Learning to Love the Process, with Mary Whipple | Episode 64

00:00:03 Mary Whipple

It's literally one stroke at a time, and if you can just enjoy the process, that's the best feeling in the world, no matter the placement, no matter the expectation. If you truly love the process and how you're going to get to.

00:00:18 Mary Whipple

The.

00:00:18 Mary Whipple

Finish line not when.

00:00:21 Mary Whipple

But why and how? And if you define your why and your how?

00:00:26 Mary Whipple

And you get to execute that when you have to. Results will take care of themselves.

00:00:34 Kristi Wagner

Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream. They want to turn into a reality. Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years. My name is Christy Wagner, and I'm so excited to share this week's episode with all of.

00:00:52 Kristi Wagner

You I have guest Mary Whipple on this week. So if you don't know Mary was the long standing coxen of the very dominant women's eight for the US. She is a three time Olympian, winning three medals, 1 silver and two gold. She's also a five time world champion.

00:01:12 Kristi Wagner

And just an all around *.

00:01:14 Kristi Wagner

She also founded her company, called the 9th Seat while she was still training, and it provides both toxins and rowers with resources to help them succeed and advance their athletic careers. And she also runs Coxon camps and clinics.

00:01:30 Kristi Wagner

That are super well attended. I know tons of people that have attended them, so I had a total blast chatting with Mary and honestly it was like a sneak peek into why she's such an amazing cockson. She kept just sort of inspiring me and making me want to race. It was just.

00:01:45 Kristi Wagner

Fun to talk.

00:01:46 Kristi Wagner

About her whole journey within the sport, from high school to college, and then her time as an elite athlete and how it's still a really big part of her life, just in a different way. So I hope that everyone is as inspired by Mary as I am.

00:02:00 Kristi Wagner

But before we get into that, here's an update on what is currently going on in my training. We are on our last week in Princeton before we head off to Europe for our pre camp in Italy before we go to Paris.

00:02:14 Kristi Wagner

And it's kind of wild, like last little chunk of training. I'm not gonna lie. We've definitely been doing a lot of work, and I've was feeling a little bit tired, so took some good time to recover this weekend. But you know that that recovery really seems to have paid off, say, started this week feeling really good.

00:02:33 Kristi Wagner

And we're sort of moving on from our hypoxic O tense. So we don't have to sleep at altitude anymore, which is very excited.

00:02:40 Kristi Wagner

Thing and yeah, it's just been really fun. Like, right before the Olympics is such an exciting time, I feel like everyone is just so excited and there's a lot of hype around it. It's definitely the most famous you ever feel as a rower. Like, companies are giving us stuff, which again, is not why you do it, but it is pretty cool and exciting. So.

00:03:00 Kristi Wagner

That's just really fun. I really appreciate all of the like, you know, friends and family support that we have, but also sort of all of the companies that have been supporting us and it it just it makes it feel like your hard work is, you know, paying off, which again it's not really for the stuff, but it it is a a cool aside.

00:03:19 Kristi Wagner

I just feel really grateful to all of the people that have been giving us support, one of those companies is actually this cookie company and based in Albany, but in upstate New York called cookie therapy. And they're doing, it's actually their last cookie drop. The cookies are really, really good. I've had some and.

00:03:39 Kristi Wagner

I am a cookie connoisseur, so I wouldn't lead you in the wrong direction with cookies. This is not like an ad, I just really like these.

00:03:48

Keys.

00:03:49 Kristi Wagner

And they're doing kind of their last drop. So definitely go check out cookie therapy and order some cookies, some delicious cookies, and they are doing a Special Olympics cookie in support of me and bright sided, which is just, like, so nice. I got to chat with the owner of the company, Faye. And she was so cool. And she was just like, yeah, I love.

00:04:10 Kristi Wagner

Supporting women and women that are doing awesome things, which I also love. So they thank you so.

00:04:17 Kristi Wagner

Much, and if anyone is feeling in the mood for cookies, go check it out. Unfortunately, the cookies are gonna ship when we're already in Europe, so I won't get to try any of the special ones, so you'll all have to get them and tell me how they are. But yeah, at the end of this week, we fly over to Europe and then we just keep the gravy train rolling there and.

00:04:37 Kristi Wagner

I actually don't even really know what gravy train means, but I guess what I mean is that we just keep training when we get to Europe.

00:04:45 Kristi Wagner

Basically.

00:04:47 Kristi Wagner

I'm honestly kind of excited to get over there because the distractions just get less and less and I'm already feeling really zoned in, but I'm excited for kind of that. Like really, really zoned in time. And then before we know it, it's going to.

00:05:00 Kristi Wagner

Be time to race, which is.

00:05:02 Kristi Wagner

So exciting. I'm pumped and so exciting. So now it is time for all of you to get really pumped because it's time for my conversation with two time Olympic gold medalist Mary Whipple.

00:05:18 Kristi Wagner

Alright, we're recording. Mary, I'm so excited. Thank you so much for taking the time.

00:05:23 Mary Whipple

No problem. I'm a super fan of your podcast. Ever since you started it, because that's the real deal, right? The other three years, that's like when you really.

00:05:35 Mary Whipple

Really define who you want to be and why you want to race and how you want.

00:05:39 Mary Whipple

To race if you get.

00:05:40 Mary Whipple

To race that one during that final year and hopefully they'll final race of that final year of the.

00:05:41 Kristi Wagner

MHM.

00:05:48 Mary Whipple

Four year cycle. So I don't know it's a, it's awesome. Plus you know as a super fan like now as a retired athlete you know you crave you crave knowledge of like what are you guys doing now what's going on now? What part of you know your training cycle are you are you tired? Yes.

00:06:09 Mary Whipple

Are you moving the boat well, are you know? Like there's momentum on your side. There's all these questions that I think people who've been in the zone and in the training environment, whether you're in the camp, out of the camp, whatever training group you're in, that's the stuff everyone wants to know.

00:06:27 Kristi Wagner

No, totally. And it has been, I mean, it's been such a cool way to connect with, you know, tons of people. But I have like.

00:06:35 Kristi Wagner

Been surprised and just like it's so awesome that a lot of like retired athletes listen. And I think it's been a cool way to connect with people that I like, watched growing up and it's so it's like, wow, you have interest in what I'm doing that's so insane.

00:06:53 Mary Whipple

Let me think about it. I mean, how many practices you do a day, two or three, if you're counting recovery or anything up to you know, 4 all the time but then like think about like that one afternoon or morning, you're off from the team and then you come back and you think like you've been gone for like a week or a month. You're like, what have you guys been doing? I've been gone for so long.

00:07:12 Mary Whipple

That you really have.

00:07:14 Mary Whipple

And so think about us old people now that we're retired and we're not a part of the trendy group. Yeah, we just.

00:07:20 Mary Whipple

Want to know?

00:07:21 Mary Whipple

What are you guys doing? How are you?

00:07:23 Mary Whipple

Doing all that stuff.

00:07:25 Kristi Wagner

I don't. I don't think that you're old.

00:07:27 Mary Whipple

Why, thank you. Sunscreen my size, you know.

00:07:31 Kristi Wagner

Well, I definitely want to hear all about like government coming into retirement and stuff, but I thought it would be awesome to just start with a little bit of your background, how you got involved in the sport and sort of what the the early days were like.

00:07:45 Mary Whipple

I started rowing or I've always been a Coxon. I started in the sport way back the summer before high school, so my sister and I, I have a twin sister, Sarah Sarah Puddicombe. She and I didn't know what to do this summer before high school, and we thought we were too old to go to, you know, sleep away camp or summer camp.

00:08:07 Mary Whipple

So my mom decided, or somehow I have no idea how she thought of this idea. But she was like, well, why don't you go to the Aquatic Center and maybe learn to row. And as a further background, I grew up in Sacramento about 15 minutes away from Lake Natoma and Lake Natoma is, you know.

00:08:28 Mary Whipple

Most people have heard of it. I do occasionally and to blaze when the IRA have come out West, they go to Lake Natoma, so every springtime rowing teams would flood the regatta site and then, you know, like the old classic spaghetti factories next to it.

00:08:44 Mary Whipple

Mom.

00:08:44 Mary Whipple

Was like, hey, go to the Clark Center.

00:08:46 Mary Whipple

So my sister and I, we did a learn to row class and it was a sculling class. It was, I think, 2:00.

00:08:51 Mary Whipple

Weeks.

00:08:52 Mary Whipple

Long maybe 6 total sessions, but during that learn to row program, the high school rowing coach was around and he saw me and my sister and there was actually another brother set. So there's four of us in high school and then the rest were, you know, adults.

00:09:09 Mary Whipple

So, but he told us, hey, there's a high school rowing programs club.

00:09:12 Mary Whipple

Team, you guys should come out and then he looked at my sister and I was like, and we're always looking for coxswains, you know. And we're like, what is that? You know, I had no clue what a Coxon was at that time. You know, we're 1314. So we're like, we're going to grow. You know, we're not going to be small forever. But so that was summer time. Novices didn't start. I think the information.

00:09:33 Mary Whipple

He was in September, October and the rest was history. We did four years at capital crew. My sister got recruited to UC Davis and I got recruited to UW the very last year my senior year that summer, before going to UW.

00:09:51 Mary Whipple

I made the junior team that was a other new crazy story because I had no clue that there was a junior national team and the only reason why I knew is because one of my teammates in high school, Rachel Brunell. She made the junior team junior year. She came back with the bronze medal from Junior worlds and then she told me, you know, they're clocks.

00:10:11 Mary Whipple

Aging out. And then she's the one who recommended me to. That current coach was was Barb Groot at the time and Eleanor Mcilvain was the assistant coach and she was the freshman coach at UW. I got an invite to a winter camp and then I guess I didn't mess up.

00:10:29 Mary Whipple

And so then I got an invite to the selection camp that summer, and I eventually made it when they first named the team, I was not on it. I was number 2 Coxon. And then we had to do some time trials to prove that we were fast enough. The bead boat we think, were like, less than two seconds behind the A boat. And so they're like, wait a second.

00:10:50 Mary Whipple

This isn't right and what I completely remember was like when my name was and called. Of course I was devastated and then I had a really good meeting with, you know, the the two coaches, Barbin and Eleanor, don't remember what we said, but I remember how I felt when I left that meeting and I felt.

00:11:08 Mary Whipple

Like satisfied. But I also felt a little, you know, chippy on my shoulder, being like, just watch, you know, like, if I'm going to be the bee boat, watch out. And I think that was a huge lesson that I learned. And what I tell my Coxon students through my company, ninth seed is it's no matter what boat you're in.

00:11:28 Mary Whipple

If you can make it the fastest possible, that's the only thing you have control over.

00:11:34 Mary Whipple

And how I felt also leaving that meeting.

00:11:38 Mary Whipple

Was I felt like I gave. I didn't want to say I gave the coaches doubt, but I think I planted the seed. I wasn't better. I was motivated to make my boat as fast as possible and I was excited to have the lineup that I had. So I was like, awesome, like.

00:11:58 Mary Whipple

I'm stoked. And so I think they saw that in the B boat. And so then the next day, they're like, hey, the boats aren't fast like the the the separation between the boats aren't as what we want it to be. We're going to make a a switch.

00:12:12 Mary Whipple

And it was just the coxswains. So I got, I guess, a seat race. But here's where it's a little shady now that I know what I know now, being a coach and stuff. I mean, it was opportunity, right? But then it was also side by.

00:12:26 Mary Whipple

Side.

00:12:27 Mary Whipple

So it completely gave me a really great advantage.

00:12:32 Mary Whipple

But I took it, you know, but.

00:12:35 Mary Whipple

How I led like the pre race meeting? How I like kind of you know, was like, OK guys, this is me. Hi. Told them like, you know what? We're gonna do it. How we're gonna do it and kind of just gave them more direction then you know they of course then they talked about me out of me being out of the room and the the girls eventually picked me over the other Coxen.

00:12:56 Mary Whipple

But I guess that's my biggest piece of advice to athletes who don't get the boat that they want in the beginning.

00:13:04 Mary Whipple

Stay curious. Stay in the process and I think the process of me trying to find more speed and trying to, you know, organize everybody to get more speed no matter what circumstance. That's what you have control over. And if you enjoy that process, then you know, it doesn't really matter what boat you're in.

00:13:23 Mary Whipple

Because you're going to go as fast as possible within that combination.

00:13:27 Kristi Wagner

No, I mean and that's true for rowers as well, like make the boat that you're in fast. And I always tried to think about it as like you want to be the person that when other people like hear that you're in their boat, they're excited and when they're in another boat they're scared like, that's the kind of person that you want to be. And I think that's true for rowers or coxen.

00:13:32 Mary Whipple

Oh yeah.

00:13:47 Kristi Wagner

Right.

00:13:48 Mary Whipple

100%.

00:13:49 Kristi Wagner

When you first started coxing.

00:13:52 Kristi Wagner

Like, that's obviously pretty different than sculling like like a learned process. I mean, obviously the same sport, but what did you enjoy about Coxing specifically at the beginning?

00:14:03 Mary Whipple

Well, first, not gonna lie, I was bummed. They humored us in the high school level, meaning that it was a big club team and they had a barge for all the novices, so they let everybody row. Then the reality hit where they, you know, they did the classic height line and then they were assigning people port starboard. And then they got to the end. And they're like.

00:14:24 Mary Whipple

Trying to sell it on us like you guys.

00:14:25 Mary Whipple

Like are gonna.

00:14:26 Mary Whipple

Be awesome **** skins and I just remember.

00:14:29 Mary Whipple

Talking to my sister, being like, so we we don't get to row. We just get to sit there like I was kind of disappointed. I thought we, you know, was like the glorified equipment manager, you know? But what I really did like, and it came natural, which is boat maneuverability, which I heavily teach and I'm a huge proponent.

00:14:50 Mary Whipple

Of you know if you got coxing's doesn't matter what they say in the beginning, you've got to give them the confidence of how to maneuver their boat. Notice I'm not saying how to steer straight, like how to maneuver the boat.

00:15:05 Mary Whipple

You know, like how do you turn, how do you dock? How do you get parallel? Just like boatman ship. And so that always that always just made sense to me and steering straight is actually just another proponent of boat maneuverability. You know, it just becomes natural because then your whole awareness of what's in front of you sideways where you are.

00:15:25 Mary Whipple

Physically, where you need to end.

00:15:26 Mary Whipple

Up and all the points in between, it just becomes natural. That was the cool thing. I got to drive a boat with, you know, a human powered machine. The next thing that made it OK for me to be a Coxon was being competitive and wanting to go as fast as possible. Like physically, I will never make the fast.

00:15:46 Mary Whipple

Boats, but as a Coxon I can be in the fastest boat. And then how to problem solve and how to make your boat faster by offering solutions and just, you know, identifying all those technical problems.

00:16:00 Mary Whipple

And just how to validate the process? That was cool because I knew my decisions and how I offered the solutions. The feeling of the boat being better and and being faster. That was like pure validation and just addicting of like I figured it out and everyone bought in.

00:16:20 Mary Whipple

You know, having that trust, having people see value if you just quote sitting there, that part I think made me really, really love this sport and why I'm I still love this sport and why I love teaching this to other Coxes because just to see their, you know, eyes light up.

00:16:39 Mary Whipple

About well, I don't have to be motivational. I don't have to be someone who I'm not. I don't have to be the hype person. I just need to know how to increase boat speed and be a part of the process. And that is the motivating aspect of it.

00:16:55 Kristi Wagner

Yeah.

00:16:57 Kristi Wagner

It's so interesting because because I never.

00:17:01 Kristi Wagner

Like have a Coxon now and I feel like I took them for granted, like so much. It just is really incredible. Like, it's hard to maneuver a single or a double like an 8 is a really large boat to maneuver. And I feel like you can just really tell when.

00:17:21 Kristi Wagner

People are confident in what they're doing and then that, like, leads to everyone in the boat just being relaxed, you know, because I'd say like safety is also a huge concern, right? Or that you're like in charge of the safety of all of the people on the boat.

00:17:35 Kristi Wagner

So it's sort of a thankless job almost, because when you're doing a really good job, it's just like expected. And so I try now to, you know, give kudos more to the coxswains like you guys are crushing it.

00:17:50 Mary Whipple

In front of the rowers in? Yeah. In front of the rowers. A lot of my coaches, you know, growing up always would take the time to to say that in front of the rowers of like you've got a really good ***** and like you're lucky.

00:18:08 Kristi Wagner

So then Washington, what was that like?

00:18:12 Mary Whipple

Oh, being a Husky is all time because my my novice coach Eleanor Mcilvain taught the freshman what it is to be relentless, to lean into the process to to love the process.

00:18:27 Mary Whipple

And then being coached by Jan Harville, I mean Icon, a full on icon. She taught me this might sound weird. How to take the emotion out of the process if that makes sense on a coaching point of view of.

00:18:44 Mary Whipple

If you trust the process of trying to find the fastest line up at the end of the day, you almost have to turn your humanity off and just trust the results and trust the process. She was never afraid to unturn every single stone, but then she was also not afraid to leave the stones in place.

00:19:04 Mary Whipple

That she knew it was the right group, but just they needed more time with each other. So yeah, it was an art. She was amazing. And then bottom.

00:19:12 Mary Whipple

Mine being there at the right time, right place with all the team and all the athletes like Washington taught me to win what they they taught me to go to the line completely sure of our race plan is going to work and just the information I give the team within our plan.

00:19:33 Mary Whipple

It's plan a all the way. Like there's no audibles, there's no change. There's just. If you're not winning. Why? What's going on in the boat? Are we decelerating? Is somebody else going faster? How can we maximize our plan? And what information do I need to?

00:19:48 Mary Whipple

Them so yeah, it was a seamless transition from Washington to the national team because unbeknownst to me, she was running the squad like a full on classic national team practice with like the tempo and expectation and and everything. So yeah, they totally got me ready and it's not a coincidence.

00:20:09 Mary Whipple

That after me came Caitlin and after Caitlin. Now it's Nina. And then on the men's side, you know, with Riley and Sam before that like it is Cox and you because how they utilize the Coxes, how they use it as complete pure.

00:20:27 Mary Whipple

Middle management and how we're part of the process. It's just we get how to run efficient practices and we know we practice to win and we practice how we want to win in practice. So when you are going to the national team, it's easy and you, Deb Cox and spend a lot of time in the launch.

00:20:46 Mary Whipple

Just watching small boats because they do a lot of small boats, so it is it's a seamless transition of like right and launch right and launch and then getting plugged into the eight and you gotta deliver and you gotta you gotta run the show like you haven't you know not been in the box.

00:21:01 Mary Whipple

For a week.

00:21:02 Kristi Wagner

I was gonna ask about the coxen like lineage sort of. I mean, that's pretty incredible.

00:21:08 Mary Whipple

Oh, and I forgot Betsy beard. Yeah, I forgot Betsy Beard back in the.

00:21:11 Kristi Wagner

80s. Yeah, yeah. Have you guys talked about it?

00:21:16 Mary Whipple

No, we should. But I mean I guess that's like another thing about you dub. There's so many Olympians, you know, in the alumni database that it's much bigger than just our little cockson squad. But yeah, it is pretty cool.

00:21:31 Mary Whipple

I mean when?

00:21:31 Mary Whipple

We see each other at gatherings. We always tend to gravitate toward each other, and it's like it's a cool club.

00:21:36 Mary Whipple

Be it.

00:21:37 Kristi Wagner

Mm-hmm. Definitely.

00:21:39 Kristi Wagner

You mentioned you know the transition being like pretty seamless udub to the national team. At what point did you sort of think like this is something that I could do and this is like an ambition that I have?

00:21:55 Mary Whipple

So after making the junior team going into college, I thought, whoa, you know, maybe I could make the national team one day.

00:22:05 Mary Whipple

And at that point, U20 threes, they they didn't have a U23 championship. It was an A Nations Cup and it was only a straight 4. So for, you know, the developing Cox and the rib was really nothing. But I remember thinking if I can't make the Varsity 8.

00:22:25 Mary Whipple

At UW then, I probably won't make a national team. That was my first checkpoint and for UW at the time, we still had freshman B freshman.

00:22:36 Mary Whipple

So we were on the novice team freshman year, so it's like OK sophomore year is my first shot. If I can make the Varsity 8 my sophomore year, then maybe I am. Maybe I am good at this. And so then I did, but that was year 2000, so that was the Sydney Olympics. So then like the next year, I remember going into.

00:22:57 Mary Whipple

I'm meeting with my coach, Jan Harville, who's an Olympian 2 from the 80s, and I was like, hey, I've got to go and I asked her, I was like, do you think I have a shot at going to selection? This is my junior year.

00:23:15 Mary Whipple

And she looked at me and she said absolutely. And it was so empowering. Being like, whoa, Jan Harville thinks I could go to selection camp. And it was like a whole new regime. That was Tom's New Year. And I remember applying. And again, it was like pre digital.

00:23:34 Mary Whipple

You know, I'm a fossil in terms of digital age, and I had to write a cover letter and then have a resume and then coaches rec. So I had to apply.

00:23:45 Mary Whipple

And I remember coming into my coach being like, hey, this is my cover letter and it was the typical like it would, I would be honored to have the chance to just be considered. It was all these, like, you know, fluffy statements. And my coach Jan, she looked at me and she's like, do you want to go to camp? Right? I'm like, well, yes.

00:24:05 Mary Whipple

And she's like, and you want to make the 8:00. And I said, well, yeah, that would be awesome. She's like.

00:24:11 Mary Whipple

Then you need to absolutely state that you need to say you want to get invited. You want to make the 8:00, you want to go to worlds, you know, and just making these make these like what I thought was egotistical statements like, you know, like, I don't want to, you know, be, you know, considered cocky. And she's like, no, you're not being cocky. You're just stating your goal and your intention.

00:24:34 Mary Whipple

And that was exactly what I needed in my head because when I got the invite to camp, they had five, we had five coxing's and only one of them was going to leave Ithaca to go to Princeton.

00:24:46 Mary Whipple

And it was like the who's who's the junior team? Coxon, who aged out before I got it, the Coxon after. I had it all. Like junior team coxon's, all D1. And then like an older Coxon. So there's like five of us total. I just had a a mental edge because I remember all of our we were all very friendly with each other, which was super cool.

00:25:06 Mary Whipple

And I remember being like on the dock after we all, like, went for a jog or something, and one of the coxing's.

00:25:12 Mary Whipple

Said something like, well, we're probably too young to go on to Princeton, and I just kind of kept my mouth shut a little bit. I was, like, too young and I'm like, well, I don't know what they're thinking. Like, I'm. I'm here to make the 8:00. And I just knew, like, boom bingo. Like, I've got the advantage because I could already see myself. And I'm I'm doing.

00:25:32 Mary Whipple

Everything that you know, Tom told us to do, like steer straight.

00:25:37 Mary Whipple

Second thing to do, steer straight. Third thing, steer straight.

00:25:45 Mary Whipple

Bingo. That's all I have to do. So I just listened. I counted, I started, I stopped and I just steered straight.

00:25:55 Mary Whipple

Yeah. Yeah. So I made it, went to the second round to Princeton.

00:26:01 Kristi Wagner

That's awesome.

00:26:03 Kristi Wagner

So that was before your senior year?

00:26:05 Mary Whipple

Yeah, that's 2001.

00:26:07 Kristi Wagner

2001 So then you had two full years out before the 1st Olympics?

00:26:13 Mary Whipple

Yeah, because I made the team in 01 and oh.

00:26:16 Kristi Wagner

02.

00:26:17 Mary Whipple

Yeah.

00:26:18 Kristi Wagner

When you were in that first quadrennial, did you think that you were going to be doing this for the next decade of your life, or did you kind of think it was just like a experience for then?

00:26:32 Mary Whipple

Well, first, I mean, I was just thinking make the boat every year because I knew like the longer you're in it, the harder it is for another Cox and to come in and and take the seat. But then I also remember it must have been maybe after 02.

00:26:49 Mary Whipple

I remember being on in loser and we were like chat like me and my other teammate, Kate Johnson. We were chatting with Mike Tatie and he was like, you know, we were just, like, peppering him with questions about back in the day, you know, and then when you get taty talking, it's the best thing in the world because he just has stories upon stories. But then we also were.

00:27:09 Mary Whipple

Asking him about, like, the health of the team.

00:27:12 Mary Whipple

Team and in terms of you know, longevity and you know like why especially like on the women's side, we're like man like at that point the women's eight hadn't meddled in 20 years and we're just being like OK, how are we gonna crack this nut? You know, if we do make it to the 04 boat and he was the one who kind of planted the seed about like, you know, everyone just goes four years and they're done. So you.

00:27:33 Mary Whipple

Have to, you know, like almost restart the group. So it was kind of like wow. Like, oh, right. I didn't think I was going to keep going, I don't know. But as soon as we crossed the finish line in 04, I was like ohh sign me up for another four years. It was a phenomenal race and it was the grittiest rawest like.

00:27:54 Mary Whipple

I'm super proud of my teammates for not unraveling when the lead was, you know, we're like Romania was working through us and we were just digging in. But I also knew I was like, what if, you know, like what if we just didn't slow down? How do we learn how to not slow?

00:28:12 Mary Whipple

Down I was thinking, Oh my gosh, we had no clue what we were doing in 04. I had no clue in 04. I just thought like, ohh, I'll just yell louder, yell harder. Well, we want it more. But in terms of of really being a student of sport and really knowing, OK, like we beat ourselves.

00:28:33 Mary Whipple

Up in the first thousand, because we just went full throttle, aggro, emotional, and then of course, like we dug into the 3rd 500. But physiologically, like if you're not technically savvy, which I mean.

00:28:47 Mary Whipple

We we were, but in terms of where we could have been, I think we could have been smarter technically, but it was where we were and it was the best we've ever been and we, you know, stopped the drought and we got that silver, we threw everything into that second thousand and everything into that.

00:29:06 Mary Whipple

Plus 300 like. Yeah, it was. It was pure raw. It was pure emotion. It was awesome. So as soon as I finished, I was.

00:29:14 Mary Whipple

Like.

00:29:15 Mary Whipple

What if, like, we just slowed down, they didn't slow down, they didn't speed up, they just didn't slow down as much as we did, like how? And so that was my my conundrum. That wasn't then that I needed to crack.

00:29:27 Mary Whipple

Yeah, because in 05 dude, we were like, winning the world. We like we were winning worlds and Gifu until the last 300.

00:29:36 Mary Whipple

Three boats passed us. We just like the ****** broke like, you know, we just dropped like the muffler. Like everything. Like something blew like we blew.

00:29:46 Mary Whipple

Which is great because like we again we sold it and I remember to I remember talking to to Tom and I was just like.

00:29:52 Mary Whipple

Why are we slowing down with 7:50 to go, you know, like, what are we doing? And I just remember the next three years, the last half of practice, what could I start messaging? What can we do? Like the third piece of whatever 1000 repeat or something, you know, like whatever was like the suffer point of practice. It was always that little plug.

00:30:13 Mary Whipple

Of like 3500.

00:30:15 Mary Whipple

You know, like last 750, this is where like we need to push through here. How are we going to hold our integrity? How are we gonna hold our speed? How are we gonna hold our leverage? So we just don't slow down. And then of course we didn't, which was great. We we we figured it out.

00:30:32 Mary Whipple

That first thousand you got to be in it. But that one point it has to be enough. And I'm not saying like settle. And I'm not saying.

00:30:40 Mary Whipple

Be complacent, but you've got to be that it has to be comfortably uncomfortable. Yeah, it has to be in that sweet spot. So then when you do go into that 3rd 500, you do go into that second thousand, you dial it up a little bit because that's when the.

00:30:57 Mary Whipple

Real.

00:30:58 Mary Whipple

Starts, you know, that's, I guess, my little piece of advice is, you know, you've got to be who you are, but you also have to know what true consist, like unsustainable, sustainable speed. What does that feel like? And?

00:31:14 Mary Whipple

This.

00:31:15 Mary Whipple

And then when all the adrenaline, all the chaos, all the other competition is thrown, those Hail Marys in the first thousand. Can you control your breathing? Can you control that anxiousness? And can you get anchored into that rhythm and that feeling? Just listen to the boat.

00:31:36 Mary Whipple

Feel the boat. Listen to the boat, because that's gonna that's gonna like, hold that gravity of being so chaotic in the first thousand first 500 of an Olympic final. But then you also be like, checked 1st, 502nd, 500.

00:31:52 Mary Whipple

Now it's time to.

00:31:53 Mary Whipple

Go.

00:31:53 Mary Whipple

And that whole last thousand you just got to keep cranking. It's a whole big old. It's just just a, a crescendo to just just annihilation, which is great. It's a beautiful feeling when you're just, like, totally going bonkers. But when you make that transition to your base.

00:32:13 Mary Whipple

It's just like putting on your favorite pair of pants and you're like ohh, this feels good. Like, let's do this. Let's get to work.

00:32:23 Kristi Wagner

Yeah, I feel like, Yoshi says the same thing, like in the second thousand. You're rowing a pace that's unsustainable for everybody else to keep up.

00:32:31 Mary Whipple

For sure. And and that was the thing like in that first 500 or that first thousand, you're almost like.

00:32:39 Mary Whipple

Egging people on like Oh yeah, come with us. You don't know reality until that 3rd 500 because we're just cruising, like, so if you're, if you're going to be coming with us, you better be prepared to dial it up because the whole like second thousand, that's good. But.

00:32:59 Mary Whipple

Also, we have to talk about the 1st 300 meters. You have to be present.

00:33:05 Mary Whipple

Because that's when you're like, you're you're totally going to be growing on pure adrenaline. And if you don't make yourself feel every single stroke and every like, like the development of every single stroke in the 1st 300 and in the 1st 400, the 1st 600.

00:33:27 Mary Whipple

You've got to be present and that's what we talked a lot about in our 08 vote and our 12 vote. Uh, we just need to be present and feel it. Because if you if you are.

00:33:41 Mary Whipple

Just completely dialed in to what your shell needs, what you're like, what the development of the drive needs. It's pure speed you're building, and it's not just, you know, chasing, chasing grip, gripping. Go, go, go. Which is a fine line because, you know, other people who don't have that pure speed.

00:34:01 Mary Whipple

Oh, they're going to dial it up to an 11 in that first 600 meters. And so you don't want to freak out and roll their race, but also you need to be in the race.

00:34:11 Mary Whipple

So it it's that delicate balance of knowing who you are, knowing what your rhythm, your style, how your boat is going to react, how the like feeling of the blade is going to feel, how it's going to sound in your lane like that stuff's going to bring you to just be in that moment and.

00:34:31 Mary Whipple

Be present and that's that's the sweet spot and that's what gives me goosebumps thinking about it. And even after, you know, 10 plus years of that last Olympic.

00:34:40 Mary Whipple

Final every time we did first start, first two of two strokes of the start, first five of the start. You know, like every time we were just practicing how it's going to feel, how we're gonna let the blow develop, how we're going to let the drive develop. And then for me being that truth stick of the Coxon seat of at the Olympic final.

00:35:01 Mary Whipple

I don't have to tell my teammates to go.

00:35:04 Mary Whipple

Ohh I have to tell them to feel to listen, to breathe and just reassure them that if we just be who we are and we row how we know that we've hit our gold medal time standards and practice stick to the plan, you know, slapping around a little bit. Tell them we're cool, we're good, we're good.

00:35:24 Mary Whipple

That's the magic, especially when, like you're calling the stride and you're looking over and you're almost laughing cause everybody, the whole of the rest of the world, is they're still high. But you hit that down shift and you're looking over like we didn't lose an.

00:35:38 Mary Whipple

Inch. We're still in it and now we can get to work and they haven't even. They haven't even breathed yet. That is the money spot of knowing you're going to win.

00:35:50 Mary Whipple

Or you have the opportunity that window is there because you you held onto your identity and you nailed the high strokes down to the transition strokes and you're looking across you're feeling that anxiousness of everybody else, but you're anchored, you're centered because you're feeling your blade, you're feeling the acceleration, you're feeling your teammate.

00:36:10 Mary Whipple

You're just you.

00:36:11 Mary Whipple

So so that's my hope for you. That's my goal for you. Have fun. But if you're feeling like crazy and like the field is going cuckoo, listen to your boat. Feel your blade. Get to your boat identity and then you can.

00:36:25 Mary Whipple

Just get to work.

00:36:27 Mary Whipple

Do you wanna race right now?

00:36:29 Kristi Wagner

I do. Yeah, I I do. I funny. I've been in bow seat for like, a long time, and I've been stroking.

00:36:39 Kristi Wagner

The past few months and we raced at World Cup and I'm like looking out of the boat the whole time. They're like, you cannot do that anymore.

00:36:46 Mary Whipple

Why not as long?

00:36:48 Mary Whipple

As you can row your rhythm, why not?

00:36:50 Mary Whipple

Just don't get distracted.

00:36:53 Kristi Wagner

Do you have a favorite race?

00:36:57 Mary Whipple

You know, I have three that stick out.

00:37:00 Mary Whipple

Well, I have 4:00, I have 4 races that stick out. It's the 08 funnel followed by the 2012 final and then the other two that really stick out as defining moments. It's going to be so random, but it I think it was, it was the 2007 World Championships. So the world's before.

00:37:21 Mary Whipple

The 08.

00:37:21 Mary Whipple

Fix because it was the first time we had an answer to Romania. It did not go well. We had to. Like we didn't win our heat. We had to race the Rep in our boat meetings. We even kind of surrendered to the fact maybe winning is not possible. Don't tell us anybody, but we're like.

00:37:41 Mary Whipple

That just comes top five. OK, guys, like it wasn't going well. It was not going well.

00:37:47 Mary Whipple

But then it was awesome because off of the off, the high strokes, as soon as we hit our stride.

00:37:53 Mary Whipple

We had our mojo back, you know, forget 5th. We're gonna win this. Like I knew it in my bones. Like from that first defining moment of the stride. I was like Ohh 5th is out. We're going for gold and then same kind of scenario. Last 300. Romania was making a move. We were three seats up and I felt momentum coming. And I looked over.

00:38:13 Mary Whipple

And I said, hey, Romania is moving.

00:38:17 Mary Whipple

And before I could make a call about like let's you know, shove our legs harder, it was a collective all eight sets of legs shoved unitedly like just had an answer of what before I even asked, I was like Romania's on the move. And I was literally going to say, like what we're going to do about it.

00:38:38 Mary Whipple

But they are like my teammates already answered, and then we took our lift and then we moved back and then we took a seat and 1/2.

00:38:47 Mary Whipple

On the Sprint.

00:38:48 Mary Whipple

So that was a huge defining moment. And then my last best race or defining race was Henley 2000 with UW because it was like 3 different lead changes and it was that kind of same epiphany, you know, like giving information to your teammates, having them collectively unitedly.

00:39:08 Mary Whipple

Answer. So the impulse was united and not having to like.

00:39:12 Mary Whipple

You know, make huge calls or intricate calls, just giving them information. They responding me, validating like it was just awesome back and forth and we won and it was great. So those four are are my favorites.

00:39:25 Kristi Wagner

Those are awesome. I was wondering if, like Henley or something that was gonna be in there, because I feel like that's just such a iconic and and truly like got coxon's race right cause so much strategy is involved and.

00:39:39 Mary Whipple

Yeah, it was cool going into 2000 because it was the first year it was not an exhibition race, and it was.

00:39:46 Mary Whipple

An Olympic year, so none of the top dogs were there. So it was us and you, Vic, for the final. So it was pretty cool being at that point, a sophomore in college and we didn't win. NCAA's. We came second because I think another rookie mistake. Not on completely on my part, but just being filled with questions.

00:40:05 Mary Whipple

Racing during into the blaze, but like this does not feel like us and I didn't know I didn't have the answers of how to like, you know, shake us out of like this weird chasey funk. So it was good to end up on a good note.

00:40:18 Kristi Wagner

I don't want to take up a ton more of your time, but I am sort of wondering about like transition away from.

00:40:25 Kristi Wagner

Sport, but you're obviously still really involved in rowing with, like the ninth seat and a number of other things. So did that kind of come naturally like what was sort of the transition like for you?

00:40:40 Mary Whipple

Going through 3 Olympic cycles, I knew from the O four team and also some of my teammates transitioning after 08. I knew I needed a a strategy and it was OK to have a strategy of retiring. I know some athletes, you know, just need focus and they they don't have.

00:41:00 Mary Whipple

The mental capacity to to.

00:41:01 Mary Whipple

Think about other things afterwards. I took a year off after Beijing and I got a Masters degree from UW in intercollegiate athletic leadership, so I thought, OK, if I go back another Olympic cycle, I didn't want to have to then go back to school. Being 32 back in the day. So I got my masters, which helped me kind of think like, look, coaching would be awesome.

00:41:23 Mary Whipple

But then of course also while I was there.

00:41:25 Mary Whipple

I meant the guy who's going to be my who is my husband, who is gonna be my husband and UM, he was in mountain town, so I was like, wait, how am I going to be? How am I going to be rolling coach in a mountain town? He owns his own business. He takes people cat skiing, you know, in the back country. And so he's an entrepreneur and going to the IAL program that intercollegiate athletic leadership program.

00:41:46 Mary Whipple

There was a part where you had to, you know, solve a problem financially. So I was like, OK, how can I make 9th seat work? How can it be a rowing coach for that team? So yeah, it helped me figure out what would I like to do? How can I coach? How can I do camps and growing up, love summer camps. And I also coached summer camps at Mercer while being on the team in Princeton.

00:42:05 Mary Whipple

And and just kind of knowing like, dude, you have a week with these campers coxswains even at camp. You know, like they're paying to be here and they rarely get coached. So then I was like, hey, let's just design A summer camp for Coxon. We never coxon's never get the chance to grow or to problem solve. This was a.

00:42:26 Mary Whipple

Fixed technique that if they haven't felt it, if they haven't really just like, you know, learned it and it gives them huge empathy because, you know, like when Cox's complained about rollers, never listened to them.

00:42:36 Mary Whipple

Well, always answer. How's your boat maneuverability? Because that gains #1 confidence.

00:42:41 Mary Whipple

Then the other thing is when they were or in the rowing seat at camp, there's a lot to do. As a rower, you know, like you're just trying to get your blade in and out, and then you have to match other people and like the, it's just chaos, especially when you're learning to row. So it gives them empathy about how to just be simple and clear what they're called.

00:43:00 Mary Whipple

Yeah. So after retiring, create a ninth seat and then have been doing rolling commentary.

00:43:06 Mary Whipple

It's fun. It's terrifying. I hate it, but I love it if I'm totally honest because you know, you forget. People are listening. So the whole judging factor. But then I love it because then it just forces me to be a super fan and to stay active. And then when you get to be on the launch and car races, oh, that's the best in the world cause you get the best seat.

00:43:26 Mary Whipple

In the House, other than the Coxon seat, of course, like NCAA's, this year was super hard because they gave us a screen pretty much the size of a.

00:43:34 Mary Whipple

Laptop and it was very bad and we're like trying to look at from the finish line. Yeah, it was bad, but the commentary team and the blaze there was four of us. It was awesome. The allowed us to really dig into the details and call names and actually try to educate people without forgetting about telling people who's winning and where.

00:43:54 Mary Whipple

So yeah, there's a lot to do. It's fun.

00:43:57 Kristi Wagner

That's awesome. 1:00. I definitely would like to come visit and go skiing with your husband.

00:44:04 Mary Whipple

Ohh yeah.

00:44:05 Kristi Wagner

I think that's awesome and I think that like the more that we can all learn, obviously a little bit less realistic for all of the rowers to get in a Coxon seat, but like the more we can all learn about the sport and just what it takes to make a crew like in collective.

00:44:22 Kristi Wagner

Successful I think just makes you a better athlete in general.

00:44:27 Mary Whipple

For sure for sure and I think.

00:44:29 Mary Whipple

All my time with the national team. I mean, let's be clear, 90% of it was sitting next to Tom Tear Hart in the launch, looking at my teammates row small.

00:44:42 Mary Whipple

Quotes you know. So I'm super fortunate enough to be able to to have such a critical eye and to be there in a day in and day out. Just knowing the process and just watching, growing and watching the process and listening to coaching and also here and there giving getting the megaphone.

00:45:03 Mary Whipple

I want to speak from the launch and helping my teammates out. So yeah, it was an easy transition.

00:45:08 Mary Whipple

And to be a coach and it's awesome to be a rowing coach without a team because then you get to be the cool guest, you know, and you probably are going to say literally the same thing the coach has said, but you know, it's always different when different energy says the same thing. I love the sport. I love how it brings a common goal.

00:45:30 Mary Whipple

Of people being present and working together, but the feedback the actual shell gives you, and like the feeling of when you are matching and you're doing something at the same time and following through on all the promises and the commitments of just putting the silly blade.

00:45:47 Mary Whipple

And and taking it out and the boat propelling, it's such a cool experience and a shared experience. So everyone needs to grow. It's the coolest thing in the.

00:45:58 Kristi Wagner

World, yes, I agree 100%. Well. My last question for you is just do you have any advice or like?

00:46:07 Kristi Wagner

Maybe something to share with me and my teammates, you know, for the upcoming Olympics, maybe something you wish you had.

00:46:15 Kristi Wagner

Own.

00:46:16 Mary Whipple

I think the biggest piece of advice with for you or any athlete is nothing else really matters about the Olympics. You know, like it's super cool, it's super fun to be in the village to get your nails done, to go to the by dining hall to get all the gear.

00:46:36 Mary Whipple

But what is the best thing about?

00:46:39 Mary Whipple

The Olympics is that you are ready. You are the epitome of your training cycle of, you know, your head on straight. Well, hopefully your head on straight like your body, like you're in the best shape of your life. But with that said, if you're ever going to feel chaotic, I think the best thing that is going to ground.

00:47:00 Mary Whipple

Do and keep you to reality.

00:47:03 Mary Whipple

Is your teammates and your boat like your physical shell? Well, I would get so many butterflies, you know, before just the hands on call before you get to warm up. But whenever I would like, just touch the boat or whenever I would like, sit in my seat like whenever you're actually doing the motion. That's it. That's the gravity.

00:47:23 Mary Whipple

That's the anchor.

00:47:24 Mary Whipple

You're gonna feel nervous and almost laugh about that. It's a privilege, you know? It's awesome, especially now being away from it. It's laughable how nervous you're going to be, but just know that it's literally one stroke at a time. I don't say that lightly with any ounce of being a cliche, like it's literally one stroke.

00:47:44 Mary Whipple

The time.

00:47:45 Mary Whipple

And if you can just enjoy the process, that's the best feeling in the world and so much so that I still am smiling. I still kind of get goosebumps with like, I know how it sounds. I know how it feels. I know those strokes and it's so good and it's so fun. So enjoy it.

00:48:04 Mary Whipple

Enjoy it, because no matter the placement, no matter the expectation, if you truly love the process and how you're going to get to the finish line, not win.

00:48:14 Mary Whipple

And but why and how? And if you define your why and your how and you get to execute that when you have to results will take care of themselves, but just keep frothing over that why and that how you know, like how fast can you go stay curious because that curiosity.

00:48:35 Mary Whipple

Of how fast can we go today?

00:48:38 Mary Whipple

That's going to keep your head on straight versus we better do this. We better defend. We better. No. Who cares about everybody else? It's curiosity. How fast can you go? And if you can answer that question among your teammates, Magic's going to happen.

00:48:57 Kristi Wagner

We gotta bring you in for some pre race bump up because I'm, like, ready to.

00:49:01 Kristi Wagner

Go right now.

00:49:02 Mary Whipple

I know that's right, Cox. Dubble. Let's do it.

00:49:09 Kristi Wagner

Well, I know I did mention if you have any questions for me, you can definitely ask.

00:49:14 Kristi Wagner

Them.

00:49:15 Mary Whipple

I do. I have a question for you. What is your most favorite part of the race?

00:49:25 Kristi Wagner

It's funny. I think most people would assume I would say the Sprint because I do love sprinting, but I actually think my favorite part of the race, interestingly is like.

00:49:35 Kristi Wagner

In the middle when?

00:49:38 Kristi Wagner

Like the racing moment is what my college coaches used to call it and right, it's not exactly the same in all of the races, but sort of. When you make the decision of like.

00:49:48 Kristi Wagner

Alright.

00:49:49 Kristi Wagner

I'm just gonna sell my soul right now. Like.

00:49:53 Kristi Wagner

I was saying kind of, Yosy says. Like we're gonna go faster than everybody else. And I think when that decision happens, like, that's my favorite part, almost like you're so in it. You're not thinking about any other anything else except for literally the stroke you're taking. And I just feel like there's, like, this freedom in that that's really, really cool.

00:50:14 Kristi Wagner

But obviously the end is also fun, because then you get to have some water or something.

00:50:20 Mary Whipple

And then my last question is in Lucerne, when did you know you winning was possible?

00:50:29 Kristi Wagner

Ohh, as soon as we lost our semi.

00:50:32 Mary Whipple

Can you elaborate?

00:50:35 Kristi Wagner

I think that.

00:50:38 Kristi Wagner

In just in our semi final, we didn't really attack our race plan the way that we should have. And when we finished it was just sort of like, OK.

00:50:49 Kristi Wagner

That wasn't the race that we wanted to have, and so then going into the final, I think I just had a lot of confidence in well, I mean, I always have a ton of confidence in Sophia. Like I've seen her do some very, very impressive things.

00:51:06 Kristi Wagner

And I know that she's like, gonna give everything she has. So, but just in our speed and, like, in our race, I just had this feeling like, yeah, we can we can have the race that we want to have. And I have confidence that that is going to be faster than the race that anybody else can put forward. And so it's funny. Like, I've watched the race back and.

00:51:28 Kristi Wagner

We're like, behind for most of the time, but I just sort of had this confidence, like if we're where we need to be coming into the last 500, like no one's going to be able to match our speed. That being said, I do think we need to improve our start a little bit.

00:51:43 Kristi Wagner

Definitely still like looking to improve, but it was awesome to, you know, have that result at that race this year.

00:51:50 Mary Whipple

Ohh, I'm so excited for you. I'm excited for you guys to find more speed and uh that this process this time. Like you know the fine tuning time, the special teams time. That's the funnest. So live it up. I love it.

00:52:07 Kristi Wagner

Thank you. Yeah, it's awesome and thank you so much for taking so much time and for all of your awesome answers is is really awesome.

00:52:14 Mary Whipple

No problem. I love talking about rowing.

00:52:20 Kristi Wagner

Thank you all for listening and thank you to Mary for coming on and sharing so much. I really appreciate it and I just hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. So to end this show this week I am sharing a quote in honor of the Tour de France, France. Starting Ian actually told me that.

00:52:38 Kristi Wagner

About this, but it is really funny and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should Google it. But as Jens Boy famously said, when you don't know what to do, you just say shut up legs. So I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Bye.

00:52:57 Kristi Wagner

I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our ASK. Christy, anything segment head to our website, theotherthreeyears.com. Thank you for listening to this episode of the other three years podcast. Part of the bright sided network.