London Calling!

Extremely exciting news...the remaining boats for the USA's Olympic Squad were announced Friday, and...

I will be racing in the eight and representing the USA at the 2012 London Olympics!!!

Your 2012 USA W8+! Caryn Davies, Caroline Lind, Elle Logan, Meghan
Musnicki, Mary Whipple, Taylor Ritzel, Esther Lofgren (that's me!),
Susan Francia, and Erin Cafaro!

I wouldn't have been able to do it without the support of my friends and family, and from the people who read this blog. Thank you all for encouraging me to follow my dreams. It has been a long seven years working towards this--being the last one cut from the eight in 2008, again in 2009, working through injuries in 2010 and 2011, and the ups and downs of selection this year. But all those obstacles have made making this team and getting to race this summer even better!

It is humbling to be a part of something as big as the Olympic Games, something that so many of my heroes--the ones I idolized as a kid, watching the Olympics on the tiny TV my mom had brought home from work for two weeks, and the ones I still tape into every training journal--have made into the ultimate celebration of humanity and sport. I am honored to be one of the athletes representing the USA, and I can't wait to get out there and race with my teammates and friends!

2008 Non-Olympic World Championships.

These last few weeks have also been really tough because of what didn't happen. Several women who have done incredibly well this quadrennium--four of them broke world records last month, for example--did not make the London squad, including my best friend on the team. We've trained together with the goal of making this team since 2008, when we were the last ones cut from selection for Beijing, and she has inspired me every day of the last four years. My friend and the rest of these women are amazing athletes and racers whether or not they are racing in London, and our team is as strong as it is because of what all of us have pushed each other to become.

So--a lot of emotions, a lot of excitement, and now the hard work begins! We practiced yesterday morning wearing our Olympic unisuits (NBC was there filming–wow!) and racing down the course, it really sunk in for the first time that I am going to be racing and representing our country at the Olympic Games! I can't wait to see how much more speed and power we can find as a boat now that we are all together, and I can't even begin to imagine what the whole Olympic experience will be like!

Thank you again for believing in me and supporting me, and for helping me make the Olympic team!

Go USA!

-Esther

Racing Underway in Lucerne!

  Yesterday was our first chance to get out and race outside of the squad, and across the board, Team USA raced aggressively and set a good tone for the regatta.

Erin and Elle off the start!

  Our pair, Elle Logan and Erin Cafaro, laid down some fast 500m splits en route to a solid win in their heat. We are all cheering them on for their semi this afternoon!

Stesha, Natalie, Adrienne "Hammer", and Kate racing to a record!

  Our two quads also did a great job yesterday. USA1, with Kate Bertko, Adrienne Martelli, Natalie Dell, and Stesha Carlé, pushed through the field to break the world record, but finishing a hair behind Germany. The rematch on Sunday promises to be more great racing! Our USA2 quad of Megan Kalmoe, Kara Kohler, Kady Glessner, and just-Wednesday-qualified-for-the-Olympics-in-the-1x Gevvie Stone had a tough draw and raced well. They will be racing for top 2 in the repechage this morning.

Me, Susan, Jamie, Amanda, Meghan, Taylor, Caroline, Caryn, and Mary!

  We had a really solid first race together in the afternoon and were excited to learn afterwards that we'd also broken the world record. More importantly, though, we qualified for the final Sunday, and are excited for the opportunity to race our brains out again!

Ken bending it in his heat!

  Our men's single, Ken Jurkowski, finished a strong second in his heat to advance to the quarterfinal today. And our lightweight women's double raced well in the bumpy conditions and will race the repechage for a spot in Sunday's final.
  In the meantime, we are enjoying Lucerne as always--the beautiful city, unbeatable breakfasts, and friendly people.
  Thanks for your support and GO USA!

Livin' My Love

Better late than never...here is February's playlist! Lots of different songs for different tastes, but hopefully there's one in here that can help you find a few more seconds on your 2K. Links go to iTunes or Soundcloud preview. All songs available on iTunes or Soundcloud for download.


As always, be one of the first 25 to retweet or repost on FB to win a copy! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, and GO USA!

Livin' My Love

February 2012 Playlist

1. My Love is Your Love (Jonathan Peters Radio Mix II) - Dyme & Whitney Houston (R.I.P., Whitney...we will always love you!)
2. Midnight City (M83 Cover) - The Knocks
3. Youth (Monsieur Adi Remix 2) - Foxes
4. Mother Protect (Goldroom Remix) - Niki & The Dove
5. Put It In Your Manners (DJ 21azy Mashup) - Childish Gambino vs. Chiddy Bang (**Explicit)
6. Tonguetied (Gigamesh Remix) - Grouplove
7. Oh, La (Submarines Remix) - Ra Ra Riot
8. We Got It Wrong (Starsmith Remix) - St. Lucia
9. Without You (Kill Paris Remix) - Lana Del Rey
10. Skinny Pain (feat. Young Church) (2Pac x Birdy) - Mother Earth
11. Journey Without You (3LAU and Acetronik Mashup) - 3LAU
12. Look At Me Now (TYR Remix) - Chris Brown
13. Hellevator - Robotic Pirate Monkey
14. Kick Out the Epic Motherf**ker - Dada Life
15. Levels - Avicii
16. Rio de Fuego - Robotic Pirate Monkey
17. Save the World (Alesso Remix) - Swedish House Mafia
18. Cracks (Flux Pavilion Remix) - Freestylers
19. Eyes - Kaskade (feat. Mindy Gledhill)
20. We Own the Paris Sky (Akilles' Dirty Sexy Smash) - Friendly Fires vs. M83
21. Second Song - TV on the Radio
22. Stay Gold - The Big Pink
23. Six Weeks - Of Monsters and Men
24. Swerve... The Reeping of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding) - Shabazz Palaces
25. Stay Away - Charli XCX
26. Heaven - Emeli Sandé
27. Till the World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix) [feat. Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha] - Britney Spears
28. Wildfire (feat. Little Dragon) - SBTRKT
29. Jolene Is Mine (KMT Mix) (Dolly Parton vs. Jay Z) - KMT
30. My Feeling For You (Digital Lab Remix) - Sebastien Drums & Avicii (**This song is awesome. I couldn't find a good preview link for it, but I would definitely recommend checking out the DJ Biglife Edit.)
31. Pressure (Alesso Radio Edit) - Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji
32. Livin' My Love (feat. LMFAO & NERVO) - Steve Aoki
33. If Your Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough - Roger Alan Wade

It's 2K, 2K...

Photo courtesy Allison Frederick.

Howdy from the Chula Vista OTC! We're halfway through our winter training trip here, and California is still awesome. We've been able to get in a lot of good training sessions on the water thanks to a pretty mild winter. The camp group training for the light men's four has just joined us--all we need are Julie and Kristin from the light women's double to come down for another camp and it will feel like the gang's almost all here!

We're a few weeks out from the National Selection Regatta, which will be held for the first time out here instead of at the Princeton Training Center. And although we're not racing there this year, it's also just a few days until C.R.A.S.H.-B.'s, which was one of my favorite races as a member of Radcliffe Crew. I thought I'd share some of my ideas about getting ready to have a great 2K erg test.

Confession time: I had a period when I really struggled with erg tests. I would go out for every test shooting for a PR, and if I realized it wasn't going to happen, it was mentally very challenging to keep pushing myself to the end. What was the point of the test if it wouldn't show that I had worked harder and gotten fitter?

As an older and more realistic athlete, I now understand that while ideally every erg test is a PR, you can and should still have a good test no matter what your training and preparation have been leading up to the test. Sometimes an erg test will happen when you're training for a race later in the year, or when you've had to spend some time recovering from an injury or focusing on school or your job. Being prepared for an erg test is first and foremost about doing the things that work for you, but I thought I'd share some of what I like to do to be ready for an erg test!

It boils down to being prepared, and I like to break it down into three parts: the week before, the two days before, and test day. Confidence comes from knowing you've prepared. If you can check off those boxes leading up to the ergo, you'll feel mentally and physically prepared, and that's a huge step towards having a great test.

THE WEEK BEFORE: Test plan, playlist, logistics.
Having a plan for your 2K is extremely helpful. Your coach can give you suggestions for a race plan—usually what works is something similar to an on-the-water race you’ve had that went well. A few times in the week leading up to the test, make time to sit on the erg for 2000 meters and visualize your race plan while holding steady state splits. Practice transitions—when you want to increase the rate or drop your split—and rehearse in your mind encouraging yourself through a good test. If you have no idea what your plan is, check out my post on the three best 2K erg test strategies.

If you can listen to music for your test, make a playlist several days before. A 2K is only two or three songs long, so pick ones that you know will inspire and encourage you. I’ll be putting up a playlist this weekend that you might find some good ones on! Check back Monday for my February blog playlist! You can also look through my teammate Megan Kalmoe’s playlist that includes one song from each of the women training here in San Diego.

If your erg test is somewhere besides your normal boathouse, figure out logistics ahead of time. Make sure that you know how to get there and plan backwards so that you can arrive with plenty of time. Figure out what options are available for warming up and cooling down, and plan to bring a book if you’re going to be there well ahead of your race. The first year I planned to race CRASH-B’s, I showed up at the event site ready to register and come back later to take my test—only to learn that I was supposed to pre-register, and I only had 30 minutes to test in the “Bullpen” before it closed! Planning ahead will make race day that much easier.

TWO DAYS BEFORE: Sleep, nutrition, hydration, final preparation.
As you probably already know, a good night’s sleep the night before the night before your race, as well as the night before your race, are very helpful towards performing your best. Try to get the things that might normally keep you from that—such as schoolwork, work, errands, etc.—done earlier in the week so that you can be relaxed, get to sleep early, and log some good ZZZ’s.

Eating well and staying hydrated will also ensure you have a good performance. For the two days before your race, stick to foods you’ve eaten before and that you know sit well. Drink lots of water and other fluids, and if you’re not trying to make weight, consider adding a little salt to your meals to increase hydration.

The day before your test, if you are able to, do one last erg walkthrough. See yourself hitting your goals for each 250- or 500-meter portion of the test. The night before, pack your bag with water, snacks, your sweats, your mp3 player, and whatever else you want to bring to the test, so that you know you won't forget anything for the big day!

Philadelphia City Rowing throwing down at the Center City Slam this morning! Photo courtesy smugmug.com.

RACE DAY: Stay calm, focus in, trust yourself.
After so much preparation, your race day will hopefully be without too many hitches. You’re physically and mentally ready—all you have to do is your erg test! Don’t worry if you’re still nervous about your ergo. As my dad says, “Everyone walks to the boathouse a little slower on test day.” But also be excited for the opportunity to test the work you’ve done and knowing that you’ve prepared for a personal best.

This article from High Performance Rowing has specific nutrition and warm-up recommendations for 2K testers—it’s definitely worth checking out! One thing that was especially helpful for me: you can fuel up with a solid meal 3-4 hours before your test, but stick to gels or electrolyte beverages within 2 hours of your test, so that ideally you're racing on an empty stomach.

Ali warming up for a 30-minute! Photo courtesy concept2.com

My PTC teammate Ali Cox also put together a great post for Concept2 last year about the specifics of race-day readiness for C.R.A.S.H.-B.'s, which you can find here.

This is a long post, but if you take anything away from it, I hope that it’s that with a bit of preparation, you can put yourself in a good position for having a personal best on your 2K! And also that you will probably look better than this when you're in your last 250.

Sprinting for the finish a few years back. Beastmode!  Photo courtesy row2k.com.

Good luck with your 2K preparations, and check back on Monday for the February playlist!

A new year...and answers to your questions!

   There were a bunch of great questions from readers on my last blog post...I was able to put together answers to a few. The first few days of camp here in San Diego have been great! After a hard training push right up to the holidays, I headed home to Newport Beach and got in a lot of great training while having a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year with my family and friends. The Newport Aquatic Center, which has been my home base since I started rowing, continues to be tremendously supportive of my training and my racing goals for this summer, and I am so deeply grateful to Billy and the crew there! Thanks, guys!

Billy Whitford, NAC leader extraordinaire!

   And now for the questions and answers! You asked:
How do you keep motivated during long, boring, painful winter training?
   Well...a lot of it is pretty tedious. At some point, erging just becomes erging, no matter how creative you are at breaking up the pieces or changing the stroke rating. I like to set goals for myself for the winter as a whole and also for each workout. It's extremely helpful to keep a notebook with your splits and heartrates for workouts that you do again and again. When it comes to steady state, your notebook can motivate you because you see how your heartrate gets a little better (over time) as you hold the same splits. And for pieces, you can ballpark how much faster would be moderate improvement, and how much faster would be an awesome piece!

Photo: stronglifts.com

   I also try to get fresh music on my iPod as often as I can. Our team often rotates whose mp3 player is blasting for our workouts--even if it's not your favorite music, sometimes anything besides your one go-to playlist is what you need. (Side note...January playlist coming soon!)

   The other thing it's helpful to realize is that you can--and should!--work on technique on the erg. Erging in front of a mirror will allow you to check if you have a horizontal drive with a good sequence from catch to finish, and you can check if you're sitting up throughout the stroke and not picking up the work by opening your body. Nobody wants to be this guy!



    Another great question:
   Which is more effective in training...explosive/speed pieces or long ss [steady state] pieces? Also what is your diet? Do you take supplements?
    Both of those types of training belong in everyone's workout regimen, regardless of your training volume and training goals. What you are trying to train for should determine the specifics of those workouts--for example, if your major training goal is winning the Head of the Charles, it would be less important to focus on 2K-specific speed workouts than on longer, 5K-specific workouts. Since physiologically a 2K is akin to doing as many power high pulls as you can, at the highest weight you can manage, in 5 to 8 minutes, training should help you build rowing-related muscle strength and then aerobically and anaerobically condition that muscle strength.

   Most people will see benefits across the board from doing more steady state work. Aerobic fitness helps you build the system that delivers oxygen to your muscles, and is a big part of the middle 1500 meters of a 2K race. But anaerobic work--including longer, hard pieces and interval training--is needed so that you can push your body to its limit, break it down, and allow it to build back stronger and fitter than it was before. Every team I've ever been on does 2-3 "hard" practices each week, with the rest of the training time spent on steady state, cross-training, and lifting--a ratio that seems to work well. I have definitely benefited from both types!

    My diet isn't anything too special. About 95% of the time, I treat food like fuel. If it isn't going to help me perform better on the water or the erg, it's not worth eating. There's always room for fruits and vegetables, nuts, Greek yogurt, muesli, whole-grain pasta and quinoa, and lean meats--and a LOT of water, milk, and other hydration sources. I also use hydration and recovery drinks from Shaklee and nuun. The other 5%...well, we train a lot, and one of the luxuries of that is getting to have things like an ice cream or a beer once in a while. But staying on top of what you're using to fuel your body is a huge performance enhancer.

Photo: sportsmd.com.

    Taking supplements is very risky, because there are so many ones on the market that are unregulated and could contain things entirely different than what the label reads (and for our team and NCAA athletes, banned substances). I do take a few supplements--a multivitamin, fish oil, iron--very basic things. I only use companies that are specifically focused on quality (all of these companies market their products to athletes who are drug tested) and that have extreme quality control on their products. Right now, I rely on Shaklee products, which are extremely high in quality, developed with athletes in mind, and cover a range of needs from multivitamin to sports recovery to highly-specialized supplementation.

Photo: solgar.com

    A lot of the questions readers posted were training-specific, and while I'm not going to post my training journal on here, there are a lot of really good resources online that can help answer your questions! I would suggest always talking with your coach about what you want to work on, because your coach will likely have additional workouts (or stretches, or rest!) that they would prefer you do.

High Performance Rowing - well-researched journal/performance articles relevant to rowers.
Eat to Win and Paleo Diet for Athletes - these two books are helpful for understanding how to treat food as fuel. Just be sure to take both "plans" with a grain of salt, and be sure to meet with a nutritionist before starting any major shift in your diet.
Role Model Rowing and Drew Ginn's Youtube- Besides looking on YouTube, Carlos Dinares has a great collection of "good rowing" videos, both sweep and sculling, on his website. I also like to check out Drew Ginn's YouTube channel for videos of good sweep rowing.

Hopefully this provides some helpful answers--I'll try to respond to more of the questions next week! And, as always, feel free to leave comments or more questions here! Thanks and GO USA! -Esther

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.

Happy November Playlist!

   

Downtown Princeton, about an hour into the storm.  Photo: Liv Coffey

So the fall head racing season is fully underway, with the Charles over, the Schuylkill and Princeton Chase just finished this past weekend--as well as my little brother's first head race, with Newport Aquatic Center at the Head of the American! Only a few more races to go before we head indoors (on this coast, anyway). We had a big ol' snowstorm Saturday--trees down, power out, and lots of good reasons to be training indoors (or be cuddled up in a blanket in front of the fireplace and/or space heater!) So...since erg season's just around the corner, here's a playlist that will help ease the transition from long, beautiful swing rows to sweaty five-minute pieces in the hurt locker.

As always, be one of the first 25 to comment on the playlist post, share on Facebook, or retweet to win a copy of the November Playlist! AND...one lucky reader will WIN A POWER AND GRACE CALENDAR SIGNED BY THE ENTIRE WOMEN'S TEAM! These awesome calendars are going fast, so share to get yours before we sell out! (And if you just want to order calendars, go to the Power and Grace website or email me at esther.lofgren@ gmail.com to order a signed one!) Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

The Happy November/Grady Loves Dubstep Playlist
All links are to previews or YouTube clips. All previewed tracks are available on iTunes.

1. Shake It Out (Benny Benassi Remix) - Florence + The Machine
2. This Ain't Water (Thirsty Pt. 2) - Starting Six ft. Mann
3. I'm A Goner - Matt & Kim ft. Soulja Boy and ANDREW W.K.
4. Pumped Up Kicks (feat. Dr. Pack) - DJ Shocker
5. Good Feeling - Flo Rida
6. Lights (Bassnectar Remix) - Ellie Goulding
7. Mr. Saxobeat (Radio Edit) - Alexandra Stan
8. Danza Kuduro - Don Omar & Lucenzo
9. We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) - Rihanna
10. Crave You (Graz Remix) - Flight Facilities
11. After Midnight - Blink 182
12. Dignity - New Politics
13. Better With the Lights Off (feat. Chris Brown) - New Boyz
14. Rabbit Heart (SLOF MAN Remix) - Florence + The Machine
15. Turn Me On (feat. Nicki Minaj) - David Guetta & Nicki Minaj
16. The War Inside - Switchfoot
17. Countdown - Beyoncé
18. Without You (feat. Usher) - David Guetta & Usher
19. We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe) - Fun.
20. Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
21. Gold Guns Girls - Metric
22. Cinema (Skrillrex Radio Edit) [feat. Gary Go] - Benny Benassi
23. Faster Than My Angels Can Fly - Eric Church
24. Barefoot Blue Jean Night - Jake Owen
25. Sail - AWOLNATION
26. Stay Don't Go - Spoon
27. A Real Hero - College feat. Electric Youth
28. Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire) - YACHT
29. Paradise (Fedde le Grande Remix) - Coldplay
30. Pass At Me (feat. Pitbull) - Timbaland
31. Da Mystery of Chessboxin (TF2 Remix) - Wu-Tang Clan

Get ready for Head of the Charles... and the 2012 Power and Grace Calendar!

The Head of the Charles Regatta is just five days away, and the women's team here in Princeton is gearing up to make the drive north to support everyone racing...and to share our amazing 2012 Power and Grace Calendar with the world!

This is our second year of making the calendar, and while last year's was beautiful, inspiring, and still hanging on my wall at home, I'm SO EXCITED for the 2012 edition! Our excellent calendar team hired two premiere New York-based photographers to shoot us on the water and in the studio, and put together little cameos that are windows into each rower--what inspires us and drives us on our journey as we train towards the 2012 Olympic Games.

Susan Francia. On your wall. Fierceness!
All images property of Jordan Matter and Jeremy Saladyga.

The calendar's not just beautiful, it's also useful to rowers and non-rowers alike: both major holidays and major regattas are printed in the calendar! Even though I see these women and train with them every day, I'm inspired every time I look at mine--it somehow manages to show both the incredible amount of training my teammates put in to this endeavor, while also showing everyone's competitive, beautiful, and resilient spirits.

So, if you would like to support our journey--100% of our net proceeds go directly to the women of the USRowing Princeton Training Center--and to hang some inspiration, motivation, determination, and just some pure joy in rowing on your wall for the next year, please buy a calendar!

All images property of Jordan Matter and Jeremy Saladyga.

You can order your calendar online by clicking here. We will be selling our calendars on Saturday and Sunday at the USRowing booth in the main tent at the Head of the Charles, and holding a special autograph session on Saturday from 2-4 at the Wintech Racing booth along the walkway by the finish line. We will be selling the calendars for $15 at the Charles--so come by and get one with autographs for the same price! You can also email me at esther.lofgren@gmail.com if you would like to order a larger quantity to sell at your club, event, or store.

Erin Cafaro can do more pushups than your boyfriend!
All images property of Jordan Matter and Jeremy Saladyga. 

If you want to see even more about the calendar, you can check out our photographer Jordan Matter's blog about our shoot, "25 Beautiful Women and 2 Frantic Photographers- How We Photographed an Olympic Calendar in One Day" here, as well as my teammate Megan Kalmoe's video about the making of the shoot here!

Thank you for supporting our journey. Go USA! (And SEE YOU AT THE CHARLES!!!)

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

Bled 2011: Ready for the Final!

Out of the blocks in our heat.   Photo courtesy of Igor Meijer.

Tomorrow is the big day for us: lining up against Canada, Great Britain, Romania, the Netherlands, and China for the World Championships final. We go off the line at 1:24pm here in Bled (that's 7:24am Eastern and 4:24am Pacific); you can watch the racing live on TV (Eurosport) if you're on this side of the pond, and live on Universal Sports here. There is also a live race tracker with audio commentary here.

It's always a bit funny to me to have a year of work boiled down to a single race, but I am nothing but excited for tomorrow's final. We have done a lot of solid work, have prepared for this, and have really come together as a crew. We are ready to test ourselves, and I can't wait for our race tomorrow.

Today's racing by USA crews both buoyed and inspired us to go to a new level in our final tomorrow. The women's quad had an incredible final, never letting up the pressure on Germany even when both crews had miles of open water on the field, and took silver, notching the first medal of the regatta for USA crews.

Megan Kalmoe, Adrienne Martelli, Natalie Dell, and Stesha Carlé: 
the USA W4x killing it!  Photo: Allison Frederick 

The men's eight never quite hit their stride in the B-final. In spite of having a solid piece, the guys finished a few seats down to Ukraine, yielding the final Olympic qualification spot. It is really tough to see your friends and teammates come that close to the mark, but the guys already have their heads in the game as to getting back on track for qualification next year, and I know they'll make it happen.

USA M8+ at the starting line.  Photo: Allison Frederick.

And in action earlier today, our teammates in the women's pair held off a late-charging Canada to qualify the hull for the Olympics by 0.06 seconds. Way to make it exciting for the folks watching back home, Kady and Caryn!

USA W2- out of the blocks.  Photo: Allison Frederick.

For now, it's an early bedtime and getting ready for our race. So much training, tapering, and now...racing is here! I can't wait to sit on the starting line with my boatmates tomorrow and feel all this energy ready to unleash. So ready to race!

We've had an incredible outpouring of support here in Bled and from messages coming in from overseas. It means so much to me and to all of us to know that you are cheering us on from the grandstands, from your living rooms, from in front of your computer! Thanks for all of your support, and Go USA!

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:

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Get your own

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