Sep 28, 2010
British Swimming Commonwealth Games Holding Camp, Doha, Qatar

On Tuesday 21st of September we left Loughborough for our British Swimming Holding Camp in Doha, Qatar. This is the first time that the whole English team has met up and I am excited to see the rest of my team mates and catch up with them.

The flight to Doha was about 8 hours, so after a long day I was relieved to arrive at the hotel and was even more happy the see that it was amazing 5 Star luxury. My room mate for the camp and for the Games is Stephanie Proud, we are great friends and as she now lives and trains in Florida it gives us a great chance to catch up on all the gossip.

I had an amazing first nights sleep in the hotel, the beds are very, very comfortable, hopefully they will be this good in the village in Dehli!?

After breakfast we went to the pool for the first of two swims. The facilities here are amazing, they held the Asian games here a couple of years ago so the facilities pretty much look brand new and there is plenty of space for the whole team to train.

We also had a full team meeting tonight, was nice to see everyone, it’s a huge team as Wales and some of the Scots are here too. They have given us some rules that we need stick to as we are in a Muslim country. It’s is a very interesting place that is for sure!

On Sunday we had our first full day off. I had a nice long lie in before getting up for some physio. I had a few hip issues last night in training so wanted to make sure everything was ok, my physio Carl knows just how to loosen my hip off now which is great, as he has been working with me ever since my surgery last year.

In the afternoon we went to the shopping mall it is a huge place, it has an ice rink, theme park and a gondola river all inside the centre. I treated myself and went to the beauty salon and had some nail extensions, it is nice to add a little bit of glamour when you are racing, although you have to be careful not to rip your swimsuit!!. After that my friend and training mate Lowri Tynan treated me to a Krispy kreme doughnut! It was very yummy. It is great to get out of the pool/hotel environment for a few hours and get a complete break from swimming.

I am looking forward to next week as we travel to the village, I cant wait to see it for myself, the racing begins on the following Monday so in the next 7 days I will just be getting as much rest as possible and preparing to get in the pool and race!!

Kate