There were a few training hiccups along the way, something I have now come to appreciate are fairly standard given the training I was doing, but we seemed to be on track. Who said a few years of rugby and American football doesn’t take its toll. With the substantial (although steady) increase in training volume, and a marked sharpening of attitude and approach, I moved my training from the back bedroom of the house to a purpose built shed in the back garden specifically for my training, affectionately named The Temple of Q. After some of the hard sessions where I am out for there for 2 hours and finish up lying on my back too tired to get back into the house, I want to call it something else. 

I have to say "Q" is an outstanding coach and has guided me to some huge PB's including a 17k+ 60min row. By the time we got to the Irish Championships in November 2011, I had taken all my age group records apart from the 2k (which the regulations provide can only be broken at a C2 event), so the pressure was on. The race went well and I won gold in a time of 6:11.8 (another PB), but not the Irish record we wanted - more work to be done. 

I was entered into the World Championships in Boston, USA (known as the CRASH-B Sprints) in February 2012 - a long way to travel for just over 6 minutes of intense pain and suffering, but I had the opportunity to go and grasped it with both hands. Part of the motivation was the race in itself, part was a reconnaissance effort  for future appearances there, and part was to meet more of the hugely supportive indoor rowing community – a truly global and very friendly group. 

I was pretty sure I was outside medal contention when entering, but I trained hard for the event and Q kept me precariously balanced between physiologically beneficial fatigue and total exhaustion. I was knocking out 100,000m or more each week and by February 2012 I was ready for it.