Running in the sand

Cooling down after a hard session

We are on the Isle of Anglesey and are staying at the Conway Centre that is an outdoor activity centre normally used by schools. The camp only started today at 2pm but we have already been out for one very hard training session on the sand dunes at Aberfraw, that is about a 20 minute drive away in the two minibuses that we hired. When we began planning the training sessions a few weeks ago we wondered if we should spend more time in Snowdonia on the mountains than on the isle of Anglesey, that is supposed to be flat (but it's all relative! You may be surprised by how tough the hills are around here!) However, when we started to look at what you actually need to be a good hill runner we came to the conclusion that speed-endurance and strength-endurance are as important on the mountains as they are on the roads. So the sessions that are planned for the next 3 days are as follows:

Tuesday - 2 X 6 or 8 minutes (depending on age and stage) of constant running up and down the dunes with a 3 or 4 minute recovery between the sets. This is followed by a paarlauf session where each runner will cover 8 X 200m on flat (but soft) sand with a 30 second recovery.

Wednesday - 2 or 3 X 1200m on flat forest trails followed by 6 X 200m on flat forest trail

Thursday - long, steady run on Snowdon.

Interspersed with these are team building exercises, drills to develop good technique, core stability and circuit training and psychology session to develop mental strength. There will also be advice on how to pick races and gain selection for England or Wales.

So it's now just after tea on Tuesday. We've done the first session with the rest still to go. This first session may well have been the toughest. The soft sand is great for strengthening ankles, arches and muscles below the knees. It helps the runners develop power in the lower legs in a shorter time frame than when they run on the track or on the roads. It doesn't sound like there is much volume in this session but they will have burnt more energy per foot strike than they would on a firm surface and watching them consume their evening meal was evidence of this! The other benefit of soft sand running is that the impact force is lower, allowing for better running with less strain or pounding on the body and so less chance of injury.

Many of them chose to do the session in bare feet, which adds to the development of strength in the lower legs and feet. They get a greater range of movement in the feet and ankles when running without shoes and this is great for strengthening.

When these runners start competing on the mountains later in the summer they will benefit from having strengthened everything up. The mountain tracks and fells consist of an uneven surface and so the feet and ankles need to be able to withstand the rocking and rolling in different directions.

Tomorrow we will give them the opportunity for fast running on soft, forest trails and a chance to stride out and develop a quick leg turnover but before that we're off for some team building activities. Oh, and there's the morning run at 7am too! No rest for the wicked!