On a rest day from the Team GB warm weather camp in Stellenbosch, South Africa
My training continued throughout the festive period and I had just one extra rest day in Christmas week. With a family, this has been tough as I just wanted to sit and be festive with all the other families but with Olympic year fast approaching, that wasn't an option. New Year's Eve had an extra special significance for me. As midnight arrived, there was no escaping the fact that I could no longer refer to 'next year' and the reality of the fact that Olympic year had arrived.
Olympians and Paralympians side by side
I am now in South Africa at a warm weather training camp with the rest of Team GB - it is the first time that the elite paralympic and able bodied team have literally trained in parallel. The move is a positive step and credit to UK Athletics. It has been an amazing experience from both sides. We each get to see how hard the other trains and it is enriching. I have seen first hand the dedication of the able bodied team. The key difference from my perspective is simply how many people they have had to surpass in order to get to where they are. In return, they can see how we paralympians have to defy the odds to get where we are. It's certainly a mutual benefit.
Testing time
The warm weather here in Stellenbosch, which is just outside Cape Town, really allows for the hard work done in the winter to be demonstrated in practice. The high temperatures – it has been up to 30C – makes speed easier, firstly because you are no longer wearing 15 layers but also becuase your muscles and body just move easier in the sunshine. That also makes for quite a tense atmosphere, however, because it is also the time when you discover whether what you have been doing is working on not. When I carried out my first time trials shortly after we arrived it was a real relief to see that all the hard work has paid off. I am continuing to improve and move closer to the medal position that I want to be in....
Audience of specialists
The training schedule in a warm weather camp is the same as being at home, in that you don't do any more or any less. I have my main coach Jonas Doodo here, plus doctor, nutritionalist, gym coach and physio. The big difference at this camp is that you have specialists all in one place. It is not unusual to have six people watching something that you are doing and then to feed back to your coaches about changes or tweaks that could be made.
Technology and biomechanics
An example of the kind of thing that gets done at these camps is my session yesterday - I ran 100m with a speed camera set up and a team of biomechanics, physios and a number of coaches will analyse this data and we will all sit and have a meeting to discuss the findings and next steps. For the team of athletes - approx 50, there are nearly the same number of staff.
Sense of urgency
One of the things that I have found very interesting being here with the rest of the team is that there is definitely something in the air – a real sense of urgency amongst the athletes about the Olympics and Paralympics. The excitement felt by the rest of the nation translates into something very different amongst the people who will potentially line up at the Olympic Park in London – this is really the time for us now. Our ultimate goal is in sight.
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