In an ideal world this week would have started with me
touching down in Hobart, Tasmania. The Scottish Thistles; the national netball
team are starting their world cup campaign with a preparation camp in Hobart;
playing some friendlies to fine tune before the business starts on the 7th
in Sydney. As exercise physiologist for the team I wanted to be on this trip to
support the team as they recover from jet lag, to monitor them on a daily basis
to manage fatigue and readiness and to gather data on their match performances.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get on the plane so a colleague is delivering a lot of
this rather than me in addition to his usual role as S+C coach. This leaves me
to assist from afar - not my preferred outcome but that is sport and
accreditation's at World Cups are not unlimited.
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| GOOD LUCK THISTLES!!!! |
Instead, I woke up on Monday and got the train to Sheffield
with my colleague Katie. It is the British Swimming Summer Championships and we
will be supporting the Scottish swimmers at this meet with lactate analysis.
Swimming is not one the sports I lead or usually deliver in but I cover when
needed. So what does a swim meet consist
of? Well this particular one is at Ponds Forge in Sheffield; a well-known and
used competition (50m) pool with a diving pool. The environment is tough; warm
and humid and there are two or three sessions a day, for six days. Session one
starts at 9am and finishes about 11:30am/12pm and session two starts at 5pm
ending around 8pm. This meet has age group categories too so there are a lot of
heats and then a lot of finals and medal ceremonies – as meets go it is pretty
hardcore! I am also in the middle of a dirty training block so am using the
time in the middle of the day to train at the EIS which is a 10 minute tram
journey away!
Today is day 6 – THE LAST DAY! But I thought I’d start from day 1 to give an overview of a week in
the life of a physiologist.
Monday
A later wake up than usual means I start the day in a good
mood. My train is at 11am so I do some last minute packing and get a taxi to
the station to meet Katie. We have FIVE bags between us of kit and clothes! The
train is long and busy at first but the journey goes without incident. We are
staying in the Premier Inn which is very conveniently located for the pool.
Smile again.
One of the best things about Sheffield is the variety of
eateries available! We don’t have cooking or refrigerating facilities as the
Prem so we are eating out every day. It is a nice reward at the end of the day
and on our first night we went to All Bar One and shared nachos and then had a
Greek dish called Souvlaki (kebabs) which were really good!
Tuesday
Day 1. We arrive at the pool about 7:30 am to set up video
bits and our physiology table. We get a decent position between the competition
and swim down (diving) pools so the swimmers can clearly see us. First job of the day is to get the start
lists and highlight who we need to test. With that done it is just a case of
watching the races go by and catching them after their swim and then again
after swim down. Sounds easy but swimmers often try to evade us so we don’t
usually manage to test everyone on the list.
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| Physiology station/desk for next 6 days |
Once we are done for the morning I leave and set off for the
EIS – a familiar place for me as I have competed there many times in athletics
and have fond memories. It is a short tram ride (a rare perk of Sheffield) so
pretty easy for me to get to. The gym at the EIS will have everything I need to
continue my training programme as usual. As an athlete myself one of the major
stresses of going away for work; as great as it is, is how to maintain my own
training. The gym did not disappoint and I had the added bonus of meeting the
boxer Anthony Joshua and seeing a few familiar faces from the athletics days.
Training done so back to the pool (via Marks and Spencers
for food!) for session 2. The thing about swim meets is that they run the same
every session. So rather than describe every session which would not be an
interesting read I’ll just pick out some high or lowlights. I mean it has been
a long slog so I am not going to make people read about it.
Tuesdays eating: Premier Inn Restaurant and the
physiotherapist, Laura has joined our gang too! Food is okay here but service
appalling; the lazy option was not worth it.
Wednesday
Day 2. I remember my mantra from Monday’s yoga session ‘calm
and joyful’ and write it on our notepad to remind us and keep us smiling! I am
super sore today, as is Katie. She joined in my circuit on Monday and I trained
hard Tuesday so we there is a lot of groaning. The highlight of the morning is
probably nabbing two chairs from the coaches area so we can rest our legs! Today’s
gym despite being super sore was really good – a little scared for Wednesday
though!
Wednesday’s eating: Zizzi’s – Calzone. Much better but after
being sent abuse by James (boyfriend) on our choice I make a decision to do
better for Thursday.
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| Ponds Forge |
Thursday
Day 3. No mantra for today, but we are beginning to sniff
and sneeze an awful lot! Not sure why at this point but let’s just say it is
handy to have a box of tissues on the table. My hamstring is forcing me to limp
so I have a gangster walk about the place, not ideal when it is super slippy
and you’re already trying not to slip over! I have a shorter session today and
am able to do some good stretching/mobility so I hope that does the trick for
Friday.
Thursday’s eating: Smoke Barbecue – an outstanding choice
and definitely justified the recommendation. I had a pit plate; half a BBQ
chicken with chips, corn on the cob and a house salad! It made me very happy!
Katie chose a burger and had major food envy! Alan one of the performance
analysts joined us tonight, our gang is growing!
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| Thursday marks the halfway point! |
Friday
Day 4. Today we are grumpy. There is no other word for it.
We had an awful night’s sleep, my nose was like a fountain of snot! I know that is gross but I’ve never known
anything like it! Having never had allergies I didn’t immediately click what
was going on and it was only when Laura (physiotherapist) piped up about there
being spores (bacteria things) at the pool and that you can be allergic did I
click! So off to Boots and on to Global DRO to check which allergy meds I could
buy and take safely. Armed with Piriteze the fountain ceased and the sneezing
subsided somewhat. Business as usual. Quite a few swimmers are making
finals/PB’ing/medalling which is great – but it is always a risk when you start
chit chat and ask how the swim went!
Friday’s eats: Wagamama’s – somewhat of a Sheffield
tradition. Tonight we have a table of five! Joe; Alan’s colleague is also
eating with us. I had a rice bowl – plenty of food and we shared some starters
including edamame beans although we weren’t sure whether to eat the whole lot
or not!
Saturday
Day 5. Last day but one J
but there’s a twist! Today is the only day with three sessions as we have a
swimmer in the additional session so need to be there for bloods! Because of
this I decide to take today as my rest day and will sprint Sunday; luckily I am
feeling a lot better allergies wise. The medicine is doing its job; but loads
of other people are suffering with similar symptoms (itchy eyes, runny nose,
sore throat). I conclude that the pool is poisoning us! The first two sessions
are good but the evening is very quiet – you can tell everyone is starting to
leave. It is the last meet for the majority of the swimmers; they must be so
excited to have a break from training which in swimming is very relentless and
consists of many an early morning!
Saturday eats: It is tradition on the Saturday evening for
all the Scottish Swimming staff and support staff to go out for a big meal
which is lovely. We went to Brown’s; a party of 7! I had a juicy steak and
sticky toffee pudding as a dessert.
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Pre-final day shot
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Sunday
Day 6. IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! After a second night of
poor sleep we are starting to long for our own beds and to be away from this
poisonous air that is making us feel rubbish! There are a lot of 400’s in the
morning so it goes slowly as we only have a few swimmers in them. Then there is
a little rush at the end which perks us up and most of the swimmers have made
finals which is great.
Time for training and Katie is coming to keep me company
today. I have sprints, which is my favourite session of the week and then some
lifting and a circuit whilst Katie does a nasty Watt Bike session. On
reflection despite being away from home I have put together a very good week of
training; mainly due to the EIS letting me train as a guest. It has made a
massive difference!
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| Sheffield EIS - training venue! |
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| Men's 50 m Free - swimming's equivalent to the 100m?! |
It’s session 13 – unlucky for some. But we are well stocked
with Colin Caterpillars and Percy Pigs so are pretty content. The FINA world
champs have started too so there’s general excitement about the place as we try
to keep up to date with results from Kazan as well as here. The swimmer s can
go home knowing they’ve put in some good performances, including a wee medal
rush at the end!! Once we are done it is a case of packing up our little
station and getting food before packing this eve. We are heading to a family
run restaurant called Mama and Leonie’s tonight which comes highly recommended
(it is of course, Italian). Tomorrow we have decided to treat ourselves to a
Premier inn breakfast as we’ve been having lukewarm yoghurt and fruit all week!
Then it’s a train home and back to normality.
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Literally a life saver and the best Percy's
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