Hannah Miley enjoyed huge success at the swimming World Championships earlier this summer when she bagged a silver medal 400m individual medley.
I caught up with her to talk about that success, the Get active campaign that she is supporting as well we looking ahead to London 2012.
- You are supporting the Get Active campaign so can you tell me a little bit about it?
The Get Active campaign… as an athlete I try to encourage the public to simply get active and it can be simple things such as walking the dog, walking with a group of friends, going for a run, getting out on your bike - these are all simple exercises that will just get people out and about.
It is really just trying to encourage people, because there is a cause behind it, to be a little bit more healthy but have a good time doing it - it doesn’t have to be a chore it can be an enjoyable thing.
- So how and why did you get involved in the campaign?
Being a swimmer Boots kind chose me to represent, or be an athlete representative. As a swimmer Swimming is an active form of physical activity and it’s just trying to help those in my community pick up on Swimming, or any other activities that I do as part of my cross training, and try to be a bit of an ambassador for my sport and creating an opportunities to use my sport as a way to keep fit and get active.
- Swimming is obviously a great way to get into shape so how did you get into the sport?
It was my dad; he was the one who first threw me in the water when I was little. He taught me to swim when I was three and then I joined by first Swimming club, which was Garioch; and I have been with that club ever since.
I really just had a natural feel for the water - initially I did other things such as dancing, horseback riding and I played the piano - but I realised that my swimming was the one thing that I was getting better at.
So from all my other activities I had to choose the one to keep going and what to stop because with two young brothers my parents were driving here, there and everywhere (laughs) - so I had to make the choice and I stuck with swimming.
It wasn’t until I was ten or eleven when I moved up to squad three and that was the squad that my dad coaches; he coaches squad three, four, five and performance squad, so it’s all that to my dad that I am swimming.
- Congratulations on your silver medal from the world championships just a few weeks ago so how great a shape were you feeling when you went into the championships?
My dad sets up what is called a taper which is a big block of training leading up to two or three weeks prior to a world championships and we reduced the volume of the load that I was doing; so I went from doing between 70-80 thousand meters a week down to 40-50 but the intensity was still there.
So I was still doing a lot of fast work but I just wasn’t do a lot of them and the theory is that it will hopefully spike your energy system so that you can swim incredibly fast at the time if you time if right, but it’s pretty hit and miss because the scenario is always different when you are going in.
Going into the event we were hoping that I would be a lot stronger than I had been the last couple of seasons and looking at skills and making sure that my technique was solid and just sticking with what I know - quite a lot of people tend to go out really hard in the first 100m of my race - so it was just sticking to my race plan. Physically I felt great and knowing that I can, hopefully, next year be even better.
- You claimed the medal in a time of just over four and a half minutes so how happy were you with that time?
This is going to be the athlete in me but I was hoping that I would go a little bit quicker because last year I went a 4.33.00 so the time I did at the world was a 4.34 so it was just over a second slower and I would have loved to have gone a little quicker.
But I can’t knock it because sometimes you have to look at the race instead of the time, when I did the 4.33 minutes that was on day one there at the world championships that was on day eight (laughs) so I was a little tired. So the scenario was a little different but it was definitely down to the race and getting the silver by .01 is quite a challenge.
- So what kind of boost does this give you ahead of next year? And what no needs to be done between now and then to go one step further and possibly gold?
It was a huge confident booster knowing that I can get in amongst the big names on an international stage - especially the world championship stage because the worlds are probably the next closest thing to the Olympic Games; the girls that I was racing against there are probably going to be the ones that I will race against at the Olympics.
So it is quite a good indicator as to how you are going to manage and cope with that, if you can cope with that at the worlds then hopefully you will be able to cope at the Olympics; although there are going to be a lot more people watching and a lot more media pressure.
I guess the next level is that those who got knocked down will probably use that as a driving force and push forward to make sure that they are better for next year so you have to be weary because yes it is a confidence booster but I can’t slack off now and think ‘yeah I have got it in the bag’ because there will always be someone who is a little more hungry for it and work even harder. So you have to counter act that and work even harder yourself (laugh).
- And the Olympics are now less than 12 months away so how excited are you at the prospect of a home Games?
It is going to be quite interesting… the lead up and the build up with the adverts about carrying the Olympic torch it’s just great - especially getting the help from Boots and McMillan to encourage people into different types of sport because support is going to be vital; so if people are aware that you are supporting them for Miles For McMillan then hopefully you will get support in return.
That is going to be one of the key things about the Olympics it’s going to be a home crowd - having experienced the Chinese home crowd when their athletes name gets called and the whole stadium is filled with noise it’s going to be weird to have that scenario happen to yourself because not many nations get to experience that. So yeah it’s gonna be kind of cool (laughs).
- So how much as the Olympics been something that you have been thinking about this year or has you primary focus really been the worlds and 2011?
It has actually been more on the training and how I prepare myself for my race, this is going to sound a bit daft, but the competitions they just happen and the more that you think about those competitions sometimes the more pressure… it’s more of a psychological thing.
You can put a lot of pressure on yourself and then you can feel a lot of pressure in return from maybe people watching or supporting you and sometimes it’s not always good to feel that pressure because you are always thinking ahead.
It’s a good idea to be aware of it and obviously know that it is a major championships but you have got to put the hard work into the training and see where that takes you.
I am always aware that the Olympics is the next big thing, and always has been, but it is not going to distract me and it’s not going to make me do anything different to what I’m doing right now - I am still going to get in there and train the hardest that I can so that as soon as I stand on that block there is no ‘what if?’
I have got to stand on that block knowing that I have given everything that I have and I have just got to swim this race that I have swam for so many years and do it the best that I can.
- How strong would you say that British swimming is at the moment -being a year away from London 2012?
I think that it pretty strong at the moment because there is a lot of young talent coming through, which is really exciting. So when 2012 has finished you have got the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and onto Rio and team GB have got a strong under wave of young talent coming through.
We will see at the trials for the Olympics in March whether some of these guys can actually make the team as that will be a huge booster for them and be quite good for these young guys to get experience at.
It is an event that nothing like anything that you have been to before because of the media hype; it is technically just another competition, but because you are in a village, you have the media pressure and you have the home support it is something completely different and it’s only one of those things that you have to experience to totally understand it. I think Team GB at the moment is very exciting to see what we can pull out of the bag for London 2012.
- The women’s side of team does seem particularly strong so how much do you enjoy having that domestic competition?
It’s good, it’s really really good because it pushes you and makes you race a bit harder - I guess if you had it east all the time when you get to these major championships and suddenly everyone is racing at the same speed as you; if not faster, and it can knock you sideways.
So it’s good to have that challenge and have that competition because it’s basically how are you going to respond to that? Are you just going to give up? Or are you going to work that bit harder and get to the wall first?
But it’s good for team morale because you are always there and you see the people that you are racing against and the people that you are on a team with - nobody goes into cliques and nobody gets negative with each other we are just one giant team and we are there supporting each other. It’s just great to be a part of and I am very happy and comfortable with the way things are going.
- And you were at the Olympics in Beijing back in 2008 so what can you take from that experience that will help you prepare from next year?
There is a huge psychological side - not to get to distracted at the fact that the Olympic Village is huge, the food hall is also huge, to stick to what I know and don’t change anything but just keep remembering that it is just another competition; bar the fact that there is a couple more people watching (laughs).
So I think that freaked me out when I walked out and saw the crowd but having had that experience you feel, now going into it second time around, you are four years older and a but more mature and you can take it in with experience eyes.
Hopefully going into the Olympics, should I qualify in March, as a more mature athlete and just make it no different to the world championships - it is just another competition that I have to swim fast at.
- Have you been down to take a look at the Olympic pool yet?
We are actually heading down in October for a orientation weekend so we will get to scope the venue and meet the whole national squad - there will be a couple of meetings to go to to discuss the planning for the preparation for next year and beyond as well as a debrief on what has just happened.
- The 2012 Olympics are going to be an inspiring event, especially for kids, so what advice do you give to them if they want to follow in your footsteps and get into swimming?
Try and watch as many sports as you can - the Olympic Games will offer a wide variety of sports that will get televised and shown so if you are able to watch it get behind the team and support it.
Hopefully that will encourage then to try these sports and just enjoy the Games and enjoy being part of history in the making - and if they take up a sport because they are inspired by it then fantastic.
- Finally what’s next for you over the next few months?
Just lots of hard work and lots of training (laughs). I’m going to be bracing myself for winter training as well getting the jumpers and the warm pyjamas out as well as stocking up on porridge.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Hannah Miley enjoyed huge success at the swimming World Championships earlier this summer when she bagged a silver medal 400m individual medley.
I caught up with her to talk about that success, the Get active campaign that she is supporting as well we looking ahead to London 2012.
- You are supporting the Get Active campaign so can you tell me a little bit about it?
The Get Active campaign… as an athlete I try to encourage the public to simply get active and it can be simple things such as walking the dog, walking with a group of friends, going for a run, getting out on your bike - these are all simple exercises that will just get people out and about.
It is really just trying to encourage people, because there is a cause behind it, to be a little bit more healthy but have a good time doing it - it doesn’t have to be a chore it can be an enjoyable thing.
- So how and why did you get involved in the campaign?
Being a swimmer Boots kind chose me to represent, or be an athlete representative. As a swimmer swimming is an active form of physical activity and it’s just trying to help those in my community pick up on swimming, or any other activities that I do as part of my cross training, and try to be a bit of an ambassador for my sport and creating an opportunities to use my sport as a way to keep fit and get active.
- Swimming is obviously a great way to get into shape so how did you get into the sport?
It was my dad; he was the one who first threw me in the water when I was little. He taught me to swim when I was three and then I joined by first swimming club, which was Garioch; and I have been with that club ever since.
I really just had a natural feel for the water - initially I did other things such as dancing, horseback riding and I played the piano - but I realised that my swimming was the one thing that I was getting better at.
So from all my other activities I had to choose the one to keep going and what to stop because with two young brothers my parents were driving here, there and everywhere (laughs) - so I had to make the choice and I stuck with swimming.
It wasn’t until I was ten or eleven when I moved up to squad three and that was the squad that my dad coaches; he coaches squad three, four, five and performance squad, so it’s all that to my dad that I am swimming.
- Congratulations on your silver medal from the world championships just a few weeks ago so how great a shape were you feeling when you went into the championships?
My dad sets up what is called a taper which is a big block of training leading up to two or three weeks prior to a world championships and we reduced the volume of the load that I was doing; so I went from doing between 70-80 thousand meters a week down to 40-50 but the intensity was still there.
So I was still doing a lot of fast work but I just wasn’t do a lot of them and the theory is that it will hopefully spike your energy system so that you can swim incredibly fast at the time if you time if right, but it’s pretty hit and miss because the scenario is always different when you are going in.
Going into the event we were hoping that I would be a lot stronger than I had been the last couple of seasons and looking at skills and making sure that my technique was solid and just sticking with what I know - quite a lot of people tend to go out really hard in the first 100m of my race - so it was just sticking to my race plan. Physically I felt great and knowing that I can, hopefully, next year be even better.
- You claimed the medal in a time of just over four and a half minutes so how happy were you with that time?
This is going to be the athlete in me but I was hoping that I would go a little bit quicker because last year I went a 4.33.00 so the time I did at the world was a 4.34 so it was just over a second slower and I would have loved to have gone a little quicker.
by Helen Earnshaw
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