Sports training camps: Why go to Mallorca when there's Manchester

Ready for my taster session at Manchester Velodrome

People tend to go on sports training camps in warm weather destinations abroad - Spain, South of France, Portugal, even Australasia. But I think that it's still possible to do and enjoy a training camp close to home, right in the UK. So I chose to go to the North-West of England. 

It's that time of year when elite athletes and amateur athletes, including some of my contemporaries head overseas to places where the sun shines a lot more than in the UK, there's less chance of rain, it's that bit warmer and folks don't have to hear stories about the latest political scandal in UK politics  [not that this sort of thing doesn't happen elsewhere, mind you!].

A large group of runners have just jetted off to Club La Santa, in Lanzarote. Some people in my cycling club went to Alicante in Spain's Costa Blanca, while a few others are preparing to go on a women's cycle training camp to Mallorca. 

I'm not averse to these sorts of trips - indeed I have done them in the past, and I've even enjoyed them. These days, I shy away from trips purely to go training because I like to get more out of my trip than each day just riding around somewhere, including a little cafe stop on a sun-kissed cafe terrace. You repeat the process every day, probably varying the café and eating a tostada instead of churros, and perhaps adding in some swimming and maybe running. 

Don't get me wrong - I love a sporty holiday. But I also like a cultural element too. When you go on these camps you are just beaming up your cycling club, or usual cycling buddy group from the UK to Spain. So you are effectively creating your own temporary British enclave in the Balearic Islands or somewhere on the coast of Spain. I must admit, that doesn't excite me. If I go to Spain, I want to be in Spain - mixing with Spanish people, soaking in Spanish culture, and vising the places that make Spain famous. 

Doing a SwimRun race while on a trip to South of France

Also, I like to give my training a bit more meaning, so with that in mind I like to take part in some sort of local sports event while there - maybe a mini cyclosportive, a running race, or as I did last Autumn in the South of France, a SwimRun race. 

Not only was there a specific focus to my trip, but I also got to mix with local-ish athletes and make new contacts.  I don't know if people would necessarily call that a training camp - I don't know what the term is. But those sorts of trips with different dimensions are what I enjoy doing when I travel abroad to do sport.

In terms of training camps in the pure sense, I am quite happy to do that nearer to home. So with that in mind, I travelled......to Manchester - well, 20 miles South, to the North-West's finest place, Macclesfield. 

It was just a case of throwing the bike and all my other sportswear in the car, heading up the M6 and less than four hours later I was at my apartment in the middle of Macc. There were no worries about dismantling the bike for the airline or paying extra to have it carried, no worries about what to take or not take through security, or keeping my luggage within the weight limit. It was all just straightforward and hassle free. I didn't even get caught up in any traffic jam on the motorway.

It was early evening on Saturday when I arrived in the East Cheshire market town at the end of a sunny day. However, sods law was that on my arrival the sky turned grey and as I set out to do a mini local spin. I felt a few drops of rain and the precipitation became heavier and heavier as I proceeded along the disused railway line, now known as the Middlewood Way. I hadn't planned on going far, and was only looking to stretch my legs after having spent a few hours in the car, so I was happy to cut short the ride.

Middlewood Way in Macclesfield

Sunday morning involved a four-mile early morning run in the sunshine along the Middlewood Way, and across to the Riverside Park through woodland between Macclesfield and its posh neighbour, Prestbury. I enjoy this area and have good memories of doing regular runs along here a decade ago when I lived in Macc. Even though its right in the town, there is a feeling of being out in the countryside, especially since livestock roam around the place in Springtime.

After breakfast I then took out my bicycle and did my training ride. This is a big area for cycling. The British Cycling talent team, based up in Manchester often come down to this area to do their training rides, and lots of local riders gather here. The equivalent of Box Hill, is a climb called the Brickworks. It's a 2.7km steady climb from the village of Pott Shrigley over moorland and past farms to near Kettleshulme, on the edge of the Goyt Valley. As I trundled along various riders past me, and said hello. I also saw a group of women on a ride. It looked like they were from the local Rapha Cycling Club. There's a cafe part way up the climb, though it would probably be better to go there on the way back down to Pott Shrigley. In fact I saw a lot of bike riders travelling down in the opposite direction, as I was winding my way up. Perhaps the cafe was their destination. I had no plans to stop there as I had a few places to visit from my itinerary and I was sure I would find an alternative place to stop if necessary.

Once over the Brickworks climb, I then climbed up the winding scenic road to be level with Blaze Hill, then took the fast descent through Rainow to return to Macclesfield and start the climb up the town's most iconic climb - the Cat and Fiddle. This is climb of  just over 10km (6.6 miles) takes you to the eponymous pub in the Peak District National Park, before dropping  6 km (4 miles) to reach Buxton. 

Despite the climbing practice I had had in South London, and earlier in February in Spain, I still felt unfit when tackling this climb. The road surface was quite rough, which didn't help. I figured that that would make me stronger. Once past the big turn in the road at Walker Barn I was officially in the Peak District, and with that the weather also became wilder, as the area seemed more desolate. There weren't that many vehicles, despite it being a main artery. There were very few cyclists too. Much fewer than I had seen on the other nearby roads.

Blaze Hill, outside Bollington, close to the Goyt Valley

Soon I reached a crossroads - a de facto decision point. I could continue to the summit, some 5km (3 miles) away, turn right towards Wildboarclough, turn back and enjoy a lovely descent into Macclesfield where the monthly Treacle Market was taking place, or turn left towards the Goyt Valley. Not wanting to disappear into some sort of Bermuda triangle along the A537 road, I decided not to continue towards Buxton, and I chose to do the latter option. This involved a very technical descent past Lamaload Reservoir. It honestly felt like riding down a wall while trying to avoid pot-holes and gravel. For the first time in decades I actually had to dismount and walk down the hill! On my way down, a few motocross bike riders came up in the opposite direction and waved at me, probably wondering what the hell a road cyclist was doing on this road! 

What goes down must come up, so I then crested a series of hills on the edge of the Goyt valley that took me back to Blaze Hill. By this time my legs were quite tired and looking at my Garmin watch I could see that progress through my itinerary had been very slow. You can't fake your fitness in the Peak District. It finds you out very quickly! And I found out that I still had some way to go to reach optimal fitness.

So with that, it was a very easy decision to return to Macclesfield via the gentler roads in the Cheshire Plain. After a long downhill along Blaze Hill, my ride then took me to Bollington, then through to, Tytherington, Adlington and onwards to Prestbury where life was very leisurely and folks were displaying their Sunday best al fresco at the local cafes. Getting out of Prestbury was more challenging than I had anticipated as there were a few hills to get over before reaching Macclesfield.

Finally, I reached my lodgings at Waters Green feeling satisfied that I had had a proper work-out. Indeed I had, as Garmin showed that I had done - more than 1,000m of climbing over 51 km. That was certainly the hilliest ride I had done all year.

With the limited amount of energy left, I then enjoyed a walk around Central Macclesfield to see the popular Treacle Market.

Monday was planned as a slightly less onerous day than on the Sunday. My bike ride consisted of a loop from Alderley Edge, a popular National Trust area of outstanding natural beauty, and heading through the nearby village of the same name, and home to many a footballer's wife (and in theory their husband) or Coronation Street actor. My loop also included Mottram St Andrew, once again Prestbury, before doing a loop up a local climb in that area, Artist's Lane. Nearby is a Flandrian type hill called Swiss Hill, but I decided to leave that one until another trip. 

Time was short, and I wanted to also do a little trail run through the woodland at Alderley Edge. One way I did this was by running along a Permanent Orienteering Course and identifying checkpoints. It's often a great way to make a run more interesting, and also to discover a new area. My run ended up being just a couple of miles as my orienteering skills were good enough to find the checkpoints quickly (That's what I like to think, anyway!) 

Straight afterwards it was a case of hotfooting it to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, where I signed up to take part in a taster session at the Velodrome. It was billed as a taster session, but in fact I just took one of the reserved hire bikes and rode around for as long as I could in the time allowed - for me it was 40 minutes as I turned up a little late. I am not sure if I could have survived the full hour going up and down the steep bankings! 

Taster session at Manchester Velodrome

Had I been a complete novice at track cycling the coach would have spent time showing me what to do, but because I had been to the Velodrome in the past (though was not yet accredited), and had become a regular rider at my local velodrome in Herne Hill, I was allowed to get in an individual training ride, under the watchful eye of the coaches, in order to increase my fitness. 

There were a handful of other riders doing a paceline, but I wasn't strong enough to join the line, so I did my own thing. The coach said that I looked fine, but I would just need to do a couple more taster sessions so that I can then gain clearance to join the Regular Riders sessions which is the stepping stone along the way to gaining Accreditation.

By the end of the day, I was feeling a little pooped and was ready to check into my new lodgings, a private room in Central Manchester YHA. There, I had a well-earned meal and an early night to prepare for an early start at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Early the following morning I put on my running gear, gathered my swimming kit, and did the two-mile run from Castlefields to the university district where I joined the other swimmers doing training laps in the 50m pool at the Aquatics Centre. This popular venue is a legacy facility from the Commonwealth Games, and still gets a lot of use. It was a clean modern pool, and quite swish following its refurbishment in 2021, compared with the spartan facilities at Crystal Palace. I felt quite motivated, so did one kilometre. That was as much as I could do in the time allowed, as I still had to have breakfast, check out and then make my way back down to London.

The end of my training camp in the North-West had come, and I feel that it had been fun-packed, productive, and I like to think I have increased my fitness. Who knows, I may even be feeling fitter than if I had just doing a few kilometres here and there with my cycling buddies and sitting in a sun-drenched cafe. 

It has to be said that some people do these so-called training camps just so that they can spend time away from the UK, and some coaches that advertise the trips talk more about the well-being benefits of enjoying a cafe stop on the coast while sipping some local patisserie and coffee that is better than back home. Indeed, I see more Instagram photos of what's on people's plates than where they actually rode their bikes! 

Potato Wharf, close to where I stayed in Manchester

Granted, there's no contest when it comes to comparing the weather in Manchester versus Mallorca. But then again, wind, rain and snow are not entirely alien to the Balearic Islands. I have certainly been caught out without a pack-a-mac while cycling up to Puig Major. Even this year there have been weather reports of strong winds on Spanish soil. So weather is not entirely guaranteed even in traditionally warmer, sunnier countries. 

At least in Manchester, it's a case of better the devil you know. In any case, UK weather is so changeable that it is still possible to find a reasonable window in which to get out and ride a bike. Then of course swimming and track cycling aren't even weather dependent. 

So overall, I am happy to ride my bike abroad as long as I get the full cultural and social experience of being in that particular location. However, if the aim is purely about getting in a training camp and keeping fit I would rather keep the logistics simple and stay closer to home. 

But no doubt, I will at some point in the year end up getting a fix of riding my bike along sunny roads in a French, Italian, or Spanish hotspot, and I certainly won't complain about it!

Related posts

Barcelona cycle ride: Montjuic and Port Vell

Bella Italia by bike - Bergamo to Como

Cycle route: Bollington and Blaze Hill loop

One day one photo - 17: Orienteering on Hampstead Heath

A permanent orienteering course map of Hampstead Heath - ideal for jazzing up a Sunday run

Sometimes when running it is nice to jazz things up a little and not just do a plain old run around the park. I find that orienteering just gives a fresh take on running, albeit with the added dimension of looking for checkpoints. I decided to do that today, and also add in the complication of running uphill. That was something I somewhat underestimated in terms of the effort required. Running up Hampstead Heath is tough work!

I should know this already, having done a few National Cross Country Championships here. The run up from the Lido, up Parliament Hill is iconic - and a pretty brutal start to a running race, especially as lots of spectators gather at the top, so you want to look like you can handle it - even if you feel like you're going to keel over!

Orienteering is a great way to discover other parts of the Heath and run in places, and hills, you don't normally go to. 

I downloaded the map from the London Orienteering Klubb website, and set off from the café at the band stand. The initial check points were unsurprisingly, up a hill, so I felt it was a lot easier walk. There were around 24 checkpoints I  totally. Not all of them were easy you find, and in fact the previous days efforts began to catch up with me.

It was too hard to search extensively for a checkpoint as I was too tired to run (or even walk) uphill. It was almost too much energy to think clearly. So I called it a day after 9 checkpoints, and rode to St Pancras Station, where I caught the train home, just as the rain came down.

Hampstead Heath is a great place for running and will definitely help improve your hill running. I hope to be back before long and do all the orienteering checkpoints. 

The Monkey Motorbike Diaries - Episode 5: Ride to Newlands Corner

Easter at Newlands Corner 

All smiles at Newlands Corner after taking a few fun bends and then doing some trail running

Since passing my A1 motorcycle test in February, I have enjoyed riding around on my Honda Monkey without L-plates. Even though I am only on a 125cc bike I still feel like I have come up somewhat in the motorcycling world. It just gives me a feeling of being a slightly "serious" biker as opposed to a kid on a runaround for delivering pizzas, or someone confining themselves to a life of just renewing the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) certificate every two years. No, I want an actual license, so that I can do all the things that motorbikers do, albeit in a mini version!

I now have the full gear, having gifted myself a pair of fully padded trousers for my birthday, to complement the jacket and boots. They did set me back to the tune of around £250, but I am sure these pants will be worth it and can provide the difference between slight bruising and broken bones if I come a cropper. Very prudently, my clothing is included in the bike insurance!

So with all my gear I decided to go out on an Easter ride. My longest outing to date was 40 miles round-trip to Box Hill and back. Today, I went a little further and went to Newlands Corner, also in the Surrey Hills but slightly more to the West and close to Guildford. 

Route-finding was not an issue for me as I am familiar with these roads, having done lots of road cycling around Surrey. I headed down to Reigate where I picked up the A25 to Dorking and basically stayed on that road all the way to Shere. I stopped quickly to fuel up and then took the short uphill stretch to the popular visitor centre and car park on the North Downs Way.

I had been slightly apprehensive about the ride, mainly because my little Monkey is more used to urban riding, where the average speed is around 15 miles per hour and top speeds approximately 35. Would the little 9 brake horse power engine be able to cope with 40 or 50 mph roads? I was afraid of holding everyone up, and having a long snake of vehicles behind me. Also, would I be able to take the bends?

To make life easier for me, I set off from home early - around 8.30am, when the roads would be quiet. Riding along the A25 in the shadow of the chalky hills of Box Hill, Denbies Hillside, and Abinger Roughs was a real buzz as I took the bends prudently but still faster than I normally ride. The Monkey felt firm on the road and as long as I opened the throttle generously and before the road steepened I was able to get up without without dropping too much momentum. There was a section after Wotton where I underestimated the steepness of the hill and the bike began to chug a little so I dropped down to second gear. Luckily there was no one behind me so it was no big deal.

I must say when I arrived at Newlands I had a smile on my face. By the time I arrived at the car park it was almost 10am, and bikers were already gathering. 

The thing is, I didn't have any intention of hanging out eating a bacon sandwich/burger or admiring other bikers' kit - whatever it is that bikers do when they gather at these places. I chose to go to Newlands because it's a nice trip out, and more importantly it's great for trail running. I even had a little orienteering map with me to check out a permanent course and get in some running as well as navigation training. So while folks were queuing up at the café, I was getting changed into my trainers and running kit.

My bike was parked up next to an older guy who greeted me on my arrival. I must say I felt a bit of a fraud. "I'm not a real biker," I told him. "I'm new to motorbiking and I've just come here for a run." He half laughed and said, "Don't worry about it, we've all got to start somewhere. Nice bike, by the way." He then told me about how he had come all the way down from Newcastle-on-Tyne for the weekend, and had taken part in a big ride out to Windsor with about 500 mainly ex-military guys on motorbikes. He was still on a high from that event. I guess that was something I could look forward to doing. (It's open to civilians as well.) He then said he'd had enough of Newlands Corner as he found it a bit too cliquey and would be going to Ryka's at Box Hill, which is apparently a lot friendlier. "I might see you over there," he said. I told him I'd be doing a trail run first, and he said "Okay, see you later." I could only guess he didn't know what I meant when I said "trail run". I didn't have the heart to explain to him it would take me a little longer than the time he would take to ride the 10 miles to the foot of Box Hill!   

My orienteering trail run was quite fun, and it was great to be able to explore the trails near the area of St Martha's Hill, even if it was quite taxing trudging uphill and down dale through the woods and on the grassy banks. Still, I really enjoyed being in these deserted pockets of beautiful countryside in the April sunshine. By the time I returned to my bike the car parks - for cars and motorcycles - were rammed full.

A couple of guys had gathered around my bike which I had covered to conceal my motorcycle clothing and boots. "We were waiting to see the bike uncovered; we were curious to find out what bike was underneath the cover," they said. I suspect they already knew what my bike was, as they would have identified the familiar small-sized chunky tyres. By some coincidence one of the guys said, "I knew it. I have a Monkey as well. Come and see mine." He then proudly led me across the car park to show me his yellow pride and joy, known as the Monkey Banana. It did look pretty cool. He reeled off all these modifications that he had made to the bike - getting long armed wing mirrors, putting on a stronger suspension, modifying the exhaust, and adorning it with some cool-looking stickers. 

I actually felt embarrassed to say, I had no modification story to reciprocate. Feeling quite the boring so-and-so I said, "Mine hasn't had any thing done to it!" I did welcome his recommendation on where to get some monkey shaped stickers though! I wouldn't mind having some of those.

Interestingly, this gathering at Newlands was a day out for the guys, though they only lived down the road in Cranleigh. At least I could take some brownie points for having travelled almost four times as far as them, having ridden across from Crystal Palace.

Throughout my time in the car park, various people arrived and left, with people who seemed to know each other or recognise each other from other biker gatherings catching up and chatting. A guy on a big trike parked up next to me, and a lot of people crowded around his mean machine observing, inspecting, discussing, and quizzing about it. It was all very intriguing. I just busied myself with getting changed and packing away my bike cover. 

I couldn't have contributed towards the discussion after bidding him a courteous "hello", other than to say "burgundy is my favourite colour" or something equally inane. So I judged it better to not be part of the crowd. Maybe my homework will be to read a little about trikes in case I bump into him again.

All in all, it was a good morning (which turned into an afternoon) out. On leaving Newlands Corner I felt quite emboldened and motivated on my ride home, after spending all that time among motor bikers. It may have even given me a confidence boost when riding.  

I may not "feel" like a motor biker, but in fact just turning up at a motor biker car park (particularly where the folks are friendly) does have the effect of the culture rubbing off onto you without realising it. Who knows, maybe they'll make more of a motor bike out of me in the future. 

I look forward to doing a similar outing before long.

Related posts

The Monkey Motorcycle Diaries - Episode 1

The Monkey Motorcycle Diaries - Episode 2

The Monkey Motorcycle Diaries - Episode 3

The Monkey Motorcycle Diaries - Episode 4

One day one photo - 20: Orienteering

You probably know already, dear reader, that I like running and regularly take part in running races. And sure, I enjoy doing them. Running is something that I have done since I was a child, and I couldn't imagine a life without running.

You could say that cycling is my passion, where running is more just like my daily bread. In order to curb the monotony of running I vary the places I go to and the surfaces I run on. From where I live I can get out to South Norwood Country Park, which is all off-road and flat, I can do Crystal Palace Park, which is multi-terrain and hilly, or I can do South Norwood Lakes which is multi-terrain, gently undulating, and in the winter time can even make for a good cross-country running course as the grassy field holds the rain well! Then there's Betts Park, which is really close by and is good for a quick leg stretcher. Sometimes I travel out to places like Richmond Park, Banstead or Dorking and run on the hilly trails around there, and enjoy the sights around the Surrey Hills.

So I have managed to keep my running interesting by varying my training locations. More recently I have also managed to vary how I run. In the last few years I have discovered orienteering. It was always something I was a little afraid of doing. Those maps looked like a mixture of Greek, Arab and Sandscript! Years ago, when training for a half marathon I wanted to do a rehearsal race, and the only event I could find was an orienteering event which involved 12 miles of running. I hadn't a clue how to read the map, and ended up just running round the course with a group of sympathetic guys who knew what they were doing, and didn't mind me tagging along.

We got round the checkpoints so quickly that I ended up winning the prize for first female! I was in shock, and felt such a fraud!

Since then, and while with my ex-boyfriend who was big on orienteering I managed to learn a bit about it, and have carried on going to the odd race. I did a few events while I was in Macclesfield, and have been doing the ones organised by the South London Orienteering and Wayfarers Club (SLOW). The race I did today was a Street-O in Fulham, in which you have to find clues to things on lamp posts and pillar boxes within a particular neighbourhood. The locals must think we are weird, running around scrutinising street furniture! I was pleased with my result. For once I didn't come last!

Whatever, my result I do enjoy doing this activity. It gives an added dimension to my running, and jazzes up my run. Also, when an event is advertised as 5km I generally end up running twice that distance! But hey ho, it's all good training!