'Boys on the Boat' Review, Wedding Waves, and Mental Prep | Episode 38

*This Transcript is Autogenerated*

Kristi Wagner  0:01  
and looking forward to 2024. I think that just trying to do my best every day and conquer every workout and not get ahead of myself and just check boxes and stack days and enjoy the process is how I'm gonna get to where I want to go. And I really do love rowing and love training and feel really lucky to be chasing this dream. Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years and very happy Olympic year and start to 2020 for this week. Being that it's the first episode of 2024 I'm just gonna do a little bit of reflection on the past year and a little bit of looking forward to what's in store for the next six months to a year. It's gonna be a fun episode. And we're just gonna jump right in. The first thing I thought I would do is talk a little bit about my personal thoughts on Boys in the Boat, that movie, because I did watch it. And I thought it was actually really good. I saw it last week, and right after it had come out, you know, I have no agenda with this. And I don't know anyone involved in the making of Boys in the Boat. So these are really just my opinions. But there were not as many people in the theater as I thought they were going to be we I saw it in downtown Boston. So like a pretty busy movie theater. And I saw it the day after Christmas. So it was like right after it come out, I would argue a pretty good movie day, right after Christmas. What

are you going to do a holiday week? It's a family movie, movie theater, I'd say it was like a third full. It was a four o'clock showing. So again, kind of a good time to see a movie. I think I need to reread the book, because I read it probably five years ago, if not longer than that. No, maybe like 10 years ago. Wow. That's crazy. But the storyline was pretty different. Which makes sense because the book was long, and the movie was two hours. So I think to have the story arc fit. They needed to condense things in the movie. But I thought that a lot of the detail and a lot of the narrative that made the book so good was kind of left out of the movie. And it is more plausible that someone would start rowing. And then four years later go to the Olympics, and when it's a little bit less plausible, but a whole boat of athletes would start rowing. And literally that year when the Olympics. So I feel like that was a little bit of like movie magic. But it was it was good. And I'd say one thing that I really liked was the actual rowing. Like, I think that it was cool that they used actors, and that they did actually know how to row like, they really did know how to row. And they were pretty good. I was actually pretty impressed with their rowing. And they definitely must have practiced a lot. Because it's pretty obvious when somebody doesn't know how to row and the guys in the movie, they were not by any means the best rowers I've ever seen in my life, but they really were not the worst. And a lot of the things in it were really relatable. And really true to rowing, it was clear that they had, they kept a lot of authenticity within the sport, which I really appreciated. But it also was really exciting and very fun to see on the big screen and really captivating for an audience. So I thought that they had a good mix of being true to the sport and getting things in a somewhat accurate sense, but also making it really exciting and wanting to be seen by a mass audience, not just people that are already involved in rowing, I would say one of my favorite things that maybe wasn't like a super notable thing was the boat building aspects of George pokok. I just thought that was really, really cool. And boat building is such a beautiful art. And that stuff was really fun to see. And it was so true. It was all very accurate and true. And I just I really appreciated that they left that in there because there were a lot of aspects of the story that they took out and I thought it was really nice that they left that stuff in there and that they were making the boats and bringing the boats and because the boats are a huge part of the sport. And so I thought it was just really nice that they they left that stuff in there. So I'd really recommend everyone go and see it. I like I said I liked it. I thought it was good. I thought it was exciting. And I think that it's really cool that there's you know, a major motion picture that is about growing, but I would still write recommend people read the book because they think that the book was I think they were both good, but in different ways. So I wouldn't say that the movie surpasses the book. But I think it is a good thing to have alongside the book. Now I'm going to do a quick update on what's currently going on. It is the second right now, January 2, so we just started the new year, on New Year's Eve, I celebrated my brother's wedding to his now wife, Jenny, Joe, and Jenny, and their wedding was unbelievable. It was so fun. It was such a happy time, everyone, there were 300 guests, and everyone had a great time, it really was just so special. And I feel like they are just happy people who love their friends and family and just wanted to spend time with the people that they love and do it on a really celebratory night, which also happens to be my parents anniversary. So for our family, it was just such a special evening. And just so fun. I'm definitely coming down, off a little bit of a high it was it's like almost like a race, there was so much anticipation built up for it. And now it's over, was funny, I was having dinner with my parents last night. And they're like, I don't know what we're going to do now. Like, we were all about the wedding. And now it's over. So I think we're all going to come down from the high a little bit. And I was just really happy that I could be in Boston and be there to help my mom and help my parents and help Joan Jenny with whatever they needed to get ready for the wedding and just really prioritize supporting my family. I feel like being an elite athletes, so much of our relationships is them supporting me and them doing things for me. And you know, things always have to be on my schedule on about me. So it just felt really nice that I could do things on their schedule, and I could just do what they needed me to do and take a supporting role and take a background role. And just watch them be really happy and do whatever they needed me to do to. to support them. It really was nice and relaxing. It really was actually not a very stressful wedding. I don't even think that Joe and Jenny were that stressed out. I mean a little nervous, obviously. But I don't think it was overly stressful. There were no bride Ziller groomzilla moments. So that was really good. I did do a reading at the wedding. And it was very fun. I actually read a little part of a monologue from the movie Goodwill Hunting. Definitely different and unique, but they're fun. And they're young and Boston. So it was it was about Boston sports. It was about Robin Williams, like explaining to Matt Damon, how he met his wife. And basically he was going to go to this famous Red Sox game, but he ended up not going because that was the night he met his wife. And so he skipped the game to court, a woman he had never met before and how he didn't regret doing that because it was ended up being his wife. I'm paraphrasing, but that was the scene that I read about. And overall, the wedding was just so great. I just have such positive things to say. And being home was great. But I am happy to now be back in Sarasota and back to focusing on training. I did obviously train while I was in Boston, I even got up to row. So that was really fun. The Charles was open and very flat actually. So that was great. And just it's ERG workouts, some lifts, some runs. It's funny, it's gotten so much easier to train while I'm home or while I'm on vacation, quote unquote, vacation than it used to be. I really only struggle with finding the time in the day to do it. If I have family things or holiday things or whatever. But it's not really like a mental block. I feel like when I was younger, it was hard to get myself to do the workouts I just would drag and didn't want to do them. But now it's like no, I really look forward to doing them. And it's all part of the story and checking boxes along on the way to achieving my goals. And so it's not so much a chore to do things like that anymore. I feel like it's just part of my day. And that's really nice, because I think it just makes being away from a super focused training environment that much easier and like less stressful. Like, I don't feel stressed about having the time at home because I was so happy to be there to you know, celebrate the holidays. And I also think it's important to like take a breath, because right now we're just looking at the next months of training that are going to be super focused and super intense. And I feel like being able to take the time and just spend it with my family and my friends and be really happy and carefree and obviously training but in a less intense environment was really important so that I feel excited to be going into The next few months of craziness, what's the saying like my cup is full, I guess. And I feel like I can just really focus on what I need to focus on now. Because I, I did take that time for myself. So I'm in Sarasota for this week. And on Sunday, we fly to Colorado Springs for our first official camp of the year, US rowing camp of the year, I'm going to be in Colorado Springs for three weeks at the Olympic Training Center, they're doing an altitude camp. And a lot of people ask about the camp and Colorado Springs, it is too cold to row, there's nowhere to row, we just do indoor training or gang and cross training and stuff. And then we also do hikes and runs and all that kind of things. We're training at altitude. So that's really the focus of why we go. So it's a pretty intense training block. Actually, last year, it was a lot of volume and a lot of work. But I'm kind of excited, I don't know, I think it's, in a weird way a little bit fun to just be, you know, solely focused on training, like that's the main priority. And being there, it was like, I don't know, I went to bed at like 730 or 8pm, every night, because I was just so tired from the training. But it felt nice to be getting all that sleep and be so focused on what I was doing. I was doing some reflecting on the past year. And I feel like it was a crazy year. And really unexpected in a lot of ways. I think in both rowing and my personal life. There was a lot of things that happened that I didn't think were going to happen. But everything kind of worked out in the end. So I think that it was a good reminder to just have to stay the course and sort of ride the waves as they come not to be super cliche, but in the past year, a lot of unexpected things happened, you know, in life, but also in my rowing life. And I think I learned not to be so reactionary, and just to try to let things happen. And know that if I was doing the training and doing the work and focused on what I was doing, I would be able to achieve the things I wanted to achieve. And I guess staying true to myself and having my plan and feeling like I had confidence in what I was doing, even if I wasn't achieving everything I wanted to achieve and I wasn't hitting every goal box I wanted to hit. And really using that those things to come into this next year. But I thought it would be fun to do a little exercise. Because as I ran through 2023 in my brain, it's like really easy for me to see things I would like to improve on. And I just think that that's kind of an athlete's mindset. Like you're constantly looking to improve and can't be complacent where you are. But I thought it would be fun to do a high low and buffalo of my 2023 I think I've mentioned it before on the podcast, but my teammate and good friend Meghan Goodman likes to have us do this game Hi low Buffalo. And basically, hi obviously makes sense your hive, the year, your love the year and then your buffalo is just a random or weird thing that you have to mention. That's like the next thing that comes to mind. So for my 2023 rowing life, my low would definitely be our first beat order of the year and singles. I just didn't have a performance that I wanted to have. And I really got into my own head and had a really lackluster final. I think compartmentalizing, I was really happy for some of my teammates who had really great performances. And that was really fun to see them. And you know, everyone works so hard. So when you are compartmentalizing, it is really fun to see your teammates and your friends achieve things that they hadn't before achieved. And that part of it was really fun. But for me personally, it was definitely a real low of the year I felt like I had put in so much work over the fall and winter and had a lot of fitness and it just didn't show. And the previous year had been difficult. I think coming back from the Olympics was like, in some ways harder than I had anticipated. And there was just a lot of moving pieces and a lot of coaching changes, just with like the national team stuff. And I was sweeping and I was scrolling and I was then in the double and there were just a lot of things going on. And I think it was almost like mentally harder for me to get past everything. And I took that into the beginning of 2023. And then when I was trying to race in the single it was just like my brain was so crowded, and I was so in my own head. So that was definitely my low but I also think that it kind of pushed me to realize I needed to prioritize myself and I needed to prioritize getting my head on straight and doing what I needed to do to get me where I need had to go. And I think those things were good, because then I started, it wasn't that I hadn't been training hard. But I almost like, did a little bit of a pivot, and was more focused on exactly what I needed to do rather than just listening to other people the whole time. That goes into my high, which is probably pretty predictable. But it was just Sofia and me racing the whole, I'd say the whole week at Worlds, not just the final because the semi was also really exciting. And I think personally for me to win the semi in the Olympic qualification year and get that Olympic qualification. In the women's double, I was just, I was so proud of us like, I just feel like that was a big deal. And it's funny, sometimes I'll say to cat like, that was a big girl moment. And I really feel like that was a big girl moment. So that was definitely a high, my high for the year. And of course, also the final and ending up on the podium was was a high and it feel it felt great to have hard work pay off. But also, you know, have a little bit of room for improvement and a little bit of fire in your belly, because the work is not over. So my buffalo was also kind of a high, so maybe I'm cheating a little bit. But over the past year, we've done a lot of these 32nd blasters, so it's basically 30 seconds max effort, we've done them on both the ERG and out on the water. And previously, I had been very bad at these, like, very bad. And cat challenged me to do all of them starting from a stop. So I wouldn't paddle into any of it, I would just start from a stop. So like it was the start of a race or the start of an art piece, which makes it a bit harder. So I was already not good at something. And then I was doing the hardest version of it. And I spent a lot of time really not looking forward to these workouts like you know, we know the whole plan for the week in advance. And I would be like, Oh, Tuesday and Thursday afternoon 32nd blasters not looking forward to that. But I've done them all year. And I've honestly can say I've gotten so much better at them. And I'm proud of myself for conquering something, I wouldn't say I've conquered it, I wouldn't say that I've am not the best but doing something that I'm not good at and getting better at it. And then also not choosing the easy way out of it. Like making it as hard as I can possibly make it and trying to turn a weakness into a strength. So that's the 32nd blasters are definitely my buffalo of 2023. And looking forward to 2024 Honestly, I'm just gonna do what I've been doing. Because I think that just trying to do my best every day and conquer every workout and not get ahead of myself and just check boxes and stacked days and enjoy the process is how I'm gonna get to where I want to go. And I really do love rowing and love training and feel really lucky to be chasing this dream feel really lucky that my body cooperates with me and that I have the support of my family and friends to be doing this that I have the support of so many people, it feels really amazing. Because I think for a long time, it felt like I was on the journey. Not alone. But without that much support. And now it feels like I have so much support, which is really incredible. And obviously, some days are really hard. And I'm sure crazy things are gonna happen this year. And there will be setbacks and there will be frustrations and things that don't go as planned. But I think that if I just keep my head on straight and stay internal and stay focused, and just keep going keep putting one foot in front of the other, I can accomplish a lot. And I'm just excited for all the work to do in the days ahead. Because it's gonna be fun. It's we're entering a tough block of training, but the the top box are a little bit fun. So I'm just excited. And I also am excited to be doing this, like with the podcast, I think that it's really exciting that I kind of am bringing everyone along with me on the journey and that I'm gonna keep sharing what happens no matter what. So it's really fun. And I think it's a cool thing. And it's a little scary because I just don't know what's gonna happen and anything could happen, but it's also pretty exciting. And I'm just grateful to have this platform and have the opportunity and it's so cool that people listen to the podcast. It really is and I just so appreciate everyone listening, because it's really crazy and so nice. And I don't know, I'm getting cheesy because it's almost bedtime and I have to go to bed. So before I say something else It's too weird. I'm going to share my quote of the week this week. And this is in my quote, notes. So I really liked this quote, but I didn't say who said it. So I'm really sorry, but I really like it. And it's I think sometimes in life, the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life. So

thanks for listening. Have a great week. Happy 2024 And I'll see you next week for a fun interview. Okay, bye.

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai