Final preparation for London
I’m here in the Sierra Nevada in Spain on an altitude training camp in preparation for the Olympic Games. Since my last blog after I achieved the qualifying time for London there has been lots happening and I’ve been kept very busy with all kinds of requests and engagements. The weeks have been flying by and it’s hard to believe we are now just 5 weeks away from the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. I’m glad to be getting away now so I can focus hard on these vital few weeks and not be distracted.
I am staying at the Altitude Training Centre in the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 2350m. The rest of the group including Rob, Olive, Laura, Brendan and Liam O’Reilly are in Guadix which is 50mins away by car at a lower altitude of 900m. For myself I prefer to live at higher altitude in order to maximise the benefits and I do some of my training up here in the Sierra Nevada and down in Guadix with the others. One small disruption is a tooth abscess I’ve had since last weekend. It was so bad last Sunday I had to go and see a dentist on weekend call and be put on painkillers and antibiotics for 5 days before getting a root canal treatment done. As I was travelling out here on Wednesday I arranged to have the root canal done in Guadix yesterday where they did the first part. It just meant I had to train easy in order to let the antibiotics work and not risk the infection spreading. You’d be surprised how much potential damage a tooth problem can cause to the whole body if left untreated.
One positive development in the past 2 weeks was fellow Leitrim athlete Laura Reynolds achieving the Olympic A Standard for the women’s 20km walk. I have been coaching Laura for the past 10 years since she first took up the sport. Like myself she had plenty of challenges and setbacks along the way in trying to qualify and it certainly challenged me as a coach! At 23 years of age her progress as a senior over 20km has been steady and consistent and for the past 2 years we knew that qualifying for London was a very real possibility. As someone who has acquired plenty of knowledge and experience at the highest level in the sport, it’s great to be able to put something back into the sport particularly in my own county. Anything I’ve done when I was younger, With the benefit of hindsight, Laura can do better. She has a strong work ethic and professional attitude to her training and she deserved nothing less than to nail that A standard, which she did by a minute. She will also compete on Aug 11th in London and with my race at 9am and her race at 5pm that evening, it will be a very challenging day and most certainly a proud day for Leitrim.
After last months World Cup, I took a 2 week active recovery phase. I basically trained as I felt without being confined to a routine. I did 30-45mins most days just to get out and even went for a run on some days. That way I was keeping up a basic level of fitness while also getting a mental and physical break. During those 2 weeks we had a spell of good weather which I took advantage of. I organised a barbecue in my house in Limerick and invited a few friends over as well as some of my Limerick-based support team who played their part in helping me qualify for London. I also spent a few days in Galway with my girlfriend and it was just great to switch off and enjoy the good weather and just relax on the beech. When I resumed full training at the end of May I was really motivated and refreshed and had not lost much fitness. With only a 12 week turnaround between the World Cup and the Olympics I couldn’t afford to lose too much fitness and spend a few weeks getting it back before I picking up where I left off.
In those last few weeks I had plenty of requests and invitations for various things. I paid a visit to my old National school in Ballinamore as well as the Girls National School where I received a huge welcome and lots of intelligent questions! I was invited by Shannon Development to launch a new set of walking trails in Limerick county. I had a few media interviews as well locally and nationally as well as photo shoots. Last Friday night I was invited over to London where some of the Leitrim community led by fellow Ballinamore man and good friend Paul D’Arcy organised a support night for my Olympic preparations. This was an idea Paul has had for the past 2 years and obviously I didn’t want to do anything until I had qualified. The event was held in The Jameson Bar in West Kensington which is owned also by fellow Ballinamore men Damien and Conor Smyth. There was a great turnout and I received huge support. It was great to catch up with my brother Ronan who’s been living in London for the past few years as well as friends from home who are living in London. I can only imagine what the support will be like during the Games itself with it being so close to home.
Over the next few weeks all the important base work will be carried out in preparation for my race. I have been using the altitude house in the University of Limerick for the past few weeks and will be back in there when I get back from the Sierra Nevada next month. It’s great that facility I campaigned strongly for and helped put in place can now play a major role in my Olympic preparation. The facility is certainly taking off with Olympic hopefuls in athletics, triathlon, cycling, swimming as well as Paula Radcliffe all using it! There is also the newly installed Altitude Gym at Delta Sports Dome in Limerick where my company The Altitude Centre Ireland is also based, that I have been using Limerick has become an altitude training hub with both altitude residential and training facilities on top of its already world class training facilities and sports science personnel. It has a strong case to become a multi-sport endurance high performance centre when it goes to tender soon. Over the coming weeks now that things have calmed down again and I have more control of my time, I will provide regular updates in the build-up to the Olympic Games. I hope to also do a few video blogs from Spain during some of my training sessions. Check out my Twitter page as well as my Facebook Fan Page for more regular updates. In the mean time it’s head down and hard work on the roads, track and gym to ensure I am fully prepared for the biggest race of my career in just over 7 weeks time.
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