#WorkoutWednesday: Raymond Martin

Multiple Paralympic and world champion Raymond Martin takes on the 100m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m T52 at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Mesa, USA this week (15-16 May).

The American won world gold over each of these distances in Lyon in 2013 – as well as triumphing in the 200m T52 – becoming the first male para-athlete to win five gold medals at a single event.

Martin is sure to be hard to beat this week having continued his winning form in London, Great Britain, last month with victory at the IPC Athletics World Marathon Championships.

Here the 21-year-old’s ‘Workout Wednesday’ gives an insight into what makes him such a prolific winner on the track and on the roads.

Raymond Martin’s #WorkoutWednesday

I’m a full time student at the University of Illinois and train before classes – so how easy I find getting out of bed depends on what’s happening that week.

Adam Bleakney our coach has harder and softer weeks, and if I have a lot of university tests coming up sometimes I have to set two alarms just to get out of bed for training. Other times I am really excited to get up and on with my day – I’ll be up an hour before my alarm goes at 07:00.

I live in an apartment off campus – I did my time at the dorm and decided it was good to live by myself. It’s quieter so I get much more rest and I can get to bed at a reasonable time too to make sure I get my eight hours sleep.

We have training every morning at 08:15. I’m bouncing a lot in my chair so I can’t actually have a heavy breakfast beforehand, I usually have a shake or something really light.

We push to the track - it’s about a mile away, which is a nice little warm up. Then we train for 40-50 minutes. We might do a long steady session on the track, or it might be a lot of repeats and high intensity stuff. It depends where Adam wants us to be in terms of our competition schedule too. There is a huge group of us, more than 20, so it is a little hectic on the track but we make it work and have a good time.

After training I go get some food – maybe a breakfast sandwich or bagel with sausage or bacon, egg and cheese. We work with a nutritionist and I made sure that was okay! I’ll have some fruit on the side – grapes are my favourite and coffee too – I’m a big coffee drinker. I have it after training, not before, otherwise it gets my heart racing too fast.

Then it’s straight to class for two or three hours. I’m studying calculus and chemistry, and I really enjoy it. I usually schedule my classes back-to-back so I’m not travelling all over the place every day. It is a huge university, there are about 30,000 undergrads and 10,000 graduates. I’m a junior – I’m in my third year with one to go.

I try to have an hour’s break for lunch, around noon. It’s not a long time since my breakfast but I’ll have something - maybe a salad, just to keep me going for our second training session. After lunch I have one or two more classes.

Our second session is typically on the roads. If we had an easier session in the morning then the afternoon will be harder, or vice versa. We tend to head south of campus because of the high volume of traffic. The University of Illinois racing team has been on the roads for about 20 years, so everyone in Champaign is used to seeing us. Sometimes we get some waves, and people are excited to see us.

After the 2012 Games in London I was the lead person for our home-coming parade. I was only 18, I’d just been to university for a few weeks, and here I was on billboards and the side of buses. I never did see that bus, but it was good to know that Champaign appreciates us Paralympians.

We are usually done by around 17:00, after about 10 miles on the roads. Then I head home to make dinner. I don’t multi-task when I’m eating – I won’t read a book or do any work. That downtime is important to me, because after that I’ll most likely have study or homework to do.

I’m a huge fan of meat – I do like a nice big steak, which I’ll top off with some sautéed spinach or vegetables and mashed potatoes which I love. Ice cream is my favourite dessert, so if I’ve had a particularly hard session I’ll treat myself.

I might call my parents, but my calculus and chemistry work takes up most evenings, so after I’ve finished that I go straight to bed. I try to be in bed by 23:00 at the latest. I’ve texted my friends before to say is it alright to go to bed at 20:30 at night because I’m so tired? The answer is yes!