Hello,
Just a quick one this month to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! I hope you have now completed all your Xmas shopping and can relax and enjoy the holiday.
We have only a few days of training left before our week off, but Szilvester is pushing us until the very end. We have Swim Tests tomorrow night and we are doing our One Rep Max tests in the gym all week. This morning I improved my Back Squat personal best by 30kg which I was so happy about, especially considering that we all feel exhausted from the heavy training we’ve done recently. Now I just need to break the minute for my 100m Freestyle – I’ve come within milliseconds the last five times…
We have also been doing some great training out of the pool recently, including some fantastic Olympic awareness sessions and sports psychology sessions. The Italian men’s team (current World Champions) were in Manchester a few weeks ago for a match against our GB lads. It was incredibly inspiring to watch the best players in the world in action. Our boys did really well against them too, keeping the score to a respectable 14-6.
Italian men’s team playing in
the background (they were gorgeous!)
When we return on the 2nd January our training is changing slightly. We will be focusing more on tactics and short, sharp, explosive movements in the gym and the pool. We’ll actually only be back in Manchester for ten days. Then we head to Germany for a training camp where we’ll spend a few days toughening ourselves up against the Germans before we face Hungary in our opening game of Euros in Eindhoven the following week.
After the Euros our preparation for the Olympics really does begin. I must say I am quite looking forward to it being 2012 – the year of the Olympics! It will be so exciting, so let the countdown begin!
Right, I’m off to bed. Only a handful of sessions left and we will have survived our three months of torture training… I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
I hope everyone has an amazing, warm, delicious Christmas and I will see you next year.
Until 2012…
Francesca