We are nearing the end of the third block of training and I can honestly say that this is the first time in my life that I have managed to stay illness and injury free. Admittedly, I have had to take the odd day where, to coin JPM’s phrase, I felt a bit “hot in the throat” and I have backed right off the training, choosing to either sleep (I know) or go on one of my epic walks which sometimes end in me losing my bearing completely and being rescued by Barbour jacketed ladies on the way home from collecting Labrador supplies (or whatever). However, it really is an eye-opener to find that I am able to rest, then push, then rest, then push...up until now it’s been pure survival from one day to the next and just getting through the session has been the goal, not necessarily moving on. I am not saying that I am all of a sudden going to produce performances that will set the world alight, but small successes, however many or few, are coming my way and I count my blessings for the opportunities I have.
Racing has started again, and the weekend before last I toddled over to Wallingford to race the Long Distance Sculls. I’d chatted about how to approach the race and was advised to “keep the powder dry”, and tap over the course at a long yet lively 29 – 30 spm, which I duly did. However the lively bit didn’t really happen in the first division, where due to logistics I was only able to race for time in the Women’s Elite Single, and although I gained the fastest time of the whole day, there were moments where I thought I’d shot my bolt, even at that relatively low rate! Sadly no acknowledgement or prize for that, but such is life! I then went out again for the second division, where there was at least the possibility of a pot in the Women’s Masters A Single, and got up to the start all prepared with warm kit as I know that I get so cold while waiting in the marshalling zone. However that plan was well and truly scuppered not once, but twice, by an over-enthusiastic safety launch swamping me completely, soaking my back and legs, dumping a load of water into my footwell and, yes, rendering my lovely warm kit, so lovingly prepared, absolutely sodden and weighing a ton! I spent a lot of time wringing and baling, and rapidly getting colder and colder, which meant that after more than an hour of waiting, my hands had lost all feeling and circulation and my lips were turning blue. I am not cut out for cold weather, and it’s not even winter yet! Anyway, the sculling, once we got started, was much more zippy than earlier in the day, still going over at a relatively low rate, when I came unstuck just outside the Brookes boathouse. I do not know what happened, but I was overtaking two girls, one on each side of me, and as we started to come level they sort of attacked in a watery pincer move, with all three of us ending up completely stationary and my stroke side blade jammed under one boat and no way of getting it free without the other sculler backing down. Eventually we extricated ourselves but the damage was done, no fastest time for me there (but a pot nonetheless).
The next day, Ze German, the boy, the sibling, the little miss and I, accompanied by Dave Duncan, Dani and Jacqui, headed to Marlow for the Rowers’ Revenge Triathlon. Jules had put together a team to race to raise awareness for her “M.E. – not the end of me” campaign, comprising of her on the row, Richard on the bike leg and Dave bringing it home on the run. I’d signed up to do the race on my own, as I wanted to support Jules too and I started the morning wondering how the hell we were going to manage in the pouring rain! I started earlier than Team Reichel, and started the 4k row conservatively, tapping it along at about 1:57 – 1:58 splits, figuring I could always take it up if necessary. I came off the erg just behind the previous year’s winner from Imperial, and hobbled to my bike. I tried to get my gloves and shoes on faster than her, and ended up struggling to get the gloves over my sweaty palms. I gave it up as a bad job as I saw Imperial Girl (IG) grab her bike before me, and gave chase. I wasn’t sure how or why at the time, but she seemed to gradually pull away from me during the course of the bike leg, and I got more and more frustrated, in particular as another girl came up behind my just before the turn in Henley. As I looked at her, I realised that I was not in anything like an aerodynamic position, as I’d completely forgotten to go down on the drops (I didn’t have tri bars as an option)! I have never ever done any sort of cycling time trial before so it didn’t really occur to me – I just worked and slogged and hoped for the best like I normally do on club rides! I managed to shake off the challenge of this new girl after a few little tussles and as I came back into Higginson Park where the race HQ was situated, IG was just putting her trainers on for the run. Excellent. You’re bigger than me, but I can have you. I chipped and chipped away during the run and overtook her in the 4th kilometre, eventually coming in over 40 seconds ahead of her.
It was great seeing Jules so happy with her row, and I was so proud of her for so many reasons....however I was a little concerned when they asked where Richard was as he was due back to hand the belt to David. He was more than five minutes later than we had anticipated and when there was talk of a road crash and two ambulances in attendance we all gulped. Happily, he came in a few minutes later, and it turns out that he had punctured within the first kilometre! However he valiantly soldiered on and David ran a blistering 5.5km to bring the team home. We looked at the results and it became clear that I had won the women’s section outright, but we were so wet and cold that we’d gone for tea and missed the prize-giving! Doh! However I did get my trophy and a £50 gift voucher for Saddle Safari, along with a goodie bag so I was rather pleased with the day’s work!
Next up is the Silver Skiff in Turin, an 11km head race, which I am really looking forward to doing. November will be a pretty hectic month, with the Henley Long Distance Sculls in the first weekend, the Silver Skiff the next, The British Indoor Rowing Championships in the third and lastly the Scullers’ Head of the River on 27th November. The last three will be raced at “winter lightweight” (61.5kg) which isn’t a problem as I normally sit between 59kg and 60kg throughout the whole year. The new training programme has changed my body composition again and I appear to have beaten the amenorrhea I have had for the past 6 years. Inconvenient as it is, it is heartening to know I can be light, train hard and “still be a woman”!! I’m not sure what has happened but I have reached a new stage mentally, primarily with Jules’ help with NLP, along with Alex Howard, the owner of a clinic called the Optimum Health Clinic. I have completely changed my outlook to training, racing and my own body and I am reaping the rewards of being much more in tune with myself.
More in the next instalment on some of the breakthroughs I have experienced - smashing ones in fact – along with some really really exciting news which I am itching to talk about! Once it all goes live I will be able to give more detail, but it’s an opportunity of a lifetime and between that and the All Africa Games, 2011 is going to be a ripping year!
