Sky Academy Scholar Siobhan-Marie O'Connor in USA for pre-season training
Friday 24 March 2017 12:40, UK
Winning medals in the pool isn't just about who's fastest in the water.
The new swimming season is almost upon us and some of Britain's top stars have just returned home after three weeks of hard graft at Flagstaff in Arizona, USA.
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor did plenty of laps at the university, but the 19-year-old from Bath and her GB team-mates also got stuck into a load of new challenges on dry land to ensure they are in the best shape possible for the new season.
Find out how the Sky Academy Sports Scholar coped with the high altitude training, an excruciating trip on two wheels and also a tragic event that stunned everyone at Flagstaff....here are Siobhan's words.
It was an amazing trip. It was a full swimming schedule so there was not a lot of downtime.
It was a case of fitting everything else around swimming and it was very tiring. But it's given us a good altitude gain for the early season so we can get the season off to a good start.
I felt the high altitude a lot because of the thin air. [Flagstaff is located at 7,000ft]. People respond to it in very different ways and I actually do quite well with it. I really feel the benefit when I come home.
It makes your actions a lot tougher and it makes the sessions feel loads harder. And recovery is tough. They say everything is about 10 per cent harder. You feel really unfit - even when you're walking upstairs - but you find when you come home it just feels easier.
Although we were hard at training, it really felt like we were in the USA - in a good and bad way.
We were able to go the Grand Canyon and staying on a university campus meant a good hotel and, more importantly, great breakfasts!
Americans do the best breakfasts. You could have whatever you want a with a chef making omelettes with anything you wanted in them. Plus there were eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, porridge, pancakes, maple syrup and coffee on tap!
And I didn't even put on any weight! We were all very cautious about putting on weight, but with all the extra training you just have to eat more.
There was also a bad experience at the camp. There was a shooting while we were there. One night a pupil shot four people and one of them was killed. It was very scary and just horrible for everyone there.
It was not a nice place to be then. It was terrifying and when I got home it made me really grateful of being safely back in the UK.
In the build-up to London 2012 we also went to the Grand Canyon. This time I found a good area for a handstand without falling off! Some people went out to places that were very hairy with a sheer drop. I wasn't brave enough to do that, but it was just an amazing place to see.
I also did some mountain biking. I'm really bad and just like a fish out of water. My friend and I decided to go in the baby group with a guide taking us on a so-called easy trail.
It was still a single track that was steep with lots of rocks. I managed to not fall off until I was cycling back to campus on a flat road after the three-hour ride.
I didn't see a stop sign and realised I was going to crash into the guy in front. I slammed on the brakes and flew over the handlebars onto the pavement. It would have been funny to see but it was very painful and I couldn't walk the next day.
I have to learn to play to my strengths. It was inevitable I was going to come off at some point! It could have been much worse though!
It's so good to do new things out of the pool. It can get very monotonous and I do enjoy other ways of getting fit. We also played a lot of basketball, volleyball and ultimate frisbee. Overall, there were plenty of perks and I love the American breakfasts - although they are not a good idea going forward!
It has got us off to a good start to the year and was definitely worthwhile. There's lots more training for me in Bath for the next few months and my next competition is the European Short Course in Netanya, Israel in December.
One last thing I have to mention is the Sky Academy TV doc I was in called I Am Siobhan. When it aired I was in Bath at my boyfriend 's house [fellow swimmer Chris Walker-Hebborn]. I actually nearly missed it but I had loads of people send me nice messages.
It was very cool to see it on prime TV - I'm very chuffed. I didn't mind doing it at the time and I'm getting better with my interview technique, but when I watch myself I am quite critical and it is a bit embarrassing.
I really liked what they did with it. It looked amazing. It was early in the morning with the sunrise and it just made a nice change from the boring leisure centres we normally train in!
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS
NOVEMBER 23+: Elise Christie, World Cup, Nagoya
NOVEMBER 26: Jack Bateson and Savannah Marshall, GB Boxing Championships, Sheffield
NOVEMBER 28: Jess Judd, European Cross Country Championship trials
NOVEMBER 21-29: Sam Oldham, Tokyo training camp
NOVEMBER 31: Elise Christie, World Cup Shanghai
25 NOV-DEC 21: Holly Bradshaw, South Africa training camp
