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.

Surviving January

A fellow athlete made a interesting comment on my retirement announcement last week. He asked why we as sportspeople retire yet all we are really doing is changing vocation? Things made more sense viewed from this perspective - all that remains is to find a career to transition into. As daunting as my "new" life may seem there are some immediate advantages: from the removal of the 5 o'clock starts for training to considerably cheaper car insurance (having professional athlete as your job description places you in the same bracket as premiership footballers).

January is known to be the most depressing month of the year but you'll be pleased to hear we've passed the "worst" week. Everywhere does seem to be quiet; the roads, the shops, the restaurants, all except the gym. Earlier in the week I missed the window of daylight and the even smaller window of dry weather to fit in my exercise, as a result I decided try a gym class. This was the first time since university that I attended a circuit training session and didn't think that 50 minutes of activity in a sports hall would have any great affect - how wrong I was. Over the next few days I could still feel the effects simply walking.

To make it through the middle of January I had a helping hand. It was a pleasure to attend the Plymouth Sports Awards and remember the great performances of last year especially when it is during the cold winter months that so much effort is being put into training. To raise my spirits a little further, I followed it up with a trip to a comedy night and am pleased to report I should make it to the end of the month with a smile on my face.  

Retirement

Last week I officially announced my retirement. I've had mixed emotions, it was always going to be a tough decision to make but there was also a feeling of relief. Sport at a professional level must come to an end whether that decision is in you hands, due to injury or simply because of selection. As well as my personal retirement from Modern Pentathlon I have had the opportunity to speak to other sportsmen in different fields about their experiences, this was interesting and it gave me some more valuable presenting experience.
I have been playing mixed roles the last few days, swapping from being the interviewer to being the interviewee. During a week long BBC journalism course where I was being trained to ask the  questions I had to keep nipping out to answer them, seeing both sides of the industry really must be the quickest way to learn. The downside to my multi role week has been the lack of spare time, maybe it's just been a good introduction to the real world. After working five intense days my brain certainly had been truly exercised, unfortunately my body hadn't. I can't remember the last time I had a week with no exercise, I am retired from Pentathlon but not from sport. Thankfully the weather was on my side, a few hours riding my bike over Dartmoor really was the perfect setting for some quality thinking and reflection.

Dry January?

It was brought to my attention earlier this week that there is a national campaign for a dry January; disappointingly this only seems to apply to the consumption of alcohol and not the weather. There is a longstanding British tradition of making compulsory new year resolutions but why do we do it? Is it simply the peer pressure? I've resisted announcing any specific resolutions as I feel there are so many things I need to work towards the list would be too long. Perhaps that is just a get out clause and one that I've been quite grateful for so far as thanks to the ridiculously wet start to the year my first goal is proving difficult to achieve. It seems like more than nine months ago I first started riding a road bike and I managed to exceed my target of covering six thousand miles. Having reached that distance relatively comfortably, it seems natural to try and better that this year;  I do have an extra three months available. Alas I've not started strongly: if the roads are not submerged by flood water then they are covered in debris and far more appropriate for mountain bikes.
I can empathise with anyone who has new fitness goals for their resolutions. I am always a strong advocate of getting outside to exercise as this not only saves on gym membership but the feel good factor from fresh air and daylight is superb. I also find having a specific target helps whether that is to complete a certain event or try a new sport - mine is to return to full running fitness. Last week I took part in the Plym Valley Parkrun, a sociable 5k free event and the buzz I got from it really has given me that drive to recover from my injury.