As the third week begins I feel the daily camp routine begin to hit its stride. To eradicate the lack of discipline regarding the chore program, the athletes and I mutually appoint Eshetu Gemachu as the Program Supervisor. I know that in the past he has been a unit leader when the Arsi Zone athletes have travelled as a zonal team to participate in regional competitions. Furthermore they all clearly share a confidence in his honesty and leadership abilities. His ability to personally coordinate the athletes will complement Yared’s and Gudisa’s administrative experience. We paste a chore schedule on the wall once again, only this time it gets properly enforced with Eshetu’s assistance. The same goes for the training camp rules (listed at the bottom) and the menu schedule for meals.
Meanwhile the English lessons continue to move along. Ms. Tinbat Amare finalizes her curriculum. It is comprised of standard skills like speaking, grammar, reading, listening, and writing. At the same time, it will include special activities. The athletes are learning to complete training logs and also to answer interview questions about themselves. Some of it is basic information like where they are from, where they went to school, and how many brothers and sisters they have. Then it also contains more personal topics like what inspires them to become runners, how they feel when they train on a daily basis, and what have been their most memorable moments in their athletics
careers. Learning to answer these questions will allow the athletes to provide more information about themselves to their sponsors. It will also help them, further down the line, give interviews in English when they do well in international races. I remind them that interview skills are probably one of the biggest weaknesses of Ethiopian runners when it comes to attracting sponsorship.
The athletes are also learning to write letters to pen pals in schools in foreign countries! We have already arranged a partnership with an all-girls’ school in the USA. If any boys’ or co-ed schools would be interested in also partnering then they should get in touch with me (garrett.ash@runningacrossborders.org).
Out on the trails, Coach Melaku is continuing to progress the training. At the end of week 2 he assigned 25km tempo run on asphalt, on Sulutaa Road at 2,700m above sea level. Both the men and women ended up completing the run around 2 minutes faster than the assigned pace. But packs stayed together well; it is a good indication that their fitness is coming along. Then at the end of week 3 they are given 30km on a gravel path; the pace is not as fast because the footing is more difficult but still the packs look good.
For now Dunkane is doing a reduced load compared to Seada and Dinkinesh because her old Achilles problems are causing her injury trouble again. She is being monitored closely by Coach Melaku, and he is ensuring that she stretches twice per day and receives massage from her fellow athletes three times per week. On Saturday of week 3 I give a lecture to the athletes as well as some students from Addis Ababa University about basic principles of massage and types of techniques. We follow it up with a demonstration by Eda’O, the most skilled massage therapist of all the athletes at the moment. I give the lecture in English; after the university students leave Melaku translates it into Oromefa. Dunkane takes careful notes. Tinbat tells me she also has the best academic results so far.
That’s all for now! Watch this space for more updates. We have just ordered the design of new uniforms for all the athletes; coming up next month we are expecting to start entering some competitions!
Training Camp Rules
1) All athletes must be present for all three meals each day, at 3:00 (breakfast), 7:00 (lunch), and 1:00 (dinner).
2) All athletes must be settled in their living areas and finished with lavatory usage between 3:00 and 3:30 at night (9:00pm and 9:30pm European time).
3) All athletes must attend all educational sessions, unless given permission by the teacher to be absent.
4) All athletes must attend to all their designated work responsibilities. Otherwise the athlete must arrange a substitute.
5) All athletes must attend all training sessions as required by the coach.
6) No visitors to the camp are permitted for any reason except those invited by one of the Co-Directors, when that Co-Director is present.
7) Any valuable items kept in the training camp must be stored in designated secure valuables storage.
8) Punishment for violating any of the above seven rules
a) First offence: Athlete will be assigned cleaning duty for the following two daysc) Second offence: Athlete will not receive training shoes at the next distribution of shoesd) Third offence: Athlete’s contract will be terminated by the organization.Weeks 3 and 4
