Becky Lyne: Kenya helped kick start my career

European 800m bronze medallist Becky Lyne has suffered three injury-ravaged years but hopes to return to the top in 2010. spikesmag.com chats with the British middle-distance runner about what a recent UKA training trip to Kenya has done for her…

If Becky Lyne went on the training trip to Kenya with some trepidation, any fears she may have had certainly proved groundless. Her body stood up to the rigours of the training programme, she was blown away by the friendly nature of Kenya’s people as well its wild, natural beauty.

In fact she was so taken with living and training in the East African nation - that by the end of the trip she said "I was doing everything I could to stay out there".

"The weather was the biggest thing for me, I didn’t want to come home, it was perfect,” she says.

Unfortunately, the Sheffield-born athlete could not extend her stay. Yet if she is to return to the form she showed in 2006 – when she ran 1:58 for 800m – then she will surely look back on her time in Kenya as a fruitful one – a time in which she rediscovered her passion for the sport after three difficult seasons.

Since bursting onto the scene in 2006, her career has stalled. A succession of injuries has restricted her development and she underwent an Achilles operation in August.

But as part of George Gandy’s training group in Loughborough, which includes world 1500m silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey, the chance to go on UKA’s altitude training camp to Kenya was too tempting to turn down.

“We thought it would be a good idea to ease back into things and it was,” she says.

She had trained at altitude before but never in Kenya, and was honest enough to admit she was warned to be on her guard because of high crime levels. However, she was pleasantly surprised by the reaction she had from the Kenyan people.

“I couldn’t have been in a more welcoming environment, the Kenyans are so friendly,” she explains to spikesmag.com. “There was never a hint of danger. There was one guy who was a 62-minute half marathoner. I got chatting to him and was invited back to take Kenyan tea with him one afternoon. Despite their difficult circumstances, they are still very welcoming and giving.”

Lyne, along with the rest of Gandy’s group, stayed in at the Kerio View Hotel in the running town of Iten. The days were long – athletes woke up at 6am. Their first training run of the day was at 7am and the second session at 4pm. But the Loughborough-based runner says she was unfazed by the early starts and long days.

“We woke up quite early anyway (because of the sunlight),” she adds. “We had so much time to chill out in the afternoon and the evening. We got into quite a nice routine. If you were tired you could have a nap.”

The training environment provided the perfect lift. The temperature rarely exceeded the low twenties (degrees c), the clay-type running trails were soft underfoot and the undulating nature of the routes provided the ideal surface for an athlete on the long road to recovery from serious injury.
 
“It was just the kick start that I needed,” she admits. “I was a little nervous because I hadn’t done too much running before I went out. The warm weather was great and the altitude means you are not tempted to run as fast and perhaps the reduced gravity might have had a bit of an impact, too.

“A combination of all those factors meant at the end of the three weeks I was running virtually every day. I could really feel that any tension I had from previous injuries going.”

Lyne not only had a perfect running environment but also had use of former world cross country champion Lornah Kiplagat’s High Altitude Training Centre. The high-class facility had a gym, swimming pool and local track and even catered for the middle-distance athlete’s strength and conditioning requirements.

Athletes at the hotel also had the use of a wireless internet service and a TV in the conference room, but the bulk of her downtime was spent in the communal kitchen. As a passionate cook, she was regularly found helping and assisting the chefs and it was here she discovered the maize dish of ugali – a staple in Kenyan diets.
 
She bought a 10kg bag of plain ugali and the variety of bars she baked have gone down a storm back at her training base at Loughborough University – 60 bars at 30p-a-pop went in just five minutes. “I’m going to try doing it each week from now on, to try different flavours,” she adds. All profits of the sales were diverted to the World Food Programme in response to the current famine in East Africa.

But besides honing her cooking skills, the trip could well have provided much-needed stimulus to her career after three years in the wilderness. She hopes to take this impetus with her into the winter months.

“It was just a really enjoyable experience,” she explains. “Seeing the Kenyans enjoy running with a basic lifestyle made me understood why we do run. It was back to basics and I know it sounds a bit corny, but it brought you closer to human nature and made it more enjoyable.”