Today was our first day of training in London. We are actually not living in the main athlete village until after all our racing is completed. Instead, we are staying in a satellite village located on the campus of the Royal Holloway, University of London. The satellite village is closer to the rowing venue and involves much less travel time.
Our coach gave us a sleep in this morning and we didn’t head down to the course until 9 a.m. for our first morning row. The bus ride to and from the course went quicker than I expected. It took us about forty minutes door to door. When we arrived at Eton Dorney Lake, we finished rigging our boat and went out for a short row. It was cold, windy, and rainy (who would have thought in England?) but it was nice getting over the stiffness from the long traveling day before.
Since we don’t want to travel to the course more than once per day, (three hours on a bus a day would be a little too much) we ate lunch at the course. After a quick bite to eat and a little relaxation in the athlete’s lounge, we were back on the water for a second practice. The weather was more of the same, but both practices went well and it feels good to be back in a somewhat normal routine.
Back at the satellite village we got some physical therapy, dinner, and just relaxed a little. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight and not have to worry about jet lag. Things are pretty low key around here, not many athletes have moved in yet, and there aren’t too many good stories to tell. Sometimes that’s a good thing though, it’s great to avoid any distraction and stay focused for our upcoming races!
-Nick
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