Jose Diaz wrote an interesting article in Spanish about Elena Martinez. His questions and her answers include:

Nadandolibre: Your specialty is the 25K in the open water. For this type of competition, what factors are important?

Elena: Without any doubt, for me the most important factor to swim 25K is what we call the coconut.

That is, the mind; psychological, who will not get slower in the 5 or 6 hours, but who have the will to win. In such a long swim, you must know how to suffer. The psychological factors are very important, to know where to be positioned, when and how to be fed, how to swim efficiently during the race to be ready for the final stretch where there is a change of pace. Access to success is through the mind.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones