Anna Hemmings

Olympic Games confirmation!

2008-07-09T09:02:14Z

I'm really excited because after the painful 300m session yesterday that made me feel sick and gave me a headache (because its so intense!) I received the exciting news that we finally have confirmation of our Olympic place! Woohoo! It has been a long and anxious wait since we raced in Milan but it has been worth the wait. Jess and I will go to the Olympics to compete in the K2 500m. It will be Jess's first Olympic Games and my second. We leave for Beijing with some other members of the GB team on the 6th August... Its the world's most spectacular sporting event and I can't wait!

Dunavarsany training camp

2008-07-08T10:14:46Z

We have been at the Dunavarsany training camp for a week now and it feels like forever! Despite the fact that its a pretty good trainng centre with decent accommodation right by the river it is not my favourite place. The city is far away and there is little to do in the nearby area. There are also snakes in the river and to say that disturbs me would be the understatement of the year! The weather however has been pretty good, if a little inconsistent, yesterday was about 34deg and today its more like 22deg!

Training has been mostly good. Jess is preparing for the Junior Euros which are next week, so we are training hard in our K1s now and only doing a couple of K2 sessions for the time being. This time of year is interesting because the volume of training gets less but the intensity gets higher for example we have 5x 300m every 8-10mins which might sound quite short but I know it is going to very painful! 300m is a relatively short but torturous distance! Bring it on....

Busy busy,,,

2008-07-02T20:18:08Z

I got back from Poland late on Sunday night and then i was back on a plane this morning, it feels like I am in and out of airports every 5minutes! Apart from unpacking my bag, washing my clothes and re-packing I had a busy couple of days at home... First thing Monday morning I had jabs for China done, an injection in each arm for typhoid, hep A, tetanus etc.. luckily no bad side effects just both arms feeling very sore and the muscle feeling like its been badly bruised! On Tuesday morning I was speaking at St Charles (primary) school assembly to 180 5-10 year olds about canoeing and the Olympics. It is the only speaking engagement i have done this year and although i committed to not doing any until after the Olympics I decided to make an exception for this one. I was glad I did, the children seemed to really enjoy what i had to say and if I can inspire a group of children to aim higher, dream bigger and be the best that they can be and if just one child becomes an Olympian or an Olympic Champion then its more than worth my while.

Yesterday afternoon I did a photoshoot with the Sunday Times to go with a fitness piece they had interviewed me about. Luckily it was schorching hot yesterday because i was photographed in shorts and a crop top and then a bikini for an hour and half. The best bit was that I was given a selection of Heidi Klein bikinis to choose from, the one i choose is really gorgeous.

Then, in the middle of packing my bag and wanting to spend some time with Neil before i left again for another 2 weeks, the out of competition drugs tester turned up! And of course i had just been to the toilet! So an hour and a half and a litre and a half of water later the drug test was complete and it was time to go to bed!

So Jess and I arrived in Hungary this afternoon to 28deg heat, which is glorious. We are staying at the Dunavarsany training centre on the small Danube river, near Budapest. We are here for two weeks before Jess goes off to compete at the Junior European Champs and I go home for a week. By then I hope to have a good couple of weeks training in the bag and a great tan..

Speaking Freely

2008-06-30T09:44:04Z

"Yesterday we were supposed to race the semi final and the final of the 500m followed by the final of the 200m, however Jess was not feeling well. She has had a cold all week and it was getting worse. She has to race the junior European championships in 2 weeks time and needs to be better. So we pulled out of all the racing yesterday. It was disappointing and frustrating not to be able to race. It was our last chance to race before the Olympic games however Jess needs to be well and be able to train hard in the next 2 weeks. Howeverm we should have lots of opportunities to do race practice and time trials in training instead."

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-06-30T09:39:19Z

"On Saturday we raced the heat of the 500 m. It went ok, we finished 3rd and progressed to the semi final. In the afternoon we raced the final of the 1000m. Following the heat on Friday this is the only the 2nd time we had raced 1000m, so we're kind of learning still! We finished 4th. It was a good race but disappointing to miss out on a medal."

spoken through SpinVox

Poznan World Cup 3

2008-06-27T15:59:48Z

First day of racing here in sunny but rather windy Poznan and everything started off pretty well. Our first race was K2 1000m. We had the heats of all 3 distances today so the plan in the 1000m was to just proceed to the final as comfortably as possible (1-3 direct to the final). We had a great start and then cruised through to second place behind the French crew. In the 200m again 1-3 went straight to the final and we won our heat so we were pleased with that. We don't have to race the semis tomorrow! The wind picked up massively this afternoon, so bad that there were waves with white tops. After postponing the racing a number of times the organisers eventually conceded that the wind wasn't going to calm down today and the rest of the 500m racing has been postponed until tomorrow. The programme will recommence at a delightful 7,30am tomorrow! We'll have the 500m heat in the morning and the 1000m final at 5.13pm...

Speaking Freely

2008-06-23T18:37:30Z

"I have had a good 5 week block of training since the European Championships. Jess and I are now ready to race again. Tomorrow we leave for Poland along with the rest of the potential Olympic team. It is the final world cup race of the season. Jess will race at the Junior European Championships later in July but this is the last race that I will do before the Olympics, should our place in the Olympic team be confirmed.This we hope to find out in 2 weeks time. In Poland this weekend we will be racing all 3 distances, 200m, 500m and 1000m. I am looking forward to it. For more information and the and to check the results go to this website - http://www.wc2008.pl/http://www.wc2008.pl/"

spoken through SpinVox

Cover Girl!

2008-06-09T15:55:56Z

Feeling margingly better today, but still have a dodgy stomach, so again no training today :-( However, this morning I was perked up by the news that the book that I am gracing the cover of is finally finished, out and on paperback! It is called 'Recovery from CFS' and is a collection of 50 personal stories (including my own) of recovery from CFS/ME. People from all around the world share their experience and how they found their way back to health and a normal life. It is an incredibly inspiring and positive book and will give much hope to CFS sufferers.

It is available for purchase on Amazon or the Authorhouse website www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=49650

For a further info and to see the front cover that I am feeling rather proud of, check out my diary page http://www.annahemmings.com/diarydetail.asp?ID=83

annahemmings @ 2008-06-08T17:17:00

2008-06-08T16:21:53Z

Its a beautiful day, blazing hot sunshine and i am stuck inside feeling sick!! Have food poisoning or a stomach bug of some sort, so i'm feeling rather sorry for myself! Hopefully i'll feel better tomorrow and be able to train...

Speaking Freely

2008-06-03T09:11:58Z

"It has been a pretty miserable morning and it rained continuously throughout training. However despite the weather I did a record on my 2km time trial this morning. I did an 8min48secs which is a PB. I am feeling rather chuffed with myself!"

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-05-27T10:37:37Z

"Since returning from the European Championship we are now going back to base work. We have about 3 or 4 weeks of doing endurance base training again. Last Saturday we did 20km in the K2 and we also back to the 2km time trials. We did two 2km time trials this morning, the conditions were great and they went pretty well. On my first one, I did 8 min 50 sec which equals my fastest time ever at Eton, (although last year I did 8mins40 in Hungary but this morning equals my fastest time in the UK) so I am pleased."

spoken through SpinVox

annahemmings @ 2008-05-21T11:39:00

2008-05-21T11:01:05Z

The Euro Champs went fairly well; our first race was the K4 500m and we made a great start to racing by having a stunning race in the heat finishing second behind the Germans and proceeding directly to the final. Next up was the K2 heat and that didn't go so well, we finishd 5th, but we went through to the semi-final and that was the race that mattered. We had a good race in the semi, we did our best but sadly it wasn't enough to make the A-final, with only 3 boats going through, we came 4th by 0.4secs! Not making the A-final meant that we HAD to win the B-final if we were going to have any chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games.... we were cutting it fine... The K4 final was on Saturday morning, with only one qualifying place available and the Spanish crew going through clearly as the fastest and the favourites, we knew we had an enormous task ahead. Frustratingly we didn't do our best race, compared to our race in the heats, we under-performed and finished 9th. The Spanish K4 finished 3rd and took the one and only qualifying spot. Our last chance was in the K2; we had a fantastic race, we stuck to our race plan and despite being in 4th place for most of the race, we stayed calm and steadily picked off each of the boats in front of us. At 100m to go, we were still in 3rd place and it was only in the last 10m that we came past the Portuguese K2 which had led the race from the start. We had the most amazing surge to the line and won by 0.1secs! Wooohoooo!! Our Olympic hopes were still alive! We are now waiting for confirmation that we have indeed qualified for the Olympics; i was hoping that we might hear this week, but it looks like it could be couple more weeks before we receive confirmation...

European Championships

2008-05-14T14:44:55Z

We've been in Milan for over a week now and our final preparation for racing has been going well. We've done all the training, we've rested up and now its just time to get out there and race! The racing is going to be tough but i'm looking forward to it. My first race is in the K4 at 12.30pm tomorrow. There will be some coverage on Eurosport, mostly of the finals - Saturday 8am-11.15am and Sunday 19.00-20.00. For further info and race results go to http://www.idroscaloclub.org/campionati/homegen.html

pre- Euros training camp

2008-05-09T08:03:23Z

I'm now in sunny Milan on a pre-Euro champs training camp; training on the course that we will race on. I have raced here before, the last time was in 2001 and I had forgotten how nice the course is - its soooo clean and the water is green but you can see through it and its also really warm, which helps when you are getting splashed in K4! The big focus is on K2 and K4 now and both boats are going well. It is quite a change for me to be focusing on crew boats, but i am really enjoying it. Lots of variety makes training more interesting! Really starting to taper down now which means training is high intensity and low volume, love it!

Speaking Freely

2008-05-04T09:36:34Z

"It was the Olympic team selection yesterday, I won 2 out of 3 events. Jess and I won the K2 race by over 2 seconds - woohoo!! We were delighted with our performance and it was quite comfortable. Our K2 journey until now has been quite tumultuous, so it was especially satisfying to win yesterday. We then jumped in a K4 with Rachel and Hayleigh and we won that by 2 and a half seconds. So I am realy pleased with these results. However, I came third in the K1 race which was disappointing. But I will now go to the European Championships to race K2 and K4 and try to qualify for the Olympics. We leave for a pre-Euros training camp in Milan on Tuesday... "

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-04-29T18:05:43Z

"Last weekend I had 2 days off so that I would be fully recovered and rested for the last few days of training before the Olympic selection this weekend. Neil and I took the opportunity to go to The New Forest for the weekend. We had a lovely, chilled out, relaxing weekend in the country. This week of training is going to be quite light. We are tapering down in preparation for the regatta. This morning we did K2 and it is going well. I'm starting to feel ready for racing."

spoken through SpinVox

Splashing about in a kayak

2008-04-23T20:58:40Z

I'm pleased to say that I only had to take a couple of days off with illness and i am back to full training now and all is getting back on track.
I featured in an article with a journalist in the Daily Express today. Andrew Elliot came down to Royal to have go at canoeing and with typical male bravado thought he would be able to keep my kayak upright for more than a couple of paddle strokes, but less than two seconds is all that he managed!! And as if one dunking in the Thames wasn't enough he went back for more; he was either very brave and determined to succeed or damn right insane! The latter i suspect! To read the full article go the press page on my website http://www.annahemmings.com/press.asp and to see other photos go to the diary page http://www.annahemmings.com/diarydetail.asp?ID=81 It was a bitter cold April mornng and after three capsizes I'm surprised the poor guy didn't catch pnumonia! He was a great sport though for giving it a go and superb value entertainment!

annahemmings @ 2008-04-17T10:52:00

2008-04-17T09:57:07Z

Feeling unwell, frustrated and annoyed! I have a sore throat and I don't like training when i am not 100% healthy, but I also don't like not being able to train! Jess and I had K2 sessions planned for this afternoon and tomorrow morning which I was looking forward to, so I am disappointed about that. Hoping that it will pass in a couple of days and i'll be able to get back on the water.

Speaking Freely

2008-04-15T14:12:51Z

"I did a K4 session with Jess,Hayleigh and Rachel this morning. I realised it has been 7 years since I went in a K4! We did some split 500s, it was bit of a shock to get my arms going round at 145 strokes per minute. Whizzing round at that speed is also good practice for K2 and K1. It was an enjoyable session, I forgot how fast a K4 feels and what a different experience it is."

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-04-09T10:10:20Z

"I took 2 days rest to recharge my mental and physically batteries after the weekend of racing. We have started back training with a bit of base work and endurance training before getting back to the speed work. Despite being a beautiful morning today with blue skies and sunshine it was still only 3deg when we got on the water. I had to do a 2km time trial and I did my fastest time of the year so far 8mins57 so I am pleased."

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-04-07T09:02:05Z

"It was the first race of the year at the weekend. In the K1 500m I finished 3rd behind Lucy and Rachel. I didn't feel as if I raced my best, so this was a disappointing result. I then raced in the K2 500m with Jess and with only a handful of training sessions behind us we finished 2nd. Only 0.2 secs behind the winners, Rachel and Hayleigh. This was an encouraging result. I then raced the K1 200m and finished a very close 2nd behind Lucy. Again just 0.2 secs. Final race of the day was the K2 200 meters and this was a disaster. The wind was blowing a gale and the starter started the race when we were parallel to the start line. Needless to say we gave the other crews about a 2 length lead before our boat was straight and we were able to stat our race. Looking forward to improving on these performances at the main selection for the Olympics and European Championships next month."

spoken through SpinVox

Speaking Freely

2008-04-04T11:31:00Z

"Hi. I am on my way to Nottingham for the first big sprint regatta of the year. I am looking forward to racing. I will be racing in the K1 500m at 10:30 tomorrow morning and the K2 500m with Jesica Walker in the afternoon. I will keep you posted with results."

spoken through SpinVox

Going home!!

2008-03-26T10:08:33Z

After 8 and half weeks in Seville its finally time to go home! And i can't wait! Training has been great, this last week in particular really moved up to the next level, so I am happy. Mostly we had great weather and conditions - especially compared to the delightful weather that England has been receiving lately. However, after almost 9 weeks of being away from home I am definitely ready to go back to home surroundings. I am not looking forward to training in 3 layers and wooly hat but i have a job to do and an important race in 10 days time!!

More racing

2008-03-16T16:28:36Z

On Thursday, we did some more K2 races; I did one race with Louisa, we had a really bad lean which wasn't fun! We finished 3rd. Then in the afternoon i raced with Hayleigh and we had a good race, flying off the start and leading for the first 350m, but then we were overtaken just towards the end and again finished 3rd, but it was close and it was a fun race! Not surprisingly it was a fairly subjective process; but none the less the coaches anyalysed the results, made ranking lists, graphs and pretty pictures and nothing particularly significant came of it. Most of the original crews are sticking together and Jess and I will paddle together at the first regatta, which i am happy about.
With all the racing over it was time to get back to training. And then on Friday night Neil came out to visit me, which i was so excited about. Unfortunately it was only a short visit and he has gone home now, but it was great to see him and the weather was glorious which Neil was particularly happy about.

Race offs in Seville

2008-03-12T17:52:39Z

So we're back in Seville after a brief trip home and it sounds like we got back here just in time - avoiding the hurrendous storms that have hit home. Its pretty damn warm here and there are starting to be quite a few red bodies about!
The coaches are keen to nail down some K2 crews during this camp so that we can start preparing for the first regatta (and selection) in April in Nottingham. We started with a couple of K1 races in order to create a ranking list. I won the first race but then messed up in the second one and finished a very poor 5th! The races were 40mins apart and my time was the fastest overall so I was pleased with the first performance. I didn't feel particularly ready to race given that we haven't done any speed work yet and we only just started doing 500m time trials last week. So it was a decent start.
The coaches then drew up some K2 combinations, we had two races today and we have two races tomorrow. I started the first race with Jess and we had a real shocker; we have paddled together in training a few times and it has been great but it just didn't happen in the race. We finished 4th but i hope we get another chance to try again tomorrow. This afternoon i paddled with Lucy , we had a good race and we won with Abi and Louisa close behind in 2nd place.
I'll keep you posted with tomorrow's racing...