Still Running (weakly). Issue 142

PAST – inspiration – In February/March 1985, I spent two weeks in Tenerife with my great friend and training companion, Rod Lock.

Wednesday        (am) Jog, fly to Tenerife                (pm) 5R (5 mile run), swim 

Thursday             (am) 11R, swim                              (pm) 12R inc. 6x400 average 69

Friday                  (am) 10R, swim                              (pm) 10R inc. 3R in 16:29 

Saturday             (am) 15R                                         (pm) 5R 

Sunday                (am) 5R, swim                                (pm) 10R inc. hills 

Monday              (am) 9R                                         (pm) 9R inc. 200, 400, 600, 800, 600, 400, 200 

Tuesday              (am) 3R                                            (pm) 2R, weights, 2R.

Wednesday        (am) 15R                                  (m) 8R, swim                    (pm) 7R inc. 2R in 11:17.

Thursday             (am) 4R                                            (pm) 16R in the hills 

Friday                  (am) 4R                                           (pm) 9R inc. 10x400 average 72 

Saturday             (am) 5R                                            (pm) 7R 

Sunday                (am) 11km XC race in 39:42         (pm) 7R

Monday              (am) 23R in the mountains          (pm) Volleyball, 2R

Tuesday              (am) 5R                                            (pm) 1600 (5:13) 800 (2:23) 400 (65) 

Wednesday        (am) 4R, fly home                          (pm) 5R

Four days later, I took my half marathon personal best down from 1:20 to 1:14.  And two weeks later, reduced that again to 1:11.

PRESENT – perspiration – “I went over to Tenerife with Max Burgin.  My first time over there.  He’s been a lot of times, so he was showing me the ropes.  Got some really good sessions in.  I’m in really good nick for this time of year.  This time last year I was on crutches,” said Ben Pattison on being asked how he was in such good shape after he won the British Indoor 800 title in 1:46.74 at the weekend.

Pattison and Burgin are good friends, and well suited to train together, sporting 800 personal bests of 1:42.27 and 1:42.29 respectively!  One can only imagine the quality of the sessions they completed in the warmth of the Canary Islands.

In past years, swimmers like Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty have used the world class facilities on Tenerife to train for those games, and cyclists like Bradley Wiggins have ridden the slopes of Mount Teide in preparation for the lumpier stages of the Tour de France.

FUTURE – suggestion – I would like to make it clear that I am not sponsored by the Canaries Tourist Board, but Pattison’s comments at the weekend threw me back 40 years to my trips to the mountainous roads and welcoming track on Tenerife.

Our days there would consist of an early morning run, breakfast, the morning spent by the pool, lunch, an afternoon nap, then a more serious late afternoon session, usually followed by press-ups, sit-ups and stretching, before beers and dinner.

A running holiday along these lines can lift your running to a whole new level, providing the break from normal responsibilities, the environment, the recovery time and the focus to allow you to put in run after run, session after session.

Of course, I couldn’t have run about 250 miles in two weeks out there – including quality sessions at least every other day – if I had not built up both my mileage and my speedwork gradually in the previous four months.

That is why February/March is the ideal time for this sort of excursion.  The serious running season finishes around August/September (unless you have an autumn marathon); you then have an easy month to recover and recharge; and then you build up from November through to February in preparation for the vital quality work in spring.

Many companies offer organised spring training breaks to warmer climes than ours.  Apart from the weather, the facilities and the camaraderie, these will usually offer lectures, coaching, and organised runs or sessions.  Mike Gratton’s 209 Events’ weeks in the Algarve are the obvious examples.  Again, I am not on commission, but he did write the Foreword to my book!  Nice man!

You will find, as I did, that the quality of what you can do is a notch higher than you expect.  A combination of warmer weather, the best facilities, possibly training with faster runners, but most of all an undiluted focus on your running, will raise your game without you realising it.

And you can start pretty much as soon as you land.  And I don’t think you really have to bother with Brigitte Bardot’s advice to competitors travelling out to Mexico City for the 1968 Olympic Games: “Get there early.  Rest a few days.  Train carefully and cut down on your romance until used to the altitude.”