Second installment of Stevie Stockton’s blog from the UKA/London Marathon High Altitude Training Camp in Iten, Kenya


Tuesday 17 January

Tuesdays can only mean one thing. Track day. It would be most people’s first main session at altitude, something that makes me always picture a war zone. After porridge, toast and pancakes for breakfast we set off to the track. The generic session was up to 16 x 70 second reps. This could be tailored to suit people’s individual preference, with mine being 12 x 70 seconds. Here in Iten, we’re getting beautiful rays of sunshine but not so wonderful whirls of wind. But we can’t have it all can we? I hear the UK are getting some frosty weather so I do apologise for moaning about a bit of wind. The session went well and everyone left the track completely covered in Kenyan red dust and with a smile on their faces. After a recovery shake and shower, it was lunch time. We were ready to feast.

I filled my afternoon with resting, reading and more eating. I try to stay out of the sun as much as possible on session days because I don’t want to get dehydrated whilst my body is trying to recover.

Wednesday 18 January

The day started with a surprise visit from international drug testers at 7am. Quite a number of UK athletes were tested, which interrupted the pre-breakfast long run that was initially planned. I think I was one of the only athletes to be happy to see the drugs testers, as this meant I could eat breakfast before I ran. I wake up starving every day at altitude! I also think that it is a great idea that athletes are tested out of competition and I really do hope that this is happening in all countries, all year round, to ensure our sport is clean.

After a few hours we were able to go for a great run on the red and dusty trails of Iten. The run was followed by a nice stretching session in the gym and a much needed peanut butter and jam roll. The pain didn’t end there. The afternoon was left vacant for my usual physio appointment that always involves plenty of needling and elbows. Another jam roll later, and a Kenyan tea, and it was time for the afternoon run and some conditioning in the gym. A big day for me.


Thursday 19 January

I don’t usually do many tempo runs or three sessions a week, but this week was different. Most athletes on this particular trip do a third session on a Thursday, which is usually some sort of tempo. My particular session was 15 minutes easy, 15 minutes steady, 15 minutes tempo. I was fairly apprehensive about this type of workout because it is essential at altitude to stick to your personal heart rate zones for each of the sections. Starting with a group can affect how you perform and can seriously test your ability to think about yourself and not get carried away with another athlete. On this occasion I was very happy with how I felt on the tempo. My heart rate was in perfect zones throughout and not once did I feel out of control of my running. I used to think tempo running was about running as hard as you could for a certain length of time but I have learnt that it is about maintaining a pace within a particular HR zone and not feeling like death!

When we got back, it was great to see some new arrivals on the camp, including an OCWK regular Laura Weightman. She is a great girl and I am looking forward to spending some time with her in the next few weeks! I am sure I’ll be posting a lot about her in the next couple of blogs whilst I am out here.

After helping Laura settle in and giving her the tour of the numerous disgusting bugs we get out here, it was time for the second run. I wanted an easy run so decided to do what we call “the track loop”. Pretty much the flattest run here but still contains quite a few hills! Not on the track thankfully! The run was a struggle and I cannot wait for my rest day tomorrow! A full day of zero running, in the Kenyan sunshine.


Friday 20 January

A rest day for me is to completely switch off from running and do something sociable with friends. Lucky for me my roommate Beth Potter and another OCWK athlete Stacey Smith were also on their rest day, so the day was set up for us to do as we pleased. We filled the day with a shopping trip to Eldoret which is not the ordinary shopping trip you would experience in the English high streets. But we did manage to get the chocolate and Haribo that we particular miss from the UK and also some African souvenirs for the family. It is John Beattie’s birthday today so what better way was there to celebrate than with a cake? The cooks were having a busy day and were expecting an even busier weekend with the arrival of the media from the UK as well as Dave Bedford, the director of the Virgin London Marathon who also provide the fantastic funding towards these altitude camps. Therefore it was only good of us to offer our services towards helping in any way we could in the kitchen or making the cake. However the only support we could help with was a pre-tasting session of one of the three cakes they had made! Result!

After dinner and candle blowing, I find myself writing today’s piece for the blog, a good side tracking activity to make my mind off tomorrow’s much dreaded hill session at 8000 feet.


Saturday 21 January

So my fears came true. It wasn’t a nightmare, the hill session was in fact reality. But before this took place we had the pleasure of watching hundreds of school children take part in the first ever arch-to-arch race in the athletics mad town of Iten. The race was organised by the Virgin London Marathon as a way to give back to the community that has provided the London Marathon with such fantastic athletes.

The race was a two kilometre climb from the bottom of Iten and finished at the top of the hill, next to Lornah Kiplagat’s place where we are staying. It was amazing to see such enthusiastic children racing in all sorts of clothing, some barefoot, some in trainers and some even in spikes!! One way to make a road race more difficult for yourself!

After such an inspiring morning, a large group of crazy athletes jumped into the Kenyan equivalent of a taxi, called a Matatu, and went down the mountain to 200 metres below where we are living to start the dreaded hills. The session was four sets of 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute with 90 seconds recovery throughout. Today was not my day though and I annoyingly had to pull out after two sets due to feeling like I had no spark. Personally I am not one for pulling out of a session but when I feel like I am not getting anywhere, the best thing to do is call it a day and move onto the next one. The majority of the group did have a great session though and all agreed that it was the hardest session out here to do. So well done to them!

At dinner we were accompanied by the media crews and London Marathon crew for a goat and chicken BBQ. The atmosphere was buzzing with talk about 2012 and also about how their experience of coming to Kenya to see how and where we train has been a real eye opener for them. It is good to know the level of respect that we are gaining from such people is continually growing as they come to understand the amount of work we have to do to succeed.


Sunday 22 January

Today was a tough day. It was a hot, long, hilly run. We had the camera crew for half of the run until the path narrowed and became too bumpy to drive along. The plan today was to run out for the whole run, past the giraffe park (where we’d hoped to see giraffes but sadly didn’t) and then jump into the van once we finished to drive back to the centre. This worked out well until we found ourselves searching the countryside for a missing athlete! Becky Penty was nowhere to be seen and most had been out for two hours including her. As one van went one way and a car another we found ourselves driving down a long drag of rocky path, asking anyone along the way if they had seen a “Mazungo” (it is what the Kenyans call us white people). Nobody had. Once we all starting feeling car sick and felt like we had all gained whiplash, we headed back to the camp worried about Becky. However when we jumped out of the van she was sat by the pool recovering from her run without any inclination of the search party that was frantically looking for her! It was such a relief to know she was okay and funny to think that Becky didn’t have a clue, and that when she realised she was lost, turned back and re-tracked her own route! Clever girl!

Monday 23 January

With the media gone it was back to normality at the camp. We rose for our 7:30am run as usual, had breakfast, got treatment by the physio and relaxed until the second run in the afternoon. After the run, I went into the gym for some stretching and conditioning with Laura Weightman. Because of the terrain out here in Kenya it is advisable to stretch post run to ensure that you prevent any soreness or tightness occurring, so it is great to have a place where we can all go together, stretch and chat away. It was bed early for us this evening, ready for a big day of running tomorrow.