Club La Santa

I've just come back from the toughest week's training I've ever done, at the 2:09 Events marathon training week in Club La Santa on Lanzarote. It's been tiring, so tiring that I've just taken 2 rest days (!!), but it was very rewarding. Under the direction of coach Keith Anderson I did what seemed like 7 hard days in a row, but as each session was different I was able to withstand the workload and come out uninjured (if a little tired!).

At first sight Club La Santa seems like any other holiday resort hotel:

but other hotels don't have an athletics stadium, olympic size swimming pool, tennis courts, football pitches, squash courts, water sports lagoon, boxing ring, basketball court, sport hall, gym etc, etc, etc... There are organised sessions of yoga, pilates, aerobics, tai chi, runs, bike rides, etc, etc, every hour of the day. If you want sport and fitness you can grind yourself into the dust at this place (did I mention I was tired?)

The week was a marathon specific program under the guidance of Keith Anderson, fell runner, Commonwealth Games marathon runner, and coach. Keith did an excellent job, taking the twice daily running sessions and giving evening talks on training and nutrition. Keith was also available to discuss individual training plans and advise on how best to handle the week.

Keith taking a track session:


The week looked like this:

Fri am: offroad easy 5 miles
Fri pm: 8*400 off 30 secs at 10k pace - Keith asked for 1:42 and I nailed it - 1:42, 1:42 1:43, 1:43, 1:42, 1:44, 1:41, 1:40

Sat am: easy 3.5 miles on road
Sat pm: 10k race run as 2*15min off 2 min at threshold 149/150 bpm (6:45-7:15/mile depending on gradient). Overall 43:59 - 2nd woman. Nice session!

Sun am: 18 miles steady in 2:31 with some harder effort in last 5 miles - v hot and hilly!
Sun pm: Stretch and relax class with instructor Mette - the 'Goddess of Calm' - amazing woman

Mon am: 3.5 miles easy on road
Mon pm: short Kenyan Hills session - 10 minutes of effort, just 2 miles run

Tues am: Half Marathon race in 1:40 run as marathon effort, but actually 10bpm below mara HR due to hills/heat/fatigue. 3rd woman
Tues pm: 3.2 miles really easy (shag run?)

Wed am: 3.2 miles steady (7:56/mile 124 bpm)
Stretch and relax with Goddess of Calm
Wed pm: Kayak race - ouch my arms!. Also had a quick windsurf.

Keith and James winning the kayak race:


The kayaking was followed by an eye-balls out 8*200m 3 person paarlauf, run as a relay race. My team won the 'challenge' in 16:08 for 5000m (Paula R would have run 16:03 if running at her WR mara pace!!). Hardest speed session I've ever done!

The changeovers were done very seriously - would you expect anything less from me?:


It was nice to take the anchor leg:


We had 3 people in each team, so Keith sold this to us as a 12*133m session, each of us taking 1/3 lap. We started with each of us positioned at 3 points round the track. As soon as we started we realised the fundamental flaw, in that the 3rd runner was going to have to run 266m, the first runner now having vacated the start position. Some hasty repositioning of the marks followed, to make an 8*200m session. Strange how much further 200m seems when you've started out to run 133m! At least Keith was able to learn something along with the rest of us!

Thurs am: 7 miles off road ridge run - hilly! Felt like running through a desert over the back of the ridge - amazing landscape.
Fitball session (gym/swiss ball) very good core workout.

Friday: Rest (Did I mention I was tired?)

Despite the insane 200m sesh, Keith reckons I need to concentrate more on getting regular threshold runs and marathon pace efforts. I'll have to be a bit more selfish and not fit so regularly into the club sessions.

It's a fabulous week and I was surprised at how much abuse my body could take. Not the biggest mileage, but still over 70 miles and I've never had so much quality in one week. I have a bit of shin soreness on my right leg where I got a bit of tightness in my calf (either gastroc medial head or flexor/extensor hallucis - not sure), but apart from that my legs feel OK.

One major target was not to put on weight - not easy when you put me in front of an all-you-can-eat buffet! I may have put on a pound, but it's not looking too bad - big sigh of relief!

I chose the half board option, not realising that this tied me to the one restaurant for breakfast and evening buffet. There were only 2 others in our party who chose half board, which made it a little awkward, and I ended up paying to eat in other restaurants on a couple of occasions. That said, the food was good, and the buffet format made it easy to make healthy choices (although the lack of space due to building works was a pain).

A great week and a great bunch of people:


Did I mention I'm tired?