Hellooo
I'm really sorry it's been so long since my last post. I always
try to keep you all updated but things have been so crazy this
year and i have just totally lost track of time. I can't believe
we are almost in May which means Olympic trails are getting
extremely close. I wish i could tell you all that this year has
been amazing so far but honestly it feels like my hardest yet.
I started this year on a high which is always a great thing. My
training was going really well, i felt i was back on track and I
was starting to prepare for my first AA competition after 19 yes
19 months away from competing all 4 pieces of apparatus. My aim
was to get back competing all 4 ready for the English
championships at the beginning of March. Everything seemed to be
going well until early February when i started getting some pain
in my foot. I didn't have a bad landing or do anything terrible,
my foot just wasn't responding to the work load i was trying to
do. So we altered my programme and tried to push through as and
when my foot allowed. This clearly wasn't working because as time
went on my foot seemed to be getting worse so then i had to stop.
I was obviously frustrated as i'd been training so well and the
competition was only a few weeks away but there was nothing i
could do. I could still work bars which is one of my favourite
pieces and i just had to wait until my foot settled to see how
many pieces would be possible for me to compete at the English
championships.
The competition soon came round and I went there with the aim of
just getting back to competition again, competing bars and
possibly beam as i'd only started to recover my beam skills that
week due to my foot. My competition went ok, i was a little
disappointed with bars as i didn't manage to compete my new skill
which is what i was intending to do but on the bright side i did
manage to compete beam after only having a few days to work my
routine again. I came away from the competition with a 3rd place
finish on bars and overall i felt happy that i was on my way back.
I was soon back in the gym after a day off and my next goal was
already set. This goal was to get back to training all 4 pieces
safely in time for a european trail which was 4 weeks away. My
foot was healing, training started to pick up again and by the
time I arrived at national camp which was the week of the trail i
felt great. The first session at national camp i warmed up and
started on floor. I was working all of my tumbles and things were
going well until a bad landing on my new tumble set my foot back
again. By this time i was frustrated and upset as i was just 2
days away from competing AA again but i knew it wasn't a major set
back which was a positive i could take from the situation. I
completed the trail on bars and besides having a fall on my
dismount i was soooooooooooooooooooo happy with my routine. I have
been working this new bar routine for almost 2 years and it
finally all came together in the competition. I scored a 14.270
with a fall on my dismount which with time didn't seem a major
correction to fix. I then went home and reflected on my week
before heading back to training the next day. I was so annoyed at
myself for setting my foot back with a bad landing but at the same
time i was so happy i finally hit my bar routine ..... well
almost.
Time continued to pass and within 12 days i was back at national
camp for another round of trails. This time round i wasn't ready
to compete all 4 pieces but 3 pieces of apparatus was looking like
a possibility. My foot however was still causing me problems and i
was also having a few issues with my back. I knew it was going to
be a tough week but i pulled myself together and was ready to give
it my best shot. The first day at camp went really well, i trained
well across all 4 apparatus and went to bed feeling pretty
confident about the week ahead. The next morning i woke up with a
really painful and watering right eye. As if i didn't have enough
to worry about i now had a bad foot, back and eye. I couldn't put
in my contact lenses due to my eye being so sore but then i had
the problem of not being able to train properly without my lenses
in. I then thought to myself, how do i explain this one to my
coach ?!?! My eye was bad so i couldn't see properly, my foot was
sore and my back was sore !!!!!! With trails only a day away i can
definitely say i was so stressed out at this point i didn't even
know where to begin. I tried to hold it all together but clearly
my body was rebelling against everything i tried to do. I managed
to push through trails and considering the circumstances i
competed pretty well but i knew in my heart i needed to take a
step back as i was
really struggling.
Nobody wants to take time out when it's an olympic year, even in a
regular year it's hard to take time out but i knew from this point
on if i continued to push myself through these small injuries i
would break down when it matters the most. So here i am now, it's
the 19th of April and i'm back at home. Some of my team mates have
headed to Switzerland today for a Great Britain match and my other
teammates have undergone yet another trail at national camp. It's
100 days to go until the 2012 Olympic games and 100 days is a long
time. Plenty can happen from here on out and i might be back home
but i'm still fighting !! From now on i'm not counting the days,
i'm making every day count. I've proved to myself that on all 4
apparatus my skills are back and when my body lets me i have
great routines across all apparatus. The challenges i now face are
to get super healthy so i can train even harder and finally get
the chance to show all these routines that i've been working so
hard on.
I have just over 4 weeks until my next competition which is plenty
long enough for me if i play my cards right. I've had a great week
this week and i'm feeling happy and confident about the months
ahead. Everything from now on is going to be about reaching the
small goals day by day and not letting myself stress about what
lies ahead. As an athlete it is really difficult to not think
about the Olympics all the time as you hear it and see those 5
rings everywhere you go, especially as it is a home country
Olympics. All your friends ask you about it and although everyone
is just being friendly it can become pretty stressful. Before
Beijing I didn't have that, so it is more difficult this time
around.
Besides my preparations and plans leading into the games
gymnastics wise, I have had some amazing opportunities come my way
outside the gym. In January i was extremely lucky to have the
chance to shoot for VOGUE magazine !! There will be a special
Olympic edition launching in June, so look out for that. I also
got the opportunity to be part of the TEAM GB 2012 Olympic kit
launch with Adidas. I felt so honoured to be part of such a
historic event and want to thank Adidas for inviting me to be part
of such a special day. I think Stella McCartney has done an
incredible job with all the kit and i can't even begin to imagine
what a difficult task that would have been. Designing all that kit
across so many different sports and producing such fantastic
results.
I was also really lucky to be able to work with Stella and Adidas
on some of the Olympic leotards. It really opened my eyes into the
world of designing and i loved every second of it.
Finally i have my third leotard collection ready to launch this
summer with Milano pro-sport. I'm really excited about this
collection and i think it is my favourite one yet so i hope you
all like them.
Who knows whats instore for me over the next few months, there
isn't long left to find out. I'm not going to lie though, I am so
EXCITED and i'm working so hard to be as prepared as i can
possibly be. Only time will tell !!!
xoxoxo Becky xoxoxo
