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Photo: Team Canada poses for a group picture at its training camp in Kamen, Germany. (Photo courtesy former Badger Hilary Stellingwerff - @stellingwerff on Twitter)

By Mohammed Ahmed

Hello again Badger fans!

I have been unable to find Internet access over the last couple of days to post, so I apologize for that.

It is hard to believe the week in Germany is almost coming to an end. I don't know where the week went!

Other than running, eating, hanging out with teammates and sleeping I have not accomplished too much. Training is going really well and I feel I have gotten into shape a little more with the workouts I have been able to do over the last few weeks, and especially the last few days.

I did some kilometer repeats on Wednesday and I averaged a little faster than race pace (2:43), which I was really happy with. On Saturday, I did four-mile tempo with Cam Levins and we ran them all under five minutes per mile, which was a lot faster than planned.

During this period of time you have to have a lot of confidence to do well, and I believe I am mentally at a place that I have not been since before Big Tens and Payton Jordan. (Note: Ahmed ran his Olympic qualifying time of 27:34.64 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in April).

Now I need to mentally screw my head tight and not get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the race and atmosphere. 

Although I am in Germany, one of the most beautiful places in the world, I have been unable to find time to sightsee. The only sights I have seen thus far are places I ran by or through, but I will try to get out for a little bit and walk around the area before I head back to London on Wednesday.

I have my last major workout before my race on Tuesday and I am looking forward to it as it signals how close the competition is -- as well as some downtime afterwards.

Mohammed Ahmed

Photo: Home away from home in the Olympic Village

By Mohammed Ahmed

Hello again Badger fans! Greetings from Kamen, Germany.

The last afternoon and night (July 23rd) at the Olympic Village was filled with great memories. At mid afternoon we went over to the Canadian fitting area to get fitted on our gear, and to say we are spoiled is an understatement. We got to try on 26 different pairs of items that did not include the gear Athletics Canada gives us. All in all, we have tons of gear and I won't be needing to use any of my normal clothes I brought with me!

I went for my run at Victory Park  and I had couple of joggers attempt to drop me, but they got denied once I started running at six-minute per mile pace. I did some float-around 200s at the practice track afterwards and I got to meet legendary Somalian 1500-meter runner and 1987 world champion Abdi Bile sitting at the side of the track.

Afterwards, I went to Westfield Mall and met up with my good friend and former training partner, Ryan, and his girlfriend, Sophie, who were vacationing in the area. It was great seeing some familiar faces to make me feel like home in London.  

I did not have a great sleep the last night there because I woke up to the practice fireworks for the opening ceremonies at midnight and could not fall back to sleep. How inconsiderate, London (LOL)! The little sleep made the trip to Germany hard because I was sleepy.
 
We got into Kamen, Germany, yesterday afternoon after an eight-hour travel day. After two hours of relaxing I went out for my run with Cam Levins, who will be racing with me in the 10K and also racing the 5K afterwards. I went for a 75-minute run and did a little pick-up in the middle of the run and it felt really good.

After the run, I came back to my room and passed out almost as soon as I got back. I slept nine hours, which was really good, but after a disastrous sleep the night before and the journey over to Germany I expected it. I forced myself to get up at around 8 local time, though I could have used couple more hours of sleep, and went for a 30 minute jog.

Waking up early in the morning and jogging gets me to acclimate quicker to the time change. Afterwards, I ate my breakfast, checked out the facilities and relaxed in my huge room.

The set up we have here in Kamen is phenomenal, we are at the "Kamen Sport Center" and we have everything we can ever need at our convenience. We have a world-class medical team (doctor, physio-therapists, massage therapists, etc.), other staff, coaches and training facilities (the track is a two-minute walk from the residence, and we have great trail system a seven-minute jog away).

With such a great setup I should be able to train hard and get fit to take on the best in the world.

I am off to do my first workout session since last Saturday, hopefully it flushes me out of the jet lag I am feeling

Mohammed Ahmed

Mohammed Ahmed will compete for his native Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Before he runs in the men's 10,000 meters on Aug. 4, Ahmed will provide regular updates on his travels for UWBadgers.com.

By Mohammed Ahmed

Hello Badger Fans! Greetings from London.

I got to London safely after a decently long travel day on Saturday. I flew from Madison to Chicago and then straight to London. The flight did not feel too long because I was passed out after an hour in the air and didn't wake up until an hour before landing time.

The travel to the Olympic Village was surprisingly long, though. After landing at 11 a.m., I did not get into the village until two hours later. The bus took forever and we had to go through several checkpoints for security. The security is intense and, every time we leave the village, we have to get checked again and we have to have our accreditation pass on us at all times.  

The village is really nice. It feels like I am at campus with so many athletes walking around. After arrival to the village I got set up at my room and I tried to get accustomed to the cell phone they gave us and meet my teammates. I tried sleeping a little, but I could not fall asleep, so I went for my run with the lads.

I went for a 50-minute run with Alex Genest (steeplechaser) and Nate Brannen (1500 meters) and then did some strides at the practice track (by the way, the track felt super fast and it is a similar surface to what we should be competing on). I slept really well last night and I don't feel too bad walking around today (Monday), so hopefully I should be accustomed to the time change soon enough.

I fly out Tuesday morning to Germany for a pre-Olympic training camp and will be coming back to London on Aug. 1. I won't participate on the Opening Ceremony, which is a little sad, but I should have a lot of fun hanging out with the best Canadian runners and some Germans.

I will try to get another post to you guys once I am in Germany.

Until then,
Mohammed Ahmed

UWBadgers.com chronicled the action from the last game of the 2012 season, where the Wisconsin fell 4-1 to Nebraska.