Aug 2 2016
Sunday – mix double and driving home
I had difficulty falling asleep on Saturday evening. The events of the day, winning the single, Romana winning the eight, the Masters Party, combined with the hot hotel room without airconditioning, and a few beers, made it hard to fall asleep. So I watched some German TV. Then I dozed off.
The best thing about our hotel in Dachau was the breakfast. There was a huge choice of fresh pastry, fruit, eggs prepared in different ways, and as we discovered, on Sundays there was free Champagne.
Not for us. We still had one row to row.
The weather had turned 180 degrees. From sunny and hot to rainy and gray. Temperatures had dropped to 17 degrees C, from above 30 the day before.
We cycled to the race venue, about a 30 minute ride, which we felt was a very nice way to start the body and prepare it for racing.
We arrived just in time, before the rain started.
The boats area was quite empty, with only the boats of the participants to the singles finals (Munich Trophy) and the mixed events left.
We watched the singles finals (with mixed feelings), then went to the Salani booth to pick up our club’s new youth single. After that, it was time to prepare for our race, the mixed C 2x.
The mixed races were open for registration until Saturday afternoon, and apparently the event organizers were a little exhausted when they compiled the start list. Even though we had registered only for the C event, we featured on the starting list of the A event as well. Our friends Martin and Jitka were listed on two heats of the mixed C 2x.
At the pre-start, called our race exactly when we arrived. We found that strange, because at the start there were quads preparing, and we were the fourth heat in the Mix C 2x.
It turned out that two pages of his list had stuck together because of the rain, and he skipped three heats. When he discovered that, there was a lot of confusion, and some of the crews of the first three heats were quite far away, which caused substantial delays.
Our friends Martin and Jitka got started in their second heat.
Then some time was spent calling for them during the third heat. In the end it was decided they weren’t there and their heat was started without them.
Then it was time for our race, which was reduced to a race between three boats, I guess also due to double bookings.
There was a French couple with which we had had chatted at the pre-start. I had translated the confused German and English announcements into broken French.
Then there was a German couple from Hersfelder Ruderclub. I knew Andreas, the guy at stroke, because we had rowed a quad together at Masters Worlds in Duisburg, in 2012.
I also knew he was fresh. He hadn’t started a single race during the weekend. Anyway, there was not a lot of time to think about it. We were in the starting pontoons and the starter was calling us.
Ready – Attention – Go
We started off well and quickly gained … nothing. When I peaked to the side after then strokes, there were three boats in a line. The French maybe a bit behind, and the Germans perhaps half a boat length in front.
In the next 10 strokes the Germans rowed away. When they had a length on us, we managed to stop this.
Well, you have to be patient, right?
Just after passing the 750m line I called for a 15 stroke push. We were a length behind the Germans and the French were half a boat length behind us.
We took half a length back on the Germans, but the French were still on our heels.
In the next 300m nothing really happened. Except that everything started to hurt.
Then I took up the rate again and I think we came level with the Germans. But I am not sure and have to rely on reports from people on the shore.
Everything hurt even more.
With 250m to go I didn’t have to call for a sprint. Romana knew. We took the rate up a little.
According to the post race reports from people on the shore, we came level with the Germans.
The French started a furious sprint. We responded. The Germans responded.
There were just 10 to 15 strokes left to the finish. I don’t know how many. I only remember I moaned and tried to increase the rate even more. I felt how Romana was pushing with every stroke.
Beep. Beep.
Beep.
After the finish, we only knew that the French were last. I didn’t have a good feeling, but when Andreas asked me who won, I answered I didn’t know, and proposed to row to the Finish Tower and ask.
Which we did, to find out that the Germans had won. 🙁
We did a 1km cooling down, then loaded the double on the trailer, went for a quick lunch and then it was time to hit the road.
The first 30 km from Munich we drove in very heavy traffic and didn’t move a lot. Then we finally took the highway towards Berlin/Prague, which was quieter. At that moment, however, it started to rain heavily, and we couldn’t go any faster than 80km, driving our trailer through hilly country on a very wet road with very low visibility.
Made to to Prague by 7pm, where we offloaded two boats at rowing club Blesk, then continued for Brno.
We were at our local rowing club at 10pm. We disconnected the trailer and drove home. Tired. But happy. Although we were still contemplating if we could have dug a little deeper and perhaps won even the mixed double.
On Monday I went back to the rowing club to clear the boats from the trailer, put them in the racks, and assist the youth trainer in rigging the new single. Of course, there were a lot of volunteers to try it out:
And, finally, some random photos from Munich:
Jul 30 2018
The Euromasters Regatta 2018
Thursday, July 26th, the first day of the Euromasters Regatta 2018 at the 1972 Olympic rowing course in Munich. We’re here. This is it. The end of a long season of training and racing. The final regatta before the vacation break.
I had to be realistic. A busy (and deciding) year at work and time invested in the rowsandall.com site has cost me quite some training hours. Stravistix tells me I am 25% behind in training hours since January 1, compared to 2016 and 2017.
The regatta itself seemed 25% bigger than the previous edition. More boats. More people. More food stalls. More merchandise. An extra race day. Higher temperatures (highs well above 30C, not a lot of cooling off in the night).
I had been realistic and not signed up for too many disciplines. Here’s the back of my accreditation card with my schedule for the four days:
Day 1
At 14:21 in the afternoon, Kazi and I lined up in lane 1. I was nervous. If there was a race with the biggest chance of finishing first or second, this was it. It was a strong field, but Kazi and I row a nice double, and Kazi’s season is strong. We were lined up against Exeter on lane 2 (this year’s Henley Masters winners in the C category, as I was told on Twitter), our friends from Bohemians Praha, Germany, Austria and Spain.
Out of the start we were slow, but we quickly recovered and after 250m we were in second position, half a length behind Exeter.
At the 500m mark the field broke apart in two halfs, with Exeter and us in front, then water, and then the rest. This happened just after I started our attack on Exeter with about 600m to go. The attack brought us almost level, but we went past them only after the 500m.
They tried to come back but must have been slowing down more than we did. We defended our position. Their attack lasted for about ten strokes, and we could row the final 150m being certain of our win. True, Exeter was just half a length behind us but we had some reserves still, as the stroke rate chart confirms. Yes, I had to rate up to hold our position, but with Kazi behind me I could have gone up to 40 spm without the boat falling apart.
So the first race was a win! The time was not great, but we were rowing into a headwind, and times in Munich are in general not very fast. It’s a slow course.
Here’s the video of our row (forward to 1:28:00 where our race starts).
On Thursday evening, Romana and I did a quick 4km row to reset ourselves after the choppy adventure of Monday.
Day 2
The draw had been pretty strange for all races. On Thursday’s M 2x C race, we were up against Bohemians Prague, a double that I have raced already twice this year. On Friday’s M 1x C races, it was even worse. In one final, the two Bohemians guys were racing each other, and in the other final Kazi and I were.
Our fan clubs had given us orders to occupy the first and second position. Kazi had beaten me in Trebon at the Czech Masters. I knew he was a hard nut to crack, and I was sure there were some other fast scullers in the race.
There was only one option, perhaps. And that was to go out fast and be ahead of Kazi after 500m. He has given up in such positions in the past.
There we were, lining up at the stake boats, Kazi in lane 2 and I was next to him in lane 3.
Attention – Go! We were both very well out of the start and after 200m, it was Kazi slightly in front and me rowing in second position.
I tried very hard to stay close to him, but unfortunately he had a really strong day and just steamed away, creating a boat length of light between us with 500m to go. I was also busy defending my second position against a Sankt Petersburg from Russia.
My third 250m was really bad. I saw power values going to 280-290W and I just didn’t find a way out of that. Some steering issues as well. The Russian guy passed me. With 250m to go I refound myself and I passed the Russian again. Romana told me later that Kazi in front was now really struggling with the consequences of going out fast as well. Apparently, we were catching up fast.
Unfortunately for me, the Russian guy caught up and beat me on the finish line:
A great race, except for a badly executed third 250m. Perhaps the penalty for going out too fast? The times were slow because of head wind.
The charts are quite clear.
Earlier that day, Romana came fifth in the double. Here’s a picture of Romana and Veronika going to the start:
When my racing was done, Romana and I went swimming in a nearby lake. That was really nice. Clean, cool water. After that, Romana still had a quad to race:
The girls were second after a strong Austrian crew.
Day 3
At 8:12, Romana and Veronika rowed a great race in the double. They were third, but against some really strong crews, and their technique and race strategy were exemplary.
On Friday evening, Kazi had been teasing me with his medal from the single. Well, on Saturday I had another chance to row the single. This time I was up against people I didn’t know, although I had heard that Carsten Brzeski from Wiking Berlin was pretty good (had won the C 1x a day before, one heat before us).
This time I decided to adhere to my prescribed power levels and ignore the other rowers. With 750m to go I was last. Between 750m and 500m I passed two boats and rowed in third position. Brzeski was out quite far, but Halle was a bit closer. I sprinted the entire final 300m at 36spm and almost caught up. Still a third place:
Average power was still only 300W. I had hoped it to be 20 Watt higher. Need to train more consistently.
This 1x race was also the one with the funniest comment shouted at me from the shore. Radek, one of my 4x crew cycled alongside me, together with Romana. With me rowing in third position and the winner far in front, he shouted: “Save some energy!” right at the moment when I rated up to 36spm. Romana commented that I apparently didn’t listen to Radek.
That 4x- race was almost immediately after the single. The start times were just 65 minutes apart. I quickly changed dress to Hodonin colors (this regatta requires uniform dressing), drank some water and had some sugar.
In the quad, I rowed on bow seat, replacing one of the Hodonin crew that had come third (after us) at the Czech Masters. I really enjoyed this race. We were in front at the start and then rowed away from the Germans. The Italians were a bit too far in front for us to catch, especially as Radek is a less experienced rower, so we couldn’t go all crazy with stroke rate in the final stages of this race. Second place at this regatta is not bad for this crew.
Day 4
As we were scheduled to race at 15:46, we had a long day of waiting in the heat. We spent the time watching other races from the grand stand.
Fabrizio Tucci, one of the winning crew of our quad race, was lined up against Romana and me in the C category Mix 2x. They really looked confident at the start, and so did the Leicester/Nautilus Anglo-Dutch combination.
Our start sequence wasn’t executed perfectly but we were still the first boat after 10 strokes, so I kept the stroke rate high for another ten, which gave us a lead of one length.
In the next 250m, we built out the lead by another length. Our rowing was not the best. Romana was catching slightly early, which I tried to anticipate, but that resulted in us going in a pretty high stroke rate. I shouted “Calm down” but Romana understood “Go!”. So she started to push even more.
We were leading by two lengths and, this being the fourth day of racing, I was really getting tired. We got awfully close to the lane buoys but we managed to steer back again.
You can see all that on the video (fast forward to 2:39:00 for our race). Still we won by a large margin and were really happy.
The stroke rate chart tells the story. No power tens. No sprinting. Just keep going at 35/36 spm.
After loading the double on the trailer, we went for a swim, and by 5pm we were on the road driving back to Brno, where we arrived at 11pm. And that, dear readers, is the end of the sprint season. Time for vacation. I am looking forward to taking a two to three week break from rowing and structured training plans.
By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: 1000m, 1k, euromasters, OTW, race, regatta, rowing