2012 Olympics with Ella Nicholas Canoe slalom athlete

'150 days and over 300 training sessions to go until you are racing at the Olympics Ella.”

This is what my coach told me yesterday as I prepared for yet another training session. He also suggested it could be fun to count down the training sessions from 300 as I went.

I told him I could not think of anything worse and I can imagine counting down slowly from 300 would eventually drive me crazy.

With the Australian Open, Oceania Championships and about 22 out of 30 days of rain done and dusted, my training has now stepped up another level. I have been in Penrith, Australia for just over three weeks now and all I have been doing is kayaking.

The rain has been almost continuous with bouts of lighting and even some extreme hail, although the temperatures have been preferable to 40 degrees ,the rain has filled the lake up and caused the water to look and smell less than seemly. In mid-February, the Australian Open race was held with an all-star start list consisting of most of the top slalom athletes from all over the globe. My goal was to make the top 30 semi-final cut off and I knew I had my work cut out for me. Unfortunately, I incurred a 50 second penalty on the second to last gate in my first run, leaving me well off the mark.
My second run was not much of an improvement, although I did not miss any gates this time, I was offline on just about everything and touched a few too many gates, adding two second penalties to my time. I missed out on the semi-final, finishing in 35th place.

Two weeks later, I was at the start line again for the Oceania Championships and Olympic Qualifying race. My goal once again was to make the semi-finals and this time I pulled through. My first run was messy, with three touches and a bit off the pace; I was sitting in 31st place so I knew I had to work a bit harder to make that top 30.

My second run was solid with nice lines and was just fast enough to put me into 28th place. Semi-finals were the following day and I managed to do a clean run, but with a few time costly mistakes. I finished in 26th position and although I was happy with that I know I have a lot more work to do for the next 150 days.

Following the Oceania Championships, we said farewell to most of the New Zealand contingent that were out here for racing and training, including my mother, sister and brother. So now it is just me and my coach. I can't say Penrith is my favourite place – there really isn't much to do, but at least that means I can be fully focused on my training.
I am also about to undertake an endeavour into the world of sprint kayaking so there will be a few stories from that for next time I am sure! Until then kia manuia.

Follow Ella on her website, visit www.ellanicholas.com