Today was my first day of almost normal sleep after having been back in the US for two and a half days. Despite my best efforts, staying up past about 7:00 has been a challenge over the past few days, but now that I’m due at the boathouse at regular practice times, motivation to sleep and wake at the right times of day is increasing. I am thankful that we had some time to rest and recover between the trans-Atlantic flight and getting back to full-time training. The past month of selection and racing has been hard on my body and these days of rest are going to be important to getting back on track as we build back in to racing and selection for NSR III and the Naming of the World Championship team for 2010.
So, to recap, Lucerne was not a terribly successful regatta for me this year. All four sculling athletes doubled up in the W2X/W4X, but weren’t able to be competitive with the leaders in either field. I didn’t know exactly what to expect from this trip going in to it, since I hadn’t had a lot of time to sit in either my 2X or 4X lineups, so making the A finals in both events was a good first step. But it’s never fun to come away without medals after doing so much racing and trying to figure things out to get them to go. It will be interesting to see which direction things go over the next several weeks in order to get the USA sculling women on speed with medalists in order to be more competitive for New Zealand.
It is worth mentioning the other element of bittersweetness of this trip, it being my first senior team trip without Ellen. She and I have raced twice together in Lucerne memorably and successfully, so it was strange and sad leaving her behind this year. This trip certainly made clear how imperative it is that I get myself back “out there” (so to speak) and face the reality that I may potentially be racing in New Zealand without her. There was a time when we talked about taking the 2X together as far as we could go; now since we don’t know when Ellen will be healthy again, it is an odd feeling to try to make plans without her. It was sweet to spend time catching up with other rowing friends in Switzerland, and have them ask about her and where she was, and why we weren’t racing together this year. You are loved and missed around the world, Ellen!
Congratulations to all of my USA teammates who brought home medals last weekend. But now that we’re past Lucerne, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s get to it.
Long Live the Dream,
–MK
Megan Kalmoe, OLY 