Dirt
May/June 2008

ROAR: Zimbabwe's National Treasure

At the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, 24-year-old swimmer Kirsty Coventry took home Zimbabwe’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. In a country that has historically struggled with extreme racial tension, the white-skinned Kirsty, who ended up bringing home bronze and silver medals along with the gold, was greeted with wild cheers and praise from fellow Zimbabweans both black and white, and maternity wards across the country filled up with baby Kirstys. Four years later as the world looks to Beijing, Zimbabwe has all eyes and ears on its resident superstar. In February Kirsty broke the second oldest swimming world record in history with a 200-meter backstroke time of 2:06:39 and made the statement that she is ready to take on the 2008 Olympic Games.

After winning my medals in Athens, I went home for three days. They were the most intense and memorable days I’ve ever experienced. I was met at the airport by thousands of people—all singing and dancing and celebrating. It was amazing to see what effect it had on people. Everything was put aside—race, politics; all differences seemed to disappear. People were happy, and it was as if it gave them hope and ability to believe that dreams do come true. It shone a very bright, positive light on our nation.

My family and friends are very supportive and proud of what I’ve done, and they have been a huge part of everything that I have achieved. Without them I would not have been as successful. Some people will notice them now and say hi and tell them how excited they are about watching to see what happens in Beijing and let them know that they will be supporting me. I think that makes them feel very proud. Zimbabwe is still going through some rough times, but it’s such a beautiful country and the people are very strong and very hopeful that things will work out.

It was and still is kind of weird to hear that parents named their children after me, but it is such an honor. I am glad that they see me as an inspiration and a role model, and I try to make sure I make them proud. I think I’ve helped young athletes realize that hard work and believing in yourself and your dreams will pay off. It is still hard to get full support for athletes in Zimbabwe, but mainly because of the economy troubles we are facing, not because people aren’t willing to help.

I definitely feel more confident in myself going into Beijing, but I also know that it’s going to be one of the fastest meets, and everyone is going to be on top of their game. I’m very excited about competing at the highest level of our sport, against the most talented athletes. It’s going to be a lot of fun. There is always a bit of pressure, but it’s how you handle that pressure. I like to turn it into a positive thing, and I know people at home are full of support and want me to do my best. I do think there will be challenges that come with all my events, and it will come down to how I approach those challenges and decide to overcome them.

Health News

Injury keeping you down? What if your clothes could relieve pain and keep you active? A recent study on the material Celliant conducted by research scientists affiliated with the VA Long Beach Healthcare System and the UC Irvine Medical Center is claiming that it has that very capability. First discovered in Asia in the early 1990s by a team of alternative-medicine pioneers, Celliant has been subject to research and study over the past seven years. The most recent study proves that it clinically relieves pain, increases comfort, and aids in healing by heightening oxygen levels and helping regulate temperature. What does this mean for athletes? The oxygen-increasing abilities also work to help cut recovery time and ease sore muscles. Celliant is available in sports as well as sleep and lifestyle products. www.celliant.com

Sound Byte

How does downhill mountain-biking star Sabrina Jonnier stay fast and focused? With this play list:

• Queen, “Fat Bottomed Girls”
• Queen, “We Are the Champions”
• Queen, “We Will Rock You”
• Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Queen, “Bicycle Race”
• Muse, “Take a Bow”
• Muse, “Starlight”
• Cake, “Wheels”
• Cake, “The Guitar Man”
• Rose, “La Liste”
• Rose, “Ciao Bella”
• Renan Luce, “La Lettre”

Book Review

The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga: An Integrated Approach to Strength, Flexibility, and Focus by Sage Rountree (VeloPress; $22)

If you’re finding your muscles getting tighter as you gain strength, that can be good and bad. Overtight muscles can cause pain and injury during sports activities, which can keep you from playing. Yoga is the perfect counterbalance to regular active endeavors, whatever they may be. Whether you’re a yogini or you’ve never heard of a downward-facing dog, you’ll come away with something useful from The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga. With her clear explanations and large photos of each pose, author Sage Rountree shows how yoga is an essential tool for anyone who is active in sports. There are also sections on meditation as mental training as well as sport-specific yoga for your training regimens. A 15-minute DVD with warm-up and cool-down routines is included. —Susan Hayse

Action

Run the Planet

You’ve run to clear your mind and maybe lose a few pounds. Now you can run to save lives. The Blue Planet Run Foundation produced its first ever “run around the world” last year with the Blue Planet Run 2007 global relay, which raised money and awareness for safe drinking water. In 2008 it is taking things a little further and hosting the Blue Planet Run 24 in six different locations across the country. Runners participate in 24-hour relay races while raising money that goes directly to help those most in need. “We are creating epic adventures that showcase human endurance, commitment, passion, and stamina as the platform for our call to action,” says Mark Steele, creative director of the Blue Planet Run Foundation. It takes all these things to solve the water crisis the world faces. The money you raise for the cause along with your entry fee will go directly into funding a clean-water project. And thanks to Peer Water Exchange, a peer-to-peer program where non- government organizations can work together directly, no money is lost on administrative or bureaucratic expenses. In the Blue Planet Run 24, individuals will form relay teams and race for 24 hours. With the help of participants, spectators, and the media, the Blue Planet Run Foundation will work toward achieving its goal of providing 20 million people with safe drinking water for the rest of their lives by the year 2015. Sound ambitious? Only one way to find out: sign up and join the fight! www.blueplanetrun.org

Helfpul Tip #5

S'Mores Ideas

It’s hard to mess with perfection, but if you’re feeling bold and want to mix it up over the campfire, here are some creative ways to take your s’mores up a notch. * Stack up the graham crackers with the marsh- mallow and chocolate and then wrap it in foil. Set near hot coals for a few minutes turning once after a minute or so and—voila— instant s’more. * Smear peanut butter on the graham cracker—or use a peanut-butter cup instead of chocolate. * Use dark chocolate in place of that regular Hershey bar. You can’t go wrong with a caramel-filled candy bar or one with nuts. * Use chocolate-covered graham crackers and eliminate the chocolate bars. Or not.

Out There

Carbon-neutral Travel

Unless you’re traveling by foot or bike, any mode of transportation you take for your summer adventures is going to increase your carbon footprint. Anytime you fly or drive, you generate carbon dioxide, the emissions that are responsible for global warming. But you can help counterbalance that by investing in carbon offsets—funds that usually go toward projects like wind power and greenhouse-gas reduction. These sources will lead the way for you:

• www.terrapass.com calculates your carbon footprint based on how many miles you’re flying or on the make and model of your car and the miles you drive annually. You can then buy a pass that will offset your CO2 use accordingly. For instance the Intercontinental pass offsets 7,500 pounds of carbon dioxide or about 20,000 flight miles.
• www.drivinggreen.com does the same thing and also lets you calculate and offset an event you might be traveling to, such as a wedding or family reunion.
• www.flysilverjet.com represents an all-business-class British airline that gives you the option to offset your flight by including a carbon offset fee in the price of the ticket. Silver Jet allows customers to invest carbon points into various green projects around the world.

Sports Clinic

Dive Shop

One breath underwater and your world of adventure becomes almost limitless. Grant Graves was certified at the age of 12 and has since logged more than 5,400 dives for scientific research, movies, and TV as well as for the pure pleasure of exploration. As a Professional Association of Underwater Instructors course director in California, Grant is just the right person to give us key tips in getting involved in this magical sport.

How to Get Started
Test Run
If you aren’t sure whether an underwater adventure is right for you, Grant recommends doing a “discover scuba dive” or a “resorts course dive.” These are one-day excursions that you can sign up for at a local dive shop. You will get a brief introduction to the equipment and what to expect underwater. No previous experience is required; you’re usually only in 30 to 40 feet of water and are always accompanied by an instructor. If you’ve done a discover dive and are hooked—or you just know that you’re going to love it—the next step is signing up for a course.

Certification
Contrary to what you may think, traveling to a far-flung tropical reef to get certified in diving isn’t necessary. Whether you live in the mountains or by the sea, chances are there are dive shops near you. There are a number of certification organizations that are well known globally, and their websites will help you find reputable shops in your neighborhood:
• National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI):
www.naui.com
• Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI):
www.padi.com
• Scuba Diving International (SDI): www.tdisdi.com
• Scuba Schools International (SSI): www.ssiusa.com

In addition to finding dive shops that are credentialed, Grant can’t emphasize enough the value of getting to know
the staff: “Any upper-end instructor from any credible agency is going to make you a pretty good diver, but finding people you get along with is the single most important element in the process.” He adds, “The best way to do this is to go around to your local dive shops and see how you get along with the instructors. In a big, life-changing experience like this, it is so much about the connection you have with those people and having a kick-ass time.”

Three Components of Certification

The Classroom
You will have some homework to do. “You can expect to spend six to 10 hours of home study whether you do it online or with a book and video,” says Grant. “In this portion of the course, you will learn how the water affects you while diving, such as increasing and decreasing pressure, equalization of your ears, and the number one skill outside of the safety practices—buoyancy control.” This is using your breath along with your buoyancy compensator device to achieve what he likes to call “diver’s nirvana”: weightlessness in the water. Imagine a moonwalk but you’re in the water. “You will also be learning the practical differences with gear and how to put it all together,” says Grant. After you successfully pass the series of short multiple-choice quizzes, it is time to hit the pool to apply these practical skills.

The Pool
“Confined pool work is where you take your classroom exercises and apply them in the water,” says Grant. It is a safe and non-threatening way to learn what you will eventually be doing in the ocean or in open water. Expect to do at least four confined-water dives in this phase before moving on. “Most classes, if they are good, should be building in extra play time in the pool so you can experiment,” he says, adding, “The main objective is getting comfortable in the pool so when you get to the ocean the only new thing is the ocean or the lake.” The certification courses are structured in a performance-based learning philosophy that allows you to go at a pace that is right for you. When you have demonstrated that you can successfully and comfortably apply the skills in the pool, it is off to the open water.

The Great Wide Open
Head for the ocean or lake and apply what you’ve learned in the pool. “There are no new skills introduced in the open-water portion of the class,” says Grant. “Everything you learn in the pool is what you take to the open water.” Most agencies require four open dives to become certified. These are supervised dives with the instructor, where you are required to practice all the skills you learned in the confined-water dives. Once the instructor feels that you have met the requirements, you receive your certification.

Fitness
“You should be able to tread water or float for 10 minutes and swim for 200 yards,” says Grant. “I’ve had 80-year-olds and 10-year-olds get certified. As long as you have a basic level of fitness, you’ll be fine.”

The Next Level
Once you are certified, the undersea world is your oyster. Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is water, Grant points out, so “anywhere there is water, there is diving. And since most resorts happen to be around pretty cool beaches and reefs, almost any vacation can be a dive vacation.”

Certification allows you to rent a boat if you and your dive partner want to go it on your own. If you are traveling by yourself, you can hook up with a local dive boat tour and go with a group. “If you are going on a dive in a new location,” says Grant, “it is always worthwhile to do one with a dive master or instructor to get the lay of the land, so to speak, since each destination has its own unique set of elements.” Keep in mind that even though you have your certification, it is a good idea to take refresher courses periodically to keep your skills honed.

Cave Diving
Cave diving is when you leave the light zone of the surface of the water and you’re penetrating linearly longer than 130 feet into a cavern or cave area. “There is a lot of recreational cave diving, where people are diving existing caves that are well lined with guidelines,” explains Grant. This is a line that is strung through the cave to provide a continuous guide to the exit. “It is probably the most dangerous diving there is,” he adds. “You would want to have well over 100 to 200 dives along with additional specialty classes and training. Cave diving is considered technical diving and is well beyond recreational diving.” Top spots for cave-diving adventures are endless, but Grant recommends the Yucatan, Brazil, and Florida.

Wreck Diving
In addition to the natural wrecks that can often be found in 30 feet of water, there are a lot of artificial wrecks that are sunk specifically for divers and fishermen. “It is almost as safe as diving reefs if you are staying outside the wreck,” says Grant. “There are even wreckages in lakes.”

Gear Tip

Most of the major manufacturers of dive gear are making products just for women. “There is female-specific dive equipment available that is awesome,” says Grant, “including wetsuits, BCDs [buoyancy compensator devices], and weight belts.” Check out these sources of women’s-specific gear—and dive in! • ScubaPro: www.scubapro.com • Diving Unlimited International: www.dui-online.com
—Karina Evertsen