British Champs build-up: Taper Time with Jazz Carlin

Since the Commonwealth Games, it’s been really good to see the support from everyone back home.

I ended up only having two days out of the water to keep my fitness up for the British Champs in March.

I’ve been to a few local competitions to talk to some of the younger swimmers about my experiences and hopefully spur them on which has been nice.

Otherwise, Christmas and the New Year were really good. It was nice to have some time back home with the family and catch up with my friends.

I ended up only having two days out of the water because I wanted to keep my fitness up as best I could for the British Champs in March.

I was nominated for the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year which was such an honour and my first time to be nominated which is always special.

I’d not been to the Awards before so it was really nice to meet some of the other Welsh sports people there. I met Becky James – a Welsh cyclist who also got a silver and bronze in Delhi – and it was nice to talk about our time over in India with her!

I have been in full training (4.5 hours in the pool a day, one hour physio a day, gym work twice a week) since about the end of October so I’ve got quite a few months under my belt.

We went to California but it was pretty cold out there and tough having to swim outdoors!

It wasn’t too difficult getting back into routine. I’m so used to all the hours that it’s like a normal life for me! The pool in Swansea had to close a couple of times because of the bad weather but we got in as much training as we could!

The British Gas ITC Swansea group that I train with went to California for a few weeks over the New Year as well which was good for us to train in some different surroundings (although it was quite cold and pretty tough swimming outdoors!).

My coach (Bud McAllister) has been trying to work more on my endurance training for the 800m to find out what works best for me in preparation for the Olympics next year.

The season is just about learning what works best for me – my personal favourite is the 400m but I will be swimming the 200m and 800m as well this year and we’ll see how it goes.

Obviously I had a really encouraging start in Germany where I wasn’t rested at all and was really pleased with my times.

Hopefully it’s a good platform for the rest of the season.

Photo copyright BBC Wales: 'Jazz Carlin at the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2011 Awards at The Twenty Ten Clubhouse, Celtic Manor Resort, Newport'

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