New Start

It's been a while but I'm back - back blogging and back rowing. 

An up and down summer; the torture of running with the team right to the edge of the Games, knowing it would all end too early for me, followed by a great Olympic multi-medal performance by some of my closest friends.  I explored the world of work, met some great people and inspiring businesses. There were a couple of exciting opportunities which gave me a real dilemma - cut my losses and start 'real' life or throw the dice once more? 

Ultimately, I still have that Olympic dream.  I have one hesitation though, it has to work - I have to be performing, I have to prove to myself that four more years are a worth while endeavour.  The main marker will be the World Champs next summer, I need to be there and need to perform at a standard that inspires belief.

I thank all those that have spoken with me over the past couple of months, it's helped form my view and it's good to know other people care.  Most of all, thank you to all those that have shown their support - not just recently, but over the past few years.

Soon I will look to blog on my adventures over the past two months, for now you can follow me day to day on Twitter @nrodtweets (a new name but the same account - if you previously followed me you still will be!). 

N

PS - I will also be moving the blog to wordpress in the coming weeks, I will post details here when all ready.

Catch up!

It's been a while since I've blogged, apologies to those visitors that have tired of my old content.  A lot has happened these past couple of months, I won't be able to cover it all - but I'll try to give you the gist!

January started with a bang, a two and a half week altitude camp in South Africa.  Over Christmas I'd really strengthened my injured back and was pleased with the progress I'd made on the ergo.  This translated to a good start in SA and I hoped to jump straight back into where I had been pre-torn disc.  A couple of days in and I started to pick up a few niggles and struggled.  The rest of the camp became a survival strategy as I nursed my way through a gruelling training program.  Most of the camp was on the ergo, broken up with weights and some cycling every other day.  There was no real time to do anything "touristy" in SA, but I did enjoy staying within a small town - it meant I could experience a little bit more of what it's like for the locals day to day.

Off the back of the SA camp we had the annual GB Team Dinner.  The dinner was held at Twikenham Stadium - about 6 mins drive from my house (unless the lights are bad!).  Invited are the good, bad and ugly of British rowing and sponsors.  The night can be a bit of a stiff occasion for those that have ergo tests a couple of days after, but it is a good chance to hear about how all the GB rowing teams did the previous season (Junior, U23, European and Senior).  Medalists are presented with a framed photo from the World Champs, the World Champions also receive a certificate from the World governing body (FISA) telling them they are World Champions.  I'm not really one for momentoes, but the my 'Junior World Champion' certificate is something different and special.

Post the GB Dinner we had our 5km ergo test.  With no preparation I went into it a bit blind.  Previously I'd probably gone too hard too early and paid for it in the second half.  This time I took a risk, I waited and waited.  I wanted to go under 16 mins, that meant pulling an average split of under 1:36.  I only got down to this in the dying stages of the test.  I finished with a time of 15:58 - a PB of 6 seconds.  I was pleased with the way I did it and happy to be stepping forward after what had been a miserable camp.

A few days later we did some testing on the water.  This has generally been where I could show my abilities and prove my worth.  This time I wasn't that good.  I lacked technically and needed to get more shove on through the stroke.  These are things I thought I had been doing far better earlier in the season.  The testing showed the great strength in depth in the team, there are plenty of others ready to perform and shine if you don't.  I'm dissappointed with my performance and, if I'm honest, it puts my Olympic dream in jeopardy.

Towards the end of that week I started to develop funny heart rhythms.  They came and went, sometimes stronger sometimes weaker.  During racing your body can react in strange ways, it had been particularly cold and I had experienced a couple of these weird beats while away in SA.  CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) conducts regualrly screening and last October they had picked up that I had an eptopic beat - its not particularly serious but something to keep an eye on.  As I settled to tuck into the Six Nations on the Saturday afternoon, I noticed that my heart wasn't beating normally, I felt pretty rubbish, lips tingled a bit and noticed I was getting breathless.  I let it go, expecting it to settle like the previous days, but by the evening I thought it would be best to contact Dr Ann (our team doctor).  She sent me to A & E to get it looked at, I think the main purpose was to catch it on an ECG while it was happening.  Several blood tests were done to check other stuff wasn't going on (e.g. Thyroid issues etc).  Come Monday I was still getting these beats and I really struggled during my first session.  Dr Ann sent me to see a cardiologist [Prof Sharma] at St George's Hospital.  I was told this guy was THE guy to see, and I believe it.  They ran through quite a few tests, including an active ECG.  I was told they would put me on a treadmill - "get me moving and see how the heart reacted".  I thought this would be a light jog at worst - I was wrong.  I was rigged up with 12 or so sensors and then informed it would be a test to maximum heart rate.  I was sat in jeans and trainers (laces not done up).  I sweat pretty quickly on a cold day, in a warm hospital I thought this can only get messy.  Inside I didn't know what to do - ask to do it in my boxer shorts or just get on with it? I bottled it, jeans it was.  I don't think they'd had anyone sweat quite so much but thankfully they didnt make me go to max heart rate ("Yeah, this is going to take too long").  They gave me a 24hr ECG to wear and I finished my training for the day.  Over the next couple of days I felt pretty rubbish and feverish at times.  On the Wednesday Dr Ann said to take a break, I had more tests and was given time to let things settle.  My 24 hr ECG had been to try and gauge how many eptopic beats I was getting - if it was more than 2,000 then they might need to do something about it.  It turns out I had over 10,000 in that 24 hr period.  By Friday these beats had still not settled, I was put on a very low and short dose of beta blockers to bring things back into line.  By the end of the course they eptopics had settled significantly.  On the Monday I had an MRI (just to make sure) and trained in the afternoon.  I felt terrible; fever, shaking, no appetite, queasy etc - heart stuff all fine though.  I some how also picked up an infection in my elbow joint.  That week was up and down as I fought this virus off, eventually back training on the Friday and feeling like I had turned the corner.  Since then I've been tired, but feeling stronger and back into full training.  The medical team reckon the whole episode was down to some weird virus, it was annoying to get so many things as once.

Since then I enjoyed a visit to the World Cup racing at the velodrome with Atos UK - I'll write about this in the next couple of days.

A week on and I'm now in Portugal on the second training camp of the season, preparing for our national trails (at the start of March).  I'm in a pair with Tom Ransley, things have started pretty well and I'm looking forward to getting our boat motoring.

I must say thank you to everyone who has sent their good wishes, it is much appreciated.  A special thanks to family, friends, Atos UK/Threshold Sports and the medical staff at GB Rowing - world class.

Feel free to leave comments/ask questions below.  You can also find me on Twitter @nrod2012.


p.s. does anyone know anything about the flowers I received on Valentines day?! Denials from everyone I know!

Video update - Sierra Nevada

I realise now that I should have filmed it in landscape! It's the first time I'd used the video function on my phone and didn't think about it.

Does everything that goes up have to come down?

It's been a little while since I've posted and a lot has happened in the past 10 days.  I'm currently in Sierra Nevada [Spain] on the first altitude camp of the season.  Before we flew out it was a busy final week at Caversham.

Last week saw the first batch of testing in the 2012 Olympic season.  These tests were more informal than some of the more serious ones still to come, but they are an initial marker on the board as we all look to secure our places as individuals on the team.  We were tested on the water and on the ergo.  The water performance went particularly well for me.  I was pairing with Alex Partridge and we showed that the good speed we had in training could be translated into the racing.  The second type of testing was on the ergo - 2km - this is normally more of a challenge for me.  Going into the test I knew I had made very good gains on the longer training ergos, but had not idea of my "race pace".  It meant it was more of a "jump on and see" exercise than knowing exactly what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it.  At the end I was 3 seconds away from my PB, which was ok but it was really a bare-minimum performance.  I knew midway through that I was struggling and looked to take it on from what turned out to be a bit too far out.  It meant I blew my doors off close to the finish, just a tad too early.

On Monday we flew very early from Gatwick to Malaga; it was then a 3-4 hour coach journey up into the mountains to reach the training centre at 2320m altitude.  Camp started hard, I reckon I was still feeling the effects of the testing at the end of the previous week and I particularly struggled Wednesday morning.  Thankfully I turned that round and moved my scores in the right direction, showing pace significantly stronger than I had been capable off when we were last here in January.  Then last night disaster struck.

As regular readers will know, rowers and their backs are like a naked flame and a polyester jumper.  Something that really don't mix too well.  My back has had its fair share of problems, but for the past year it has been getting stronger and more reliable as time passes.  Suddenly last night my back went, leading to a massive spasm and severe pain.  24 hours haven't even passed yet, and im still in a significant amount of discomfort, but I'm already showing signs of improvement - even if I can't sit down, walk naturally or even lie down without getting twinges.  It makes typing awkward and so I hope you will excuse me as I try to rest up.  It is now a waiting game, hopefully it will pass nearly as quickly as it came.

On a quick positive note, thank you to those that have donated to the Movember Campaign (thanks to Atos for chipping in too!).  If you've got a spare £1 to help raise awareness for men's health issues please visit - http://mobro.co/nrod/d.

Below is a picture Tony Fleat from O2 and his tashtastic growth.  There is also a Freddy Mercury-esque picture of me.

Debut on BBC Look North

A few weeks ago I met up with Katie Gornall from BBC Look North.  The final edit was shown on TV while I was away in Seville, so they sent me down a copy and said it was fine for me to post on here for my none North-Eastern/regional news viewers.  I particularly like the bit where I get rinsed by Paul the weatherman (right at the end); one day I might get to meet him and I can show him I'm a dab-hand at getting the weather wrong too :-)  The clip also features Hexam's very own Matt Wells (Olympic Bronze Medallist 2008); before anyone says it, yes I have told him how camp he sounds.

As alway you can follow me day to day on Twitter @nrod2012 plus you can receive blog posts to your inbox by signing up on the left hand side.  Comments and questions welcome.

Seville Training Camp (Vlog)

My Video Diary from the first training camp of the season (Seville, Spain).  It's not great, so feel free to leave comments for improvements.  As always, you can follow me on Twitter @nrod2012.

First week back & Berry Chiswick BMW

The first week back at training has been a mixed bag.  It's been good to get back into a routine; it's been bad that the routine is being knacked and needing afternoon naps.  Training itself has gone reasonably well, been doing weights, ergo and water work.  All seems to be going ok - I proper chinned myself on the erg for the first couple of days but I settled down by the end of the week.  It's been a good laugh catching up with everyone, and with the rugby World Cup in full flow there is plenty to talk about.  If you were reading during the Six Nations you will know I like my rugby and Ireland are my team.  Things are looking good for them and they seem to be loving every minute they play - the England team seem to be loving every moment they aren't playing.

I recently signed a sponsorship contract with Berry Chiswick BMW (hence the new logo up top).  On Saturday I picked up an amazing car.  Flicking into sport mode to go to Sainsburys has never felt so good.  For the past couple of years I've been loaned a car by my housemate James.  I cannot thank him enough for the support he has (and continues) to show me; cash has been very tight at times, and he has helped keep me on the road throughout.  Getting to training, to the physio, doctor, weights room etc all requires a vechicle and the more reliable the better.  Thanks to Berry Chiswick I will be arriving on 18" alloys with Dolly Parton blaring out from the stereo.

Back to school

Tomorrow we start back training at Caversham.  Today feels a lot like the last day of the school holidays, except i haven't got a new uniform and my backpack has held-out for another year.

The time out has been really quite hectic.  The first half spent on holiday (see earlier posts) and the second half seeing family, friends and doing some work.

A week ago I did my first ever corporate conference speaking gig.  Atos provide a bursary to help with training related costs and they invited me to speak at the Best Western Annual Sales Conference - bit of a mouthful but it was an interesting event.  I find it intriguiging to hear what companies are upto and how they plan for the future.  My role was to chat about what I do day to day and how I play my part in a team.  I think I did ok, nobody walked out!

Last weekend I made it home [Durham] for a few days to see family.  It's rare that there is a gap big enough in the programme for me to go home, so it's always hectic meeting up with people I haven't seen in ages.  I picked up my Granny on the way up (she lives in Leeds) and made it just-in-time to pick up my little sister Emily from school.

On the way home we went to get Dad an early Birthday/Christmas present - ok very early Birthday/Christmas present.  That chat at home had been that Dad was impressed with what the Ipad could do, but he would never justify that expense to himself.  So Louise, Emily and I went to PC World.  It turned out the 3g model I wanted wasn't in stock, after umming and arrring Emily churps up "well there is Argos, I think you can get them in there".  The bloke at PC World looked a bit shifty and then laughed in a belittling manner, I said to him "I reckon you might", he said "no, they only do accessories".  Emily says - rather quietly now (obviously feeling a bit put out and embarassed) - "you know, I think they do them in Tesco now too", "are you sure Emily?" "I think so, but it might be ones that look like it".  Again, PC World guy says they don't do it, they just do accesories - no Apple products.  He also tells me what a great deal the next model up is.  We leave, I reckon I can get the one I want in Durham the next day.  Just to make sure, I run into Argos - low and behold Emily was right and the one I wanted was in stock!  I popped into Tesco to grab milk, boom Emily Reilly-O'Donnell strikes again - not only did they also have the one I wanted, but the accessories I couldn't get hold of in PC World were there too.  Nice one Emily, I should never have doubted you.

The weekend was busy but it was great to catch up with lots of people.  Between games of Angry Birds we made it to Beamish Wild for some high-ropes fun.

Posing "Asian style" as Ben put it - bit different from the usual "Irish Catholic" [below]

This last week has been as busy as the last.  I've been into O2 a couple of times; went to my first ever O2 Legal Meat Club meeting - lots of steak; met up with my mate Tom for dinner and drinks Thursday night; had a brief apprearance on Harley Street (I will talk about that next week) and Dan Richie (in my 8 at the World Champs) had his stag do in London this weekend.

You can follow me on Twitter @nrod2012 and you can receive posts direct to your inbox by signing up on the left-hand side.  Feel free to ask questions/make comments etc.

Holiday after the Worlds

After the Worlds had finished I stayed out there and went to Venice with my girlfriend Louise.  It was a great place to visit, fantastic weather and enjoyed somewhere different.  Here are some photo's -

When in Venice you can't really not go on a Gondola, but at £80 a go I was expecting a bit more speed and less stinky chat - probably why I don't look totally excited there.

From Venice we went on to a place called Grado on the Med.  As soon as we arrived we realised it wasn't all that it said it was.  After avoiding a coach party of pensioners from Dusseldorf, we decided to not bother checking in and to make our way to an internet cafe.  We decideded to head back in the direction of Bled, with a couple of phone numbers for apartments in hand.  Luckily we struck gold with a great apartment and amazing hosts.  We did lots of water sports type stuff and had a great time. I got back on Monday and I've been into O2 the past few days.  Now trying to get some washing and admin done before I go to home via Stoke for the Atos event.

You can receive posts to your inbox by filling in your email on the left; you can also follow me on Twitter @nrod2012.  Feel free to leave comments or ask questions - it's always good to be given ideas to write about.

Racing round-up

All of the Eight plus Christian, our coach.

So it's a couple of weeks since we have raced, lots has happened since then and soon I will need to hit the gym more often.  I've got a few things happening over the coming days including a conference with Best Western and Atos tomorrow and then heading on up home to see my family.


To the racing; the Eight is the biggest and fastest event in rowing, and an event that is becoming ever closer – meaning the margins between winning and losing, qualifying or not qualifying are closer than ever.  We had a consistent Championships with wins in the Heat and the Semi-final; sadly in the final we couldn’t quite make it to the front of the pack and came away with a silver medal.  The race itself was differcult due to choppy conditions in the second half, it meant making no mistakes and dealing with it as best we could.  It wasn't our greatest of rows, but we can't come away saying "if it wasn't for this or that we would have..." as second place is where we have been positioning all year.  A silver medal feels good, but our team is so successful and our ambitions are so high, that anything less than the win is a disappointment.  The winners of the event were the German Eight, they are a formidable force (world champions ’09, ’10 and ’11) but they’re not unbeatable – they just seem to be at the moment.  Placing in the top 7 at this World Champs automatically qualifies the boat for the Olympics – this is important as next year there is only one last qualification slot available.  It means the boat, but not the individuals, will be guaranteed a place on the start line in 2012.  For the next 11 months my sole aim is to gain a place on the Olympic Team.  If I do that, by trying my hardest and being the best I can be, I will be putting in the work to go for Olympic Gold.


If you missed the racing you can watch the semi-final here by scrolling through the clips at the bottom, the mens 8+ semi's are at the far right (we are semi-final 1).


You can watch the final on the BBC here  and you can watch Greg's video diary here (Greg sat 5 seats ahead of me).

On Holiday

Coming towards the end of my holiday in Europe.  I've been to Venice and been fleeced left right and centre (really nice place though!) and now back in Slovenia for some relaxing and adventure activities.  Check out my Twitter (@nrod2012) for day to day photo's and updates.  I will give a full round-up of the racing and holiday adventures once back in the UK next week.  I hear the weather is a bit pants back in the UK - gutted for everyone - I've been in shorts for the last two months #unlucky :-)

ps while I've been away Emily turned 10, she had a great day with lots of presents ("mainly clothes, bling and transylvainian families; all really good").

World Silver Medal

Yesterday we won a silver medal at the World Champs.  There is much to say but the most important thing is to thank all those that have helped and supported me on my journey so far.  I thank the numerous coaches and support staff - past and present; Atos; UK Sport/National Lottery; Ebac/County Durham Community Foundation; Siemens/GB Rowing; St Leonard's School; University of London Boat Club and all the friends and family that have been there through thick and thin. 

Today will be the first time in quite a while that I have a day off from training.  I will fill you in on this week in due course.  Have a great Friday.

Two Days to Go.

Lake Bled 

So we've been in Bled for a few days now, being in civilisation is a welcome change.  After several weeks either high up in the Alps or in the outback of Portugal, it's nice to be around new people.  We've been lucky to train in some really picturesque locations and Bled doesn't disappoint as a final destination.  In two days time the World Rowing Championships will start and it's time to execute all that we have been doing in training.

While we are pretty serious on the water, we've generally had a good laugh when on the land.  There are several dozen running jokes, which when you try to explain you never really capture the same moment, sometimes they make their way onto Twitter, many do not.  Towards the end of the camp in Portugal the hotel dog gave birth, ironically it gave birth under the balcony of the resident Keith Lard of the team, leading to several "come to daddy" jokes for the next 24 hours.  There was also a twittergate incident where it was joked that one of the crews fell in, it didn't go down well so we had to delete the tweets.  After our journey out to Bled I posted a video of us "training" in the airport - it's had a great responce and has been featured all over the t'internet.  These are just a few of the laughs we have, but now it's time to get down to racing.

Last night we had a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Slovenia, it was a mainly informal affair for the team to meet Embassy staff and dignitaries from Slovenia (including the Mayor of Bled, the Slovenian Olympic Committee chairman, the Slovenian Minister for Sport, some famous gymnast and the leader of the Organising Committee for the World Champs).  I'm told that the UK Minister for Sport will be joining us next week, along with the British Olympic Association chairman - Lord Moynihan [I'll be keeping my wallet close when he's about].

Ambassador Reception 

The Telegraph

The video I posted yesterday morning also made it onto The Telegraph website front page.  Here is a link to the article they wrote - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/rowing/8720323/GB-rowing-team-practice-moves-at-airport.html

The Sun

My video has made it to the front page of The Sun website; here's the article -

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3771593/Row-breaks-out-at-Munich-Airport.html

If you go to http://www.thesun.co.uk/ we are the link below the gypsy feud story - Living the Dream.

GB Men's Eight - on the way to Bled

Fitting in some training at Munich Airport on the way to the World Championships [Bled, Slovenia].

Still in Aviz

I can't even remember when I actually got here and don't even know when we leave, but I know we will be here for a few more days yet!  I really feel we are on the cusp of some really key changes.  The building blocks of work we have been doing all year are hopefully coming together to place us in the best shape to perform come the end of August/beginning of September.  Being in an eight means that things can become complicated very easily when really our objective is shockingly simple - to WIN.  I think we have been mindful of that all season; now is when it really counts.

We live, eat, sleep, work and socialise together; this can get pretty intense and this means we know each other so well but it also means we can probably frustrate each other too.  I feel I have probably been frustrated and the frustrating at times this last week; not that anything has kicked off or anything like that.  It's sometimes hard to get the balance of expressing/not expressing - and sometimes not expressing is worse that expressing!  All teams are made stronger by the diversity of the individuals; we all bring strengths, perspectives and skills.  We also have a shared journey, each getting there in our own way, each with our own story to tell.  Over the next few days I'm going to compile a video introducing the rest of my team, hopefully you can get a flavour of the guys I'm pleased to call "my crew".

Riot in Aviz - August

As JD Sports is taking a kicking from 250 chavs, I'm in Aviz [Portugal] on our final preparations camp for the 2011 World Rowing Champs.  Positives - the pictures look great and the water is great for rowing on. Negatives - its so hot my wee evaporates before hitting the toilet seat [joke].

So far I've escaped sunburn (thanks to factor 50+ cream and stick) and have only come close to passing out once.  The day in question was yesterday; an hour ergo, no air flow and a body temp resembling arrests per hour in Hackney.  I'm not really a heat person, much prefer the cold - surprising when I grew up in the OC (Old Cassop not Orange County).

The camp has so far been dominated with discussions on the riots and the love/hate of the heat out here; therefore I haven't really got much more to talk about!

My current daily routine -

6:15am Wake - take heart rate, produce blood and urine samples.

6:30am Breakfast

7am Row

9am 2nd Breakfast

11am Row

1pm Lunch

4pm Afternoon Tea

4:30pm Gym

7pm Dinner

9:30pm Sleep

Around that I will have meetings/physio/sleep/quick 10min cool off in pool.

My bro's Ben and Paddy are back from China and Peru, my sis Emily is still available for chimney sweep work.

Back from altitude camp

Yesterday I landed back in the UK after a gruelling altitude camp.  I was pleased with my personal performance, with a PB on every ergo I did. 

The lake has a large cafe at one end of the dam; so throughout the day you have coach loads of austro-german pensioners stopping off for a quick bite to eat and a good old push-in the queue.  The views are amazing, but this can be lost on you as you get into the tiring stages of the camp.  Today I've been training at Caversham and tomorrow I will fly out to Portugal for our final preparations for the World Championships.  We will fly straight from the camp to the Championships in Bled [Slovenia].  I'm generally in great shape, but with some back niggles - as many rowers have!  Thankfully we have great medical staff.

My brother Ben is racing well in China and my brother Paddy is on his flight back from Peru - hopefully he doesn't start spouting "gap-yah" tush.

I will be able to give more updates while in Portugal.  If off to buy some more suncream as will be 40+ degrees!

One Year until the Olympics

One Year until the Olympics - enough said really.  The clock is ticking...