Monthly Report- June

“What do you want to be when you grow up? “ The words that come out of many children’s mouths - “I want to be an Olympian”. This continuing dream has been lived and lost for many in the last month. Being surrounded by many Olympians back home, not only from Australia but all around the world, I have had the best opportunity to see what it takes to be the best. Forums, blogs and newspaper articles all with polar opposite perspectives has given me a good insight into views from athletes into the hard work that has been required over their life and especially during the last 4 years. Time, effort, passion and commitment to a sport that is our life.  Each day is about training, training and more training - and I wouldn't want it any other way.
“Many roads lead to the medal but all begins with a great start”. Everyone has heard the saying that it’s not the bike, it’s the rider on it. There are many roads that we can take to be the best and I know that it will take 101% effort to succeed . In our training environment in Vitoira, we utilise equipment like our tempo trainers in swimming, SRM when we ride and the trusty Garmin for when we run. All these tools help to ensure that I am putting out the effort needed in each and every training session.

I look back from when I started and I can say I began with a great start. I had the support and development to get me where I am now. I am lucky enough to still have this continuing support and I have been fortunate to receive the support of two new sponsors - HUUB Wetsuits and NOVA Swimwear.  I am excited to be given the opportunity to wear and promote HUUB wetsuits which have just been introduced into Australia from the UK. They are great wetsuits that are not only comfortable to wear but are designed provide comfort and natural swim stroke. I have been working with them recently and look forward to working with them in the future. NOVA is my favourite swimwear and I am very happy to have them as a sponsor. Growing up as a swimmer, I always wore Nova Swimwear and now I will be working with them for race suits, apparel and training swimwear. They make excellent swimwear and I look forward to promoting their brand in domestic and international competitions.

It has now been a year since my first overseas trip as a young inexperienced 18 year old. This month I have competed in races at Banyoles, San Sebastian and the home of the Olympics in Canary Wharf, London. Déjà vu has hit having raced the same races last year - I can now look back a year and appreciate massive changes in my approach to races and my performance. Even Olympians are still learning what works for them but all have autonomic processes that are developed through training. These processes try to keep me in the “zone” during a race and not to overthink. Within all these races, I have had something that I could concentrate on and I still know what I need to develop on. I also now appreciate that it is not only physical and mental aspects which determine the end result but something as small as positioning in a ride or the place that you come into transition are just as equally important.  Who would have thought that sport could be so complicated.

I am looking forward to watching the Olympics from the comfort of my couch, in Spanish, and seeing some familiar faces on TV on the 4th and 7th of August. I am also ready to be living my dream in 2016 or 2020.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WTS Season!

Image
          ITU season overall Driving home from our caving experience in December 2017 with my previous psychologist Jason Patchell, we spoke about what I wanted to achieve this year and how I was going to do it. One of the main things he asked me was what I wanted to set as an overall series goal for the WTS series. After placing 21 st last year, I said a top 15 would be a good progression forward. He looked at me said " what about a top 10? " I tossed it back and forward in my mind wandering if It was a possibility. We finished that conversation with why not make it a challenge and how I was going to get there with other key processes throughout the season. One of my key themes for the year was having confidence in the whole picture. Starting my WTS season with a podium in Abu Dhabi really set the tone for the year and was a big driving force for my confidence and my ability to compete against the best girls in the world. That race was...
Read more

Two weekends. Two races. Two second places

Image
October is a month I really look forward to with two consecutive weekends of hard racing at home in Australia! I was feeling good leading up to Nepean and Noosa. I had a month of consistent sessions and I could see improvement every week especially in my running speed. This time of year I can train when I want and you certainly appreciate the skill involved in coaching when you are under your own guidance. I put old fashioned pen to paper to detail my training weeks and then set about ticking off each session. The morning of the Nepean was absolutely freezing. I had gloves, tights and headwear on just to keep warm and I was still shaking. It was a wetsuit swim for the first time in the 6 years that I have competed and I was glad of the added protection. The women’s field was pretty small and I lead out with five of us exiting the water together. I was a little disappointed with the swim based on how well I have been swimming but the cold was definitely a factor. In the fi...
Read more

WTS Abu Dhabi 2018 - my first WTS podium

Image
With Abu Dhabi on the horizon, I had 4 weeks of consistent training in our Woll ongong base with the knowledge of the demands that the race in Abu Dhabi would have. Building on training and confidence each week was a great starting base for the season. Doing some new sessions in our training environment in this year has lit a new spark giving me confidence back in areas that I had lost. On 16 th February I raced in Devonport Oceania Champs where I placed second after a full week of training. It was great to put processes in place under fatigue and get a full race under my belt. Race day threw everyone off guard with rain starting to fall and a colder air temperature. Abu Dhabi gets about three days of rain a year and racing on the F1 track was going to make critical moments even trickier. Before I even got to the race site, I was covered in sand, water and muck off the roads. I knew that having a good pre-race plan...
Read more