 |
| T&T sprinter Semoy Hackett, works on her start at the Cardiff Athletics Stadium on Saturday. The majority of T&T’s 31-member Olympic contingent is in Cardiff at a pre-Olympic training camp. PHOTO: ROGER SANT |
Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) is in Wales, the selected venue by the TTOC for the members of our team to finalise preparation for the Olympic Games. The training is in poor weather conditions. The British team is in Portugal. The American team is in Spain. Heavy sweat suits are required for team TTO. The weather has been very cool. The sun is afraid to shine. It comes out for short periods, only to be greeted by passing clouds. Look at the Northern Range from Port-of-Spain when it is raining, that is what London fog looks like. A stroll through Hyde Park will help to support this claim. In Portugal, it is sunny and warm. In fact the weather is one of the reasons the country is so popular. For fans of sport and adventure, it often means being able to indulge in their passion all year around. So if it’s grey and miserable at home, check out Portugal. The reason why the Americans go to Spain is because of the weather. Northern Europeans flock to Spain to lie on Spain’s famous beaches with supposedly guaranteed sun all day, every day, especially in the south. It’s also worth noting that July and August are hot.
But Trinidad and Tobago is in Wales. No one goes to Wales looking for a tan, but it’s not all rain clouds and gloomy days. It is enough to dampen your competitive edge. Summers are generally mild and fresh with average temperatures just below 20 degrees. The Wales weather is unpredictable, and conditions can change within a matter of hours, so if you’re out and about Trinbagonian, be prepared! Check what you wear. You are not in the tropics. July and August are also high season for Wales, coinciding with the major school holiday period across Britain. Hence attractions, accommodation and roads can get choked with visitors. Prices are often inflated and even the kindest of locals can get annoyed with the crush. The shopping is good. However, this is not prime time for a long, lingering night at one of Wales’ countless festivals or a concerted assault on its highest mountains. This is time to focus on your mission.
The average temperature in London, is 10.4 °C (51 °F). The warmest average max/high temperature is 22 °C (72 °F) in July. Although July and August are the warmest months, there can still be plenty of rain. Average daily sunshine: seven hours. If the choice of Wales as a training venue comes with the argument of acclimatisation, then the TTOC and the NAAA must employ their strategic plan of preparation. If there is no plan, the team is in trouble. Acclimatisation is an athletic training system whereby the body is forced to compensate for the stresses of a new or different climatic condition. Through compensation, the body is able to tolerate such physical stresses in a more efficient fashion, and the athlete will usually achieve better physical performance. The tolerance developed to the particular training condition will generally result in better competitive results in competitions where the training climatic conditions exist, as well as in the athlete’s accustomed environment.
This produces stress caused by elements of a different training environment that impacts an athlete without special effort. The human body is very adaptable to heat, and to corresponding humidity. The major physiological adjustments will be made by a trained athlete within ten to 14 days of the commencement of training; most athletes will reach an acclimatisation of approximately 75 per cent within five days of their exposure to the climate.” Both volume and intensity of workouts will increased as the athlete begins to adapt. The body mass, hydration rates, and other physical indicators must be monitored through this training process. One would like to believe that our medical and coaching staff are aware of these factors and principles of climatic effects on our athletes.
