Missy Franklin’s longtime coach with Colorado Stars, Todd Schmitz, will share insight from Team Missy during the Olympic Trials next week and at the Rio Olympics in collaboration with Denver Post Olympics writer John Meyer. This is his first installment.
Missy’s frame of mind is really good. We’ve been talking about milestones she has hit throughout this process of preparing for Rio over the past 13 months. Things like the training camp in Hawaii the week before Christmas when she was swimming 14,000 meters a day (8.7 miles) — she hadn’t done anything like that since before going to college — and in dryland training, putting up personal bests in weight movements. Itap my job to make sure she remembers those things now so she says, “Yeah, I did do all that, I’m ready for this.”
One day last week we rented out an Englewood water park called Pirates Cove for two hours and had a team party. There were more than 170 people there, including numerous parents of younger athletes on our team, and a bunch of them were amazed she was hanging out with the team, saying, “Is that Missy?”
The party was good for her stress level as trials approach. I guarantee in that two-hour period, there wasn’t one time when Missy was thinking about the Olympic Trials or the Olympics. We were splashing each other, and it was hilarious. She wasn’t thinking about the pressures that are going to arise in the coming weeks, but also she was remembering her love for the water. She had her Go Pro out, she was filming and giggling and laughing. Thatap invaluable.
When I’d asked the team if they were going to the party, a bunch of the older kids were like, “Ah, I don’t know,” but Missy was like, “Of course I am!” That shows Missy’s still a kid. She wants to have fun in the water, even though swimming is her job. She still enjoys it.
That party fit perfectly into her rest and taper phase in the final days before the Olympic Trials, which begin Sunday in Omaha, although Missy doesn’t compete until Monday. The rest of this week is about making sure she has everything in line so that when we leave for Omaha on Friday morning, everything is stress free and we can have a few days to decompress.
