Shaking off the monkey

The monkey has been shaken off their back at last and history made - on Sunday afternoon Exeter Chiefs beat local rivals Bath for the first time in 36 years finally putting an end to a frustrating statistic. The Chiefs took the leap up into the premiership four years ago and haven't looked back since proving they belong amongst the top flight of English teams but one scalp had always eluded them. So many nail bitingly close encounters came and went including a twelve all draw at home last season and another close game away at the beginning of this season. Even though Bath have been on incredible form I knew this statistic had to change soon and I was determined not to miss it; so much so I changed my airline tickets to ensure I could attend this latest game.

It all seemed like painful déjà vu when less than thirty seconds after the whistle Bath had gone over for a try and at half time still had more points on the board. After another forty minutes of the closest and most exciting rugby I've seen this season Exeter Chiefs finally did it whilst also booking themselves a place in the LV cup final at home.

It made for a fantastic start to this trip and I managed to dash home to squeeze in a bit more rugby before heading to the airport. Another significant result saw England put things right against Wales and keep themselves in contention to win the Six Nations.

The only problem I have now is how to watch the finals of these respective tournaments from somewhere in the China Sea; a dilemma I shouldn't complain about but I'll explain more next week.

Pay phone

Can you remember the last time you used a pay phone? I certainly couldn't. I have to admit I didn't even realise they still existed - so many are kept purely for aesthetics and some phone boxes have even been transformed into secondhand book swaps. I am probably showing my age now but I honestly don't know how we survived before mobile phones. It used to be a joke that learning to use a mobile could pose a challenge and embarrassingly it took me a moment or two to familiarise myself with the pay phone. Thankfully there must still be some need for them and it saved me on my travels back from Lanzarote last week.

On my journey out I managed to leave my iPad on the airplane, unfortunately not realising for twenty-four hours. After the first unsuccessful trip back to the airport I was beginning to worry, my iPad has nearly become as essential as my phone. Luckily I was not staying far from the airport and it was a fairly straightforward cycle back again the next day, on my third day in a row at Arrecife airport I left with my iPad in hand.

I hoped this time I had learnt my lesson, double and triple checking my room when I left the hotel and my seat as I disembarked the plane. On a seemingly far smaller scale I did manage to leave my phone charger somewhere en route. My phone is on its last legs and can't last long without any juice. This shouldn't have been a problem until I realised half way home that I had no flat keys. Thanks to the good old traditional pay phone and a friend who had my flat mates number all was sorted just before she went to sleep and saved me from a night sleeping on my doorstep.

A little wind

It's not just us in the UK who are experiencing this unseasonably miserable weather - many parts of Europe have been suffering too. Bad weather is always compared to the average for the area and on the scale of things our January might have been the wettest on record but if, for example, you compare that to what America faced with its snow storms then it puts things into perspective. On a scale insignificant to the aforementioned Lanzarote has apparently also been suffering. Having come here for sailing and cycling I haven't been overly concerned that I didn’t experience perfect sunbathing conditions everyday. As a Brit I've been more than impressed with blue skies and just the very odd spattering of rain. The locals however don't agree and are constantly complaining about the cold; to put this into perspective the temperature is in the late teens to early twenties degrees Celsius.

One weather problem Lanzarote could complain about if it so chose is the wind. I've honestly never experienced anything like it. On a boat this is actually a positive and as long as you're adequately prepared it guarantees exciting sailing. With the knowledge that the wind never disappears we were able to make a significant trip further down the island and after half a day of sailing we reached our new destination feeling satisfied at the distance covered down wind. A couple of days later we found coming home took a little more effort as we sailed into the wind for five hours however this did make it feel more of an achievement. It wasn't until the next day when I hired a bike and cycled over the mountain to the seaside town where we'd been staying that I discovered it only takes fifty minutes to peddle; although someone did point out it's not the destination, it's the journey that counts.

Never in doubt

A few hopes came and went but I had faith; Lizzy Yarnold had still yet to compete. It might sound strange but I used to train alongside the sliding athletes when I was in Bath. Thanks to the excellent support services and a push track the national training centre for British Bobsleigh and Bobskeleton is at the University. The amount of hours spent training for Modern Pentathlon is hard to beat but the intensity that the sliding athletes work at is impressive. They are only in the country for half of the year in which they have to fit in incredible amounts of strength and power work before heading out for their concentrated winter season in the mountains. Lizzy has a solid work ethic, surprisingly level head for her years and this season she has consistently been topping the podium on the World Cup circuit.

In winter sports consistency does not guarantee an Olympic medal; the women's ski jump and men's half pipe are just two examples when the out and out favourites finished an agonising forth place. Frustratingly I was travelling on the first day of the women's Bobskeleton competition and had to rely on updates from the internet so I knew that Lizzy already had a substantial lead. Unfortunately I then had to wait two days for the final result as I had no internet connection - what a wonderful result for TeamGB.

I do not dare utter another word of my frustration at missing the Winter Olympics as I am currently somewhere far warmer and drier than home - where might that be I hear you say? Well I have headed south for ten days of cycling, sailing and maybe a little bit of much needed sunshine.

Life balance

Now I'm no longer a full time athlete I like to keep a balance in my life between sport, work and socialising; this past weekend was sport, sport and more sport. I've spent over four hours riding horses, another four hours on a bicycle, an hour running and the rest has been filled with spectating. Any sports fan would have been sorted for entertainment and the only problem was prioritising what to watch.

I opted for live rugby on Saturday; going first to a premiership game then dashing home to catch England obliterating Scotland and retaining the Calcutta Cup. My usual poor taste of Saturday night television was overruled thanks to the great coverage of the Winter Olympics and after just one day there were already so many events to catch up on.

I had to escape for some exercise on Sunday and tear myself away from the Sochi updates. It's far too easy to get sucked into watching all of the live coverage especially when it starts so early in the morning. I knew we had some potential medal hopes in the new Olympic snow events but I wasn't expecting to return from my cycle to discover we'd actually won a medal, the first snow sport medal for Britain in ninety years. I hope by the time you are reading this TeamGB have more silver wear to add to the collection, I'm thoroughly excited about many of the events to come.

Almost a triathlon

Last weekend almost turned into unintentional triathlon training. There was plenty of cycling, an encouraging amount of running and enough water to go swimming. I've been mixing cycling in with my return to running in order to reduce the amount of impact on my legs. Park run is a nationwide initiative set up a couple of years ago to encourage people of all abilities to run 5k. These events are free and organised by volunteers in local parks every Saturday morning - the perfect start to your weekend. In order to incorporate a cycle I 'commuted' the thirty four mile round trip keeping the time window fairly slim to ensure I arrived warm for the start but I failed to account for a puncture en route. Consequently I ended up practising a triathlon speed transition into my running kit and sprinted to the start line. I arrived in the nick of time, if slightly out of breath, and set off. All was going well until the first corner where I was confronted by what appeared to be a lake. I hadn't bargained on a swim and was hoping to keep my feet dry for the cycle home. After my initial unsuccessful attempt to tiptoe around the edge I realised there was no choice but to take the plunge. Maybe next time I'll enter a real triathlon and pack my swimsuit.

Half of our country might be sitting under water right now but we are not alone in wanting some better weather. Sochi, the host city for the upcoming Winter Olympics, has been hoping for some cooler temperatures and much needed snow. Fortunately they have plenty of Rubles to help ship in the white stuff. Russia has received some criticism for their last minute preparation; something that I'm certain our athletes won't be suffering from. Good luck to all of Team GB in the coming two weeks.

The power of sport

There have been in depth discussions on our economical state at the start of this new year, the usual topics of unemployment have been top of the debates. I know there's a far wider problem but I'm delighted to see the impact of sport on some local young job seekers. Last November I became an athlete mentor for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust working on the "Get on Track" Plymouth programme, with the aim of helping young unemployed people find work using sport. The impact of sport can be seen everyday, it was specifically the values such as teamwork and problem solving that brought out confidence in these young people. A couple of months after the completion of the six week programme there was a celebration event where I had the chance to get an update on the participants progress, the most obvious change was in their self confidence, even for those who are still searching for that elusive job. It just proves how powerful sport can be.

I'm at last getting back into running, it seems that my stress fracture has healed so I can start to up the miles. I'm someone who always needs a target so I'm working out what a realistic goal could be for this year. For those of you a bit further ahead in your run training there's the perfect opportunity on your doorstep, Tavistock has it's very own half marathon. The thirteen mile event is still a few months away so there's time to focus your training and get those entries in; just the motivation you might be seeking right now.