Life As An Experiment

Have been meaning to write this for a few weeks now; I guess I haven’t because the fact that I have recognised performance sport isn’t the right place for me right now is hard to admit. Gonna try and keep it short and sweet, but update you all on the decision I’ve made and why.   Over the last almost two years when introducing myself, my go to has always been ‘Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Ellie and I am a full-time rower.’ Always enjoyable to see how quickly I could get the fact that I rowed into the conversation… When making the decision to stop rowing, not because I don’t want to do it anymore but because I’ve recognised that environment is not one that is healthy for me, my first thought was shit! Who even am I now?    Since my training had to pause due to ongoing illness, it became apparent that I probably wasn’t quite where I believed I was in terms of recovery. It was obvious that doing three sessions a day had, in a way, ‘allowed me’ to eat properly. It was a twisted ...

In order to be the best in sport, being able to handle pressure is critical. It is what makes us continually raise our game in response to what is going on around us and challenge those boundaries we once saw as limits. Instead of using this pressure as a stimulant and a positive presence, I found myself getting slightly overwhelmed by it and then shying away. I was afraid of failing so I was never reached my limit, I preferred to play safe rather than risk not completing something.   Recently I have started working with Gazing Performance Systems on their Red2Blue Approach. I had recognised that this was an area that needed work and I am now in the process of learning and finding out how I can strengthen this and help myself. I want to be able to embrace discomfort and use it to help me attack rather than get scared. Am going to share some of my thoughts along the way, as it is not only applicable to sports but everything that we do.   First of all, mindset, mental toughness ...