Interview with Tamara Gómez: "I'm working well and recovery is on track"

The Elche triathlete has spent all this 2016 in white because of a serious injury in a vertebra, but little by little is returning to training and hopefully see him soon competing.

 

 

 

Tamara Gómez She has been practically injured for one year and we wanted to know firsthand how her recovery is going and how she is going back to training.

 

Good morning Tamara. This is a long and hard year for the vertebra injury, but we see that little by little they are improving. How and where have you spent the last months?

As you say it has been a difficult year, but I took it in the best possible way, I tried to turn around everything that was happening, learn and enjoy other things, and I think that I have rarely been more motivated than now.

When I fractured the vertebra, at the end of February, I was in South Africa in a concentration with my training group. After that I traveled to Australia because part of my group and my partner moved there to compete in the Oceania World Series and World Cups.

After talking with the doctor who treated me in South Africa and with my coach and colleagues, I decided to travel to Australia because the only thing I could do to recover was rest, so I thought Australia was not a bad place to rest and clear my mind, apart to be with Chente that the Olympic classification was played. Then I returned home, and since May I have been here in Elche, recovering and enjoying my family and friends forever.

You have been swimming for several weeks. How are these trainings being?

I started to swim very little by little in September, after 6 for a month and a half without being able to do absolutely any sport, walking just right, and taking great care in everything I did. A month and a half ago I started working with a rehabilitator here in Elche, who is helping me to strengthen the whole body again, emphasizing the core to protect my back a lot.

The process is slow but we are increasing the volume of swimming and the intensity of the exercises little by little.

Right now I'm in no hurry, the important thing is to recover that vertebra to the maximum so that I do not get into trouble later on.

A few days ago you started walking and taking small walks. Surely it will be too early to draw any conclusion, but what have been your feelings? Have you had any discomfort?

The conclusion I draw is that I am working well, guided by this rehabilitator and talking to my coach, I feel better every week.

As I said, the process is slow, and I can not trust myself if one day I have better feelings, we have to be careful to ensure a good base and recovery. We are putting sessions of treadmill, with slope and walking fast, and at the end of the sessions I have already run about 10 minutes, the next step will be to go out jogging. Every day I can increase the time, pace and slope, which is a good sign. And besides swimming, I'm also getting short sessions of static bike (in which the position is not as aggressive).

I have had discomforts, and I still have them. The traumatologists who have been following me (in a clinic in Barcelona and the hospital in Elche) warned me that this would be the case, but it will be the hangover from the injury. The good part is that every time the discomfort goes down and they let me do more things, so I hope to get rid of them very soon.

And the bike? When do you plan to pick it up again?

The road bike may be what I take later, because the posture is more aggressive for the back. At the moment as I said I am already doing static bike, and when I go out to train on a bike I will surely start with the mountain bike, for easy places, to start taking sensations and to adapt again to the position of the road bike little by little .

Looking forward to the next months, where do you plan to continue with your rehabilitation?

For the moment I will be at home. Here in Elche I am training well and I am having a follow-up. When I am better, I will join the group of Carlos Prieto, who will continue to be my coach and to whom I am very grateful (both he and Javi Gómez) for what they have helped me and for trusting me. I can not say exactly when this will be, because I go from week to week, but I am convinced that it will not be long.

There are many months without being able to compete or train and in a year like this the support of the sponsors is thanked more than ever. Who are you during this season supporting you?

This year has undoubtedly been the worst year in which I could injure, being an Olympic year. Last season my biggest support was Pódium (Telefónica's scholarship program) and also had New Balance and Gold Nutrition. I am very grateful.

It is true that unfortunately I have disappeared many months, and triathlon is really a business, in which companies that seek the greatest benefit work, so despite being third in the Olympic classification in Spain when I fractured the vertebra, these months of injury have made a dent. I hope to give good news soon.

Thank you very much for the interview, hopefully the rehabilitation continues so well and see you soon to the fullest.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to putting on a bib!

 

Photo: ITU