Heather Fell, Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist, writes about her life 'on and off' the track.
I'm lucky to be home. The week long training camp came dangerously close to being considerably longer thanks to the extreme weather.
Flying into Gatwick on a Friday afternoon with the M25 to negotiate seemed enough of a challenge, and then came the snow!
The news of the airport's closure sent a ripple of desperation through the squad; the thought of another day eating salty mushed vegetables, fried meat and oily potatoes was too much. What a relief on Friday morning when we discovered it had reopened. We were all too gratified to even notice the delays to our flight, plus the hour-long wait while the car was dug out of the car park. Although there was one advantage - all the motorway traffic had long gone.
Hungarian cuisine aside, it was a beneficial camp. Not that running was any easier out there than home, thanks to the snow. Especially when our coach invented a new training theory apparently known as the 'crash concept.' On the third day of consecutive hard running, combined with the snow and a sharp corner, I went skating and not on my feet! I'm now sporting some unattractive multicoloured bruises on my legs, including several epee-sized dots on my right side. This poses a slight problem with the party season coming up; I might have to invest in some opaque tights.
Having made it back for the weekend it was then a chance to put my training into practise. On Saturday I was extremely disappointed with my result at a low key fencing competition, especially after a week on a fencing intensive training camp. However something must have helped my running, as by Sunday I was on form obtaining my highest ever finish in the county cross country championships.