Trials Invitation and a fat cat

The 2012 season has gone well for me so far.  Incredibly I seem to have cocooned myself from the usual sniffly January colds that make the rounds and have gotten through this first month injury free with some good training under my belt.  We did a 5k ergo on Saturday as part of the trials process, and although it was a personal best it is still a way off the senior girls.

I also got an email through last week to say that my performances this season have exempted me from the GB February Trials and given me a direct invitation to the Invitation-Only GB Rowing Team Trials in March, more commonly known within the rowing circles as the Olympic Trials!  This is pretty exciting and I am looking forward to getting out and racing in my lovely new JW Rihoy sponsored single.

Almost two weeks ago now I came home for a couple days to attend the Guernsey Sports Commission's annual awards evening.  It was a brilliant evening, congratulations to all involved and of course the award winners!  As one of the Rising Stars athletes I was asked to take part in a question and answer section on stage, midway through the award presentations.  Despite being fairly used to being interviewed I was really nervous about it.  I usually don't have an audience of a few hundred people!  Luckily the crowd was friendly and Dave Warr who questioned me was very good at putting me at ease.  Still, I'm positive I will not take up a career in public speaking.  Video can be seen here www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tSmgv_I0fw Dan, Sky Cycling Physio, on first, then I come in half way through.

At home my cat Simba continues to be a terror around the house.  He had been stealing food from the neighbours cats by getting into their houses by any means possible; cat flaps, windows, doors.  A neighbour brought him back to us one day, very upset because he had gotten in and eaten 3/4 of her freshly baked victoria sponge cake! He is a big cat anyway but with all the food stealing he had grown very fat.

So, he has now been house bound for a month in an attempt to slim him down.  Yesterday morning I awoke to find this in the kitchen:

In case you can't quite tell, that IS his diet cat food scattered all over the kitchen, not just some funky decorative tiles we have recently laid. Nightmare!

Battlecat arrives

Huge apologies for the long delay between my last post and this one. 

It has been a busy month with training, injuries and new additions to the house.  I started the month training in Wallingford with the group of women they are trialling for the European championships.  We were doing long 20+km outings, paddling with the senior women's eight.  Hence some very competitive paddling!  We did a good 2km speed order test at Dorney two weeks ago, which both the athletes and coaches were pleased with.  I then came unstuck, and had some problems with my neck which kept me out of the boat for ten days.  I managed to see Mike Chisholm, a genius physio, who sorted me out very quickly.  Funnily enough the problem is never where it appears...my neck was merely highlighting some imbalances in my pelvis and spine which when sorted out, allowed my neck to support my head happily again!

I also have some very exciting news, in that we have got a kitten in the house!  Everybody, meet Simba...

He is almost eight weeks old, and the most affectionate, inquisitive and playful cat I have ever known!   He is called Simba, but has also been nicknamed Battlecat which I think he has taken to heart a bit too much.  He is under the assumption that he rules the house and loves to run up our jeans to say hello, a habit which we are trying to break him of!

Rowing wise, I've got the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake next weekend.  This is always a top class event, and I am looking forward to racing an eight on the Saturday and the Sunday, and a four on the Saturday.  Having been ill for final trials last month it feels like it is so long since I raced properly, so I am raring to go!

Rhiannon Jones, one of my housemates deserves a mention as she is racing in Munich at the World Cup this weekend, coxing the B crew of the adaptive four.  They have the final tomorrow night, subject to any changes, so huge GOOD LUCK wishes to them!