april 2007 blog

Hi All!

Well, I’m back in the UK, having competed at the World Swimming Championships, and then at the Australian Age Group Nationals. Totally exhausted, but very pleased with what I’ve achieved!

Last time I wrote, I was about to start competing for the GB team in the World Championships.

My first event was the 100m Backstroke which I guess is my second best event. It was critical that I swim faster than ever before in the morning heats to get through to the semi-finals.

I was pretty nervous going into the race (the stadium was huge) and despite recording a fast morning swim, I just missed out on the next stage of competition. I was pretty disappointed – not because I hadn’t swum well, but because I knew I could have been competitive in the next stage (I usually swim a lot faster in an evening event).

There was what seemed like an endless wait for the next and easily the most important race of my life - the 200m Backstroke - which was held four days later.

Again, from my seeding of 14th, it was going to require a really quick swim to guarantee going through to the semi-finals. My time of 2:12.68 was nearly on my P.B (2:12.41) and left me seeded 12th into the semi-finals. I was delighted just to have another chance to swim!

That evening, I was due to swim in the first heat of the semis and from Lane 7 (not exactly where the action is, but still!). I had the most nervous and exciting six hour wait until the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, I got really flustered trying to manage the sponsor’s competition labels at the same time as remove my tracksuit just in time for the race.

You have to wait until after the TV cameras have gone past (being in lane 7 or 8 is more hassle than it looks!). So, when I appeared on Grandstand I looked really happy – in fact, I was almost crying with laughter because I felt like a swimming variant of Mr Bean.

I think the clothing problems might have dissipated some of the nerves, because I set off like an absolute bullet. I’m pretty good on underwater starts and turns, so at the start of each length, I appeared to be storming through the field.

Some of the older/beefier swimmers are much quicker than me on top of the water, so I was quickly hauled in by them and despite turning in 3rd place at the 150m mark, I eventually touched the wall in 4th place in a major personal best time of 2:11.20. I had a nervous 5 minute wait for the second semi-final, but luckily I got through in 8th place to the World Championship Swimming Finals. I was in 7th heaven (although, again, I was going to have to swim it from an outside lane).

On the morning of the next day, I swum the backstroke in the GB medley relay team in a personal best time of 1:02.06, and we qualified for the finals to be held that night. Then it was my big moment – from Lane 8 in the final of a competition second only to the Olympics. It was great – I swam like I’d never swum before and although I only improved by one place to 7th, I broke my own PB again (2:11.08) and was ‘’as happy as Larry’’ for the rest of the trip. It was great to perform at a level above where I was expected to!

 
Fran and Lizzie on a bus

Straight after the Worlds, Fran, Jess and I went to Perth and competed in our own Age Groups in their Nationals. We were pretty well ‘done-in’ from the Worlds, but were set the challenge of swimming our morning heat swims as finals, really quickly, against almost no competition.

We weren’t allowed to swim in the later stages of the competition, but would have won loads of golds between us if we had been. I improved on my best time for the 100m backstroke – posting a 1:01.52 which would rank me 16th in the World this year, and also swam the fastest 2007 Individual Medley time in Europe for a 16yr old girl which (hopefully) bodes well for the European Juniors in Antwerp this summer.

We all left Perth physically and emotionally drained after 54 days away from home. A busy time for me at home, though – straight into GCSE revision and back into training.

No complaints though – life is great.

Catch you soon!

march 2007 blog

We are now in Melbourne on the eve of the World Championships. Everybody is itching for things to get underway – most of us have been training for the last 8 months specifically for this event. I’m seeded about 22nd in the 100m Backstroke, and 14th in the 200m Backstroke. 

The accommodation here isn’t as nice as it was on the Gold Coast, but the pool in the Rod Laver stadium is just awesome. The biggest stadium I’ve competed in before was in Budapest last summer.

I’m supposed to be swimming on Monday, then again on Friday in my main event – 200m backstroke (heats in the morning and semis in the evening, hopefully). I’m not sure what the team plans are for the medley relay yet – Mel Marshall may well swim the heats and/or the final depending on how we both swim earlier in the week.

Next time you hear from me, I’ll also have competed in the Australian Age Group Nationals in Perth (with Fran and Jess) and I’ll be safely back in Lincoln revising for my GCSE’s and training like mad again for the summer competitions.

Don’t expect any medals from the Worlds for me (unless there’s a bout of food poisoning!).

Well, we got here eventually – I forget, each time, just how long it takes to get to Australia. Twenty-four hours of confinement – the only break in the boredom was the woman sitting in front of me on the Singapore to Brisbane leg, who was suddenly taken ill. On landing, we had the full environmental health squad storming the plane, complete with SARS masks – very dramatic!

We are staying in the Beaconlea apartments in Southport, which are great. 

Fran and I are on the 11th floor and have a fantastic 180 degree sea view over the Gold Coast. The first thing we did was to go out and spend $340 on food, provisions and everything else we needed. We only had a 20kg baggage allowance for 8 weeks so all the normal snacks and cosmetics had to be bought when we got here. The apartments are self-catering, so we’ve had to cook by ourselves (without any parental input) – no cooking, no tea!  Things like spaghetti Bolognese and stir-fry, with loads of veg, are the favourites at the moment.

We’re mostly train at Southport School, which is the offshore centre for the top junior GB lads. The school looks pretty amazing and the grounds and facilities are awesome.  It sometimes makes you wish you were a boy, as there’s no equivalent overseas training and educational facility for the top GB girl swimmers.

SOUTHPORT SCHOOL & GOLD COAST BEACONLEA APARTMENTS

Jess Dickons is joining us soon. We’re all really good friends, having spent most of our competitive GB careers travelling to far-off places. We tend to train separately from each other as Fran does a sprint programme, Jess is a fly specialist and I’m a middle distance backstroker.

The weather is absolutely boiling and incredibly burning. We’ve only been here a few days and Fran and I are already peeling!  I managed to miss a section of my forehead with the high factor sun cream (pretty dangerous, when I mostly train on my back, facing the sun). I looked like a Red Indian warrior for a few days, much to the amusement of everyone else!

We get a day off each week and although we haven’t been anywhere yet, there’s talk of going to see the surfing competitions down the coast (and check out the local talent!)

The rest of the GB team are arriving this weekend and I think well start to do some team-building and general preparation for the World Championships.

We travel to Melbourne on 20th March, ready for the biggest competition of our careers to date (swimming runs from March 25th- April 1st). I’ve just started my taper and my biggest hope is in the 200m backstroke. It would be great to P.B and make at least a semi-final against the best women in the world. I’m not sure whether I’ll be selected for the GB medley relay squad, but it would be fantastic if I could swim the backstroke leg in the heats at least.

I think the morning heats run from about midnight – 2am UK time, on Sky - so it’s pretty unsociable for watching, but finals will be in your morning.

After the Worlds, the three girls (me, Fran and Jess) are going straight on to Perth where we will compete in the Aussie National Age Groups against girls in our own age groups. 

I expect the next update will be after the World Championships.

Wish me luck!