The Final Countdown

There’s less than two weeks to go until the start of the greatest sporting event ever to hit our shores and I am struggling to contain my excitement..

When the Olympic torch completes its 8,000 mile relay across the UK and comes to rest in the Olympic Stadium, all the talking will stop and all the action will begin.  16 days of competition will see hearts broken, dreams made and champions born.

Whether you represent the stars and stripes of America or the Golden Eagle of Zambia, all athletes start as equals. Only the fittest, fastest, strongest and toughest athletes will stand above anyone else on the podium.

Eyes on the prize

Everything has gone brilliantly since qualification way back in March.  I’m really pleased with the training I’ve done, the weights I’ve lifted and the shape I’m in.  As I might never get to perform on this stage again, I’m leaving no stone unturned in my preparations.

Most of our time since the trials has been spent abroad.  A three week training camp in Florida was followed by competition in the south of France and just this week I returned from 10 days of training in Tenerife.  Now we start the final block of work before steadily winding down as the Olympics approaches.

From a very early age my ultimate ambition was to stand on the podium at an Olympic games. I can almost guarantee that London 2012 will be my last Olympics, so this marks the last chance to realise my dream.

Over the past decade I’m extremely proud to have represented my country at every level and on numerous occasions. I’ve won medals at European juniors, Commonwealth, European and world level.  But although I’ve come extremely close on the past two occasions, I’ve never quite managed the big one: an Olympic medal. 

This is my last chance to realise the dream I’ve nurtured for many years.  I would gladly return all my career medals for this one moment of glory in London.

On July 31st I believe we have a real chance of doing something special in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay.  Olympic gods will have to be smiling on us, but with a 17,500 partisan crowd and the backing of a great nation, anything is possible.

Thank you

Me on the right, with my mate Andy.

It’s taken millions of lengths, 22 years of sacrifices and an enormous amount of hard work to get here, but I wouldn’t change anything. Swimming has made me the person I am today, which I’m grateful for. 

I would never have reached this stage without the help of a number of great coaches going back as far as my hometown club, Belper Marlins.  From there I moved on to the City of Derby before finally settling in Loughborough at the high performance centre. 

We have a big team of support staff around us at Loughborough and my thanks go out to everybody I have ever worked with, whatever part you played in developing my career.  Without the people I wouldn’t have made one Olympics, never mind three.

I’m also grateful to everyone who has supported me financially.  Whether big or small, it’s unlikely you’ll ever quite know how much it’s helped.

My family’s belief and encouragement over the past 22 years has been incredible.  From being the taxi drivers in the early parts of my career, taking me to and from training and never making it seem like a chore, to funding the majority of it along the way, their faith has been amazing.  I hope to have repaid them a little over the years. 

Another important person who has made many sacrifices is my fiancé, Claire.  We could never just go away for a few days because I always had training and we could never do anything too extreme in case I got injured.  She tolerates my bad moods after a disappointing swim and makes sure my tea is on the table when I get home from training.

Having said all of that, one of my key motivating factors is to make my nation proud.  I’m proud to be British and proud to represent Team GB. 

Thanks to everyone for following my journey up to now.  It’ll be an honour to compete at my third Olympics and thinking of all your support should give me that extra edge. 

Now it’s my turn! 

More race practise, hard training and a bike ride plan

We're all set for the 6 week period before the final stages of training and the Olympic Games..

Next week I’m racing at the ASAs but I’m not resting or shaving.  Both eyes are firmly set on the Olympics now and to rest and shave down would jeopardise my fitness for Olympics.  Nothing is getting in the way of that.

For any British athlete this is the biggest occasion we will ever have the opportunity to swim in.  While I would love to swim in the individual event and every day in every session, performance-wise I must focus solely on the relay because, as slim as it might be, we do have a chance of achieving something special.

In a couple of weeks we have the kitting out for the Games. Kitting out is probably one of the most exciting experiences for any athlete going to the Olympic Games.  Having been to the last two Olympic Games, I know how exciting it is walking around, picking up clothes as you go, then walking away with 40-50 kilogrammes worth of kit.  When you walk away with all the kit, unique to just 550 athletes, it is a proud and sweet moment.

From there we’ll board a flight to Tenerife for our final preparation camp.  As it’s the final chance to do some hard training before we rest, we’ll spend 10 days there before coming back and heading to the holding camp in Edinburgh.  In Edinburgh we’ll start resting and focusing on the performances we want to have in London.

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After arriving back from Florida, two and a half weeks were spent in Loughborough continuing the hard work.  We created a large base to build from, which felt like a progression individually and as a unit.  It was an important time for us as we started going into a racing phase of practise, using what we’d been working on in training and putting it to good use.  The idea is that, come the Olympics, everything will be second nature.

Over that fortnight we had our British summertime.  The sun was out, it was hot and it was also my birthday during that time.  With so many birthdays spent away at training camps down the years, it was nice to be at home for this one and spend it with Claire and the family.

With the Princess of Monaco.

Training then led up to a five day training camp in Canet, Southern France, before racing the Mare Nostrum tour.  As soon as we left the UK the rain hit Britain but luckily didn’t follow us.  Training in the heat allowed us to escape from any bugs or illnesses doing the rounds at home and put in some solid training.

We didn’t rest for the Mare Nostrum tour and went out early to ensure there was no break in training.  We wanted to race under pressure, practising our race skills, which is essentially what we did.

Out of swimwear at a Mare Nostrum event.

I was pleased with my performance in the 200 metre Freestyle, producing another time under 1.50 - always the benchmark, so right on target.  We competed against an array of talent from across the world, including a strong Australian team who aren’t going to the Olympics.  Well rested, shaved and at the top of their form, they provided good head-to-head rivalry in what was their major competition.  The French are also especially strong in the men’s events and it’s always good racing against the best in the world.  Unfortunately we didn’t beat them but it shows how far you are away and what needs to be worked on between now and the Games.

We then travelled to Monaco for the next leg of the tour.  Having never visited Monaco before, I’d never seen anything quite like it. We opened our bedroom curtains to see £40m yachts, Ferraris, Lamborghinis: a completely different world which shows how the richest percentile can live.  If you weren’t strong minded enough it could be depressing, but we were obviously there to do a job.

The 200 metre Freestyle was again my best event, with another time under 1.50 achieved, and quicker than in Canet.  It proved everything was moving in the right direction, leaving me pleased with my skills and race tactics.  We are on track for the 6 week period before the final stages of training and the Olympic Games.


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After London I’m planning a little bike trip with Rebecca Adlington, Joanne Jackson and City of Derby coach Mel Marshall, who I used to train with at Loughborough.  We’re doing a charity bike ride in Zambia: 300miles in four days.  Sitting here, I think I’ve totally underestimated how hard it will be.  I can’t imagine there will be many cycle paths and it’s pretty much the equivalent of cycling Loughborough to London three times in four days. 

We’re hoping to raise money for Sport in Action, which helps young people in Zambia to be more aware of HIV and AIDs, and also help sufferers of those diseases.  We’re also hoping to teach youngsters to swim and get them as active as possible.  If we can increase their life expectancy by one day then it’s a job well done.  Who knows, one smiling face might mean more to us than anything we achieve this summer. 

It promises to be an enjoyable but extremely challenging experience. I think we’ll see some horrific sights, and I’m prepared for that, but we do want to make a difference and raise as much money as possible.

http://www.justgiving.com/Zambiacycle

I would just like to mention a couple of my sponsors Buymobiles.net and Wards Recycling.  Both are successful Derbyshire companies who I want to thank.  Results of their support will kick on in the next couple of months as we get closer to the Olympics and I am really grateful.  As both are Derby County Football Club fans, it all ties together well.  It’s great that they can support a local athlete and that I can reward them this summer.

Final training phases, racing practice and the saddest losses

After returning from a Florida training camp, we’re now moving into the final phases of training..

There’s now just seven weeks of work left before we start a three week taper into the Olympics.  A little under seven years ago it was announced that we’d get the Olympics and now we’re down to the last seven weeks of work.

We usually head off to warmer climates to avoid cold and flu bugs, but there’s also benefit to be had in breaking up a long block of training in Loughborough.  Changing the training stimulus and environment can help to break the monotony and make you feel better mentally, while it also helps to smooth the passage from one training phase to the next.

So a 13-day training camp in Florida was just what was needed as the next step to preparing for the Games.  We stepped up our training from a speed base to longer, more difficult sets which concentrate on speed endurance as we move into a new phase in our pre-Olympic training block.

Instead of focussing hard on both fitness and speed at the same time, extra fitness is added once the basic speed is achieved.  This makes sense because the more fatigued you get, the less speed you carry, both through training and races.

Although the weather was good, there were a few thunderstorms during our time out there.  But if it rains when you’re training outdoors it doesn’t make a difference - we’re wet anyway!

We’ve been to the Florida pool before and the family who run the motel are very accommodating, occasionally providing us with some home cooked meals.  We normally look after ourselves but it’s great to return from training to a nice spread.


Now we have another two weeks in Loughborough now before travelling to Canet in the South of France for a week long training camp.  The plan is to race for two days in the Mare Nostrum Series and then travel to Monaco to race there for two days, which I’m really excited about as I’ve seen the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on television, but never visited until now.  I’ve competed in the Mare Nostrum for the last 8 or 9 years but never in that leg, so it’ll be nice to get there and see it at last.

Fundamentally though, it’s all about race practice ahead of the Olympics.

I’ll be competing at the ASA Nationals in Sheffield too but won’t be tapering off my efforts.   The mission now is to reaffirm my place in Great Britain’s top four for the relay team.  Not tapering means that I might not be race sharp at the ASA, which means I might not be as competitive; but it does mean that by the time of the Olympics I will be as fit as possible and raring to go – which is all that matters.

We have a really strong relay team and I think there’s an outside chance of a medal, which would be the icing on the cake for me as it’s my third Olympic Games.  I’ll give everything I’ve got to achieve that.  It’s been close in the last two Games, coming 4th in Athens and 6th in Beijing.  This will be my last Olympics and to win a medal in front of my home crowd would be fantastic.

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We heard some terrible news while we were away.  The Norwegian Breaststroke World Champion, Alexander Dale Oen passed away after a training session.  I didn’t know him personally but we were based at the same place during a winter training camp and he came over to have a chat with us. He was a really nice guy and looked every inch the World Champion. 

It was shocking to hear the news and just shows how nobody is invincible. He was odds on favourite to add the Olympic medal to his World Crown so it’s devastating news for the swimming world, and of course for his friends and family.

It was also sad to see Derby in the national news for all the wrong reasons after the tragic death of six children in a house fire.  I always keep tabs on Derby news so to read about that was really sad.   

As if that wasn’t enough, a few days ago seven year-old Lewis Mighty lost his battle with cancer.  Lewis and his family were responsible for some hugely impressive fundraising campaign efforts and he will be massively missed.  My thoughts are with these local families.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lewis-Mighty-Fund/168731214213 http://www.lewismightyfund.org.uk/




They say bad news comes in threes, so hopefully that’s all for now. 

To end on a lighter note, as a proud Derbyshire man I’m looking forward to keeping an eye out for any others who make it through to the Games too.  Let’s hope there’s plenty!

Under 100 days to The Olympic Games

This week saw the mark of 100 days until the London 2012 Olympic games!

It’s now less than 100 days before an estimated 4 billion people, or around two thirds of the planet, cast their watchful eye over our capital city to see the Olympic flame being lit.

Knowing I’ll be amongst the 500 athletes competing for Team GB is still sinking in.  I really do appreciate what a privileged position I am in, and it’s one I’m determined to take full advantage of.  Having an Olympics in your country happens once in a blue moon; the chance of being an athlete at the top of your game when that blue moon comes around is a one in a million.

After the qualifying trials in London I took a small break: 4 days off to recharge the batteries and refocus on the next competition, The London Olympic Games!  My fiancée Claire and I went to north Devon for a long weekend with the dogs during the week of blistering British sunshine and glorious temperatures.  It was the first time either of us had been to north Devon since we were children and it is truly beautiful. We had a lovely time and it was just what we needed. 

On returning from Devon I had to re-evaluate what I wanted to achieve this summer.  At the trials I was so focussed on making the team that nothing else mattered.  As soon as the box was ticked, both eyes turned immediately to The Games.  My objective now is to grasp the Olympic opportunity as fully as I can, giving every last drop of effort between now and The Games in our mission to win a medal.

With a new target in mind, I faced the dreaded task all athletes hate: getting back into shape.  The past three weeks have been what I can only describe as painful, thanks to a remit of increasing strength, speed and fitness. We do this by employing a range of various, not always textbook methods, to get us fit, keep us sharp and keep us interested.

Swimming can be a very lonely sport so mixing things up helps to keep us mentally stimulated.  Trampolining is great for a cardio workout as well as toning core muscles.  It’s been surprising to find that bouncing around on a bit of cloth attached to some springs is genuinely much harder than it looks.

It’s been an enjoyable month out of the pool too. 

Like most people, I occasionally find myself in situations where I don’t belong: some of them good, some not so good.  A couple of weeks ago I was invited along with Claire to the World Premier of the Titanic 3D film.  I had no idea what to expect but was blown away to find myself walking down the red carpet, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kate Winslet and James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of Titanic and Avatar.  It felt like it shouldn’t happen to a boy from Belper, Derbyshire!  Besides being in 3D, the film was exactly the same as it was 15 years ago, but the evening was magical.

I also managed to witness my boyhood football team Derby County beat our local rivals Nottingham Forest.  It was a great match and memorable night because it was the first time Derby had beaten Forest in both the home and away matches for 40 years. That night I was invited by the Derby County board to watch the match from the Directors’ box and apparently I was sitting directly behind Tulisa, a judge from the X-factor.  If I’d known I would have asked for a photo.

With a little more time to spare this month, the wedding plans have started falling into place, which is a welcome distraction from the hours and hours of training.  One thing we managed to do was create the “Save the date cards”, with a little help from the dogs. What you can’t see on the picture is a piece of rump steak hanging in the air to get their attention.

Next up is a new phase of training.  Lucky for me, this will be out in Florida!

Thanks for your continued support.

Competition times

October saw my first return to competition since the World Championships in July.

The events were nothing like the scale of the World Championships but with 99 per cent of our time dedicated to training, it’s always nice to start racing competitively again.  For the last six weeks training has concentrated on fitness and speed.  Competition offers the chance to apply the skills we’ve been honing to race scenarios.

I've competed at three different competitions in the last month; each a step up from the one before.

The first was at Loughborough in the pool where we train every day.  All the Loughborough squads – Development, University and Elite – entered and competed against each other in the ‘Big 50 Challenge’, a unique competition/training set that Loughborough coaches devised around five years ago.

Each swimmer has to enter in each category of stroke: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle; plus an underwater race.  The races all cover 50 metres, hence the big ‘50’ challenge.  Added to the five 50 metre races is a 100 metre individual medley (IM), which means 25 metres of each stroke. All of the times are added up at the end of the evening and the swimmer with the least is the winner.  There’s no prize at stake, just an enormous amount of pride!  My target was to finish in the top five and 5th was my overall position.

Being a 200 metre swimmer, the ‘Big 50’ isn’t my forte, but it’s always a great laugh and brings the swimmers closer together in creating a brilliant atmosphere.  Loughborough University enjoys a fantastic team spirit, which I believe is a key reason for its success.

Next up was the Lincoln Open Meet, which was actually staged in Sheffield.  I entered five events, three of which I have either never done before or rarely ever compete in.  I entered 200 metre Fly, 200 metre IM, 100 Fly, 50 metre Free, and 100 metre Free.

Entering the different events was a deliberate strategy intended to familiarise me with racing again and I really enjoyed it.  There was no pressure because I didn’t know what to expect.  Sometimes it’s healthy to stand up and race the person next to you, without putting too much pressure on yourself about goals.  This was what the afternoon was about for me, so that was what I did.

A strong presence of GB swimmers at the meet meant it was a great opportunity for young, up-and-coming swimmers to race their heroes.  Meanwhile, swimmers as young as 10 were able to watch those who have won gold medals at Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European levels, and grab a few autographs.  Everyone likes being recognised for what they have achieved, and swimmers are no different.  It’s a pleasure whenever young or old swimmers ask for your autograph.

My final competition of the month was just last weekend.  Not in sunny Loughborough or the tropics of Sheffield, but this time in the cosmopolitan German city of Berlin.  The FINA World Cup Series travels across the world, stopping in Dubai, Stockholm, Moscow, Berlin, Singapore and Beijing, before finishing in Tokyo.   I only competed in the Berlin leg of the tour because it fit with our training phase and the travel time is manageable.

I was really pleased with my performance, managing to qualify for the 400 metre Freestyle Final, an event that isn’t normally my strongest.  And on top of that I managed a second place finish.  I’m never disappointed if I know I’ve given 100% leading up to an event, and in the race itself.  Also I can’t be disappointed in coming second to a world champion and world record holder!

My main event was the 200 metre Freestyle the next day.  Again I managed to qualify for the final but this time missed out on the medals, finishing fourth.  I was still pleased with the performance, both the time and position, and in the way I swam the race.  Training labours are now showing signs of bearing fruit in race scenarios.

Now back from Berlin I have three weeks more in Loughborough before heading out to Florida for a training camp.  In this time I plan to work on getting as fit as possible so I can go to Florida and put a great 4 to 5 weeks of training in.

Before heading out I’ll also be able to enjoy time at home with family, friends and of course the dogs!  This week was the first birthday of our golden retriever puppy. I wasn’t around for it but I know for sure that both dogs, Alf and Poppy were spoilt rotten – even though it wasn’t Alf’s birthday! (Not that either of them really had any idea what was going on).

On the subject of down-time, next month I’m looking forward to using a Christmas present from my girlfriend Claire.  We’re off for a live comedy double-header: Jason Manford in Derby followed by Alan Carr in London the next day.  It’ll be a treat to chill out with a rare weekend away from the pool.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get to a Derby County game over this next three weeks too, because after then time will be in short supply.

The road to London is getting closer by the day. Each day I wake up thinking it’s another chance of working as hard as possible to realise my dreams of competing at a third Olympic Games.

Thanks as ever for all the good luck wishes and for all the support.  It’s always appreciated.

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.