Happy campers
I've spent the last week in Varese, Italy on our final training camp of the year before the , which start on Sunday. Our preparation has been divided into three phases, the first of which is the hard work bit.
For the past few weeks since our we've been training hard and working on improving our technique, to gain as much boat speed as possible.
The women and lightweight teams spent two and a half weeks in Breisach, Germany where we did lots of long mileage water and erg (rowing machine) sessions - a perfect opportunity to work on all the small technical improvements that we've needed to address.

I'm Beth Rodford, member of the GB rowing squad. Having finished fifth in Beijing as a member of the women's eight, I'm starting this Olympiad with a new challenge - I now have two oars to row with instead of one! I'll be writing about my experiences with the rowing squad as we head for the World Championships in Poland this August, and how our focus now turns to London 2012.