So what’s happened since my last blog? Shanghai, fortunately.
The aim was to come back fit and strong enough to fence in Shanghai. And so I was feeling pretty happy and relieved to be sitting on my BA flight to China.
Shanghai was a positive trip in a number of ways.
Although I did not achieve a result, I fought hard and was one hit away from getting through the poules. I have come a long way since I injured my foot on 1st March and being back in Shanghai for the start of the Olympic qualifying season has been a massive boost.
This competition has given me the confidence that I need to push on for the result that I want in the next qualifying event. Indeed, I am off to Seoul tomorrow to compete in another Grand Prix competition and I can’t wait to get back out there again.
Now that I am back, my aim is to come back stronger from my injury. I am so happy that I’ve got to a point where I am back, fit and more determined than before. Now I need to push on and get some more results!
I really enjoyed being out in Shanghai this year. We had 5 days of acclimatisation before the competition and we made use of those days to train and do a bit of sight-seeing in an afternoon off. We went to some beautiful botanical gardens called ‘Yu Garden’ and walked around the markets. I brought back lots of delicious jasmine and Chinese teas. I love a good cup of tea!
In general, we ate very well out in Shanghai though I discovered that even after three trips to China; I could still get it very wrong. One evening I ordered Peking duck and I was feeling pretty smug when the waitress brought out a whole duck to carve in front of the table. I was amazed to see the meticulous effort the lady put in to removing the skin from the duck, but to my horror, I was even more amazed to see her wrap the skin up into six pancakes and cart away my duck back into the kitchen! Skin is a delicacy in China you see. So my Peking duck turned into six duck skin pancakes and we all had a laugh!
The finals of the fencing competition took place in a shopping mall just five minutes down the road from our hotel. I thought it was a good way of bringing fencing to the people and the finals were shown live on a screen attached to the outside of the mall. It looked great and lots of passers-by were stopping to have a look. Check out a photo of it attached to this blog.
Thank-you for reading and see you in Seoul!
The aim was to come back fit and strong enough to fence in Shanghai. And so I was feeling pretty happy and relieved to be sitting on my BA flight to China.
Shanghai was a positive trip in a number of ways.
Although I did not achieve a result, I fought hard and was one hit away from getting through the poules. I have come a long way since I injured my foot on 1st March and being back in Shanghai for the start of the Olympic qualifying season has been a massive boost.
This competition has given me the confidence that I need to push on for the result that I want in the next qualifying event. Indeed, I am off to Seoul tomorrow to compete in another Grand Prix competition and I can’t wait to get back out there again.
Now that I am back, my aim is to come back stronger from my injury. I am so happy that I’ve got to a point where I am back, fit and more determined than before. Now I need to push on and get some more results!
I really enjoyed being out in Shanghai this year. We had 5 days of acclimatisation before the competition and we made use of those days to train and do a bit of sight-seeing in an afternoon off. We went to some beautiful botanical gardens called ‘Yu Garden’ and walked around the markets. I brought back lots of delicious jasmine and Chinese teas. I love a good cup of tea!
In general, we ate very well out in Shanghai though I discovered that even after three trips to China; I could still get it very wrong. One evening I ordered Peking duck and I was feeling pretty smug when the waitress brought out a whole duck to carve in front of the table. I was amazed to see the meticulous effort the lady put in to removing the skin from the duck, but to my horror, I was even more amazed to see her wrap the skin up into six pancakes and cart away my duck back into the kitchen! Skin is a delicacy in China you see. So my Peking duck turned into six duck skin pancakes and we all had a laugh!
The finals of the fencing competition took place in a shopping mall just five minutes down the road from our hotel. I thought it was a good way of bringing fencing to the people and the finals were shown live on a screen attached to the outside of the mall. It looked great and lots of passers-by were stopping to have a look. Check out a photo of it attached to this blog.
Thank-you for reading and see you in Seoul!
