Purple Patch, Running Free Training Camp

I had never contemplated going on a weekend running camp before I was asked by Chris Donald at Purple Patch Running, who runs the Running Free camps to come along to give a talk on practical eating for better running performance. My hour talk developed into a weekend for some reason…and I’m so glad it did! The camps are held in a number of different locations, but this one in the beautiful (if a little hilly!) North Wessex Downs was just stunning. Welcomed on the Friday evening by the Purple Patch Team, Claire (UK Athletics coach and sub 3hr marathon runner) and Chris Donald (senior lecturer in Sports Science, UKA Athletics and Sport England coach) and Julia Buckley, editor of Running Free, my other fellow runners, and of course a glass of wine and a delicious home-cooked supper, I felt at home and part of the group from the word go.  I’m not much of an expert on training, but it seemed that Chris and Claire managed to gear the sessions to all the different abilities so that you actually felt that you were getting a personal trainer for the weekend – and our abilities were indeed varied, some new to running, some training for marathons, some for 10ks, some as young as 19 and some as old as (well, I’m not sure, but I’d say 70+). Everyone had one thing in common though – the desire and dedication to go for it and the love of running.

Saturday started with an easy session before breakfast (well, relatively easy – there was a massive hill to climb after a few miles!), then Chris showed us how to do dynamic stretches and core-stability strength exercises – a bit of a challenge for the less coordinated but  much more fun than traditional stretching, and much better for you too. This was followed by an amazing  session of interval drills and hill repeats and yes, the hill was steep, steep, steep! I felt brilliant at the end of this session, really upbeat. Claire then finished the day off a warm down session – outdoors with mats in the garden. Lovely….

made it up the hill at last

And all these sessions were interspersed with delicious food and drink – fab breakfast (porridge, fresh fruit, bagels, everything yummy you could imagine eating for breakfast really), excellent lunch, tea and supper, rounded off by a really good oaty fruit crumble and a trip to the local pub.

Sunday was a long run (I think there were three different distances to choose from, the longest was about 13 miles, cross country, up and down!)

Here is the link to the site: www.purplepatchrunning.com.  Camp dates are below if you fancy giving it a try yourself….oh, and there’s sports massage available throughout the weekend.