Lake Wants Greater Heights

Lake Wants Greater Heights

Athletics Weekly: How has your training evolved since your move to Loughborough University and the UKA coaching set-up there and your new coach Fuzz Caan?

Morgan Lake: It’s definitely changed – a new coach, new training group, new environment and I’m solely doing high jump this year, so it’s completely changed to be honest.

AW: So, in terms of your training load has it reduced since your multi-event days?

ML: Yes, definitely the training load has dropped off, but I’m still training five or six times a week. I suppose the quality is that much higher now than when I was doing heptathlon. I have more time to spend doing the gym stuff; more time to work on technique and plyometrics. Obviously, I’ve taken out the 800m training and lactate work and horrible sessions like that although strangely, I do miss that kind of winter work, but I’m still getting a lot of work in.

AW: How many technical sessions do you do a week?

ML: We do three technical sessions a week and specifically we will jump on two days out of those three and the other session will focus on run-ups.

AW: Have you made changes to your technique since the change of coaching set-up?

ML: I have changed my run-up this year. I went from a rolling eight-stride approach to a standing 10. So, that’s quite a big change, as it means I’m getting quite a bit of speed into the bar, which is good, but it also means that I need the strength to cope with that.

(Lake went on to talk about how the new approach needs growing into and the specifics of the timing needed for the new run-up, especially in the light of having used the old run-up for so long.)