So the year 2011 is now closed and I can say that it was a year packed with barriers to triumph over, both on and off the track. Some affected me very little while others unexpectedly damaged my chances of having a great season in what was a World Championship year. The knee injury that I picked up in Delhi at the Commonwealth Games 2010 proved to be a huge thorn in my side. The injury caused me to be sidelined throughout the 2011 Indoor season and continued to trouble me right up until the start of the 2011 outdoor season in May. To add to my pain I had to also deal with the hurt of torn lower back muscles. Although I was unable to practice my jumping much during that training season, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I managed to complete a decent level of strength and fitness work, which ultimately helped me through a tough but injury-free 2011 outdoors season.
As staying fit and remaining in good health was a big priority, I can conclude that I did indeed succeed in 2011 and finishing with a best jump of 2.27m was something I was proud to achieve. It may not have been good enough to compete with the best in the world but it was a great accomplishment considering the circumstances I had to work through.
Now 2012 is well and truly open, and in the same way that everyone has bounced back from overwhelming events like the England riots last summer, I have also bounced back from injury and back to fighting fitness. I am very much determined to make my 2012 athletics season a little like Prince William & Kate Middleton’s royal wedding – full of hype and a fairytale ending!! What’s not such a fairytale story though is the backbreaking work that I’ve put in during the last 4 months of training. It’s been a grind and a half within my daily hard routine, which my coach and I have manipulated as if the Olympic Games were next week!
O.K., so the Games may not be next week but the intensity of training and my focus on a daily basis say otherwise. If there’s one statement that I will NOT be making at the end of this year it will be: “I never worked hard enough”.
The fundamentals of the training itself have remained quite similar to other successful years of training – same location, same exercises, same sets, same repetitions, but it’s all ending in far better results. We’ve also put a little more focus on returning my body back to its comfortable state, which is lightening fast, blazing quickness, colossal strength, and with huge elastic power as the icing on the cake. Additionally and unlike last year, I’ve also already banked a good number of specific high-jump sessions, which is a necessity to improve my technique and conditioning. This is a potent mix of preparation that I just didn’t get a year ago.
Amongst all of the goodness that’s coming from my training so far, I know from experience that it will take a lot more yet to realise my Olympic dream. Four years ago I lost a place on the 2008 Olympic team. It somehow didn’t matter to the selectors at the time that I had jumped the demanding qualifying height multiple times and was ranked GB number 1. In the end, the selectors made their decision of not awarding me the a spot on the team primarily because I didn’t jump 2.30m or higher in a head-2-head competition with another jumper where, I must mention, the rain rushed down from the heavens as if the country had experienced a drought for a year. I did however beat my main competitor though. Till this day, I still don’t know any pro high jumper that can or has jumped 2.30m in tsunami-like conditions. And in case you’re wondering what my main competitor jumped, he didn’t even bother start the competition but still got the thumbs-up for that last spot on the Olympic team. Was that comical or political? I say both!
…so I say again: amongst all of the goodness that’s coming from my training so far, I know from experience that it will take a lot more yet to realise my Olympic dream.
Look out for me during the indoor season 2012!
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