Teddington-based Australian Craig Mottram is keeping his life as normal as possible in the lead-up to his third Olympic Games.

The 28-year-old will race in the 5,000m, but dropped down a distance to compete in the Emsley Carr mile at Crystal Palace last Friday.

In a slow race that didn’t really suit him, Mottram came home in fourth in a time of 3.55.44 minutes, just ahead of Britain’s Michael East.

Afterwards, he revealed he was not getting too wound up about the forthcoming competition.

He said: “I’ll go home and have spaghetti bolognese, which I made today before getting the train here. I’ll catch the train home, have my spaghetti bolognese, watch the news and go to bed. I’ll try and keep it as normal as possible.

“The race was solid. I dropped down a distance to sharpen up a bit and I got the required result.

“My plan was to roll out a bit more conservatively, because I haven’t done the faster stuff on the track just yet, move my way through and fight for the last 600m and try and pick up the sprint as best I could.

“As it turned out, with two laps to go, I was right at the front and it was good.

“There’s still a little work to do but I’m pleased with that.”

Mottram flies to Beijing on August 9 but isn’t setting himself any targets ahead of the Games.

“I’m not going to say I’m going to go there and shock the world,” he said.

“I’m going to go there and do my best and compete as hard as I can and, if that means eighth, fantastic. If it means a medal, even better. I’m just concentrating on doing my best.

“I’ve got a couple more weeks here, so I’ll train hard and get ready for Beijing.”