2008 Spring Training Camp: Breisach

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. We’ve been graciously welcomed by our hotel staff at the Best Western Hotel Münster and the staff at Breisacher Ruderverein (Breisach Rowing Club) and are very happy to eat, row, and exist here for the time being.
We arrived in Breisach last week at the conclusion of the first World Cup in Munich. Ellen and I raced the double there, along with the women’s pair combinations of Susan Francia/Anna Goodale and Elle Logan/Caroline Lind, as well as Michelle Guerette. Following racing, we embarked on a five hour van ride from Munich to Breisach, through the heart of the Schwarzwald region of southern Germany. We arrived to find our hotel to be a castle-esque structure at the top of a large hill in the center of town, built on and around old fortress fortifications, and neighboring St. Stephan’s Cathedral (circa 12th century). The view from the hotel is fabulous, though the trade off is the very punctual ringing of the church bells beginning at 5:00 a.m. and ending at 10:00 p.m., with chimes on the quarter, half, and three quarters hours and prolonged chiming at 6:00 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m.. Joy.
We’ve been making the five minute cobble-stoned commute via our rental vans. The boathouse is a very charming little structure set right on the river. It has two full boat bays, locker rooms and a cafeteria/lounge area for us to use, as well as a sweet BBQ pit, and a large grassy yard perfect for stretching sessions and “body circuits”. The river itself is marked with 500m and 1000m signs and is relatively straight with launches few and far in between so long steady state rows are perfectly in order here. Local celebrity sightings have included the German W2- and LM4-, but for the most part we only have to share the river with the swans (arguably the German equivalent of Canadian geese though in smaller numbers, much quieter, and still better to look at). Our activity on the river tends to draw the attention of passers-by, who seem especially interested in our docking and launching procedures. We also seem to draw undue attention to ourselves during our team warm up runs along the nearby paths, as what may seem to be the slowest running team of all time (an old man on a bike even yelled at us, “Sie sind sehhhhhr langsam!” and rode off laughing). Unfortunately it has been a bit gray and gloomy while we’ve been here, so I’m hoping that we will get to see the sun at some point during our last few days of training before we move on to Lucerne.
In Lucerne we will join the rest of the USA team, including the W4X, LW2X, M4X, M4- and LM4-. Ellen and I have chosen Lucerne as our qualifying regatta, meaning that we will need to place in the top four in order to secure our nominations to the 2008 Olympic team. If we should fail to place in the top four, we will have to race the double in Olympic Trials. After an eventful and educational weekend of racing in Munich, I am optimistic that we will be able to capitalize on those experiences as well as the good work we are getting in here in Breisach to have a successful weekend of racing in Lucerne. I am looking forward to racing again, and seeing some more of team USA in action. And best of all, Mom Kalmoe and one of my brothers will be making the trip to Lucerne to cheer on my teammates and me!

See you out there,

--MK