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

One Down, One to Go in Bled!

USA W8+ out of the blocks!   Photo courtesy Allison Frederick, USRowing

Yesterday, we had our first race, and it was both a solid piece and a good starting point for us to build on. We lined up against Great Britain (who we raced a month or two ago at Henley, and who a few of the women in the boat had raced against in Lucerne), Germany, and Ukraine. It's funny that racing at Henley was on my mind, because the starting area here is also packed with spectators--something very rare at a World Championships (usually the coaching bike peloton are the only spectators!) But just like at Henley, it doesn't matter what's happening around you as soon as you're locked into the blocks and ready to race.

The racing switched to eight-minute centers yesterday to try to alleviate some of the launch wakes, but there was still a lot to do back in bow pair as we went through some bumps in the first 500 meters. However, we were all focused in on our race plan, and executed it from start to finish. It's great to be dialed in to one another, and I think we're all looking forward to building off of this race and finding another gear.

We also had a lot of fun yesterday on the bus playing with stickers. (Yes, we were a bit loopy when we came down for our second row!) My mom brought some obnoxiously American stickers--sparkly, patriotic, and purchased at Walmart--and we decided to see if we could "tag" other rowers on the overcrowded bus without them noticing. At first, it was just our fellow teammates, but then we got bold and moved on to the Greek lightweights sitting next to us. They really got into it--one of the women gave her (male) teammate sitting in front of her a big hug, surprising him enough to sneakily stick one on the back of his shirt. Susan did well too, putting a "Happy 4th of July" sticker on a cheerfully oblivious Danish lightweight guy. I also tagged a Chinese rower from the men's eight, who tried to tag me back for the rest of the bus ride. It's great how silliness doesn't have any language barriers!

The best, though, was our ride back, when we were on a much emptier bus. We tried to tag the Australian men's eight, but they were not amused. So instead, Susan and I launched a sticker attack against the guy sitting behind us--Matthew Pinsent! Unbeknownst to us, he put all of those stickers on my back, which we didn't realize until we were off the bus and headed back to the hotel! However, we did run into him in the mini-mart a few minutes later, and luckily had a few stickers left...although he was very careful to get in a different check-out line, we managed to make the last tag of the day a good one.

This morning, we got to sleep in, and get to cheer on our teammates racing today in reps. On the adaptive side, we're pulling for ASW1x Tricia Downing, ASM1x Ron Harvey, TAMix2x Anthony Davis and Jacqui Kapinowski, and LTAMix4+ Alex Stein, Eleni Englert, Emma Preuschl, Andrew Johnson and Eric McDaniel. After that, it's M2x Tom and Pete Graves, LM4- Will Daly, Ryan Fox, Robin Prendes and Anthony Fahden, W4x Megan Kalmoe, Adrienne Martelli, Natalie Dell and Stesha Carle, M2- Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel, and W2x Kate Bertko and Sarah Trowbridge.

Go USA!

It's Time for Bled!

Racing is finally underway this morning here in Bled! The whole city is literally abuzz with the regatta. The announcer's booming voice can be heard over the whole lake. The starting line is just feet away from our hotel window. And the racing is on every TV and computer screen! It feels a bit like waiting to start your race at C.R.A.S.H.-B.'s...you're ready to race, but you're also never able to stop thinking about the fact that you're going to be racing!

We've seen nearly the full spectrum of weather since we've been here--the week started out HOT and sunny, then warm and windy, and then a huge thunderstorm yesterday, perhaps trying to give us a small dose of Hurricane Irene? It's calmed down a lot, but more weather will be rolling in by the end of the day--more challenges for all the small boats starting racing today!

The view from my office...

The course, town, and buses have all filled up in the last two days. This morning, we were joking that our odd-fitting USA team jerseys were the reason we were almost run over by crews at both ends of the course--they must have wanted to see them up close for themselves! We finally escaped the ITA LM8+ that seemed intent on clashing oars. The bus ride back had a bit more breathing room than this morning's: we were so jammed in that the doors wouldn't close, when the UKR W4x decided that that was the sign to also get on!

On the bus, everyone gets a bit of the your elbow-to-my head move...

We haven't had too many adventures here--we're in racing mode, so it's mostly just lounging around our hotel rooms...or around the hotel lobby...or eating...or sleeping. We're sharing a hotel with the Kiwis and Aussies, and even though the seating in the dining room is separated by country, we at least have the "DMZ" of the lobby to catch up with each other. The lobby has also been the source of nightly entertainment--from the "A Minute to Win It"-style show shooting a nail-driving contest to Slovenian folk dancers performing--which makes up for the consistently terrible lounge music playing on repeat. (I love Whitney Houston, but I don't know how many more times I can listen to "I Will Always Love You"!)

Slovenian folk dancers invading the lobby!

I'm rooming with Elle Logan, whom I've had the pleasure of rooming with since 2007. One of our favorite things to do is to watch bizarre Euro MTV music videos; this year's top find has been the slightly scandalous "Love Banana". We may have also watched a bit of the "William and Kate" movie, which was on TV *in English* last night!

Today, it's just watching racing, and our last practice before we start racing tomorrow! We are on tomorrow (Monday) at 11:06am (that's 5:06am Eastern); you can listen to live race audio and follow the live race tracker at http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results, or check results for all races here.

Keep cheering for the USA crews--great racing so far today from everyone, with props to our LM1x, W2-, M8+, and M4x, who all qualified for their respective A/B semifinals!

I also put together a slideshow of our trip from Munich to Slovenia and the goings-on so far in Bled:

View all

Get your own

That's all from Bled for now. Go USA!

Edge of Glory Playlist

  The past two weeks have been all over the place, with coming back to Princeton, jumping right into selection, some weather delays (oh, New Jersey! It wouldn't be selection without 100°+ weather and thunderstorms...at the same time!), and then some interesting trials still coming next week.

  I've been changing gears quite a bit this spring, and last week got a chance to try for the eight, which ended up going well. I'm excited to have the opportunity to race again with my boatmates from last year's eight--including our entire four from 2009, now three years in a row together!--and I think Susan and Caroline coming in have brought some great talent and experience to the crew.

Racing with Susan, Meghan, Amanda, and Jamie
(all in this year's 8+) in Lucerne last year!

  This playlist has been in the works for a while, but it's all about racing. The excitement and deadly calm just before the race starts. The energy of surging off the line. The focus of base pace. That incredible feeling of knowing that in two strokes you are going to unleash an unstoppable move--what the line "I'm on the edge of glory" reminds me of. And, of course, the sprint--being deep in the pain cave but finding it in yourself to will more speed out of your legs, out of the hull.

  So, enjoy this musical tribute to the best part of our sport! Good luck to everyone racing at Canley--the most fun week ever--and trials! (**Except for the Wugazi song, which is available for free on the linked website, all links go to previews of the tracks. All songs are available on iTunes, or for free if you are one of the first 20 to retweet this or share it on Facebook!)

1. Slow Like That -- Wugazi
2. Drop -- Ying Yang Twins
3. Give Me Everything -- Ne-Yo ft. Pitbull, Nayer, Nadia
4. Liv Tonight -- Nelly & Keri Hilson
5. The Edge of Glory -- Lady Gaga
6. Call Your Girlfriend -- Robyn (**The official video is here, but the more awesomer video made by my teammates Mara Allen and Adrienne Martelli is here!)
7. Party Rock Anthem (feat. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock) -- LMFAO
8. Hello -- Martin Solveig & Dragonette
9. BodyBounce (feat. Akon) -- Kardinal Offishal
10. Temperature -- Sean Paul
11. I Wanna Go -- Britney Spears
12. Get Up (Extended Mix) -- Stanton Warriors, Ruby Goe & Hollywood Holt
13. S.C.O.M. (feat. Ryu, Juelz Santana & Mike Shinoda) -- Celph Titled
14. Blind Faith -- Chase & Status
15. Fortune Days -- The Glitch Mob
16. Make Some Noise -- Beastie Boys
17. Off That (feat. Drake) -- Jay-Z
18. Otis (feat. Otis Redding) -- Jay-Z & Kanye West
19. Dance With Me Remix (feat. Beanie Sigel) -- 112
20. Dancing With the DJ (Chiddy Bang Remix) -- The Knocks
21. Feel It In My Bones (feat. Tegan and Sara) -- Tiësto
22. Houdini -- Foster the People
23. Shine a Light -- Wolf Parade
24. Girl Is On My Mind -- The Black Keys
25. The Magic -- Joan As Police Woman
26. Furr -- Blitzen Trapper
27. Worn Me Down -- Rachael Yamagata
28. Drive It Like You Stole It -- The Glitch Mob
29. Sweet Disposition (Yes Giant Remix Radio Edit) -- The Temper Trap