There are days, like today, when I could just sleep for England. Yes, I know that I claimed to be part of the British synchronised eating team, but in my spare time I do fancy myself as a bit of a sleeper. In fact I reckon that I could , given half a chance, outsleep pretty much anyone on the planet.

In my youth I was known to sleep through till about 4pm, struggle out of bed to train for the synchronised pizza and tv team for a couple of hours, then back I'd go, into my comfy duvet.

Unfortunately, since the arrival of my 2 boys, my training schedule in the world of professional sleeping seems to have gone out of the window. I find myself going to bed late, after several hours of cooking, cleaning and general housewifely type stuff - followed swiftly ( far too swiftly ) by the drone of my alarm at 6.30 am. How can I possibly keep up with my fellow elite athletes with a timetable like that ? Obviously things have improved since the boys were really young. When they were babies they had absolutely no regard at all for my endeavours in the world of sleeping. I would set out on a training sleep, with the full intention to log around the 12 hour mark, and the little buggers would want feeding or changing, or some other equally ridiculous request. I have found that children, in general, have a very selfish outlook on life. They don't seem to realise that their mother could have been a contender..........

Oh, and the photo bears no relation to anything, other than the fact that I like it. My plan now is to train for the 2012 Olympics in London. By then the boys will be old enough to look after themselves. I am starting to train them in the arts of cooking and cleaning and am attempting to instill in them the realisation that I have the ability to compete for our country. This is no mean feat, you know. Not everyone can sleep for 14 hours without stopping. This is my dream - we all have to have one......