Darcy Marquardt, of Richmond positioned in seven seat in the Canadian Olympic Women’s Eight sent the not from Italia.
It’s great to read her comments on how things are going so far. Wishing her and the crew “
All the best” from Sportswave!!
Hi everyone and Ciao from Italia,
We have been in Corgeno, ITA for a week already and I can’t believe how fast time is flying.
I remember thinking in December, sitting on a spin bike somewhere in Halifax at Christmas, that July was so far away, and here we are!
Five (5) days until the Opening Ceremonies and 7 days until our first race at the Olympics. Oh yeah!!Our taper period has begun, we’ve eased down the volume of training, stopped lifting weights, and begun our final preparation workouts.
Let’s just say this means high intensity, race-specific workouts. One of the great things about this training camp has been the addition of our Men’s team to our training site.
Training alongside the men’s four, especially, has allowed us to have that side-by-side competition that we crave and to push each other’s limits.
They are the faster boat, and we’ll get a few seconds head start so that we can use them to push ourselves to stay ahead and when they catch up they can use us to push by.
The environment is very positive and team oriented, one which I know I thrive under – just give me a high five after a tough workout and I’m happy!
One of the girls in my crew, Lauren Wilkinson, has a brother, Mike, who’s in the men’s four; so it’s neat for them to be together as well.
We are also practicing our race-day routines so that when it actually arrives we are ready. However, it is the Olympic Games and I’ve learned that you must expect the unexpected and just roll with whatever happens.
I remember in Athens when my pair partner and I were on our way to the bus depot in the Athletes Village and, after waiting for 30 minutes, discovered that there was, in fact, not a bus coming for another hour.
I recall being panicked at first, but then we just found a volunteer and said we had to get to the rowing course and they got us a bus. In Beijing, it happened at the race course.
We had just completed our warm-up on the water before our first race, and a storm rolled in, racing was post-poned and we had to row into the dock.
This doesn’t sound too stressful now but the amount of energy and focus that occur just before a big race is huge and we had to calm ourselves and re-focus for the following day’s rescheduled timeline.
I don’t know what will happen in London, but I do know that my teammates are prepared and know to focus only on what we can control. Sounds like a good plan, right? So I will leave you with that.
Hope this finds you all enjoying a lovely Sunday morning/afternoon, where ever you are in the world. We head into London on Tuesday with our first row on the Olympic course that evening.
I have to say I am excited when I think about these next few days… just to take it all in, enjoy the moments and try not to tear up at every “Believe” video I see.
Cheers
Darcy
PS. If any of you are Twitter users my handle is @Darcyrows and I’ve been posting comments and pictures from our time here…
I’m always looking for more followers 🙂
