Commonwealth Champion Gregor Tait explains to In The Winning Zone that life ain't easy being a full-time athlete.

It is a miserable winter evening, one of those nights that remain exclusive to Scotland.  Freezing hailstones pelt incessantly against your face as you step off the bus and into the darkness. Crossing the windy road is like battling against the undercurrent of a choppy, wave beaten tide. 

Stepping into the warming light of Edinburgh Commonwealth Pool, I am here to watch backstroke specialist Gregor Tait, holder of three British Records, in one of his team training sessions.  I am under the illusion that he must count himself lucky to be in the balmy climate of the swimming baths on a night like this.  However, after watching Gregor and his team-mates (medallists galore) train for about thirty minutes, I swiftly decide that he is probably much more jealous of me than I of him, and wishes he was outside in the cold.  It may be sub-zero monsoon season outside, but at least my body isn’t being flogged to death by some sadistic coach (see interview with Fred Vergnoux: said coach).

The following afternoon the double Commonwealth champion is looking significantly more relaxed in a cosy café, slurping the whipped cream from the top of his hot chocolate.  “It’s pretty good” he states.  Gregor is on his afternoon break from training, happy to be nearing the end of a back-breaking fitness schedule in preparation for the FINA World Championships, being held this month in Melbourne.

“A typical day for me would be getting up at 5:30am to be on the pool side for 6:00.  We train from 6.15 until 8.45, get changed and go down to the gym around 9.30 for at least an hour doing heavy weights or a weights circuit.  Then we get a bit of rest, and are back in around 3pm, when we will maybe go for a 30 minute run and do some stretching.  Then we are back in the pool at 4pm for another 2 hour session.”  Gregor adds, with the enthusiasm of a child on the last day of school before the summer holidays: “Then we get to go home!”

That is a six hour day, which Gregor completes six days a week.  To put that into perspective, professional footballers and rugby players do fitness and conditioning training for about ten hours a week.  However this is not to take away from the endeavours of those athletes.  As Gregor himself testifies, it is a simple fact that the physical demands of elite swimming require this level of commitment to training.  Even the ASBO-worthy act of being dragged out of bed at 5.30am every day...

“I guess it’s a case of ‘this is my job’ ” exclaims Gregor.  “You get up at whatever time your job requires you to get there.  And if you think ‘I can’t be bothered’, well it’s your job and you just need to do it.  So this is my job, I get money to do this, and the bad thing about swimming is that you can’t cut corners to be the best.  In swimming there are no short cuts at all.  You have to put 100% into everything you do.”

And of course, such a regime takes its toll on the human body.  Gregor says that he is forced to push his body to the limits of his ability every single day.  And that kind of punishment doesn’t heal overnight: “I’ve been in pain for the last three weeks, every day.  But I’ve still managed to swim fast and do what’s been required of me, and that gives you momentum.  Even when I am in pain, I can still do what I’m asked to do, so think how good I’m going to be when I’m rested with no pain!”

He continued: “There are times when I think ‘I can’t do this’, but you’ve got to give it your best shot.  And if you can come out the other end then you have proven to yourself you can still do it.”

There is also the issue surrounding swimming that training can become monotonous and repetitive.  There is little variation to be enjoyed in racing up and down a swimming lane for hours on end.  But that is the only way.

“You can’t be a good swimmer without doing the time in the pool.  Hopefully the coach doesn’t make it too mundane, because it gets boring for them too.  They don’t want to sit and watch you swim up and down for two hours.  They prefer to get involved and have you doing different things.  So it’s a selfish thing from their point of view too.”

And thankfully for Gregor, he works with a coach who likes to mix things up a little, ensuring that every day is a new challenge for his swimmers, however taxing it may be.  “Fred [Vergnoux] has a brilliant way of coaching because he mixes it up every week. Your hard stuff may be at a different time, and your easy stuff is at a different time, so your body has no idea what to expect.  You wake up in the morning and your body is thinking ‘OK, what have you got for me today?’  Then you are prepared for anything.  If you get stuck in the norm your body gets used to it and adapts, so you don’t get the benefit out of it that you should.”

Indeed, Vergnoux was one of the main reasons why Gregor came back to Scotland, having spent the previous two years training in Cardiff.  Another reason for his return north, he adds, is the team environment and camaraderie which Vergnoux instills upon his athletes.  This may seem odd to some, with swimming being a primarily individual sport, but as it turns out, the opposite is the truth in this case.

“There is a real ‘team’ atmosphere.  We pull each other along.  I would say we are 99% a team and 1% individual.  We look after each other.  If someone isn’t having a good day we pull them up, if someone’s having a great day we try and latch on to it.  It’s just like any other team.  People don’t realise that swimming can be a team sport, but it is, right until that moment when you stand on the block.  But even then you’ve still got the feeling that your team mates are behind you and everyone is willing you to do well.”

And of course, as well as the obvious benefits of a team ethos, there is the fact that every session offers the athlete a benchmark, a level of competition and rivalry to spur them on.  Boxers need to spar; golfers need a partner, so it is perhaps quite logical for individual swimmers to train in such a way.
 
Plus, as Gregor comments, it is an added incentive to train to win, rather than training to train.  It adds an extra layer of intensity to the workout: “You always find that if you train, you shouldn’t train down to someone, you should train up.  You should always aim to train better than you could rather than bring yourself back down to another level.  In our squad the level of training is so high, you can’t go down.  If you slip and become lazy, you’ll be seen to be just that and get thrown out, whereas if you try to push yourself on to try and beat the next person, obviously without hurting yourself, that makes a difference.  It means the level is always rising.”

When we see swimmers on television with their broad shoulders, sculpted torsos and muscular arms, it is all too easy to forget that to achieve such optimum levels of fitness takes massive effort, commitment and indeed pain.  We may pass it off as saying ‘they are naturally athletic’.  And while there is no doubt that someone of Gregor’s credentials is a natural athlete, the wholly unnatural routine he puts his body through is testament to how hard it is to become a world-class swimmer. 

What Gregor has described doesn’t sound like anyone’s idea of fun, but, he says, it is definitely worth the effort.  “I think you have to enjoy it.  You wouldn’t be doing it for the amount of hours we do if you didn’t.  Obviously it’s not the most pleasurable thing putting your body to the limit every day of your life, but I guess you always have to look at the rewards that you can get, that’s the big plus point.  People may say that they hate training, but they must love something about it.  Otherwise they wouldn’t do it.”

It is clear to see over the course of our conversation that Gregor does love it.  At 27 years old and approaching his physical peak, he is fitter and stronger than ever and looking forward to his next challenge, Melbourne.  “Maybe I’ll even get some sun and a bit of a tan!” he jokes, before setting off into the wet, gloomy sunset that we are so blessed with in these isles.

RO

© In The Winning Zone, MMVII, All Rights Reserved