Heats Done
Heats have been rowed and I enjoyed seeing some solid performances from a number of Australian crews. In particular our girls in the pair did a great job. This does stand out because we were on the water at the time warming up when they went past us in the lead.
Today I was keen to see how our big boats had prepared and it was great to see both crews going straight through from their heats.
What is a bit strange is that we know everyone would have the desire to race well and do their best, but what we don’t know is what are other expectations so when you see various athletes after racing it is often a fine line between how excited, satisfied or disappointed people can be about their performance.
For us we had a good heat row and were expecting potential fireworks from the German and Chinese crews. I think we had a solid start which set us up well early. Our rowing was not great after the first 700m. A few things contributed to this. The other heat were all quicker than us over the 2000m, but I probably prefer to focus on the 500m and 1000m times as this is were I think you get a more realistic idea of what people are able to do.
What was a shock though was the first heat of the pairs with many crews in it who we regard as top performers. It looked tough on paper and the heat winners GB obviously did a good job.
What also caught my attention as far as performances was the first 1000m of the Slovenians in the double and the New Zealanders in the four. The double is a hot event and the Slovenians must have taken off at the start clocking a 1.29min. The Kiwi four look well in control and were fastest down the track compared to the other heats.
It is interesting to see who gets off to a great start for a regatta like this and who has to fight back after the initial shock of the heats. It is a long week and one that often feels like you’re on a roller coaster.
Life at the moment revolves around food, rest, training, movies, walks, coffee, meetings, bus trips, racing, watching, sleeping, talking to family, some writing and reading. We spend our time either switching off or switching on effectively. I miss my family a lot and love seeing their smiling faces when I talk to them on the computer.
Now we prepare for semi finals and we will find out the draw after the repechage’s. This year there are many events that have quarterfinals, which means an extra race for the week. For some I am sure this is frustrating, for us though it is a bit of a waiting game until Thursday.
Today I was keen to see how our big boats had prepared and it was great to see both crews going straight through from their heats.
What is a bit strange is that we know everyone would have the desire to race well and do their best, but what we don’t know is what are other expectations so when you see various athletes after racing it is often a fine line between how excited, satisfied or disappointed people can be about their performance.
For us we had a good heat row and were expecting potential fireworks from the German and Chinese crews. I think we had a solid start which set us up well early. Our rowing was not great after the first 700m. A few things contributed to this. The other heat were all quicker than us over the 2000m, but I probably prefer to focus on the 500m and 1000m times as this is were I think you get a more realistic idea of what people are able to do.
What was a shock though was the first heat of the pairs with many crews in it who we regard as top performers. It looked tough on paper and the heat winners GB obviously did a good job.
What also caught my attention as far as performances was the first 1000m of the Slovenians in the double and the New Zealanders in the four. The double is a hot event and the Slovenians must have taken off at the start clocking a 1.29min. The Kiwi four look well in control and were fastest down the track compared to the other heats.
It is interesting to see who gets off to a great start for a regatta like this and who has to fight back after the initial shock of the heats. It is a long week and one that often feels like you’re on a roller coaster.
Life at the moment revolves around food, rest, training, movies, walks, coffee, meetings, bus trips, racing, watching, sleeping, talking to family, some writing and reading. We spend our time either switching off or switching on effectively. I miss my family a lot and love seeing their smiling faces when I talk to them on the computer.
Now we prepare for semi finals and we will find out the draw after the repechage’s. This year there are many events that have quarterfinals, which means an extra race for the week. For some I am sure this is frustrating, for us though it is a bit of a waiting game until Thursday.
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