The Delights and Downsides of Training Camp!

It's that time of year again when our coach takes us all off to Seville for a week of training on the Guadalquivir River.  When people say to me 'have a nice holiday', it's hard to make them understand just what a training camp really is.  And what sounds like hell to most, sounds like pleasure to us mad rowers.  Basically, for one whole week, we don't have to think about anything except when we wake up we get in a boat.  When we get out of the boat we go to the canteen to eat.  When we finish eating we go back to bed or crash out under a tree in the sunshine.  And the routine repeats itself 3 times a day every day for a week.  The only thing that upsets the routine is injury or, in most cases, really blistered hands (see last years' entry for photographic evidence, it's not a pretty sight!).
The other delight is obviously getting to train in the sunshine!

Fortunately for me the blisters arrived early in the week, so I used the excuse as a chance to visit one of the pretty food markets of Seville, Mercado calle Feria, which was just a short walk away from the sports centre where we stay,Centro Especializado de Alto Rendimiento, La Cartuja (not the height of luxury!).  I intend to visit another one before we leave (may have to fake an injury for the time off!), as Seville is spoilt for choice when it comes to great fresh produce, and it would be a shame to be here and not appreciate some of it, even if it is for viewing only!  The food we are given at the centre is hard to describe, although one of the athletes managed quite a good attempt at it today - a great diet of sugar, salt, fat and garlic.  The cooks here seem to believe that it doesn't matter how badly you cook something - if you cover it with fat, salt and garlic, it will taste fine.
I think a night out in a tapas bar is required.........it's nice to dream!