Off to Train in Spain

I’m heading off for a little fun in the sun. I’ll be visiting my warm weather training venue in Spain, it’s a small town called Cuidad Quesada that sits about half way between Alicante and Murcia. It’s a nice little town that’s sprouted out into a large estate, but since the recession parts of it remain unfinished. This leaves me with smooth roads that few cars use. It’s a good resort, though not very authentically Spanish, just as well as my English is good but my Spanish isn’t. It’s ideal for me as there are lots of restaurants within walking distance plus numerous places of interest to visit in the car.

This time I’m actually just going for a holiday, with my lack of fitness, and the continuing knee problems, I’ve accepted this isn’t my year to shine. So for once I don’t have sessions lined up for my holiday. However, this is Roger Alsop holidaying, and, as Carole will contest, lazing by the pool has to be earned first. So I will be doing some training.

So how does my holiday training differ to my everyday training back in the UK. Firstly, I have to be less selfish, I don’t have holiday to waste, or rather I don’t have Carole’s holiday to waste, so I’m out running straight out of bed.

Secondly, I don’t have weights or kettlebells in Spain, but I do take a resistance band and there are numerous body weight exercises I could do, but I don’t stick to a rigid plan, afterall your body needs a holiday too sometimes.

Thirdly, I have the use of two outdoor swimming pools, though to be honest, I leave the swim training to the younger generation of Alsops, who swim competitively. I prefer to play in the pool, before partaking of a little shade bathing.

So with me off to Spain I’m cramming as many clients into the days I have available. Two days after we return from Spain we’re heading up to Scotland to visit some relies and enjoy some Lorne sausage. The week after that we should be completing our purchase of a house in Northwich, with it’s own (or rather my own) gym, can’t wait. So there may not be a blog next week.

Talking of Scotland, Carole’s a big Motherwell fan and she was chuffed to bits (or some Scottish variation of the term) to see they have reached the final of the Scottish Cup, for the first time in 20 years. She was there 20 years ago, which begs the question……alas I believe the final falls on the same weekend as the BMAF Road Relays and I know where my loyalties lie, and now she’s an honorary Englishwoman, whether she likes it or not, so does she.

The London Marathon

I couldn’t finish without following up on last week’s blog. Today’s race was fantastic to watch, though, as I understand, it was tough to run. Many of the athletes I know struggled to achieve their target times. Lee Riley, who, you’ll recall, I’ve been helping in his quest to break the world record for running a marathon carrying a 40lb pack, told me it was the hardest thing he’s ever done. He was down on his target time by 31 minutes but then he set a tough target. When we originally started his goal was sub 4 hours, but he’s been training so well he revised it to 3:30. Well he ran 4:01.17 and is now the official world record holder. Hard work does yield results. 

Lately I’ve been doing some training with Vale Royal AC, I was introduced to the club by Colin Rathbone, who, those from my own era of racing will know, is the father of Dan, who was a very good athlete for Brighton. Colin ran 3:12 to finish first over 65, fantastic running.