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RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

TRAINING IN SULTRY SINGAPORE 24th July 2008

I had a little bit of a scare this morning at 5:00 am. The scare was that I was sitting up in bed awake: Wide awake! Luckily for me, I soon tired again and descended into the pillows, sleeping in until 8:00am; quite a difference.

At breakfast it was soon very apparent that others on the squad had suffered similar experiences during the night. However, not many were fortunate as I was to drift back off again - suckers!

After breakfast, we had a telephone conference with Techcominco, one of our sponsors. I really enjoyed hearing their plan for working with the National Women's Team in the future, as well as thoughts they have about how they can better support us, and we them. The main focus of the call though, was for the company and its people to wish us well in the Olympics. The call was very appreciated, and for them to tell us that some of them will be coming over to China, to support us, in person, is fantastic.

Almost as soon as the call was over, we were boarding the bus and heading off to training. This was our first soccer practice in a week, because we had been given three days off before departure to rest up and pack up our apartments. It was very good to pull the boots back on., and get some touches on the ball. I know everyone felt the same. We were training at 10:00 am in an effort to avoid the hottest part of the day, but this is not what happened.

We did not avoid the heat. Almost as soon as we arrived at the training facility, the sun came shining through and sweat started to literally pour from us. I was amazed at how much I was sweating. I cannot recall ever before having droplets of perspiration falling off the end of my nose, elbows and the point of my chin, and all at the same time!

By the end of the practice, I was thrilled to jump into the shower at the hotel. Some had already tried dipping in the ice chests at the sports field. Normally when we return from training our first reaction is to eat. However, this was an impossibility today. Then, after eating, we had a meeting with Kirsten Barnes, our team psychologist and former Olympic gold medalist in rowing. She will be here with us for the next three days, working with the squad so that we are as best prepared as we can be.

When this sportspsych session was concluded, it was almost 3:00pm - we get involved in these sessions! It was now time for our run. The run involves doing 50-60 minute jogs at the hottest time of day here in Singapore, in an attempt to acclimatize to the heat and humidity as quickly as possible. These runs are meant to be done at about 70% of our working heart-rate, but we are really having quite a bit of trouble doing this. However, on a personal note, today I beat Martina in the run, but don’t tell her that. I am very happy about this feat, but the effort has left me exhausted, and not quite what these runs are meant to be about. Incidentally, take time to see her new website.

Tonight will be a quiet one, thank goodness, with nothing much to do, but read, watch television and play cards.