by Paul Hession I am 2 weeks into the winter’s training and so-far-so-good…things are going well. For the first 10 days or so I stayed at home in Galway but on Tuesday I came over to Scotland which acts as a training base for much of the year for me. I’ve been coming over here for the last two and a half years since I first started to be coached by my Scottish coach, Stuart Hogg. We do most of our training in Dunfermline and Grangemouth which are both within 40 minutes of Stuart’s place. The facilities are much better than home and, thankfully, they recognise the importance of indoor facilities over here due to the nasty winter conditions. I often say that it was typical of me to find a coach who lived in a place with colder weather than Ireland! Stuart has been involved in sport all his life. He himself was an athlete and has coached at a high level for quite a while. He was also fitness coach to many Scottish Premier League soccer teams before retiring a few years ago, He now devotes all of his time to his group of sprinters. He, and his wife Madge, have been great to me and make me feel really welcome in their home.
We have a nice little squad together this year. Nick Smith is a 100m sprinter with a personal best of 10.28, while Allan Scott is a short hurdler who was 6th in the last European Indoors in Birmingham. Also, most of you will know the most recent member of the group Paul McKee who was Irish 400m record holder till this year. Paul, like me, only spends some of his time in Scotland, the rest in Ireland. Another 400m runner is Brian Doyle who ran for Ireland in the 4x400m relay at last year’s Europeans. As you can see there is a nice mix in the group with everyone having a professional outlook. All of the guys are great characters and we can have a bit of a laugh while putting everything in. We each have our strengths and weaknesses so there is plenty of room for a bit of banter!
I will spend more and more time over here as the year goes on. Normally I will try to spend about two-thirds of my important training days over with Stuart, while the other days plus my easy weeks give me a chance to get home to Galway or see my girlfriend who works in Dublin. I really like varying my training bases like this. I feel it keeps me fresh and it’s important to be able to train on your own at times. It takes a different type of discipline to go out and push yourself on a cold windy day in Dangan with not a sinner in sight!
We normally work in 6 week phases with the 6th week being an easy week where we can ease down our training for a while and recover for the next phase. We build up our training as the phase goes on so that each week the quality of training increases on the last one. I find this easy build up ideal. It allows you to see improvements every week but doesn’t mean that you have any sudden changes, so you are less likely to pick up niggly injuries. Always the primary goal with our training programme is for me to stay injury-free as an injury at the wrong time can set you back a long time.
My first phase of training is only going to be 4 weeks as I started a good few weeks after the rest of the lads. The aim is to build up an aerobic base for the rest of my winter. It’s not exactly my most favourite time of year training-wise but it has to be done and it can be satisfying when you see how much work you have put in when it’s over. At training yesterday I did a strength endurance session with the two 400m guys. It went okay but I still didn’t do quite as many runs as Paul and Brian as they are further along on their programmes. It’s going to be great to have such good 400m athletes around because I know that there will be no where to hide in the long sessions. I have to put it all in or I will be seeing nothing but their backs!
Anyway, I am over here till next Tuesday and then I head back home via Dublin for a while. There are 2 more weeks left in my preparatory phase and then hopefully I will then be ready to face the tough strength and speed endurance sessions of Phase 2. Can’t wait!
We do most of our training in Dunfermline and Grangemouth which are both within 40 minutes of Stuart’s place. The facilities are much better than home and, thankfully, they recognise the importance of indoor facilities over here due to the nasty winter conditions. I often say that it was typical of me to find a coach who lived in a place with colder weather than Ireland! Stuart has been involved in sport all his life. He himself was an athlete and has coached at a high level for quite a while. He was also fitness coach to many Scottish Premier League soccer teams before retiring a few years ago, He now devotes all of his time to his group of sprinters. He, and his wife Madge, have been great to me and make me feel really welcome in their home.
We have a nice little squad together this year. Nick Smith is a 100m sprinter with a personal best of 10.28, while Allan Scott is a short hurdler who was 6th in the last European Indoors in Birmingham. Also, most of you will know the most recent member of the group Paul McKee who was Irish 400m record holder till this year. Paul, like me, only spends some of his time in Scotland, the rest in Ireland. Another 400m runner is Brian Doyle who ran for Ireland in the 4x400m relay at last year’s Europeans. As you can see there is a nice mix in the group with everyone having a professional outlook. All of the guys are great characters and we can have a bit of a laugh while putting everything in. We each have our strengths and weaknesses so there is plenty of room for a bit of banter!
I will spend more and more time over here as the year goes on. Normally I will try to spend about two-thirds of my important training days over with Stuart, while the other days plus my easy weeks give me a chance to get home to Galway or see my girlfriend who works in Dublin. I really like varying my training bases like this. I feel it keeps me fresh and it’s important to be able to train on your own at times. It takes a different type of discipline to go out and push yourself on a cold windy day in Dangan with not a sinner in sight!
We normally work in 6 week phases with the 6th week being an easy week where we can ease down our training for a while and recover for the next phase. We build up our training as the phase goes on so that each week the quality of training increases on the last one. I find this easy build up ideal. It allows you to see improvements every week but doesn’t mean that you have any sudden changes, so you are less likely to pick up niggly injuries. Always the primary goal with our training programme is for me to stay injury-free as an injury at the wrong time can set you back a long time.
My first phase of training is only going to be 4 weeks as I started a good few weeks after the rest of the lads. The aim is to build up an aerobic base for the rest of my winter. It’s not exactly my most favourite time of year training-wise but it has to be done and it can be satisfying when you see how much work you have put in when it’s over. At training yesterday I did a strength endurance session with the two 400m guys. It went okay but I still didn’t do quite as many runs as Paul and Brian as they are further along on their programmes. It’s going to be great to have such good 400m athletes around because I know that there will be no where to hide in the long sessions. I have to put it all in or I will be seeing nothing but their backs!
Anyway, I am over here till next Tuesday and then I head back home via Dublin for a while. There are 2 more weeks left in my preparatory phase and then hopefully I will then be ready to face the tough strength and speed endurance sessions of Phase 2. Can’t wait!
