Mark English enjoys big rest as 800m star prepares for Olympic year
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 14/02/17 12:08pm
With the Olympics only nine months away you'd think the world's top runners would be belting round the track and honing their sprinting skills.
Not all athletes. In a quiet sandy corner of County Donegal in Ireland over the last few weeks, 800m star Mark English has been calmly strolling on the deserted beach thinking about anything but a packed and noisy Rio stadium next summer.
The hours in the gym, the pounding of the Dublin streets, the ice baths. They will return soon. The competitive flames will rage once again as the preparation builds for next summer. For now, the Sky Academy Sports Scholar is taking it easy, refuelling and recharging for the challenges that await.
Here are Mark's words on an emotional season break...
"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
After a summer of racing, I can see the wisdom in these words of scientist and philanthropist, John Luddock. I'm a big believer that I am most motivated with a refreshed mind.
That's why after every season of competing I take at least a month of recovery where I don't run a step. It was interesting to hear European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley speak about this recently at the sponsorship launch for Team Ireland in Rio 2016. He talked of how he saw burnout in golfers who never took a break and a lack of great continued success in others.
For me that rest period meant returning to my home in Donegal and getting away from the grey of Dublin City. Meeting the family and catching up on news was followed by a trip to Portsalon Beach. It's a gem. The view from the top of Knockalla, overlooking the crescent shaped beach, provides the most perfect background for a run.
I have been lucky enough to run in some beautiful venues around the world, but the Wild Atlantic Drive around Portsalon still beats them all. There's a reason the Knockalla rally race course is famous and it has a lot to do with the beautiful surroundings.
During my rest period, I was also lucky enough to take a short weekend break in Paris with my girlfriend at the end of October. We spent three days there, yet there were so many places I wanted to visit! In my spare time I love learning history, so when I heard about the catacombs situated under Paris, I immediately put it on my 'to-do' list.
We felt the one-hour queue wait was definitely worth it - unlike the Cataphiles [urban tunnel explorers] who meander their way through it illegally! The catacombs were developed as a by-product of the quarries that existed to extract limestone for the city above. In the late 18th century they were then used as a solution to the massive overcrowding of cemeteries in Paris - hence the six million remains that lie there.
I find the catacombs fascinating because they're part of the reason why there are no skyscrapers ruining the beauty of the city - there is a danger that the tunnels would collapse if taller buildings are built.
The tunnels also provided a hideout for the French Resistance during World War 2. We had a great time visiting the other famous sites like the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides and Pont Alexandre III bridge. We took a walk down the Champs-Elysees where the famous Tour de France victory ceremony is held.
As I finish this blog, I realise that Paris made history again on the November 13 for all the wrong reasons. Unbridled evil was unleashed on this beautiful city, a city revered for enduring values of human progress, a city we had both enjoyed so much only two short weekends ago.
Feeling somewhat powerless, I texted Pierre-Ambroise Bosse - my great 800m French rival - to extend my sympathy to him on this unreal tragedy. The bonds of "liberté, égalité et fraternité" are values we all care deeply about.
And yet life will go on. I have recently started my base period of training for Rio 2016. The next number of weeks will be devoted to building on my aerobic foundations. I know that I will need to maximise that fitness level, whilst also maintaining my anaerobic system if I am to compete with the world's best next year.
I accept that it is difficult to get everything right for the 800m but I relish the challenge. I am anxious to improve on the smaller things like recovery, making sure I enter training in a ready state necessary for the adaptation.
Small things like getting more than eight hours of sleep will be vital, as will making sure that my body has the right nutrients. The periodisation from now until next August is under way. And thanks to the University College Dublin (UCD) Medicine Programme Board my Stage 4 Medicine will be split over two years, giving me extra time, time which I can devote to training for Rio.
It is only by taking time out after a season to reflect that I get an urge to tackle the training programme for another year.
I didn't listen to the murmur of water, or perch myself in a meadow to look up at clouds, but I did move my runners out of my room!
Getting away from it all reminds me why I do it - each new run feels like another journey. And the joy of lacing up a new trainer and running the 3.6 mile circumference around UCD has never felt so green.
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS...
NOVEMBER 23+: Elise Christie, World Cup, Nagoya
NOVEMBER 26: Jack Bateson and Savannah Marshall, GB Boxing Championships, Sheffield
NOVEMBER 28: Jess Judd, European Cross Country Championship trials
NOVEMBER 21-29: Sam Oldham, Tokyo training camp
NOVEMBER 31: Elise Christie, World Cup Shanghai
25 NOV-DEC 21: Holly Bradshaw, South Africa training camp
