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Brownlees perfect techniques
Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee (right) and Jonathan Brownlee (left) compete in the run during the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Triathlon, in Hyde Park, London. Picture: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
As any athlete will testify, there is little good to be derived from dramatically altering practices and techniques in the final six months before an Olympic Games.
If it is not already in training schedules and daily routines with an eighth of the Olympic cycle left to negotiate, then heaven help that athlete.
The final six months – and in some instances the last 12 months – are all about fine tuning.
Two athletes who are disciples to that theory may be rather wet behind the ears when it comes to Olympic experience, but remain gold medal favourites nonetheless.
Yorkshire’s Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, are triathlon’s star attractions and young men channelled towards success at their home Olympics this summer.
As the world’s No 1 and 2 it is clear there is little they are doing wrong. Hence the need for calm heads over the final furlong, and as little tweaking as possible.
“If there’s one improvement we can make this year, the easiest one to do is to get those little things right,” said 23-year-old Alistair, the elder brother and two-time world and European champion.
“Trying to eat quite well for instance. Making sure we take our vitamins.
“It’s about the little things we’re not that great at doing – which seem stupid when you go out in the cold for over seven hours a day and can’t be bothered to come home and stretch and just sit in front of the tv.
“But if we do those little things right that’s hopefully where we’ll see the injuries stay away.”
As the Olympics draw ever closer, thoughts of injuries are banished by positive-thinking athletes.
Even the slightest niggle can derail a medal bid.
Even an injury that takes only a couple of months to heal can leave an athlete heartbroken and devastated, as Jessica Ennis can atest after a foot injury two months from Beijing delayed her Olympic baptism by four years.
“Injuries are a nightmare for any athlete. You cannot think about it,” said 21-year-old Jonny, the world triathlon sprint champion who was second to his brother in both the World Series and European Championships in 2011.
“There are ways to stop them. When you’re tired stop training. Don’t push yourself too hard.
“If you feel a niggle go to the physio, get it scanned early before you make it worse.
“Don’t increase your mileage all of a sudden. Stretch, eat properly, go to physio sessions.
“You don’t want to think about it because if you do you probably wouldn’t train as hard as you should do. But if you get injured, that’s life.”
The Brownlees will not be wrapping themselves in cotton wool.
Yorkshire’s great medal hopes have already been training hard in the countryside around their Bramhope home and on a warm-weather camp in Lanzarote.
Regional cross country races have been contested and the season begins for real for the brothers in May, at the San Diego leg of the World Series.
After that they will contest the World Series meets in Madrid and Kitzbuhel before spending the majority of June holed up at a British training camp in St Moritz, Switzerland.
“Hopefully things are going swimmingly and we can go into London full of health and confidence and just go race,” said Alistair.
Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee are BT Ambassadors. BT is the official communications services partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Visit www.bt.com/london2012
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