Getting up to speed

Fitness and fine-tuning have been the order of the last month or so, with rock climbing, kickboxing, camping in hurricanes and pushing cars up hills all thrown in for good measure!

Preparations are now well under way for the Olympic trials in March and I’m firmly focused on getting in the best possible shape, stacking the odds in my favour for London 2012 qualification.

The current focus of our training is to get fit, lose any residue holiday weight, develop raw speed and concentrate on racing skill. One thing I took away from the World Championship earlier this year was the knowledge that my skill needs to improve if I’m to compete with the best. This means my starts need to improve and my turns need to be faster and more efficient. On top of this I need to continue working on my general fitness to achieve faster finishes.

All these things take time to implement but the signs indicate that I’m moving in the right direction, which is very pleasing.

The past four weeks have seen our group continue with the unconventional training methods. Provided you arrive at the same place, mixing up training is beneficial for athletes. As the saying goes: ‘there are many ways to skin a cat.’ Boredom leads to athletes going stale, which is the last thing any athlete or coach wants, especially in Olympic year.

So we have continued to rock climb, kick-box, run, lift weights, complete gym circuits and, of course, swim. But in the middle of all this we went as a group to Carsington Water in Derbyshire to camp and exercise for a couple of nights: a mini boot camp for swimmers. It was just our luck to pick the week Britain experienced the tail-end of a transatlantic hurricane, which made a challenge of trying to pitch up our tents and sleep beneath the stars!

Having said this, the couple of nights we stayed at the campsite were brilliant. We walked, ran, cycled, canoed, built rafts, rock climbed and pushed a car up a hill. I have camped before but this was no regular camping trip. Both as individuals and as a group, we revelled in the different challenges.

This week I returned from a training camp in Tenerife with the Loughborough University team. Whereas I usually train at Loughborough’s ITC (Intense Training Centre) and our group only consists of 8 swimmers, this time we went away with all the Loughborough students, making up a group of 35 swimmers. It’s been great competing against different swimmers. There wasn’t any car-pushing, canoe racing or raft building, but much more swimming. It was great to get away, increase our fitness, speed and strength. All whilst being under the watchful eye of the sun!

This month has been busy out of the pool as well. I was asked to open Identity, a watch store in Derby’s Westfield shopping centre. It was great to learn about all the different watches they had in store and to obtain a little knowledge of the industry.

I was also asked to ‘keep watch’ over my 10 and a half month old goddaughter Daisy-Mae. This gave a little insight into how demanding babies can be, but at the same time, how rewarding it is! I really enjoyed myself for the day and I’m sure if she could talk, she would have said the same!

Almost as rewarding was a day out to watch my beloved Derby County Football Club in the East Midlands local derby match. My best friend Dean and I managed to get tickets for the match against our close rivals, Nottingham Forest: always a fierce encounter and tickets are like gold dust. With one man sent off and one goal conceded within 64 seconds, we feared the worst. But Derby staged a remarkable comeback to win 1-2, which left our away stand literally rocking! This was a giant achievement after being beaten in the same fixture 5-2 less than 10 months ago, and a great day for the football club and the city.

As life in the pool starts the increase, free time and social time become downtime: time to let the body recover from the gruelling previous week and get ready for the punishing week ahead.

With two eyes and one mind firmly focussed on the Olympic trials in March, again I thank you for all your support.

Swimming World TV - Morning Swim Show

Yesterday I gave a live link-up interview for Swimming World TV's Morning Swim Show.  I gave my views on next year's competition and our training methods.  You can check out the video here..





Or by visiting Swimming World Magazine here.

Rest and refocus before the London 2012 journey begins

My Olympic journey starts here.

Returning to training after a three-week break marked the beginning of the final stage of our four-year Olympic cycle, which is equally scary and exciting.

It’s important to have a clear divide between seasons, especially after such a high pressure event like the World Championships. Reflecting on achievements and taking the time out for complete rest and relaxation, both physically and mentally, is vital in preparing for the season ahead.  My next major goal is the Olympic trials in March.

During my first couple of weeks off I did some charity work and some community work, which is always enjoyable. For me, it’s essential to give something back to the community whose support means so much, and it was great to have the time to do that.

I also took a few days away in Ireland with my girlfriend Claire, the Event Manager for British Swimming.  Next year will be an exciting and busy time for both of us as I’ll be aiming to get in the Olympic team and Claire will be organising trial events for swimming and the other aquatic sports.  We picked out a couple of nice hotels and took a road trip between the locations. Although we didn’t go to Ireland for a beach holiday, we did manage to find a beach to spend lunch one day.  We were extremely lucky to find it in the one 10 minute spell the sun came out during the whole trip!

My grandad was from Ireland and we still have a lot of family over there, who we were able to visit. Having not seen some of them for about 15 years, it was brilliant to catch up.  We also visited Killarney and Wexford before heading back to Dublin for some traditional Irish culture.  This culture obviously had to include a tour of the famous Guinness brewery, where we were able to pour (and taste) our own pints of the black stuff.  I hadn’t tried it before because during the season we don’t normally drink, so it was especially fun.  We followed this with a trip to watch the Riverdance and felt like we’d been fully initiated to the Irish way by the time we flew home!

It was great to spend time with Claire and unwind before our busy year ahead. We’ve both come back relaxed, focused and ready to tackle the next 12 months.

Now my mind is firmly set on the British Gas Swimming Championships in March and getting in the best shape possible.  But at the moment we’re not actually doing much swimming.  Instead it’s all about cross training, such as rock climbing, kick boxing, running and circuits, to help rebuild our strength after having time off. We’re also doing pilates and gymnastics for core strength. All of this will help our swimming when we start increasing the sessions in the pool, which will happen over the next few weeks.

In September we’ll be heading to Tenerife for some warm weather training. Our strength and power will be back by then, so it will be a case of doing lots of swimming to get back into great shape and peak fitness.  The camp should springboard our preparation ahead of the trials.

Now is the time to invest 100% effort, blood, sweat and tears, hold nothing back and enjoy the ride! 

Your support means everything to me and I hope you enjoy following my journey.