The Spanish record holder of 100, 200 and 400 has radically changed his working method, modifying training, nutrition and rest with his sights set on the 200 meters of the Tokyo Games. Bruno Hortelano (29 years old) reveals with AS how he is doing, confinement, his new way of facing life … and the stones in his backpack.
-How are you with your injuries?
-I started 2020 with a herniated disc and in February I had a hamstring injury. And in March, the confinement. In summer I went back to racing despite the disc injury that, although it was treated and I had an epidural to remove inflammation, reappeared. I did a good race in 150, two hundred in Italy and then I was going to do a 200 in the Diamond League in Stockholm and there I got injured. I saw it almost as necessary. It’s weird to use that word, but it was the way to really evaluate how I could improve because the problem was not that I was fast enough, because the day I can run without injury I know that I will show what I have inside, but that I had to avoid injuries.
Bruno Hortelano in Barcelona.
Alejandro García (EFE)
-The confinement helped you in your perspective of change, but … how did you face it?
-I started with great uncertainty because I saw that the JJ OO were approaching, I still had to qualify, I had to compete and there was no option. I had a week of internal turmoil until I started to let go and this little gesture ended up being quite powerful as I learned what acceptance was, in general and within the sport. I accepted that the Games were not going to be held and that my preparation would change radically. I am an athlete 24 hours a day and that means that I have to control everything that happens to me, but that entails a certain rigidity that has affected me. Confinement has given me more fluidity, also in my anxieties. I scratched inside myself, and began to face and accept parts of myself that had scared me until then.
– Convey that all this has been a positive evolution for you.
-I feel that I have done and I have had a great growth, something unexpected. I’m still an athlete and I have the same goals, but my way of approaching them has changed. Jesús Álvarez-Herms, physiologist and trainer, appeared and in October we started working. It is he who is preparing me for Tokyo trying to eliminate aspects that are not good. For example I have changed my diet to natural foods and in line with what my body needs. We have done a microbiome study which is looking at the bacteria in the stomach that help digest certain foods. We are looking at how to recover my body more than trying to go to more, the goal is to avoid injuries and change my body. From a reactive state in which significant stress, such as competition, causes you to react negatively to dealing with those stimuli within the comfort range. It is very different from how I worked before as I am also with a biochemical geneticist for nutrition and a chiropractor who helps me with mechanics and possible discomfort. This fall has been the first in which I have not had any in the body. I am very happy and fully confident in this path, I think it will bear fruit. We are qualifying small details to get that 1% that will make the difference between doing it well or excellent. No longer to win or lose, but for my life and because I want to give my best.
Bruno Hortelanoen Getafe 2018.
Carlos Rosillo
-Is the change already bearing fruit?
-Undoubtedly because I have no discomfort and I am recovering much better. Rest is different. We also did a study of circadian rhythm, which are the activations and deactivations of the body during the 24 hours of the day. You have two or three peaks and I am training in the hours when my body is most activated. I have synchronized my activation moments with the natural rhythms of my body. Hydration has varied and I have improved the function of my liver, kidney … These are aspects that until now I had not even looked at, I was with my perception listening to my body but everything cannot be intuited. I can do a workout in which I kill myself on the track and perhaps I have pushed my body to exceed its limit and the recovery will not be good. Now we are playing with those limits, without going further. The first thing that happened to my body is that I lost three kilos in a month of fluid retention. Now I am much more lubricated and prepared to face daily workouts.
-In 2021 the reference is the Tokyo Games. What’s the plan?
-Now I am in a specific phase of training for the 200 meters and I will start competing, if all goes well, maybe at the end of March although I still have no confirmed race. Then I will continue training after analyzing those first races. I don’t have everything as planned as in the past and maybe if there is one word that sums up my mentality now it is flow. Maybe in April I will compete something else or dedicate myself to training. It would be good to compete more in May and June and then in July have an Olympic minimum and qualify for the Games.
-Can Tokyo close the circle after the traffic accident after Rio?
-I thought it was going to be like that and I had romanticized it looking for Tokyo to close that door, which I do not rule out, but I no longer seek to finalize such a personal stage. What happens if I don’t qualify? That I would never close because I will not have gone to Tokyo. It can’t be like that, that’s why the inner work I’ve done. I have largely left the accident behind. I feel different, I trust myself in a different way. Not only in my abilities as an athlete, but I also feel that the values I had have solidified and I can move forward with total honesty and express myself in all my identities. And the future that comes is clean, without baggage or burdens. The accident was very hard but it has also brought me a lot of good in terms of being able to face my great weaknesses of character and personality, but then there is also a point that is a drag. For this reason, taking advantage of the fact that I had time, stillness and silence, I have dedicated myself to removing stones from my backpack. When you do you are lighter and I seek to fly. I have received help from special people who have appeared in my path and it is as if they will help you mark the next step. It is not easy to explain. The great psychological work has been my personal work with myself, but I have had guides.
-I see him very sure of himself and very strong mentally. In 2021, will we see the best Gardener?
– Without a doubt, I feel stronger than ever. And not necessarily from a physical point of view. I don’t know what my performance will be on the track, but that no longer worries me. I have spent, although it is curious to say it like this, one of the best years of my life on a personal level, I have grown a lot and now I want to move forward naturally and sincerely, openly seeking authenticity, taking out what I carry inside. For a scientist it is doing science and for an artist it is producing his art, and I feel a bit mixed because I am looking at my work from a scientific point of view but at the same time for me a good career is a work of art. You ask me if my best version is going to be seen and I say yes, but not talking about performance, although I also think that everything will go together because mind and body work better in peace. I trust that I will bring out the best in me in every way.
-Is there a specific goal set for Tokyo?
-The goal is here and now, on a day-to-day basis, and is to give my best. I trust the plan created, but outside I am simplifying my life as much as possible. Obviously I also take steps back, but the trend is always forward. So I am finding happiness in every moment and it is giving me enormous peace of mind. The metaphor of the backpack with stones is perfect. I have removed many of the past that I had dragged and by taking off these burdens I will be able to face my careers, which is what interests the athletic fan, fully.
-The new Hortelano includes the end of his contractual relationship with Nike. Will we see him with another brand?
-My contract ended and at the moment I am an independent athlete. To this day I have no plan to sign for another brand, I am focused on my work and letting what has to come come.