Here is Part one of the Portugal Diary. I make no apologies for the lack of brevity, you should know me by now.
Writing
this at 22.20, sat on my hotel bed as everyone seems to be having any early
night tonight. Well, I’ve made it! After months of looking forward to it, I’m
finally at the Portugal Training Camp.
Flight
over with Ryanair was typically horrific, sat next to the Family Shameless. The
guy next to me had a tight grip on his lighter pretty much the whole journey. It
was slightly unnerving. Almost as much as the fact that he and the woman next
to him didn’t seem to be able to open a packet of crisps normally. They
insisted on exploding the bags open, how delightful on a plane! Then he
proceeded to tip the crisps over his tray and throw the packet on the floor
along with the sweepings from the crisps when he had finished. I knew there was
a reason I liked BA. Urrrghhh.
Anyways,
we arrived and it was delightfully hot, I met up with Steve, my room-mate for
the week, at the airport and we travelled to the hotel. There wasn’t much time
to settle in as pretty much a soon as we’d unpacked it was time to change into
running gear and meet up for the first run. We met Nick and Phoebe in the lift
going down to the lobby. We were introduced and went to meet the other guys. I
was presented with 12 very athletic looking runners *internal gulp* and off we
went. The run was relaxed and through the orange groves. Banter was muted but
I’m sure will grow as the week goes on. There was a little stream crossing to
negotiate *flashbacks* but it was very enjoyable. The heat, a little punishing
but I’m sure we’ll get use to it.
The
second half of the run was around the XC circuit next door to the hotel. They
hold the Euro XC championships there every couple of years. We did a lap of the
2km course and then Nick said “We’re going back now to get ready for the
stretching session, but you guys can do another lap if you want. Purely
voluntary!” You know what that means. Of course I did as did most others. As we
cam round to finish, there was some murmurings of another lap but we had to get
back for stretching. At this point I was thinking “This is relentless!”, but
the stretching session was great. You try and do the best you can when
stretching at home, but the stretches shown to us by Nick and Phoebe were
amazing “Yep, there it is” I thought on more than one occasion. There was talk
of future flexibility targets
You
know how I like a target. Bring it on.
Quick
shower, supplies run to the local supermarket and then out for dinner at a
local restaurant. It’s a really nice group, and everyone’s got their own
targets. Nick and Phoebe are lovely as expected, but make no mistakes. They’ll
crack the whip when the time comes.
The
long run tomorrow is a 7.30am, which is why, I think, everyone didn’t have more
than one beer. We’ve traipsed back to our rooms, getting drinks gels and kit
ready for the morning.
Can’t
wait.
Day
2
It
was still dark when the alarm went off. I shuddered and thought about turning
over and going back to sleep. It had been a fitful night of sleep at best, with
strange jumbled-up dreams. No change there then. I wolfed down my muesli and
get my long run kit on. Thought I’d fly the PLS flag this morning and wear my
club vest. It was light by the time we set out at just after 7.30am. Nick had
asked everyone what sort of length run they were going to do, people were choosing
either 90 mins or 2 hours, depending on the race they were training for. My
long runs in the UK
have been 2 hours long so I said that.
We
set off and the pace was relaxed and the chatter good. The group spread out a
bit with the different paces of everyone, but a quick loop back soon brought
everyone back together. The Sun was up and definitely getting hotter. We’d left
our gels and drinks by the podiums at the XC circuit. The plan was to do an
hour loop and then people split of as they wanted to make up the rest of the
time for the run. The were options of running round the XC track or the Orange
Groves Loop. We can back in almost dead on a hour, although about half a mile
back I’d noticed the pace had suddenly picked up a bit. I looked at my Garmin
and we were doing 7:15s. That’s a bit quick for me and I dropped off the lead
pack. I think after about 45-50 minutes the heat started getting to me a bit,
although I new a drink and gel wasn’t far off. After refuelling, I decided to
repeat the loop we’d done last night round the orange grove. I think it’s about
1.5 miles. A guy called Simon was with me and Nick popped up every so often to
give advice and encouragement.
“I’ve
noticed you do sweat a lot don’t you.” he said. I gave him a look.
“Charming!”
“No
it’s a good thing; it shows your body is efficient at cooling itself. Do you
get white patches on your clothes?”
“Not
really” I replied.
“Good,
you’re not losing electrolytes. Make sure you really hydrate well this week.”
And
off he went. I felt guilty for a second, hydration is something I’m really
rubbish at. I very rarely take drinks on long runs. Maybe that’s something I
need to start. I know it’s hot out here, but I’m sure it’s a lesson that
applies equally at home.
After
a loop of the orange grove, I agreed with Nick to go back to the XC course
where the drinks were and refuel whilst doing laps of that. When I got back
there, suitably watered, I start the XC loop but was struggling badly. At this
point I made the decision that that was enough. I’d done 90 mins. I know what
I’m like and didn’t want to go careering on and wipe myself out for the rest of
the week. So I called it a day on that run. Nick thought it was a good
decision.
We
headed back to the hotel and rested our legs in the pool. Bliss. I want one
installed.
Now
onto the beach. There’s talk of a volleyball competition. Top Gun Quotes at the
ready :-D
“I
feel the need…the need for speed”
Day
3
Last
night we had group drinks and a meal. The wine and conversation flowed freely
and it was good to find out a bit more the rest of the group. This morning we
went out for an ‘easy’ run. It was going to be easy until we spotted a group of
runners about 250m ahead of us. Someone said “are we going to overtake them?”
We laughed and nothing further was said, but slowly and surely the pace crept
up and up. I looked down at my Garmin and 7:30 average stared back at me,
tutting. I blame Carl :D The silence continued but on we ran, the group was
passed with friendly “good mornings all round”. At the turning point, Nick said
we could head back to the hotel via the beach or the cliffs. We chose the beach
and it was absolutely glorious with the lovely breeze. One for the video
montage. It was only after the run that anyone admitted “that was a bit quick
wasn’t it?” Straight back to cool the legs off.
Later
in the morning we had a strength and conditioning session with Phoebe. It’s
something a lot of runners (me included) tend to ignore. Having someone show
and tell you exactly why you should be doing it was a big wakeup call. Stretched
and core work are the future and there really isn’t any excuse why we can’t
bang out 15 minutes.
I
sat down and chatted with Nick about how it’s all going and future targets. It
was nice to be able to thank him in person for all the support over the last
six months. We talked about many things, and it was nice of him to say that I’d
been working hard. I know, I’m a compliment whore, but it is nice to get
recognition from someone you respect.
Surprisingly
to me, he was interested in my life outside running – like how it affects/is
affected by work or how Steve feels about it all. I didn’t really see that
coming, but actually, it makes sense. The quality of your running will always
be affected by what’s going on around you. It made me realise that I do
everything I can to not let it, to the point of bloody-mindedness. I should
think it might make a few subtle changes to the way I approach running over the
coming months. I have now got my targets for the coming winter and spring, so
it’s all good. We’ve got a training seminar on Wednesday so lots more good
advice will be shared I’m sure.
..
After
some sun-drenched pool lounging, it was time for technique and drills. ARRGHHH
I appear to have the coordination of a drunken spider. Something I’ve really
got to work on. They showed us how inefficient heel-striking is. I think I’m a
lot better than I was but that session showed me how far I had to go! The guys
went for another ‘easy’ run over the cliffs to end the day (read Alton Towers-style
roller coaster of peril, I can be such a fanny on hills, but I kept up with the
group) and back along the beach with a dip in the sea to cool off.
Can
all Mondays be like this in future?
Day
4
Woke
up quite heavy legged today and am about to head out for a hills/threshold
session. This should be interesting…
<Update>
Oh my word, that was among hardest ever workouts I’ve ever done. That was on
par with Colin’s Watt-based Erg Intervals (officially the most horrific session
I’ve ever had, pain wise). We headed down to the XC track and the sun already
seemed quite high. Nick told us that this was going to be a tough one with a
10min set of continuous hills, 3 min recovery and then 5 x 2 minutes at 5K pace
around the track. If that wasn’t enough there was going to be another 10
minutes of hills at the end. He was great in explaining that he knew we were
all starting to feel tired but the purpose of this session was to simulate the
last third of a race, when it does start to hurt and the hammer drops.
The
session went by in a painful blur. The heat on the open XC was punishing, the
recoveries seemed shorter and shorter, although in reality they weren’t. I
would have paid vast sums of money to not have done the second set of hill
reps, I honestly thought I had nothing left. Somehow we all managed to complete
the session. The work kept coming, yes at different levels for everyone, but we
all put our all into it. There was a
palpable sense of relief when it was over. It makes such a difference from
training solo and you push yourself in ways you didn’t know you could. Coming back
and looking at the Garmin data caused me to audibly gulp. All my 5K reps were
sub-6min/mile pace! You could actually knock me down with a feather right now.
One
of the best things though was that I was able to be mindful throughout the
whole session, thinking about Nick and Phoebe’s technique points and trying to
correct myself as I ran. I really want to get these ingrained as it makes
running so much more pleasurable. You feel tall and fast as opposed to grinding
through an interval with clenched teeth.
Then
it was straight back to the hotel and straight into the pool to cool the legs
down. Half expected a cartoon-style plume to steam to rise from the water as I
put my feet in. Thinking I’ll probably get a rub down in the next couple of
days as I’ve taken a bit of a pounding.
I
really do feel lucky to have the chance to run with some inspirational runners.
Everyone has a story to tell, and invariably we can all learn something from
each other. It’s brought home that I’m still very much at the start of the
journey. The quality of the running I’m seeing is sublime at times. It’s great
as it just makes you want to get better and better. I’m going to try and get
down to the Track Sessions if ever I’m in London.
I may be at the back, but I’ll give it everything I’ve got.
When
I first contacted Nick, I wanted to run a sub-3 marathon, but over the past
couple of months, I’ve began to realise that actually that’s a bit of a false
target. Suppose I do it, what than? It’s a number on a timing chip. Much better
for me would be to say, “I want to be the best runner I can be”, if that’s at 8
minute miles or 5 minute miles so what. By tying myself down to a figure set in
stone I’m just helping that monkey get on my back and setting myself up for
potential frustration.
Right,
time for a recovery run.
