Its 4:30am, the morning after being knocked out of the World Rowing Champs. The reason Im awake is because, surprisingly ribs are a part of the body that are very painful and are used for more than you think, being comfortable in bed is one of those.  Were they the reason I’m out of the semi finals? No, did they contribute? maybe

My tilt at a 6th World title was always going to be a long shot. I took 10 months off after the Olympics for a break from the sport to refresh both mentally and physically. that was certainly successful and allowed me to partake in a number of amazing adventures.  It was all part of a four year plan with an eye to performing my best in Rio 2016. This year was always going to be an uphill battle with a lack of preparation but Im always up for a challenge and was excited about trying to bring a campaign together in the space of 2 months. I have been happy with how it has gone and while I may have dreamed of winning another World title, realistically that was always going to be an almost impossible proposition, requiring a lot of luck and no margin for error. In the end I’ve come up well short with a finish outside the top 12.

Ultimately finishing outside the top 12 is the final result although I do believe that isn’t quite a true reflection of where I currently sit, but that’s sport and has certainly shown me the truth about the old saying Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

The reason we train so hard over so many years and do the preparation we do, is to try and take luck and excuses as much out of the equation as possible. If you do it right you will be in a position you can overcome almost anything thrown at you and still perform to your best. With my very curtailed preparations I knew I had no margin for error and was relying on things to go my way, if that happened I was confident I could make the A final and perhaps even sneak in for a medal. That is now all a distant memory as I prepare to race the C/D Semi finals for a place in the C final.

I came to Korea happy with how things were progressing, I obviously wanted to be faster than I was, but knew I hadn’t done the work to expect that. From day 1 things started to go wrong. I arrived to find the boat builders had made a mistake and not sent my boat to Korea, instead sending me the boat Joseph used in Europe. I made the best of it and started training. The first few days were tough, I usually enjoy the heat but the first few days I struggled big time with training in the heat and humidity, again I think a bit of the lack of base work meant my body wasn’t quite running on all cylinders. That was followed up with damaging my boat when the Women’s pair pulled in front of me in training.  Just when things seemed to be getting back on track in week 2 a truck didn’t see me when I was out cycling and turned in front of me and I hit the side at about 40KM/hr. Initially I thought I had escaped fairly well with some road rash and a bruised rib, but as the week went on especially when doing pieces on the water I was struggling to breathe and in a lot of pain. After doing a 500M piece last Thursday I was very sore and unable to train on the water Friday so went to the hospital and they diagnosed me with a fractured rib.

In Hindsight maybe I should have cut my loses then and pulled out of the World Champs. But I don’t like to give up, so I did what is natural too me and that’s find away around it. I knew I was unlikely to damage it more, but that it was going to hurt so I took pain relief and came up with a management plan, knowing that if I could get through to the semis without flaring it up too badly it should be well on the path to recovery and not effect my racing too much from that stage on.

The heat went to plan, I did just enough to win and while it was very painful I could take it. I was very stiff and sore the following day so didn’t row and went on the stationary bike to try and get it as good as I could before the Quarter Finals. I was really hoping for a reasonable draw in the Quarter, knowing how sore I was after the heat I didnt want to have to push it too much knowing each day it would be getting better. When I saw the draw I knew things were certainly stacked against me. Our Quarter contained Hacker, Aleksandrov and myself (all Olympic finalists from last year) and Bozhilov who has won a gold and bronze medals from the World cups this year. Seeing the other Quarters I was disappointed and frustrated, especially because had I finished 2nd in my heat I could have had a relatively easy run to the semis, which is disappointing.

Again to put this in perspective, any other year this wouldn’t have been a problem. I would have done the preparations required and be in a position that I could beat anyone thrown at me, with one of the others missing out. But as I mentioned earlier I hadn’t done the required preparation and knew this was going to be a tough one.

Going into the race I knew there was no margin for error, but that I was still capable of getting through, ideally with my Rib fracture, I would have just done enough to get to the semis, but once the draw was out I knew I would have to pull out all the stops and if that meant putting it back a few days then so be it. During the first 1000M things went fairly well, I got out of the start well and while I couldn’t hold Hacker’s pace, it was very level between Aleksandrov, Bozhilov and myself. By the half way mark breathing was getting very painful, each time I breathe in and start the Rowing stroke it feels like someone is stabbing you in the side, trust me its painful. Pain is weakness leaving your body and there was a lot leaving mine.  I got myself into second position and tried as hard as I could to extend the gap, knowing I would struggle the further I got on in the race and the harder I breathed. With 500M to go I was in 2nd but 1.4sec covered the 3 of us, Aleksandrov went past me then Bozhilov was closing, I stacked in as many strokes as I could, a couple of times I held my breath just trying to avoid the pain of breathing. Unfortunately my lack of preparation caught up with me and I didn’t have enough to hold on finishing 4th and out of the semi finals.

It was frustrating seeing the times, with mine being the 4th in my Quarter and 5th fastest overall out of the 4 quarters. I knew I would have likely made it through to the next round in any of the others, but that’s the way it fell and once again had I had the preparation then I wouldn’t be in this situation.

2013 World champs hasn’t quite worked out the way I wanted it to. There were a number of obstacles thrown in my way and while none of these were big enough to derail my campaign, the lack of preparation meant I didn’t have any lee way and was unable to overcome them as in previous years.

In life and in sport you are always faced with challenges, I have had my fair share of them, rib stress fracture 2009, bike crash in 2011, bike crash and shoulder injury (3 weeks off rowing) in 2012. The difference is in previous years I had done the preparations, I had built in some margin for error and was able to overcome them and still win. This time I was under prepared and relying on luck and instead was dealt a rough ride.

It has all been a good learning experience, if I had to do it all again there aren’t many choices I would change, especially around time preparing etc. If you asked me to give up the past years activities for a World title, I wouldn’t, this is a four year plan not one. This year was about refreshing and preparing to be the best I can be in Rio 2016. I believe I am well on track for that. If there is one lesson this year has taught me, it is that preparation is the key. If you prepare properly you can overcome most things and still perform. By not doing the proper preparation you open yourself up for poor results and reliance on things you cant control (draw, luck, others etc) and allow what would usually be obstacles that are able to overcome to become excuses. I don’t believe is using excuses or luck (that’s for the under prepared), what happens, happens and how you deal with it defines who you are.

I was beaten fair and square, I’ve missed my first A final in the single and it’s the first time in 9 years I’ve failed to make the podium at the years pinnacle event. In saying that I am still happy with where I sit, 3 years out from Rio, I am refreshed mentally and physically and ready to rip back into training. I am very confident I can turn this all around by working hard over the next 12 months. I expect to be back on the podium in Amsterdam next year and pushing for gold again in 3 years time. Ill learn from this and proper preparation will insure a perfect performance next time!