Olivia Hits Personal Best in Olympic Trial
We’ve now returned from the altitude training camp in Spain. During the last few days we did a weight lifting competition with one rep max and I got a personal best on all my lifts and won the power clean lift!
The camp was really beneficial but, as you can imagine, hard work. I’ve been continuing to train hard to maintain the full effects of the altitude training. When athletes train at altitude they produce extra haemoglobin which allows the body to transport more oxygen to the muscles when you return to sea level. We had our 5km ergo test coming up this week so I have been maintaining work on the rowing machine in preparation and making sure that I maintain my strength in the weights gym.
This week the triallists for U23 and the senior squad have had to complete a 5km ergo test following our various training camps. It was good to be able to sit on the rowing machine and feel confident with the training I had done. The girls and boys who are trialling from Oxford Brookes all did the ergo together in our gym at university. We had the rest of the squad behind us in the gym, cheering us along, and the U23 development coach Peter Sheppard also came to support and encourage all the athletes. I had a really good row with a consistent race profile and finished on a personal best, which will hopefully put me at the top of the U23 squad. More importantly I hope to have done well enough to be recognized alongside some of the senior scores. But I’ll have to wait until next week when the scores are released to find out!
My next event is a 2km Sculling Trial in my single at Dorney Lake (Olympic Course) during the weekend of 11th/12th Feb. So watch this space.
- Olivia