The small group of Trackspeed1 athletes who travelled out to Florida for the squad’s annual pre-season training camp are progressing well, coach John Powell reports from the States.
European U23 Gold medallist, James Ellington (pictured right), whose hamstring condition had drilled a huge hole in his winter training programme, has rehabilitated well and is almost back to normal running now.
“James has progressed as well as could possibly be expected,” said John, “and he is looking a really class act now. He has stayed fit and strong in the gym even though he was able only to return to the track a couple of weeks ago, and it shows. He’s back in spikes now, and should be using blocks before we go home.”
Ryan Thomas’s training regime hadn’t exactly shone back in the UK due to a number of reasons, but he is now progressing well through a fairly gruelling 400m programme that should see him fit to race by late May. Ryan is pictured during a 300m rep' session at the Disney track. The news is not quite so good for the other two athletes in the party though.
Former European Junior Gold medallist Set Osho has been struggling to manage a back problem all winter, and this has prevented him from progressing to any significant speed work in Florida. He has received treatment from Trackspeed1 partners at the Clermont National Training Center, and is also now receiving therapy from the squad’s two therapists who flew out to join the group on Wednesday 29th, Lucy Eggleton and Stuart Phazey.
“Set (pictured below) had some flawed lifting techniques in the gym,” said John, “ which we thought had been eliminated. But there are a number of issues technically that are placing a huge strain on a 6ft 4” frame, and which should have been eliminated or corrected years ago. He is understandably frustrated, but progress is being made, and I’m sure he will recover to compete well by the later stages of the summer.”
Jason Hussain who, after the worst 12 months imaginable, could be excused for not being quite up to the mark, but landed in the US in pretty good shape, albeit with a couple of weeks’ rehab’ left to complete on a hamstring strain. Tragically, this was overshadowed by an Achilles tendon injury four days into training, which will now mean his season will be on ice at least until that has recovered.
Stuart and Lucy flew out to Orlando the day after their final exams at the University of Middlesex where they will graduate later this year with a degree in Sports Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention. Both have experience of working at major track and field championships before, and were a welcome addition to the party, who were beginning to feel the strain of what is an intense training programme pre-season.
“We are very luck having Stuart and Lucy,” said John, “because they come free with only a contribution toward their flight costs, and a room in our rented house. Having world class expertise at Clermont is also a massive bonus – Leah Dearman, one of the managers at the center, knows most of our athletes of old, and delivers an exceptionally good quality service every time we have to go and see her.” Stuart and Lucy are pictured treating Jason Hussain at the Disney track.
Trackspeed1 will, for the first time in a few years, not be featured at the University of Florida track meet on May 10. In the past this has provided the platform on which athletes can test their early season form out, but this year John Powell is not willing to risk competitive pressure on his athletes too soon.
Pictured below: John Powell and James Ellington compare notes in between rep's in a training session at Disney, while later on it's chill-out time for the four after a hard day's training!
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