14/2/2015
GB February Assessment:
Travelling up to Boston for trials always seems like a very long way for something that is never particularly enjoyable. 5k in a single never fails to feel horrendously long. That being said, the volunteers of Boston RC always brighten up what would otherwise be a very grim atmosphere.
Both myself and Harry had lectures until 6pm on the Friday night and so we had to make the 3 hour trip a little later than everyone else. A relatively smooth journey up to sunny Boston (minus the slight detour into Milton Keynes) saw us arrive at half 10 very much ready to hit the sack.
The next morning, after a pre-paddle, Harry went to his briefing and got ready for his race at 10am whereas I had the pleasure of waiting till 1:30 before the start of the lightweight division. Weigh in was to be 73kg at 10am and I was keen to make sure that I had managed my weight better than in the lead up to the 5k erg test. I weighed in well under what I needed to be and was happy with how I felt, so preceded to spend the next 3 hours fuelling and hydrating as well as planning my race.
After warming up to the start, I could feel a nice healthy headwind for the first part of the course and flat conditions for the second half. I had a good start and settled into what I felt was a decent rhythm but I was surrounded by people I knew were considerably faster than me. My race plan quickly shifted towards trying to hold off the person behind me. This perhaps took the focus away from my boat and my rhythm, something I had been working on, and as such I tensed up and didn’t quite get the speed I had been seeing in training. The last kilometre was a blur and I was in a pretty dark place in the last few strokes.
Results placed me 18th overall and 7th u23, not quite where I wanted to be but I had kept myself in the game for selection later this season.
The journey back proved eventful, with Harry and I both forgetting to put our blades in the trailer and having to go back and sort alternative ways of getting them home. On the positive side, large amounts of MacDonald’s and Subway were consumed on the journey home and we both came away with a strong sense of where we are and where we need to go next time around.
Ali
