By Cpl Stu Benson and SAC Caroline Livingstone

Well, Portugal 2009 has been the most productive warm weather training camp EVER! I feel that as an athlete who trains at least 6 times a week, usually alone, the chance to train under the watchful eye of experienced coach is invaluable. My coach Ruddy Farquharson joined us this year and, alongside coaching everybody through numerous drills and technical skills, he helped me fine tune some major aspects of my event. Using video analysis and specialist timing systems, we picked apart my start and bend running technique, providing me with plenty to think about on my return to the UK.

The track has been relatively quiet during our Visit but there was a lot of talent on show. Former 800m world champion David Feign and his group were churning out some hardcore sessions and the Russian multi event athletes were out in force, with one particular man vaulting well over 50 times in succession. “If he dies, he dies”, his coach told us!

Bar 42 hosted most of our evening antics, however this year a lot more coffee and hot chocolate was being drunk proving that the sprint squad really mean business this year. We talked a lot about our goals for the coming season and one thing seemed to be at the front of everyone’s mind, beating the Army again in the 4 x 100m! We hope to get plenty of practice in throughout the season running for our civilian clubs and bring it all together over the couple of days practice at Cosford just before the Inter-Services to give us the best possible chance of winning some major points. SAC Tony Higbee is back fitter and faster than ever and SAC Zico Grinion is training properly for the first time so we are looking for some quick times! The girl’s team is looking stronger and stronger too with Cpl Laura McGawn and SAC Caroline Livingstone really flying and Fg Off Lindsey Gozzard, SAC George Francis and Cpl Catherine Chambers training really well, giving great hope for the season ahead.

Many of the group came with their own individual plans. As an example Carolines aims were to concentrate on top speed plus tempo running as well as her normal sessions. Having the opportunity to train in warm conditions with different ideas and techniques from the coaches she could then assimilate these variations back into her normal training on return to the UK. She proved to be a very focused and determined athlete and coming on the Visit has enabled her to concentrate solely on training, away from the work environment and other distractions.

We all head back to our local track this week with fresh ideas and mindsets, hoping to continually build on the work done over the last 10 days. Roll on the Summer and the chance to prove all the hard work, sweat, tears, and sunburn was really worth it!