An Update On Our Champion Stephen - May 2016

Our Champion Stephen has been training hard in Portugal this Spring.Here is his report on his time there:“Firstly, I would like to say thank you to everyone at the Starr Trust, for their generous help of providing the funding so that I could fly off to Portugal, where I could train in the warm weather.I travelled to Portugal on the 1st April 2016, to a beautiful town called Vilamoura. The villa my training partners and I stayed in was amazing. Over the 12 days that I stayed in Vilamoura I trained twice a day for 8 days and had one day off. The training sessions I participated in differed depending on the volume of session, for instance there were 800m, 1500m and 3000m sessions. For some of our sessions we visited the local track. I enjoyed running on the track, however it was ripped up and needed relaying which made it hard to run on.I visited the accommodation where I stayed last year at Browns Training Facility where we used their gym on three occasions. However, using the gym was not cheap, we had to pay 12 euros each time we went, it was worth it as it was a great gym and I was able to train hard when using the equipment. On two of the main training days I visited an old European cross country course where I did my repetition session at my tempo pace. I also did a hill session there, which I found really hard, even though I have just finished the cross country season, and I am used to running on the hilly, twisty courses.I was able to train with some of the best runners in the country who have won medals at the British Championships and one of the athletes had also competed in the final of the women’s 800m in Beijing, at the World Championships. It was a fabulous experience training with these guys, as it inspired me to train hard and win medals in future national and international championships.Through this experience in Portugal I had to learn to do everything for myself, I had to buy my own food, cook it and do my own washing. This I found hard to start with, but I soon learnt to put together a good meal. I have now cooked my mum, dad and sister a meal since I have been home. As well as becoming a better cook, I have become more positive in myself. I believe I have got stronger physically and mentally. I think this because since I arrived back in England I have trained brilliantly and feel confident that I will run faster times this year on the track.”