Hannah, Belinda, Melanie ans Simon

Mum, Dad, Anita, Marcus Eugene and Belinda





Crazy cousin Jason

Medal presentation

Out to dinner

Me, Janusz Hooker, Scotty (2X), Jimmy (kayak coach) and

Kenny (K1)

Normality of Life

Its great to be back at home spending time with my lovely wife and beuatiful three children who are now 6, 3 and 2. Being able to have breakfast with them, take the eldest to school, spending time with them throughout the day and of an afternoon and even being at home when they go to bed. This is a luxury that I didn't have alot of while preparing for Beijing. I'm really enjoying it, even though it can be dirty hard work changing nappies etc!!

Speaking of hard work, its great having grandparents near by. Both sets do a marvellous job when it comes to babysitting!! Thanks to both sets of grandparents, we are able to go out and do things as a couple, head away for a night or more or even simple things like while I'm training or at work, allowing Belinda to get out to an appointment here and there. Judy (Belindas mum) put her hand up to look after the kids while Eugene (Belindas dad), my parents, my bro and sis all came to Beijing to cheer me on. Thanks Judy, great job.

Many people ask what the best part of the games were. Apart from the race itself and performing under the circumstances, I must say it was simply celebrating the win with not only Drew, but the family and friends we had there.....our georgous wives (Belinda and Melanie), my parents (Reg and Helen), brother and sister (Marcus and Anita), Belindas father (Eugene), and my cousin Jason and his wife Krystal. Drews father Dennis and his grandmother were also there along with friends Simon and Hannah who Belinda and Mel stayed with while in Beijing. Thanks guys for coming, you all being there made it so much better!!

Well Drew had surgery on his back on Friday which went well. Even though he can't do much at all for the next 6 weeks or so, he is recovering well and the surgery gave the instant pain relief that was needed. Looking at the scans and seeing the disc problem, its amazing that he was able to block out the pain and get on with the job for all of our three races....I have to admit at the time I was not showing too much sympathy for Drew and tryed to ignore the injury as much as I could. Not because I have no heart, but becuase I didn't want any other option than for us to race together as per normal and for us to put down a great performance. I'm pretty sure that was Drew's mindset aswell. Its amazing how strong the mind is and the control it has over the body. As Drew put it.....you only have to block the pain signal from the injured area to the brain....simple!! Drew being as focused and as mentally tough as he is, nothing was going to stop that man!!!

He is now resting up at home and I believe preparing for London 2012!!!! :)

Celebration

What a week. Its been such a great time here....obviously. Winning that race was such a relief and what seemed to be a great weight off the shoulders, particularly with the preparation we had with Drews back. In the 8 days of the regatta, apart from the heat, semi and final...we got to have one row of 4km. As I stated in my last post, a little unorthodox but who says you have to be in the boat everyday??

We knew Canada were going to go out quick and we knew if we were with them at the 1000m mark, we'd go well. For those that didn't see the race, that's exactly what happened. We both went out quick and had good margin on the rest of the field. Then at the 1000m mark (half way) we made a move and got the margin we wanted on Canada and the rest is history.

Crossing that line was one of the best moments of my life. Even better was having my wife Belinda and my parents and bro and sis there to share it all with. It was absolutely fantastic having them all there. I must say that its too hard to my emotions into words.....relief, ecstatic, very proud and over the moon. As you can tell, I'm not really talented when it comes to describing my emotions. The next few hours....or days... after that, I was on a high....actually I still am.

Haven't had a heap of sleep, as everyone else, as you can imagine and we've had a ball since. Its was great to have Belinda and Mel, Drews wife, here. We did much celebrating, some great dinners, watched a few other events, made the most of some hospitality venues, did the Great Wall, and I have to admit the markets and generally soaking up the Olympic atmosphere. As the week goes on, more athletes finish competing and join the party!

It was also great to see James carry the flag and watch the double scull come in also for gold and the four with the sliver, it was a great day for rowing.

Thanks to all those that emailed, sent or sms'd words of support and congratulations. I had sooo many its hard to reply to them all. Looking forward to catching up with everone when I get home.....

Unorthodox

Well, our whole time together rowing the pair in the last 3 years with Drew living 1700km away in Melbourne and me on the Gold Coast has been quite unorthodox.....some things never change.

We had our semi today which saw a good outcome with a good win. I guess what we did different this time was that in our three days off after our heat on Saturday, we got to row 4km together on one occasion. The rest of our training was done on an ergo for me and a stationary bike for Drew. This wasn't by choice. For those of you that keep tabs of Drews Blog, you'll know that he has had some back trouble which creates quite an amount of discomfort for him to sit down, let alone row. With all possible thoughts going though both our minds, he soldiered on and was able to get though the 2km race today. What an effort!!

Although traditionally not an ideal preparation, but it goes to show that you can achieve the same result by doing things a little differently, outside the square, somewhat unorthodox! It actually gets you thinking what else in rowing or other areas in your life can you do things out of the ordinary or unheard of that will get you to the same place or even somewhere better??

Anyway, we had a good row today and looking forward to stepping up for the final, along the way praying that Drew back eases up for him!!!

Its great to have family over here aswell. Mum, Dad, Marcus and Anita have been here for a few days and my lovely wife Belinda arrived last night and it was great to see her today.

Team Function/Flag Bearer Announcement

View from our room at the Olympic Village

Clear view of the rowing course!

Cobber, Drew and myself arrived at Beijing Airport

Heat in the heat and humidity

Well, its always good to get the first row of the regatta out of the way, get the cob webs out of the system, size up the opposition, and puff and breath a bit. Today we did that in our heat and it was probably the most humid day so far since we've been in Beijing. Now that we've been here about 8 days we are now pretty much adapted so it wasn't too bad. Still the most uncomfortable conditions I've rowed in though!!

We've done alot of solid training in the past couple of months that has paid off and we're travelling pretty well. In our heat today we had South Africa with us for most of the first 1000m but we then moved away for a comfortable win in the second half. The other heat winners were the Kiwis and the French. We next race in the semi finals on Wednesday at about 4:00pm - 4:30pm again (6-6:30 Australian time).

The team function two nights ago was pretty awesome where James Tomkins got named to carry the flag. Having the whole team in one place like that was a buzz along with the viewing footage of great olympic moments - very inspirational. I'm sure everyone walked away on a high.

Unfortunately we didn't walk in the opening ceremony due to the late night required to do so (after 1am bedtime) as we were racing the next day. I'm sure you'll all agree when I say it looked pretty amazing on TV though.

Now the focus is on the semi final on Wednesday so the next 3 days will be about getting in some more good training as we lead up to the final next Saturday.

The time is getting nearer

Starting to get into a routine now that things have settled down. We are now, on most days, waking up and having breakfast in the largest ever dining room I’ve ever seen, then hanging out in the village for a bit sometimes getting a massage then having brunch at about 10:30am. We then leave the village shortly after brunch for a 45-50min trip to the rowing course for a row. After that row we then have a 5 min bus trip to our recovery centre where we can relax and recover for our next session. Prior to leaving we have a pre-cooling session which lowers our core body temperature in preparation for the next session. We do this by laying in an ice bath for 10mins while having a powerade slurpee. We are nearly bordering on hyperthermia after that. From there we travel back to the rowing course for another session at about 5pm, have a row and get back to the village by about 8pm for dinner, then kick back for a bit before going to bed. It’s actually not a bad little routine.

Here’s a brief diary of activities since we’ve been here…

Friday 1st Aug
Arrive in Beijing at about 9pm. Travel to village, have a late dinner and off to bed about midnight.

Saturday 2nd Aug
Off to rowing course to rig our boat and have a row. Find its pretty warm and heart rates are pretty high…..Then back to village for lunch and then at 2:30pm we leave to collect our team clothing. Big day….we get back at about 9:30pm. In amongst that while waiting around we managed to get some gym and stationary bike in. Once back, another late dinner and off to bed.

Sunday 3rd Aug
Press conference at about 9am then off to training. Had only one session then went back to village for some lunch and we did about an hour of ergo and stationary bike before a couple of hours of formal AOC welcome/information session. Then dinner and bed.

Monday 4th Aug
B/fast then down to course for a session, then to recovery centre for a bit. Then a second row and back to village for some gym before dinner.

Tuesday 5th Aug
7:30am Breakfast, hang out. 10:30 brunch. Travel to rowing for a session, then recovery centre for 2-3 hours with another row about 5pm then travel back to village for dinner.

Wednesday 6th Aug
Pretty much the same as yesterday.

Adapting to the heat and humidity after travel seemed a little stressful in the first few days. The heart rates were significantly higher than normal while rowing by about 20 beats and breathing quite a lot. It wasn’t really a question of are we going to adapt but when?? Well, yesterday was a step in the right direction and today nearly seems normal. Heart rates are close to normal now which is good. Still have to watch hydration….we learnt pretty quick that there is a lot of fluid loss in a session, in fact I lost 3kg in one short session while consuming 1 litre of water. So I actually lost about 4kg of sweat. Great weight loss strategy!!! Still breathing quite a bit when training, sometimes feeling as if you cant get enough oxygen in the lungs. I’m also slowly adapting to that.

The time is getting nearer!

I’ll get some photos up soon…….Ciao.

Beijing.....The heat is on!!

Its been a long and enjoyable road and we’re finally here, we arrived in Beijing on Friday night. Its been 4 years in the planning and the making and the next couple of weeks is the final chapter….the grand finale.

Well, it is pretty warm over here and the pollution is not an issue. We have had blue skys and its been great. We’ve managed to get a few sessions in so far amongst team processing, receiving our thousands of items of clothing and ‘stuff’ and a media conference. Now that’s all over we can get into our routine of some great training over the next week leading into the regatta.

Training has been going well over the past couple of months. Since the World Cup in Lucern, I must say we’ve smashed ourselves week in and week out, setting PB’s along the way. In training we get very competitive in what we do together, within ourselves and also competitive against each other. Its challenging ourselves and each other that makes us go that extra kilometre, that extra second faster, that extra hill climb on the bike, that extra stroke….. We’ve left no stone unturned, we are now fitter and stronger than ever. Speaking of PB’s, I must brag about my Springbrook climb that I beat my previous PB by 26 seconds. Pretty happy about that. This has also been the case in the boat and also on the ergo.

I must say I’m really looking forward to racing. Our heat is on the 9th August, Semi final on the 13th and the final on the 16th. All races will be around 4-4:30pm in Beijing which is about 6-6:30pm here in Oz.

The excitement and anticipation is building and have I said before….I’m looking forward to racing!!! I’m keen to see what we can do with the preparation that we’ve had in comparison to our preparation leading into Lucern World Cup and also the last couple of World Championships, even the past couple of Games. Its been vastly different.

Thanks all to your support along the way.

Photo 1... Training in Murwillumbah (northers NSW) prior to leaving for Beijing. Ready for anything!!!
Photo 2... After smashing Springbrook

13 Days

In my last post I mentioned that we were about to start a new phase in our training and that I was looking forward to it. Well, it has been great and just the kind of training we have needed. I must say its been the most amount of training I've done, and intense aswell. Over the past two weeks we trained for 13 days and then 1 day off. Within those 13 days we did 32 sessions: over 300km in the boat, over 800km on the bike, over 3600 reps in the gym, all which equates to appromimately 5-6 hours a day. So yep, as I said pretty hard. It was great to have a day off today with the family resting up before we start our next 2 week block which will be similar to the past two weeks, maybe even harder.

Its been great down here in the Salt/Casuarina area. In our small amount of down time that we do have there is the beach about 50m away, nice cafes and restaurants nearby and I must say the couch and bed are both comfortable for my recovery times.

Time is going by pretty quick and with less than 4 weeks until our heat row in Beijing training has been on track for most of our work we have done and we're getting fitter than ever. I get a little nearvous when I think about how fast the games are approaching and at the same time I am comforted by the feeling I'll have at the start line in Beijing. This feeing is a feeling of confidence I'll have in my physical preparation and knowing the work that we have done has prepared us the best way possible for this battle ahead.....Bring it on!!!!!

South of the Border

GO QUEENSLAND!!!! Although I am temporarily staying south of the border...my heart is still in QLD for the Origin tonight. Down here watching the game tonight with my wife and other die hard supporter Marcus, my brother. He made the epic journey to join me here tonight to watch QLD smash NSW. QUEENSLANDER!!! quote Billy Moore.

Well, we are now in a new phase of training……and a good phase that is going well and which I’m looking forward to progressing in our performance. After getting back from Europe, Drew and I had about 2 weeks apart in our training. This was actually a good time to reflect where we were at and also reflect on what we had done up until this point, including our performance at the Lucern World Cup. After numerous discussions with Chris and Drew we have come up with some great ideas, concepts, training sessions and mindset changes which will no doubt make us go faster. They say 8% of all ideas are good ones….so the more ideas we come up with, the better off we’ll be!!

After the two weeks apart, Drew spent most of the next two weeks up on the Gold Coast in the pair with yours truly. Training was good, but knowing we have plenty of work ahead of us….and looking forward to it. We are now injury free and have put the body through 100km bike rides, 20+km rows, tough gym sessions and PB’s on the ergo. The aging bodies are holding up!! I’ve enjoyed getting back on the bike (thanks to Podium Bike Hub at Williamstown, Melbourne) http://podium.bikehub.com.au/ . Our sessions on the bike are pretty tough but very enjoyable. If the enjoyment factor isn’t there in anything we do, why do it?? Speaking of bikes, isn’t Drew a machine on a bike. When we go for a ride, I often spend most of the ride in behind him out of the wind. They say this is meant to be 30% easier…..well, Drew must be 30% better because when I’m drafting behind him we’re still working at about the same intensity! For the small times that I am out in front and maxing out my heart rate and Drew is behind me, he must be taking it easy!

Currently we are with our families at Casuarina which is a small beachside community about 10 mins south of the QLD/NSW border right on the beach. This is thanks to Tom Ray at Salt Development and Domain Resorts. Thanks guys, its great. www.domainresorts.com .The photo is taken from our balcony with the families enjoying themselves. The beach is about 50 meters away so I’ sure we’ll make good use of that to! We are training at Murwillumbah on the Tweed River which is about a 15min drive away. It’s a great stretch of water that is a well kept secret. Its fabulous to be able to spend time with our families in a great location while we are training.

We only have 5 weeks here before we head off to Beijing. 3 weeks here with our families, then 2 weeks at Maroochydore. We leave for Beijing on 1st August. We then have about 1 week over there before our heat row. I must say that I’m looking forward to it…..the competition, the racing, and attempting to put down our best performance to date. It’s the work we do in the next six weeks, or seven weeks until the final, that will allow us to do that.

Photo's from top: Families at the Domain Resort Pool, Chris O'Brien (aka Cobber) our coach, babysitting 5 kids, my family.

What do you learn from a loss?

Its always nice to be back at home. We arrived back in Australia last Wednesday after being away training in Italy and a World Cup race in Switzerland for three weeks in total.

Training went reasonably well in Italy with some solid sessions in the boat, on the bike, on the ergo, in the pool and in the gym. Of an evening, we tried get out a bit so there were very regular outings for Italian pizza, coffee and gelati. I must say some (or most) of our pizza retailers here in Australia have a great deal to learn about making pizzas!!! We pretty much went out every second night as a ritual. For 6 Euros, how could you not!!

So how about Switzerland??

As I mentioned, training went pretty well in Italy but come racing in the World Cup, thats a different story. Result aside, we under performed on the day. We were out classed by Canada who took the line honours and the Kiwis who took the silver and we came in third. Those two crews raced well and we have to make a few changes to find our form and turn that result around. After having a week to think about the race and viewing it recently a few times, we have to change a few things.....and we will!

I'm looking forward to the next 10 weeks before the final in Beijing with some great changes both on and off the water. Some say that you learn more from a loss than you do a win. I've learnt a lot from this loss and these things I've learnt will be a great driving force over the next ten weeks and ultimately at the Beijing Olympics.

Videos.....

Here is a little something to keep you amused

Us arriving at Milan airport preparing for the drive to Varese (about 30mins.....) Any extra room is not wasted room!!!!



Some paddling on Lago Varese. Change of seating...(I'm on the left)

Italy, gotta love it!!

Well, interesting, testing times since my last blog post. Since Melbourne I’ve unfortunately had to modify my training program a bit to allow the tendonitis in the achillis to settle down. I also had 2 cortisone injections to help it along its way. For the period of 3 or so weeks since Melbourne it seemed to be coming along pretty good. I even had 3 weeks off the bike which I missed heaps. Just before leaving for Europe (which was on Mothers Day….once again sorry to the mums in my life!!) Drew came up and we tested it in the boat for a few days and it passed the test. So at that point I got back on the bike and went for a couple of light rides with the famous, legendary Gold Coast based ironmen Troy (Bill) Penrose and Scott (Frank) Day, my other elite athlete training partner Laurie (Lozza) Shevlin was in hiding!!! I was happy with the achillis and was then looking forward to some great training in Europe.

We are now in Italy and loving it as usual. The weather, the water (where we row), the places to ride and the pizzas are all great. Training started out well for the first few days with some good rowing and a couple of good 75-80km bike rides. Unfortunately the injured old man (me) pulled up a little sore and now have to keep off the bike for a couple of days and see how it goes. I’m exchanging the bike rides for some other x-training like swimming, ergo etc. It’s a hard call, I want to get into training as much as possible doing all the stuff that I know benefits me but when it makes me pull up stiff and sore I just hope it doesn’t ruin me long term (Beijing). Sometimes you have to listen to your body more than your mind and your motivations and do the training that is smart.

We are training here in Italy for about 2 ½ weeks before travelling to Switzerland to race at a World Cup Regatta then coming home for our final training and preparation for Beijing. Our on water training is going well. We have changed the seating around for a little while as an exercise which is enjoyable being that it is a little different feeling and sensation. Its all going well and just looking forward to getting 100% fit and smashing myself in training!!!

Sorry, not able to download photos today.....

Melbourne Training Camp

Last week we arrived home from Melbourne after a two week training camp. I took the family with me to Melbourne which was great to have them with there while training rather intensely for two weeks. It’s always great having them with me while I travel for rowing; it makes it much easier for me. At the same time we get to travel away together and have somewhat of a holiday.

We stayed in a great location not far from the Yarra River for training and basically right on Chapel Street. I must congratulate Belinda on her shopping behaviours, the credit card was still in tact when we got home. Well done honey!! Danica, Zara and Luca also enjoyed the trip and change of scenery enjoying the Ferris wheel, the tram rides, trips to the parks, science works museum (http://museumvictoria.com.au/Scienceworks/ ) and the outings for ice creams, Melbourne cuisine and pancakes at Southbank.

Anyway, the training was not too bad most of the time. Unfortunately we had a few interruptions including para – tendonitis of my achillis tendon. It’s an overuse injury that’s been going on for over a month now but trying to manage it the best I can. Today I had my second cortisone injection that will hopefully knock it on its head. They really flooded the area to give it the best chance of healing. I must say I’m looking forward to getting back into full training again. For the past week or two I’ve only been able to manage about a 60-70% work load. I must say I miss our typical day of a 100km bike ride, a gym session and a 15-20km row….. Got to love the hard work!!! Although the training camp started out reasonable well with some solid training, I didn’t quite get what I wanted out of the two weeks. Drew and I set ourselves high standards and when we don’t reach our own expectations it can get quite frustrating and sometimes as a response we can unintentionally take it out on each other or on those around us. I try not to bring those frustrations home. To keep the best balance in my life, I try to keep my rowing and my emotions (particularly the negative emotions) separate to my family life.

Many people frequently ask how I can train like I have in one sport for so long. I actually enjoy the challenges of hard physical training and also combining the finesse of moving the rowing boat through the water. Who can complain of up to 30 hours a week of committed, purposeful training for a sport??

Anyway, I’m believing my tendonitis will improve over the next week so I can get back in training as we leave for our European tour on the 11th May for three weeks and racing in the Lucern World Cup in Switzerland on 30th May – 1st June. Sorry Belinda (I leave on Mothers Day!!)

Thank you for your support and prayers it’s a great feeling to know people are with you.

Beijing, we'll be back!!!

Just did a quick trip last week to Beijing with Drew, the AOC and a small group of Australian Rowing Team coaches. It was great to be there and see first hand the rowing course, athletes village, other facilities and the city itself. The purpose was to simply get familiar with the facilities and environment around us. Being that it is China, somewhere that we haven’t been before, and the fact that it is far from similar to Australia and Europe where we would normally race, we thought we should definitely scope the place out so that there are no surprises in August.
The first day we got to see the rowing course which was quite good. It is big, reasonably well set out, seems good to row on. Although there appeared to be a bit of smog around (couldn’t see the finish line from the start of the course) it didn’t seem to have any effect on breathing, so all should be ok come the Games. That night we had the chance to catch up with one J Day and Melissa which was good. I rowed with Jase in 1995, 1999 and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. We went to a traditional local restaurant in downtown Beijing called ‘No Name’. It was quite good to catch up with them.
The next day we were able to get access to the Olympic Village which we felt pretty privileged. It is still being completed but the main part of the construction is finished. Out of all the villages I’ve been in (Atlanta, Sydney and Athens) I’d have to say this has the potential when completed to be the best. We saw the rooms which were pretty roomy but unfortunately us delegates from Rowing Australia were banned from the rest of the tour as the AOC went on to see the remaining areas like the dining hall, athlete areas, social areas, sports/recovery areas etc. This will be the first time we will be staying in an Olympic Village for the week of racing. In the past we have stayed in alternate accommodation closer to the rowing venue then moved in to the village in the second week when racing is over.
Each morning we went for a walk around town and came across into Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and other great ancient pieces of architecture. The city is an eye opener, even the habitual spitting from the local men on the streets. I believe they are attempting to stop that bad habit as well as turning off the industries in Beijing and the surrounding areas to minimise the pollution as much as possible.
We feel a lot more comfortable with the concept of competing at the Olympics in Beijing and practically have our plans in place of what we need to do and how our movements will work to optimise our performance and recovery between races to enable us to achieve our best possible performance.

PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM:
1)The gang in a Taxi - Me, Tony Rice, Andy Randell, Rhett Ayliff, Noel Donaldson, Chris O'Brien and Drew.
2)Looking from the start at the Rowing Course
3)Drew & I at the rowing Course
4)Tiananmen Square
5)Don't really know, but its really old and looks good
6)Forbidden City
7) The Olympic Village
8) Model of the Olympic precinct with the stadium at the front in the middle, swimming centre just to the left and the village down the back left.

Now its Time

Just had National Titles last week and now its time to get stuck into training for the Games. Beijing is only 5 months and 6 days away, and from past experiences, that time will fly. We have to make the most of every day that we have to get us where we want to be mentally, physically and technically. Looking forward to it!!!

The National Titles weren't too bad, Drew and I had a win in the pair (our Beijing event) and also the coxless four. The pair was solid race and the four was also quite solid and very enjoyable for me. Drew and I joined David Crawshay (one of my crew members from 2004 Athens Olympics) and Karsten Forsteling. I don't often row fours and to win that race with the quality field was simply......fun! I also jumped in a quad scull with Scott Brennan (another Athens crew mate), Brendan Long and Dan Noonan. This was a quality crew that made me reminisce my sculling days that ceased 4 years ago in Athens. Yep, I saw the light and changed to sweep rowing, specifically rowing the pair with Drew. Good decision!

All in all, I had a pretty good nationals with winning 3 from 3 National Titles.

Now its a long road ahead (but will be travelling fast) with much to do in the coming months. Many interstate trips, training camps and overseas tours in the coming months and thank you to all those that support me in all my endeavours.