My Exeter Speed training group has been hindered since the start of the New Year by lack of access to key facilities in Exeter. The senior athletes who make up the group have full time jobs and like to train around 7:30pm to allow time to get home from work, eat and change. However, the only athletics track within reach is only available on a Monday in the late evening. Tuesday through to Friday, the track has exclusive bookings and on the weekends the track closes at midday (not ideal for a coach with a young family).

This week I’ve finally managed to book a 40m x 6m area of track next to a jump pit at a local secondary school. This space gives my training group a great spot for an acceleration-focussed session, and in the summer, we should be able to finish sessions with a few speed-endurance runs on a grass track. Interestingly, no one else has every enquired about using this facility (hence taking so long to agree hire!).

Training methods are influenced by the facilities available. In the 1980s through to the 2000s, athletes coached by Mike Smith at Team Solent (Iwan Thomas and Kriss Akabusi, amongst others) spent October through to Easter doing most of their training on hills in residential areas, on beaches and in parks. This lack of access to state-of-the-art facilities didn’t hamper their performance!

As a rule, I think people within athletics should invest more in skills, knowledge and attitudes, and less on facilities. Since Christmas, I’ve had to be pragmatic and maintain 2 hills-based sessions around the University of Exeter campus. However, I’m now in the position to have 2 track-based sessions. As the season progresses, I may look to book the school facilities for our 3rd running-based session of the week.

This blog post is to highlight the importance of being pragmatic and creative, but it also shows the importance of having a solution-drive attitude. It’s easy to think up reasons why something can’t be done. Thinking up reasons why something can be done is much harder. I have this attitude with my athletes and Exeter personal training clients.