Home

Contact

English

Slovak

13.3.2005 - Back in Slovakia for a break from swimming. I have been home from February 18 and have  really enjoyed my time off. I went skiing and stayed home with my dog Nellie. It's been a real fun time. This year's winter has been long and very cold. It's mid March and we still have snow. I am getting my energy level back. The Olympic season has been long and exhausting  and since I had not taken any break after the Games  I decided to rest now.

16.9.2004 - I am back in Dallas but not for long. Tomorrow I am flying to Lancaster, PA for a TYR swim clinic for a couple of days. When I get back I am going to write about my Olympic experience.

11.7.2004 - I have to apologize to you for not writing for a while. Now, there are only weeks (32 days to be exact) left until the Olympic Games in Athens. I am already getting excited. Yesterday, my husband Martin organized the best Olympic send off party ever. We had lots of food (Mexican Restaurant "On the Border" catered their wonderful Fajitas, chips, salsa and much more for FREE!) Well, my husband made that happened. I hope that all our guests, mostly neighbors and a few swimming friends enjoyed it as much as I did. Other SMU Olympian came as well; Alenka Kejzar (from Slovenia) and Georgina Lee (from England), my SMU teammates, came as well. We all will be heading to Athens along with our coach Steve Collins in the next few weeks. Oh, I guess I should mention that Steve let us use his back yard for the party since we only have a tinny apartment and squeezing 30+ people would be virtually impossible. Martin also surprised me with a huge cake beautifully decorated with Olympic rings in the middle and juicy strawberries around the edges.

I have been following the US Olympic Trials and other qualification meets around the world. I have been already qualified. I have made my time cuts earlier this year - at the US. Nationals in February so I could focus on training in the past few months. Next week I am leaving for Europe. I will spend the last three weeks in Koper, Slovenia before I head to Athens.  I will try to write more when I come back from the Games. I am determined to have the time and fun of my life. My husband and parents will be there to support me and cheer.

5.3.2003 Spring Training in Dallas, TX - After my exhausting winter season (The European SC Champs and World Cup meets) I devoted my efforts to spring training. After my last World Cup meet in Berlin I went home to Piešťany, Slovakia. I had gotten sick during the European rounds of the World Cup circuit so I needed to get well. I decided to take a break for a week. I felt drained and exhausted. 

I stared my spring training  with a 10-day altitude training camp in Strbske Pleso, Slovakia. I was swimming only once a day about 6.5km, mostly long aerobic sets, and in the afternoons I did cross-country  skiing. I ran about 20k during the session. I also did weights - lifting three days and resting one.

I returned to Dallas on February 16 and joined the SMU's women's team. During a few workouts I kept company to our best distance swimmer Flavia Rigamontti. The rest of the girls were tapering and getting ready for the Conference and NCAA Championships and I needed to keep my yardage up.

After six weeks of good training I flew home to Slovakia for a small meet in a city of Trnava. I was happy with my performances. I did quite well  in spite of being in the middle of hard training. I was home for 10 days and returned back to Dallas. Since my return on March 23 I  have gotten another six weeks of good training under my belt. There is still a few (5) weeks of training awaiting for me but I have been already looking forward to competing at the Mare Nostrum Circuit which starts on June 7-8  in Rome, Italy.

11.25.2002- World Cup in Long Island, NY - Long Island's World Cup was my first meet of this season.  I was looking forward to competing after  nearly 4 months without a competition.  I did OK.  I was not very pleased with my times nor places (except the 1st place in the 200m Free) but I cannot say that I performed poorly because I did not.  I  swam  little slower  than I did last year at this meet but this year's competition was more  ready than I was and that made the difference in my final rankings. In the beginning I  really struggled with focusing on my races. It took me nearly the entire meet to set  my mind in a racing mood.  During my first day I did not feel nervous or mentally ready.  I was busy with three events with a short recovery time in between.  In my mind I felt like I was at workout rather than at a swim meet. However, during  the second day my competitive drive and desire was much higher.  I felt more focused and 'alive' despite of  swimming to  fourth place finishes.  Overall, it was a good experience for me and certainly a great motivation to improve on my times and places next time I will step on the blocks. I will race again in a few days in Shanghai.  I  am delighted  that I had the opportunity to race the best swimmers in the world. Oh, one more thing. I was bummed when Natalie Coughlin had broken my World record in the 100m Butterfly by 0.21 sec.  Now, her time is a great challenge for me. 

10.31.2002 Summer Vacation and  Training in Fall- Today, it’s my first entry to this new site.  I would like to keep you updated about my whereabouts and I thought a site in a form of a journal would do it.  My entries will be irregular because sometimes there is not much going on and sometimes I will be busy with traveling around the world.

After the European Championships in Berlin (July 27-August 4) I spent a great vacation in Slovakia .  My husband had come and joined me for a couple of weeks before he started his new job as a first-year associate at Vial, Hamilton, Koch & Knox, LLP law firm in Dallas, TX .  We did not have much time to relax since we had to attend many social functions (such as being the VIPs at several Golf tournaments) and interviews.  During these hectic two weeks we met many interesting people.  Just to name a few: the “Golden team” hockey players from this year's World Championships, the Slovak NHL hockey stars, and the Czech goalie Dominik Hasek.  We also had an opportunity to meet with the Slovak President, Mr. Rudolf Schuster as well as with the Prime minister of Slovakia , Mr. Dzurinda.  We also met our friend, a Slovak pop-singer, Palo Habera.  After my husband left for Dallas , the hectic pace finally slowed, but not for too long.  I still had very little time to spend with my family and friends.  I hoped to have more free time but my personal engagements took up most of my days and evenings.  Luckily, my mom was doing all ‘running around’ with me so we got to spend most of the time together.

In mid-August I started with spa treatment in my home-town's world famous spas.  I loved it.  I was pampered and completely spoiled with massages, warm baths and mud therapy during the following three weeks.  Needless to say, I did not swim or exercise at all.  I wanted to get away from swimming and take not only much needed physical rest but also a well-deserved mental break.  In course of  five weeks that  I was home I saw a regular swimming pool only twice and I swam in it only once a couple of hundred meters.

Official site of and designed by Martina Moravcova. Copyright © 2007 Martina Moravcova. All rights reserved.