GUEST BLOG: Three-time Commonwealth silver medallist, synchronised swimmer Jenna Randall

By Jenna Randall, three-time silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games

The whole team have been working so hard this month and it will be really nice to have a bit of a break over Christmas.

CHRISTMAS CHEER: Ahead of an important 2012, Jenna Randall is looking forward to getting a rest over the Christmas period

I always love Christmas and going home and having a bit of a rest so I can't wait.

As an athlete sometimes it is good for you to take a break and to step away from the day to day stuff to re-energise.

We get ten days away from the performance centre and those first five I will be doing nothing but relaxing.

And then the next five days after that I will be doing some stuff to keep my cardiovascular fitness up and preparing myself to get back into it again.

Hopefully the time over Christmas will help us all recharge our batteries and we can come back ready to go at it again.

There is a lot on our plate at the moment because we have just finished off three of our routines for the Olympics next year that we have been working hard on and everyone is really pleased with them.

It is really exciting and we got the chance to show them off at the British Gas National Age Group Championships and it was fantastic to show people what we have been working hard on for such a long time.

All the team routines and one of the duets are completed and it is really exciting as we are getting closer and closer to the Olympics.

I don't want to give too much away about the routines but the themes, choreography and music are all different to what we have done before but they all work together really well.

Of course we still have the European Championships and the Olympic qualifier before the Games themselves so the routines that people see now won't necessarily be what they will see by the time the Olympics come around.

Every time we do the routine in front of people we will see what their response is, what works and what doesn't so we are tweaking all the time.

I think the whole team is just really eager to get out there now. The first big one is in March and when you think about it is really not that far away. It really drives it home and we just can't wait to get going.

London 2012 is getting closer all the time and it is a once in a life time thing so it is very exciting.

But for the sport we don't just want to stop there. We don't just want to get to the top eight in the world; we want to keep progressing so we need to look beyond London 2012 too.

The 2016 Olympics in Rio is the one we are targeting as our main medal opportunity so we want to do well at London 2012, obviously, but also to start building towards Rio. London 2012 is just a stepping stone in our big picture.

Jenna Randall is a member of Team Kellogg's. Kellogg's has been supporting British Swimming for more than 15 years on a ‘grassroots to gold medals' programme of swimming. Visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/swimming for more information.

© Sportsbeat 2011