I'm always busy working, plotting to beat my two main rivals – LaShawn Merritt at 400 metres and Usain Bolt at dominoes
• Introducing the Guardian's Olympic diarists
Life is split between the track and my house. But it doesn't matter where I'm at, I'm always busy working, plotting and preparing to beat my two main rivals – LaShawn Merritt, and Usain Bolt. LaShawn is the danger man in the 400 metres, I see him as the top quarter-miler in the world right now, and I am pushing myself to the limit, training smart and working hard, so I can beat him at the Olympics. And Usain?
Well, he and I have got our dominoes title to fight over, man. That's what we play in our down time when we're away at championships. I won't say I'm the best, but I know what I am doing, I'm not just matching the dominoes, you know? But Bolt just loves the game. He is always playing. So he's the man I need to beat there, for sure.
Maybe some of you guys imagine that us Jamaican athletes are all out clubbing and dancing and having good times in Kingston, but the truth is this is the Olympic year, and life at the Racers Track club is tougher than ever, you know? When we're not working we're all doing things that burn less energy so we can save it for when it matters. For me that means spending a lot of time with my girlfriend and our eight-month-old baby, chilling with my friends and practising my dominoes game.
My background training is pretty much over. I'll be running in my first meet of the year, a 4x400m relay, at the end of this month. I'm looking forward to doing some hard racing. When you are training you don't know exactly where you are at, you need a few races to see. I'm feeling pretty confident so I'm looking forward to getting out there on the track so I can figure out exactly where I am at.
My goal for this year is to become the first man from outside the US to run the 400m in under 44 seconds. My PB is 44.4, and last year I ran 44.6 after doing no off-season training at all because I was injured. So I reckon breaking 44sec this year is possible, because I am way more experienced and I have been training so hard. I am pretty pleased with what I have achieved so far this season. I've been able to deliver the times my coach is asking for, I'm recovering fast, and I have no injuries.
I'm going to need to get down to those kinds of times if I am going to beat LaShawn, Jeremy Wariner and Kirani James to one of those Olympic medals.
For LaShawn to be out for two years and come back late last season and run 44sec and be so competitive, that shows you how good he is.
He has run 43.75 before, and at 25 he is still pretty young.
He is quick and strong and I think he is the man to beat, more so than Wariner or James. I'm not the kind of person who could hold a grudge against LaShawn for his drugs ban. We talk a bit when we see each other. He's not a close friend, but he isn't an enemy either. I think he's privileged to have got that chance to run in the Olympics and world championships again after he was banned.
All I really care about is making sure I beat him. At the world championships last year I thought that I was going to get a medal, even though I had no background training. Unfortunately it didn't happen, which is tough to take. So basically this year I just want to make sure I get that medal.