Jude Bright-Davies, Lincoln. Mathematics.

Upon moving back to Oxford at the beginning of term it was clear that this year would be very different to the years preceding it. Lectures and classes were now to be online, limiting contact between students, and regarding training, we had to be socially distanced and no longer had access to university gym facilities. Having lectures online has actually been rather beneficial. Lectures are all pre-recorded making planning work and training easier due to increased flexibility and gladly there has no longer been a need to wake up early in order to be at the Maths department for 9am lectures.

Initially it seemed as though, aside from being socially distanced, that training would remain similar, the only difference being having to do weights sessions in commercial gyms. However, since the second lockdown it has been more difficult to replicate what we are used to on the track especially given the lack of equipment. At the moment my training consists of sprints and bounds in University Parks and medicine ball circuits in my flat to escape the cold.

Since college doesn’t allow mixing of flats, we’ve also had to change the way we socialise. Our weekly games night with friends in college has now moved online with our game of preference being Among Us which can sometimes get a bit competitive. Although adjusting to this new student-athlete life hasn’t been too hard, I’m hoping that things will soon return to normal especially for the sake of training.