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

I FEEL like I'm back at school, even if only for half a term, as I'm on a course for the next six weeks.

Not going home for that length of time and having to use my grey matter is going to be a challenge in itself. Having said that I have already had a visit from my parents. No I am not that spoilt, they were not coming to comfort me but just to use my flat as a hotel. I will let them off this time though; I think they might need to stay a few thousand more times until we are even.

I did end up not too far from home as I passed on through Devon to reach the Cornish coastal town of Bude. I am scarily reaching the end of another decade but luckily many of my friends have got there first so this was another celebration for the big 3-0. I enjoy any excuse for a party and to see my friends but I have suddenly realised there are not many parties left until I can no longer joke at the age of my friends but will have to join them instead.

After a swim in the sea at Bude (okay, it was more of a submersion) I was back to the slightly warmer and more familiar environment of a heated swimming pool on Sunday. This was a shock to the system in a different way; I was representing Devon Masters in an inter-county sprint competition and although I may have been back at training for a while I haven't quite reached the faster work yet. Luckily it was a team effort and Devon came out on top for another year.

Times readers can be updated on what Heather is up to via?her social networking site twitter:heatherfellnews