Camp life

So what do I do in my spare time while 1,900m up a mountain?

Sleep is a quick answer.  We come to train at altitude to work the body harder - we don't train any more than normal, but the lack of oxygen has a significant effect on the body.  The day starts with a 7:30 breakfast (a lie-in compared to my usual 6am!).  We then have our first session at 8am, lasting for about 2 hours.  We then head into second breakfast with a gap for a 40min power nap before the second session. Second session will probably be slightly shorter than the first and it then leads into lunch for about 1pm.  Then I can get another short nap aswell as read a book or watch some TED videos I've saved to my iPad.  3:30pm tea followed by the third and final session (2 hours again).  Dinner starts at 6:30pm and there is a chance to catch up on the internet for about an hour afterwards.  Bed by 9:30pm.

We stay in log cabins - a bed, running water and that's about it.  If only we had wifi.

I would say I find stuff on the internet every day that makes me want to tell someone else about it.

[As mentioned above] Recently I've really got into watching TED talks.  I've been known to YouTube surf, and TED allows me to do a similar thing, while feeling a bit more intellectual about it!  I would say I have a 75% hit rate for being "seriously impressed" by the ideas and projects on TED.

I read a fair amount of online news content and comment.  I've found my iPad has been great for this.  I have a standard set of sites I look at each day, and then let the content take me to further sites to learn more.  Specifically the BBC, Telegraph, Sun and Bloomsburg cover most bases.

A couple of weeks ago my mum (yes my mum!) was able to tell me about something I hadn't come across before.  The site is Kiva.org.  Kiva is a crowd-source lending site designed to help individuals and small businesses fund expansion.  The site is primarily focused around projects in poor and developing nations.  How does it work?  You can browse hundreds of projects - e.g. help Joseph buy more cows for his herd in Kenya - and then, if you are capable and willing, you lend Joseph a proportion (from $25+) of his target fund.  You receive no interest on the loan, but you will be repaid according to a strict repayment schedule.  My mum's school sold produce from their vegtable patch, they then used the profit made to help fund farmers across the world.  A help up rather than a hand out.  Amazing platform that can do some real tangible good.

Another crowd-source funding site that's worth a look is Kickstarter.  This is generally a site where design start-ups look to build an order book large enough to go into business and production.  Some great gadgets and innovative ideas - worth a look, just to see what is up-and-coming.  Esty is a site selling similar types of things, but you can order there and now rather than wait for the start-up to be formed.

For a laugh then look to David Thorne or dontevenreply.com - a fair amount of content, but not regularly updated.  Both have a great reviews from the team - prepare to spend a couple of days reading these.

Anyway, I best go.  Feel free to comment.

Live feed

I will be hosting a "watch me eat dinner" live feed from altitude camp tomorrow evening. As before, I will be joined by Alex Gregory from the men's four and other guests. Hopefully the weather will be nice and you'll be able to see the view we have for every meal. Tune in from 6pm UK time tomorrow (Fri) for about 40mins. I will post the link to the feed here and on Twitter once we go live.

Altitude Camp - delayed

Today I was due to fly out on altitude camp with the rest of the team but this morning I woke up with a stomach bug.  The decision was made for me to stay at home, that way I can recover and not spread my germs.  The plan is to head up onto the mountain on Sunday.  Once up at altitude I'm planning on hosting a couple of Twitcasts where you can tune in and watch us while we are having dinner.  I'll post details on here and on Twitter so you know when to watch.

A couple of people have asked about selection etc.  At the moment I am none the wiser.  There are four guys for three seats - one place in the eight and two reserves.  I expect to find out the final decision in the next 2-3 weeks.

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As always, a sincere thanks to everyone sending their best wishes.  A special thanks the The National Lottery (UK Sport), Atos and BMW - without which I wouldn't be able to fulfil my ambitions full-time.

p.s. If you missed it on Twitter, here is a video of the crew room at our training centre at Caversham.  The whole team was enjoying watch the Olympic sculler fall in on camera. :-)

A day in the life...

Below is a photo stream of a typical day's training in the UK.  I started at 7:30am in the EIS gym at Bisham.  Followed by second breakfast and then a session on the water.  Post water session I had lunch and then went on the ergo for the final session of the day.  From the photo's I noticed there was quite a few car journeys - thanks to Berry Chiswick BMW for making this all the more comfortable!

Feel free to drop any questions!