Not long now…

It’s been a while since my last blog so I have a bit of updating to do!

In mid-May I travelled to Europe with the rest of the Australian team to compete in the world cup series. The women’s team started off the tour with a week in London training on the Eton Dorney rowing course, the site of our Olympic venue. It was great to get a feel for the area and become familiar with the surroundings. Each day we went to the course the grandstands grew in size so I can’t wait to get back there when it’s all complete.

We then headed to the second world cup in Duisburg, Germany for our first international hit out of the season. It was good to be racing again, and although we didn’t get the results we were aiming for (sixth in K4 500m and fourth in K2 200m & K1 200m relay), we are continually learning from what we do.

Next stop was Moscow, Russia for the third world cup. The conditions on the 1980 Olympic course were pretty horrific – extremely windy, cold and raining. Not much we could do about it except to get on with the job and fight the giant head wind. We finished fourth in the K4 500m. I also raced the K2 200m and came away with the win which was a nice bonus, but unfortunately the K2 200m for women is not an Olympic event. We managed to get an afternoon of sightseeing in Red Square before we flew out. It was amazing to see St Basel’s Cathedral and the Kremlin!

I came home to Australia for three weeks to refresh and to get back into a good training routine. I did most of my training at the AIS facility on the Gold Coast. I had a fantastic couple of weeks of solid training and made some great progress in my K1, so I was looking forward to getting back into our K4. I had a great weekend in Sydney before I travelled back to Europe as I had a couple of farewell parties with my family and friends. It was so great to catch up with everybody and share their excitement.

I am now based at the European training centre in Northern Italy for the next month leading into the Games. It’s Australia’s base, a home away from home that provides a fantastic place to train and we have a great amount of support and facilities to use. The kayak team has been coming to this same location to train since 2009 and it has provided the perfect place to prepare for major competitions. The weather is superb and my tan is already coming along nicely! I can already tell it’s going to be a great month of training.

Yesterday I received my Olympic team uniform! I was a pretty special experience. Our briefing before the outfitting gave me goosebumps as I was listening to the organiser speak highly of our achievements and what it means to be here right now. It was lots of fun trying on our uniform, swapping sizes then trying to fit all the gear back into our bags! It’s an honour to finally put on the Olympic uniform. All the years of sweat and tears are paying off. 

I am now living by some wise words of my physiotherapist “be in the moment”. So often we are wishing for things to happen now, instead of waiting it out. It is easy to get distracted by the Olympic countdown, day by day it seems to be going by so quickly. I am now going to be patient and savour every paddling session, gym session, savour the tiredness, the pain, the lactate burn because I AM LIVING MY DREAM! This is what I love doing and what I have worked so hard for. I don’t wish it was tomorrow because I want to make the most of today.

Be better, stronger and tougher. Embrace life and the challenges I face. Because, when I accomplish today, tomorrow is a new day and I will be a better me.