At 8,000 feet about sea level in the Kenyan Rift Valley, Ross Murray caused quite a stir.

During the recent British Athletics Endurance Camp, the 2012 Olympian was taking a stroll around a market in Iten when a group of local traders asked him what the mark on his arm was. Murray replied it was a tattoo, the group looked somewhat blank.

“The lady asked me to explain what a tattoo is and then asked can you wash it off? I said no and she was like not even with soap. Then they tried to rub it off my arm!”

The Newcastle-born athlete spent four weeks training at the High Altitude Training Centre in Iten as part of an altitude research project named Project Pinnacle.

“It was a really good trip for me,” said the 1500m runner. “I went out there pretty unfit following my hernia operation. I hadn’t done any proper training for around two months. I managed to turn it around and come back pretty fit.

“As everyone knows you get an extra production of red blood cells when training at altitude but for me the benefits of Kenya come from the environment that you’re in. Running up and down the hills get you stronger, the constant physio support allows you to train harder and being really focussed with things such as diet. It’s a really good thing to do in short three to four week doses.”

Since his breakthrough in 2012, Murray’s progress has been stalled due to injury and illness. However he is determined to get back on track in 2015.

“Things are going well and hopefully I can keep the momentum over Christmas before I go back out to Kenya in January. The aim is to be back where I was at in 2012.

“I just want to get back competing on the circuit, get close to my personal best but ideally run a PB. I want to run A standards and make teams. That will tick my boxes after the tough couple of years I’ve had with injury and illness.”

Running Research Needs YOU!

Project Pinnacle needs YOU! The British Athletics and the English Institute of Sport (EIS) research partnership needs recruits to get involved in the project.

The aim of the innovative research partnership is to provide top endurance coaches and athletes with findings to improve elements of their training and competitive strategies, in a bid to maximise performance.

Working across three areas; altitude, running economy and tapering, three PhD students working with the EIS will undertake specific studies to answer performance questions over the coming 6 months.

Two of the studies are looking for further recruits:

Enhance your running economy: we are offering a unique winter training programme specifically designed to enhance race performance. You will be invited to EIS world class performance laboratories to perform individualised training sessions, in addition to receiving in depth analysis and feedback about their physiology from EIS experts working with the British Athletics endurance programme.

We’re looking for talented male distance runners, competing in race distances of 800m up to marathon, with at least one year’s training behind them, who can use these lab sessions over an 11 week period as part of their winter training. EIS High Performance Labs in Loughborough and Manchester will be used and as well as the insight and advice on offer, other incentives will be made available. Please contact Andrew Shaw andrew.shaw@eis2win.co.uk for more information.

Maximise your race day performance: we are providing athletes with the chance to identify the best individualised tapering strategy to use ahead of competition. Through monitoring your usual training through a training watch and system on offer to participants, two different types of tapering programme will then be used followed by an indoor 1500m test, to identify the best tactics for you.

We’re looking for 18-30 year old male athletes, with at least two years training history and a constant volume of training for 6-8 weeks before taking part. We’re looking at around sub 4 minutes for 1500m or sub 2 minutes for 800m (although times outside of this will be considered). Please contact Kate Spilsbury kate.spilsbury@eis2win.co.uk for more information.