Teresa Perales: Training in Sierra Nevada

Spanish swimmer Teresa Perales writes about her day-to-day efforts in the lead-up to London 2012 that not everybody will know about at the Games. 12 Apr 2012
Imagen
Teresa Perales in Sierra Nevada

Teresa Perales has already met up with several other athletes during her training in Sierra Nevada.

ⒸTeresa Perales
By Teresa Perales

People will watch many of us on TV in the London Olympic or Paralympic Games, and they won’t think about our stories or the extraordinary efforts that we have made to get there.

In the last blog, I wrote about the sacrifices that we, the athletes, have to do to keep improving our sports careers.

Well, Wednesday I lived through one of these moments.

It was the start of my 12 days in Sierra Nevada, training with some colleagues from the Spanish swimming national team.

I’m here for an entire cycle of 21 days of training in high altitude. The Sierra Nevada High Altitude Sport Training Centre is 2,320 metres above sea level and is an ideal place for altitude training.

It is very well known by athletes from all over Europe that come several times in the sport season. There are always a lot of people moving from one place to another along the training centre, and it is very fun to meet them and learn about their sports and achievements.

Especially in an Olympic and Paralympic year like this, it is more interesting because many of the athletes that come to Sierra Nevada, we all have the same goal: going to London.

I have been here twice, once before Beijing 2008, and now.

Beijing was very good for me, I won five medals, and I think that those trainings here had much to do with the great results at the Games. Now, in 2012, I am here preparing for London and I would like the same results, but I am totally aware that my rivals are very, very good and it will be very difficult to even win a single medal.

The truth is that training here is really hard because of the lack of oxygen. We train about six hours per day, so at the end of the day, we all are very tired.

And it is even harder for me because I am a mother and the sacrifice is obviously bigger than before, as I have had to leave my baby at home and I am here missing him each minute of the day. But this has become a motivator for me, too, because when I have very hard training, I think about him and I repeat to myself “Come on Teresa, do it for your child and, as you have to be here, do your best in the trainings.”

It really works.

But not everything is in the pool or gym, we have time for fun, too.

As I said before, I think the best thing about being here is sharing experiences with other athletes. Many of them are swimmers, but there are athletes of various sports.

In the time we have been here, we have met the Spanish Boccia team, two German swimmers, two para-athletes who are marathon guys from Brazil, two Czech and eight Irish swimmers, the Spanish national junior team for decathlon, some regional skiers, and the French Olympic swimming team.

People will watch many of us on TV in the London Olympic or Paralympic Games, and they won’t think about our stories or the extraordinary efforts that we have made to get there.

But now, here in Sierra Nevada, we are making those efforts.

Related Images