22/4/2011
The British Gas Swimming Championships were a massive success for me. After my worst year for results and performance in 2010, I was desperate to turn the corner and get back to how I know I can perform. My move to Cardiff eight months ago had been positive, however I knew the British Champs would be the first real test to see if I was getting back on track. My last race in Delhi had been a very painful 15.20 in the 1500m. I knew I was in far better shape coming into Manchester, smoother in the water and happier all round, so hoped for a good swim in the 1500m.
I was involved in an amazing race with my good mate Dan Fogg with the lead changing a few times, and we were neck and neck going into the last 100. I was determined to win by finding an extra gear that's been missing for a year and so I was delighted to be able to kick home fast to pip Dan. It felt so good! To experience that winning feeling once again was a significant moment. Dan swam brilliantly too and pushed me all the way.
The next target for me is gaining selection for the Open Water event in Shanghai. To do this I have to finish in the top two British swimmers at a European cup meet in Israel on May 7th. It’s a really tough race as I will be up against the best Brits, including Dan again. I've trained well however since Manchester and am fairly confident.
Outside of the pool I've been busy following Cardiff City who are giving me a real rollercoaster ride in trying to gain promotion to the Premiership. I also got asked to speak at the British Airways Maintenance Centre in Cardiff as they launched their partnership with London 2012 being the principal airline.
In an ideal world, my next blog will see Cardiff in the Premiership as well as my selecting for the 10k in Shanghai. But in the meantime, back off now to enjoy the sun in Cardiff!
22/2/2011
I have recently returned from my first international event of 2011 and it couldn't have gone better. After a disappointing 2010, I've started to train better and feel a bit more confident whilst training back in Cardiff. However, doing it in training is one thing; I needed to transfer this into a competition scenario.
I travelled to Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, about an hour's drive from Durban, for the annual Midmar Mile, the world's biggest open water swim. I swam two open water events, the 10km and then the hugely popular mile event.
The 10km race had been a nightmare for me since my silver medal in Beijing. I am desperate to do well in London in this event so was eager to see if I had turned the corner in my first 10km race since my move.
The conditions were perfect for me, I couldn't have wished for better. Flat water, no wind, 24 degree water temperature and a clear day. I felt good in the warm up and excited to race. I decided to stick to the tactics I'd employed in 2008, stay in front of the pack in clear water and dictate the pace. The field was cut to just 2 of us fairly early but I felt comfortable and in control. With about 2km to go I tried to step up a gear and leave the other swimmer behind. I was relieved to find I had this turn of speed at the back end of the event, as this is what I'd been lacking last year. I hadn't felt this strong in a race for ages and I decided to keep swimming hard to the line even though the race was won, purely for confidence.
The time was 1 hour 57 which was very close to the time I did in Beijing - easily the best I have swum in nearly three years. It was nice to come out of the race smiling. I also found out after the race that I had swum 500m extra by swaying off course too often. This was my achillies heel in Beijing ,so it's good to know that with that corrected I have more potential but it's also something I need to address.
Three days later I did the famous mile race. A brilliant mass participation event that thousands enter every year in South Africa. It was great to see the lake packed with people with the sun beaming down. The mile is a straight length across the lake and there is a 10m run in at the start and then it's every man for himself in the lake as there are so many swimmers.
I have never run so fast to get into the water first and once I was in there it turned into a sprint from the off. I managed to get into second place and by the end was really hurting from the fast start. I was gaining on the leader who had a slightly better line than me but came in second. Considering I was 33rd last year and had just completed a 10k three days before I was very happy.
It had been a worthwhile trip; the best thing I brought back home was confidence which will hope to see me continue to improve at the British Gas Championships in Manchester from 5-12 March.
5/11/2010
In the summer I decided to move back to Cardiff to team up with my old coach Dave Haller. Things weren’t going as well as I had hoped in 2010 and was beginning to become frustrated from poor performances in training and competition. There were different reasons for this but for me the obvious solution was to go back to the man who developed me from a junior swimmer to Olympic, World and European medallist and Commonwealth champion. He knows me better than anyone and I have never lost that ultimate respect for him. I believe he could get me back on track and back to the standard I want to be at.
It’s also great to be back home, I love Cardiff it’s such a buzzing city and has developed a lot while I was away. I’m back amongst friends and family and I can watch Cardiff City at the weekend. We now also have a brand new Olympic sized pool so it’s a great place to train. That said, I did enjoy my time at Loughborough and have good memories and am grateful for their support.
So far the move has been good and I’m excited to see some progression in 2011. Dave is a brilliant coach with loads of experience and I feel better in the water already. It will be a fitting way to finish my career with him hopefully with some more success.
23/10/2010
The Commonwealth Games had a lot of negative media attention while we were still in the UK preparing to go out to India. It was worrying to see all these reports that cast a huge shadow over the Games, you do start to feel worried for safety rather than performance. However as swimmers or athletes there was not a lot we could do. I felt we were in very safe hands with the Wales Commonwealth Games head team already out in Delhi working to get things right for us.
I was glad we did end up travelling to Delhi and was pleasantly surprised by the living standards we had. Brand new apartment, 4 bedrooms all with en suite, living room with Sky TV - what more could you ask for?! By all accounts the Wales management team worked tirelessly for weeks to get things up to scratch and for that I was extremely grateful.
Once the competition started the next talking point was about the illness “Delhi belly”. A lot of people started coming down with stomach bugs and it was taking over the media attention. I felt sad that after working hard to make the Games go ahead the Indian organisers now endured more negativity.
The Indian people were friendly and helpful and made us feel really welcome, their culture is obviously really different to what we are used to in the UK, but that is the best part about travelling and competing abroad, embracing their cultures. I did see some monkeys walking down the street with the public, which was different!
19/10/2010
A few weeks before heading out to Delhi, I was asked by the Welsh Commonwealth Games team leaders to be the official flag bearer at the opening ceremony in Delhi. What a moment! As a proud Welshman, I couldn’t think of a bigger honour than to be asked to lead a Welsh team out in front of 80,000 people at a major games where it is the only opportunity Wales gets to compete as a nation. The trouble was, I couldn’t tell anyone, as they wanted to keep it a secret until we arrived in Delhi. I was so excited and had this massive news to tell people but couldn’t!
When I was eventually announced as the flag bearer at a Welsh swimming press conference a few days before the start of the Games the reaction I received amongst my teammates and friends, family and media back home in Wales was amazing. This was when it really sunk in, what a huge honour it was, and what a unique and buzzing experience it would be. Wales is a very passionate and patriotic sporting nation that really does celebrate its sporting success. I had a lot of media attention from TV radio and press about being asked to carry the flag, and I loved it. Friends were saying well done, that I deserved it and told me to enjoy it all, as I’d remember it forever. My family were all obviously beaming with pride and excited to watch the ceremony on TV back in Wales.
The day of the ceremony was a mixture of apprehension and excitement, it seemed a simple task to carry a flag around a stadium and wave to the audience but throw 80,000 people live plus millions watching on TV and you become a bit shaky! Our suits (I thought) were the smartest uniforms at the ceremony. I felt proud of our team as we all arrived looking smart at the athletics stadium in Delhi. ‘W’ is obviously towards the back of the alphabet and as teams were marching in alphabetical order we would have to wait around for a while. I still wanted to get the flag a soon as I got there however, and sat down with it draped over me for a while - lots of people wanted their photo taken with me and the red dragon – what an experience!
We eventually began queuing in the stadium tunnel towards the entrance to the main concourse. The image I will always remember is turning around to see an army of about 500 people all dressed in uniform following me. Some were really pumped up and shouting “Come on Dave”!! It was sensational; I just wanted to get out there. Wales then entered the arena and we got a brilliant reception I was a bit startled at first-not knowing where to look and the adrenaline took over my body, I was shaking but made sure I waved the flag, smiled and waved. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. Indescribably proud and, surreal almost. There was another buzz to come however as the host nation were just behind us coming out last and as you can imagine received a very warm welcome from the crowd. It was probably the loudest noise I had witnessed at a live sporting arena and gave me another surge of goose bumps. Sadly the lap ended quickly and we had to leave the arena, I would have gladly gone round again but still it was brilliant and such a privilege.
The next day at the swimming pool a lot of the British swimmers had said we saw you last night looking smart, well done and I got a lot of texts on my phone from people back home too who had been watching. Even friends from Australia had taken a picture of their TV screen when I walked out and sent it to me. It is something I will always remember as a career highlight, I’m going to get a picture of the day and put it in my living room.
23/11/2009
With less than 1000 days to go until London 2012, I’m proud to announce my kit and
suit sponsor, Adidas. Given their worldwide presence, sporting expertise and commitment
to Team GB, as a principal sponsor, I’m very excited to be working with them in
the years leading up to a home Olympics.
28/8/2009
Earlier this summer I was Delighted to be asked by the South Wales Echo to become a regular columnist. I enjoy writing and having the opportunity to contribute to one of Wales' biggest papers is a privilege. My column appears every other Thursday and I write about topical sporting subjects, from Cardiff City to rugby and my own personal training and events. You can check out some of my columns in the media section of the site.
20/5/2009
Following the Beijing Olympics I took my longest break ever from the pool to fully recharge myself, both physically and mentally. During this time I discussed my performances in Beijing with my coach, Kevin Renshaw, with the aim to improve them over the next 4 years into London.
We both felt that if I was to be competitive in the 1500m Freestyle in the pool, then I had to gain more speed for the start of the race and therefore needed to be stronger.
Upon my return to the pool the focus in training from October through to the recent British Championships/World Championship Trials in March was all about getting stronger and hopefully quicker in the 200m and 400m Freestyle. This training entailed a considerable increase in all land based training, including weights, circuit gym work and running.
Going into the World Trials I felt I was capable of swimming around 3.45-3.46 in the 400m Freestyle. My best time going into the meet was 3.49.30 from the Olympic Trials in 2008, so I was confident I could do a huge best time given my new found strength.
The 400m Freestyle was day 1 at the trials and after a good heat swim I swam 3.45.24 in the final. Not only was this a huge best time, but also a British Record- some 2 seconds inside the previous mark. This now makes me competitive in the 400m compared to the rest of my 1500m contemporaries, which was my aim back in September.
At the Trials I also competed in the 200m, a fun event for me, and 1500m Freestyle. In both the heats and semi final I smashed the Welsh Record with times of 1.48.11 and 1.47.31 respectively. In the final I placed 3rd, in a slightly slower time of 1.47.50. This now puts me in contention for the World Championship 4x200 Freestyle squad.
Usually an Olympic Games or World championship is spread over 8 days, however the British Championships was a condensed programme only being over 5 days. Therefore I was still fatigued going in to the final of the 1500m on day 5. Given the number of races I had swam in 5 days I was very happy to swim a time of 14.52.41 in the final.
I viewed my week in Sheffield as a great success, given I have now qualified for the 400m 1500m and potentially 4x200m Freestyle for the World Championships in Rome. It also vindicated Kevin and my decision to concentrate on speed based activities for the previous 6 months.
The plan between now and Rome in late July will be to increase my yardage in the pool again in the hope I can add some additional aerobic conditioning to the recent strength I’ve gained.