So, after a fairly good start to the outdoor season, my physio and I decided to try again and see if we could get to the bottom of my re-occurring ankle injury. This led to me having a scan which showed that I have a torn ligament in my ankle. After various discussions between my coach, physiotherapist and me, we thought intense rehab and no competitions for a while would help.  However, we had to be certain that rehab would be sufficient to repair the injury and the only person who could confirm that would be a medical consultant. So, 2 weeks ago I met with a consultant and showed him the results of the scan.  Having assessed my ankle and to conclude the appointment, the consultant confirmed the tear insertion and advised that the best way to deal with the problem, and to return to jumping to my full potential, I would have to undergo surgery followed by a lengthy process of rehab to full recovery. Considering this quite significant injury, I have been lucky to hold out for this long, as the report showed that it happened a year ago!

Whilst going through these appointments and assessments, my coach Keith Fleming has designed an intense (but not strenuous) rehab programme for me.  This involves no contacts unless they are on my new best friend…my trampet, and also a big focus on my speed and strength. Of course, this alternative programme means no competitions and I am totally gutted about this as it means I have had to put aside my main aim this year; to qualify and compete in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in October. I’m finding it difficult to stay away from competitions though because I love the atmosphere, so I have still been attending the competitions as a spectator and to support my fellow team athletes.

When I started my rehab training I found it difficult to get used to as my sessions were different to the rest of the group and whilst they were jumping into the pit, I was busy doing a hard core workout.  (A tiny part of me even misses the sand in my socks!). But as the weeks have progressed I am beginning to get used to the regularity of the sessions and just need to remain strong minded and keep myself motivated.

My family, coach, teammates and friends have all been supportive in recovering from my injury and I am very grateful, as I am to CQC whose constant assistance have meant that assessments and appointments have been speeded up so that surgery can be done as soon as possible.

Hello again!

I am well into the outdoor season now and have a number of competitions lined up in the coming months; I rarely have a weekend without a competition! I have just finished my second year at Brunel University so for the rest of summer I can focus my attention on my athletics and fit in some casual work where possible.

The 2010 indoor season was successful and I finished ranked 8^th in the country for triple jump. I have competed in two competitions since the start of the Outdoor season and came a respectable 3^rd in the British Universities and Colleges Sport Competition (BUCS).  However, a few months earlier, I won the gold at the Indoor BUCS 2010.   More recently I won the gold at the Berkshire County Championships, retaining my triple jump title.

Unfortunately my recent performances have been a little restricted due to a re-occurring ankle injury and I recently underwent a scan to investigate the problem. Fingers crossed it will be dealt with as soon as possible, allowing me to improve on my performances during the 2010 Outdoor season.

My upcoming competitions include: the South of England Championships at Crystal Palace, the U23 National Championships in June at Bedford, the UK European Trials in Birmingham and the England National Championships in Gateshead.  These are the main national competitions, however, there are other League Meets, i.e. UK Women’s League, etc, where I compete for my club, Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow and these can take me from Eton to Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, etc.

I also hope the weather holds out to make them even more enjoyable. My aim for this season remains breaking that 13m barrier and qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later this year.

The UK Athletics Indoor Season 2010 is over and personally I have improved greatly from last year.  I have gained a few indoor titles   I am now South England Senior Women triple jump silver medallist (an improvement on the bronze from last year).  Following on from my last blog, on the 13^th February I competed in the prestigious Aviva World Indoor Athletics Trials & UK Championships in Sheffield. The competition was strong with the top athletes in the country taking part and although I ended with a season’s best jump of 12.31, I took a respectable 6^th place.                    

Last weekend, 13^th and 14^th March, I spent the weeken d in Sheffield with hundreds of other athletes competing in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS), where I represented Brunel University in the triple jump. It was a tense competition and I knew that if I performed well, I could win the gold.  I was in 2^nd place up until the final round when I pulled out a jump of 12.31 equalling my season’s best jump and took the gold medal. I was thrilled to win the title of BUCS indoor triple jump champion as last year I came away with the bronze.  

After these continuous weekends of competing, Coach allowed me 1 day off from training (generous!) this was very much needed.  I am near the end of my second year in Uni and coursework deadlines must be met. It is hard work juggling my degree work and my athletics, however, recent results look very promising on both sides. 

Indoor season now over, I am a couple of weeks into the intense training for the outdoor season, and wow it is tough! But I have come to learn that if you really want something, you have got to work that little bit harder to get it. I will keep you updated on my progress so watch this space!

Shakira

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(A picture of me competing in the Aviva World Indoor Athletics Trials & UK Championships in Sheffield)

The 2010 Indoor Athletics Indoor season is well and truly under way.  Winter training has been going well for me and it looks like it is paying off as I recently competed in the South of England Championships at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, London and won the silver medal.  This is a great improvement on last year’s performance where I got the bronze.  As a result of becoming the silver medallist for South England, I have been selected to compete for the London City Challenge on 7 February in Sheffield so that’s where I’m heading next weekend.  Taking part in this competition will help to raise my game for the next major event a week later, again in Sheffield.

The reason I will be returning to Sheffield on 13 and 14 February is to compete in the prestigious Aviva World Indoor Athletics Trials & UK Championships where I will be amongst the top athletes in the country.  With tickets sold out many weeks ago, this promises to be an exciting event and highlights are expected to be televised, so be sure to look out for me!  

As usual, training is ongoing and preparation for these events is essential.  I have to keep myself in top shape by having regular physio and massage appointments to keep any niggling injuries at bay.  As in every competition my aim is for gold and a constant improvement for a personal best performance.

Will let you know how I get on.

Shakira

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I am now 7 weeks into my winter training and wow, it is tough! Rain or shine, training 6 times weekly’s, it’s not easy.  Last week was particularly tough as it was max week, this meant trying to improve on previous distances, times and weights to re-evaluate our current fitness levels. I was very happy with my results as I had improved on the majority of exercises, this shows that I am on the right path to improving my performances next season. 

Within the last few weeks my coach, Keith Fleming, was surprised and pleased to hear that he had been awarded the prestigious “England Athletics Southeast Performance Coach 2009 award”.  An article is currently being prepared to be published in the Sports Media newspaper with Keith and a few fellow athletes within our group, including me. Not sure when the article will be featured but be sure I will forward a copy to CQC. 

Back to the training for the indoor season which kicks off in January 2010 and there are many championships to be won.  One of the main competitions which I am hoping to qualify for is the Commonwealth Games being held in Delhi October 2010.  I have until August 2010 to qualify for the Games but in the meantime I need to concentrate on the more immediate championship titles.

xx

Hello All,

Right now we’re in the midst of the athletics season where I have been competing most weekends.   I have had to pace myself and my coach and I agreed that to avoid further injury, we have to be very selective about which events I can attend. 

Friday the 3^rd of July, I joined the WSEH AC team where we flew to Edinburgh and competed in Grangemouth for the UK Senior Women’s League.   I competed in the long jump, triple jump and relay but my personal performance throughout was below par.  However, I was still able to secure points for the club and overall WSEH team came 4^th.

The weekend prior to that I returned to my main discipline of Triple Jump where I competed at Bedford in the Aviva England U23 & U20 National Championships including European Trials.  The competition got off to a positive start with my opening jump at 12.28 and at the end of rounds 1 and 2, I maintained 3^rd place. However, with the competition getting more and more intense, everyone raised their game and my position dropped to 4^th place, I had to raise my game to be in with a chance of getting a medal.   

This must have been the incentive I needed as in my final round I did a season’s best jump of 12.60m which secured me in 3^rd place.  The constant treatment of physiotherapy for ongoing injury is paying off.  At this moment in time I am ranked at 11^th place for UK women’s Triple Jump overall.  

The week before this, I competed in the South of England competition in Watford.  Last year being as an Under 20 competitor I took 1^st place.  This year I am in the Women’s senior completion, obviously it was going to be tougher.  However, under the circumstances I just missed out on a medal this year coming in fourth position with a decent jump of 12.46.

Friday 10 July I will be competing in the Aviva National Championships in Birmingham.  Then I will have one weekend off before returning to Birmingham for a weekend of Jump Fests by invitation of UK Athletics.

As we are only halfway through the season there has to be more to come.  Watch this space!

Shakira

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Hello Everyone

The Athletics Indoor Season 2009 ended fairly well and the Outdoor Season has just started.  What with that and the end of year University exams looming, it’s been a busy couple of months. This first year at University has gone very quickly. 

I have recently taken part in three major athletic meetings, two British University and Colleges Sports Championships (BUCS), and the Berkshire County Championships which took place last weekend. My first indoor BUCS competition was at Sheffield where I came 3^rd with a 12.03m triple jump place despite still having an injured ankle.  After this competition my coach and I decided that we would steer clear of the triple jump for a while for me to strengthen my ankle and allow it to recover.  This has meant that I have been doing less contact work and focusing more on my strength which has improved by me having weight sessions 3 times a week.  My injury has been diagnosed as an anterior talo-fibular ligament sprain (ATFL) which basically means I sometimes twist my ankle inwards and this weakens it.  Therefore to strengthen it I am having ongoing physiotherapy treatments to make it better and this includes sports massages, ultrasound and general exercises.

Although I have an injury, my training has not decreased in the slightest. I am still training 6 days a week and this includes, track sessions, weight sessions and technical sessions.  After deciding not to take part in triple jump until a bit later in the season I have been competing in the long jump as it is not as high impact on my ankle.  This will enable me to remain in a competitive mind, whilst also improving my technique.  So with this in mind I took part in the 2009 Outdoor BUCS, held at Bedford International Stadium, and competed in the long jump rather than my main event triple jump.  It was a tough competition with girls jumping 6 metres plus, and I managed to pull out a jump of 5.58m which is near to my personal best of 5.65, so I was quite happy.  I took 5^th position in this meeting.

Last weekend, Thames Valley Athletic Centre in Eton hosted the Berkshire County Championships. and I took part in both the long jump and 100m.  The weather held out and it was sunny with a nice wind throughout the competition. First was the senior women’s 100m final and I managed to take 2^nd place which I was happy with.  Later that afternoon, I took part in the long jump and took 1^st place and although it was below par this makes me senior women long jump county champion. 

I have at least two more competitions for me to further improve on my long jump and they are the Inter-counties and the UK Women’s League Match.  These will both be more challenging as the competition will be at a much higher level.  Hopefully I can pull out all the stops.

As the Outdoor season has just started, these are is the latest of my competitions but there are many more coming up in the months ahead.  Nearly all the weekends are booked up from now until the start of September.  My winter training and positive start to the year has left me eager to improve.  What with this and moving out of Halls at Uni, I’ve got a lot on my plate!  Will let you know how I get on!   

Shakira

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The 2009 Indoor season is now underway and I am no longer an under-20 competitor. I am ranked in the under-23s, but in national competitions, I’m up against all ages – “Overall”, i.e. the best in the UK. 

By the third week in January I had competed in two main meetings.  Each meeting took place in the Lee Valley Stadium in Edmonton.  The first being the South England Athletics Championships (SEAA) followed by the Indoor City Challenge a week later. The SEAA competition resulted with me furthering my jump from a smaller competition the previous week from 12.05 to 12.34 and taking the bronze medal for the Senior Women’s triple jump.  This was a great result for me because as I said previously, this is the first season in which I am competing in a higher age group, where the competition is of a higher standard. 

With such a good start to the season I hoped that there would be more results like that to come.  Unfortunately, whilst competing in the Indoor City Challenge, I was unable to produce any decent jumps due to injuries in opposite foot and ankle.  I had to undergo regular physiotherapy and an x-ray to asses my areas of injury. 

 Coach advised me to only do light training consisting of much less hard contacts and more strengthening such as circuits and hurdle drills to strengthen my hips.  I was preparing for the next big competition, the Aviva European Trials and UK Championships in Sheffield, but there was to be no jumping or bounding prior to the event.  My first jump would be at the actual event on Saturday 14 February.

The EIS Sheffield Arena was very impressive and well set for the future, and recent, Olympians, such as Mo Farah, Craig Pickering, Kelly Southerton, Tasha Danvers, Donna Fraser, to name a few.  Unusually, the women’s triple jump was the second event of the day.  Although jumping below par I produced my best jump of 12.23 in the first round and got through to the second and final round.  Four athletes were eliminated and did not make it to the next round. 

During the final round I felt a slight pain in my right ankle which meant I continued to jump below par.  My final position in the competition was 8th out of 12. The Scottish contender, Nony Mordi jumped 13.23 and got the gold medal. My training partners, Nadia Williams took silver and Stephanie Aneto took the bronze medals.  

On returning to the physio 2 days later, he confirmed that whilst my original injuries were healing, I had strained a ligament in the ankle during the competition but with ongoing assessment and occasional physio, hopefully I will soon recover to top form ready for the 2009 Outdoor season.

Shakira

X

Yet another busy week starting quite well with the usual weight training session on Monday. I was working at 95% of my maximum weight which basically means I’m getting stronger! It was a long session, 2½ hours, which meant I didn’t get back to university until about 9.15pm when I had to squeeze in a bit of coursework before bed.

Tuesday’s session was very difficult and consisted of me doing 300m, 250m, 200m, 150m, 100m and 50m and if that wasn’t hard enough, Bunny Jumps with a weighted jacket as well! By the end of the session I was pretty much dead. It was, however, a good session as Coach told me I managed to complete the runs within the allocated time so I was happy with that.

On Thursday the session got more technical with me doing exercises such as bounding and a lot of contact work. Although it may not sound like much it really burns, especially in your legs, it’s hard enough to walk afterward let alone drive back to university! However, the session was not complete until we did a 60metre continuous circuit. This consisted of me doing 4 circuit exercises continuously then running 60m where I would continue with another 4 exercises. Had to this 5 times continuously, this is especially difficult when your coach is watching you the whole time, meaning no slacking!

Having prepared to attend the UK Athletics Jump Squad in Birmingham this weekend, this unfortunately had to be cancelled as Coach was not able to attend due to unforeseen circumstances and did not recommend me going on my own. Still, we have been invited by UK Athletics to a second session in March next year and this will provide good preparation for the seasonal meets/competitions. I ended the week with another weights session down at Brunel University Friday evening and another technical session on Sunday morning where I worked on the actual phases of my triple jump, i.e. the hop, step and jump.

Not long until the first indoor meet January 2009, luckily it’s at Eton where I train, so not too far to go. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Yet another busy week starting quite well with the usual weight training session on Monday. I was working at 95% of my maximum weight which basically means I’m getting stronger! It was a long session, 2½ hours, which meant I didn’t get back to university until about 9.15pm when I had to squeeze in a bit of coursework before bed.

Tuesday’s session was very difficult and consisted of me doing 300m, 250m, 200m, 150m, 100m and 50m and if that wasn’t hard enough, Bunny Jumps with a weighted jacket as well! By the end of the session I was pretty much dead. It was, however, a good session as Coach told me I managed to complete the runs within the allocated time so I was happy with that.

On Thursday the session got more technical with me doing exercises such as bounding and a lot of contact work. Although it may not sound like much it really burns, especially in your legs, it’s hard enough to walk afterward let alone drive back to university! However, the session was not complete until we did a 60metre continuous circuit. This consisted of me doing 4 circuit exercises continuously then running 60m where I would continue with another 4 exercises. Had to this 5 times continuously, this is especially difficult when your coach is watching you the whole time, meaning no slacking!

Having prepared to attend the UK Athletics Jump Squad in Birmingham this weekend, this unfortunately had to be cancelled as Coach was not able to attend due to unforeseen circumstances and did not recommend me going on my own.  Still, we have been invited by UK Athletics to a second session in March next year and this will provide good preparation for the seasonal meets/competitions. I ended the week with another weights session down at Brunel University Friday evening and another technical session on Sunday morning where I worked on the actual phases of my triple jump, i.e. the hop, step and jump.

Not long until the first indoor meet January 2009, luckily it’s at Eton where I train, so not too far to go.  I’ll let you know how I get on.