When the 2017 World Rowing Championships start tomorrow morning in Sarasota, FL, 406 days will have passed since the Sunday finals of the Rio Olympics, making for a nearly 14-month training cycle for many athletes and squads. It is even a full month after the usual start date of the World Championships, which typically start sometime in late August.
For most rowers, this would be insanely disruptive; imagine, for example, if the Dad Vail Regatta was held in mid-June, or the IRA in early July, or the Head Of The Charles on Thanksgiving weekend, how different everything would be, from training to selecting crews to the race day experience.
For elite athletes, this is almost normal. Sure, the US team was named on the late August Tuesday on which the Worlds reps usually take place, and the final day of racing is in October; but other than a bit of a mental shift, an easy weekend here or there, and the pleasure of training in the fading light and cooler temps of late summer, most athletes just adapted and got on with it.
"The rowing year feels really different than the actual calendar," US men's eight member Tom Peszek said just after the team was named last month. "We don't really think 'Today is August whatever, so we're doing this.' It feels one month out from Worlds. One month out this year is the same as one month out from Worlds last year; it just happens to be a different month on the calendar."
US women's eight member Emily Regan had a slightly different experience after taking some time off post-Rio, where she won gold with the US women's eight. But as the summer went on, she felt the familiar rhythms kick in.
"For me, it was a bit of a blessing because I took some time off," she noted. "And earlier this summer I was able to take a weekend to go to my sister's wedding, which usually wouldn't be possible once we really start training most years."
Regan reminded herself to stay sharp after looking around the group and noticing she wasn't the youngster anymore.
"I came in a year-and-a-half before 2012, and I looked up to all the athletes who were already in the camp and tried to follow their example," she said. "This year when the training got hard or racing seemed a long way off, I looked around and remembered when I was the youngster, and thought, well, you never think people are looking up to you, but maybe I need to try to keep up the standard that the women I learned from did. I don't know if I was able to do that, but I definitely tried."
She noted that there were times during the longer summer where the type of training the team was doing "felt a little bit like January" and less like the race-prep and selection mode of most summer months, and was careful to stay alert to the approaching championships. "It wasn't difficult to do, but you have to remember to keep improving and working hard, and that racing would start sooner than you think."
US men's eight member Alex Karwoski sees things both ways, although he agrees with Peszek that the racing date is just that, a date on the calendar, but that a little extra time to train can be both good and fun.
"I haven't been in a boat that's been hurt by being together longer," he noted. "This year, given that only two of us in the eight were here all year while the others were in England, or working, or somewhere else, the fact that we've been back now since June and then get a bonus month, it's a good thing, I think. And it's been fun. We've been in straight fours, coxed fours, pairs, even eights, and it's been great seeing it all come together and just being able to appreciate that. You think, 'okay, we can spend a week on this thing because we still have seven more weeks,' or whatever it was at the time.
"But even then, with the National Team you're always preparing for one race," he continued. "And regardless of when that race is, whether it's July, August, September, October, whenever it is, it doesn't feel like the timeline of training has changed. For example, I think if the Worlds are always going to be in the US, I would be totally fine with them being the end of September. The added month doesn't seem to really change much; it just feels like the actual race date is different."
US women's pair member Megan Kalmoe has competed in a lot of late August World Championships, but also in a November Worlds in New Zealand, Olympics in July and August, and now a post-equinox Worlds in the US. Further, Kalmoe and pair partner Tracy Eisser have been together longer than almost all of the selected US crews, having gotten in the boat back in April, making a late Worlds a slightly more complex and protracted challenge. Kalmoe has enjoyed the time training in one boat with one person, but admits she is ready for Worlds to start.
"Having the opportunity to row with one person, to focus on things and really work hard to make changes to make that combination better is fairly unique for us," she said. "It is unusual for anyone on our team, as we usually don't get that opportunity to focus on one seat like that for so many weeks in a row. So that has been interesting.
As might be expected, the long time together in the small boat presents some challenges.
"As always you have ups and downs, and the important thing is not to let the lows get too low," she said. "It can be really hard to try and follow this advice together; I know I have a hard time with it myself. But it is important to recognize that no matter what you do, how good you are, how fast you are, how much natural chemistry you have as a combination, there are still going to be days that you say, man, that row sucked. Then there's going to be days where your last several rows have been not that good, and you are thinking 'We're never going to be good again.'
"You can weigh each other down working on the exact same thing every single day if you're not quite getting it or it's not going the way you want, so I try not to annoy Tracy too much because I do know that it is difficult to work on stuff, even for a short season, in a small boat. So I've been very aware of not trying to be too mean (laughs)."
"At the same time, while you are going through that slog and grind, everyone else on the team is getting amped up and prepared to put in their best performances in order to win seat races," Kalmoe recalled. "Being around those teammates but on the outside of the process is different; I’ve don’t it before but it is an unusual experience.
"And all that is happening in July in New Jersey, so it's hot and muggy," she said. "A lot of times going to Worlds in August was a relief and escape from that; you get out, go race, and think 'That was so great. We suffered so hard, and it was all worth it because we got to go to Worlds.'
"So in some ways the late Worlds does make the last part of the summer more tedious, and the trick is to just not let yourself magnify all of those little things that maybe aren't perfect while you have all this time to think and grow," Kalmoe said. "And now we're well into fall weather at this point, and we've had some really beautiful days that were nice, cool, and mild."
In the end, all the miles this summer should make for some exciting and unpredictable racing, as is almost always the case in the post-Olympic year when everything seems up for grabs and anyone can win.
Racing starts at tomorrow at 10am sharp; we're ready, too, see you in the starting blocks!
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