Heather Fell, Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist, writes about her life 'on and off' the track.
I was actually hoping for a little jet lag on my return. Having travelled west back from China my body should be seven hours ahead in theory — not being a morning person I thought this would be great — but no, my alarm clock has been needed every morning this week.
Admittedly this might have had something to do with the consecutive late nights. Yes the coaches approved these, as I have two weeks 'off!' I promised myself to only train when I wanted to, it turns out I quite enjoy my training, or maybe it's an addiction? I made sure to balance it though and have partied harder. I experimented by running a race at Brickfields in Plymouth after a night out at a local ball — my time wasn't bad considering — but perhaps not the best preparation for the next international competition.
The last few days at home in Devon have been the longest I've spent in one place and one bed in a long time! It was called for after a truly manic first few days spent between Bath, Oxford and London. So what a perfect place to unwind; with this glorious weather, delicious home cooked food and the open expanse of Dartmoor it couldn't be more of a contrast to China.
I've been making the most of these last few days doing things that I always run out of time for, but I've realised it's the preparation that takes the time and causes me to put off doing activities that I love. For example, to spray paint some furniture it took far longer to clean it, find all the equipment then mix the paint than it did to spray it; to go out on my mountain bike I needed to oil the chain and pump up the tyres; to bake a cake it involved delving through various cupboards in search of ingredients and utensils, weighing, chopping, mixing, and lining the tin; as for riding a horse, well where do I start?
I've concluded that I'm just rather lazy and the enjoyment is worth the preparation.