WC3 recap

Coming into a full week of training is going to be a bit of a shock after the taper we just had! The two hour bike ride that I just finished is probably the longest workout that I've done in nearly two weeks..... It's going to be a tough week, but I am eager to feel that dull all-over body ache that accompanies high volume training.
World Cup 3 in Lucerne was definitely a high note for the quad! We came first in our heat and went straight through to the A-final on Sunday. The final was a tough race, and we ended up coming second to Germany. It was satisfying to see the video of our race and note how much sharper and cleaner our rowing looks.
Now it's back to work for Rowing Canada so we can solidify our progress and shave a couple more seconds off our 2k race before we head off to the World Championships in Amsterdam.

Just a quick post, but let me say that coming fourth sure is a hard pill to swallow! That being said, today was our best race of the weekend and we are walking away from this weekend with confidence that we are headed in the right direction and motivation to make every stroke count so that we can move on up come Lucerne and the 2014 World Champs. For those of you who didn't have a chance to watch the race or look up the results, we came 4th to New Zealand by less than half a second.
Tomorrow it's back to Corgeno, Italy for a busy two weeks of training and prepping for World Cup three in Lucerne.

Here are some links to photos:
http://www.row2k.com/gallery/gallery.cfm?action=gallery&dir=2014Summer%2FWC2%2F0620HeatsBigBoats&offset=60&label=World+Cup+II+-+Heats+-+Fours%2C+Quads%2C+Eights&hi=yes#.U6Wy0ij5FlA

http://www.row2k.com/gallery/pf_gal.cfm?dir=2014Summer%2FWC2%2F0620HeatsBigBoats&start=66&label=World+Cup+II+-+Heats+-+Fours%2C+Quads%2C+Eights&hi=yes#.U6ZubSsIVwY.facebook

Also, check out the official site of world rowing for results/videos/up to date info on everything rowing! http://www.worldrowing.com/

World Cup 2

Well, here we are... the 2014 Rowing World Cup II on  lac d'Aiguebelette in France. After some successful months of training and trialling back in Canada, we have once again formed the crew of Goodfellow, Cameron, Zeeman, and myself in the women's quadruple sculls event (W4x). I am both excited and nervous for our first race today at 12:25pm France time (3:25am BC time, 6:25am in Ontario). There are eleven boats in our event, and the progression is: time trial, heats, reps, and finals. There will be two heats and the first boat in each heat will skip the reps and go straight to the finals.Time for the fun to start!!!

World Cup 1 (Australia)

Well, I've once again managed to finish packing in the nick of time......with a couple minutes to spare to update my blog. My teammates and I are departing for Sydney, Australia for the first world cup of the 2014 season. I will be rowing in a 2x with my teammate and friend, Carling Zeeman. The other four girls are rowing in two pairs. Only a very small team is going, and the rest of the girls (along with the lightweight men) are holding down the fort in London and training for the upcoming Spring Trials regatta. We will definitely miss them when we are gone.

It is 1:13 and in two minutes most of our teammates and our coach, John, will probably arrive at the airport for our 3:55pm flight. Carling and I had a bit of a "last minute" call for rides so we will be arriving a little later. My mom would probably have a heart attack if she found out exactly how much later. In case you are reading this mom, don't worry.... unless something goes horribly wrong we will still make our flight.

until next time.....

....or as they say in Australia (according to Wikitravel) .....


"Take it easy Mate"

Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships 2014

Along with a bundle of nerves and a major case of the pre-race jitters, last Sunday brought along with it the annual Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships. I was very excited to come third with a time of 6:48.0. For more results please see www.cdnindoorrowing.org/results2014.html. Now it's time to finish up another week of high intensity training before going back to volume. We have a second "opportunity" to do a 2k this Saturday as some of the girls missed the test on Sunday. Maybe I will give it a go and see if I can shave another second off my time and check that long term goal of breaking 6:48 off my list.

Photo courtesy of Austin J. Cameron

Fall 2013

I realize it’s been a long time since my last post, so I will do my best to start where I left off.  To begin, post Korea involved a glamorous two weeks holed away on my parent’s farm.  The days that were not spent on my parents 180 odd acres were spent hiking, paddle boarding, and catching up with friends and family. My visit ended with a trip back to London, Ontario and a great start to the training season. October brought my first ever head of the Charles with teammate and friend Carling Zeeman. We placed second. For some fun pics check out: http://scullingfool.smugmug.com/Rowing/Head-of-the-Charles-2013/Championship-Doubles-Women/i-Jq5VjkL.  Navigating the course was like navigating rush hour in Toronto. Thank goodness I was in stroke seat! 

After Head of the Charles came the 2013 Canadian National Rowing Championships, where I placed third in the women’s heavyweight single event. Gale force winds resulted in many cancelled races and a time trial style final. A short wrap-up article can be found here http://rowingcanada.org/news/2013-national-rowing-championships-come-close-welland.

The fall training season was also marked by a number of erg tests and my first ever V02 max test. The erg tests consisted of two team 6k’s and a spur of the moment “on my own” 2k. All three were best times and my new “times to beat” are 6:48.9 on the 2k and 21:50.0 on the 6k. All in all a very exciting fall season for me. It is always so rewarding (and a huge confidence booster) to see those training hours pay off.

Christmas break consisted of a wonderful two weeks at home spent mostly on the x-country ski trails and on the computer, desperately finishing off the third of my four online courses. The weather was unusually warm for a Northern BC winter, and alternating rain and snow led to terrible road conditions. One day the roads were so terrible that I couldn’t make it into town (aka the gym and x-country ski trails) so I got creative and did my interval workouts on a pair of my dad’s snowshoes. Success! Feel free to check out my twitter page (@Antje_vs) for updates and winter break farm training photos! 

And suddenly 2013 was brought to a close. I spent new year’s eve on an airplane traveling back to the training center, and two short days after arriving, hopped on another plane to Florida for our first training camp of the season. It was great to be back on the water and we spent most of the rows trying out some different combinations with the quad. We had the luxury of working with two fantastic biomechanists and learned a lot! It was a grueling two weeks of hundreds of kilometers on the water and numerous core and strength workouts in the weight room…. obviously accompanied by copious amounts of food consumed in the Stetson University Cafeteria.

Ahhhh, and we’ve finally made it to the present time. Yesterday we arrived back in London and today and tomorrow are mostly off (aside from a short 90’ on your own cardio session today). Tomorrow I am hoping to check out the x-country ski trails at Circle-R Ranch (http://www.circlerranch.ca/) with a friend from the lightweight men’s team. Fingers crossed that they will have enough snow! If they do I will do my best to post some pictures on twitter!

A New Season

The 2013/2014 season has officially begun-with much enthusiasm and excitement on my part. I was a little nervous that I would be miles behind everyone as I only did the bare minimum amount of training during my break. This was a much needed break for me! Nevertheless, I was itching to get back on the water and couldn't sit still during our pre-launch meeting! The 15 minutes felt like an eternity.
Right.....World Champs. We ended up having a great race and coming a satisfying 2nd place  behind the Germans. It was extremely exciting to be a part of putting a Canadian heavyweight women's sculling boat on the podium for the first time in many years; a very proud moment. This year's goal is to slowly move my way up the ranks here at the LTC. This will require both fitness/strength and technique. I've learned a lot from watching our final race on the world rowing website and have a couple technique points I'd like to improve sooner rather than later.
Time to get back to work!