yaya Africa Athletics Village

In light of the London Marathon last week and the sideshow of Mo Farah and his allegations at his press conference, it is well time for me to tell about my stay in Haile Gebrselassie's YaYa Africa Athletics Village Hotel. 
Last July I was busy preparing for my first marathon and I had scheduled a four night stopover in Addis Ababa on my trip home from Tanzania. As my running buddies joked about me getting  training tips from the Ethiopians I decided to Google "Running camp Addis Ababa". Top of the search results came YaYa Athletics Village owned by a famous Ethiopian runner, Haile Gebrselassie. Another Google search and I learned why exactly this man is considered a legend:

Gebrselassie had used his experiences competing around the world to design and build a chain of high standard hotels. One of these hotels was the YaYa Athletics Village. When I was booking last year, Mo Farah had just spent 3 months in residence there before competing in the London Marathon 2018.   

If it was good enough for Mo Farah, it would be good enough for me. So I booked in for a two night stay in the hope of learning all there is to learn about marathons!

YaYa Village is by all accounts a really nice hotel, with all the added athletics extras. I visited in July which is actually rainy season in that region of Ethiopia. It was considerably colder than Tanzania and on the two nights I stayed we had thunder, lightening and heavy rain which stopped the electricity for a about twenty minutes at a time. 
In the slideshow above you can see a gym, athletics track, swimming pool, walkways and if you look closely you can see outdoor exercise and circuit areas. 
Another hotel ammenity is the provision of a running buddy. You just tell reception what time you would like to go for a run and a running coach will meet you at reception to guide you. This is a free service.
At 12 noon after a healthy buffet breakfast I met my running buddy at reception.  After running with Mo Farah during his three month stay, I'm sure I was a bit of a challenge! However he was very patient, especially when the altitude hit me 30 minutes into the run.  This "high altitude" training centre is 2,700m above sea level and I was told as I tried to catch my breath that usually athletes acclimatise for at least a week before attempting a short run!
Nonetheless it's all about the photo and I can officially say I trained in Haile Gebrselassie's training camp. 

After my run I had a massage, I skipped the gym work and took it easy!
A major part of an athletes training is of course the food. Each meal had a large buffet full of fresh wholesome food. At night dinner was concluded with traditional coffee and snacks of popcorn. 

So what did I learn from my time (2 nights!) in the Ethiopian training camp?

• Drink Milk
• I'm not very fast
• Drink Milk
• No need for fancy stretches at the start of a run, just go
• Finally, drink lots of milk. 

The milk advice came from my running buddy, my taxi driver and basically everyone dispensing advice in YaYa Village! My stay definately added to my marathon experience and it is one I highly recommend for anyone passing through Ethiopia. 

I really regret not buying this book while at the hotel. I thought I'd easily pick up a copy in Addis Ababa -I was wrong.

Final words from Haile.