Counting down the days

Time is flying and it’s now less than a month till the first round of selection trials for the Olympics!

In January I raced in a couple of regattas, the NSW state championships and grand prix two. It was good to get back into racing and to put all the training I have done into practice on race day, and it was the first time I have raced in Australia for two years. I missed the domestic season last year due to my injury and got straight into racing overseas at the 2011 world cup series.

The state championships went pretty well. All the top girls from around the country came to race so there was stiff competition in every event. I raced in all the Olympic events just to get lots of race practice. We had some solid races in the K4 and took home a couple of gold medals, as well as bronze medals in my K1 and K2 races.

The second grand prix was held in Ballarat, Victoria, on a course that not many people have raced at before; it was the host to the canoeing events back at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games! The course wasn’t up to national racing standards; there were no boat holders so we had to line ourselves up, uneven lanes and buoys, no clear start or finish line, lots of weed on the course and to top it off a strong cross wind and waves. Apart from the small challenges it was great to have some more race practice. I only entered two events so I didn’t overload my shoulder, and came out of the regatta raring to go for our upcoming camp. I won the K1 200m and the K4 500m events, which was good but there’s always room for further improvement over the next four weeks. 

Our team flew straight from the regatta to Penrith for a 10 day team-boat focused camp. Penrith is the location for selection trials so the plan was do do lots of time trials, solid work over race distance and practicing starts in the new starting gates. On the first day of the camp I became was sick and spent the next four days in bed with a virus. I am known to enjoy my food (both eating it and cooking it!) so when I’m not hungry and don’t feel like eating anything there has got to be something up! So much for backing off my racing so I was fit and healthy for the camp! I am back into the swing of training now and it’s all starting to come together.

During the camp we lucky to have some great group talks from John Eales (Wallaby great and Athlete Liaison Officer for the London Olympics) and Jackie Fairweather (former world champion triathlete). It was fantastic to hear about their own experiences, what they did to succeed and how they overcame obstacles. It really reinforced a few things for me and gave me some ideas to put into practice. Every sport is so different but you can find so many similarities in how other athletes prepare for competition, handle pressure and perform on the day of competition.

Last week I got a new kayak! The boats are made in Portugal so it always takes months for them to arrive in Australia after you place your order. It’s like christmas has come again as it’s always exciting to unwrap a big new toy! I love how the design on it turned out but most importantly the boat feels great on the water, very smooth and I hope I can paddle it very fast!

I am heading back up to the Gold Coast shortly for the last few weeks of solid training. I love this time of the year when you see a plan coming together!