Kirsty McCann is up for a top award in London on Friday, but she's just as happy to keep slaving with the national team at their high-altitude training camp in Lesotho.
The lightweight single sculls world champion knows the hard work she puts in during the three-week stint at Katse Dam will help earn her the kind of results that got her nominated in the first place.
McCann, one of six finalists for World Rowing's female crew of the year, is looking to become the third South African recipient of this prize - after the lightweight men's four who won gold at the 2012 Olympics and national coach Roger Barrow last year.
The 29-year-old veteran would scrub up well for the ceremony, but that's not her natural habitat.
"You look at her and you think she looks gentle and soft," says Barrow, "but once she's on the water all she wants to do is thump you. Even in training sets."
McCann was dominant this season, lifting gold at the world championships as well as the Lucerne World Cup. She even beat some heavyweights in a pre-season regatta in Italy.
When she returned to the squad at the beginning of the year after a disappointing 2016 Olympic campaign, she was already in superb condition.
But this year was about mastering a new race strategy, producing a strong finish instead of shooting into the lead and trying to hold on as she and partner Ursula Grobler used to do in the double sculls boat.
"We always backed ourselves that we would go out hard and maintain that to the end," says McCann, who switched to the single boat after Grobler retired.
"We always believed the pace we sat at was maintainable, but I think the biggest thing is we didn't change speed in the last 500m. We had a flat rate, we were very consistent racers, whereas the profile I've built this year is more with a sprint finish."
And she's still not entirely satisfied.
"Watching the races I can see technical aspects I can improve on ... so technically I feel you've never ever taken the perfect stroke," said McCann, who started studying a postgraduate certificate in education this year.
"I was becoming all about rowing and so I wanted to just study something ... focus on something else."
McCann, who has a B Science in biochemistry and physiology, likes to talk about balance, especially when it comes to another passion of hers, nutrition. "Making healthy choices [is important], but we're all human and we all like the odd cheat."
She doesn't like fried foods or fizzy drinks, but chocolate is a different story. "That's a big one for me."
On training camps, like the one she's on now, McCann loses weight despite taking in extra fuel for the increased workload.
"Sometimes I feel like I've overeaten ... you're having to eat that volume to keep your energy levels up."
That's the energy to thump more rivals.
isaacsond@sundaytimes.co.za..