October’s Commonwealth Games seems a distant memory I think because so much has happened in the last 2 months. After a few days travelling around India and a few weeks at home, I packed my bags again and headed for the US to join up with the Oregon Track Club under the guidance of OTC Head Coach Mark Rowland (British Steeplechaser: 1988 Olympic Steeple Bronze – 8:07.96). OTC is based in Eugene, Oregon, aptly nicknamed ‘Tracktown USA’ - the birthplace of Nike, and made famous by American Track legend Steve Prefontaine. Track is king in Eugene, and when the offer came from Rowland to come and join OTC, the offer was too good to refuse.

When I joined up with the team in early November, my base fitness was 6 weeks behind the other US guys on the team who didn’t have to race through to the Commonwealths, but I took about the training full on with the goal to match it with the boys as best I could and build up that base fitness that I so desperately needed after a long year of racing. Something that has made that transition back to the long stuff so much easier has been having a top group of guys to train with and push me to extend my limits. The mid distance crew here in Eugene are namely Nick Symmonds (800m – 1:43.76), Tyler Mulder (800m – 1:46.32), Russell Brown (1500m – 3:36.89), Andrew Wheating (800m – 1:44.56 , 1500m – 3:30.90), Jemma Simpson (GBR: 800m – 1:59.07) and Geena Gall (800m – 2:00.44).

The world-class support and facilities offered by OTC means that we can do exactly what we need to do before, during, after and in between sessions to stay at our best. Use of anti gravity treadmills, swimming pool, medical, having the team physio on hand at every session, the University of Oregon’s recovery centre, and training at the historic Hayward Field don’t get much better. I feel pretty lucky to be now involved with the club and plan on making the best of the opportunity towards Daegu 2011 and London 2012. I’m putting together some solid training at the moment, so the new year is so exciting, not only to see what I can bring in 2011, but to see what the winter training has done for the other Aussie guys coming through in the 800m. Competition breed success, and with the likes of Tristan Garrett, Nick Bromley, James Kaan, James Gurr, Alex Rowe, Ryan Foster as well as the 1500m guys showing great form this year, there should be some huge showdowns in this coming season.

Some great news is that some of OTC is coming down for 5 weeks to  do some warm weather training and race some of the Aussie season, something which is sure to add some depth and spice to the distance events.. With the new IAAF rules meaning that times from last year now don’t count as qualifiers for the 2011 World Champs, the guys are looking to get their qualifiers out of the way early, great news for us!

I’m looking forward to being home for Christmas and spending some quality time with the family before heading to Falls Creek in the New Year.. Have a great festive season and hopefully catch some of you up at Falls!

Cheers