OTW with Matt Miller, Part II: Blazer up!

Thursday night send-off at the Boathouse Grille (Photo: Clem Bezold)
Since this post, Matt has packed his bags and taken off for London along with the rest of the Cavaliers, pictured above (they will be racing an eight and a four, in the Temple Challenge Cup and the Prince Albert Challenge Cup, respectively). Once in England they will look to get settled in and resume their training as quickly as possible prior to beginning the taper for Henley Royal, which starts on June 29th, and runs through July 3rd. While this is certainly an exciting prospect, the last few days of practice have been bittersweet for Miller, who graduated this year and whose last strokes as a Virginia oarsman will come at Henley. Here's the second installment from Matt:

Preparations are making the Henley trip feel more real by the day. The first adjustment to history and tradition was in converting weights to stones for roster submission. It had been a while since the last weigh-in (last erg testing week) and many were pleasantly surprised to be leaner and lighter—results of tough workouts in Virginia heat.

That task was followed closely by the highlight of the week last Friday: distribution of Henley jackets. We were unsure at first whether orange piping would be worth the added cost, but it was well worth it! The jackets turned out perfectly with the team logo embroidered on the left pocket, deep orange piping and custom fit. 
The next Thursday marked the arrival of another key component of Henley attire, our orange team polo shirts. Thanks to our team sponsor, B.W. Furlong & Associates, and the work of team manager Kyle Davis, they came in looking great. That night represented the first chance for us to sport the new jackets and polos at a team send-off reception, appropriately held at Charlottesville’s Boathouse Grille. The event was a chance for alumni, board members, local paralympic rowers, parents, women’s team rowers, and members of the Rivanna Rowing Club to chat over hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Many of these guests support the team financially, and all follow the team’s results. In addition to providing a forum for meeting the rowers who will be representing Virginia in England, the night showed the team’s appreciation for the encouragement and generosity of our rowing community. 
The team has thankfully avoided injury during tough training, but the newest member of the eight, Ben Hammond, was diagnosed with strep throat on Wednesday. Despite this temporary loss, training continues. After near death by boredom during 22k steady state rows, workouts are becoming more “peppy” as Frank would say, as we translate drills and low rate technique work to intermediate rates at high intensity. Both boats have benefited from the perspective of Virginia women’s rowing head coach, Kevin Sauer, in two guest-coaching sessions.

The team was on the erg for the first time in nearly a month on Friday afternoon for 20 minutes of firm steady state. Some found the work easy and others greatly surpassed target splits. Apparently the team’s physiology has continued to improve over the last month.

Packing for Sunday’s departure is the next step. It will be a challenge to foresee everything we’ll need for two and half weeks, but Frank has provided us with a handy packing list. It’s great to have a coach with so much international travel (and coaching) experience.

Saturday was my last day as a Charlottesville resident. I am excited to be headed to Henley and entering a new stage of my life, but I leave Charlottesville with mixed emotions. I’ve built my closest friendships in thousands of hours at that boathouse. My last row on the Rivanna Reservoir felt normal until I walked the boat up the hill, realizing it would be the last time. Despite painful practices and early mornings, I have nothing but fond memories of Virginia and rowing. -MM

More from Matt when the Cavs begin their training across the pond, making final preparations for Henley at the regatta venue.

-RR

Popular posts from this blog

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

RR Interview: Nick Trojan's New Feature on Yale Men's Rowing

Image
Nick Trojan's latest feature documentary is twice as long as his previous work—but leaves you wanting more, just the same.  There’s a new feature in Nick Trojan’s series, taking an inside look at top-tier college rowing programs in the US. This time, Trojan focused his project on Yale and the legendary coach Steve Gladstone, blending outstanding camerawork with one of rowing’s most compelling stories.  Having uploaded the video to YouTube only two weeks ago, it’s already approaching 70k views. And for good reason.  RR sat down recently to talk through it all with Trojan in an exclusive interview, from origins to development and finally a finished product—as well as what might come next. Here’s what we learned. Navigating shifting waters Elite rower turned filmmaker Nick Trojan’s new feature, titled simply, “Yale Men’s Rowing,” was years in the making.  “The initial idea was to do the same kind of rinse-and-repeat that we had done with Harvard and Cal,” Trojan says, “but I think wha
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland. As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just over
Read more

Best Rowing Drills: 5 Favorites of Olympic Champion Esther Lofgren

Image
Lofgren training in the single (Photo courtesy of Esther Lofgren) Olympic gold medalist Esther Lofgren is no stranger to success on the water. In addition to her podium-topping performance with the U.S. women's eight in London, Lofgren also won two world titles (2010, 2011), with her first international medal—a bronze—coming in the women's straight four in 2006. Here, Lofgren shares some insight into the drills that have helped her progress technically along the way.
Read more