The Countdown Begins

30 June 2007

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I'm sitting in my living room packing my bags and getting prepared to leave LA today to start my European campaign in the lead-up to the Worlds in August. It's getting to the point in the season where I know it's time to go to work!

It'll take me a couple of weeks to settle in so the meets that I'm definitely going to run are Sheffield on the 15th of July, Crete on the 18th, Monaco on the 25th and London on the 3rd of August. I'm entered to run in Madrid on the 4th July as well so I'll go there and see how I feel. I'm really looking forward to racing every week because it's been a bit frustrating lately.

I ran a couple of races in Europe already this season but I had to come back to LA because I had some problems with my back. I had an inflamed nerve in my back which ran down to my hamstring. It felt like I was tearing my hamstring every time I ran but now I'm confident that I'm right to go again. It's been really frustrating for me - I was ready to run in the National Champs in February and again in Europe in May and both times I've had a problem of some kind. I really believe that I've had my trials and tribulations for this year. It's only up from here!

This year I've been training so well and it's difficult to know when to stop. It's really important now that I know what's right for my body so I've got a chiropractor traveling with me. My support team is full of really good people so I'm happy and very excited. My coach John Smith is also really excited for me because he knows how hard I've been training. It's the age old story - time to take my training form onto the track! As long as I stay healthy I'm pretty confident that I am going to be competitive.

My races in Europe will give me a good indication as to how I'm going. It's really hard to work out how I'm going because my body is a lot stronger than it was before the Commonwealth Games. I'm running my races a lot differently too so its going to be interesting. This year has been another year of learning and I find it really weird - I'm coming at it from a winner's perspective, not just trying to be good. It's been difficult trying to work out what training to do - so that's why I rely on my coach to guide me through. It's all really leaving me in a strong position for Beijing next year. If I'm going to try anything different I'll do it this year so that I continue to keep learning and improving.

I've been keeping an eye on the competition over here and there are lots of guys taking it up a notch. Jeremy Warriner, Angelo Taylor, LaShawn Merritt are all going great. But I'm not too concerned. I know what I have to do but it's true to say that on any given day anyone can run well and win. I just have to do my thing and put myself in there and race these guys, not run off them. Even though you are going to see lots of quick times from plenty of guys through the season you still have to be able to run rounds during a championship. Jeremy is good at it but so am I so it's going to be really interesting! I'm going in as the underdog and who knows what might happen.

When I get back from Europe I'll start to taper for the World's - probably on the 13th of August which is 16 days out. I'll just relax and stay mentally focused.

Until next time, take care.
John

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