The Waiting Game
It’s the night before we start to race our National trials and we are just taking it easy in our room. We have had our crew meeting with our coach and we have our heat in the morning ay 9.45am. I will keep this short, but will say this; over the last two days since arriving in Sydney we have enjoyed the final stages of preparation. It is all fine tuning now and being able to play the waiting game is critical for success.
We have focused on how we step the blades out of the water during the last few session and what’s interesting is to have those moments when the light bulb goes off. It’s not anything earth shattering, simple things really that seem to bring it all together. The stability and match up through the drive and the flow around the turns has improved. So tonight we are spending our time kicking back watching some television. We’re pretty relaxed about the racing that's coming up; at least right now we’re relaxed. I am sure in the morning there will be a few moments of those building nervous. I guess the waiting game is all so a bit like a roller coaster ride.
Tomorrow we will begin to find out how everyone has prepared. The exciting element is that I love the challenge of racing. I am sure most are bias toward preferring to race and it is how we are measured. The trials are a bit of an unknown in relation to the pathway through to selection. What we do know is that our heat and semi final is tomorrow and final Friday morning if all goes well.
The joke that has been used around our group of athletes from Victoria is how Duncan bumped his elbow on a boat rack last year and well, he had to go into hospital with a blood infection. So the reality is anything can happen and that’s why we only really consider the immediate steps ahead of us. Strange things like a bumped elbow and other minor things can derail your progress very quickly. What must be said here is that last year even with the elbow incident Duncan and I were afforded a golden opportunity. We don’t like feeling like we were given special treatment with out the performances in the pair on the board. Obvious our results at the World Cup and World Champs paid off, but we are very focused on performing so there is no possibility for speculation about validity.
Anyway everyone will be focused on producing their best and there are many athletes us included who know how quickly things can change during the selection process. The main thing for us is to enjoy the challenge and to transfer the positive training into race performance.
We have focused on how we step the blades out of the water during the last few session and what’s interesting is to have those moments when the light bulb goes off. It’s not anything earth shattering, simple things really that seem to bring it all together. The stability and match up through the drive and the flow around the turns has improved. So tonight we are spending our time kicking back watching some television. We’re pretty relaxed about the racing that's coming up; at least right now we’re relaxed. I am sure in the morning there will be a few moments of those building nervous. I guess the waiting game is all so a bit like a roller coaster ride.
Tomorrow we will begin to find out how everyone has prepared. The exciting element is that I love the challenge of racing. I am sure most are bias toward preferring to race and it is how we are measured. The trials are a bit of an unknown in relation to the pathway through to selection. What we do know is that our heat and semi final is tomorrow and final Friday morning if all goes well.
The joke that has been used around our group of athletes from Victoria is how Duncan bumped his elbow on a boat rack last year and well, he had to go into hospital with a blood infection. So the reality is anything can happen and that’s why we only really consider the immediate steps ahead of us. Strange things like a bumped elbow and other minor things can derail your progress very quickly. What must be said here is that last year even with the elbow incident Duncan and I were afforded a golden opportunity. We don’t like feeling like we were given special treatment with out the performances in the pair on the board. Obvious our results at the World Cup and World Champs paid off, but we are very focused on performing so there is no possibility for speculation about validity.
Anyway everyone will be focused on producing their best and there are many athletes us included who know how quickly things can change during the selection process. The main thing for us is to enjoy the challenge and to transfer the positive training into race performance.
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