BACK ON THE - PROPER - WHITE STUFF (aka Lee Valley)!

It’s been a frustrating few months: I’ve been training hard and not always getting it right. It feels like I put my all into it but it’s not quite happening. I’m aiming high though and won’t stop. I want to be the best. After a short break I’ll be hitting the winter hard aiming to be consistent on the water and fit and strong in the gym.

For me Senior and Olympic Selection didn’t go quite to plan but it’s great to be back racing on Lee Valley. I couldn’t really believe in myself. I wanted to paddle like last selection (April 2014) but it was an unknown. I hadn’t full runs since March, which amount of volume since July 2014 and raced on Lee Valley since April 2014. Under the circumstances it was just hard on what I could realistically achieve. I wanted to go out and race…really race…put a time on the board. I just feel the injury held me back a lot and my stress levels haven’t helped the recovery. I found it harder than I'd prepared for to deliver on race days, putting unnecessary expectations on myself, with comparison to how I paddled last year. After reviewing the selection races and learning from my paddling (rather than comparing) it gave me confidence in racing on the site and coming into the British Open I fully believed in my ability.

I brought the season to a nice close finishing 6th in the final at the British Open! It's been a tough year coming back from injury and there have been a lot of ups and downs but it's good to finish on a high!

It's given me a good base to build on through the winter and I feel both enthusiastic and confident in the challenges ahead. Can't wait to get some solid training in this winter!!!!