Elite Athlete Blogs

Happy Wednesday. I’ve just returned from the salon, where Ellen and I got our new Beijing-bound do’s. I am happy to report that this go-around was much more successful than the incident that preceded our departure for Munich back in May (I believe the look I was sporting for that trip was described as “newscaster hair” by one of my close personal friends). The fabulous new hair along with an invigorating eyebrow wax has inspired me to visit RCM and write a bit about what’s been going on in Princeton over the past few weeks since our return from Lucerne.

I have a few minutes on my hands before I have to begin preparations for departing from Lucerne. I wanted to post a quick entry to report on a fabulous weekend of racing here at the Rotsee in Lucerne. The USA crews in attendance put forth powerful performances producing medals in the men's and women's quads, the women's eight, the men's four, and twice over in the women's pairs. GO USA!!!

Hello out there from Breisach, Germany. We’re into our second week of training camp here in this quaint little German town, rowing three times a day on the Rhine. “We” consists of myself and Ellen---the sole scullers in the group—and the entirety of the women’s sweep group.

It’s a great day to have off from training. It’s still early, but the forecast is for sixty degrees, gray and rain—a perfect kind of day for lounging and watching a rousing mix of movies and daytime television programming. We get to enjoy an off day today because the last three days had all of us at PTC racing in this year’s second National Selection Regatta. I raced in the women’s double event, which had the most entries of any event this year and produced a lot of competitive racing. This was my first appearance at an NSR 2, and my second NSR ever, having only raced the double at last year’s NSR 3. Last year I placed sixth at that regatta. This year, I won.

The entry below is one i wrote a while ago, but never posted. We are in Clemson now getting somewhat closer to kind of figuring out what could be the final line ups. I recently went to Ohio State for the 30 year anniversary of the club progam and there just so happen to be an indoor rowing race the same weekend. Lucky me. I don't recommend combining a rowing reunion party and and erg test.

I am shocked to find that a week has passed and a word has yet to be spoken about our embarkation unto the mandatory USOC Olympic Ambassador Program that took place January 25-26. I suppose, then, that the dubious honor of recounting our adventures at the OAP falls on my shoulders—since I am sure that the avid readers of RowCoachMedia are as excited about reading about the OAP as we were to attend.

There's nothing like destroying things with Chuck Daly 12-gauge shotguns to relieve the pressures of training. Check out the new entries in the Winter Training photo galleries. God bless Clemson.

The pursuit of new hobbies goes well. I'm starting to get my bow set up the way that I want it. The first time I went shooting I was a little off of the target. I managed to hit it about 15% of the time. I've since adjusted the sight a little and lowered the arrow rest. That's brought me up to 20% I think that through adjustments I'll only get another couple of percent.

As everyone knows, we find ourselves with a good deal of down time while away on a training camp. With practices bookending the days, I find that there is only so much time sleep will take up before I need a break from even that. So I've made an effort to diversify my life a little. With the advent of Rock Band, my interest in video games has fallen drastically.

Hello again from Chula Vista. It’s been just a week and a half since we all recollected ourselves from across the country for our Christmas vacation, and we’re back at the training full bore. The holidays flew by for me, with just a few days at home in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area with my family before turning around and heading back to the OTC.