Hannah Miley: Two more competitions to go before biggest test of them all

There are a whole bundle of emotions now that the Games in London are so close. At times, the nerves kick in big time but I just try and stay level-headed. The key is to keep working hard and max out at each training session.

At other times the overwhelming feeling is one of relief that the date is drawing nearer. I know I have given 100 per cent and that gives me confidence.

Last month I had a trip to Dublin. I took part in a competition but it was mainly to make use of the fantastic facilities at the National Aquatics Centre. The mixture of training and racing was perfect.

I’ve got two more competitions before the Olympics – the Mare Nostrum Meet in Spain and the Scottish Championships at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh at the end of June. I’m not sure how many events I’ll enter at the Scottish Championships but it will be my first visit to the refurbished pool and it will be nice to compete in front of a Scottish crowd just a month before the Olympics. We’ve also got the Olympic holding camp in Edinburgh towards the end of July.

The Mare Nostrum meet is part of a trip to Spain, and my whole family will be with me. Dad will be there as my coach and mum is going along as the team manager. My two brothers are also coming along – Alastair will be racing and Joseph will join us after he has sat his school exams.

It will be good to get away for some training in the sunshine and also to keep the racing clock ticking over. It will also be nice to have the family around me. I wouldn’t be in this position without them.

This coming week I’m going to Stirling for some training in the 50m pool. Work, work, work.

This is my second Olympics and I do think that it is a huge advantage to have been there and done it before. There really is nothing that comes close to the Olympic experience.

The media hype and the public interest is massive and the whole process is completely different from any other competition. The athletes’ village in Beijing was twice the size of anything I’d seen before and the whole build-up is so much more intense. I know that every Olympics is different, but to have been through it once does help settle the butterflies a little.

In Beijing, I was one of the new young kids at 18. Now I have matured both as a swimmer and a person and I take my swimming more seriously. Not that I wasn’t serious last time, but I realise that London really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it is worth a huge effort and the huge sacrifices.

So, for me, it is exactly ten weeks today that I will be lining up in my main event in London, the 400m individual medley. There are nerves and excitement – but, most of all, I must try and enjoy the rest of the build-up and be ready to make the very most of this opportunity.

9 Hannah Miley is the European and Commonwealth Games 400m individual medley Champion and won the silver medal at the World Championships in Shanghai last July. She has qualified to compete for Team GB in the 400m and 200m individual medley at London 2012. Hannah is sponsored by Kellogg’s www.kelloggs.co.uk/swimming