CHRIS HOY

Craig Maclean, Chris Hoy and Jason Queally
©ALLSPORT

WEEK 3
Date: August 11

A warm welcome in Australia

This week's instalment comes to you all the way from my hotel room in Brisbane, Australia.

We - that includes my teammates Craig Maclean and Jason Queally - arrived here on Monday after an epic journey, which was made worse by a delay in taking off at Heathrow airport. Still, the flight wasn't all that bad; I even managed to sleep for seven hours on the first leg to Singapore.

When we landed in Brisbane we were met by a BOA (British Olympic Association) representative, who whisked us straight through customs in our very own "special" lane. At last, some superstar treatment! So that's what it feels like to be David Beckham ....

We are the first British team to fly out to Australia for the Games, but there was a good reason for coming out this early. The final four-week taper - that's the name for the phase of training when we gradually ease back from heavy work - into major competition is a careful balance of training and rest, and so a long-haul flight and time-zone change can really disrupt the final preparation.

Since our arrival, training has been very low key, consisting mainly of low intensity road rides of short duration (typically one hour). We've just managed one day of the kind that takes us closer to what would be a normal training day back home: a gym session, followed by a short track session.

This weekend will see the start of more intense training, and things should be back to the normal routine within a couple of days.

The mood among the boys and myself is quite upbeat. The hotel is very comfortable, the weather so far is ideal (24°C and sunny) and the track and gym facilities are excellent.

Being away from home, where the media attention was beginning to pick up, is also quite a good thing, since it allows us to focus on our training with less distractions. I'm sure this will change as the big day draws nearer, but at the moment we are being left to do our own thing in peace.

My knee has so far (touch wood) been okay, with no problems on the bike or in the weights room. I still can't do full squats, so instead I am concentrating on leg press, power cleans and dead-lifts.

These exercises don't create the same degree of flexion at my knee joint, which has been the cause of the pain. The gym in which we are training is also being used by some of the Australian and New Zealand weightlifters who will be competing in Sydney.

This has been a real eye-opener! They make our efforts look pretty feeble by comparison. My personal best lift for a squat is 200kg, and yesterday I was informed by a local that one of their women can do 220kg! Later on, however, I also found out that she weighs 152kg (almost 24 stones!). I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of her ...

All the local people we have come into contact with over here have been very friendly and seem genuinely interested in what we are doing. In addition, the BOA representatives have been sorting out any problems and generally making life easier for us, which has been great in that it allows us to concentrate on the job at hand.

Right, that's all from Dow Under for now. By the time my next instalment reaches you, I should hopefully be well into full-blown training as the countdown continues.

Read Chris's diary for WEEK 1 ...

Read Chris's diary for WEEK 2 ...

Read Chris's diary for WEEK 4 ...

Read Chris's diary for WEEK 5 ...