Marjorie - great work at BRIC and certainly clocking up the metres. Brilliant 5k result too. I dont see much chance of redoing the C2CTC - think I will leave that be.
Toby - congratulations on 4th. A massive achievement.
Richard - stunning gold medal.
Rod and Carol - I am sure you will be online soon.
Yep - the Finns were out in force, (quite delighted I have a personal invite to their indoor rowing outdoor half marathon this year - date April xxx location somewhere round Helskini weather brr!
). Not sure I will be taking them up on it as surely once every 2 years is enough suffering.
Me - it wasnt going to be my weekend. Arrived in London on Friday, (just as well as it was snow dire in Brum). On Saturday didnt leave as early for the event as intended as got the plug stuck in the basin and could get it out. Also made that beginners mistake of thinking the Velodrome is behind the Olympic stadium, (oops it isnt - dont laugh too loudly as I know I wasnt the only one to cock this up, a whole group of us were jogging round the neighbourhood and soon discovered that most people dont have a clue where the velodrome is and its not on the maps
). Got to the weighin at 08:40 so only had one chance, (800g under in kit - dont quite believe that but shame as I could have had a small breakfast).
Most annoying we only had 5 minutes to warmup, (even worse we didnt know that until we were called to race so I hadnt gone faster than 2:40 pace). Tried to hit it fast off the start - some 1:56s started appearing which scared me to slow down after 150m. With late food, ie nearly 9am, and feeling lacklustre I didnt really hit the big time - a very sorry 8:19.9 which is 1.3 secs slower than Belgium, and 0.6 secs slower than Cardiff. Enough for silver but not really pressured as Claire Rainbow caned a sub-8 mins. Came away wondering where Joanne Allsebrook was too - really I only deserved a bronze.
Just for a laugh, (and in my case I know I cannot win), got involved in x-training challenge. Being a last minute signup and too close to eating was never going to be that great. 200m row, 15 squats, 10 burpees and repeat in 4 mins. Nearly got two repeats done - way behind everyone else.
Sorry I am not very social - I like doing my own thing.
PS. My boss was concerned that indoor rowing could result in injury - I tried to persuade him that while that is possible in my case there are more risks in crossing the road, (particularly in foreign countries).
I might add to that I nearly cut my hand trying to remove the BRIC wristband with nail scissors, (really tough stuff that was)
I got to the West End for "An American in Paris" and had some celebratory gelato and coffee.
Nightmare journey home - standing from London, but at least the trains were running some of the time. Dragging the suitcase through the snow for 1.5 miles, (no buses), wasnt easy and certainly gave my arms a workout.
PPS Chickened personal training today thanks to the snow so will do that 20 Dec instead.
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, see my 'blog' in the 'training for BRIC 2017' thread if you're really interested 