The Olympic Torch Relay

The last two days have been what I feel to be the beginning of a very exciting Olympic experience. The night before the torch relay, the women's eight was invited to the Great Hall at Parliament House for a celebration of the torch relay hosted by the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, HE Mr Zhang Junsai. Attendees of the function were the other torch bearers, politicians of Australia and the Australian Capital Territory and many other celebrities including Ian Thorpe and Mark Beretta. The night was an amazing experience, with the Chinese entertaining us with their traditional drums and dancers.

The following day, 24th April, it was the torch relay. After a practice run the day before, we were escorted to Reconciliation Place on Lake Burley Griffin by several water police. We were welcomed by thousands of Chinese students who were bussed in from Melbourne and Sydney (over 100 buses). Their support was unexpected and truly amazing. After receiving the flame, we rowed it across to the bottom of Anzac Avenue before the torch was carried towards the Australian War Memorial. Here we were met more a few more thousand Chinese people, who were very excited about the occasion, as they were shouting out to us 'We Love You' and 'Welcome to Beijing'. Fortunately we were not disrupted by protesters. However, the Chinese Embassy has to be commended on their efforts to bus over 100 buses to Canberra from Sydney and Melbourne and supply them with shirts saying 'One China, One World, One Dream' and other merchandise including Chinese flag stickers and Beijing flags.

The torch relay was quite an experience and one of many to come. We are all packing up and getting ready for the World Cups to come in just over a week now. It will be a good opportunity to see how we stand against the rest of the world.

One Day Until Torch Relay

With only one day until the torch relay across Lake Burley Griffin, (from the base of Parliament House to Anzac Avenue), we are all very excited about the experience but also the commotion. We had a practice run this morning, and there will be five water police boats with approximately 40 policemen on board escorting our boat from the AIS rowing sheds to the torch relay. Lizzy Patrick our coxwain is the official torch bearer, however, we all managed to get torch bearing uniform, which is what it is all about. There will be many photos to come of the event.
Our trip to Sydney last week, was quite successful. We managed to race twice in two days. Both races were a shock to the system, however, were quite useful in our preparation towards the upcoming world cups. The eight clocked times that were the fastest of all the crews racing at the Olympic Selection regatta. This was a good indicator of where we stand because the crews that we were racing where physically prepared from racing, whereas we were in 'training mode' still.
Also, unfortunately the Who Magazine photo shoot and makeover has been cancelled for next week, however, will hopefully be rescheduled for when we are back in the country after our first tour.
We head overseas in just over a week now. We still have had a few injuries within the boat, although we have been able to continue training in the eight, thanks to the recent selection of our reserves.
Tonight we are all off to a dinner at the Great Hall at Parliament House. It is to welcome to the torch to Canberra and it is hosted by the Ambassador of the Republic of China. Although it is also an opportunity for the girls to get dressed up, which is never passed up!

How Fast Can We Go?

The week that has been is the type of week that an athlete of any calibre craves... Tapering.

It has been quite a nice break from the chilly weather conditions of last week.

Next week, the eight will be racing at the 2nd Olympic Selection Trials to test how fast we can go. With the previous weeks of tough training under our belts, we have been able to ease the training load and actually start feeling 'good' physically and mentally. It is a rare time for us.

I will be changing seats from bow seat to 3 seat, because our usual 3 seat has a small rib injury, which can become quite serious if you continue to row. Our reserve will be sitting in my seat, however, it will not be a disruption to the boat. Afterall, this could happen at the Olympics, it is good practice.

We are looking forward to racing the mens under 23 fours who are the same speed as us, and we want to win. The three races will allow us to try new tactics before we race the world in the upcoming world cups. It is much needed race practice.

I will be sure to update the site of how we go.

Training in Canberra

The week has finally come to an end. Fortunately, the week was cut short because the usual three hour bike ride was dismissed from the program, much to our appreciation. It is very rare for our coach to amend the program like this, however, as he always states, 'when I look into your eyes, and I can see the back of your head, I know you've had enough'... Maybe today was one of those days.

The eight is coming along well. With some great technical changes made this week, we are able have consistent efficient rowing throughout all training sessions. This is the key to racing well; ensuring that every training session has been completed with the most efficient and effective technique, while pulling very hard on the oar.

Throughout the week, we also had the crew from the 7:30 Report come out with us for a session. They will be doing a segment on the men's and women's eights. They are saying next Tuesday, however, they also said that it can be delayed if breaking news occurs... we think this is a way to increase their ratings, promise a time and then delay it for a week, so you end up watching more than you intended. The segment will be on Sally Robbins most probably, and James Tomkins for the men's eights, although you will be able to see footage of our eight out training. Stay tuned.

Training in Canberra

At the moment we are based at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. The Olympic Australian Women's Eight are in a hard training block of eight weeks before we depart for the World Cup tour in Europe.

We are three weeks into the training block. So far we have been through some of the hardest training weeks of the year. They have been consisting of over 30 hours of training per week. Last week, was the hardest so far. It included over 140km of rowing (approx 18 hours), 4.5 hours in the gym lifting weight, 5 hours on the bike and a further 3.5 hours in the gym doing interval training. However, as the first hard week of a three week block, the start of this week hasn't been easy either.

It is safe to say that we are all sleeping well at night, trying to squeeze in as much sleep as possible before the 5:30am start the next morning.