The Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a rite of passage for all great swimmers. Any swimmer who's ever been anybody in American swimming can tell you both great memories of the OTC and some awoken nightmares about the OTC.
But the elite group from North Baltimore might be looking for someone to pinch and wake them up; following three-weeks in Colorado Springs in the leadup to this weekend's Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite, they are going to turn right back around on Monday morning and head back to altitude training until they leave for Omaha. Not only will that be 6-straight weeks of altitude training, but it will mean 8 weeks away from home – they will be gone from their home in Baltimore from the Charlotte Grand Prix until after the Olympic Trials.
There's two very different groups in NBAC, and both could be affected differently by these extended stays.
On the one side, there's the relative veterans like Allison Schmitt and Michael Phelps. They've done this before, been away from home, Schmitt has been away at college, they've both spent a lot of time in the mountains. Training camps seem to be a good spot for Phelps to stay focused – regardless of how his training's going in the broader scheme, whenever he's in Colorado, you hear that things are going extremely well.
But what about the younger swimmers? Swimmers like Gillian Ryan and Chase Kalisz, who are headed into their first Olympic Trials? This feels like a dangerous game to play with a young psyche. It may not be too different for Ryan, who moved from Pennsylvania to Baltimore recently to train with Bowman and North Baltimore. Kalisz will have to become accustomed to it leaving for college next year. But even in those situations, they will have a “home,” with a bed that will become familiar, in comfortable surroundings, in a place of their own. These are teenagers potentially going into the most pressure-packed weeks of their lives, who will be away from the comforts of home.
On deck in Austin, listening to the North Baltimore swimmers talk, there is a hint of uncertainty in their voices. Not uncertainty in the form of a lack of trust in their leader coach Bowman; but uncertainty in realizing that what they're doing is new and sounds intimidating. Spend the last 6 weeks before Olympic Trials in an altitude training camp isn't something that's usually done, not many coaches try to taper in those circumstances. But who knows – maybe it works. Maybe an isolated training camp is the best way to spend a taper, where distractions for swimmers' new-found energy can be controlled. Most of the North Baltimore swimmers seem to come down from these camps and swim lights-out anyway.
Take Schmitt this weekend, where despite doing doubles three days a week, she broke a U.S. Open Record (and nearly an American Record) in the 200 free. She doesn't have to be any faster than she was on Friday and Saturday to make the team in Omaha.
It's a potentially culture-shifting strategy for this diverse group of American stars, and from a swim coach perspective should be one of the most interesting storylines to watch play out in the next month.