Heading to Worlds
Excited to apply some recent changes in Belgrade for the next week before racing!
The past two weeks have flown by. They started off with a two-race weekend at the Canadian Royal Henley Regatta in St. Catherines. On Saturday afternoon, I lined up against 6 other para crews for the dash. The dash is a historic event at Canadian Henley and consists of an all-out 500m sprint. This is a fun event because it requires a fine balance between pulling as hard as you can (it’s only 2 minutes of effort) and making sure to maintain good technique. The technique part was made even more challenging by the 10-15 mph winds coming down the course. It was definitely the windiest I have ever rowed in, and I spent most of my time focusing on clean finishes so my blades would clear the waves. It gave me a great appreciation for Coastal Rowing.
I was joined by Maddy in the PR2 single, fellow Westside rower Andy in a PR3 single, two additional PR3 singles, and two PR3 doubles. On our way to the start, Andy flipped and amazingly, quickly got back in his single and made it to the start in time for the race! Although I was not very clean and, as a result, fast, it was a super fun time to be lining up against a full roster of para-rowers and battling it out in the waves.
The next morning the wind had mostly died down for the 2k race. There was some serious tail current at the start, but I focused on staying within my limits (so as not to burn out at the start) and put together a solid race. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t maintain my speed in the third 500, but I still finished with a time of 9:56, a personal best. I was really excited to have a full 2k under my belt, focusing on some of the technical changes Sasha and I have been working on for the past couple of weeks, specifically engagement at the catch and being upright at the finish.
Following Henley my brother William and I loaded my boat on his car and drove up to our cottage in Canada. I spent a week up at the cottage taking advantage of the calm morning water to get some long SS and pieces in. Midway through the week, Sasha and I got on a call with Conny Draper, an expert in rowing biomechanics. Conny reviewed the peach data, that we collected in late July, with us and she brought data from other successful PR1 rowers to compare against. One main takeaway was that at the catch of the stroke, even though I was applying force to the oar, my boat continued to decelerate for the first part of my stroke much longer than a “normal” PR1 stroke. The boat naturally will decelerate at the catch because it is the slowest part of the stroke, but there was a longer delay between when I started pulling on the blade and when the boat started speeding up again. We came to the conclusion that this is a result of my catch angle (how far forward my hands are compared to the rigger) being too severe (too far forward).
Sasha and I implemented this change, over the past week, by moving me back from the pin and have seen promising results. By having a softer catch angle the load of the blade is lighter and it allows me to accelerate the blade more efficiently, which in turn brings the boat up to acceleration more quickly. This is a very different stroke than what I am used to, but even in the short time since the change, I can feel that it is more efficient and faster. I was even able to hit a stroke rate of 49 spm while doing starts! Looking beyond worlds this is an exciting development that we will continue to hone.
Future training aside, I am currently beginning my 17-hour journey to Belgrade for the World Championships. Sasha and I will be spending all of this coming week training on the course and getting acclimated to the time change. I have 23 entries in my event, the largest of all the para events, and it is equally exciting and nerve-racking to have such a deep field to compete against. I am honored to be able to compete for the US again this year and can’t wait to be surrounded by the best of the rowing world. Thank you for your continued support on this journey. I will keep you posted on the training and send pictures of Belgrade!