Erik Frid: Lessons from Craftsbury and a 318 mile row along the Erie Canal
Written by U23 Skier Rena Schwartz
Last winter GRP biathlete Kelsey Dickinson sat down with four-time U.S. National Team member and Craftsbury GRP rowing alum Erik Frid to talk about the lessons that he learned from Craftsbury and his 318 mile ultra-row along the Erie Canal.
Frid was introduced to rowing through his brother who rowed at Ithaca. He got into rowing in middle school and pursued it through college and later, after college, at Craftsbury’s SBTC program. After a trial period, he joined the GRP.
Frid thinks of his time with the GRP fondly. His favorite memories from Craftsbury include “the fact that people wave to you on the road when you are driving and they probably don’t know who you are”. Frid, who now works at a tech start-up in Philadelphia, remarks that this kindness is unique, “when you move from Craftsbury to Philly that’s a stark contrast.”
Frid’s favorite memories from Craftsbury also include work projects. He remembers cutting a lot of grass and splitting a lot of wood during his first summer. Frid also enjoyed his winters at Craftsbury remarking that, “Craftsbury does winters right.” Frid was only on the GRP for two years but says that he created strong bonds with other members.
Frid moved on from the GRP after the trials in 2016 to join a club in Philly where he had an opportunity to race Henley with some people that were at the same place in their careers as him. His decision to move to Philly was also influenced by his desire to move in with his fiancé who graduated from college. Another factor in Frid’s decision was whether or not the GRP lifestyle would be sustainable for him in a bigger-picture perspective. At Craftsbury when you are interacting with so many athletes “it’s really easy to stay in that lane and only focus on that. You’re like ‘this is normal’ even though it’s very much not normal.” Frid explains that “in Craftsbury you needed to see improvement to say this lifestyle is worth it whereas in the club training environment improvement is not always the number one reason why you do it.” Frid says that some of the lessons he learned in Craftsbury informed how he has balanced work and training.
This past July, the weekend after Trump closed the border and they canceled the Olympic qualifier, which was scheduled around two weeks later in Switzerland, Frid decided to row the Erie Canal. Frid didn’t want to end his rowing career on finding out that his qualifier was done with. He wanted to end his career on an experience where he could really put it all out there. He had wanted to do an Erie Canal row since college. Frid decided on the Erie Canal because “it would be really difficult and there wasn’t a lot of pressure.” He felt he would come to the end satisfied no matter what happened.
Frid’s traverse was quite unique. Frid explains that some will do it in kayaks and do it over a month or two but he did it in a racing shell in about 7.5 days which made it extra challenging. Most days Frid rowed 70-84km. However, there were some challenging days when Frid had to row less. Frid made it 20 minutes across the 20 mile lake Anita, before turning around because it was too wavy. Frid decided to prioritize his timeline and skip lake Anita, although he thinks that we will come back and do it someday. Luckily, Frid found a man who put some foam on his car and was able to drive him and his boat across so that he could continue his row.
As far as preparation goes, Frid was working out once a day doing longer cardio. He did a couple of 30km rowing days but he went into it with an “I’m fit, I got this” mentality. Frid doesn’t think he trained enough but he remarks that “that was part of the challenge.” Frid does wish that he had maintained his calluses a little better. The first day he got around 20 blisters.
Frid reflects that one of the biggest things that he learned about himself on his row was the he is willing to put himself in some pretty terrible situations regardless of how he is feeling. “It's kind of a cliche but if there is a will there's a way. If you really want something you are going to do it.” Frid sees this as a metaphor for training, “I think I got to a point in rowing where you just get up in the morning and it's kind of hard to remember why you keep doing it.”
An example of Frid’s resilience on his row was crossing lock 19. Not all of the locks were operational because they had been delayed by COVID-19. Lock 19 was closed when he got to it. He had portaged around other locks most of which had big lawns and were easy to launch from. Lock 19 though was scrubby and the other side was train tracks and then a 10 or 15 foot drop. It took him around 2 hours to get across the lock. He had to go through a construction site and bushwhack the boat through head high brush. One of the biggest challenges of the entire row was not damaging the boat. He fell one time and the boat landed on a log. Thankfully it just bounced off of it and didn’t break. He was covered head to toe in scratches and burrs but he made it through. The next day the lock opened.
Frid explains that rowing the Erie Canal and being uncomfortable for days at a time tested his grit in a different way than training did. “Elite athletes kind of pamper themselves. We train really hard and put ourselves in a terrible spot but after that it's all about recovery and kicking back and making sure you are as comfortable as possible.” Frid camped some nights, but he decided to go to hotels for the nights when his back started to hurt. Being in a real bed was more valuable to Frid than the idea that he would do the row unsupported. Frid often made overnight oats for breakfast and went to grocery stores for lunch. He had camping meals for camping nights but lots of towns along the way meant carrying a ton of meals didn’t make much sense.
Frid looks back on his adventure along the Erie Canal fondly but also exclaims that “it was miserable.” Upon completion of his row, Frid says he was at peace with where he was and the decisions that he had made.