I'm currently in Varese on training camp. Living the dream of afternoon coffees with Italian supermodels*.
*some or all of this statement may be false.
A few things have gone on while here -
• I turned 24 a week ago today. Sadly nothing too exciting went down, I had three session in my single scull and had happy birthday sung to me 5 times by the exact same group of people. I will always remember my 24th b'day though, as it was the first day I noticed I had a grey chest hair. I must be getting old!
• Training has been going well. I'm feeling much better than the last month and have been getting some good training done in my single. It means I've been in a boat on my own, which can be less exciting, but also gives me freedom to work on my things. It has been difficult to work technically on things as we have had quite strong rolling cross waves which has made things challenging, but I'm pretty happy with my base skill and looking to develop my efficiency and proficiency at closer to race pace.
• Today was the flattest and sunniest day we have had here - cold, wind and rain has been the forecast for the past two weeks. So there I was, part way through my session - enjoying some really good paddling - when crack, splash, bang. My oar randomly snaps in the middle of the lake - nowhere near anything, it 'crabs' (flips round) and throws my boat over. I'm then upside down, under the water trying to undo my feet. I get free and find part of my oar has sunk to the bottom. Thankfully I was out with others and there was a coach to pick me up and take me back to our boathouse. The other guys loved it, nothing like someone else's misfortune to cheer you up!
In a couple of weeks it is the first World Cup race of the season, sadly I won't be racing this time - but expect strong performances from all the GB boats.
You can follow me day to day on Twitter @nrod2012 - please feel free to ask questions or leave comments!
Friday, 20 April 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
March Update
The view from breakfast in Aviz, Portugal.
Yesterday was four months until the games; how quickly time has passed. Within our team the initial selections for our pre-Olympic races have taken place and there is a definite "preparing" sort of feel to training.
Personally, I've had a nightmare first three months of 2012. Previous posts have documented a tough January camp and illness. I'd thought I had put these behind me, but during preparations in Portugal for our National Trials I fell ill again. Very similar symptoms to before, and looks like it was a re-occurrence of a virus I contracted. It meant two 10 day stints of little to no training within just over a month - this is rare. If I have a day off I get agitated, so 10 days was an eternity (to put it into perspective of my normal "time off" - from the end of last season to the next we got two weeks and I started training again in the second week).
There has been a huge effort to try and clearly define what it is that has caused me to be ill. Due to the huge list of differing symptoms, it has made it quite hard. Some aspects are very similar to glandular fever, but the test came back negative. It meant I was sent back to the cardiologist for more investigations. Again, this came back as abnormal but not of serious concern. It has meant we (the coaches, medical team and I) have treated this as something very similar to glandular fever. I've been building up my training - altering it here and there for when I am too fatigued. It has been a lot slower than I would have ever expected, but I'm hoping for a break through soon so I can get back into the full programme. Until I'm ready to fully train and race I'm not ready to be selected for anything. As I said at the start of the post, the Olympics are only four months away - I fear that time is ticking too fast.
Beyond rowing, all is well. My granny is in fine form, showing plastic Paddies how the real Irish do it on St Patrick's Day! My sister Charlotte is off travelling South Asia with her boyfriend Mark; I've been getting regular photo updates of random Vietnamese streets and Mark's burnt neck #livingthedream. My dad has been looking for a folding bike on Ebay, says it will save him £££'s in parking for work - what he saves in cash he will lose in dignity. My brother Paddy had a staring role in a Tyne Tees TV report on my school boat club (St Leonard's R.C. Comp. Durham), you can watch it here. My brother Ben is on training camp in Portugal with our boat club (University of London). UL had a great Eights Head (the most important time trial race on the domestic calendar) and Ben stroked the second Eight to a strong row, just missing out on winning their category. My little sister Emily has been on a creative streak, her latest creation was "Jeggie J" for the school egg decorating competition.
A final nod to my mum. A couple of weekends ago was Mother's Day, I'm sure she was felt the house was empty with only two of my brothers and sisters at home (I'm one of five). She gets soppy over the smallest of things, so I'll keep this short. She is a great mum who has, is and always will be there for all five of us. She's a highly respected teacher turned headmistress and we are all very proud of her!
You can follow me day to day on Twitter @nrod2012 and you can receive posts via email by signing on the left hand side. Feel free to leave comments and to ask any questions!
Sunday, 26 February 2012
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!
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!
Thursday, 5 January 2012
On way to South Africa
Just about to take off for the first camp of 2012. Weights, ergo's and cycling in South Africa at 2000m+ altitude.
Hope you've had a good new year!
Hope you've had a good new year!
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