Beach Fitness
Written by Adrian Campbell | 27 March 2010
This week has been the last chance for myself and the rest of the sports science team to train the sailors and ensure they are in top shape ready for Princess Sofia regatta on Sunday. This week has a different feel to it in that it signals the end of winter training period and the transition to regatta race training.
Not only do we swap Weymouth for Palma but we also swap the rain and cold for sun – enjoyable for the sailors and us. Training for the sailors is split into 3 areas. I run all the aerobic/anaerobic sessions, Genty (Steve Gent) covers strength and Flash (Chris Gordon) looks after the core stability work and more importantly he deals with all of the injuries.
It’s nice to be based in Palma and a change of scenery is good for all concerned. Stretch & core sessions by the pool, aerobic training on the beach and strength and power training in the Burger King gym. It’s a different world to Weymouth!
For me, the focus of the training sessions is high intensity and low volume. I am trying to move the sailors training forwards so that they are feeling ‘sharp and fresh’ ready for racing. The sessions have been interval based - hard runs followed by short recoveries – physically hard to do in the sand and early in the morning. I don’t think the sailors have enjoyed them too much if I’m honest and a few breakfasts were almost brought back up on the beach (including mine!).
What the sailors do enjoy though is the warm up games of touch rugby. The warm up almost always descends into a competitive game that can be as hard as the actual intervals and as the week has progressed some of the touches have started to resemble hits. Two of the 49ers left the beach today with cuts and I learnt that certain sailors have no concept of what five metres looks like – in particular 49er Dave Evans!
I fly back to UK tomorrow before the rest of the team and next week will be in Weymouth catching up with the remaining sailors that aren’t racing in Palma and getting ready to work at the Volvo Youth National Championships which start soon in Weymouth. Busy times!
Ade.