June 2012

This month has been focused around my uni exams. I don’t think I have ever spent so many hours in 1 day studying – I developed the technique of studying during various training sessions! Thank goodness I had my brother with me – as it meant I didn’t have to spend anytime cooking. During exam periods it is the hardest time to balance my uni and training commitments. I put a lot of work into my studying and it’s important to me to get good grades but my training is always my main priority. It’s hard to sometimes take defeat and miss a session due to revision. I did quite a good job of always managing some form of training – even if not the planned session. I only missed 4 sessions which I thought was quite good. So now I wait for the results with fingers crossed!

After the exams I had a few group assignments that had to be done. They had only been given to us a couple of weeks before exams so we decided to leave them till after the majority of our exams. I had everybody round to my place and we worked none stop from 10 – 5 and we did managed to get them all done. So once those were handed in I was free for the summer!

We have already dived straight into Summer – enjoying the usual swimming and sunbathing. I must say it’s much harder to revise out here compared to England at this time of year as you just want to be at the beach! We had the Isle of MTV concert this month which was amazing! It’s a free concert that is held every year on the island – normally I miss it because I’m in England for the championships but due to my ankles I was still here. It is held outdoor just outside of the centre. Nearly the whole island goes!

Training continued to go well after exams. However, I have had a slight strain at the back of one of my knees so I had to take things a bit easier for a few days. But I’ll soon be back thanks to my physios! Though it has meant that I’m now fashioning a white stripe up the back of my leg where the tape has been!

I got the results from the scans on my ankles and they were as expected. So I have booked my flights back to the UK ready for the operation at the end of July. They are going to operate by key holesurgery on both of my ankles to clear out the scar tissue.

May 2012

I started this month with a quick trip back to the UK to have the scan on my ankles. Before scanning them they had to inject a special fluid that could be seen in an MRI. This was done under xray, initially using an x-ray dye, to ensure they were in the exact spot and then once they had the exact location they injected the MRI dye. It was extremely interesting. I have to admit that the best part was the ride in the wheel chair across the hospital from the x-ray to the MRI scanner – I’m sure the porter thought I was crazy!

Training has continued to increase this month. It’s great to be able to do some speed work and be back on the track – though we are still having to be careful and monitor things so as not to aggravate my ankles any further. I even managed to do a competition! Considering how much training I have missed I performed well. I managed to beat both my targets that my coach set = 1 smiley coach and 1 smiley athlete!

My brother came out half way through the month to stay for a few weeks. It’s taken a bit adjusting to having him around and not having the place to myself. One of the first things he did when he arrived was buy me a little BBQ as he said I couldn’t live in the Med and not have one! Though he did have a battle on his hands putting it together – it took him ages and some bending of the mental to get it to all fit together!

I don’t have much else to report as I spent every other spare minute I had with my head in my books either finishing assignments or studying ready for my exams next month.