Not taking "no" for an answer, with Molly Reckford | Episode 60

00:00:09 Molly

But I just I got, like super addicted again. It just it got under my skin and all I wanted to do was grow and so it very quickly it went from like ohh you know competitive sweet team three days a week to then. Oh.

00:00:22 Molly

Well, I'll go out of my single the other two week days a week, and then it was like, oh, well, maybe I'll go out and my simple three days a week and 10K rows became 15K, rows became 18K rows.

00:00:35 Molly

And soon I realized that I was like, sitting in the office, just daydreaming about getting back in the boat.

00:00:42 Kristi

Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream. They want to turn into a reality.

00:00:50 Kristi

Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years podcast. My name is Christy Wagner. This week on the podcast, I have five time US rowing national team athlete and my friend and fellow double s rower Molly Reckford. I'm super excited to have Molly on the podcast. Molly is a two time Olympian and will be racing this summer.

00:01:12 Kristi

For the second time in the lightweight women's.

00:01:14 Kristi

Double she rose with Michelle, whom I already had on the podcast. So go listen to that episode if you want more lightweight women's double inspiration. Molly has a super interesting and inspiring story of how she got back into rowing following her high school and college rowing careers, and as a sneak peek.

00:01:35 Kristi

She basically started as a masters drawer in San Francisco and only 18 months later was racing at the 2019 World Championships, and since then Molly's been super successful, super accomplished and a fierce competitor whom I get to practice with all the time.

00:01:51 Kristi

I think Molly's story really shows that anyone can accomplish way more than they might first think. If they work hard and make the most of their opportunities presented. She had so many great stories to share and I just think everyone will really enjoy hearing from her. I know that I did. Before we get into my conversation with Molly, here is an update on what's currently going on in my training.

00:02:12 Kristi

We are back in Princeton for our last Princeton camp before we head over to eat.

00:02:19 Kristi

Up we are in a high volume training and have been spending some time in singles and double s this week. We also got some altitude hypoxic tents that we are sleeping in to mimic high altitude training.

00:02:36 Kristi

You know, every time we're in a new cycle like it takes a few days to kind of get back into everything. But those few days are kind of happening and we're a little bit more into the week now, so definitely feeling better about everything and.

00:02:50 Kristi

And our rows are already getting getting better, so that's good. But yeah, now it is hot. It feels like summer has just happened. And if Princeton is known for anything, it certainly can be known for heat in the summer. So I think it's just.

00:03:07 Kristi

Going to be.

00:03:08 Kristi

A lot of volume and some really sweaty.

00:03:11 Kristi

Workouts for the next few weeks before we head.

00:03:15 Kristi

To Europe, but it's pretty exciting. I think everyone's pretty focused in and you know just really wants to make the most out of you know this last training block here in Princeton and squeeze out all of the speed that we possibly can this past weekend was the IRA, which is the national championship.

00:03:35 Kristi

For men's heavyweight and lightweight and women's lightweight collegiate rowing, so that was in Princeton, so super convenient for all of us. My boyfriend Ian coaches the Harvard lightweights and they won the lightweight Varsity 8 and the lightweight 2V8, which is very exciting and.

00:03:55 Kristi

Yeah, it was super fun to cheer for them a little bit hard to cheer for Harvard, but I cheer for Ian, so yeah, but I was really happy for them. It's it's very fun when people's hard work pays off. I feel like that is just a nice thing in life when you get to see kind of the behind the scenes of it a little bit and then.

00:04:16 Kristi

To see that pay off for people is just a really cool thing. And so now we're just training hard, eating hard and sleeping hard, but really not much is going on beyond that for the next few weeks. So now it is time for my conversation with Molly. I hope you all.

00:04:34 Kristi

Enjoy it.

00:04:38 Kristi

All right, here we go. Molly, I'm super excited.

00:04:43 Molly

I'm I'm super excited too. I am.

00:04:46 Molly

This is a big deal for me.

00:04:48 Kristi

It's a big deal for me. We're podcasting, we're podcasting live from altitude tense, which is.

00:04:54 Molly

Live from altitude tense.

00:04:56 Kristi

Hilarious, but very fun, I actually realized.

00:05:01 Kristi

In thinking about this and preparing for today that I do not even know how you started rowing so.

00:05:08 Molly

Just like down to the down to the early early days.

00:05:11 Kristi

The early days the people want to know, being me, the people.

00:05:16 Molly

The people I always waffle about, where did I start growing?

00:05:21 Molly

And that's because.

00:05:23 Molly

When I was in middle school, my older sister rode for our high school before I.

00:05:28 Molly

Got into high school.

00:05:30 Molly

You know she loves rowing, and I just decided that I was going to love rowing because my sister loved rowing and I had never rowed before. And so I went to like this day camp at Rutgers University here in New Jersey summer before 8th grade.

00:05:49 Molly

And it was this very silly learn to row camp and I.

00:05:54 Molly

Fell head over heels. Absolutely.

00:05:56 Molly

Super duper in love with.

00:05:57 Molly

It not a lot of people know this about.

00:05:59 Molly

Me, but I have this mark on.

00:06:00 Molly

My thigh and it's not very big, but I.

00:06:03 Molly

Had crazy crazy self esteem issues about my birthmark and I hated it. And rowing was the first time I felt comfortable wearing shorts where people could see my birthmark and it was the first time that I felt like comfortable in my own skin.

00:06:18 Molly

And so that was, that was very cool and very special. And I fell absolutely in love with it. And so I like technically learned to row and to learn to.

00:06:26 Molly

Row Camp in middle.

00:06:27 Molly

School, but a lot of the time I say.

00:06:29 Molly

I learned in high school.

00:06:30 Molly

Because it's just a little.

00:06:31 Molly

Easier. We had a freshman crew and I and I did freshman crew my freshman year.

00:06:36 Kristi

It's funny. I actually also learned how to row at a learn to row in middle school. Although we like only rode in barges, so I don't know if that really counts, but that is technically when I learned to row. So yeah. Then in high school did you just like, love it the whole time? Like, want to keep doing?

00:06:55 Kristi

In college.

00:06:56 Molly

Oh yeah, I was so gung ho. I loved it. High School was also interesting because that was the first time that somebody told me I was too small.

00:07:05 Molly

They they weighed us in at the beginning of the season, which I think was a sort of, in retrospect, a little weird. But at the time felt very normal. And I was like 125 lbs at 5 foot nine and they were like, you should probably weigh more.

00:07:18 Molly

And I remember being like. No, no, no, no. Like, I can be good at this weight and like having a certain amount of anxiety about being as light as I was and like wanting to get strong and wanting to gain weight and wanting to be good, but not really having the urge scores. And so I was, I was in the 4th.

00:07:36 Molly

The Junior Varsity 8, the 4th 8 my sophomore year, and then I made it into the one and two the my junior and senior year. I actually I had a catastrophic knee injury, I dislocated my kneecap my senior year, the day.

00:07:51 Molly

Before trial house.

00:07:52

Ouch.

00:07:54 Molly

That was really bad, like a full dislocation. My kneecap was on the side of my leg. It was very traumatizing and I couldn't walk for about two weeks, and so I missed tryouts. That that really sort of derailed me from my senior spring. But I I still made it into the second Varsity.

00:08:10 Molly

And I didn't end.

00:08:11 Molly

Up missing a single.

00:08:11 Molly

Race. So that was that was.

00:08:13 Molly

Great healing process I did.

00:08:15 Molly

All my PT very diligently.

00:08:17 Kristi

And you guys only rode like one season.

00:08:20 Molly

So we had one competitive season.

00:08:22 Molly

We would compete in the springs and then we had like a club non competitive season in the fall. I ran track for a year or two and then I actually wrote my own training programs, my junior and senior year and I would weightlifting hurt and run on my own so that I wouldn't lose too much weight.

00:08:39 Molly

Because my coach said you can't run track in the winter because you come back to me too late.

00:08:44 Kristi

Oh my God.

00:08:45 Molly

Yeah. And now that I know what I know, I'm like, Oh my God.

00:08:50 Kristi

Yeah, seriously. No, I was gonna ask if you enjoyed, like doing other sport, like getting to do other things in high school as well as rowing.

00:08:59 Molly

Absolutely. I really did. Wasn't whole Holter and a hurdler.

00:09:01 Molly

I.

00:09:04 Molly

On the winter track team and I loved that. I loved whole thing. I loved the hurdles. I tried out for the swim team and didn't make it so even though I love swimming, I'm not particularly good at it, but I really did like the ability.

00:09:18 Molly

To do other sports.

00:09:20 Molly

And to be sort of well-rounded.

00:09:22 Kristi

Yeah, I I think that's like very key for younger athletes not to just be doing one thing all of the time, taking it into college. Like, did you always know that you wanted to keep growing in college? Like, what was that process like?

00:09:39 Molly

Yeah, I knew that I wanted to keep growing in college. I I loved growing. I think that.

00:09:45 Molly

It really I it was part of my personality how much I loved growing and how much I loved the team environment and working hard. And so I knew I wanted to run in college and I tried to get recruited. I looked at both lately and open weight schools because I.

00:10:05 Molly

Was about 130 lbs at the time eating anything I could.

00:10:09 Molly

Get my hands on.

00:10:11 Molly

And there was some question though of are you going to get to college and finally grow? You've grown up so much. Are you finally going to build out?

00:10:20 Molly

And so I really wanted to be able to enjoy my college experience. I didn't want to diet. I am highly, highly food motivated and so I didn't want to be living in a world where I was denying myself. And so I I looked at both lightweight schools and open weight schools even. And I looked at D1 and.

00:10:39 Molly

Three.

00:10:40 Molly

And this was partially because my parents had always very much instilled in me that college comes first. School comes first. If growing hurts your grades, you're done growing. No questions.

00:10:52 Molly

And so I I wanted to find a school that I liked, a team that I liked, but somewhere where I thought I'd be able to thrive.

00:11:02 Molly

And so I I looked at Georgetown, I looked at Lehigh, I looked at, but now I looked at Williams, Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton, and I tried to. I spoke to coaches at a lot of these schools and tried to get recruited at A at a couple of them. A lot of the lightweight coaches basically said we're interested, but you don't seem too gung ho about.

00:11:22 Molly

Being a lightweight because you, you know, I I was open.

00:11:26 Molly

With them, and I was honest and I said.

00:11:28 Molly

I'm looking for a school where if I grow I can go join the open weight team and they were like, we're not going to recruit you to join the open weight team if we're a lightweight coach and then all the open weight coaches were like you're really shrimpy your Earth scores aren't really good enough. And so it didn't really end up working out for me, I.

00:11:49 Molly

The Duke coach told me that he could teach big girls how to row. He couldn't teach me how to be big.

00:11:55 Molly

So college recruiting ended up just not working out for me, so I applied normal decision to all of my colleges and in the end I got into Dartmouth and I you know that the coach had told me that I wasn't really big enough to be on her team. And basically she said.

00:12:14 Molly

Like, don't even fill.

00:12:14 Molly

Out the recruiting questionnaire, you're not worth our time.

00:12:18 Molly

And I got into Dartmouth on my own and sort of showed up on day one and.

00:12:22 Molly

Said hey, you're stuck with me.

00:12:24 Kristi

That is just like so wild to me that people say that.

00:12:29 Molly

To to be fair, to be fair to.

00:12:31 Molly

All these coaches.

00:12:33 Molly

I was 130 lbs. I was going 750 on my 2K.

00:12:39 Molly

I was, you know, I was in the second Varsity at a very good for a boarding school, but not a nationally particularly strong program.

00:12:49 Molly

Like.

00:12:50 Molly

I didn't really have the receipts for my confidence and so like, I get it, you know, if if if an athlete.

00:12:59 Molly

Like me.

00:13:00 Molly

Came to me and said Ohh Molly like I go 752 on my 2K. Do you think I can get recruited to college? I'd be like luck. I wish you the best. Good luck.

00:13:12 Molly

So I get.

00:13:12 Kristi

It. Yeah, but I feel like there's a difference between saying, like, your 2K isn't quite where it needs to be and saying.

00:13:20 Kristi

Like we would never recruit a person of this size or whatever. I feel like that's a different conversation.

00:13:28 Molly

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that probably a lot of those things in a lot of people's minds tend to get tied up together like people think that if you're small, you're never gonna.

00:13:38 Molly

Be able to get a good toothpick.

00:13:41 Molly

Now I feel like in the world, right, and this was 2010 that I was trying to get recruited. Now in the world, we're so much more aware about how we talked about women's bodies, how we talked about athletes, bodies, how we talk to teenagers about their.

00:13:52 Molly

Bodies and I feel like at the time I didn't have this sense of like, you can't talk about me that way, whereas right now I absolutely would be like, it's not your place to to comment on how big or not big I am.

00:14:07 Kristi

100% But then you did row for four years at Dartmouth, so.

00:14:12 Molly

All four years.

00:14:14 Kristi

And in the top votes, right? What was that experience like and?

00:14:18 Molly

Growing at Dartmouth is very special. I I was very satisfied that I stroked our freshman, ate my freshman fall even though I wasn't recruited. That really felt.

00:14:28 Molly

The win my senior year was a little weird, but yeah, I was in the in the one and two B for for most of my growing career at Dartmouth and growing there is so special because like, the boathouse is on campus. So you just walk there. My dorm was at the top of the hill, the.

00:14:45 Molly

Boathouse was at the bottom of the hill.

00:14:47 Molly

And the Connecticut is such a beautiful waterway and you know, in the fall you get the foliage and they're all.

00:14:55 Molly

Beautiful trees, and it's just like a really, really special experience.

00:15:00 Molly

At Dartmouth, you are sophomore summer. You actually stay on campus.

00:15:03 Molly

And go to school.

00:15:05 Molly

And so, all summer after my sophomore year, we got to do small boats work and we got to skull. And you know, it's the water is cool, but the air is hot. And so you go out for a row and then you jump in the river to cool off. And it's just like this magical summer camp slide.

00:15:22 Molly

So it was really special and you know the team there was great and it's a small team we normally could put out two eights and two fours and maybe we'd get a third eight in there somewhere. But it was always when I was there it was a very small team, very tight knit and it's like a.

00:15:42 Molly

A good culture?

00:15:44 Molly

You know, sometimes the river wouldn't thaw until April, but you know, we had our herd caves and we had.

00:15:50 Molly

Our ERG workouts and.

00:15:52 Molly

You know when the when I finally did break, it was always really exciting so.

00:15:56 Molly

You know, not the easiest place to row, but.

00:15:58 Molly

Certainly a good place to grow.

00:16:00 Kristi

And there's some really high percentage of students at Dartmouth that play sports, right?

00:16:06 Molly

Yes.

00:16:07 Molly

I think it might.

00:16:08 Molly

Be.

00:16:08 Molly

60%.

00:16:11 Molly

Of the student body play sports because we are.

00:16:15 Molly

Of 4000 student school. But we have a full sports roster and so it's just like we are small enough, but our sports teams are big enough that, yeah, we had, we had a really high student athlete population, which was also really cool. And there was this great program called Dartmouth Peak Performance and it was started.

00:16:35 Molly

By the president.

00:16:38

Of the school.

00:16:38 Molly

At the time and it was basically the idea.

00:16:40 Molly

Behind it was.

00:16:42 Molly

Movement and sports increase blood flow and they should increase your academic capacity. And so our student athletes should also be our top students.

00:16:54 Molly

And I really loved that vibe. You know, I love this idea that like the athletes are held to the exact same, if not higher, academic standards.

00:17:05 Molly

As everybody else.

00:17:06 Kristi

Yeah. I mean, I think that's so cool, like in my college experience, like a lot of professors did not think athletes like deserve to be at the school. You know it, I guess it didn't even really matter how you wound up there. Like, they just didn't really think sports were like helping you and your college career. And so I just think it must have been really cool too.

00:17:27 Kristi

Be a student athlete at a school where, like academics, were so prioritized, but athletics were also really prioritized, and it was seen as a place where you could do both and do both, like really well, and God just must be have been really cool.

00:17:40 Molly

That was absolutely wonderful and I think that that sort of.

00:17:45 Molly

That mentality around sports and athleticism and academics. Not only did it fit with, you know, the way I wanted to live and operate, but it also helps sort of set the standard for how I want to live after school.

00:17:59 Molly

I want to keep my body healthy. I want to keep my mind healthy. I want both and you don't have to pick. And I really I do sort of hate this idea that like if you're a jock, you're a dumb jock because that's just so unfair. And it doesn't allow for any of the normal variants.

00:18:16 Kristi

So Speaking of after school, you graduate and moved to California, if I'm correct. And did you think you were gonna keep rowing? Like, how did rowing play a role? And what was that all like?

00:18:31 Molly

Uh.

00:18:32 Molly

Who has died?

00:18:35 Molly

My senior year I finished the season in the B4, so the second four, so you know your 1B, your two V your A FOUR and then.

00:18:43 Molly

Your B4 I was.

00:18:46 Molly

Sort of. At the end of my rope.

00:18:48 Molly

With coaches not believing in me.

00:18:50 Molly

And I sort of, I was just done, you know, I had these strong.

00:18:55 Molly

Academic aspirations.

00:18:57 Molly

I, you know, come from a family where, like school and brains and career always comes first. And I knew that there are only so many spots on the Olympic team on the national team and, you know, holy cow, if I'm athlete #20 at Dartmouth College, there's no world in which like growing.

00:19:17 Molly

Don't have any future for.

00:19:19 Molly

So I got a job in sales and trading at Citibank three days after graduation, I moved to New York City. I started work on the trading desk. These are 12 hour days. You're on the desk at 6:15 AM and you stay on the desk until 6:15 PM. And so there was not a lot of sports or any kind of movement in my life.

00:19:40 Molly

That time. But I did. I did keep working out because I needed to move as much as I could, so I got a gym membership like a normal human. You know, I I would lift a couple days a week and I would do cardio.

00:19:55 Molly

So I stayed in touch with movement, but there was, I mean like growing. I never thought I would even look at a vote again. So that's summer 2015 and then.

00:20:07 Molly

My job gave me the opportunity to move to San Francisco and right before I moved it was the Rio Olympic Games.

00:20:14 Molly

And I remember I was sitting in a falafel shop with my mom getting lunch, sort of taking a break from the preparation to move to California.

00:20:24 Molly

Yeah, and Chevy stones. Silver medal singles. Race comes on on the TV in this, like, random Falafel Shop in New Jersey. We watched the race and she went silver.

00:20:36 Molly

And I think.

00:20:37 Molly

That was the first time I was like ohh.

00:20:41 Molly

I kind of missed that a little bit.

00:20:43 Molly

And then the O'donovan brothers had their super famous post race lightweight interview and that was, you know, so hilarious. And they did so well. And there was a a Dartmouth guy in that race. I think they got 4th and 5th and so.

00:20:57

So.

00:20:59 Molly

The seed got planted a little bit that summer of 2016, but.

00:21:04 Molly

You know, I moved to San Francisco, I was still working a ton, San Francisco sales and trading. You start work at 4:00 AM because you start East Coast hours when the markets open. So I like arrived at the office at 3:30 in the.

00:21:17 Molly

Morning every day.

00:21:18 Kristi

Oh my God.

00:21:20 Molly

Yeah, right it was. It was wild it.

00:21:22 Molly

It was super wild time in my.

00:21:24 Molly

Life, but I really I.

00:21:25 Molly

Was just. I kept working out. I really enjoyed weightlifting so I started doing a lot of like really heavy lifting and that's when I got my front spot up like 165 lbs which hey, when you only weigh 140 lbs. Feels really impressive.

00:21:40 Molly

I sort of just focused on my career and I.

00:21:42 Molly

Kept working and I didn't.

00:21:44 Molly

Start growing again until January of 2018. That was when my my boss, who went to Yale and was a squash player at Yale, mentioned that the Stanford Boathouse was really close to our office and said Ohh, maybe you wanted to like join a rec league for rowing.

00:22:03 Molly

And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm looking for a gym in.

00:22:05 Molly

This new neighborhood that's.

00:22:07 Molly

Growing sounds fun. I'd love to get outside. It's California. It's always warm. I'm going to have such a great time.

00:22:14 Molly

And I go to this boathouse and I'm, like, getting the tour and these two absolutely lovely women walk up to me and they're like, really athletic. Do you want to join our competitive Masters sweep team?

00:22:28 Molly

And I was like, whoa, kind of. No, but sure. Kind of. No. But yeah, they've been at 4:15 in the morning and I.

00:22:37 Molly

Was like Jesus Christ. Why?

00:22:41 Molly

I joined this team and I started.

00:22:43 Molly

Just falling back in love with.

00:22:45 Molly

It and I was getting my.

00:22:46 Molly

*** kicked, you know? Here I was. I was 2526. I thought I was so cool. And these moms were just whooping up on me in the singles. But I just. I got, like, super addicted.

00:23:01 Molly

Again, it just it got under my skin and all I wanted to do was grow. And so it very quickly it went from like, oh, you know, competitive, sweet team three days a week to then. Ohh well, I'll go out of my single the other two week days a week. And then it was like, oh, well, maybe I'll go out my single three days a week and 10K rows became 15K rows.

00:23:21 Molly

Paved 18K roads.

00:23:24 Molly

And soon I realized that I was like, sitting in the office.

00:23:28 Molly

Just day dreaming about getting back in the boat.

00:23:31 Molly

I did it 2K to see how good I was. A totally by choice. Woke up one day like I'd had Thai food and beer the night before, and I just sat down on the air and was like I'm going to rip the toupee and see what I can do.

00:23:45 Molly

And I beat my college PR.

00:23:46 Kristi

Wow.

00:23:47 Molly

And this was after about two months of training.

00:23:51 Molly

And part of me was like, what was I doing wrong at college? And part of me was like, oh, my God, it doesn't matter. Whatever I'm doing right, whatever I'm doing now is right and so.

00:24:03 Molly

I leaned into it and I began to think like, oh, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.

00:24:08 Molly

And I went to Masters Nationals that summer and I won 6 gold medals because you're allowed to enter 6 events.

00:24:16 Kristi

Amazing.

00:24:18 Molly

So that was really that was super, super fun. I had a great time.

00:24:23 Molly

And I sort of realized that I wanted to compete. I wanted to compete and I wanted to find more competition. And so I there's not really a club scene in California the same way.

00:24:36 Molly

There is in.

00:24:36 Molly

Boston, or Philly or DC. And so I.

00:24:42 Molly

I was like, well, there's no club.

00:24:43 Molly

Team. So I guess I'll just try to be on the national team and I had no idea how crazy that was.

00:24:50 Molly

If I had known how bonkers that was, I probably wouldn't have done it. But I was like, yeah, I don't know. There's there's.

00:24:55 Molly

There's nowhere else to go.

00:24:57 Kristi

That's awesome. So like one year after starting rowing again, you raced in that lightweight quad basically.

00:25:06 Molly

Yeah, yeah.

00:25:07 Molly

There was this great moment, August 2019. I was at the World Championships in the.

00:25:12 Molly

Lightweight with quad.

00:25:14 Molly

And I got my like Instagram one year ago. What were you doing? And one year ago I had been at.

00:25:20 Molly

Masters nationals.

00:25:22 Molly

And and that was like holy cow, in 18 months I went from, I forgot how to, ERG to, like, racing for Team USA at the qualification world.

00:25:37 Molly

In you know the year before lightweight rowing's getting it taken out. So it was it was a very crazy 18.

00:25:45 Kristi

And at that time, like everything, especially for like lightweight women's rowing was kind of outside of any sort of centralized system. So how did you kind of find your way like into that group into that camp, so to speak?

00:26:03 Molly

I.

00:26:04 Molly

So everything to Casey Gelden anybody can sign up. It turns out anybody.

00:26:08 Molly

Can sign up for speed order.

00:26:10 Molly

And so I registered for the speed order and I it's so funny now. I was like the second person to register. I was so gung ho about registered just the order. Like the second they opened it.

00:26:20 Molly

Up I was like, yes, I'm going.

00:26:24 Molly

As opposed to now.

00:26:24 Molly

I'll get my entry in like 10 minutes.

00:26:26 Molly

Before it's due.

00:26:27 Molly

So I registered for the Sprint speed order and I had never been to Florida before. I had never raced an official 2K. I hadn't raced a 2K since college.

00:26:32 Kristi

Wow.

00:26:39 Molly

So it's 2019. I graduated for I haven't raised to 2K in four years. I've just been derping around doing 1K's and drinking beer and having fun. I go to the speed order and I.

00:26:49 Molly

Don't have a coach.

00:26:51 Molly

I don't know why or measurements this is. This is the part that like when I think about it now, is so cringe I flew with my own oars from California, but I hadn't measured my length or my inboard like I didn't know what my rig was. Which now is horrifying. Like to think that I.

00:27:11 Molly

Didn't know the length of my own.

00:27:13 Molly

And I rented a boat for Hudson, and it was an open weight boat. It wasn't a lightweight boat, and I I didn't know what my spread was supposed to be. I just trusted it would be right.

00:27:25 Molly

All of these completely insane things, in retrospect, that I didn't know I didn't know, and I didn't have a coach, so I didn't have somebody doing like you should know what your spread is. And I was like, let's pitch.

00:27:31 Kristi

Yeah.

00:27:38 Molly

What's it board? I don't know.

00:27:41 Molly

So yeah, I show up in Florida. I missed the meeting for the regatta because, you know, they had, like the athlete information meeting. I thought it was at 8:30, it was at 8:00. So I just missed the whole thing.

00:27:51 Kristi

Yeah, yeah.

00:27:54 Molly

Somebody had said Ohh when you return off the racecourse, you go under the bridge. I went under the bridge that goes to the fountain, not under the bridge that goes to the canal. So I like, went to the sailboat pond trying to get off. Like, I don't think anybody understands how much. I had no idea.

00:28:11 Molly

What I was doing.

00:28:12 Molly

And then the craziest thing was.

00:28:15 Molly

I got 7th place and so I did this speed order and in my head I had said there's a lightweight single. There's a lightweight double. There's a lightweight quad that's seven seats. I'm going to do my best and if I get top seven, I'm going to keep trying this. And if I don't get top 7.

00:28:17 Kristi

Wow.

00:28:35 Molly

I'm gonna go back to my job in my real life and my career.

00:28:39 Molly

And I end up winning the B final, getting 7th place and Michelle knows this. But I had like a little rowing crush on Michelle.

00:28:48 Molly

And so I reached out to Peter. I I think I had heard or I knew that she, like didn't really have a partner. And so I reached out to Peter Mansfield at best, her where she was growing at the time and.

00:28:59 Molly

I was like.

00:28:59 Molly

Hey I'm an up and coming lightweight rower.

00:29:02 Molly

This is my toothpaste. This is my 6.

00:29:04 Molly

K I'm here at speed order. I'm looking for a partner.

00:29:08 Molly

I like cover for you at best, for it was like very much like, hey, would you please introduce me to Michelle? And he goes, I don't really have that many lightweights right now to talk to Casey.

00:29:21 Molly

And the year before, when I when I bought my personal boat off of a high schooler, Casey actually brought my boat to California on his trailer for youth Nationals. So I I.

00:29:31 Molly

I had met Casey.

00:29:33 Molly

So I, you know, reintroduced myself to Casey and I said, hey, you know once again these are my ex scores. I'm a masters rower, but I wrote a Dartmouth.

00:29:41 Molly

That's a little weird. Here I am. I got second place. I'm looking for a double s partner.

00:29:46 Molly

And he was running a sanction for lightweights that year because it was the qualification for the last Olympics for lightweights, and he, like literally out of the goodness of his heart, was like any lightweight who wants to come to Sarasota. I will take times. I will write a training program and I will make recommendations.

00:30:04 Molly

And I will coach you.

00:30:06 Molly

I went to that lecture camp and that is where I met Rosa. My first ever double partner. You know, she was sort of Casey's top athlete at the time and we filed immediately. He put us in a.

00:30:19 Molly

Double and it just flew.

00:30:21 Molly

We raced the double at that trials and got second place. You know, after training together for like two or three weeks. That was an absolutely amazing results and really, really exciting. And then from there it just it just kept escalating. So then I went into.

00:30:36 Molly

Cloud selection and I.

00:30:37 Molly

Made it into quad.

00:30:39 Molly

And that's that's really what I realized.

00:30:41 Molly

Like.

00:30:42 Molly

This was working, but I mean like if Casey hadn't believed in me and trusted in me and like trusted me to row with his star athlete, I don't think I would have ended up hanging on for as long as I did and being able to.

00:30:44 Kristi

MHM.

00:30:55 Molly

Breakthrough to where I did.

00:30:56 Kristi

But you also earned those opportunities, you know.

00:31:00 Molly

He gave me access to the tool ship, you know, and I had to use the tools. But like it very easily could have been locked. And I think any other year the the barrier to entry would have been too.

00:31:11 Molly

Right.

00:31:12 Kristi

So then you guys were like all ready to raise the trials in 2020. It gets canceled. Do you think that the COVID near helped?

00:31:22 Molly

You absolutely, absolutely.

00:31:26 Molly

Be careful what you wish for.

00:31:28 Molly

Is what I would say.

00:31:30 Molly

I finally got to row with Michelle in January of 2020 and we had like two months before trials and I remember being like if only I had started a year earlier. If only we had a year to trade this double. Like I think we can do it. I wish I had more.

00:31:47 Molly

Time. I wish I had more time.

00:31:49 Molly

And then of course, COVID came in and was like, hey, you have more time now. But yeah. So the year was huge for me, another year base training, it gave me the opportunity to go train in Boston over the summer, meet my hero, Jimmy Stone, start working with Jesse Folia, get into the Boston training group.

00:32:09 Molly

That that was a really, really important summer for me in my development and having that year to gain strength, game fitness gain, confidence in the single was it valuable?

00:32:22 Molly

I absolutely like the COVID did a lot of terrible things in the world, but it also really gave me a chance.

00:32:30 Kristi

Because you guys had to go through the qualifier in 2021. So I feel like having an extra year of like development as like just for you, but also as like a boat growing together was probably like really helpful.

00:32:44 Molly

Absolutely. And even though we didn't spend that whole year training the double, you know, we sort of got back in the double. We trained the double until about June and then I managed to break 2 ribs.

00:32:56 Molly

And be sort of like, alright, we're gonna, we're gonna take pause. Bilateral rib fractures, 0 out of 10. Do you not recommend? So we we took about six months to train the singles and train on bikes and ride and and cross training stuff. But yeah, like having that that year of extra time to figure out who we were as a vote was super important especially.

00:33:16 Molly

Going into a race as wildly stressful as the final qualifier.

00:33:21 Kristi

How was kind of your experience from like trials through the qualifier and then like preparing for Tokyo? I feel like you guys were very like independent, but it seemed like you guys had like a plan, you know, and you're like, these are the things we need to do to like.

00:33:41 Kristi

Get where we want to go.

00:33:42 Molly

I'm so glad it looked like we had a plan.

00:33:46 Molly

What it really felt like was.

00:33:49 Molly

A string of three-week sprints. We had to win the trials in February and then we had to qualify.

00:33:57 Molly

To vote.

00:33:58 Molly

And and then we would have the Olympics. And so the way we planned it out which.

00:34:03 Molly

I think was.

00:34:04 Molly

Quite smart was.

00:34:06 Molly

After we won the trials, we planned to go to open weight double s trials to sort of get a practice go at intense racing or erase you.

00:34:17 Kristi

First of, many times.

00:34:19 Molly

1st.

00:34:20 Molly

Of many times. Yeah, little did we know.

00:34:24 Molly

So we trained some in Florida, we got really good heat training. You know, Casey was our coach. We came to Florida, we called it World Cup, Princeton. We raced at the open weight trials and got second place and got invited to cloud camp for it, which was one of my favorite things. Getting invited to open my cloud camp and then from New Jersey.

00:34:44 Molly

We went to Switzerland, we raced the final qualifier. I loved having that, those extra races under our belts like it really helped me feel prepared. It really helped me feel at home on a race cars.

00:34:57 Molly

And winning the final qualifier is probably probably the best feeling in the world. The ecstasy, the relief, the joy, the Oh my God. I can't believe we just pulled that off. It was like there were no outwards. I couldn't sleep for like 2 days and I started having this fear that like, Oh my God, if I fall asleep.

00:35:18 Molly

I might wake up and realize this is actually all a dream, and I haven't qualified to vote for the Olympics yet, and we have to do it all again like I had this like, weird terror that it was all that it was all a dream because, like, you know, coming from the 2nd Varsity, from the Junior varsity, from like Masters Rowing.

00:35:23 Kristi

Oh my God.

00:35:38 Molly

You dream about the Olympics, but you don't. I think that was the first moment where I realized like.

00:35:43 Molly

It was happening.

00:35:45 Kristi

I think everyone feels that way a little bit. It was even. I remember in 2021 when I made the team and my mom was like, well, other people go to the Olympics like real people don't go to the Olympics. And I was like, no, mom, real people apparently do go to.

00:36:04 Kristi

The Olympics, you know like.

00:36:06

I thought that would.

00:36:09 Molly

You're not like real people, right? No, I I absolutely understand that thought of like, I don't know, like Olympians go to the Olympics, not real people, you know. Then of course, I think about. I really looked up to Megan and Ellen. I remember. Just like, owing on and over them because they were Olympians. And then very quickly.

00:36:10 Kristi

Yeah.

00:36:17 Kristi

MMM yeah.

00:36:28 Molly

Like 2022 year olds around and I was like, well, yeah, all my friends are loving. It's like whatever, not that big a deal. There's like eight side B.

00:36:35 Molly

Side.

00:36:37 Molly

Which is so different from, like somebody's on the national team. I I like, want to kiss the ground they walk on.

00:36:44 Molly

It's all perspective.

00:36:46 Kristi

It is all perspective, yeah.

00:36:49 Kristi

So now not to like Fast forward through everything but.

00:36:53 Molly

Fast forward through the other three years.

00:36:56 Kristi

They're the other three years, like you're heading to your second Olympics. Like, what do you think have been some?

00:37:06 Kristi

Major changes that you've individually made between, you know, preparing for Tokyo versus preparing now like for you personally.

00:37:17 Molly

In the preparation for Tokyo, everything felt like life.

00:37:23 Molly

In a lot of ways, it's sort.

00:37:24 Molly

Of was at the time.

00:37:27 Molly

Right now.

00:37:28 Molly

I had.

00:37:30 Molly

Worked a lot more closely with Liz Pascal, our team nutrition dietitian.

00:37:35 Molly

And so having it I have a much better understanding of nutrition and recovery fuel and how much we need carbohydrates and when to have them. And so I feel like my my ability to recover and to train hard based on how I feel is much better.

00:37:55 Molly

This time around.

00:37:56 Molly

Also, we the training program that Casey wrote for us was very, very effective, but it also was a reasonably high volume, very high intensity program.

00:38:08 Molly

Whereas on use training program it's much higher volume but with less intensity built in. So like the the training itself looks different and then also I think a lot of my emotions around training have changed.

00:38:23 Molly

And I'm more at peace with training and we do more lactate testing so I could be more diligent about like my heart rate zones and my splits and.

00:38:32 Molly

I definitely, absolutely, positively in the lead up to Tokyo was like I always need to be at the top of zone and I'm cheating if I'm not at the top of zone and I'm lazy if I'm not at the top of zone and now I have a much better understanding of like, no, that's not true, that's.

00:38:49 Molly

How you get injured?

00:38:51 Molly

Be at the top of zone sometimes.

00:38:53 Molly

Be in the middle of zone sometimes and it's OK to be at the bottom end of zone. If you're like healing gross. And so I think.

00:39:00 Molly

But like having that grace around.

00:39:02 Molly

When do you need to push?

00:39:03 Molly

And when do you need to let off? Has also.

00:39:05 Molly

Really changed for the better timing.

00:39:09 Kristi

Not to ask like a emotional question, but what does it mean to you to be racing in the last lightweight double event?

00:39:20 Kristi

At the Olympics, like, do you guys think about that or is it just kind of business as usual?

00:39:27 Molly

What I think about it is really like this grand opportunity to be the.

00:39:32 Molly

Forever Olympic champ.

00:39:34 Molly

And there are so many things that need to happen, and that is like a huge, scary, nearly impossible drain. And like, there are so many fast boats, there's so much between here and there.

00:39:48 Molly

But if we can make all those steps, and if we can get there, it is like, really, really cool.

00:39:57 Molly

With Christy.

00:39:58 Molly

I have a question for.

00:39:59 Kristi

Yeah. Do you have any questions for me?

00:40:02 Molly

I do my. My biggest question is like you have been doing this for a while, you've done the camp system, you've done the Orion club system and now you're here in our weird hybrid Yoshi system. Do you have a favorite? And like, what do you think about how the system is changing?

00:40:21 Kristi

I think it's a hard question because I think the.

00:40:25 Kristi

There's pluses and minuses to both, like we've both been in fast boats that were more independent. And I think when you're training kind of independently in a community like with personalized coaches and that can be really special and like a really cool experience. And I think you can gain a lot of speed.

00:40:47 Kristi

That way I do think like.

00:40:50 Kristi

Like.

00:40:51 Kristi

There's also fall backs to that specifically, maybe like training with other boats, which now we get to do a lot of that in this new system. But sometimes in the in this new system, I do sort of occasionally feel like I'm just one of many, many people and I'm.

00:41:11 Kristi

Not really a priority versus like being a high performance athlete or in an individual.

00:41:19 Kristi

Like in Boston or something like that. I think a lot of times there was a little bit more like attention, but like I said, I think there's pluses and minuses. And I also think it's been a good lesson for me in like learning to advocate for myself and saying I think I need a change or I think I need this like to be the best.

00:41:39 Kristi

Version of myself and maybe sometimes the answer is like you're being a little bit of a diva, but sometimes.

00:41:46 Kristi

Not so I I do really like getting to train with so many of the other national team athletes. I find it very inspirational and like I have really enjoyed getting to know so many people on the team to me buy in is just necessary no matter what you're doing. So like.

00:42:06 Kristi

And I'm all in on Orion. I'm 100% believe that that is what I should be doing and that.

00:42:14 Kristi

The plan is tailored to me and like when I was rowing in Boston with Greg, like I, 100% believed that we were doing the things that we're gonna prepare us, you know, whatever. And now I believe Yoshi is doing the things that are going to prepare us to be the best version of ourselves on the day, you know, and I. And so I just.

00:42:34 Kristi

I think for me, like blind faith maybe is a weird term, but I feel like I sort of just need that. Otherwise like I drive myself crazy.

00:42:43 Molly

I think I I think that's a very good point. And and I agree with you that like.

00:42:48 Molly

I think the times when I have done the best growing is when I bought in and the times when I have not been up too far or when I was questioning what was going on.

00:43:00 Kristi

Cool. Well, Molly, thank you so much. This was this was awesome.

00:43:03 Molly

Thank you for listening to me rattle on about random stuff like throwing and financing.

00:43:10 Kristi

No, I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. Cool.

00:43:18 Kristi

Thanks for listening and thank you so much to Molly for coming on and sharing so much. I hope everyone feels inspired and motivated by Molly to go out and chase your own dreams.

00:43:31 Kristi

To end the show this week, I am sharing a quote from the book once a runner, which I loved. I've talked about on the podcast before and everyone should go read it, but the quote goes like this. He felt a strange brand of nostalgia now that it was so close and nostalgia for this moment. This next hour the present was so poignant.

00:43:51 Kristi

That he had begun to reminisce already.

00:43:55 Kristi

Thanks for listening. Have a great week. See you next time. Bye. 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.