Camp Details
All Swim Run Riviera camps are organised by me, Melanie Gulliver, a Brit who has lived on the Cote d’Azur for over 20 years now, running a nutrition business for the last 5 years, The Clever Kitchen.
I was a competitive swimmer as a child from the age of 4, training 6 days a week once I got to 10. Studies and work ended my swimming pretty much. After having my two sons in my late thirties, I needed to lose some weight so I started going to a regular BootCamp. It was here that my running days started as one of the weekly sessions was to run from home. Never having run more than a few hundred metres at school, I found this very hard work, and I did not like it much. I have always had a competitive spirit though and realised that the only way to make me run more consistently was to sign myself up for a race- so I did just that. I settled for a 10km along the seafront in Nice, the Nice Classic, at the beginning of January. I had three months to train for it. Well I made that finish line but I hobbled to the car afterwards and was in pain for the next few days. I had really over stretched my training and was lucky that I hadn’t done any serious damage to my joints.
My love of swimming as a child and my new found running discipline made me take the decision to compete in triathlons. I bought myself a bike and a wetsuit, and I spent many Sunday mornings cycling down to the sea, a distance of 25 kms, swimming as much as I could, and then cycling back home again. I competed in several triathlons but had very little idea about what I was doing training wise. I also took up yoga to stay flexible and I am so glad I did! When life gets tough a 20 minute or more yoga session on my mat is the antidote.
After a couple of years changes in my life meant it was much harder for me to find time to train on my bike, and an ongoing shoulder issue meant swimming was difficult too. So I started running more and it became my sport of choice, and I ran many long distance races including three marathons and two long trails. My running schedule was mostly based on what I read in running magazines, although I did follow a personalised training schedule for my first marathon. Although I finished my marathons I could never see myself feeling comfortable running one. I assumed that if I could train more I would get stronger and find the marathon distance easier. However my body could not handle more training and soon it would have an injury. I felt that my marathon days were over. The good news was that I started swimming regularly again.
Two years ago I saw a new sport gaining publicity SwimRun so I joined a local team. Swimming in the sea and then running and repeating this over and over again through beautiful scenery seemed the perfect sport to me. But my swimming was slow, and my running too. I decided it was time to really work out how to improve my stroke, my stride, my speed and my stamina while still taking care of my body and maintaining my good health. I took a few months out, I read a lot of training books, I watched YouTube videos, I bought training courses online. And then I put everything I thought relevant to me together and developed my own training program based on the success of others. I looked for holisitic training so that I would not harm my body while working towards my four goals of stroke, stride, speed and stamina. I had a reason to do this. I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I needed to run a marathon in 3 hours 55 minutes, 47 minutes faster than I had ever run one before.
And I succeeded. I swam faster, I ran faster, and I finished my last marathon feeling far better than I ever have before and with a faster time by 30 minutes. I am still on the path towards that Boston qualifying time but I know I will get there and I will get there with a healthy body.
I would now like to share with you the factors that can make you faster and stronger, by slowing down initially.
Join me on one of my camps and let’s have some fun!
I bring in professional coaches to help me run the camps, and other professionals to help you get your body back to the best health for training in endurance sports.
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