Travel

Tonight is our last night before travel to Osaka. The day started at 0530 and we were on deck at the Arbutus Club by 0630. Today we were exactly 3 weeks out from the 400 free. We have made a habit of simulating the 400 free on each Thursday to mimic what we will do on Beijing.

Mark Tewksbury shared this strategy with us in a very moving talk after Olympic Trials in Montreal. The Olympic and Paralympic Swim teams were treated to Mark’s experiences and insights prior to his gold medal swim in Barcelona. His talk was frank, humorous and practical. He focused on his goal setting, writing to his journal and visualization of a successful race. At the end of his talk he brought out the towel that had been draped on him before his race. It was an illegal towel as it had a Coca Cola logo on it and in fact an official had intimated that he could be stripped of his medal for the infraction! This of course did not happen, but I can tell you that in 2008 he would not get near the deck with non- conforming equipment! After his presentation he brought out the towel! Faded, crumpled and far from mint condition. He then brought out a pair of scissors and offered each athlete his piece of history. What a gift! This piece of linen was important to him and it has been 16 years since a Canadian gold in the Olympic pool. (not an issue for the paralympians with more than 20 for Canada in Athens).

Keeping a diary, visualization and goal setting has been a recurrent theme between Donovan and me. It took Mark to drive the message home! In coaching we have a saying “Same message, different messenger!” In practice, we shrug and celebrate if a process for winning is being adopted,

Today was a race simulation. The timing and content of the warm-up is consistent, we try to simulate pre race conditions, changing from warm-up to race suits and mimicking the transition from the ready room to the blocks. Today Donovan swam the first 200 meters, followed by 10 seconds rest and then 4X50 at race pace with ten seconds between each segment. The total time is close to a predicted time for the race. It went very well, even though his first 50 was 31.6, a full 2 seconds faster than our plan, his times did not decay inappropriately.

We had a team dinner tonight in Richmond. It was an informal affair, pasta was everywhere, old friends were reunited. The mood of the team was controlled, and mature. This surprised me as the team is made up of 14 females and 7 males. Of this, 10 swimmers will be in their third games, but over half are rookies. I sensed expectation, and confidence. There was professionalism beyond their years. This has to be a reflection of their preparation both from their home coaches and a recent 2-week training camp in Victoria.

Shane Esau, our physiologist talked briefly about the upcoming 10-hour flight to Osaka. We want to minimize jet lag and make our adaptation to a new time zone seamless. An important strategy is to minimize dehydration on the long flight. All team members have been issued masks to minimize fluid loss on the flight. Airplanes are very dry environments and significant amounts of fluid are lost through respiration. We have masks, which help to minimize this loss. All team members will be weighed prior to departure, and fluid intake will be aggressively pursued. Shane has a distinctive and loud voice, his message to drink frequently will be difficult to ignore! On arrival to Osaka we will weigh all the swimmers to assess hydration.

Airplanes fly in a decompressed environment mimicking 5000 feet. Ten hours at altitude creates predictable physiologic responses, one of the diuresis. This is a potential problem. There is the dehydration of a dry environment and then the diuresis of adaptation to altitude. This is what we are trying to combat, both with fluid replenishment and fluid retention with the masks.

Generally speaking we allow 1 day for each time zone we cross for adaptation, we will be well within these parameters. More importantly we are managing travel fatigue. This is the first time in three quadrennials that we will fly directly to our staging camp! This is not an accident, it reflects thoughtful planning.

Tomorrow will be our last practice at Arbutus. I will savour the condensation on the windows, recognize familiar patrons as they pursue their Friday morning routines, recall the hours spent in a familiar and supportive environment and reflect that it will be our last practice in this environment.

I hope the regulars are there: Ted Grigg, a septuagenarian who spams me with jokes, Quentin Jacks, a noctogenarian who is as sharp and insightful as anyone and of course Psycho, with her disciplined routine and habitual tightening of the lane ropes. I hope Sue Snow; the Swim director will pop in with an encouraging word and smile. Barry Duggan, our Radio station partner works out everyday and we get a lot accomplished between taps regarding the business. I hope Butch Bachelor is there, a swimmer under Firby and a great motivator. He used to swim beside “D” and pretend he was one of his rivals. I know Phil Shier can’t be there. He died in 2005, what a guy. He had a keen sense of the politically incorrect. I nicknamed him Filthy Phil. He made practices shorter.

I got him once; it was probably the only time. It was April 1, 2003. I knew he wanted an ozonated pool and I showed him a letter on Arbutus letterhead, supposedly a reply to my claim that chlorine had caused Donovan’s blindness. The “letter” was penned by the Arbutus CEO, John Furlong, denying responsibility but agreeing to ozonate the pool; of course without prejudice. He paused after reading the letter stared at me and said, “ That is a very good letter!” He quickly got up and walked away. I asked where he was going and he replied. “To call Ted of course!” He was a senior and I told him it was a ruse; I did not want him to incur the long distance charges to Palm Springs. I learned some new expletives from the master that day!

There are the “fans”, people on the treadmills and other machines who often tell me they stay a little longer to watch our practices or who are ashamed to quit until Donovan has finished!

I have nothing but praise for this facility and its members. We can arrive at random times and lane 2 is spontaneously vacated. The guards mobilize to put a “swimming lesson “ sign on the lane and to ask lap swimmers to change lanes. It is a non-verbal code and the ultimate respect to Donovan and his ability and disability. They all share in his success.