Those who know me well will know that I’ve enjoyed competing
in the World and European Masters Champs, since I turned 41. I can’t say that I’ve
been overly successful, though I’m proud of the two bronze medals I’ve achieved,
both of which I felt were good performances. However competing abroad can be
costly; both financially and in terms of time that could otherwise be spent
with loved ones. Two years ago I was due to compete in Poland, though the
European championships were split between Germany, Poland and the Czech
Republic, however, as with all the outdoor t&f championships I’ve competed
in, with the exception of Ljubljana, the distance runners compete some distance
away from the main event. On that occasion I was injured just before the championship
and was unable to take part in one of my events and could only run the other
one at 70% effort, it was a costly way to run below par, so since then I’ve
kept my money in my pocket, my form hasn’t justified my attendance, much as I’ve
had the desire to go.
This year the European Championships were held in Turkey, a
country I’ve been to many times and used as a hot weather training base before
I competed in Hungary, four years ago. But I didn’t enter, I’m not running well
enough this year and I’m not one to make up numbers, I want to be competing for
the medals, and I genuinely believe that if I can get some solid training
behind me I could do that again, in the future.
However, August being the height of holiday season meant
many of my clients have been away enjoying themselves, giving me some free
time. A perfect time to take Carole away on holiday. Of course, as you can
imagine, she might but I don’t, I use it as an opportunity to be more focused
in my training. So two weeks ago we hopped onto a flight to Spain, the scene of
much of my warmer weather training. The place we go to, the Costa Colida, has
some great beaches, but more importantly, for me, the venue I stay at suits my
training – large open road areas and one or two steep hills.
After training it's nice to walk up a long steep hill to find the castle is closed. |
I’ve never had a problem with heat, I’ve competed in high
temperatures and high humidity and enjoy the challenge. The only time I
encountered difficulty was after the European Masters 10000m in Hungary, I was
fine during the race, though a little unsure of how many laps I’d done which
accounts for the 10400m I ran that day, but after I’d sat down I was unable to
get up again for about 20 minutes and it was a good few minutes before I could
actually swallow any water. Generally I just need a day or so to acclimatise and
I’m able to train hard, once I went to Spain and the first days training
consisted of 10 x 30 sec reps, because that was all I could manage, yet two
days later I was back to normal training.
On this occasion it was hot but didn’t feel too hot so I had
set myself tougher than usual targets, in my long term plan to get myself fit
in time for turning 50. Having got up at 3am on the Saturday to travel and
enjoying some of the local produce that evening, it was understandable that we
overslept on the Sunday, but I was up and out running within 30 minutes. It was
hot but not too bad so I decided to get straight into my hard reps, 1, 2 and 3
minute reps totalling up to 24 minutes of hard running in a 46 minute session.
I felt good as I set off on my first 1 minute effort, the 2 minutes was a
little tougher but the 3 minutes got a little extreme towards the end, still
one set down and I had two more reps to do before facing that 3 minute one
again. By the time I’d done 3 sets I was knackered, but I didn’t want to cut my
session short, I was sure I could manage the fourth set, I did but that last 3
minute effort was so hard and when I stopped there was this huge surge of heat
that passed through my body. I felt exhausted and shuffled the 8 minutes back
to base, I must’ve looked like an old man I was going so slow. Once back home I
drank a homemade isotonic pint and I was fine again. For the rest of the stay I
was able to get up an hour earlier and, although still hot, I never felt as
drained as that first session. I sweated a lot, particularly on the long runs
around the golf course, which required a steady climb to the top of the village
with a steady climb down to the golf course with a steeper hill back to the top
of the village before a steady descent to base, but I drank a lot of fluids
during the day so I never felt dehydrated.
I'm a great fan of David Bedford's training method. |
My goal was achieved, I trained hard and even did some back
to back training, though I hadn’t planned it this time. I’m back home now and I
have to reacclimatise, my first session back, yesterday, wasn’t vintage Rog but
I’m hoping I can now start to show some decent form in races, only time will
tell.
Written by Roger Alsop
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