Brandenburg - Beetzsee Regatta

This last weekend I raced in Brandenburg, which is east of Berlin. The logistics of the regatta was perfect, with being picked up at the Airport from a wonderful host, Gunter to the scheduling of the events that went off perfectly on time and quick lane reschedules. The regatta set up was quite nice with a change/locker room that really made me think, wow! The best part was I got to race with a starting system. My first time ever. That really helped with the start. The German U23 were having their trials there as well, although I'm told that most German's don't enjoy going to Brandenburg. The water is very bumpy, so put it mildly. I came to experience this chop on Saturday that paralyzed me. Sunday was better, but still lots of mental reminders to 'keep it together' as little waves crashed into my oars.

I took some pictures of the RTC athletes in Brandenburg that can be viewed here >

A bilboard as you enter the course has a blond-haired German girl, with her hair flying off to the side. Even when the photos are taken for marketing they didn't hide the fact that its windy. I thought it was sad that a beautiful regatta venue like this is not enjoyed because the water does not lend itself for rowers to enjoy good performance. That's why Lucern remains such a great venue for its history of flat water. The same can be said of the beautiful training center of Oklahoma which can not overshadow the fact that it still remains very windy. Other rowing courses like Groningen in the north of Netherlands has the same reputation. There is a new course, called the Willem-Alexander Baan in production in Rotterdam. It hopes to aid to the bid as a future Olympic city. But all the modern amenities still doesn't quite tip the scale for rowers to want to come and train. As a side note, the Netherlands will then have 3 full 2km rowing courses. The USA does not have 1.

I was told I upset the organizers at Brandenburg. I did not row into the medal dock after my final. But there was some confusion on my part. As we started to row home from the finish, a referee called us back. A rower was complaining. I thought we were going to be asked to re-row the race. I waited to see if I would be called over to the medal dock, or we should go prepare to race again. I rowed a little down, then a little up the course. And after nothing was clear, I decided to just row to the docks. Well, on the grandstand I'm told that they were announcing for me, and spectators thought I was coming over, then saw me row away. I went afterwards to collect the beautiful medal and gift bag. Sorry I missed the red carpet. Thank you very much to the organizers (Steffen and Volker) for all the transport help.

Successful ROWING

Saw this book when I was in the Netherlands at coach Ans's house. Wish I had the time to read it. Love the heritage of rowing. Its a great sport that way.

To be part and parcel, I'm continuing to write a little chapter as I experience it.

Funding and the Ted Stevens Act

taken from Mark Cuban

"Because most Olympic sport athletes are severely underpaid — if at all. For every Usain Bolt who makes millions in endorsements and appearance fees (none from the IOC, however), there’s hundreds of elite athletes making ends meet just so they can train.


Athletes in “non-pro league sports,” swimming, figure skating, track and field, etc., have only one option to be truly considered the best in the world — win an Olympic medal.

And unfortunately, that option requires athletes to be the integral part in the most inefficient, dysfunctional, dated and corrupt system in sports — the IOC and their shady web of federations, committees and governing bodies.

In fact, in the United States, the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act grants legal monopoly status to the USOC. Any international sports event in the U.S. that has an Olympic affiliation must receive the blessing of the USOC and will also be required to pay a substantial sanctioning fee." ....

August Desktop Screen Saver

Here starts my Travels and Misc Desktop Screen Saver Series to download.

Taken in Delft, Netherlands

NK (Dutch Champs) on the Bosbaan

I'm here at the NK (Dutch National Championships) held at the Bosbaan in Amsterdam watching this huge event. I can't help but make a little comparison to the USA.
So at this regatta, you have all the clubs, and their loyal supporters and the club's heritage that brings a certain code of honour to the sport of rowing felt at the regatta. Then you also have the student clubs which would be somewhat equivalent to the universities of the U.S. You have novices and juniors, aspiring to be in the Senior A, all at one regatta, racing. It brings the whole family together. So there is a continuation from one part of your rowing, (junior, to university to senior) to another. Whereas it would seem like a very disjointed system where universities especially function like a closed entity. And in most cases, the dominent entity. NSR regattas are also distant, kind-of poorly attended, meaning in spectators, although wildly written about under pseudo-names (what kind of support it that)? I know rowing seems to have no status in the U.S being in the shadows of Football, Baseball, Basketball, so the experience of rowing in Europe is fantastic where suddenly your sport is revered and somewhat even recognized. (Tired of hearing the question, where do you put your fishing pole in that boat?!)

Bikes and Buoys

Last 500m

Bosbaan
Boats and Cafe

and here come the bike supporters following every stroke of the race, cheering athletes on

Clubs Together

So What Happens Now?

The USA double of Julie and Kristin must place top 4 in the first world cup in Belgrade Serbia (4-6 May) or the second world cup in Lucerne, Switerland (25-27 May). If they do, they will go to the Olympics. If they don't then we go back to trials in Princeton on Mercer Lake June 11-14th. Who ever wins this trial, goes to the Olympics.

Watch our Final Live 9:40am PST

WATCH IT HERE ON ustream.tv/usrowing

USRowing NSR II  - Schedule
Date: Thursday April 12, 2012


Event 33
09:40
Womens Ltwt 2x (LW2x)

Lane 3:
Lake Union Crew (Ursula Grobler, Hillary Saeger)

Results will be posted here

Live Streaming of Finals:
USRowing will live stream finals for this event online at http://www.ustream.tv/usrowing. Purchase race clips after the event at http://www.usrowing.org/Multimedia/VideoDownloads.aspx.

Photos on Row2k

NSR 2 - Step 1 to Olympics

It's National Selection Regatta (NSR) Time! First you have NSR 1 which is usually for singles and pairs. And then you have NSR 2 which features doubles and pairs again. For the Lightweight women double scull, abbreviated as LW2x this is the only olympic event. And through the USA trials system, this is the only selection procedure. You show up for the race, and who ever wins goes.

Our race schedule looks like this: 

Tuesday 4/10/12        9:00am    LW2x   Time Trial 1

Wednesday 4/11/12  10:10am  LW2X  Semi A/B

Thursday 4/12/12       9:40am    LW2X  Final A

Our event entries are up to 10 boats. We are racing for Lake Union Crew and will be abbreviated ast LUC. Thank you to Rome & Mara and all the rowers at LUC who have housed us and supported us while training in Seattle. Rome is currently away in Haiti doing her outreach program. Its fabulous gift of humanity and you can read more about it here on LUC's Outreach >> Rome went to Lesotho one year, for her outreach program, which was close to my heart, being in South Africa! 

JL Racing made us very cool gear, which I got the opportunity to design again! Thank you Joline!

The Competitors:

For Cal Rowing you have Julie and Kristin who were the USA double in 2011, and did very well, qualifying the boat for the olympics in the World Champs. Now this NSR 2 regatta is the race for who will be in that boat that qualified. Confused yet, doesn't make sense right? Go to Selection 101 for more details. Also racing are Jen and Jenny from Vesper/Pennac. Jen Goldsack was in the 2008 Olympic Lightweight boat. From OKC are the girls who medaled at the Pan Am Games last year October. Also from Seattle are the Pocock lightweights, and SRC girls who shared the waters with us. It's a stacked race! So looking forward to bringing out everyone's potential!

You can watch the finals on TeamUSA.org and all results and schedule changes can be found on USRowing's website.

Steps to the the USA Olympic Boat

The Selection Procedures for the USA small boats are even more complicated that the short codes we use for the boats, ie: W2-, W2x, LW2x.

So here is Selection 101:
Steps to be the Olympic USA Lightweight Women Double Scull boat


Step 1: We need to win this NSR 2 regatta. Only the winner gets to earn the right to go to Europe and attempt to win an automatic berth to the Olympic Team.

Step 2: Place in the top 4 at either of these world cups: (World Cup I - Belgrade, SRB  4-6 May or World Cup II - Luzern, SUI  25-27 May. (If this step is not met then there is step 3, if we do place in the top 4, straight to step 4).

Step 3: Win the trials again in the U.S. Qualified Small Boat Olympic Trials in West Windsor, NJ 11-14 June.

Step 4: Race at the 2012 Olympic Games - Dorney Lake, Eton GBR 28 July-5 August.

What to eat pre and post training perfectly paleo

This is absolutely my favorite pre and post workout food. It works for both.

• 1 cup of Farmer's Market brand of Pure Pumpkin, Sweet Potato or Butternut squash
• mixed with 1 scoop protein powder, like Hammer Nutrition's whey 
• mix in 1 Tablespoon of a nut butter, like Living Tree Community's Alive Almond Butter
• mixed with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Its like pumpkin pie every day! I used to do applesauce instead of the pumpkin but I felt hungry during my rows and it felt too light of a meal. I would need to eat a lot of sauce and still feel unsatisfied, as if it would go through me too quickly. Also I liked the convenience of the applesauce so when I found pure, 100%, nothing added pumpkin it was a great replacement. The folks at Farmer's Market are great and I thank them for their support! Thank you very much to Amy Kubal who helped me make the change.

Of course, this is the quick, convient fix, but there are days when I do prefer to do it all from scratch. I bake the yams/sweet potatoes or pumkin in the oven, put in a pot and with the hand blender mix up my own puree often adding flax seed from Omega Nutrition. Also making your own nut butter is really fun and easy. I took hazelnuts that I bought in bulk and put them in the food processor. At first it made a loud crushing sound. Then a type of flour looking mixture emerged. But you just let the processor keep going. It will starts to form clumps, and then finally it becomes runny and smooth, and I had hazelnut butter! 3 cups make a big jar.

Other additions or variants include chocolate chips, or some cocoa nibs. And other times, I use the Now Brand egg white protein powder with coconut milk and and sweet potatoe puree, mixed with dark chocolate chips and raw cocoa powder, spiced with a little red/cayenne pepper and its like chocolate mousse.

 I have been accused that lots of this food is like baby food. Its consistency lacks that crunch. But since I have salads most days or even an hour after I have this post workout meal, I'll be getting my crunch on soon enough!

2012 Calendar -ORDER NOW

I have put together a really fun calendar that I'm hoping you will enjoy as much as I did taking the pictures, making the memories, and now sharing them with you! This calendar contains my wonderful travels in America, South Africa & Netherlands, and rightfully added are the national holidays of those countries! Spain, Luzern, New Zealand are also included!

Attached are a few sample pages of the calendar. Its a normal sized square calendar (12 inches x 12 inches) (30cm x 30cm).

Price is $37.00. Pay on paypal with credit card and I'll get this in the mail to you right away!

Also up for order is my first go at a little booklet done is a light-hearted drawing, journal-like theme to encourage interaction through learning about nutrition. This is my first writings and one day when I have published a few books, which is my goal, you will look back at this first pdf book download and laugh at the small beginnings we all need to make before we can soar!

More about my paleo winning pdf nutrition booklet for download here : http://paleowinning.blogspot.com/

Rowing With Laurien Vermulst

Today I had the great honour of taking some strokes in the double with Laurien Vermulst.

Laurien was among one of the first women to experience the introduction of Lightweight Rowing, and further more, the first entry of the lightweight women double scull event into the Olympics. Her coach, Ans Rom Colthoff is connected to the South Holland Talent Center where we are training and so the threads of great dutch sculling is woven thick. Further more, Laurien raced a great a race in the 1991 Vienna World Champs against New Zealand sculler Philippa Baker. I had the great pleasure of meeting Philippa at the Billy Webb Challenge that I rowed in last year after the 2010 New Zealand World Champs. Philippa named Laurien's boat, Kia Khaha which is a Māori phrase for "Be Strong". Hillary got the hnour of rowing in the boat for the camp in Belgium and for racing in the Hell of the North in Groningen, which was cancelled due to high winds.

I just love how the stories interview and touch down on us so many worlds apart. Rowing really is a small world.

If you have a european isp you can view the race here >>

Silverskiff - Torino 2011 - CANCELLED

Well how about that. The race that didn't race. In 20 years it had never been cancelled, and this is the year.

We arrived on Sunday and was immediately immersed into the course with the compliments from the Cerea Club launch and our wonderful host Vittorio Soave (the man who started the Silverskiff). This 77 year old is filled with vitality and logistical persistence. And a heart filled with love and dedication. As the week progressed he treated us to lunch, dinner, another dinner and a movie showing of their voyage rowing from Torino to London; a 1500m feat.

I rowed and mapped the course daily in the Cerea Club single, and enjoyed the calm water. It was in direct conflict to surfacing weather reports mapping out disaster. I felt this was impossible, and a false weather report (who believes the weather reports anyway.) However rain came. Then an update that we were now racing on Saturday. Filippi boats were to be arriving on Thursday, and in true Italian style, arrived Friday!

Friday was rigging in the rain. Went out for a row in the rain. And then rigging again in the rain, and dampening cold. The first boat rental from Filippi didn't work for me. Luckily there was another boat available. However 4pm now, Friday- race tomorrow. This has got to be training in overcoming adversity.

Saturday morning I went out early for a row in the other boat just rigged late last night. There were gushing river inlet flows. I left the last 500m as my cherry for later that day's racing. On my way back a Police vehicle were riding alongside the course. Funny how I noticed that, when I don't usually see the cars driving by. I guess a sense of something to come. Back to the hotel, and resting waiting for my start which would come at about 1:20. Then it happened: an email from Hillary: race cancelled. And indeed on the Silverskiff site, there it said: Race cancelled, determined by the Police.

Well, later we walked over to the course to scoop out what cancelled looks like. Walking umbrella'd under pouring rain. Looking over the course, it didn't seem that bad. And knowing that I had rowed it that morning... it wasn't that bad. These guys should come row an NSR on Mercer sometime! So now you had people scrambling looking for earlier flights home. Then Enzo came by and said, we are going out at 2, want to join us? Now Enzo and I battle paddled each other earlier the week. So I was up for the challenge. Just had to check in with Filippi if I could keep the boat a little longer. Yes, with a beer in hand, they would wait for me. So at 1:15, little earlier than scheduled, we embarked. I was not quite geared to race, no stroke coach and garmin, so estimated by time as 45-46min. There were a ton of tree branches. One branch that was perfectly in a v-shape hooked my skag caused a complete stop and backing and swerving to dislodge it. I guess I didn't have the difficulty of steering around competitors, but the tree branches gave me something else to overcome in fall head racing style.

So that is my Silverskiff report 2011.

I have some more photos here: Flickr

Silverskiff Web

Mystro

Hands waving clearly describing

Elegance in fingers combined instruction

The beauty of the motion

The breathtaking glide

Absolute simplicity

Coach to rower, to race, to victory.

--6/27/07 10:11 PM

Regatta Blues

White deck constant

White deck constant

On top

Spider webs of linears

Arms, legs, shafts

Crisscross

Intertwine

Extend and contract

On edges

Water reacting to

One, Two, Push off.

--6/26/07 09:18 PM

Training

A week change

In the training

Resulting in

Beat up

Bruised and thoroughly

Used body

Muscles laced with

Weary

Just behind the eye

Tired

But the mind

Unchanged

Week after week

The goal stays the same.

--6/25/07 10:20 PM

"Come Together "

At 16, I was drowning out my teenage angst by blasting Bush's Sixteen Stone. It got me through some pretty tough and dark times. More than 10 years later, I saw Gavin Rossdale in concert, live, right there, in person, and it was awesome. He was so animated and connected with the crowd. I felt like I could get a sense of him, as if I knew him. Feeling this connection through the distance of a stage and rock-band persona was memorizing. The real thing can not, CAN NOT be beaten. The influence that these guys had over me, makes me realise the connection we have as human's to each other. I recently watched a Lindsey Vonn documentary. She spoke about a woman downhill skier she idolized as a child saying one day, I want to be like her. And now she is; even better I would argue.
You never know when you could be that platform for someone else to jump from. But only if you be the best you can be and build your own platform to perform on can that happen. Life is but a stage and we have our part to perform our finest hour.

Vote for America Rows to help them win a $12,000 grant

Vote for America Rows, the diversity and inclusion program within USRowing, to help them win a $12,000 grant from the United States Olympic Committee.

All you need to do is vote on Facebook by clicking on the link below. First, "Like" the USOlympic Team site and then vote in the USA Grants tab for America Rows. It's simple.

http://usoc.kickapps.net/_USRowing39s-America-Rows-Program-USRowing/video/1625274/193981.html

Right now, USRowing is in second place. We need your votes to ensure we win the grant.
Voting goes through midnight Sunday, September 18 and you can vote once a day.

The full message link here: >>

A Goal

 "One should strive for infallibility without claiming to have achieved it." —Malebranche

Tipping Point

A brunt of buoy smacking madness in my World Champ final places me in 4th. I am without the fulfillment of racing my race like I did in the semi. Just one race too soon I had the best race of my single career. And then one race too late, making such a mistake is painfully unlucky... And I laugh thinking of Gary Player's comment: "The more I practise the luckier I get."

I am thinking that the boiling point, or tipping point must be approaching. With just a few changes, a sticking attitude and good training environment, the point is tipping.