TRAINING CAMPS - REJUVENATE YOUR MIND AND BODY

Drills before the hill session

Well folks,
It has been an extraordinary week! For those of you who have been following on Facebook or Twitter, you may be aware that I have been long awaiting a trip to the French Alps with a company called Adventures in the Alps . The plan was to head to Geneva, get driven to a chalet in the Savoie region of France and run for the week, come home refreshed, and life would go on. However, this description does not in any way, reflect the experience I have had.

Firstly, let me say that I was excited at the prospect of training with Liz and Martin Yelling. Liz, a two time Olympian, has been representing Great Britain since she was 14 years of age and has a passion and enthusiasm for her sport that is both energising and infectious. Martin, her husband, is a two time winner of the Elite British Duathlon championships and completed the Hawaii Iron Man triathlon in 2008. With a BSc in Sports Science and a PhD in physical activity promotion, Martin makes coaching look easy while pushing you to your limits with constant encouragement.

Dinner with a view

I knew that we were going to be staying in a chalet on top of a mountain, I knew the views would be beautiful, I knew there was a pool......I did not know that our every single need would be catered for! Free access to tea/coffee making facilities, energy bars, bowls full of nuts and fruit, healthy, balanced meals served outdoors (with a drop of wine if you fancied it), magnificent views.....check out the picture to the right! And finally, training sessions in the morning and evening to cater for every ability, but challenging enough that everyone felt that they had worked harder than they had ever worked. For those of us who were not used to 'double daying'
our running, a session in the pool was an alternative to the 4 mile recovery run.
While lunch times were mostly spent in silence (until we got our sugar levels back up), dinner times were spent trying to swallow our food in between all the laughing. The group of runners was 12 strong, which meant that each of us got one to one time with Martin or Liz and the week felt like a bespoke training camp as opposed to being thrown into a bootcamp session with a pitch full of strangers. Despite huge differences in ability levels within the group (6 min/mile 10km racers AND 9 min/mile marathon runners), everybody got the most out of each session and nobody was left to bring up the rear on their own (I know, because I was there!)A yoga session with Steph, a massage with Charlotte and a strength and conditioning session with Pete McKnight rounded the week off nicely - these, added to the kayaking, water skiing, cliff diving, and post run dips in the lake, made the week the most active holiday I have ever been on.

I have made the most amazing friends this week. Before coming to the Alps, I would tell people I was going on a training week for a holiday and mostly, I was met with an incredulous, open mouthed stare! After this week, I feel more relaxed, energised and motivated than I have felt in a long....long.............long time, and that is all down to the positivity, encouragement and enthusiasm of the people around me. Pip Watkins and all her crew put an amazing spread together and allowed this week to happen. So thanks to everyone for a great holiday - I can't wait to come back in 2013! Now to book the ISI Algarve for the end of 2012 for a bit of strength and conditioning work :)