Kristi Competes at Worlds: "The most important races are still to come"

*Transcript is autogenerated*

Kristi Wagner 
As everyone is aware that the most important races and the hardest races are still to come, things are going in the right direction. But keep your head down, stay focus. Don't take anything for granted. It's early days, and it's a long week. Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality.

Hi, and welcome to episode 21 of the other three years. This week is going to be a quick episode, because I am currently in Belgrade, Serbia at the World Championships. It is race week racing started on Sunday and goes through this coming Sunday. It's a whole week of racing. So I had my first race on Monday. And it was the heat. I'm racing in the women's double. And we want our heat, which is exciting. And our next race is on Friday, the day that this podcast will come out. So you should go to World rowing.com and watch all of the actions being live streamed. So it's been really great racing so far. So I thought that for this episode, I would just kind of talk a little bit about what it's been like traveling here getting ready for the regatta and then the start of the regatta and then I'm going to answer some questions people asked me on Instagram just about World Champs. So as most of you probably know, if you've been listening to the podcast, the US team has been training in Italy. I was in Aruba, Italy, most of the women we were in Aruba, all of the women I think. And then some of the men were in very say, but we all traveled together on a flight that got very delayed from Milan to Belgrade. So we didn't end up getting to our hotel till about three in the morning, which was a real bummer. But we roll with punches pretty well. And we got a little sleep in the next day. And honestly, I feel like I caught right back up asleep. Our hotel is really nice. We're staying at like a Crowne Plaza. And there's a bunch of other teams here. But it's really big. There's plenty of places to go. We have PT room, snack room or game room and then the meals, they're like open pretty long hours. It's just buffet style. So definitely a good setup. You can also walk kind of into like a little town, we're not in downtown Belgrade. But we're kind of, I think, a little bit more like side part. But you can go over to the grocery store. And there's a few different places. So get a little walk around. Yeah. So we got here with a couple of days before racing. And we just were practicing at the course it's a nice course there's kind of a lot going on, it's pretty protected. So because of that during practice, the like wake from other boats gets pretty big. But during racing, I think it's it's pretty calm, except for Monday when we raced in our heat. It was actually kind of windy, but I think that was like forecasted to be the windiest day. So they condensed the schedule, some of the heats that I raced in, because the weather was supposed to be pretty bad. But today it looks like it's going to be pretty nice. So you know, you just kind of have to take whatever is thrown at you and make the most of it. So every boat, and every boat class has different progression through the regatta so it depends on the number of entries. And then they have to whittle that down to the top six, like in every event. So the men single I think has the most entries. They've got like almost 50 entries. So they have a lot of rounds of racing like heats wraps quarter finals, semi finals, we in the women's double I like 20 entries. So just actually I think 19 I think somebody scratched so let's just heats and then either a rap, which is kind of like the second chance so nobody gets eliminated directly out of the heat. Every event has a rap rap Ushaw just like the term for second chance or last chance in French. Because French used to be the international language of rowing or the mall.

Just the overall language of rowing. They used to do the starting commands in French now they do them as a light system and a beep So the US team has been doing awesome like honestly every boat has been doing so great. It's really cool to watch all the races and just hype up and be cheering for everyone.  

It's honestly been like so exciting and such a good vibe. We're still early in the regatta I'm recording this on Tuesday so there's still a ton of racing left to do and the semi finals in the qualification year which this is are like really intense because in I think except for the eights like in every event the top six qualify for the Olympics, so qualifying for that final is kind of like qualifying your bowl, it is qualifying your boat for the Olympics. And like in our event 11 people qualify or 11, boat classes, boats qualify. But in some of the events, it's seven or nine and the eights, it's five, it's different for every Olympic boat class, the number that qualifies, but usually making it into that final like, is both a big step in your progression through the regatta but also in the qualification year, means that you've qualified that boat class, not the athletes, just the boat for the Olympics, which is obviously a huge deal. So the semis are really big day. But honestly, like the US team has been crushing it. And you know, all the heats have been going well, the boats have raced and the wraps have made it through to the semis. So it's just been super exciting. And it's so fun. Like, we've all trained together so much this year, I feel like you really want not that in the past, I haven't wanted other US boats to do well. But now it's like, I know those people so well. And I know how much training they've put in and like, really, we all want to do well, because we've, if you know, we've all been competing with each other, and we've all been doing the same plan. So it's like seeing other boats doing well is kind of the a really good thing for us too. Because you're like, Okay, if they're doing well, that means I'm also gonna do well, you know, because we've all been doing the same thing. So it's really, I think, a good vibe. But at the same time, like you kind of ride that a little bit. And you still you stay really focused on what you're doing. For us. We've got a super long time between the heats on Monday and then the semis on Friday. So it's like trying not to get too excited. And try not to play over that race too many times in your head. For me personally, I can't get too intertwined in it, because I'll just make myself go crazy. So just kind of vibing and doing what I can to keep my mind occupied. You know, whether that's work or talking to friends, reading, making beaded bracelets, whatever it is just trying to do some fun stuff that's not gonna require too much energy or, you know, anything like that. But it's been good so far. And hopefully we can just keep riding this wave and you know, boats just keep doing well throughout the week. I think everyone is aware that the most important races and the hardest races are still to come. So kind of a, okay, things are going in the right direction, but keep your head down, stay focus, don't take anything for granted. You know, it's it's early days, and it's a long week. 

Now I'm going to answer a few questions that people asked me online. And if I didn't answer your question, just shoot me a message on Instagram and I'll try to answer it there. But somebody asked me oh, this is a funny question. One of the other women on the team asked me my opinion on the various meat patties that they've been serving in the dining hall. So they have been serving us a lot of different sort of ground meat options in various varieties, sticks, balls, patties and rolled chicken sometimes little little seems a little bit pink seems like it should be cooked a little bit more but they're cooking for a lot of people in this is a fancy hotel, so I feel like things are cooked and everything I've had has been really good. They also have this like coleslaw type thing in the hotel. That's very, and I'd say the real highlight of the hotel dining experience so far has been the desserts. My honestly favorite dessert so far has been the nectarines and peaches, they're like really ripe and really good. I don't know if Serbia is like known for having good nectarines and peaches or if it's just the time of the year or if it's just random but they've been good. Oh, and they have really good cucumbers. very crunchy. Another question. That's also in the food related segment. Do you bring snacks in the boat on race day. I like to have emergency fruit shoes or fruit snacks or something like that in the boat kind of at all times. I'll have the same bag in there as like a security blanket for a long time. In my single at home. I think I had the same fruit snacks in there. Like it was half a bag of fruit snacks that had been opened for weeks. It was actually kind of gross. So I like I mean you never know what's gonna happen on race day, right? You You could be delayed something could happen. You never know. I normally don't eat them though. But sometimes I do. And I like to have and I of course have my water bottle that has my electrolyte drink in it. So just what I do always I also you don't want to try new things. Don't eat something you've never eaten on race day. That's a bad idea. What do you eat and drink the half hour after your race? I usually just do like water like really drink banana, maybe a protein bar, I'm still coming down for a little while, like I like to do a bit of a cooldown. So I'm not really doing anything crazy, just like refueling, rehydrating, you know, maybe oatmeal when we were racing a World Cup and we had really quick races in between. I tried to eat oatmeal, tried to eat, you know, something a bit more substantial. But in this, like, we have so much time to recover. You don't have to do anything really insane. Just kind of slowly getting your body back to neutral. Okay, what is another question is what is the vibe? Are people in tents? What do people do to stay calm? I'd say the vibe is pretty good, especially in the hotel. Obviously, you want to give people space, like we're all racing on different schedules. So you try to be respectful of people that are racing that day, or maybe ever race the next day, give them their space and to do what they want to do. I think headphones are a good like universal sign of don't talk to me, which is nice. I think if someone has their headphones in on the bus or at the course or something, it's a pretty good, okay, they're in the zone, they don't want anyone to talk to them. And if they don't, and if they're chatty, then you know, you can chat. But I think the whole team is really good about being respectful of people that are really zoned in and then, you know, when it's not immediate race time, like just having fun having a good time, relaxing, chatting, cheering for other boats. So I'd say people are intense, but not crazy intense. There is a spa at the hotel. And some people have been going to the spa, I think to go in the sauna and like there's a pool and stuff. So maybe they're doing that to stay calm. I haven't gone yet, but I've heard really good things. So maybe that's next stop that I'll make the spa to stay calm. The next question we have is, how do you get over performance anxiety? That is a hard question. I don't feel like I know 100% The answer. I think that speaking to a sports psychologist is probably a good step. But I think practice makes perfect. I think that you have to or practice makes better, I guess, maybe not perfect. I think that you have to kind of teach yourself out of things. If you've had a bad race experience, you can really overplay that in your head, and it can kind of like hype you into having more bad race experiences. So I think it's important to like nip that in the bud. And because we don't get to race very much. I think it's important to use practice and practice races as opportunities to practice being nervous practice your stomach turning over and caring a lot about something. Because then I think on big gray stays, you've already gone through that. And you're going to be nervous no matter what, like nerves aren't gonna go away. They just don't like that's not how it happens. If you care about something, you're going to be nervous. So I think it's more just realizing the nerves are going to happen. And that that doesn't need to make you do anything crazy. Like you don't have to go beyond yourself. You just have to stay within who you are the athlete you are and what you've been doing. And that's how, you know, if you've checked all the boxes leading up to race day, then you don't have anything to worry about. And if you didn't do all the work, then you know, you have to live with that and there are no shortcuts in life. So I think that's just a good life lesson in itself. I don't know if that was really about performance anxiety. I think it's more about just like fear of racing, or kind of making the moment too big but I think they're kind of all related on this fun question. What is one interesting thing about the venue we can't see on the live stream? I got a great answer for this. Above the start there are nude beaches. So there are just like naked people there beaching which is great for them one of the women in the lightweight double Michelle told me because they have a Saturday final but on Sunday for our final she's gonna go up there to the nude beach and just be hanging out when we go up to warm up so I hope that happens honestly, I think it'd be hilarious there's also like a zipline thing of of the starts very exciting up there. There's a bunch of beach clubs and everything so there's a lot going on on the racecourse but I don't think you can see the the nude beach from the livestream. What is your favorite boat class to watch? I honestly love watching all the boat classes I think it's fun to watch small boats because so much can like happen so quickly but at the same time that happens in big boats too. And watching all the US boats has been also fun and honestly watching all the racing has been really fun. So I'm going to cop out and just say that I don't have a favor.

Report cost watch. I like watching all of my friends do a great job. Although Kelsey in the women's for us that question so Kelsey, for you, I like watching the women's for but for everybody else. I like watching, everybody. Just a couple more questions here. These questions are kind of related, do you wear anything special so your family can see you. I do not I wear my hair and everything the same as I wear it every day. Because like I was saying earlier, I don't like to do anything crazy special on race day, I want to change it up. I like to feel comfortable. Kind of the luxury of racing at this level is like a minute to person vote. And we're the only ones with the blades that we have. If my family doesn't know who I am, then that's probably not a good thing.

But in the past, I think it was hard for them to always find me to wrap it up. I have a question. If I have family coming to watch and support me, and I do, it's I'm really excited, my parents are coming. And my Uncle Chris is coming. And my cousin Ellen is coming. And I'm super excited to see all of them. It's gonna be awesome. It's there's like a ton of Team USA family and friends here. So the cheering section I can like hear it on the live stream, the USA cheers. So it's really, really exciting. But obviously I'd like my family the best. So I'm excited to see them and hopefully put up some good, good racing for them to see.

So that's kind of it for today. I have to go do a workout, or just a little flush. But I thank you so much for listening. And I hope that everyone is watching the World Champs online. It's honestly been such exciting racing across the board from every country. So it's a whole week of racing. The finals are this weekend, when this podcast comes out the finals will be happening. So be sure to log on and watch. It's kind of early in the morning East Coast time, even earlier in the morning West Coast time, but it's worth it. It'll be awesome racing. And I know all the athletes here from the US and from every country. I've worked so hard for this. So be sure to tune in and support and Go Team USA go us rowing. Thanks for listening. We'll be back in the next few weeks with some more quote unquote regular content on the other three years podcast because right now, not a lot of other stuff is going on besides rowing, but we've got some really fun stuff lined up for this fall. So can't wait to share it all with you guys and have a great weekend. Have a great week and thanks for listening. See you next week.

Unknown Speaker  17:51  
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, the other three years.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai