Charlie Grice - In his own words: 

“Hi everyone my name is Charlie Grice. I am a 17 year old athlete from Brighton, a member of Phoenix Athletic Club. Steve Ovett used to belong to this club and my coach Jon Bigg used to train with him.

I started running when I was in year 5 at Primary School and joined a cross country club after school running around football fields with the purpose to improve my fitness for football because I had dreams of being a professional football player. I represented my county and played football to a high level. My school entered me to a school's cross country race which I won, despite only running once a week, beating boys who were already at a club. I was approached by Phoenix and asked if I would like to join them. 

For a few years I combined the two sports but found that I was forever getting injured playing football as I was playing central midfield - a very physical position. It got to the stage where I had to make a decision which path I would go down - Athletics or Football. I chose athletics and am glad of the decision I made! Last year I represented Great Britain in the European Youth Olympic Trials in Moscow and surprised everyone by coming 2nd and gaining a silver medal. I then went on to represent GB and Europe at the Youth Olympics in Singapore which was a big honour and amazing experience. I exceeded all expectations and came third, beating the boy who beat me in Moscow. I find I really enjoy the challenge of big races and competing is what it is all about for me. I constantly set goals for myself and strive to be the best wherever possible. 

In 2011 my goal is to represent Great Britain at the European Junior Championships which are to be held in Estonia in late July. This will not be easy because I have moved up an age group from a Youth to a Junior and this is the under 20 age group and I am still 17. 

I am very grateful of the support Truffles have given me over the last few years.”

You can find our more about Charlie by visiting his website and blog at www.charliegrice.com

Latest Update from Charlie Grice

am sorry it has been so long since my last blog but I have been really busy with exams and competing in races with quite a lot travelling in-between.  It is a real challenge combining the two and all my spare time (after training) has been taken up with studying!

I am pleased to report that all has been going really well for me, and I have recently competed for both GB and the UK at international cross country events (a first for me) so here is my news:

I was keen to see how I performed after the high altitude training so a couple of team mates and I went to race at a local parkrun. Parkrun is a 5km fun run which is held every Saturday morning at 9am at various local parks around the country. It gets people up and out on a Saturday and it’s a great way to test your fitness as it is accurate chip timing. I wanted to test myself on my previous time which was last year at Brighton's Parkrun, so I asked a couple of the guys at my club if they were up for joining me. Three of us turned up including Ben Tickner, Jon Pepper and myself. Ben and Jon are very good 5k/10k runners so I knew I would have a great race and had planned to try and stay with them for as long as possible! The pace started off very quick and I knew it would be a case of hanging on and staying focused in the last third of the race when I would be out of my comfort zone. We came 1st, 2nd and 3rd (myself coming third). We all broke the previous record and ran personal bests so it was a successful outing. I knocked over a minute off my previous time and achieved the 15-19 year old course record and also broke the previous adult course record, so I think it is safe to say that the altitude training is paying off!

I travelled to Brussels with the England team in December to take part in the Lotto Cross Cup which is a series of races in the Netherlands/Belgium. England athletics took Junior and Senior teams to this race (4 in each category). I was really looking forward to this race after a couple of tough weeks at college! It was my first race for England over cross country and it shows how much I have improved over the last year. We travelled out on Saturday morning from St Pancras by Eurostar which was very efficient dropping us off at Brussels and then taking a couple of tube stations to the very nice hotel we were staying in, right in the middle of the city. The race was on Sunday and we were returning on Monday morning so it was a very short trip!

When it came to race day I knew that Brussels is notoriously muddy and cold! Last year it snowed and it was snowing before my race although luckily it did not settle. I was in the Junior Men’s race, running with guys that could potentially be 19 years old. The race was 6km and extremely muddy! I was literally covered from head to toe and I even had mud all over my face!  Unlike any cross country races in the UK, the loops were 1km long!  We had 6 laps to do which got a bit tedious but I didn't mind it because I am a 1500m runner it feels quite quick and I can split the race up in my head quite nicely. There was also a bell for the signal of the last lap which was pretty cool as that only happens in track races! The race was tough, with a couple of hills. I started off in 9th place and worked my way through pacing myself nicely and moving through to 6th. I then overtook a couple of people up the last hill before striding out downhill to get 4th place. I came 2nd for the England team which was above where I was expected to come so I was pleased. It was nice to be in the England team as so much of this sport is individual and the other 3 guys that were in my team all knew each other and had a good camaraderie for each other.

Brussels is such a cool place this time of year that is why the race is so popular throughout Europe.

I was picked to race in Edinburgh for Great Britain in an International race against USA and Europe on January 7th in the Junior men’s race. Each team had 6 runners and the first four from each team were the scorers.

Each team had 6 runners and the first four from each team were the scorers.

It was a quick trip; I left the afternoon before the race and flew from Gatwick which was nice and hassle free. I didn't get to see much of Edinburgh which was a shame as it looked like a cool place. My flight was booked for the evening after the race. I ran well and came 13th out of 70 athletes. The race started off very quickly and I found myself near the front in the top 6 only to find myself dropping back in the last third of the race. The course was long (6.8k) and very muddy which doesn't suit me. All in all it was a good performance for me and I reached my target which was to score for the GB team by coming in the top 4 and even better that overall the Team GB won the match.

I am really pleased that during the last couple of weeks I have started indoor racing. The indoor season is mainly for sprinters during the winter but the events go up to 3000m and in some cases 5000m. The indoor track is 200m long compared to the outdoor tracks of 400m so it is a different type of racing and there are also embankments on the bends. The atmospheres at indoor arenas are great because the crowd are much closer to the track and it's warm inside!  We decided to give it a try, partly because I have always wanted to do it and also to see how quick I can run off cross country training.

The first race I did was quite a big one, the South of England Indoor Championships in London. I raced the under 20 men 1500m and I won it in style in a new Championship record! I couldn’t really ask for more than that in my first attempt.

The following week I raced at the 800m in the London Indoor Games at the same venue as the previous week but in a senior competition. Although I went into the race confident I was a bit apprehensive about this as I had only done 2 speed sessions prior to this. I relaxed through the early stages and was 3rd for the first 400m and then kicked on for home with 400m to go. I felt really strong and came through in first in a time that both I and Jon were pleased with.

Here is a video of my 800m race: 

http://www.athleticos.org/coverage/247872-2012-London-Indoor-Games/video/591272-Senior-Men-800m-Race-1

This weekend (11th + 12th Feb) I have the main race of the winter season at the National Senior Indoor Championships in Sheffield which are also the GB Trials for the World Indoor Championships which are held every 2 years and this year they are to be held in Istanbul. To qualify for this Championship you must run the qualifying time and also be placed in the top 2 in the race at the weekend. I will be racing the 1500m and will be staying up in Sheffield for two nights which is quite a way to travel from the south coast! The final is on Sunday at 2:40pm and the race will be shown live on Channel 4, so I hope you will see me there toeing the start line!

This will be a tough competition for me as it's my first Senior Championship but I am really looking forward to the challenge of running with the big boys - it's what I need!

Hope you have enjoyed reading all my news.

Bye for now

Charlie

Update from athlete Charlie Grice in Kenya

Hi Truffles

As I said in my last blog that I will be blogging from Kenya, well here I am! I am now in my last week of the camp that has been 4 weeks long and I am loving every minute of it. I came to Kenya not really knowing what to expect. I am staying in Iten which is 40minutes away from Eldoret. It is very poor but the place I am staying in is like a bubble compared to the rest of Kenya(the camp is very secure and many international athletes come and stay).

The camp is owned by Lornah Kiplagat who is former World Champion for marathon. Lornah's husband and her have built a great training facility, there is accomodation for around 40 people in lodges and there are 2 main dining areas aswell as a big gym which is very well equipt. UK Athletics have taken out 20 athletes and 5 staff including 2 physios, 2 coaches and 1 physiologist, there were 2 departure dates ; I was on the first flight. I spent the first 2 weeks with my own room which was good but it did get a bit boring and I am now sharing with James Shane who I am getting along with really well. He won the national senior champs this year so it is good to do some training with him.

For the first week we all just did easy running and no sessions because we had to acclimatise to the altitude. We got weighed everyday to check we weren't losing too much weight and we also got our blood saturation levels to see how much oxygen there is in your blood. A typical day consists of waking up at 7am, meeting for a run at 7:30 and then another run at 5pm. In the middle of the day I would either do weights/stretch/college work and sleep! If I am doing a session I will have breakfast at 7:30 before running at 9am. There is a big emphasis on training and resting which is ideal for running. Everyone has their own individual schedule which they are running to but all our easy/steady running are done together as there is a group ethos to the camp. It's great meeting new people and running with them especially learning off them as there are some top quality athletes here. Before I came I only knew a couple of people and know I have made lots of new friends. There are lots of good trails on our doorstep which make good running. There are also lots of winding hills which makes running as tough especially as there is less oxygen up here at 2400m above sea level.

The weather here has been a bit disappointing. It has rained quite a bit in the evenings especially. This is very unusual for this time of year and it makes the running on the trails very difficult because they become very muddy and slippery. I feel I have benefited a lot from being out here, as there are no distractions the focus is completely on training, eating the right things and looking after your body. I go the the gym and I see about 10 international athletes all working out hard, it is motivating.

I had my birthday on the 7th November which was pretty weird but I enjoyed it! I was pretty chuffed as the guys had bought me a card and the chefs made me a big cake in the evening and it was a bit different to a normal evening meal! The lifestyle here is pretty tough , the food is very healthy and there isn't much to do here so some people get restless.

I am starting to feel very fit compared to when I arrived here. When I run it feels easier and I am looking very much forward to racing when I get back as I am told it will feel a lot easier. I am racing a cross country in Liverpool 3 days after I get back so I am hoping that I will put in a good performance there.

Bye for now

Charlie