I want to reach fever pitch in every race, not just the big one

As an athlete, I always feel like I should be at the top of my game in every race. I appreciate everything is now working towards 2012 but, if you're not successful between now and then, surely that's a waste when athletes' careers are relatively short.

That said, London's on my mind this week with the full schedule having been released and with Olympic qualification points up for grabs at the last World Cup track event of the season this weekend in Manchester. I have no idea how I will get on in the event, where I will be racing in the omnium over the course of Saturday and Sunday. It would be fair to say that my preparation has been far from perfect.

I woke up in the night sweating and shivering a couple of weeks ago but I thought that I'd just work my way through it.

As an athlete, you put training first above all else but when my mum and dad, who I've been staying with, found me collapsed on the kitchen floor, they decided I needed to stop training and go to hospital instead! To start with, the doctors thought I had appendicitis. In fact, everything looked fine except for the fact that I had an enlarged gall bladder because of an infection.

I was in hospital for the day and the doctors gave me an injection and some antibiotics and I was sent home to rest and ordered to stay off the bike. In fact, last Friday when I went out for a gentle ride was the first time I'd been on the bike for nine or 10 days.

There's good news and bad news from all this. I'm in good shape and the doctors reassured me I won't really have lost that much fitness.

But the strength work I've been doing to get race ready for Manchester will have gone.

But bearing in mind the preparation I've done, I think I deserve a place in next month's world championships in Holland.

Lizzie Armitstead is supported by BP, the official oil and gas partner for London 2012. To find out more go to www.bp.com/london2012