...And We're Off!

Final stages of packing (for the OLYMPICS!!!) last night!

  The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of training, media, and packing! We are finally heading out today to London, and I can't wait to get there, train, and finally, finally RACE!

  We have a bit of a planes-trains-automobiles of getting there, but somehow this feels different than the usual traveling. For now, we're bussing it to the airport, heading to Heathrow, then bussing it to the satellite Rowing Olympic Village, then off to get accredited and processed, and then finally back to the Village to get settled in. Whew!

  I am so excited to be traveling with my teammates and heading over to represent the USA with everything we've worked and trained and sacrificed for. All of us are so incredibly excited and ready to race, it's hard to think that we'll still have to wait more than a week to actually get to the starting line! And it's also really cool to see the two- and three-time Olympians on our team as excited as us newbies about this whole experience.

  I'll be updating as we go as best I can, and thank you for sending your support and cheers! Go USA!!!

Rowing: That Is the Question!

Welcome back to New Jersey and full-speed winter training! We returned from Thanksgiving break to mid-60s, sunny, summery weather, and are now confronting chilly December mornings and the joys of winter wind. But whether the training's indoors or out, it's all focused on getting us stronger, fitter, and tougher for the racing in the months ahead!

The GMU field house!

I had a great Thanksgiving break, getting to spend an awesome few days in Washington, D.C., with my boyfriend, Kyle. I also got to hang out with the George Mason women's rowing team, and even got the chance to share a little bit of my rowing experience with them (thanks for sticking around after morning practice, y'all!) At the end of my presentation, there were several really great questions, and I realized I haven't ever put up a post where I asked my blog readers exactly what they wanted to know. So...here it is. Ask away! Just post your question at the bottom of this post or email me at esther.lofgren@gmail.com!

Some of the questions I've been asked before: How can I get faster on my 2K? How do you get ready for a 6K? What do your hands look like? How much can you squat? What do you eat the night before a race? How did you learn how to scull? What qualities do you think make a good coxswain? Where do you find tall jeans? What's a video that you watch to see good rowing? How do you keep the boat from riding down to your side?

Racing with someone I learned a ton from--thanks, Shoop!

If you ask most elite rowers--and elite athletes in general!--most will tell you that they learned much of what they know from observing and asking people they thought trained and raced well. I continue to do just that, and I'd be happy to share what I've learned with you. Please send me your questions, and I'll answer them as best I can!

Happy training!

Fall Speed Order and Power and Grace Calendar Winner!

Day One Done--Fall Speed Order 2011

This weekend is the Fall Speed Order on both coasts. Not sure who originally designed this, but it's two days of going all-out into the well, and is a important check box in our selection process. For those of us on the East Coast, we get to work around boathouse availability and take a 6K on Saturday afternoon, followed by a roughly 4.3K race on the water early Sunday morning in a 2- or a 1x.

There were mixed results on today's 6K, but a lot of really strong pieces from both new and experienced rowers. I was a little aggressive in my starting speed, and ended up paying for it quite a bit. But after some quality time with the trash can, I got in a good flush-out and recovery for tomorrow's race.

The weather forecast is a strong cross-head wind tomorrow morning, which means a good long race. I'm lining up with Susan Francia in the pair at 8:00 tomorrow, and I'm really excited to get out there and do our thing. On-the-water results will be posted here.

Power and Grace Calendar Winner!

And now, what you've all been waiting for...the winner of the autographed Power and Grace Calendar!!! Thanks to everyone for the retweets and reposts. The winner of the random drawing is: Claire Wallace! Thanks all...if you didn't win, you can pick up a calendar by clicking this link. (And email me at esther.lofgren (at) gmail.com if you would like to get it signed!)

Good luck to everyone racing here on Lake Carnegie tomorrow! Our West Coast teammates are already done with their Fall Speed Order, as of yesterday...you can check out their on-the-water results here.

An Apple-Pickin' Good Time!

Just some grown-ups doing some grown-up apple picking!

 This weekend we had some amazing weather in Princeton, and I decided to mix it up by going to pick some fresh produce with a couple of (non-rower!) friends. After conferring about where to go (our usual place, Terhune Orchards, was overrun by shrieking children for a Family Fun Weekend), we headed out to Lee Turkey Farm, which thankfully was not overrun by shrieking turkeys.

Yasmine, apple warrior!

I see you, Karen!

The produce was a bit spotty--this summer had too high of temperatures and too much rain (thank you, New Jersey!) for many good crops. But we managed to get a big five-gallon bucket of tomatoes, eggplants, and apples. It was our first time using apple pickers, little cages at the end of PVC pipes that are ingenious for reaching up to the highest branches. We also did a bit of tree-climbing, which turned out to be against the rules...which we only saw just as we were leaving! Oh, well.

Looking for apples!  All photos: Karen Pszonka.

I'm baking my share of the apples into my favorite apple crisp today...I'll have a photo up tonight!

Training has been going well as we build back into the year. It's been great to see Tweets and blog updates from athletes from other countries also building back into training--it makes us feel less alone that the first couple of weeks feel exhausting. I think everyone has a moment or two when you wonder if you lost all the work you put in over the last year! But after a bit, you realize it's all still there, and you're right back on track.

1x the pleasure, 1x the fun!  Photo: Stesha Carle.

The Care Package

   I knew when I decided to pursue training full-time that my life would be a nomadic one. We spend somewhere between three and seven months each year away from Princeton at training camps and races, and in Princeton, "home" is the (admittedly amazing) guest room of my host family. If I'm lucky, I make it to my parents' house in southern California a few scattered days each year.

   However, one of the great things about being a nomad is receiving care packages from home. This Thursday I came home to a big box waiting on the porch. In it? Nothing spectacular: a bunch of clothes I'd sent home with my parents from the World Championships, some mail, and a note. But what was so special about it was that it was from home--a little link to the parents and brother that I don't get to see often.

   It's interesting, though--talking to athletes from other countries and reading interviews, we actually are "home" quite a bit. Many rowers from Asia, Australia, and New Zealand are abroad from May to September every year, and also travel to training camps. I''ve read that Chinese rowers often leave home to train in their teens and may not get to go home until they meet with success in their rowing careers or else after they've ended. And some rowers from Sweden and Norway live and race abroad for nearly the entire year.

   So there are quite a few of us out there who've lived out of our cars, who've moved somewhere far away, who travel across the country and around the world in pursuit of our racing dreams. I have no second thoughts about living the life of a nomad: I get to go to some truly amazing places and the whole time, I have the luxury of doing something that I love and that is an incredibly rewarding journey. But man, do I love those care packages and the little glimpse of home they give!

Bled WRCs 2011: In the Books and On to 2012!

 
  After some post-race globe-trotting, I'm finally back home. Back to work on the water — and back to my blog-compatible laptop, hooray!

20 meters to go!   Photo courtesy row2k.com.

  Our last race in Bled was everything a final should be: exciting for the fans, but internally deliberate, aggressive, and full of heart. We had a bit of a delay at the start due to swans in the lanes earlier...so there were 15 minutes of all crews sitting there patiently, with dozens of spectators milling around and Guns'N'Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" playing on repeat.

  The buildup was effective, though: everyone came out of the blocks blazing, and there was no settle or shift in the field's pace as we all went into the middle thousand. Staying internal and focusing on our race plan, we kept pushing. For a bit, we were going stroke-for-stroke with Canada, but we dialed in and listened to Mary, and kept moving. Beep...beep! The race was over so quickly, but there we were, holding hard after the finish line, the world champions by 3/4 of a second.

6:03.65. Feeling spent and glorious.  Photo courtesy Igor Meijer.

  Music boomed through the grandstands — appropriately (?), "American Woman" by the Guess Who. Finally, as the W8+ medal ceremony was beginning, we were able to squeeze onto the dock! It was wonderful to finally get to hug my teammates after such a great race. You work with these same women all year. You know how tough they are and how much you have all worked to prepare for this race and to be the best crew you can be. So to put all that work and energy into one race and have it be what you all hoped and trained for it to be — it's a really special moment.

Elle, Moose, Taylor, me, Jamie, Caroline, Amanda, Don, Mary, and Susan!

  The medal ceremony was a wonderful blur. Receiving my medal from the inimitable Anita DeFrantz. All of us having to drop an octave while singing along with the oddly-high-pitched national anthem. Hugging a dripping Whipple after we did the cox toss. I got to run up to the stands and hug my family. And then we were rowing off — to celebrate and share the moment with each other and with the people who had helped us get there!

Photo courtesy row2k.com

  After racing, I had some great travels both in Europe and back in the U.S. My boyfriend and I went down to  Portorož (near Piran) on the coast of Slovenia, a gorgeous little Adriatic fishing village, for a few days. Then it was off to Interlaken in Switzerland, where incredibly beautiful mountains intermingle with waterfalls, lakes, alpine flowers, and cows. Moo!

Stepping off the train in Lauterbrunnen (Interlaken).

  Then it was off to Colorado to get my butt kicked by the unintentional altitude training. My "favorites" were running hills at 8,000+ ft. and doing "The Incline" in Manitou Springs.

Nothing says fun like gaining 1200 ft of elevation in one mile, AFAP.

  We're back in Princeton now, settling right back into the rhythm of training. Besides training, our big focus at the moment is promoting our 2012 USA Women's Rowing Team Calendar, the proceeds of which go directly to the amateur athletes working here towards the goal of London 2012. If you saw these last year, they were amazing, and this year's are even better! Click here to order — you'll receive a pre-sale discount if you order by Oct. 1!

  Thank you for another year of support and sharing the journey with me. This coming year promises to be both the toughest and the most rewarding one yet. And I can't wait!

  Go USA!
    -Esther