steady state podcast

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Steady State Podcast reframes the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture. We celebrate the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains in a podcast designed to savor real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level. 

For One Heart Attack Survivor, the Beat Goes On
training, safety, culture, racing Rachel Freedman training, safety, culture, racing Rachel Freedman

For One Heart Attack Survivor, the Beat Goes On

HEART EMERGENCY SERIES: PART 1 - David Setter and his wife were pushing through a tough gym workout when suddenly he didn’t feel well. He describes his heart attack that days as “feeling like the 1500m mark of a 2k,” despite a massive blockage that could have killed him. They tell us about remaining calm in the moment, motivation in rehab, and learning to find more joy in rowing.

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Elizabeth Gilmore Gets After It
training, racing Rachel Freedman training, racing Rachel Freedman

Elizabeth Gilmore Gets After It

In just two years, Elizabeth Gilmore has had in insanely meteoric trajectory from indoor rowing newbie to indoor rowing champion and world record holder, to Head of the Charles course record breaker. And it all started with getting on the erg to rehab a running injury.

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The Jen Huffman Connection
coaching, racing, training, culture Rachel Freedman coaching, racing, training, culture Rachel Freedman

The Jen Huffman Connection

After guilt-tripping her son into learning to row, Jenn followed suit. At 38 she stepped into a boat for the first time and quickly became an accomplished masters rower. She also gained new appreciation for her grandpa – Joe Rantz – who was a member of the 1936 University of Washington V8 that won Olympic gold in Berlin. By unlikely happenstance, Joe’s scrapbooks became the spark for The Boys in the Boat.

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2023: Year in Review
culture, coaching, racing, SSN Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, racing, SSN Rachel Freedman

2023: Year in Review

In this special episode, co-hosts Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan take a look back at 2023. Go behind the scenes of Steady State Podcast to learn more about Rachel and Tara's rowing careers, listen to clips from some of their favorite season 4 episodes, consider their big takeaways from interviews with nearly 40 guests in the past 12 months, and get a peak at what's to come in Season 5 in 2024.

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Mass. Local Ellen Minzner on HOCR, Para, and Equity in Rowing
culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman

Mass. Local Ellen Minzner on HOCR, Para, and Equity in Rowing

Head of the Charles Announcing Committee co-chair, USRowing Para High Performance Director, and Massachusetts native Ellen Minzner. From walk on at Villanova to 5-time National Team member, to her transition into coaching and program development Ellen saw the long game: changing the status quo of her clubs, organizations, and communities. She also gives a peek behind the curtains at the world’s premier annual rowing competition - the Head of the Charles - from her vantage point in the announcers booth on top of Cambridge Boat Club.

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Back to School with Lindsay Dare Shoop
culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman

Back to School with Lindsay Dare Shoop

In 2002, Lindsay Dare Shoop reluctantly walked-on at the University of Virginia. Within a year she became an NCAA Division I All American. In four years she broke a world record and earned her first World Championship. Within six years her hard work manifested a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Today she seeks to help others remove self-imposed limitations. This Fall, 20 years after it all began, the author of Better Great Than Never returns to UVA as an assistant coach, paying it forward.

This thought-provoking conversation considers serendipity, struggle, pressures on student athletes, walk-ons, team-building, rowing for life, Head of the Charles (and being coxed by Mary Whipple), and a whole lot more.

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Midwest Pride: Chicago Rowing Union’s Michael Toutloff
coaching, training, racing, culture Rachel Freedman coaching, training, racing, culture Rachel Freedman

Midwest Pride: Chicago Rowing Union’s Michael Toutloff

Chicago Rowing Union (CRU) is the Midwest's only LGBTQ+ rowing organization, and one of just a few such clubs in the world. CRU member and social media manager Michael Toutloff talks with us about the importance of safe spaces and being yourself, finding community and competition on the water, and proudly flying the flag at regattas. 

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Letting Go of Perfection: Coastal Rowing
coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman

Letting Go of Perfection: Coastal Rowing

In 2021, USRowing boated its first-ever Beach Sprints National team and in 2022 Next Level Rowing appeared on the scene, training high performance rowers who have gone on to win medals at domestic and international coastal regattas. To talk about this discipline which has been raced for generations in Europe, we connect with coastal rowing rising stars Christopher Bak and Christine Cavallo, and their coach Ben Booth, co-founder of Next Level Rowing.

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Coach Ann Strayer on Inclusion and Self-Worth in Rowing
culture, racing, coaching Rachel Freedman culture, racing, coaching Rachel Freedman

Coach Ann Strayer on Inclusion and Self-Worth in Rowing

In this second episode in a special series on gender identity policies in rowing, we talk with Ann Strayer, OLY, Varsity Women’s Coach at Oakland United Rowing. Together with fellow OUR coach and Olympian Erin Cafaro they have written a letter in support of USRowing’s gender identity policy, highlighting the importance of welcoming transgender and non-binary scholastic athletes into the boathouse, and allow them to row as the gender they identify with.

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Dr. Mary O’Connor: Fighting to Save Women’s Rowing
culture, racing Rachel Freedman culture, racing Rachel Freedman

Dr. Mary O’Connor: Fighting to Save Women’s Rowing

Dr. Mary O’Connor was a member of the influential 1976 Yale women’s rowing program that sparked big changes following the passage of Title IX. Today, she’s a member of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports – an advocacy group “seeking to elevate and empower female athletes by protecting safety, fairness, and opportunity for girls and women.”

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Steady State Podcast reframes the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture. We celebrate the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains in a podcast designed to savor real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level. 

Steady State Network Patrons have episode access before the general public.