A Typical Day’s Training
The alarm clock rings in the early morning when the sun is slowly appearing above the horizon. You change straight from your nightclothes into your running clothes and then go outside in the fresh morning air. We run together in the first light of day while everybody else is still sleeping.
The first item on the training programme for the day is most often an easy run for about 30-40 minutes; but sometimes a longer session of 70-100 minutes if no second morning session is planned. But don’t worry: the length of the run and the pace are naturally adapted to suit the abilities of the participants.
When the day is just about to start for most people, we have already completed our morning run and after some stretching and strengthening exercises, we go in for a well-deserved breakfast. This often consists of delicious sweet potatoes and lots of Kenyan tea. While everyone enjoys breakfast together, not only do we reflect on the morning training session we have just run, but we also discuss and exchange views on a whole host of other topics.
Then we just relax as much as possible as the next training session awaits us later in the morning. This is normally speed work, that is to say a short training session of 30-40 minutes of fartlek or interval training. Like all the training, this is also carried out in different groups and so everyone always has the chance to test their own limits and really give everything.
We return to the centre exhausted but physically and mentally stronger, and we boost our energy levels with lunch. The rest of the day has less to do with training, now is the time for other activities or simply getting together and relaxing. There is the opportunity in late afternoon for another 30-45 minutes easy run for regeneration purposes – at a gentle talking pace – or even a short game of volleyball.
In the evening we eat real Kenyan food – such as ugali (made from corn flour) or chapattis (unleavened flatbread made from whole wheat flour) with a strong potato and vegetable stew to give us fuel for the next day’s training. It is in the evenings that there is time and opportunity for talking and discussion so that you retire to bed not only with a sense of physical accomplishment but also happy that you have been able to make new friends and gain a wider perspective on life.
