Heather Fell, Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist, writes about her life 'on and off' the track.

THIS week did not slow down for me, especially on the media front. It started with my dream style photo shoot (which appeared in the Sun). But don't worry, it was all about glamour, gorgeous dresses, big hair, and sexy make up; oh and the usual fencing props — thankfully only in my hand. There were eight Olympians and for a change the photo was taken as an actual group so it was a great opportunity to chat with athletes from other sports even if outside of our 'normal' environ-ment.

The following two days I had a piece to film for the regional TV programmes — all with focus on the impending 'one year to go' until the London Olympics. Although I was in my sponsored training kit the big hair and fake eyelashes were still going strong!

The second half of this week was of a very different tone as my granny — Rame Fell – passed away on Friday morning. She was a remarkable lady and as people have told me she was a 'legend.' Those of you lucky enough to have known her I'm sure will agree. Granny's life revolved around horses and the outdoors, she was still riding up until a few months ago and insisted on sitting outside, even when contrary to the nurse's advice. It is thanks to her enthusiasm for racing that I have had the urging desire to ride in a point-to-point for several years. Unfortunately my sporting career has interfered with this passion so far but now I am even more determined to race (once I retire from pentathlon).

I was grateful I made it back from my training camp and competition in time to see granny. She was a tough lady and would expect me and the rest of the family to be strong. When asked by the coach if I wanted to cancel my riding lesson I didn't dare as I knew that granny would not approve of me missing a chance to ride. I just hope I can take example from her strength and deter-mination and put it into my training and competing.