Sue Harrison: Twice round the world and still running ... ...: April 2017

For the last 16 years I’ve been fortunate to be able to escape some of the British winter weather with a stint of warm-weather training in Monte Gordo, Portugal. This year was no exception and I’ve just returned from a fabulous three weeks there with my coach, Les. I have to say, though, that the weather wasn’t always sunshine and blue skies – we had our fair share of rain, gale force winds and chilly temperatures and at one point it was warmer back in the UK! It did pick up for our final week, though, with wall to wall sunshine and temperatures in the mid-20s. Monte Gordo is a great place to train, with numerous trails to run on through pine woods and across salt pans and a variety of roads – flat or hilly.

Trails through the pine woods, Monte Gordo

Trails across the salt pans, Castro Marim - the sky wasn't always blue!

As well as all this there is an all-weather track just down the road at Vila Real de Santo Antonio, which also has a short indoor track and weight training facilities. Athletes from all over Europe train there and it's a great motivator to see others out training. It also so happened that a group of my Leamington C&AC club mates were there for a few days’ training during our first week, too, and it was great to have some training partners for one of my sessions.

Training with my Leamington C&AC club mates

As we've now been back to Monte Gordo so many times it feels almost like going 'home' and we can slot straight into things as soon as we arrive. We rent an apartment for the three weeks, which gives us much more space and flexibility than a hotel. So many people in the town now recognise us and it's like meeting old friends - everyone is so friendly. Even the local butcher remembered us and kept giving us freebies whenever we went to buy our meat – I think we ended up with two chorizo sausages, a chicken breast (“good for soup”!) and a chunk of pork, as well as an instruction to “pay me tomorrow” when I didn’t have the right change!

On yer bike Les!

We also always go to the same place for Les to hire a bike so that he can cycle with me on my runs. Angela Pestana at Rent-a-Bike is excellent - her bikes are very good and she always makes sure Les has a good mountain bike so he can cycle the trails with me (plus a comfy saddle for the amount of miles he has to cycle!!) And he managed to only fall off once!

Les with his bike outside Angela's bike hire and the "Freebie Butcher's" shop

Over the years we’ve sussed out where the best running routes are. There are a number of trails through the pine woods around Monte Gordo and Aldeia Nova or across the salt pans by Castro Marim.

The trails by Monte Gordo

Salt pans near Castro Marim (with Flamingoes in the background!)

For road runs there are routes out into the hills beyond the motorway to the north of Monte Gordo, or flatter routes for quality tempo work. A favourite of mine for tempo runs is the palm tree lined boulevard through Altura, which is also well used by the Portuguese race walkers.

Plenty of hilly road running routes

Altura - one of my favourite places for long road intervals and tempo runs

My long runs are generally done on the Ecovia do Litoral – a long distance path / cycle route which stretches along the whole length of the Algarve coast. It comprises a variety of surfaces, some trail, some road and even a stretch of boardwalk and is perfect for long runs. The only problem can sometimes be the wind – on one of my long runs I spent the first 15 miles battling into a relentless gale! It was great with the wind behind me on the way back though!

The Ecovia by the salt pans near Tavira

The Ecovia near Tavira

Crossing the Ribeira do Almagem near Tavira

The boardwalk through Cabanas

Much of my quality work is done on the roads / trails, but I did use the track at Vila Real for one session of 400m reps. as well as the gym for my strength / core work.

Track session at Vila Real

Working hard in the gym!!

In addition to all this the beach in Monte Gordo is great for easy recovery runs. There’s really no shortage of variety for runs and fantastic scenery. The beach is also perfect for a post-run recovery 'ice bath' - standing in the sea for 10 minutes in March is definitely not warm! You do have to watch out for jellyfish though!

The beach at Monte Gordo

Ice baths in the sea, but you need to watch out for jellyfish!

Blue skies!

It's fantastic to be able to run with a bright blue sky overhead (well, usually) and not be weighed down with several layers of kit, gloves and hat. However, the climate is just one of the many benefits of warm-weather training. One of the main benefits for me is to be able to get away and concentrate purely on running and recovery, without having to fit it in around my job and everyday life. With so much time it can be easy to get carried away and over-train, but I made sure I had plenty of recovery time – after all, that’s where the training benefits come from.

Cliff top walk near Benagil

We spent a lovely day taking a leisurely walk along the cliffs near Benagil, with some beach time too. We also spent some time pursuing our other interests of birding and photography, and spent a fab. day birding with June from Algarve Birders in the Alentejo area. I also reckoned that with over 300 miles of running during my three weeks I deserved the occasional coffee with pastel de nata, or glass of wine with my evening meal!

We were really chuffed to see Bee-eaters near Tavira

Enjoying a coffee and pastel de nata ...

... and a lovely meal (and sangria!) at a great beach restaurant

All in all it was a very successful and enjoyable three weeks. It's not just the climate and way of life that I love, although admittedly they are a big part, but it's also the smaller things - fresh oranges and strawberries that taste so much better than they do from the supermarket at home; al fresco breakfasts and lunches on our apartment balcony; fresh fish (especially tuna steak) and sampling the local cuisine. My training in my build-up to running for England in the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100km in May went really well. I seemed to recover well from my sessions and long runs, thanks in no small part to CurraNZ (and standing in the sea, of course!) I'm back at home now, but at least the sun is shining here, at least for a short while anyway! Can’t wait to go back to Portugal though – I just love it there!