Friday evening I had an odd sense of Zen. I was calmly going about packing my duffel bag for the regatta the following day and eating my chicken parmigiana. It felt strange to be anything but frantic and stressed out the night before a race. But this time was different. The van had been loaded with all but two singles the evening before. I'd be waking up at 4am to meet the rest of my crew at 5am for the drive to Philly. I somehow forced myself to get to sleep at a reasonable hour and sure enough 4am rolled around awfully quick. For the past week, I've been wondering if the winter training I've done will pay off, or if it's been enough, or if it's been effective at all. I'm wondering am i really ready to race.
The NJ turnpike was detoured onto Route 3. Route 3 was reduced from about 4 lanes to 1 in the middle of the detour which caused me to be late rather than early. Construction on the NJ turnpike further south caused some additional traffic and we ended up getting there an hour later then I expected. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to stretch and worm up. Which had me a little nervouse about my 1st race. Still my 1,000 meter paddle to the start seemed to calm me down. the boat felt just like it had when I practiced in it for several weeks. The foot stretchers and oars and everything were right where they should have been and gave the boat a reassuring familiarity. I continued to paddle into the queue for the start of my race. After I latched onto the stake boat I felt calm even as i felt the adrenaline building up inside me.
Soon enough I hear that they have alignment, and the adrenaline kicks up another notch. My oars are squared and buried and I'm sitting at half slide. Then I hear "attention row" and on queue I jump off the foot stretcher pulling my oars with me. A few short strokes, and then a quick burst of quick stroked and my boat is moving down the course with speed. I continue with about 10 power strokes at about 32 strokes a minute and check my course. Their is one boat in the lead but not by much. I'm only slightly ahead of the boat to my left and the other two are behind. I settle briefly at a 28 and then stroke the rest of the race at about a 30. As I go down the course i put on some power to try and catch the lead but but it just isn't quite happening. I'm determined to put some more distance between the boat on my left and I watch the trailing two fall behind. By the 500 I have a solid lead on the #3 boat and the rush of my adrenaline continues as I push down the course. I've tried to catch the number 1 boat but I'm just not sure I can hold that pace all the way to the end and I don't want to run out of gas with the #3 boat so close. So I hold my rate and keep the pressure on. I finish gasping for breath as I watch the 33 boat catch up and while I wait catching my breath over a half minute later the last to boats arrive at the finish.
I could make excuses. the guy who won was clearly a heavy weight around 6'6". Certainly in better shape, but who's fault is that? The truth is I think I've rowed my best race in the 1x to date. At 3:51 it is a personal best for me. I'm now confident that winter training has paid off. That yes I am ready. I placed a solid second in both events. Finishing only 4 seconds out of first in the 2x. 18 seconds from first in the 1x.
| Place |
Lane |
Organization |
Net Time |
% |
Delta |
Raw |
Handicap |
Penalty |
Winning |
Split |
|
|
| Race 2a: Mens Masters 1x Flight 1 @ 09:06 AM |
|
|
|
|
1st |
2 |
Fairmount A (K.Montenegro) |
03:50.71 |
|
|
03:50.71 |
|
|
00:03:50.71 |
|
|
|
2nd |
4 |
Fairmount B (j.mcelvenney) |
04:05.32 |
6.3% |
00:14.61 |
04:05.32 |
|
|
00:03:50.71 |
00:00:14.61 |
|
|
3rd |
3 |
New York B (R.Buesing) |
04:19.53 |
12.5% |
00:14.21 |
04:19.53 |
|
|
00:03:50.71 |
00:00:28.82 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Race 2b: Mens Masters 1x Flight 2 @ 09:12 AM |
|
|
|
|
1st |
1 |
Fairmount A (M.Dolson) |
03:32.38 |
|
|
03:32.38 |
|
|
00:03:32.38 |
|
|
|
2nd |
5 |
New York A (D.Wiedaseck) |
03:51.35 |
8.9% |
00:18.97 |
03:51.35 |
|
|
00:03:32.38 |
00:00:18.97 |
|
|
3rd |
2 |
Three Rivers F (J.Bowlby) |
04:03.13 |
14.5% |
00:11.78 |
04:03.13 |
|
|
00:03:32.38 |
00:00:30.75 |
|
|
4th |
4 |
Carnegie Lake D (R.LaFauci) |
04:39.36 |
31.5% |
00:36.23 |
04:39.36 |
|
|
00:03:32.38 |
00:01:06.98 |
|
|
5th |
3 |
Passaic River (J.TuchInda) |
04:43.30 |
| Race 10a: Mens Masters 2- Flight @ 10:42 AM |
|
|
|
|
1st |
2 |
New York (I.Gomez, F.Perez) |
03:30.55 |
|
|
03:30.55 |
|
|
00:03:30.55 |
|
|
|
2nd |
3 |
Fairmount (J.Hankee, G.Boras) |
03:43.79 |
6.3% |
00:13.24 |
03:47.79 |
00:04.00 |
|
00:03:30.55 |
00:00:17.24 |
|
|
3rd |
5 |
Carnegie Lake (F.Hoffmann, Y.Kuban) |
03:46.46 |
7.6% |
00:02.67 |
03:55.56 |
00:09.10 |
|
00:03:30.55 |
00:00:25.01 |
|
|
4th |
4 |
Three Rivers (S.Carr, C.Ryan) |
03:48.36 |
8.5% |
00:01.90 |
04:18.06 |
00:29.70 |
|
00:03:30.55 |
00:00:47.51 |
|
| Race 11a: Mens Masters 2x Flight 1 @ 10:48 AM |
|
|
|
|
1st |
2 |
New York A (I.Gomez, F.Perez) |
03:27.81 |
|
|
03:27.81 |
|
|
00:03:27.81 |
|
|
|
2nd |
3 |
New York B (R.Buesing, D.Wiedaseck) |
03:31.86 |
1.9% |
00:04.05 |
03:31.86 |
|
|
00:03:27.81 |
00:00:04.05 |
|
|
3rd |
5 |
Wilmington (R.Hare, J.Dernbach) |
03:40.53 |
6.1% |
00:08.67 |
03:40.53 |
|
|
00:03:27.81 |
00:00:12.72 |
|
|
4th |
4 |
Three Rivers A (J.Bowlby, S.Martino) |
03:47.33 |
9.4% |
00:06.80 |
03:47.33 |
|
|
00:03:27.81 |
00:00:19.52 |
|
Leave a comment