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March 2021 - Guillaume Taufflieb - How to train for and in Sao Tomé

I’m the kind of person which is totally passionate about sport and mostly running.  I need my daily ‘dose’ of run in order to feel in my best mood. One of the biggest difficulties at the moment is to try to maintain a good level of training with my busy professional life without getting any injury due to fatigue. I need to be very discipline in order to reach my goals, and goals are always the best motivation for a good training program. 

But after my last race, I realized that physical training was not enough. We need a strong mental condition in a multi-stage race, too. 

That’s why I am not following any specific training plan; instead, I follow my mood and conditions and try to diversify my training to keep training fun. I usually do 3-4 easy run during the week just to get my body to get used to running ☺

However, one training that I always looking forward to is the long run. It is not only my most important run of the week but also my favourite! 

The long run helps build my endurance and learn how to handle increasing mileage mentally and physically. Strategically well planned long runs are great opportunity to work on race speed, mimic the final push on race days, and toughen my mind to overcoming fatigue. 

On top of the run trainings, I am also doing some downhills to work on my quads and build strength in my tendons and joints. I am really lucky to be able to choose some fantastic places to run - most of the time in the middle of the lush forests on the island and filling my spirit with negative ions ;-)

I try my best to prioritise my training and to avoid injury while strengthening my muscle and tendon. My injuries - few times tibial periostitis and since 2 months trochanteric tendinose bursitis - only convinced me that I need to be stronger physically. As a result, I am skipping rope everyday for about 10 minutes now to train for my endurance and strength; and to correct muscle imbalance.

Guillaume’s bonus top tips for running in São Tomé:

1. To be prepared to the strong sun and the humidity;

2. Drinking electrolytes can be very helpful to avoid dehydration;

3. Wearing a good hat or buff to keep a good temperature in your head;

4. Lastly, to avoid any friction in the feet or armpits, I will advise you to use some coconut oil (made locally :-), perfect to lubricate your body with a nice smell!