I'm away about six months of the year, competing here in the U.K. or in training camps in Arizona, Ethiopia, the Pyrenees.
I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.
To get ready to climb Everest, I did a lot of hill running with a daypack on and a lot of underwater swimming. I would swim a couple of lengths underwater and then a couple above. It gets your body going with limited oxygen.
I bicycle 12,000-foot mountain passes, run, cross train, skate-ski, hike and mountain bike.
I could sit at home, watch TV, and go for the odd run. But to be the best, you have to make this sacrifice, keep going away and doing blocks of training in the mountains.
When you're climbing at high altitudes, life can get pretty miserable.
Colorado Springs is a very good place to train ahead of the Olympics. We get to compete with different partners, learn different movements, we also get to improve upon our speed, which is very essential.
'Cliffhanger' got me in the best shape of my life, working at 10,000 feet up in the mountains. And everybody was great. I lived in Italy for seven months doing that movie. It was a great vacation.
