I got all excited when I came to write this thinking I’d actually managed a week without crying….but I’d forgotten about Monday!
Monday was actually my birthday, but of course that doesn’t mean we stop training, and I had my usual 4am start to get to Nottingham. However, the traffic obviously didn’t appreciate it was my birthday, and I had the most horrendous journey missing the session with my group. This meant I had to join in with the second group which includes some of the strongest paddlers in the squad. This meant I was left behind after every effort….making me feel like I was just going very slow! Of course, being the perfectionist I am, this really frustrated me, so I came off the water feeling grumpy, frustrated….and a pretty useless paddler. Now normally I would’ve just thought logically about this and realised the guys I was paddling about were all men who were much more experienced than me….but not today!
Because I was late I then ran out of time to catch up on emails, but did quickly flick though to see there was a whole load of forms that needed filling out for my athlete funding….which included details which I’d left at home…the stress continued to rise! Before I knew it we were back on the water for our first “starts” session since before Christmas. My first few starts were pathetic to say the least…the tears nearly came then! Thankfully the session picked up.
After spending the next couple of hours form filling, it was time for food and bed. I decided that it had been a bad enough day, and seeing as it was my birthday, I’d treat myself to a Chinese (not the behaviour of a dedicated athlete I know!)
The Chinese was shut!
So I spent my birthday sat in my camping pod eating a packet of Revels (again not the behaviour of a dedicated athlete!) watching a DVD on my laptop. I reckon I was allowed a few tears!
Apart from that, it’s been a challenging but good week. I’ve struggled to keep all the balls in the air, what with training, the Climbing Out Charity Evening and a lot of the organising for this year’s Climbing Out programmes needing sorting out now….but it’s all part of the learning curve and it’s something I’m going to have to get better at managing.
I’ve had good days and bad days on the water….and I feel like I’ve really pushed things in the gym. I’m still struggling to get my weights up any further, and after hitting a wall while doing what seemed like a hundred reps of bench press, Luke our strength and conditioning coach told me I couldn’t rack the weight and sometimes it was good to get into a hole that you felt like you couldn’t get out of. I eventually managed to get the bar up (after much grimacing and some very unladylike language) but I haven’t been able to feel my arms since then! Again, all part of the learning curve I guess!
I’ve got a light week next week as I’m working at Battle Back. It’ll be a challenge for me to back of training, but hopefully it’ll mean I’ll be back at Nottingham a week on Monday feeling fresh and strong….and ready to smash that bench press!!!