, hearing the Terminator.... We will be back!

Thank you again for all your support and belief and hope in us. We are not giving up. I hope neither will you!
Ursula
Abby
Carlos