
Picking up the boat to go rowing. Blue tarp is there because of some strange weather bringing hail our way early in our camp. Photo by K.Light.
It seems like it has been a long time coming since our Bronze at the World Cup in Lucerne, with many hard weeks of training behind us now. Those practices certainly have given me confidence as I head into the biggest race of my life. Our Bronze medal performance in Lucerne was over all a good sign of speed for us, but we obviously did not get the result we wanted in the end. We know we have the speed to win, so it is just a matter of going out and doing it on the day that it matters. Not just in the heats or just in practice. Thats what our boat has been gearing up to do. That being said, it was pretty awesome to go out there and set a new Worlds Best Time in the mens eight. A good sign of speed. The last time that was set was in the heats at the Athens Olympics by the US when they raced wire to wire against the favoured Canadian eight.
So far our Pre-Olympic camp is going really well, the boat feels solid, and all of our practices so far have been really positive. I’m over the 9 hour time change from the West Coast of Canada to Italy. The first few days are pretty rough, waking up at 5 am, and not being able to go back to sleep, followed by sitting at the breakfast table feeling like it’s the afternoon. Like some of my teammates, I used caffeine to get myself through the rough patches in the day. Doug Csima, our two seat, holds the record think, with 7 double shots of espresso.
Today is our second day off during our 16 days of training in Italy. It’s tough to keep your mind occupied when you are sitting in a hotel room all day, trying to make sure you do everything right for training the next day. Really, all my body wants to do is go and run around as my energy levels get higher and higher, but my mind knows better. I’d rather save up all of that energy and pour it into that 2 kilometer course I know is waiting for me in London.
The days we aren’t just hanging around the hotel, are full of structure and plenty of things to keep your mind occupied. Everything from eating
times, training times, recovery, cooling down in the ice baths, treatment, weigh-in’s, and hydration samples, are all planned out to maximize performance and keep us on the right track. It makes the training days move along quickly, but the days off very slow. Leaving plenty of time for Olympic thoughts to swirl around in my head, but I am able to bring myself back pretty quickly, as I feel like I have been preparing for this a long time now.
Speaking of, this one is winding down, and it’s almost dinner time, so I am going to wrap it up. I’ve gotta get the fuel in me to get me through these last couple of days before heading to London. Another update to come with some race prep coming our way!
Cheers for now!
~Will
Kevin Light has some more awesome pictures on his flickr page, check it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinlight/


























