Tour Diaries with Christopher Pedra

Day 2

Another early start on a pretty miserable and cold English day, the change in time zones is certainly still a factor.

We had a good breakfast, and ended up chatting with Gopi (Head National Coach) and a senior badminton official afterwards about everything from fast cars, corruption, the history of the All England Championship (Gopi famously won here while still a player), to the state of cricket in South Africa – which incidentally is quite good!

The allocated on-court practice time for the Indian team was 12-1pm. So after breakfast we rested for a bit before getting to the gym for some activation and warm-up. These sessions are pretty routine (we don’t really want to change much in a tournament week), with a few added extras based on how Saina is feeling.

The arena is close by, but even a 5-10min walk can seem quite a bit further in ice cold rain. By the time we got to the courts I think the entire team had probably cooled down to the extent that they needed another thorough warm up. The session was always going to be a little lighter than normal practice, again, on a count of the proximity to the first match. The practice surface at the arena is also very hard (harder than the courts will be), so that is also a factor in going a little easier.

The practice session itself was good, with a lot of high intensity skill work. Saina informs me that Gopi has a way of always mixing it up just a little to keep it beneficial. All the Indian players are looking in good shape going into Wednesday.

Besides the Indian players, it was nice to see some of the other players (Thailand, China and Malaysia were practicing at the same time). Watching a legend like Lee Chong Wei who is still impressive at the age of 35 was awesome. Chen Long is also obviously very impressive. It was good to get to chat to a few of the other physio’s as well, understanding what colleagues are going though, hearing about different approaches and communication surrounding Sports Medicine in general is a key in the progression we are making as a profession.

Post-session recovery included some stretching, active recovery in the cold, and a great high protein meal. The afternoon nap couldn’t have come at a better time!

The rest of the day was very relaxed, we’re in real preparation mode now – resting, napping, a decent dinner and some some tissue before bed for Saina will hopefully see her nice and fresh for tomorrow’s on court session. Tomorrow is going to be tricky to plan as we still don’t know what time Saina is playing on Wednesday (schedule only comes out on Tuesday). The Indian team has only been allocated on-court practice at 9.30pm – so we’re hoping for a later start on Wednesday!

On a personal note – I kept my run until the evening. Not sure it was the best idea though, as it was freezing and raining and the roads were slippery as anything, so it didn’t last very long…

Another early start tomorrow so I’m off to bed.

Day 1

It was an early start for all on account of the time difference (we are 5.5 hours ahead of India). I went for a run around the area we are staying in, to try and get a feel for the city. As it turns out, we are very close to the Birmingham Arena where the games will be taking place, literally a 5 minute walk.

The area is very built up, but not bad for a short jog or active recovery session, if the weather plays its part. Recovery will be really important this week, as it is during any tournament week, but we’ve had a few good strategies in place during the build up that should allow up to adapt nicely to a tournament week. Being able to recover as quickly as possible after an exhaustive session (professional women’s badminton matches last anywhere from 40-80 minutes) requires a bit of active intervention, and not just rest. So we’ll be using some hydrotherapy, active recovery, massage and one or two other little methods that have been working in training weeks. Nutrition and sleep are obviously very important too, and we’ve incorporated good strategies here too.

Saina was up early too, but managed to get a bit of an extra sleep in before breakfast. The breakfast at the hotel is great, so will be a good foundation for our nutrition for the week.

As it turned out the practice facility wasn’t open to players yesterday, so we concentrated on recovery from the travel day, and had a good time in the gym. Saina is a really great athlete, and is a pleasure to work with – regardless of whether she has done something before, or we need to change things up on account of the environment we’re in (the gym here is pretty basic), she is able to pick things up early and is always happy to push herself. This is a great quality to have when your performance and health are literally your business. So we had a good mobility and activation session, followed by a bit of a walk.

Dinner was a bit of a combination of a local Turkish restaurant and Sainsbury’s, but by the end we were happy we’d had a balanced meal. The weather also took a bit of a turn last night during dinner, so the walk home could be considered active recovery in the cold too!

A bit of soft tissue work before bed and a good sleep should see us ready for the first practice day at the facility – we’ve got an hour on court between 12-1pm. Nice timing as it allows us to get a good breakfast and warm up session in before.

Until tomorrow…

Day 0

We got in just after sunset yesterday, after a pretty quick taxi from the airport – huge bonus after an 8 hour flight! For all their faults, Air India actually has great legroom and comfortable seats. We’re staying at a familiar hotel that is decent, nice and close to the arena which is the most important factor.

Our first evening was obviously relaxed, focus from my side was just trying to get Saina ready for today as she’ll be on court for a few hours and also in the gym. So a bit of light exercise once we were settled, a good meal, and some soft tissue work to freshen her legs after the long flight. Sleep will be a bit of an issue this first few days, so we’ll also just have to try and ensure sleep hygiene is a focus. Sleep is such an important area that I think most athletes have only recently started to appreciate. Recovery from exercise, both mentally and physically, requires a good sleep schedule. It’s also pretty cold outside, so coming from India (Mumbai was 35 when I left), cardio and active recovery will probably be better appreciated if done inside this week.

A few of the players have been talking about the playing surface this week being notoriously hard, so recovery strategies will have to take that into account. Saina has been doing quite a bit of specific prep for the surface this week, aspects of training she ordinarily wouldn’t have thought about, but as this is her 10th All England, she’s got plenty of experience and was able to tweak a few things for this specific event.

Plan for today is a few hours on court and some light gym work – primarily mobility and activation after the flight. And possibly even some free time to explore a little – my first time in Birmingham.

Keep you posted.