The Jindabyne Camp

So I'm gonna skip the part where I came back to Sydney to train.

And talk about the part where I decided to participate in a training camp, which is one of the most painful events I've ever gone through in my entire life.

So this is what it's like to be an elite athlete in one of new south Wales's best rowing club. Mind you, it is not even the national team. 

This is what it's like to have a proper, serious shit training camp. 

This is what it feels like to die.

Every single fkg day.

And I'm sorry if you shudder and gasp in horror when I say the 4 letter word but you'll understand why I will be using the word ever so often in this post.

Jindabyne is 5 hours away from Sydney by land. I met james with his 1989 volkswagon van at mosman on Saturday morning bright and early at 530am. His radio and bluetooth in the van wasn't working and there wasnt any air condition and it was in the middle of summer in sydney so the 5 hours ride felt like 10. But after sleeping through like 3/4 of the journey, we finally reached Jindy. 

At this point I cringe at how cute Jindy sounds because there is nothing cute about Jindabyne.

Better known as Snowy Mountain, during winter, Jindabyne turns into a skiing wonderland. In summer, it is where Mother Nature shows its true colours as a female- undecisive. Mother hot one moment, pissing rain the next. And im not even talking about a period of days here. In a matter of hours the weather here can change drastically.

This place is lovely. Jindabyne is beautiful. The lake is enormous and it goes on forever. Once, we rowed on and on for at least 13km without having to turn. The roads where we ride on go on forever too. (More on cycling in a bit.)

The day starts at 4:55am every morning, which doesn't seem that bad if you're a rower. And then you put on your trainers and run down the hill to the lake. And you might think it's a straightforward downhill route but in jindabyne nothing is ever a simple downhill or uphill. 

At the lake, we row and God bless us if the wind is a breeze. The water can get so nasty, once I went out on a single scull in horrible water and almost cried cuz it was so scary to row back in the rolling waves. After training, we run back up the hill back to our accommodation. On good days, the run back will take 20mins or so for a 2.5km distance. On days where your legs feel like there's fkg weights in them, it may take up to half an hour. But you have to just deal with it because no way will any coach pity your pretty face and give you a ride home.

And then we have our favourite meal of the day, breakfast. Usually we sleep after breakfast for about an hour to recharge for our second session which starts at around 11am. This time round we don't have to run to the lake so we'll get to drive down, thankfully.

Sometimes we run up a hill. Hills in jindabyne have no mercy on us human beings. They are so steep your eyes weep just by looking at them. Running up the hill is so painful you can try all sorts of things to get your mind off the pain but your fkg lungs and legs are on fire you can't ignore them. They just hurt so much and walking doesn't make anything better so you can't do much, really, but just to fkg run.

Sometimes we gym. Which sounds okay since I've been gymming for quite some time now but I've not done circuits for years and circuits just make your heart pump so hard you feel like it may just protrude out of your chest anytime. 

And then there's the training I dread the most. Cycling. I try to convince myself that if I learn to like it, it won't be that bad. But I just can't seem to enjoy riding. It's painful on your shoulders, your bum, your groin, your legs. It's just too much pain and discomfort. And like I mentioned before, Jindabyne hills are complex, like a women's brain. Uphills are painful, as expected, but what I hate the most is the downhill part. I AM SO FKG SCARED OF GOING DOWN A SLOPE, GOD SAVE ME. And cycling trainings go on for hours. The first ride we had was 45mins. The second was 70mins and the third ride was 3hrs. Yesterday, we rode for 3.5hrs, 67km and climbed the steepest hill I've ever encountered in my life. It was so steep my cadence was probably 10rpm and it is not an exaggeration. The 2 girls I was riding with didn't even make it to the top of the hill. One fell off the bike. It was excruciating I cannot imagine going through that again. Thinking about it still makes me cringe in fear. It was probably about 3 km but it felt like the longest road ever. I hated it. Hated it. SO MUCH HATE IN CYCLING!!!!

and then the coaches said that if I get over the fear of going downhill I actually make a good cyclist. Things you don't want to hear. Haha.

It's been 8 days now. 2 days to go. As much as this camp is slowly breaking my body, mentally fkg my mind,  I am sure by the end of this misery I will be stronger, fitter and faster than I've ever been before. That, I like. But for now, it's 3 more trainings to go.

My friends were like, I miss home. I miss sydney. And then I feel stupid for being sad because even when I get my ass back in sydney, home is still miles away.

They say you have to die first, before you feel reborn.

This is how death feels like, I reckon.

xx