I’ll be honest, my lead up to Henley Women’s Regatta wasn’t great. I’d missed a lot of training through illness and injury and was really not in the shape I wanted to be. To the extent that, I was seriously considering scratching about 2.5 weeks before the race. Coach wasn’t having any of it thankfully.
To have even half a chance at winning, I knew I had to stay well and get the most out of the sessions I had left.
With good fortune, I stayed well and injury free and managed to commit to some decent training. I regained speed quickly and my erg scores started to tumble. With a few days to go before I started to taper, I finally managed to produce some scores I could be relatively happy with, and the belief that I could perform started to reappear.
So I bundled everything (but the kitchen sink!!) into the car, and set off to Henley. I arrived just in time to see some of my squad mates race. I met some friends for the first time, saw some old friends, and generally had a chilled out afternoon.
I had a straight final so was only due to race Sunday afternoon, but I love Henley Women’s Regatta, so went
down for the whole weekend, it’s such a great event.
I went to prepare for an evening paddle, to discover that my foam roller, that I use under my knees in the boat had been removed and left at home. So after a quick strop, we used some bits of kit for a temporary job and I went out for a paddle. It was good to be back on the water, although being surrounded by 8’s is always a little unnerving in a single. It’s like being in a Smart Car surrounded by HGVs!! The session went mostly to plan. I found my balance (well as much as I ever have!!) and did a few starts. It seemed okay, and I managed to hold off the 4’s and 8’s coming down for a while. I did nearly capsize just before coming in when I had my right blade parallel to the boat and my left was well into arms away, but I managed to stay calm and rescue it, phew!!
We then went back to the hotel, unpacked, had food etc…. The plan was to chill out for Saturday and have an evening paddle. So I had an early night and a late morning, my PA and I went out to get some snacks, but otherwise I sat around and mooched. My parents arrived in the afternoon, which was lovely. I was going to go out for the paddle, but we decided that driving 30- 40 minutes, for a 40 minute outing and then the same back, was probably not worth it in the grand scheme of things. I wasn’t going to gain anything significant from the outing, but I could injure myself, or tire myself out so I decided to stay watching DVDs instead.
My coach was kind enough to run around the shop and get a new foam roller, whilst we acquired a saw to do the job.
I had an early night, having packed everything and prepared all my kit and drinks for the next day. Not long after I woke I got a frantic phone call from my coach saying there was a problem with the timetable and we were due to race at 1150 not 1500. This gave me less than 2 hours before I needed to boat. Many phone calls, tweets and emails were sent, and I managed to get hold of someone, who said that they’d just noticed it as well and were in the process of checking it. Thankfully 1500 was right, which is what we’d been told originally, so I had to spend some time calming down.
We arrived at 11 so had plenty of time to prepare and cut down foam rollers. I just rested and chatted until it was time to prepare and get on the water. We were heading up to the changing room when an unfortunate incident occurred, which involved me being tipped out of my wheelchair and dislocating my shoulder in the process. This resulted in a very stressed and annoyed me, with a rather wonky shoulder. I quickly put my shoulder back in and tried to get my head back into the race plan.
I boated and rowed up to the start focussing on balance and length, and remaining focussed on my race and my boat not what was going on around me. I got up to the start, and had fun with the cross wind. We were called up to attach to the stake boats. I arrived got lined up and then they decided to change the person holding it, and also move the length of the platform out as well. Eventually we were called to Attention. I quickly checked my blade position, took a focussing breath and then “GO”.
Me heading off to the start
I had a good start, and moved off quickly, I powered through my first few strokes, and realised I could already see my competitor from the corner of my eye. Without losing focus, I continued to push on, by the Island I already had about 2 L clear water, so I settled into a safe rhythm, remembering my coach’s sole instruction “Don’t F*** Up” I continued to pull away, so I started to wind down a bit- I was told to keep it safe and not push on unnecessarily. I settled into a 75% pressure pace, and just kept my focus and calm, whilst trying not to get too excited. As I drew towards the finish, everyone was cheering and shouting, and suddenly I heard “Claire, you can stop rowing now” Possibly the most bizarre hooter/whistle in the world. Suddenly I realised I had won!! Yes, finally after a horrid season, I’d done it. I wound it down and continued rowing so that I could get back to the boathouse. Some people didn’t realise that I had finished racing and were shouting at me to keep going and not give up- I think I was doing arms only at the time to try and recover a bit!! As I continued rowing down people were still clapping and cheering- this is what I love about HWR, people support everyone, complete strangers came up to me to congratulate me, it’s a lovely feeling.
Winding down after the race
I got back to the boathouse and out of the boat- for once I didn’t throw up!! But I did cry instead. I know it sounds daft, but it’s been such a rubbish season, it was such a relief to have done this. I got an understated fist bump from coach and then I went to roll into a shower before getting dressed up for presentation. I discovered I was only 12 seconds off the course record and I’d only been rowing at 75% so I was a bit annoyed about that, but the time I won in was about the same time I’d won my semi in last year, so despite all my problems this year it shows I’m in better shape than I thought.
I took my parents shopping, well I mean I showed Mum lots of things I wanted and convinced her to part with her credit card for some of them!! They sadly had to go and couldn’t stay till the presentations as it’s nearly 4.5 hours for them to go back home and Mum had work the next day. My aunt and uncle stayed a little bit longer and then headed off. I was called into the presentation enclosure and we kept having to move people out of the way as otherwise I wouldn’t get to my presentation!! There was a bit of talking and speech by Naomi Riches MBE, before the presentations started.
Eventually it was my turn- after remembering to take off my brakes, I made it to the front. I’m not good in these sorts of situations, I get really nervous, but I managed to not drop the trophy which was the main thing, and remembered to try and smile as well!!
Receiving my trophy and medal.
We made a quick exit after that as I was pretty tired and still had to do the drive home. We did our goodbyes and made for home.
So that’s my story of Henley Women’s Regatta. It was as ever a fun experience, and really enjoyable.
Training has been going rather well recently, I’m not as fast as I’d like, but then what athlete ever is!? But my endurance is improving, and with that should come speed, so fingers crossed it is on the right path.
I’ve been trying to look at the nutrition aspect of my training recently. This of course is a very complex area for me given that I can’t tolerate much food orally and only absorb part of what I do manage to tolerate. Both my gastrointestinal team and respiratory teams have some involvement in my nutrition, the latter because of my reflux affecting my lungs. Each have an opinion about what should and shouldn’t be done, and me being me, generally have a different plan to both of them!!
Whilst they argue it out, I’m focussing on the basics- hydration during the day being the biggest, and the focus today. I get my primary fluids overnight in my IV bag, and can only tolerate around 300ml of oral fluid a day. So I need to make that 300ml contain the most value it can. I need to consider what I need, what I can tolerate and what I have planned for the rest of the day and the next days. I can rehydrate effectively day to day with my IV fluids, but trying to quench a post-training thirst, or rehydrate after a sweaty first session are not so easy to do. It’s not practical, nor safe to hook up extra IV fluids every day due to access and de-accecessing requirements. I will do it if it’s a dire emergency but it’s not ideal in any way (for my personal situation).
Some things I tolerate better than others, and at different times I tolerate different things. Generally water is the fluid I struggle most with, so I have to avoid drinking pure water. Instead if it’s just for rehydration as opposed to for refuelling, I’ll use an electrolyte tablet added to water, as I tolerate this reasonably well. If I need calories as well as electrolytes I’ll use a carbohydrate powder mixed in and for ‘Recovery’ I’ll use a protein/carb mix, but I find that hard to digest so tend to only use that on evenings.
I am pretty obsessed with fluid balances, output/input etc as well as weight. Dehydration is known to have a massive impact on performance not only physically, but mentally. A quick search produces thousands of articles discussing the negative impact it has, as well as hopefully mentioning the dangers of overhydration, so I’ll skip the details. Dehydration also affects one of my other health problems, so I have to be extra careful- I’m still learning though, and for me it’s not an exact science as so many other things affect my stomach and its ability to tolerate oral fluids. My days of glugging down a big glass of ice cold juice are well over, although I dream of this on a hot evening, because if I over do the fluids I end up with them coming back up, and my hydration levels worse than they were before I started.
Unfortunately with the summer coming, things get that bit more complicated, as I need to find some way of getting in extra day time fluids without being able to increase what I put in. It’s difficult and we’re still balancing it out, but now I have a second line in, I can piggy-back fluids to run with TPN, without it taking any longer. I’m hoping that this will work, this is the first year I’ve tried this so fingers crossed it works out okay. The risk with this is that I end up with fluid overload and best case scenario end up taking a lot of loo breaks, the worst case heart failure. So it’s a delicate balance!!
The downside to there not being people around who have tried this before, means you’re kind of on your own out there. It’s a work in progress, and I’m hoping to work with a sports nutritionist soon, so he might have some ideas, but due to the circumstances has never worked with a TPN athlete before- at least he should know the basic nutritional stuff, I just go with common sense and try and make some educated judgement calls.
It’s now less than a week to Henley Women’s Regatta, so I’m started to plan my fluid options for that. Thankfully I’ve only got the one race, so it’s easier in terms of hydration than last year, but is very much weather dependent and based on pre-planning estimates.
Hopefully it’ll work out okay and I’ll be a nicely pre-hydrated, ready to kick butt on Sunday!!
That’s the reality. Three years ago I started TPN, it saved my life, and completely revolutionised it.
I wrote extensively on this topic 2 years ago here: https://rowrowyourboat.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/365-little-days-later-why-pinnt-means-so-much-to-me/
Now I am back, this time to talk about fundraising for them. They’ve stuck by me as every challenge has cropped up, have introduced me to some fantastic friends and some random people who I love dearly. I have three years of additional life to celebrate, and I have definitely done some living in those years.
On Sunday I take on the Bupa Westminster Mile- don’t worry I haven’t suddenly learnt to walk, I took up wheelchair racing as part of my cross-training, so I thought why not give it a go?! It’s time to repay the favour, to ensure they can continue their fabulous work, plus I get to race (can take the rower off the water, but can’t take the racing mentality away!!).
I only started training for wheelchair racing in February and much has been punctuated by niggles and meetings getting in the way, so I’ve not had many sessions, and seem to have the worrying knack of tipping my chair, including in my first ever race!!
I’ve now done 2 competitions and 7 events across those, I’m not fast, but I’m having fun- although I have collected 5 medals and a third place out of those.
I hope anyone reading this will take time to read my fundraising page http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/claireconnon where I wax lyrical about the work PINNT do, and consider sharing and supporting this fantastic charity and my crazy endeavour!!
Katherine Grainger
It was amazing. Truly inspiring- a word I try to avoid using too often, but genuinely you could feel her passion as she spoke. It was interesting hearing some of my own rational for the things I do, being spoken aloud. I can understand why she wants to return, to be the best in the world for as long as possible is a great aim in my eyes, and I don’t blame her. If you can do it then do. Life is too short to live with regrets and ‘what ifs’.
My friend I took as my assistant was sent down to the front to see if Katherine would come and see me as I couldn’t get down to her. She spent ages with me, thought my boat looked fantastic, posed for a few photos, and wrote me a good luck message!! She seemed genuinely interested in my experience and what I’d been through which was pretty cool.
I was buzzing that evening, it renewed my focus on training and reminded why I was doing what I was doing.
Sadly it didn’t last- I’ve been fighting a chest infection pretty much from November, and eventually about 3 weeks ago, I was referred urgently to a respiratory consultant as I had a very serious bacterial lung infection, I’d been in the gym that morning and the doctors weren’t entirely sure how I’d managed to keep going. I was started on home IV antibiotics, but a few days later I realised I wasn’t doing too well and was brought into hospital. I’ve been here two weeks, bored and feeling like I’m wasting a bed, but I’ve been lucky apparently so yay!!
Home today, and already planning when I can get back into training, going to start slowly building lung strength as well as generally getting stronger. I’ve been doing a bit of sports psychology reading whilst I’ve been in, as well as catching up on a few documents I needed to write. Unfortunately I’m limited on the ward as there is no Wi-Fi, only in the main concourse, which when you’re having multiple IVs, waiting to see consultants, physios, dieticians, specialist nurses, and anybody else who might need to be involved, plus having visitors (which is always awesome) and oh being pretty unwell mean work has been limited and succeeded by sleep many times!!
I’m feeling positive about my future though, these last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, with a new diagnosis, and lots of new treatments to fit into my hectic schedule- Anybody know how to add a few hours into the day?! But I’m determined, this combined with my other respiratory team may actually manage to get on top of the situation and sort things out, which will make me hopefully an even more able rower when my lungs aren’t restricting me so much.
I kept being visited by people from the chaplaincy, not sure what it was about me, that attracted them (other than the first two who discovered I was the only one awake on the ward- first time I’d been awake at that time since I’d been admitted!!) but I managed to see 4 of them in the space of about a week. They were all lovely and caring, but kept telling me I’m inspiring. I’m really not, I’m not doing anything special. Just fortunate to have been given the life I have and I’m determined to make the most of it. I want to put my mark on the planet someway, make my life mean something- pretentious perhaps, but I hope that I can do something for the greater good in my life.
I am grateful, I have my family’s support, fantastic friends, a good network of support, talented HCPs involved in my care, a roof over my head, nutrition, a job I love, a decent education, I don’t go without and am in the position to do some volunteering. What more could I need? My QoL is pretty darn good when I’m out of hospital.
My life is complex, not the one I set out to life, or a path I ever expected to find myself down, but I am, and I am going to make the most of it, and make sure I appreciate it as much as I can.
Next project is getting back to health, and getting back into my degree. Wish me luck.
Sorry I’ve been away for so long. So much has happened, but I’m not going to bore you with history.
Important information though it’s my birthday today!! So I’m feeling loved and supported, and all cozy inside.
Moving swiftly on, I was inspired to start writing again as part of an agreement with the Cambridge University Sports Centre was that they would give me a membership, if I would blog for them about my road to Rio.
I went to visit the gym, as it’s the only place in Cambridge which has a bench pull system which is essential for my strength and conditioning training. I was very impressed with the setup, lots of equipment, looking well maintained, clean, and enough space. The fitness suite looked good as well, nice and smart looking, plenty of modern cardio equipment.
I was delighted when they offered me membership in exchange for some random rambles by me!! I was also happy as Matt, who I used to work with at a previous gym is also there so can help support me as he’s done some rowing and is drawing up my S&C plan at the moment.
I also got to experience the classes and went to my first Pilates class yesterday. I always feel a bit awkward turning up unannounced with no warning about my mobility impairment. The class was really good, the instructor very welcoming, and as I have done some Pilates already I was able to adapt any moves appropriately, surprisingly my core was still pretty good. The time flew by, some classes you count the minutes, but this one seemed to move quickly. Even the leopard print leggings didn’t put me off too much 😉
Overall I’m very impressed so far, although it would be better if there were lockers in the accessible changing rooms.
I hope to return to blogging more often now, but that remains to be seen!!
First of all thank you to everyone who has shared my fundraising campaign over at http://www.makeachamp.com/claireconnon I’m overwhelmed by the support and generosity of people so far.
As a public thanks to you all I shall have a roll call of all donators proudly on this page. So here we go:
Jet Spero
Sarah Gibson
Steph Caird
anonymous #1
anonymous #2
Phil Howard
Colin Bullock my first para coach
anonymous #3
Rosemarie Adams
anonymous #4
Caroline Kay
Ulrike Bauer
Alice
Claudia Catacchio
Julia Fischer
Julien Huppert MP
Tobia Smith
Amy-Alys Tillson
Colette Morgan
Toni Newman
Christine Micklefield
Rhonda Durow
I’m so grateful to you all, I can’t believe you’ve all been so generous and this is just in the first 24 hours of the campaign. I will do my best to honour my dreams and get that Paralympic medal. Every penny really does make a difference. You’re all awesome
Updated- sorry it’s taken so long to get you all listed.
Judith Weik
Anonymous #5
Becs
Caitlin
anonymous #6
Sarah Nixon
Ruth Brannan
Aleksandra Wlodek
Anonymous #7
Molly Smith
Chesterton Rower
Anonymous #8
Chloe Bousfield
Ulrike Bauer
Anonymous #9
Anonymous #10
Johnathan Stokes
The Lumb Family
Nines Rower
anonymous #11
Jill Drury
Anonymous #12
Martin Hartley
Jan Kvasnicka
Anonymous #13
Ben Marsden
Leah Carvell
Leanne T
Chris Barker
Maria Larcombe
Anonymous #14
Helen & Kurz
Edwin
Sally Bray
Anonymous #15
Sorry I got distracted with life and the list was growing faster than I could keep up with!!
Sarah-Jane
Karen Cresswell
Karl Hudspith
John Redos
Anonymous #16
Anonymous #17
Anonymos #18
Colette Milbourn
Alex Elbro
Anonymous #19
Anonymous #20
Rosie Black
Bethany Millar
Amy Bland
Anonymous #21
Anonymous #22
Anonymous #23
Linus Harrison & Grace Quantock
Anonymous #24
Alisa Benton
Anonymous #25
Lizzy Johnstone
Anonymous #26
Dan
Miss Pugh
Denise & Paul
Becki Luscombe
Girl on the River
Rachel Rowe
Anonymous #27
Monmouth RC
Pete & Jen Fuller Green
Linda
Tom Copeland
Matthew Byrne
Kathryn Hosfelt
James Holmes-Siedle
Susanne Hackenbeck
Louise Partridge
Mary Whitteridge
Lydia Stirling
Anonymous #28
Anonymous #29
Leonard Martin
Yasmin Amhed
Anonymous #30
Ying
John Seward-Lewis
Michael Gilmont
Karen Clark
That’s all 107 of you, plus there’s been a few offline donations as well. Thank you all so much.
Words cannot express how much your generosity means, but I am spurred on by your support.
I’m known for breaking things, but seem to have taken it to a new level recently. I’m currently in the VW van centre, getting my van looked at. It’s randomly losing power which is not very helpful. Hopefully it’s nothing too major and I can get it fixed quickly and get back home.
My powerchair still remains broken, I need to get that chased up, dragging myself through the car is really not good for me!
Manual chair is fixed though. I replaced the brake myself and with some fiddling, have managed to get it so it is working again. That’s one to me, 2 to inanimate objects.
The final major failure is my rowing seat, I’ve broken one weld and completely sheared through another bit. It needs to go back to the seat hospital. So now we need to change the seat and rails back to my old ones, which aren’t as good, but better than nothing.
Update: managed to get my chair fixed, which is rather handy. Does mean the rails have to be changed again tomorrow, but never mind!!
Car isn’t a VW fault, they believe it’s the alternative ignition that came with the hand controls. Phoned the relevant company who were adamant it wasn’t anything to do with them, until I mentioned what the guys at VW said, then suddenly it was possible it was to do with them!! They, however, haven’t rung me back so need to chase them next week.
I went back home on Thursday afternoon, until this evening. Was a nice change of scenery. Ready for a hard week of training, as I’ve been selected to row for England next weekend, assuming there is still a race. I haven’t heard much so not sure what’s going on. Fingers crossed it’s happening, I loved it last year. It’ll be good to see where I am, and where I need to be for the National Championships in October.
I’m also rather excited as I’m going to see Ash on Tuesday night, (definitely worth skiving off one session to see them!!).
It’s Marlow regatta, at Eton Dorney, (home to the Olympic and Paralympic rowing), this weekend. which is rather exciting. Sadly I don’t think my fitness is the best it could be. I need more stamina, it’s coming on, but not fast enough for me!! I think that the week in hospital didn’t help things. Also using my lightweight chair more is a bit of a shock to my arms!!
Currently I’m waiting to see my nutrition team, which hopefully will be okay. I have a few things to discuss and also see what they have to say about things.
Preparations for the race have started, motivational, head focussing music is on, and the cards are up. Training is starting to taper as well. I’m quite excited about the race, although it appears I’m racing up a category again, which is annoying, but a race is better than no race, even if it’s just for experience.
Not much else is happening in my world, it seems to revolve around sleeping and rowing, which is fine by me!!
Tomorrow I am going to do an assessment of my current fitness, aka an ergo test. There are a number of reasons why, mostly that I need to see where I am compared to a few months ago, fingers crossed I’m making progress. I also need to see what fitness I lose over next week, as I’m being admitted to a London hospital for some long awaited tests.
I’m not keen on going, but I know I need a way forward. It’s just difficult to plan around as they said it could be up to a week, but others I know were only in for a few days. It is probably about the best timing it could be in terms of training and racing, as Marlow Regatta is still a few weeks off.
I’m going to sneak some training kit, like weights in, and might see what other amenities are around. There will be plenty of wheeling around, especially as I now have my beautiful new chair, which I can push more easily.
I hope to make a start on some bits of craft projects I’ve got to do, and maybe actually take the time off to rest and recharge, although not sure how well that will work as the tests can be quite gruelling apparently.
I was only phoned on Wednesday afternoon about it, so I’ve been busily making phone calls to get all my TPN deliveries sorted out. When I spoke to a nurse on the ward about it, the response I got was “oh my God, oh my God, don’t know if we have anywhere to store it”. Not the most reassuring start to a conversation. She did, however, investigate for me, and I think hope it’s all sorted.
Right sleep and hopefully feel refreshed and ready for tomorrow.
As part of my preparations for next months trial, a GB coach came down to swap the rails on my current boat, to fit the ones that go with the seat I’d been set up with previously.
Sadly, the weather was far too bad to go out, but we decided to put the boat on the water, just to look at positioning. We nearly hit disaster at this point. The coach was holding the boat with his foot, suddenly a big gust of wind sent the boat on a trip along the jetty, along with the coach. I had visions of him going straight into the water, which I fear if it had happened would have been the end of my GB hopes!! Thankfully all was fine, but I was still rather nervous about drifting away when I got in.
The weather was so bad I think I could have rowed a new record time, but then never have managed to return. I went out the day before, and it was more a strength training exercise than actual rowing and it was even worse when the coach was down, so rather pleased I didn’t have to go out, even I know where to draw the line!!
Trials are now less than 2 weeks away. Someone asked me today if I was feeling ready for them. Honestly, I don’t know. I know I’ve been putting in the hours to improve, but have I done enough? I am trying to remain realistic again. Getting to this stage was unexpected, so anything more would be utterly amazing. By the time I trial I’ll only have been training properly for 11 months, 4 of which I spent in casts and splints. Don’t get me wrong, I desperately want a place on the team, to be doing what I’ve dreamt of doing, to be on the road to Rio, as they say. If I don’t get a place this year, I will work even harder to get a place next year, once I’ve set my sights on something it’s very difficult to shake me off the path.
In semi related news I spent much of last week writing applications to try and receive some funding to help with costs associated with the sport, and also for new equipment in terms of a handcycle for cross training purpose. The latter application, as well as having a judging panel, each week people can vote for their favourite applicant. The link is here I would be very grateful if you could take a minute to help my Paralympic dreams come true. Thank you.
rowrowyourboat 