England Women's hockey team return back to the rain and cold of England after having been competing in the 35 degree heat of Argentina in the Champions Trophy, writes Surbiton and England hockey star Sarah Haycroft. 

We earned a much needed break from our base in Bisham Abbey, but that did not mean we got to over indulge over the festive period like everyone else.

We have gym and running sessions to do six days a week, and of course we trained on Christmas Day.

We earned the time away after having been out in Argentina for the Champions Trophy, where we finished fifth, one place higher than our current world ranking position.

The tournament consisted of the top eight teams in the world battling it out for the chance to claim the Champions trophy, so there were no easy games.

We faced Australia, the Commonwealth champions, Germany, the European Champions, and Argentina, the hosts, in our pool so the pressure was on us from the beginning.

I was personally so excited to get the tournament started after having been recalled into the squad.

During the pool games we felt as though we were playing well and in the manor that we wanted, but the results were just not quite going our way.

We also had to deal with our captain, Alex Danson, being ruled out of the tournament, after just the first game, with concussion.

We faced New Zealand in the quarter final and unfortunately we were beaten by the better team on the day and faced the realisation that fifth was the highest position we could now finish.

We made sure that there was no way we were getting back on the plane home finishing any lower than fifth place, and that is what we did.

I was very proud to score my first senior international goal in our must win game vs Japan in our fight for fifth place, and I hope there will be more to come.

The tournament was a huge learning experience for us as a team and we know that come the Olympic qualifiers in June 2015 we will be much better because of it.

It is not just a given that we will qualify for the Olympics.

We have to make sure that we win our quarter final at the Olympic qualifying tournament, 'World League Three' in June 2015, so we will be travelling to Valencia where we will  compete as GB.

This puts a huge amount of pressure on that one quarter final, however, us having just lost that same quarter final in the Champions Trophy will go a long way in helping us prepare to do one better come June.

At this time of year we look forward to the challenges the next year will bring us.

For me, that is putting myself in the best possible position to get selected for the Olympic qualifier and the European Championships, which are taking place in the Olympic Park, Stratford, in August 2015.

And for the team we will prepare ourselves to do the best we possibly can in those tournaments and make sure we qualify for the Rio Olympics.

The beauty of our centralised programme is that we are able to train everyday as a team, and ensure that we do everything in our power to be the best hockey players we can be. This also helps us maintain some New Years resolutions.

One of my resolutions is to maintain and improve my aerobic fitness. I was as fit as I've ever been going into the Champions Trophy and I hope to continue that.

Another resolution is to continue to to lead my club Surbiton at the top of the Investec Premier League and on our undefeated run.

Finally to stick by my football club Liverpool through thick and thin and still believe that we can finish in the top four.

&Investec, the specialist bank and asset manager, support women's hockey from grass roots level through to the national team - investec.co.uk/hockey or on Twitter @Investec.