Andrew Triggs Hodge - Blog

I’m sitting back in the rowing machine again. My usual routine commences: checking the fan is in the right position, and making sure my iPod is perched on its stand. The usual suspects are taking their first strokes. And so begin the characteristic sounds of a GB Rowing work camp training session.

We're in Dullstroom, just north of Johannesburg, on a warm weather work camp at two kilometres altitude. 'Work' means there will be tough training, 'warm weather' means we can push ourselves a bit harder, and 'altitude' means we're going to bury ourselves deep – very deep!

This is the time of year when the biggest gains are made. The programme ramps up to get the athletes stronger and faster than ever before. Achieving this is a balance between pushing the limits without breaking the athletes.

So, how do you get an athlete to push himself into the black unknown of training hell, while being confident he will come out the other side on top? Partly by watching those around you do the same and partly by trusting the coaches’ years of experience. Team work makes a huge difference.

By comparing ourselves we identify the limits of what we can achieve: there is no hiding when those around us are pushing on. So much can be limited by belief, or a lack of. So many times I've heard athletes say 'we can't do this', or 'he'll never do that', only to be proved wrong time and time again!

Either by courage, stupidity, or blind over-competitiveness personal barriers get broken. I would say that my best performances were unexpected, and my disappointments were planned.

When I really wanted to get a personal best I would fall short. Whereas I’ve exceeded my expectations many times when I thought I wasn't in the right condition! And this goes for every part of training, from standard sessions to important tests.

I've found that for personal bests I need to strip away all unnecessary distractions and problems, and most importantly expectation. In this frame of mind my body is free to focus on what really counts.

I know when I’m close to achieving this when I’m relaxed, and almost don't care what happens. I remember the Beijing final, sitting on the start line and feeling that I was the happiest I'd been in a long time! I was free, and ready!

Whether in training or racing, the joy of winning does not come from the fear of losing, but the ability to control both. But for now, I let the programme take care of my training. Jurgen can plan for my personal bests and I’ll just knock them down when the opportunity arises!

The 27 September marked the start of our season, despite the fact that we won't race our first international race until May. However in rowing it's the winter that makes the champions. This is the time when we build our engines, turning a pokey two litre standard into a world beating eight-litre beast. We leave the tuning to the summer months, adding turbos and the like!

So getting back into training is all about breaking the holiday habits, and easing the body back towards the old speeds that we're used to. To help this process the heavy men were sent to Seville, with warmer climes. Getting the stamina, through mileage in each session, back up to the standard seemed a little easier!

With the whole team pressing on, I was finding it a little more difficult than normal, but with the usual attitude I just pressed on. Head down, and go! But one thing lead to another: I got a cold and then had a reaction to some antibiotics, so I found myself unable to eat and with severe stomach cramps and a virus. I was done!

It wasn't a hard decision to send me home. So it was a particularly lame start to the year. For now I'll just forget it's the Olympic year, and focus on getting better.

The route cause of all my symptoms turned out to be glandular fever. This is something that a lot of people have had, with the effects ranging from hardly registering the virus to being taken down with chronic fatigue. However with the training load that I was piling up on top of it, it wasn't long before it broke me!

But now it's three weeks later, and I’m finally back in training. Besides our normal holiday after the world championships, this is the longest time away from training I've had. And considering I only had a week of training after our three-week holiday, I have effectively been off for the longest time ever in an Olympic cycle.

But now is the time to start the long haul back to fitness. With the goals of the Olympic year looming closer and closer, it is critical that I get back to fitness at the right pace. Too quickly and I could fall down again, and too long and I'll miss the standards I need to achieve. However I'll leave this balance to the coaches and physiologists who will monitor my recovery.

But for now, all I know is that the 8km I did this morning felt too short.  I still feel I have energy to burn, and work to do.  But at this stage of my return to training that's a good place to be.  But I should enjoy it while I can, because when my body can handle it I won't have an ounce of energy left at the end of every day until the Olympics.  And that is still a long time in the future.