Marathon Training in Turkey

That's us back from a wonderful fortnight at our flat in Ovacik (Near Fethye) in Turkey. We bought this place, off-plan, two years ago and took possession of it last July and so far have enjoyed two marvellous holidays in it. We went last August in the middle of the tourist season and had a great time doing all the normal tourist things but the temperatures of 45 degrees + were almost to much for us. Fortunately the flat is fully air-conditioned so we tended to stay in during the heat of the day and go out until late at night. Mooching through the Turkish bazaar at midnight is such a buzz.

This time the season hadn't started so the town was pretty dead... but we still loved it! Sitting on the balcony in the early morning sun, sipping a cup of coffee and looking at the lovely mountains just re-energises you so much. We also have now made some nice Turkish friends and find the Turks in this area to be the friendliest people you could wish to meet. We actually ended up eating out at their homes on a few occasions which was a lovely experience.

One of the reasons we went out to Turkey at this time was to do some warm weather marathon training and this we did. If you know the area at all, we ran from Ocacik to Olu-Deniz which I estimate is a run of about 15K - the problem is that half of it is down a very steep hill and back up again. The run down is magnificent (Olu-Deniz has been voted the most beautiful beach in the world on numerous occasions) and lulls you into a false sense of invincibility. The run back up is crippling. I'm used to hilly runs but even I couldn't get more than half the way up this hill before I had to stop. May didn't even get up the first rise. Boy its a tough climb! Do any of you know it?

Anyway, for the next couple of days my calf muscles were killing me and we had to take it easy or risk pulling a muscle. We did go for a number of other less strenuous runs and all in all would totally recommend this area to all runners. It feels so safe as well. We have both come home feeling that our marathon training has entered a new phase and that all the effort was worth it.

If you'd like to look at our flat and see a bit of that area then go to my wife's website:
www.relaxinturkey.net

I'll tell you a couple of stories about our time in Turkey in a further blog.