Warm Weather Training Blog

Sunday 16 March

14:30: Arrived at 1 am into Malaga, taxi to Hotel only took about 10mins. Up for breakfast at 9, lovely huge buffet breakfast. We had a quick training meeting for everybody headed by Mick and then we headed to the track for 12:00. Track is medium to hard mondo in good nick except for home straight which is a bit weathered. Decent infield soccer pitch and astro next door. Top class gym and pool also in the complex. Session just consisted of dynamic warm up and strides led by Pat. Next session at 16:30 which is time trials for both short and long groups.

19:00: Just back from afternoon session, Went well for everybody, weather was great, just over 22 degrees. Nice mix of athletes on the track all friendly, some norwegian sprinters are joing our sessions for the duration of the trip also. Pool is freezing so its good for the aching limbs to go for a dip straight after the track, Dinner now on the town and then bed, early start in the morning. Well done to the lads back home who got two bronze medals in the National Indoor Relays today, Ross, Aran, Eoin and Darren. We will see Eoin out here tomorrow!.

Monday 17 March

19:30: St Patricks day began early with a 730 rise for breakfast at 8. The first session of the day was at 10am on the track, The weather was again in the 20's and Pat took us through a very good plyometric and core session. After lunch, an ice bath and a quick snooze we met at the track again for the afternoon session at 4:30. This consisted of a warm up and a tempo stlye session. Pat took the short group for an easy turnabout session and Shane took the hurdlers for technique session and some rhythm work. Everybody seems to be adapting well to the training and heat.

Tuesday 18 March

14:30: What started off as a blustery day turned into the hottest day yet. The morning session saw the sprints group of Ger, Eoin, Fran, Hynes, Greg and Jackman tackle a demanding enough speed edunrance session. The long hurdlers Barry, Damian and Shane did 200m hurdle runs. Plenty of ice and rest required after this session. This afternoons session is an upper body weights session in the Hotel gym which is well equipped.

22:00: Afternoon weights was mostly upper body and we were able to use the hotel gym. Big dinner after and early night.

Wednesday 19 March

12:00This mornings session was a core workout in the hotel gym.40min in total, tough session but kept the legs fresh for this afternoons speed session. We are using the pool in the evenings as an ice bath as it is freezing cold.

20:00: Just back from the afternoon track session. Short group did some block work and runs over 40,50 and 60m's. The longer sprinters did runs over 60,90 and 120. We were joined by a Norwegian 400m runner, with a 48sec pb so he added a bit of a mix to the session. Ended session with some hurdle bounds.

Thursday 20 March

12:00:Thunder storms this morning, was forecasted but meant to be ok for rest of trip. We were heading for the track to do a plyo session but got caught in a downpour so we headed for the sports hall in the complex. We managed to secure an hour in the there with a group of Norwegian juvenile athletes. We did an hour of plyos again under Pats guidance.

20:00: 25 min run this evening in the forest beside the track, weather already back to normal with evening temperatures of 18 degrees. Some light stretching and some strides. Hard session in the morning so dinner and a few games of pool to follow. The Hotel is buzzing with athletes and coaches so the evenings are not hard to kill.

Friday 21 March

13:00 Best session of the trip so far but also one of the hardest. The long group did 200, 200 with 50secs between runs and 15min recovery, then 250, 150 with 50s and 15min and finished with a 300, 100 with same. We were joined again by Peter and Evan the Norwegian 400 runners and everybody bust a gut!The short sprints group did 200,200 with 2mins, 150, 150 with same then 100,100. Everybody found it tough and most got through it. There will be some sore legs today so some core and upperbody weights and lots of stretching this evening.

20:00:Circuit of upperbody weights and core, wasnt as easy as everybody expected I think. We did alot of stretching after using partners to stretch quads and hamstrings. Tomorrow is another light session before track again in the afternoon.Very sunny evening in Torremolinos.

Saturday 22 March

11:00: Short but very tough core session in the Hotel gym this morning, Pat knows how to hurt us. Everybody holding up well so far, and tomorrow afternoon will be a welcome rest from training. Speed session for the whole group this afternoon. Weather again is sunny and hot.

20:00: Speed session this afternoon. First thing we did was 3 X 30,30,30 working on various aspects of sprinting in each 30m phase. First phase concentrated on fast feet movement, second phase was driving with arms and the final phase was putting the two together. Made everybody think and concentrate, good drill. Session began proper then with two sets of 3 X 30m flying sprints with 10 min recovery between sets. Once this was complete the whole group did a one off 150m. By the end of the session everybody knew they had just done a tough but high quality speed workout. Dinner and bed on the cards next.

Sunday 23 March

11:00: Hurdle technique work for everybody. Quality session but not so tough that everybody was tired doiing it. Hurlders finished with one stride hurdles and sprinters did some hurdle bounds. Afternoon off!!!

11:00: Just watched Arsenal slip up against Chelsea, some of the lads fell asleep during the utd game, that speaks for itself even with the 3-0 win. The afternoon off saw some of the tiredness creep in and everybody rested up as much as they could. Excellent weather contnues thankfully.

Monday 24 March

11:00: Short sprints group did some sled acceleration work with Pat and 2 X 3 X 150m with short recovery. Shane took the long hurdles group through a hurdles drill session and 2 X 300mh from blocks working on rhytm and stride pattern. Despite running into a strong wind on the back straight the session went very well. Core session this afternoon.

19:00:Peter and his Norwegian counter parts took us through an excellent dynamic core session, some of the hardest core exercises i have ever done. It was a circuit type session with 40secs on each exercise. Combined with Pat's previous two core sessions this has left everybody with sore stomachs! One day left of training tomorrow will bring an end to a hugely successful camp and here's to looking to next year!.

Tuesday 25 March

11:00: Hottest day so far and no breeze at all. Session was purely hurdle drills and for the hurdles group it finished with some work over the high hurdles.Unfortunately this is the second last session of the trip. This afternoons will be the last and then tonight the group will have a chance to relax and let the hair down. Flight home is at 12:30 tomorrow. Most of the group are relaxing by the pool today and gettting as much of a tan as they can in their last day.

19:00:Last session consisted of block work for the sprints group and runs over first 2 hurdles for hurdlers. Nothing too demanding. This brings a close to the Menapians training camp of 2008, thanks to everybody concerned for making it a great success.