Falesia 5k 2015 and Warm Weather Training Camp

After 8 weeks without a drop of rain in the Algarve, it was inevitable that the morning of the annual Falesia 5k would see the heavens open with a vengeance. I awoke to the sound of rain hammering down on the patio and, having already run around 70 miles in the preceding 6 days in glorious sunshine, I could easily have turned over and given the race a miss. However, that is not a Harrier's attitude and so up I got and changed into wet weather gear; a rare occurrence on the Algarve. Despite the "waterproofs", I was soaked on the 100m jog to race registration in the Neptuno Bar. Worse was to come when my warm up jog of a lap of the course (2.75 laps = 5k) revealed the entire course to be a river, with rapids in some places! This is one of these courses with no flat parts, it is either climbing or descending and the rain was so heavy that it had no where to go except down the roads.

However, the gods were shining on the race organisers and 10 minutes before the start, the rain stopped, the rivers disappeared and we had perfect, cool, windless racing conditions. An international field of just over 100 assembled on the start line at the highest point of the course and without much further ado, the race was off. I accelerated fast to get clear of the masses and on to the back of the lead pack, which I promptly let go as they were all 20-30 years younger than me. The first km is downhill and fast and I felt comfortable despite the miles in the legs. It is amazing what the body can do if given adequate rest and nutrition between sessions, even if there are two sessions per day as we had been doing here right up until the day before the race. The first lap progressed well with me gradually overhauling a couple of the younger runners who had started too fast and could not handle the first steep climb to end the lap. Lap 2 did not go so well and by half way I was very much in "hinging oan" mode, although nobody was passing me thankfully. The crowds of supporters, including an injured Eddie, shouted their encouragement which helped me to maintain some sort of form as I started the final three quarter lap and was now lapping many of the backmarkers, giving me some targets to aim for. The final 600m is uphill and I was really struggling but still holding a reasonable pace. There was no hope of a sprint finish and as I approached the final 100m, one of the younger runners on the camp, who I had assumed was already up the road in front of me, breezed past. I was however just glad to cross the line and stop.

I finished in 18:05 in 12th position overall and first M50. I was also "chicked" to use the triathlon terminology (it may have a different meaning for those familiar with Club 18-30 holidays) as long term training camp training partner Jenny Spink finished almost a minute in front of me (good luck to Jenny and her sub 2:35 aspiration for the London Marathon next month).

I was delighted to be presented with first M50 prize by running legend, Bruce Tulloh, now 79 years old and still training most days (Bruce was 1963 European 5000m champion, author of many coaching books and coach to many British and Kenyan Olympians. He also set the record for running from LA to New York, a distance of almost 4000 miles, averaging over 360 miles per week! That is speed and endurance).

As mentioned above, Eddie had picked up an injury in the previous evening's beach fartlek session and was having an enforced rest day. However, he only lost one day of training and the training camp physio now has him back in twice a day training action; he is not getting out of it that easily!

There has been a strong focus on nutrition and hydration on this year's training camp and Eddie and I have been putting this into practice regularly as illustrated.

We are also aware that we received a lot of criticism last year for our beach volleyball exploits with bikini clad team mates, You can rest assured that we have refrained from any such activities this year and have, as previously mentioned, been focussing on training, nutrition and hydration. The image below confirms this. Not sure what is going on to the left of camera but it could be a beach volleyball match in which neither Eddie nor I were involved!

Various hydration strategies in practice.

I leave you with an image of how most of our training runs start out here - absolutely fantastic cliff-top trails!
Alan