Paul Prothero - founder of Great Outdoor Fitness - Reigate and Cheam. 

Going on holiday is seen by many to be the perfect time to rest the body. However, some of us see it as a time to train with a regularity that everyday life doesn't always make possible,

I find incorporating the facilities and the local area into my holiday training is the best way to achieve a solid workout routine whilst away.

We often want to explore where we are staying, running around the local area is often ideal, although the first few runs will generally need to be a little slower due to often being in warmer conditions. With that in mind I train either before breakfast or early evening before dinner. Both options will give advantages in terms of not overindulging or drinking too much.

Once you know the area and have acclimatised a little, you can begin to build in some speedwork. Presuming you don’t have access to a track, the two types of sessions I would recommend are tempo runs or intervals. Tempo runs are simple, warm up at an easy pace for 10-15 minutes, then run at a tempo pace for as long as you desire then cool down at an easy pace for a further 10-15 minutes.

Intervals can be kept just as simple. Begin with a simple warm up run then do 10 sets alternating between 2 minutes fast pace, 1 minute slow pace. Again finish with a cool down. Throughout a week, doing 2-3 speed sessions and running at an easy pace on the other days should see you returning home in better shape than when you left.

So, with running covered, what about other aspects of your fitness? Most of us when we go on our summer holidays will have access to a swimming pool, my advice is to use it. Swimming is excellent for general fitness and keeping your body balanced.

A typical holiday weeks workout for me looks like this:

Day 1: Easy run
Day 2: 30 min morning swim, 45 minute evening run
Day 3: 30 min morning temp run
Day 4: 30 minute morning swim
Day 5: 75 minute morning run
Day 6: 30 minute morning swim, evening interval run
Day 7: 60 min morning easy run

Some would say that i’m meant to be on holiday and that this is excessive, but I disagree. Fitness is not only good for the body but the mind as well. Training regularly will keep me mentally happy, mean I can indulge a little more at the buffet and prevent me from having to play catch up when I get home.