Missing the Details~~ thoughts from Mum

So, staying in touch with your girl via smart phone/gchat is, well, different. I'm used to phone calls, the longer gchat sessions (we are usually both at work, and converse throughout the day). I miss the details! I like details! Although it's been fun to read the blog entries, I think the "best" conversation I've had with Nicole went something like this...

Nicole: you there?

I know you bought a bunch of shirts - I was wondering who they were for?

me: I got the medium red polo for me, the xl blue polo for bob, the visor for you/me and two extra t's...one for ron and not sure about the other

On my phone at giant

Nicole: okay sounds good

word is t-shirts are pretty expensive

and the conversation continues on through the grocery store - the stay-at-home mom's are giving me the evil eye for 'texting while shopping' and almost running their small children over with my cart - one adult texting while shopping, 25 children not watching where they are going...not a good mix!
so I stopped at the end of the isle and in my head, thought, you all just don't understand - if I don't gchat with her now, she will be in the bed by the time I get home. Sheesh!!

NO CHILDREN WERE RUN OVER AT GIANT!

We continue to talk about my bad rowing habits, ok, well my areas of improvement b/c we all have them and we all need to watch ourselves and work towards a better more efficient stroke. Nicole is watching the video from OBX. I love honest, direct feedback - sometimes it's hard...we have a conversation in our own head as to why I do this or that....but, what would things be like if every time we replaced the word obstacle (or any synonym) with the word opportunity.....how would that change your perspective? (I am down to 1:40 head start on

Bob in the 4 mile chase down - good benchmark for me! Isn't technology a wonderful thing?

Nicole: yeah watch the video
other big thing is the port blade to the water

not as fast as starboard

it's really common

you miss a little on that side

a drill that helps me is one stroke no pressure one stroke pressure (medium) alternating

thinking about unwieghting the hands

to get the quick catch (hmm...pretty sure I have used that description before ;-)

me: will do

Nicole: okay i Need to go eat! (notice the need is capitalized...I wonder if that is on purpose;) xoxox

me: will do

12:53 PM

12:54 PM

We have had a few short gchat sessions since this one...but, it's obvious the focus is on ...so, I will continue to keep myself updated (the start list is up - here - http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2011-world-rowing-championships). I've also enjoyed reading all the other awesome blogs that can be found here - http://www.row2k.com/worlds/blog.cfm and please help these girls out by giving at the First Giving link above or the NRF link in a post below!

Carol ~ Nicole's mum

GO USA!

Competitive Natures

My first evening in Bled was magical.  Still slightly dazed from the sleeping medicine I took for my plane ride (total travel time amounted to approximately 24hrs) my first activity was to walk around Lake Bled.  With a castle on the cliffside overlooking the lake, a church on an island, the ringing bell towers, and surrounding Alps you pretty much feel like you've entered some medieval wonderland.  The perfect weather, lighting, and sleeping pills all constributed to a total of 40 pictures from various angles around the lake...here are just a few samples

Despite the peace and calm of my first welcoming, Lake Bled had many more experiences in store.  The next day getting ready for practice I got some strong reminders that I was in Eastern Europe:  the dining facility served up some pate along with the jam and butter at breakfast, a table nearby me at the coffee shop lit up some cigars indoor, and as I walked to the course I strolled casually by topless women and men in speedos lounging in the grass near the water.

Today, as more crews come in, the competitive instinct is growing. We had a nice little battle paddle when the Chinese LW4x was headed into the dock at the same time as us.  I caught myself competitive walking home from the course.  I had to pass people.  I would pick out the slow ones and overtake them.  If I saw other rowers ahead, my pace quickened - can't be beaten back to the hotel!

This morning, our workout was 1' on, 1'off for 8 minutes, 3 times.  It just so happened that the Chinese 8 was doing something quite similar in the lane next to us.  So we went with it.  Paddling we would get about a length up. Then start pieces and try to hold them off!  No communication between boats was really required and the coaches didn't have to set it up....we all understood what was about to go down.

The best competitive moment though, was this afternoon.  Our hotel likes to host evening activities in the lobby. This evening they had traditional slovenian folk dancing. After the dance show, the group played a tradition folk game.  You take a short, wide log and find two competitive men.  The men take turns hitting a nail with a pointed hammer. The man who gets the nail completely in first is, well, The Man.  At some point during the demonstration game the australian mens team walked into the lobby.

  They stopped in their tracks. Their heads cocked to the side. You could tell this game was necessary.  Two of them jumped in

The one on the right is now "The Man."

A few links for everyone :-)

The Bled website - galleries, live links, etc. http://www.bled2011.org/

The updated program (schedule) - remember these are local times (EST + 6 hours) - http://www.bled2011.org/en/event/programme.htm

Entries by Event (it's a huge regatta this year) - http://www.sportresult.com/federations/FISA/download/2011_World_Rowing_Championships_Bled,_Slovenia_EEntrByEv.cp.pdf

The row2k.com gallery - (this is Nicole's mum's favorite pic) -

http://www.row2k.com/worlds/photo.cfm?action=pf&dir=2011Summer/TeamUSA/LW4x&start=34&offset=24&label=US%20World%20Championships%20Team%20-%20Lightweight%20Women's%20Quad&hi=yes

More to come.....

Departure Day Has Arrived!

After two weeks of madly scheduling flights, figuring out what to do with our oars, and wondering exactly how to fit everything I have into one duffel bag, we are finally on our way! We're leaving for Boston just as soon as I post this, and then flying overnight to Europe and we should all be in the lovely town of Bled, Slovenia around 12pm on Saturday. It's going to be a long trip but I am ready to get going. The thunderstorms here in Princeton have been frequent, and hopefully we'll be flying towards some nice weather and water.

Many, many people helped us reacy this day, both in our training and everyday minutiae, and a couple people deserve extra thanks. Steve Dani, our coach and Master of Details, has done a tone of work coordinating our travel and training here, along with equipment rental over the past month and in the upcoming weeks in Bled. Reilly Dampeer, PBC coach was instrumental in getting us settled at Potomac in the very first weeks of training as a quad. Thanks also to Jim O'Connell for taking us out on the water during one of the hottest weeks of the summer.

A HUGE thank you to our host family here in Princeton, the incredible Kalinowskis, who have welcomed us into their home and put up with our weird eating, sleeping, and training schedules. They also provided a kitten for our entertainment, proving to be the best possible recovery method from hard practices.

And finally, thanks to everyone who has donated to our fundraising campaign! With the NRF contributions and the FirstGiving, we have collected almost $8,500. We're almost halfway to our goal of $18,000! It is impossible to say how much we appreciate it, and since I'm the one writing this post, I'll take advantage of it to say how awesome my teammates at Williams are! Between the men's and women's alumni (NARC included), they gathered about $2000 so far. I am in awe of how the legacy of Williams Crew continues to grow, and I am beyond proud to represent it abroad.

I'm being rushed out the door, so farewell and hopefully the next post will be from Bled!

Katherine

Introductions from 3 seat

It looks like its my turn to introduce myself, my name is Lindsey Hochman and I am 3 seat. With no technical responsiblilities like steering, or making calls, I just get to sit there and pull hard!!

Age: 27

Began Rowing: I began rowing in 2000 after taking a learn-to-row class with my mom

Undergrad: Colgate University '07

Currently living in: Seattle, WA

And rowing for: Pocock Rowing Center

Favorite race memory: Winning a bronze medal in the lw4x and the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland

On a rare afternoon off you can find me: critiquing coffee and being a huge coffee snob at the various independent coffee shops in Seattle. I also LOVE spending time with my family and spoiling my two dogs Pepper and Sage.

Best pre-race food: chocolate covered espresso beans

Best post-race food: chips and salsa!

You will never see me: at a supermarket on a crowded sunday afternoon.

Playing with the Big Kids...

Saturday morning we went here

This is the Princeton Boat House and it is gorgeous. The open weight US Women's team trains out of here and invited us to do pieces.  They are pretty powerful ladies:

Some of them are pretty intimidating:

Of course, this all just made us more stoked that we were getting to race them! We did a 1500m piece, 1000m piece, and 500m piece against the women's 8 and quad (they gave us a lead). The first piece was so-so, but the last two were pretty awesome...we held off the quad on the last piece and we hit some good splits for a LW4x. 

I think the "highlight" was probably when we did our first power strokes during the warm-up.  All of the sudden the water was flourescent.  I thought, for a second, maybe I was in one of these places:

But it turned out it was just this stuff

 

Unfortunately, the green algae "highlighted" all over my new white national team uni.  So, aside from my now pending date with the Oxyclean container, I had a great time!  Tom invited us to hang out on the Princeton side of things, until the women leave for Germany. So we will be avoiding the hectic pre-race prep happening at  Mercer Lake (which is gearing up for PanAm Trials). Thanks Tom!

After a long week of hard work, we were pretty tired by the end of the practice, but we still managed to smile for the camera:

Introductions! Get to know who we are...

I guess we're starting from the stern! Here's a few basic facts about each boat member so you can keep us straight as we start to post more often:

Katherine Robinson:

Age: 24

Began rowing: 2003, Everett Rowing Association

Undergraduate: Williams College '09

Currently living in...: Seattle, WA

...and rowing for: Pocock Rowing Center

Favorite Race Memory: Racing on Mercer Lake for the first time in 2006 and pulling off an upset as the first JV boat to medal at the DIII NCAA championships. It was an indescribable feeling and I end up thinking about it a lot while training there every day now!

On a rare afternoon off, you can find me...: doing a crossword puzzle if it's Sunday, reading entire books at Barnes and Noble without buying them, or watching favorite movies with my family.

Best pre-race food: vanilla Powerbars and CliffShots

Best post-race (and weigh-in) food: Pizza. It tastes good every time.

You will never see me...sky-diving. Ever. Falling from high places is my worst nightmare.

We Need Your Financial Support

Friends, Family and Awesome Supporters,

The women's lightweight quad is an non-funded world championship boat. That means we pay US Rowing $3700 each (that's 4 rowers and a coach = $18,500 total!) and this does not include airfare. As elite rowers, we are already on a limited budget because we all have cut back on paid work hours in order to train and be competitive. Please help us out by contributing to the 2011 LW4x.

Both of these sites are safe and secure and all monies contributed are divided equally among the boat members:

1. The site is for smaller donations where you don't mind paying a service fee and want to be recognized for your contribution :

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/stevedani/fisaworldrowingchampionshipsbledslovenia?fge=ask

2. The National Rowing Foundation Site also accepts boat contributions and is suggested for those who do not wish to pay the service fee or are contributing a larger amount: Please be sure to use the drop down menu - select "other" and indicate 2011 LW 4x in the boat class line.

https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=natrowing&id=1

You will receive a confirmation email from NRF (check to make sure it is for the correct year and boat class)

The 2011 Lightweight 4x

Stroke - Katherine Robinson

3 - Lindsey Hochman

2 - Nicole Dinion

1 - Hillary Saeger

The lightweight 4x came together over the summer and will represent the USA at the World Championship in Bled, Slovenia August 28 - Sept 4.

Q - How did the 4 of you come to be the lightweight 4x?

A - Hillary Saeger and I were 2x partners at the National Selection Regatta II and finished third behind Kristin/Julie and Abby/Ursula. Lindsey and Katherine finished 4th behind us. So, it was a natural combination as the other two doubles were competing at the World Cup(s).

Q - Why did you train for a few weeks in Washington DC?

A - Katherine and Lindsey are from Seattle and needed to acclimate to the hot, humid east coast weather because trials are in NJ. I originally trained with Potomac Boat Club, before moving to OKC and am still a member, we all have family in the area to host us, and PBC is a US Training Center Partner as is Pocock and Riverside.

Q - What is your goal for Worlds?

A - To bring home a medal of course! (we all have an affinity for gold) (US International Results)

Many thanks to all our coaches, family, host families, and friends that believe in us - without you we wouldn't be here today.

Leading Up to Trials!

World Championship Trials:

The link to the US Training Center - OKC Blog (original post)

http://okchighperformance.blogspot.com/

It was desolate. After training in the bustle of Washington D.C. for 3 weeks, where the 7:00am jets, 7:15 news helicopters, and 7:30 EVAC practice team render hearing your coach near impossible, we were pretty excited to transition our training up to Mercer Lake in NJ. The hustle and bustle of the city was energizing; but, after a series of mornings where our boat was double booked and I tried to take out a few innocent kayakers from bow seat, we thought pieces on the empty course at Mercer County, in our own boat, would offer a refreshing change.

The change was drastic. We went from no parking and tripping over Crocs on the dock to a completely empty boat house. There was no one. We couldn’t even get into the facility because all the administrators were out of town. Thankfully we got an addition to our team - head coach of Pocock, Steve Dani, arrived from Seattle. Having a coach “watch your every stroke” can add, well, some integrity to your practice.

It was a catch 22. The flat water, buoyed race course, and lack of obstructions made training a lot easier and we made technical improvements. But without anyone around, and with no other women’s lightweight quads registered for trials, it was hard to keep that “kick” in our stroke. Finally, though, my fellow OKCers arrived. Having my team around after being apart for almost two months put the vigor back into my training. The energy, charisma, and work ethic of the athletes in Oklahoma never ceases to inspire me. It probably also helped that another quad registered.

We were geared up. I liken it to a race horse that’s all warmed up to a lather and can hear the crowd cheering. We were chomping at our bits. On finals Thursday morning we finally got to do our first, all-out, throw in the kitchen sink, 2K. I swear to you, that headwind picked up every stroke as we went down that course. I didn’t know a 2K could take a quad so long to finish. But finish, we did: securing 1^st place and our spot to the 2011 World Championship. One of the most exciting parts was realizing that we had posted up a competitive time with the Women’s Open Four, who is also training in Princeton between now and the World Championship. Hopefully, they won’t be too intimidated to do pieces with us ;)