It worked!

Being in Bled is spectacular. Megan Kalmoe has done a great job of describing the water, the hills, and the forest views, and I won’t bore you by repeating it. I will add that there is also magnificent architecture scattered along the course. At 250m, the white steeple of the local church rises high above the trees at the water’s edge. Then, on top of a sharp cliff face at about the 500m mark, a large white castle with a bright red roof towers above the rowers. Lastly, at 500m to go, Lake Bled’s island houses a wooden church, partially hidden by the trees sheltering it. Its bells ring the time throughout practice.

The course itself is a wonderfully wide nine lanes. FISA designates different boat classes to different lanes for practice with the slower boats nearer the center and the eights and quads in the outside lanes. Having four lanes in each direction makes life as a single much easier because there is less risk of a fast double charging up the lane behind me. And, if a double does choose to use one of the slower boat lanes, there is room for me to move one lane over. 

More teams (Canadians, Germans and GB) arrived yesterday (Wednesday) evening, and things will continue to get more crowded during practice. Luckily, the temperature is supposed to cool down, allowing a wider range of rowable hours during the day. The past two days, it has been so hot (95F yesterday) that most teams choose to avoid rowing in the middle of the day.

I had the morning off today so got to put on real clothes (a sundress!) and take my time eating crepes at breakfast. However, I don’t feel too relaxed as I am doing pieces this afternoon and then tomorrow will do my final speed work before racing.  The start of the regatta is quickly approaching, and the draw comes out tomorrow!

row2k Kit

-Canon 1D MkIII Camera
-Canon 7D Camera
-Canon Vixia HF200 Video Camera
-Canon 500mm f/4 IS lens
-Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS lens
-Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens
-Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens
-Canon 17-40 f/4 lens
-Sigma 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens
-Kenko 1.4x teleconverter
-Canon Speedlite 580EX II
-iPhone 4
-Dell Latitude D830 Laptop
-180 GB external hard drive
-SD/CF Card Reader
-Extra SD and CF cards
-Manfrotto monopod
-Velbon carbon fiber tripod
-Manfrotto mini tripod
-Manfrotto super clamp
-Kirk BH-1 Ball Head
-Canon intervalometer (not pictured)
-Pocketwizard Plus II Remote Trigger (2)
-Aquatech rain cover
-BlackRapid Sport Strap
-Boat strap
-Back up batteries
-Chargers

Pretty much all the "expensive" items cram into a Tamrac Expedition 8x pack, while the non-essential items will go in the duffel bag.  The camera bag when loaded up weighs about 45 pounds and (barely) fits in an overhead compartment.  I will likely use all of this at some point, though hopefully not the rain cover!

Out of all this gear, the one item that TSA usually stops me for is the monopod. I would have guessed the remote triggers.  Now where's my passport??

- “You have the morning off tomorrow. You get to sleep in.”, Coach will tell us.
- “Ok”, we reasoned, “that means an hour run when we wake up, right?”
- “Nope, I want you to stay off your feet. Recover.”
-“ Ok, ‘recover’. So I guess that translates to thirty minutes or so of light erging, right?”
- “No, it means rest.”
- “Wait… we aren’t supposed to do anything?”
- “That’s right. A morning off.”
- *baffled silence*

To the rational side of my brain, tapering makes prefect sense. We’ve already done the hard work—there is no more strength to be gained, no more fitness to be achieved. It’s just a matter of sharpening our fast-twitch muscles and perfecting our final race plan.  But to the athlete’s side of my brain, the idea of a “restful morning” is totally and utterly puzzling.  After all, it’s in our nature to work hard; it’s how we got to where we are today! (Take a strong work ethic, mix in a few physiological gifts, add some height, and voila! you’ve got all the trappings for an elite rower!)

This is the moment when we just have to trust Coach, trust the training plan, and trust the work of last ten months. So this morning, instead of going on a run around Lake Bled, or a vigorous hike up to the Castle, or even a leisurely tourist stroll through town, I’m going to stay off my feet, sip my tea, and calm that inner voice telling me to go workout.

And because we trained—and tapered!—intelligently, the Americans will arrive at the starting line with fresh legs, a reenergized spirit, and no fitness lost. 

Go Team USA! 
Jamie 
www.jamieredman.wordpress.com

Lake Bled

Getting to Bled was another story altogether. The women who came here last year for World Cup 1 had only good things to say about the course, the scenery, the people, and the hotel. I could feel with our arrival the hotel yesterday afternoon their palpable excitement at finally being able to share all of the delights of Bled with the rest of us.

The view from anywhere is absolutely stunning. From our hotel balconies, from the path along the lake, or from any given point on the lake itself, we are fully immersed in a magnificent display of the very best that nature has to offer--the excitement of which I think will take a few days yet to sink in or wear off.  If the locals don't take time every day to appreciate the scope of the beauty around them, then I certainly will while I'm in Bled.  What an incredible opportunity to compete here.

Again we are rowing on cerulean alpine waters--deeper this time, so none of the unmistakeable black shapes of Munich's aquamarine residents darting around under the boats (at least that we can see...), but the water is equally clear, cold, and enticing after a sweaty practice out on the course. Still lots of recreational cyclists, sunbathers and swimmers, plus a healthy tourist population, so the lake is lively all day long in addition to the World Rowing crews prowling around  for practice. Fairly dense, dark green forest covers all the surrounding landscape, which rises pretty dramatically off the shores of the lake. Then, hills and mountainous terrain seem to roll into infinity under sunny blue skies...making me feel quite small, but also quite happy to be exactly where I am.

The boatyard is still fairly quiet as many of the European delegations have yet to arrive, including the big groups from GB and Germany. My quality of life will improve another few points tomorrow when Team Canada arrives (oh...and the USA heavy men), though I have to say I'm already way ahead of the curve seeing as how we are sharing a hotel with both the Australians and Kiwis. This year's List is practically going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. It almost takes some of the fun out of it. Almost.

A few short happenings and observations from my first 24 hours in Bled:

-a few of the Team Newbies locked themselves out on their balcony yesterday for somewhere between 35-45 minutes because they closed their door behind them to keep the bugs out of their room. This maneuver also succeeded in keeping humans out of the room, and they were forced to wait until their boatmates in the neighboring room came back from the lobby to be let back in.

-Karsten spotted at the course this morning sporting a snakeskin-printed uni.

-don't step on the black joiners between dock sections: not a lot of support there.

-cheese at every meal. EVERY MEAL. Plus some sort of amazing fried cheese inside a cornbread batter. You have to go in guns blazing to get any of them though--they go fast.

Long Live the Dream,

--MK
www.megankalmoe.com

Start line view - USA M2x training

Here we are in Bled!  Well, some of us.  I was part of the first US group to arrive here, so I can tell you it’s gorgeous.  Lake Bled has clean, flat water, an island with an ancient church in the middle, a castle on top of stunning cliffs near the starting line, and massive mountains as the backdrop to all of it.  I am sure row2k will have no shortage of amazing Worlds photos with these surroundings (but do they ever disappoint?).

But hold on, let’s rewind a little.  We arrived at the hotel yesterday morning after three flights and a trip on a mini-bus.  As we reunited with some of our US teammates, I realized that everyone had a story about their trip over.  Big storms rolled up the east coast on Friday evening, so more than a few US team members had delayed and cancelled flights.  Julie, my LW2x partner, and I were feeling great about our trip over when our pilot told us that we were one of the last flights out of Newark before the massive delays began…and we kept feeling great until about the moment in the Munich airport when we were told we didn’t have tickets for the last leg of our trip (to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital).  I think that was also the moment that we stood there wide-eyed and said in unison, “uhh, what?” Our itineraries showed that we were on the next flight, but the Munich ticket agents weren’t having any of it.  And the plane was leaving in thirty minutes. Can’t have a trip without a story.  After several tense moments and many phone calls, we had tickets in hand and sprinted to the gate (yup, we were those people: disheveled, backpacks bouncing back and forth as we ran through the airport – but at least we had tickets).  We made it on the flight, but I was definitely convinced for a few minutes there that we’d have to figure out a Plan B. 

So now we’re here.  Julie and I were in Europe for nearly two months earlier this summer for the World Cups so being back doesn’t feel like a huge adjustment.  The first day or two are always a little tough with overcoming jet-lag, getting our bearings, and figuring out our routine, but things have been going well.  We’ve been out for a few rows and the water is great.  We’re one of the first teams here, so the course isn’t too crowded yet.

While walking back to the hotel on the lakeside path this afternoon, Julie and I remarked that the Europeans really know how to live.  There were so many people out walking, running, biking, sunbathing, swimming, and playing games near the lake.  The only problem is that swimmers come way out into the lake and it’s easy to mistake their heads for buoys….not a mistake you want to make.  There have already been several close calls, despite the siren that an official at the finish line blares when rowers get too close to swimmers (or is it the other way around?). 

We’re excited for the rest of Team USA to arrive.  Right now there are only about thirty of us here, the rest being in Munich for a pre-Worlds training camp or on their way in from the US. We’re still a week out from the start of racing, but the excitement is building daily.  Go USA!

A few more days have rolled by in Munich and training is still going well. Just one day of rain and wind so far, otherwise sun and high temps for training, and lots of post-practice swims.

As we've been puttering around the 1972 Olympic Park, I have been fascinated with the art and design elements that went into creating it, forty years ago. The buildings are strongly geometric with very stark, clean lines.  Materials are high contrast and very simply colored (interior: white vs. very dark brown throughout, with minor color accents). There are wide doors, LOTS of horizontal lines, and of course, irresistibly cool iconography used for all the signage. I've commented with some of my teammates that despite having a dated feel to it, the boathouse and buildings at the '72 Olympic Park also have a decidedly "trendy" feel to them, as many of the design elements that were fashionable forty years ago have come back in to vogue in some form or another since then.

My favorite part of the park have been the series of 1972 Olympic posters that are hung in the hallways of the gymnasium building. I took snapshots of all of them yesterday (sorry for the glare and poor centering... It was taken with my phone while trying not to be late for the bus). There are a total of ten posters depicting different Olympic sports, and I just love them.  I'll post the rowing poster here, but it's taken over an hour to post five of the photos in an album on Facebook so the rest of them will have to wait.

Today we leave Munich's vintage charm for our road trip it to Bled. We have three vans for 24 bodies for a four hour drive. At least the view out the window will be nice. Will make a point to be early to the queue so I don't get stuck with a middle seat...

Long Live the Dream,

--MK

www.megankalmoe.com

Thumbs up!

Hello from Munich!

This week, the American women joined a few of our heavyweight and lightweight men’s boats for a pre-Worlds training camp at the 1972 Munich Olympic Course. Rowing in Munich provides an excellent opportunity for us to overcome jet lag, acclimatize to the conditions, and prepare our game-faces for Slovenia. Aside from a few small boats from Chile, Japan, and Azerbaijan (as well as Munich’s recreational kayak-polo league!), we have the entire course to ourselves,  a true blessing when compared to the crowded conditions we’ll probably encounter on the Bled course!

We arrived Wednesday morning, and almost immediately headed down to the course to rig and row. Sunny skies, clear water, calm wind… perfect conditions for our initial post-airline workout! We took a hint from the sunbathers along the lake, and as soon as our practice was over, we all dove, cannonballed, or bellyflopped our way into the water. Glorious! (If it wasn’t for all the “Team USA” workout gear, we could’ve been just any random group of young people, enjoying a summer dip… all that was missing was the Ultimate Frisbee and the barbeque!)

Energized by our row, refreshed by our swim, and caffeinated by the handy-dandy espresso machine in the hotel lobby, we kept the worst of our jet lag at bay. By the next morning, we were ready and rarin’ to go!

When not rowing, we’re either eating, or napping, or preparing for the next practice. The Ibis Hotel has been more than accommodating--- many a concierge might run for cover when several dozen tall, muscular, and hungry athletes pile out from the minivans and make a beeline for the lunch buffet. However, the hotel staff has risen to the challenge, and no one bats an eyelash when the crazy American rowers eat their way through several bread baskets, or hang their clean laundry to dry out the windows, or camp out in the lobby to take advantage of the complimentary wi-fi.

We only have a few practices left in Germany, then we’re off to join the rest of Team USA in Bled. T-minus seven days until racing begins!!

Finally, a huge congrats to all the winners of Pan-Am Trials! Woohoo, you’re headed to Guadalajara! Good work!

P.S.  The 2012 Power & Grace Rowing Calendar is ALMOST READY! I’ve seen some of the photos, and believe me, it will be even *more amazing* than last year! We are soliciting corporate sponsorships this year; if you or any brand you know is interested in supporting our fundraising efforts, then please contact me! Go USA!

Packed rigger bag

I row a VanDusen single, which turns out to be a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I like rowing the boat and because I think it's the fastest boat for me out there. A curse because there aren't too many of them in Europe. And by aren't too many, I think there are three. Total. 

Luckily, I happen to know the owners of these boats, and Anne Marden Grainger has been kind enough to lend me her boat for the summer. (The Van Dusen community is relatively small, and, as far as I can tell, it consists mostly of New England masters rowers.) The only minor detail is that her boat has an aluminum wing rigger, and I row with a carbon fiber wing, which means I fly trans-Atlantic with my rigger in the checked luggage. I wish it fit in the overhead bins so I could keep an eye on it. 

On my most recent overseas trip (this past June/July to Henley and World Cup 3), I had carefully wrapped my rigger in layers and layers of bubble wrap as I had on my previous adventures, but security was suspicious and on both trans-Atlantic flights, they cut through the bubble wrap thus exposing the delicate carbon fiber of my rigger. I have two slight cracks to prove the trauma my wing has been through. Fortunately, they are not in load bearing areas. 

This trip, I knew I needed a new solution. Something that would protect my wing while allowing security to see what was inside the bag. My first thought was a guitar case-like object--hard, durable, form fitting with soft felt on the inside. Surprisingly, no one makes hard wing cases! I guess most people don't travel in airplanes with their riggers. I went to Plan B: design and build my own wing protection that would fit inside my current bag. 

I began with two dense foam sleeping mats made for camping, one three-inch foam egg crate for hospital beds, scissors, a big needle, string, and a lot of packing tape. I cut the pieces, and, while attaching them, I had to switch from packing tape to duct tape. Packing tape doesn't curve well and couldn't take the corners while sticking to the foam. Duct tape made my life a lot easier. Then, I sewed the dense foam outer layer to the thick, squishy inner layer. A few hours later (scattered over a few days), I have a wing-rigger shaped foam nest that fits snuggly inside my rigger bag. Importantly (and what my parents were worried about seeing the layers and layers of foam), the rigger fits inside the foam inside the bag.  

The final touches are some big, bright yellow, home-drawn "FRAGILE" tags that I sewed to the outside of the bag. I even included some stick figure images of a rowing shell and what a rigger is just in case my "Sports Equipment: Rowing" memo doesn't clear things up.

Now, all I can do is hope security doesn't find my duck-taped creation suspicious and cross my fingers that my rigger gets to Bled in one uncracked piece. I fly out Sunday night.