Olympia Running Academy

Olympia Running Academy Our aim is to develop healthy lifestyles through diet and exercise. With services including personal

When you look up and see your daughter 🐉 watching over you at training 😊 should have known it would be a good one!She en...
24/09/2025

When you look up and see your daughter 🐉 watching over you at training 😊 should have known it would be a good one!

She enjoys being at the track, unfortunately school gets in the way 🤷🏻‍♂️

No words……fortunate to have this sanctuary!
23/09/2025

No words…

…fortunate to have this sanctuary!

Start of a new Phase today 😊 Athletes motivated and excited to start Cross Country season… so they say!
07/09/2025

Start of a new Phase today 😊

Athletes motivated and excited to start Cross Country season… so they say!

Day Three:‘Smooth seas never make a skilled sailor’ ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt Today’s session capture in one shirt video. ...
28/08/2025

Day Three:

‘Smooth seas never make a skilled sailor’ ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Today’s session capture in one shirt video. We had it all - wind, rain, sunshine, cold, muggy and heat. Not entirely sure how but it was.

Athletes worked exceptionally hard. The wind in particular made today difficult, yet they stuck to their guns and produced an excellent session (the data supports this).

Using the natural elements is always a positive thing in athletics as you never what the big day will be like (prepared should it be the worst) but also it strengthens an athlete in ways nothing else can. Stronger mentally and physically as you find the will to run one more rep or the rinse the last ounce of energy to drive the knees for the final 200m.

Todays session was split up as follows:

1500m specialists = 5.0km pace

400-600-400-600-400

into

600-400-600-400-600

800m specialists = 4.0km pace

300-400-500-500-400-300

into

400-300-200-200-200-300

OS - 5.0km today ~ 13.0km total
WA - 5.0km today ~ 13.4km total
MW - 5.0km today ~ 26.0km total
PB - 5.0km today ~ 12.0km total
JW - 4.0km today ~ 11.0km total
WCB - 4.0km today ~ 21.0km total
JH - 4.0km today ~ 14.0km total
EW - 4.0km today ~ 18.0km total

Another step up in speed on the cards for tomorrow. Distances become short and the focus becomes more about technique.

Probably the most interesting session for the endurance athletes as a pure speed session is rare for them.

Should be fun!

Day Two:DO THE HARD THING FIRST“The cold water doesn’t get warmer if you jump late’ - Unknown. First day for the sprinte...
26/08/2025

Day Two:

DO THE HARD THING FIRST
“The cold water doesn’t get warmer if you jump late’ - Unknown.

First day for the sprinters and it’s the one they all hate. Endurance. It’s not the most fun, but still extremely useful. Seeing as it’s the one thing they hate most, we do it first, get it out of the way and move towards the things we enjoy more.

As for the endurance athletes. Moving down a pace from Tempo/10km speed yesterday to 5km today. Gradually building the speed, allowing for development at the distance, recovery for more training tomorrow and not stepping the speed up too much too soon causing issues.

Endurance:
400-1000-400-800-400-600-400

into

1000-400-1000-400-1000-400-200
OR
800-200-800-400-800

Sprinters:
500-400-400-300-300-300

into

350-250-150-50-50-50

——-

Sprinters: 2.95km
5000m specifics: 7.0km to 8.4km
Rehab running: 6.0km

MW - 14km today ~ 21.0km total
WCB - 7.0km today ~ 17.0km total
EW - 6.0km today ~ 14.0km total

Tomorrow’s Day Three continues to move more into the athletes wheelhouse of short and fast 😊

Being able to use the previous days sessions to their advantage and holding faster paces for longer.

Should be a good day!

BACK AT IT AGAIN!Sun, sea, sweat and surprises 😊 Long run day to start the weeks training camp. Returning to the beach f...
25/08/2025

BACK AT IT AGAIN!

Sun, sea, sweat and surprises 😊

Long run day to start the weeks training camp. Returning to the beach for a 150 minute session, which included a 30 minute strength session bookended by two 5km runs.

Two and a half hours of work and ticking off long run in a manageable way and a full body workout (shown below 👇🏻). Again a different yet manageable way to build the distance of running by breaking up the total distances into chunks.

Strength session: three 8:00 workouts with 3:00 recovery between. 40 seconds on 20 seconds off.

1.
Calf raise
Lunge hold (left then right)
Leg raise
Plank
(Twice through)

2.
Squat
Bent knee calf raise
Russian twist
Flutter kicks
(Twice through)

3.
Lunges
Squat hold
Push up
Bicycles
(Twice through)

——-

10mile Great South Run prep ~ 14.0km total
Rehab walking ~ 8.0km total
5km runners ~ 8.5 to 10km total

Great session from today.

Back to what we know best, the track tomorrow for a speed change down 5000m specific.

A very eventful Day Four of camp with a thunderstorm on the way and rain on and off. Not one athlete batted an eye lid. ...
02/08/2025

A very eventful Day Four of camp with a thunderstorm on the way and rain on and off. Not one athlete batted an eye lid. If anything they worked harder and had more fun than when the sun was shining 😊

Today continued the work for 800m, 1500m and 5000m pace off the back of long, slow recovery running yesterday.

The athletes have worked so hard up to this point in the week and continue to develop an understanding how not just small elements of a training session affects one another but also how an entire session can do the same thing.

Previously this week the athletes have experienced how switching paces from session to session can impact their running. Going from 1500m pace to 5000m and seeing how this can work in their favour making the work a little easier. The extension of this is how an entire session can impact another, this week it’s the use of the slow and steady running of yesterday to allow some recovery for the athletes by flushing the legs and recharging to mental side. The athletes learned first hand how they can come back day after day to train at high levels after taking recovery days, but not necessarily a day off.

The exciting thing is many of the athletes came back faster over longer distances after the slow run day than they were the day before. Funny how life and the body works.

🩵 3.55km for 800m runners
🩷 5.05km for 1500m runners
🩵 6.25km for 5000m runners
🩷 4-6km for Fartlek runners
🩵 4.8km for Consistency runners

🩷 FC runner 6.0km today = 30.15km for 4 days
🩵 WC runner 4.25km today = 23.70km for 4 days
🩷 SW runner 5.05km today = 24.95km for 3 days
🩵 JC runner 3.55km today = 19.55km for 3 days
🩷 IT runner 5.35km today = 16.75km for 3 days
🩵 FM runner 6.25km today = 28.05km for 3 days
🩷 JW runner 6.25km today = 12.15km for 2 days
🩵 MW runner 6.25km today = 18.25 for 2 days
🩷 LD runner 4.8km for today

Today was the penultimate day of training camp and the athletes have worked so hard and tomorrow is a focus on the longer distance for them all as they move into the road and XC seasons…

Day Three and the expectations continue to be exceeded. Visit to the beach for slow steady runs (x2) with strength sessi...
31/07/2025

Day Three and the expectations continue to be exceeded. Visit to the beach for slow steady runs (x2) with strength session in the sea between them (which didn’t quite go to plan).

So much to take away from a session like this and the athletes seeing what can be achieved when perhaps they think they can’t.

First thing discussed with the athletes was the accountable for your own training. Who knows their bodies better they do, they’re living in them. Having the courage to make changes if need be, set out the expectations, however understanding the need to adapt and be flexible. Knowing they can get the work done yet not having to bury themselves every time.

Developing the understanding things can be done in different ways. Not that one way is better than another, simply different. No correct way to do things, just what suits the individual.

For example:

Breaking up long runs to suit the athlete. 14km is 14km whether you take 75mins to do it or split it into two 7km for 35mins each. It’s the purpose of the session that matters; slow recovery, mind reset or engine building.

Today was about recovering from a tough couple of days on the track and understanding a slow steady run can help flush out the legs and allow for more of the fun stuff (SPEED) in the days to come. At the same time developing control of running slow enough to build the aerobic capacity.

Session Summary:

🩷 8-10km for 800m runners
🩵 10-14km for 1500m runners
🩷 8-14km for 5000m runners

🩵 FC runner 12.0km today = 24.15km for 3days
🩷 WC runner 10.0km today = 19.45km for 3days
🩵 IT runner 8.0km today = 11.4km for 2days
🩷 MH runner 8.0km today = 15.2km for 2days
🩵 SW runner 14.0km today = 19.9km for 2days
🩷 JC runner 12.0km today = 16.0km for 2days
🩵 EB runner 10.0km today = 17.8km for 2days
🩷 FM runner 14.0km today = 21.8km for 2days

Back to the track tomorrow for some Swedish style training…

Day two continued where day one left off with great running and hard work. New athletes joined camp today and cracked st...
30/07/2025

Day two continued where day one left off with great running and hard work. New athletes joined camp today and cracked straight on with no issues. Returning athletes for day two had a mixed day - more about how we thought about the day than the difficulty of the work.

This led to interesting discussions on mentality and how we approach sessions that we don’t like, see as difficult or not in the mood to do. Working on our abilities to break the session down into parts or simply one rep at a time, one lap at a time, one stride at a time. Keep moving forward and we’ll get there.

A second thing to come out of the day was the notion of running by feel and not being dictated by speed or pace etc. but instead go by the feel of the run.

We all train with splits and paces in mind but these shouldn’t control the athlete. Instead going by how the running feels, this works in two ways. Feeling good, then stay where you are even if you’re quicker (just be mindful of how fast we’re going) if we’re not feeling good, then back off to a manageable speed.

Not every session has to be crushed or be an A*

Day two summary:

🩵 4.0km for the 800m runners
🩷 5.9km for the 1500m runners
🩵 7.8km for the 5000m runners

🩷 FC runner 12.15km over two days
🩵 WC runner 9.45km over two days

No track work today but instead off to the beach for slow recovery runs and their benefits ☀️ 🍦

Brilliant running at the first day of training camp today. Having 800m, 1500m and 5000m runners working together in some...
29/07/2025

Brilliant running at the first day of training camp today. Having 800m, 1500m and 5000m runners working together in some tricky conditions. Quite muggy and when the sun came out it turned hot. Didn’t matter as all four athletes focused in and really worked hard in the session.

This year’s training camp focus is the development and use of different running speeds and paces. Mainly how they compliment each other and how each pace can be beneficial to different distances.

For example, 800m pace helping with 5000m pace and vice versa. It’s a very good skill to have for any runner over any distance, so good start early 👍🏻

🩷 800m runners covered 4.0km
🩵 1500m runners covered 5.9km
🩷 5000m runners covered 7.8km

Great start to the week 😊 moving into Day Two tomorrow with two athletes moving on and fresh athletes coming in for their first day.

The journey of using different speeds of paces to our advantage continues…

Superb morning out at ParkRun. Not the usual go someone flat and smooth for a fast run. Instead hilly, muddy and general...
30/11/2024

Superb morning out at ParkRun.

Not the usual go someone flat and smooth for a fast run.

Instead hilly, muddy and generally as hard as possible.

Excellent preparation for upcoming cross country events on the calendar.

Fantastic performances all around and shows exactly where the athletes are along their journey going into the important XC period of January and February.

Well done to all!

🥳 🍰 1000KM COMPLETED 🍰 🥳 Well that went quicker than expected!5km runs at a time (some 3kms when Daddy wasn’t well)Just ...
23/11/2024

🥳 🍰 1000KM COMPLETED 🍰 🥳

Well that went quicker than expected!

5km runs at a time (some 3kms when Daddy wasn’t well)

Just over 200 runs to get there.

Averaged 4 runs a week.

All weathers - Rain. Sun. Wind. Cold. Hot.

Met lots of new friends both people and doggy

Rabbit ears after every run - sometimes two because Daddy said I did great!

Next milestone is 2000KM 😮

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