Hannah is home – and she doesn’t need a tent!
Prior to the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, Scottish swimming star Hannah Miley was trying all sorts of new things to help her peak at the right time.
But ahead of the European Championships, starting in Glasgow this week, she has simply been going back to basics.
Before heading out to the Gold Coast in Australia back in April, Miley, 28, explored a number of different ways to gain an advantage over the competition.
She even went to the extreme lengths of being cooped up in a tent for 12 hours a day.
For a month, Hannah spent 50% of each day in an oxygen tent in her Aberdeen flat, which helped to simulate being at altitude.
She returned from the trip to the southern hemisphere with a silver medal in the 400m individual medley.
And, having been selected by Great Britain for Glasgow 2018, that is the first event in the pool on the opening day of the swimming meet at Tollcross on Friday.
However, this summer there have been no tents in sight, and Miley has focused more on the simple things as she aims to make a splash in this competition in which she will also compete in the 200m individual medley.
“I enjoyed trying different things, like the tent earlier this year,” she said.
“But after the Gold Coast, I just took a step back and thought: ‘ Let’s get back to basics’.
“With my coach, we set out our training plan right up to these European Championships, and really focused on getting the most out of every session.
“We were making sure we really kept a close eye on things like nutrition and recovery
“It has been a bit of a different build-up than before I went to Australia, and both have been beneficial.
“I am really feeling in a good place ahead of this meet.”
Miley and Duncan Scott are among the draw cards in the pool for Scottish fans during this event, and rather than seeing a home crowd as added pressure, Miley is determined to feed off the atmosphere.
“To be back at a home meet, competing for Great Britain this time, is just amazing,” she stated.
“It has been a brilliant summer of sport, and Scottish fans always love getting out there to live events. So I expect the atmosphere to be really good.
“For me as more of an experienced athlete, I will just take that all in because you never know if it will happen again.”
In previous years, Miley has been used to the swimming Euros to be a stand- alone event, but she is looking forward to the multi- sport element of the European Championships.
As well as swimming, cycling, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon in Glasgow, there is golf at Gleneagles, diving in Edinburgh and these are combined with athletics in Berlin.
Miley concluded: “In any sport, you can sometimes get into a bubble.
“So it is always a pleasure being part of a multi- sport event, especially in my own country.”
The European Championships take place from August 2-12.