row2k Features
Interview
Kate Bertko
October 29, 2013
Erik Dresser, row2k.com

Bertko's lightweight debut at NSR I

This week's row2k Interview is with the winner of the 2013 Head Of The Charles Champ W1x, Kate Bertko of the USA LW2x. We talk with Kate about her transition to lightweight rowing, overcoming arrhythmias, and racing to a silver medal at the 2013 World Championships.

row2k - What were your motivations for rowing 2013 as a lightweight and when did you make this decision?
Kate Bertko - In the winter of 2012, after failing to make the Olympic Team as an open weight, I made a deal with myself: I could continue to train for another year, but if I didn’t medal at the 2013 World Championships, I was done. With that in mind, I had to really evaluate my strengths as an athlete and ultimately decided to try racing as a lightweight.

row2k - What was the transition period like for you and how did it affect your training?
Kate Bertko - The end goal is rowing performance, so my approach was to utilize nutrition as a performance enhancer, rather than to focus specifically on weight loss. I believe this allowed me to train at the necessary volume and intensity while achieving the required body weight and not making myself crazy in the process. I had some good advice from lightweight team member Will Daly who told me, “If you’re hungry, you’re doing it wrong.”

row2k - You've been fighting arrhythmias for quite some time now, what impact has that had on your rowing in the past?
Kate Bertko - At Princeton I was diagnosed with an irregular EKG, specifically a notched and prolonged QT interval suggesting an arrhythmia known as Long QT Syndrome. LQTS can result in sudden death in some cases if left untreated. In conjunction with a post-race fainting episode, this funky looking T-wave prohibited me from participating in athletics during much of my junior year. It took several months, multiple doctors, genetic testing, medication, and a monitoring device implanted over my heart to convince the necessary individuals that I was safe to compete.

I would have never been allowed to row at Princeton, even after the medication and surgery, without the incredible actions of one particularly brave individual. Her support is the greatest gift I have ever been given and I attempt to emulate her strength and determination in all my athletic and personal endeavors.

row2k - Now that you've had surgery to correct it, to what extent can you notice the change?
Kate Bertko - Throughout this process it became clear that while I was experiencing arrhythmias, they were unlikely to be caused by LQTS. In 2011 their frequency and duration began to interfere with my training and in early 2012 they became unmanageable and I left the training center in Chula Vista. This time around I was fortunate to work with a terrific team of doctors who diagnosed atrial fibrillation and corrected the condition via ablation.

It’s tricky to directly attribute changes in my training and performance to the improvement in my heart health as there are numerous, complicating variables. However, I do seem recover faster now, both between pieces and from day to day.

The most significant change is mental. I am no longer afraid that there is something wrong with my heart. For many years there was disagreement as to my diagnosis and some doctors were quite graphic in their descriptions of LQTS. One described my heart as a “ticking time bomb” while another went so far as to suggest I consider surgical options to avoid pregnancy as my children could be similarly afflicted. By the time I graduated from college, I was so skittish around doctors that the next cardiologist I saw was in 2011, five years later.

It was in January of 2012, a month after leaving Chula Vista, when it was determined, definitively, that my diagnosis while at Princeton had been wrong and I did not have LQTS. I was being treated in New York and I remember leaving the hospital, sitting down on the sidewalk, and having a little cry. I was so relieved.

row2k - How did you and Kristin come together as a double?
Kate Bertko - Prior to NSR II, I was taking classes and training in Oklahoma City. For spring break, I went out to the Bay Area, during which Kristin and I were able to train together. Our first row was in a funky old double, rigged with a toe and much too big for us. But after about five or six strokes together, I was sold. I spent the rest of the week trying so hard to row perfectly to impress her!

row2k - What was your racing experience like in Chungju and what did you learn?
Kate Bertko - Racing in Korea was fun, hard, and rewarding. Kristin and I are a new combination and each race was an opportunity to develop a greater sense of trust with both each other and our coach Bernhard. Bernhard prepared us exceptionally well for the regatta, enabling us to row smart and relaxed races. Kristin is a focused, mature competitor with a killer instinct. She is also not easily distracted! Moments before the start of our heat, I discovered a huge grasshopper next to my foot plate. Instead of neatly dumping it over the side of the boat, I accidentally launched it onto her face. She quietly brushed it off and continued aligning our point like this was a completely normal pre-race event.

row2k - What are your plans right now for 2014
Kate Bertko - I plan to work my butt off.

SUPPORT ROW2K
If you enjoy and rely on row2k, we need your help to be able to keep doing all this. Though row2k sometimes looks like a big, outside-funded operation, it mainly runs on enthusiasm and grit. Help us keep it coming, thank you! Learn more.


Comments

Log in to comment
There are no Comments yet

Rowing Features
Rowing Headlines
ADVERTISEMENT
row2k media is not responsible for external ad content
Get our Newsletter!

Support row2k!

Tremendous thanks to our
row2k supporters!

Get Social with row2k!
Like row2k on Facebook Follow row2k on Twitter Follow row2k on Instagram Follow row2k on Youtube Connect with row2k on LinkedIn

Get the row2k app!

row2k rowing store!

Get our Newsletter!
Enter your email address to receive our weekly newsletter.

Support row2k!


Advertiser Index
Advertise on row2k