Sunny Switzerland
We arrived just after 1pm and got out of the car at the regatta center and what a nice surprise, warm weather. The excitement increased when I noticed the flags fluttering towards the finish line. Oh yeah gotta love a tail wind. Anyway it was cool and I love that feeling of anticipation. The Rotsee is a magic place and even as early in the year as this to be greeted that way was a joy. So we spent most of the day traveling, rigging and checking in to the hotel.
The Varese camp went well even though the weather was not great we enjoyed having some very good sessions and even a few challenging times. We had our bikes and our usual places to visit, drink coffee, eat pizza and enjoy the odd beer.
The next five days will be a chance to put into practice what we have been working on in our training. Quiet a lot of hard work has been done already but we know that the build is ongoing after this little outing. For now we will enjoy being here in what always feels like a bit of a home. The comfort levels are not to be over enjoyed though because come race time if we are not on our game we will quickly be found wanting.
Our focus here is simple have some great races and see how we transfer of training under pressure. It ain't complex really we will work on rowing long and making sure we stay relaxed. After a small time reflecting on the last two years I feel that the other crews, some of them will certainly try a few different tactics. What they are we can only speculate, which really is just a waste of time.
We however are clear about our task, we have not come this far to get caught napping, but we also don't want to try and race beyond our level right now. Consistency is a word that comes to mind and as our coach said the other day, 'tranquilio'. I think that is the right spelling. Not sure what it means but something about going with the flow and enjoying the moment.
As for a few house keeping matters it has been brought to my attention that we may have slipped in our appreciation of some people who make it easier for us to do what we do.
So here is the list:
Dean Oakman
Ray Ebert
Urs Graf
Tony Rice
Noel Donalson
There are more people to the list and I will make mention of them going forward, but for now these few need some love so here it is...
Dunc's and I will get around and give them all hugs just to really make the point about how much we do appreciate the support of the people who have an impact on our preparation and performance.
This leads me to make the point here that Chris our coach puts up with all our ... stuff. He is instrumental in what we do and who we are and for that we thank him.
Boy I think I am going to cry now, I may need Dunc's to give me a hug. Actually no he would crush me and that would not help things. Seriously though as athletes we often get caught up in our little Worlds and we become fixed on the tasks we have that it is easy to forget how many people enable what we as athletes do. Actually it's easy to let it slip and equally as easy to say thanks.
What type of strange dynamic is that. Its easy to ignore or forget something and easy to be proactive and act with appreciation. Hmmm I may need to ponder that some more tonight as I lay down to sleep in this great place called Luzern.
The Varese camp went well even though the weather was not great we enjoyed having some very good sessions and even a few challenging times. We had our bikes and our usual places to visit, drink coffee, eat pizza and enjoy the odd beer.
The next five days will be a chance to put into practice what we have been working on in our training. Quiet a lot of hard work has been done already but we know that the build is ongoing after this little outing. For now we will enjoy being here in what always feels like a bit of a home. The comfort levels are not to be over enjoyed though because come race time if we are not on our game we will quickly be found wanting.
Our focus here is simple have some great races and see how we transfer of training under pressure. It ain't complex really we will work on rowing long and making sure we stay relaxed. After a small time reflecting on the last two years I feel that the other crews, some of them will certainly try a few different tactics. What they are we can only speculate, which really is just a waste of time.
We however are clear about our task, we have not come this far to get caught napping, but we also don't want to try and race beyond our level right now. Consistency is a word that comes to mind and as our coach said the other day, 'tranquilio'. I think that is the right spelling. Not sure what it means but something about going with the flow and enjoying the moment.
As for a few house keeping matters it has been brought to my attention that we may have slipped in our appreciation of some people who make it easier for us to do what we do.
So here is the list:
Dean Oakman
Ray Ebert
Urs Graf
Tony Rice
Noel Donalson
There are more people to the list and I will make mention of them going forward, but for now these few need some love so here it is...
Dunc's and I will get around and give them all hugs just to really make the point about how much we do appreciate the support of the people who have an impact on our preparation and performance.
This leads me to make the point here that Chris our coach puts up with all our ... stuff. He is instrumental in what we do and who we are and for that we thank him.
Boy I think I am going to cry now, I may need Dunc's to give me a hug. Actually no he would crush me and that would not help things. Seriously though as athletes we often get caught up in our little Worlds and we become fixed on the tasks we have that it is easy to forget how many people enable what we as athletes do. Actually it's easy to let it slip and equally as easy to say thanks.
What type of strange dynamic is that. Its easy to ignore or forget something and easy to be proactive and act with appreciation. Hmmm I may need to ponder that some more tonight as I lay down to sleep in this great place called Luzern.
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