The third day of camp dawned very chilly but turned into a beautiful sunny day. Out on the water for the first session was very misty and was very serene.
Our session was supposed to be a steady state row but we ended up doing some stepped pieces. By the end of them my body had, had enough. We have been doing two sessions a day and I am used to basically one session a day with something else such as a swim, gym or ergo.
Everyone in the crew knew that I was hurting and when we got to the landing I didn't have to tell David our coach how sore I was because I had a hard time getting out of the boat. Needless to say I spent the next 30 minutes stretching and was then invited back to John McLean's house. John is a TA rower (trunck and arms) and has a hot tub in his backyard. I spent 30 minutes in the hot tub stretching. Not feeling too bad at this point a few of us went to the Blue Mountains for lunch.
Upon my return to the caravan park I met with David and it was decided that I would go for a swim instead of a row. Brandie was going to have a run, Lisa wanted to jump on an erg and the guys would head out in the pair.
I was directed to the Penrith Swimming Pool. What a wonderful pool, actually reminded me of Fitzroy pool. Needless to say my brain is always thinking Mega Swim and while swimming decided it would be a perfect pool for one of them! I had a great swim and grabbed a taxi back to the caravan park.
I am cooking dinner again tonight for everyone, we are having lasagne. This is my last night to cook! So last time the guys have to clean up.
Tomorrow is a big day as we have a critical time trial to do in the afternoon, so the rest this afternoon will do me good.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Day Two of Camp
It is hard to believe that we are only at day two. It feels like we have been here forever! What a glorious day today was, although Sydney had the coldest April night for 25 years. So needless to say it was a bit chilly on the water this morning. But we couldn't ask for better water! Usually it gets a bit windy here at SIRC in the afternoon, but this afternoon it was like glass. The weather report has told us that tonight and tomorrow morning will be colder than today, so I guess the winter woolies will be pulled out in the morning.
We had another two good rows today and this afternoon we had our cox Lisa back with us. Unfortunately she has a bad cold so we are keeping our distance. It was great to have her back in the boat with us though. Brandie could still just row this morning so Robyn who filled in yesterday came back and Brandie did a session on her bike.
We did four pieces this afternoon of 250m at full on race pace and probably rowed the best we have ever rowed. We now just have to turn this into a fantastic 1000m piece.
We are having another group dinner tonight, but Pete is cooking this one and we have Dom Moneypenny and his coach Rick coming in as well. Dom is Australia's arms only rower who has qualified for Beijing and is here just for the camp this week.
This camp has been the best one that we have had over the last few months and things are certainly starting to come together. I am really looking forward to the next few days.
Gene and Pete on Erg's after row
Talk about a beautiful view to Erg to!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Day One of Camp
Well we have finished our first day of camp and it went really well! It was probably the best row we have had on the first day of a camp. It usually takes us a day to get ourselves together as most of us train with others. But this morning was pretty good. Even Pedro (head coach of Adaptive rowing in Australia) stated that it was the best he had ever seen us row. We have had a couple of better rows at camps in Canberra, so hopefully we can show him even better skills come the end of the week.
Everyone seems much more relaxed than we were at the last camp and it certainly does show in our rowing. We had a fairly easy row this morning as Brandie is still dealing with a rib injury and we don't want it to get any worse. But she was able to do the whole workout without too much trouble. We had a young girl by the name of Alison (from Nepean rowing club) come and cox for us and she did a great job. Lisa won't be arriving until tomorrow afternoon, so Alison will cox for us until she is here.
We had an relaxing day and headed back to SIRC (Sydney International Rowing Centre) for our afternoon session. Brandie was advised to only do one session a day until Thursday, so we were lucky enough to have Alison's sister Robyn jump in Bow seat for us. I'm not sure she realized what she was getting herself into, as this afternoon was definitely harder and longer than this morning! We did a few good stepped pieces over 2000 metres and I think she was very happy to get out of the boat in the end.
So day one is out of the way and we are all very happy with how the boat feels. Hopefully it can only get better. We are about to have a team dinner again...in cafe Le Carol!
Everyone seems much more relaxed than we were at the last camp and it certainly does show in our rowing. We had a fairly easy row this morning as Brandie is still dealing with a rib injury and we don't want it to get any worse. But she was able to do the whole workout without too much trouble. We had a young girl by the name of Alison (from Nepean rowing club) come and cox for us and she did a great job. Lisa won't be arriving until tomorrow afternoon, so Alison will cox for us until she is here.
We had an relaxing day and headed back to SIRC (Sydney International Rowing Centre) for our afternoon session. Brandie was advised to only do one session a day until Thursday, so we were lucky enough to have Alison's sister Robyn jump in Bow seat for us. I'm not sure she realized what she was getting herself into, as this afternoon was definitely harder and longer than this morning! We did a few good stepped pieces over 2000 metres and I think she was very happy to get out of the boat in the end.
So day one is out of the way and we are all very happy with how the boat feels. Hopefully it can only get better. We are about to have a team dinner again...in cafe Le Carol!
Penrith
I arrived in Sydney yesterday for the start of the National Adaptive Camp. Pete picked me up at the airport and we headed to Penrith. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Sydney with temperatures in the low 20's.
We arrived in Penrith and are staying at the Nepean Shores Caravan Park and each have our own cabin. They are really nice and comfortable.
We arrived in Penrith and are staying at the Nepean Shores Caravan Park and each have our own cabin. They are really nice and comfortable.
Pete and I met up with Brandie at the Penrith Plaza and did some major grocery shopping for meals for the rest of the week. One of the reasons that we decided to stay at the caravan park was so that we would be able to cook our own meals. Much more nutritious for us as well as less expensive. We were able to buy food for all meals for the next 4 days for $140 and split between 5 of us that is fantastic.
Once back at the cabin we cooked up a huge feed of Spaghetti Bolognaise, garlic bread, salad and topped it off with fresh homemade fruit salad. Everyone came to my cabin for dinner...looks like my place will be the food venue!
We had a great team dinner with quite a few laughs. (The only person missing from the crew is Lisa our cox. Lisa will be arriving on Tuesday, as she is doing her year 12, she has an English assessment Tuesday morning, so couldn't miss it. Looking forward to having her back with the crew.)
I think the best part of the whole dinner was that the guys did the washing up!!! Love it when that happens.
Brandie 
Gene & Pete
Guys washing up
Coach David & Gene
Friday, April 25, 2008
2 Days Until Camp
With one day left to train with the girls at Yarra Yarra Rowing Club, I am getting more excited about next week. I received my Australian Team Handbook yesterday and it brought it all home that I am actually part of one of the best teams in the world! That is certainly something to live up to! It is great to think that athletes with a disability are included in the same team as "Able" bodied athletes. This doesn't happen in a number of other sports.
I spoke to Pete yesterday, one of my teammates and everything he talked about was "when we qualify the boat for Beijing". It is great that we are both thinking the same way. I think it is really important to believe in ourselves and our abilities and just give it our all.
As I said I have one more training session tomorrow morning with our squad at Yarra Yarra. We had a great session on Thursday night and I am hoping that it will carry over to tomorrow morning. The girls and coaches have been a great help to me and hopefully when we come back and have to train for Beijing, they will be willing to continue.
I leave Melbourne on Sunday to head up to Penrith with our training camp to start on Monday. I am looking forward to getting the team back together for a good week of training.
I spoke to Pete yesterday, one of my teammates and everything he talked about was "when we qualify the boat for Beijing". It is great that we are both thinking the same way. I think it is really important to believe in ourselves and our abilities and just give it our all.
As I said I have one more training session tomorrow morning with our squad at Yarra Yarra. We had a great session on Thursday night and I am hoping that it will carry over to tomorrow morning. The girls and coaches have been a great help to me and hopefully when we come back and have to train for Beijing, they will be willing to continue.
I leave Melbourne on Sunday to head up to Penrith with our training camp to start on Monday. I am looking forward to getting the team back together for a good week of training.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Three Weeks to World Cup
We are only three weeks away from the World Cup in Munich. I am feeling a number of things, excited to be representing Australia for the first time, nervous about racing and anxious about making sure that we come 1st or 2nd.
Really the best thing would be to come 1st! We have to do this to qualify our boat for the Beijing Paralympics. We have only been together as a crew for about a month and a half. We have had some great training sessions during camps and some not so good sessions. I just hope that we can pull it together when it comes to the crunch.
I have had some really good training sesssions here in Melbourne with the women from our club. They and the coaches have been fantastic helping me to get to the point I am at now. I only have a few more training sessions with them until I head to Sydney next week for a camp before we take off to Munich. I will take all of them with me in spirit.
The last few weeks have certainly be a balancing act in regards to my health. It has been hard to know how much to push my limits but be able to keep my MS in check. I think I have been pretty good at it and I haven't had to not train to much. I think the hardest thing is make myself believe that it is okay to rest. As an athlete I think that sometimes we tend to overdo it and not realise that maybe the best thing and most important thing we need is rest. I know that I feel guilty at times because I have opted to rest. But in the long run I know it will keep me in the boat.
I am very excited to be representing my adopted country of Australia and even painted my walking stick to match our uniforms and put the Southern Cross with Kangaroos on it! Actually got some compliments this morning at training. I might be Canadian born, sound Canadian, but I am certainly a proud Aussie!
Really the best thing would be to come 1st! We have to do this to qualify our boat for the Beijing Paralympics. We have only been together as a crew for about a month and a half. We have had some great training sessions during camps and some not so good sessions. I just hope that we can pull it together when it comes to the crunch.
I have had some really good training sesssions here in Melbourne with the women from our club. They and the coaches have been fantastic helping me to get to the point I am at now. I only have a few more training sessions with them until I head to Sydney next week for a camp before we take off to Munich. I will take all of them with me in spirit.
The last few weeks have certainly be a balancing act in regards to my health. It has been hard to know how much to push my limits but be able to keep my MS in check. I think I have been pretty good at it and I haven't had to not train to much. I think the hardest thing is make myself believe that it is okay to rest. As an athlete I think that sometimes we tend to overdo it and not realise that maybe the best thing and most important thing we need is rest. I know that I feel guilty at times because I have opted to rest. But in the long run I know it will keep me in the boat.
I am very excited to be representing my adopted country of Australia and even painted my walking stick to match our uniforms and put the Southern Cross with Kangaroos on it! Actually got some compliments this morning at training. I might be Canadian born, sound Canadian, but I am certainly a proud Aussie!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
In the Beginning
As a teenager my life revolved around my chosen sport of swimming and my ultimate goal was to compete at the 1980 Olympics being held in Moscow. Unfortunately Canada boycotted the Olympics that year and my dream of representing my country died. My love of sport however did not and I continued to swim even through my adult years as a masters swimmer. Even today I feel that I can't get enough of the water. Maybe I am just addicted to chlorine!
I eventually met and married an Australian, moving to Melbourne, Australia to begin a new life in a city that is mad about it's sport. I got involved with a Master's Swim club in Melbourne and even got involved with Aussi Rules Football. (An absolutely amazing game!) Then on April 23rd 1998 my life took an unexpect turn. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, or MS as we all know it. I was led to believe that my life was over and was advised not to do any sport and get ready for a life that was to leave me incapacitated. This to a sports fanatic was worse than a death sentence.
Luckily for me through my fantastic GP, the love of my wonderful husband and family and the support from the MS Society I realised that no one was going to tell me what I could and couldn't do! My life was mine and I was going to live it, albeit by doing things in a different way.
Life for me went on pretty much as normal for the first few years, but every so often MS would rear its ugly head. There were definitely extreme ups and downs but I always seemed to pull through. During a lot of the down times one of the things that kept me going was my love of the water. Even if my legs weren't working at times, I always felt no different in the water than anyone else.
In 2005 the World Masters Games were being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and for the first time in any masters games they had paralympic classifications in swimming and track & field. So thinking that the games would be a good idea in order to go home for a visit I got myself classified for the swimming. The games went extremely well with me winning 4 gold and 1 silver! Some how the Paralympic development people sent me an email asking me to come to a Paralympic Talent Search day at the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) located in Melbourne.
In December of 2005 I attend this talent search day and even though I was about 20 years older than the others I was put through the same pace. Just after Christmas that year I received a letter asking me to take up the sport of Rowing! Rowing of all things! I was used to being in the water not on top of it. I was told that Rowing was a new sport to be held at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Although "Adaptive" Rowing as it is called has been part of the World rowing scene since 2002, it had never been included in the Paralympics.
I wasn't able to take a Learn to Row course until June of 2006 and to say I was a bit worried about it is an understatement. A lot of my physical problems with my MS revolved around my legs, so I was worried about how I would cope with the shear physicalness of rowing. I did my rowing course with the Yarra Yarra Rowing Club and they were absolutely fantastic, assisting me in any way they could. Unfortunately after doing the course and starting with the development squad I had a relapse of my MS. This was by far the worst relapse I had ever had, which put me in hospital for 3 months. But when I got out I was right back at the club and back in the boat. Thus began my affair with a new sport called Adaptive Rowing in the Legs, Trunk and Arms (LTA) category. (This means that I am able to use all three.)
I was very lucky to have the assistance of a wonderful woman by the name of Sally Shaw, who coached me in the beginning and was able to help me go to the Australian Nationals in the first 4 months of rowing. I was able to team up with a Masters rower Fiona to take part in the Adaptive LTA Womens' Double Scull and to our surprise we actually won the event by a whopping 14 seconds! I was now on my way to a sporting career in rowing.
Now that I had a national title under my belt the doors to the rowing world seemed to open up. I applied for and was granted a scholarship from the VIS, which gave me access to the best of sporting facilities and assistance in all aspects of training. I was then invited to a national rowing camp in June of 2007 and was finally able to meet other rowers with disabilities.
Over the following months rowing seemed to take over my life and it has almost become a full time job! Between on & off water training and trying to get enough rest in order to train life has become very busy. Having MS and balancing the training that is needed to become a proficient rower has become the biggest challange, but so far I have been able to do it.
Along the way I have had a few wins. I broke both Australian records for the 4 min and 2km indoor rowing. I have had a few wins with my crews from Yarra Yarra in able bodied events and for the first time in 7 years my women's crew won the C category of the Head of the Yarra race.
I have also had to take part in time trials on and off water to be invited to the selection trials for the National team. These trials took place in February 2008 in Penrith at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC). These selection trials were held just before Nationals at which we also had to take part. I am happy to say that I was able to hold on to my Double's title, this year with another Adaptive rower Julia and I was second in the single scull. At the end of this week I was advised that I had indeed made the team and that we would be heading to Munich for the World Cup and last qualifying regatta for the Paralympics. The others in my team are Pete Siri, Gene Barrett, Brandie O'Connor and cox Lisa Brown. We row in a coxed mixed four and can be of any number of disabilites. We now had to come together from 4 different areas of Australia to gell as a team! This will be our biggest challenge but one we are all up for.
I now hope to write about our training and lead up to the World Cup on May 10th and hopefully the outcome that we all want, to qualify for Beijing!
I eventually met and married an Australian, moving to Melbourne, Australia to begin a new life in a city that is mad about it's sport. I got involved with a Master's Swim club in Melbourne and even got involved with Aussi Rules Football. (An absolutely amazing game!) Then on April 23rd 1998 my life took an unexpect turn. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, or MS as we all know it. I was led to believe that my life was over and was advised not to do any sport and get ready for a life that was to leave me incapacitated. This to a sports fanatic was worse than a death sentence.
Luckily for me through my fantastic GP, the love of my wonderful husband and family and the support from the MS Society I realised that no one was going to tell me what I could and couldn't do! My life was mine and I was going to live it, albeit by doing things in a different way.
Life for me went on pretty much as normal for the first few years, but every so often MS would rear its ugly head. There were definitely extreme ups and downs but I always seemed to pull through. During a lot of the down times one of the things that kept me going was my love of the water. Even if my legs weren't working at times, I always felt no different in the water than anyone else.
In 2005 the World Masters Games were being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and for the first time in any masters games they had paralympic classifications in swimming and track & field. So thinking that the games would be a good idea in order to go home for a visit I got myself classified for the swimming. The games went extremely well with me winning 4 gold and 1 silver! Some how the Paralympic development people sent me an email asking me to come to a Paralympic Talent Search day at the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) located in Melbourne.
In December of 2005 I attend this talent search day and even though I was about 20 years older than the others I was put through the same pace. Just after Christmas that year I received a letter asking me to take up the sport of Rowing! Rowing of all things! I was used to being in the water not on top of it. I was told that Rowing was a new sport to be held at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Although "Adaptive" Rowing as it is called has been part of the World rowing scene since 2002, it had never been included in the Paralympics.
I wasn't able to take a Learn to Row course until June of 2006 and to say I was a bit worried about it is an understatement. A lot of my physical problems with my MS revolved around my legs, so I was worried about how I would cope with the shear physicalness of rowing. I did my rowing course with the Yarra Yarra Rowing Club and they were absolutely fantastic, assisting me in any way they could. Unfortunately after doing the course and starting with the development squad I had a relapse of my MS. This was by far the worst relapse I had ever had, which put me in hospital for 3 months. But when I got out I was right back at the club and back in the boat. Thus began my affair with a new sport called Adaptive Rowing in the Legs, Trunk and Arms (LTA) category. (This means that I am able to use all three.)
I was very lucky to have the assistance of a wonderful woman by the name of Sally Shaw, who coached me in the beginning and was able to help me go to the Australian Nationals in the first 4 months of rowing. I was able to team up with a Masters rower Fiona to take part in the Adaptive LTA Womens' Double Scull and to our surprise we actually won the event by a whopping 14 seconds! I was now on my way to a sporting career in rowing.
Now that I had a national title under my belt the doors to the rowing world seemed to open up. I applied for and was granted a scholarship from the VIS, which gave me access to the best of sporting facilities and assistance in all aspects of training. I was then invited to a national rowing camp in June of 2007 and was finally able to meet other rowers with disabilities.
Over the following months rowing seemed to take over my life and it has almost become a full time job! Between on & off water training and trying to get enough rest in order to train life has become very busy. Having MS and balancing the training that is needed to become a proficient rower has become the biggest challange, but so far I have been able to do it.
Along the way I have had a few wins. I broke both Australian records for the 4 min and 2km indoor rowing. I have had a few wins with my crews from Yarra Yarra in able bodied events and for the first time in 7 years my women's crew won the C category of the Head of the Yarra race.
I have also had to take part in time trials on and off water to be invited to the selection trials for the National team. These trials took place in February 2008 in Penrith at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC). These selection trials were held just before Nationals at which we also had to take part. I am happy to say that I was able to hold on to my Double's title, this year with another Adaptive rower Julia and I was second in the single scull. At the end of this week I was advised that I had indeed made the team and that we would be heading to Munich for the World Cup and last qualifying regatta for the Paralympics. The others in my team are Pete Siri, Gene Barrett, Brandie O'Connor and cox Lisa Brown. We row in a coxed mixed four and can be of any number of disabilites. We now had to come together from 4 different areas of Australia to gell as a team! This will be our biggest challenge but one we are all up for.
I now hope to write about our training and lead up to the World Cup on May 10th and hopefully the outcome that we all want, to qualify for Beijing!
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