Jane Moran - Last Week of Prep

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Category: Jane Moran

We have swapped one exotic European training location for another. And with that we swapped 40 degree heat for 30 degrees, pebble stone, umbrella covered beaches with lakes and cycling tracks, potato and spinach staples with PIZZA…(only occasionally). Our last few days in Budva, Montenegro included training games against a Montenegrin junior men’s team. These were some very intense games and very different to playing women…let’s just say we made no friends :)

We are now based in the lakes region of northern Italy, just outside the beautiful town of Varese. It is very popular with cyclists as there are many mountain climbs -we can see the snow capped Alps of Switzerland in the distance. This area also appealed to the Australian Institute of Sport, as they have recently completed their European base, the AIS European Training Centre (ETC). It is currently at full capacity housing the Australian rowing team, so the water polo team is sharing a nearby hotel with the Australian Canoe/Kayak team. We all use the gym facilities at the AIS ETC, as well as the recovery centre (we’re we do spa and plunge pool), the dining hall and meeting rooms.

We have just commenced our third week of very hard training, and I have been copping some flack that a lot of the photos I am posting are more conducive to holidaymakers than Olympic preparations. Well our physiologist has been travelling with us, and hence we have to wear heart rate monitors to each session. We hook these into special crop-tops where a battery is secured to our backs so the coaches have a live feed of this information. Last session I recorded 12 minutes at above 95% of my max heart rate…you’ll have to take my word for it, but at least above is a “training” photo.

My team mates Sophie Smith, Bronwen Knox and I featured in the Westside News recently (I’m the shorty in the centre) -http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/west/water-polos-best-in-west/story-­fn8odx0z-1226424139054

Another feature in the press, in Wednesday’s The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) was our captain, Kate Gynther in the “Road to London” series. I’m not sure if the newspaper knows, but they didn’t capture Kate in the photo, but those are my mean eyes!!

At training last week we were welcomed by quite a few Australian television news crews. Some of the girls were thrilled to be interviewed by Peter Stefanovic…mainly to have a connection to Carl, but Peter was great. Below is a link to the ABC feature on the Stingers…and some footage of hard training for those sceptics out there :)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-13/water-polo-olympians-take-aim-at-gold-medal/4129222

Until next time

Arrivederci

Jane

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