This is coming from up the French mountains, in Font Romeu where my final preparations are coming together for next months Olympic Games. - yes I just said Olympic Games!
This final block of training will include a lot of mileage at strong speed, as I look to get sharp ahead of racing 20km in Rio.
Since I last put my season onto virtual paper I confirmed my place at the Rio Olympic Games by winning the 20km British Trial at the start of June, in Leeds. I used it as an intense training session but still knew I had a job to do, 20km to get through with the pressure of the trial on my shoulders. By winning, it meant I met the criteria to gain automatic qualification for Rio by finishing top 2 along with the qualifying time. It was a special moment for me, my family and friends as I don't often get to compete infront of so many of them.
I also claimed my 3rd straight British (5km) Outdoor Title (and 4th in total) at the British Champs (& Olympic Trials) in Birmingham at the end of June. The 5k distance is one I usually enjoy and look to break my own British record over the distance. However, even with the help of guest Australian walker Dane Bird-Smith I was unable to set a PB. We both ended up with low 19minute times, not what we were aiming for. Both of us had put a lot of mileage in and were not rested for the race and so it made for a tough day on the track. - I do love competing in front of a home crowd, it gives me goosebumps each time and another British title was what it was about.
It was also exciting watching all the other events as many athletes looked to secure their places on the Team in Rio, I was lucky enough that my 20k trial had been three weeks earlier, the rest of track and field had to concentrate on finishing top 2 in their event.
The next day it finally sunk in that I was going to the Olympics. The British Champs was my penultimate competition of 2016, and the following morning many of the athlete's got to kit out at the NEC in Brimingham with the Team GB kit. We were shown many video's of inspiration and the staff made the experience fantastic as well as giving us messages of Goodluck. I Can't thank them enough for making the day so much fun!
Myself and Tom Farrell went through the process together and entertained many through kitting out and the media zone. Annoying a few people as we went too probably!
Since then some of the endurance athletes from the GB athletics team have spent our days training hard here in Font Rome at around 2000m altitude. Drinking coffee and having the odd chocolate crepe makes the days enjoyable. Plus the views never get old here.
I've been doing most of my training with Dane Bird-Smith of Australia as he also travelled out here straight after the British Champs.
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Trust me when I say, you don't want to miss a thing over the next month! If You've followed my journey this far, thank you or if you're new to me and race walking stay tuned and enjoy being part of this moment, I'm putting the hard work in for a top performance in Rio, and that's all I can do.
I never stop surprising my self, I've never said something is impossible which is why I'm standing here preparing for the Olympic Games.
#TomWalksFast
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