Here I go... I'm Conrad Williams, British 400m and 4x400m track & field athlete. As a late bloomer I started athletics at the age of 20. Before that I was just playing a bit of football and basketball, until one day walking through the park I saw the running track in my local area of Lewisham. It wasn't long until I joined my local club, Kent AC.
My days as an under-23 athlete were very good; I got picked in my first Great Britain team at 21 and was also chosen to run for England. I started out doing long jump and triple jump for my club whilst only running the 400m or 4x400m if someone dropped out, however after my first run in the 400m, the team manager decided that we should focus on training for the 400m.
I quickly started training for the 400m and soon realised how hard it was going to be. I opened my first season as a 400m athlete at the Kent league and ran in the minor races to build strength and experience. I won the Kent Champs, South of England, inter county, and made the final for the UK national champs - it was a great start to my career as a 400m professional athlete.
After a few years of developing my technique over the 400m, I had a set back with a hamstring injury in 2006 which put me out for six weeks; however when I came back I came back with the mind ready to make major championships such as the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
In 2007 I moved to a new coach in West London, where I began to work on my speed, learning new skills and a new training program. I hoped to make huge improvements in my times however in 2008, an Olympic year, my season was not going the way I would have liked it to. I didn't feel like my normal self and it began to show through-out the year with poor runs and unimpressive times which let me down. Things weren't looking good and the likelihood of me being chosen for the Beijing Olympics was small. At the UK trials I made the 400m final, where I finished 8th and at that point I knew I was not going to the 2008 Olympics. It was devastating, having worked so hard and built up my hopes to see the opportunity slip away. But despite the bitter disappointment I had to pick myself up and try and finish the season with a good time to set me up for the 2009 season.
In 2009 I bounced back fitter, faster and an all-round better athlete when I made my first World Championship in Berlin, running the 4x400 relay and given the role of the lead-off man who is responsible for setting up the race for other runners in the team. We ran a tight race and finished second behind USA. It was my first global medal at international level which was a great feeling and a good end to the season.
Send your messages of support to Conrad using #ChampionsTrainWithTechnogym and it will be posted in the Commonwealth Games athlete gym to motivate them to gold