Training With The Belles

What an honour, what a privilege! As a male ‘non Belle’ and be allowed to partake in yesterdays training session was a real eye-opener, to see first hand what these girls get up to on a Sunday once they get together was a real experience. If you’ve been following these blogs then you’ve heard what the Belles have to say – now you can hear from a neutral inside the training camp.

As the Belles gathered together around lunchtime I was immediately made aware of the importance of warming up correctly so, to ease us into the next three hours of intense activity, the Belles opened a bottle of nicely chilled Cava. This early session of warming up clearly has much importance attached to it – ten minutes into warming up and clearly keen not to make any mistakes or cause injury, a second bottle of Cava was opened. “These Belles are nothing if not thorough” I thought to myself.

Once the Cava warm up session was over things started to get serious. The Belles took up position around the dining table and once locked into the correct posture more wine followed, not just a single colour though, oh no – that would have been far too easy. Before my very eyes several bottles of Merlot and Pinot Grigio were being placed around the table and the Belles pushed on. “How much more can these girls take?” I wondered and it wasn’t long before I found out.

Roast beef, slow oven cooked lamb in balsamic vinegar and rosemary, vegetarian lasagnes, roasted potatoes and parsnips, gravy, and Yorkshire puddings were served to really test the stamina of these disciplined and intense athletes. I could tell the Belles were finding this part of the training session quite tough as they kept having to stop for drinks, mostly Merlot and Pinot Grigio.

I was expecting ‘burn out’ any minute, this had turned into an intense session and I was struggling to keep up but I was yet again left in awe when the trifle, plum crumble, ice cream, and custard arrived. How these girls can stay that focused for this long was beyond comprehension.

Just as I thought they’d pushed too hard and were about to run out of steam more wine and a decanter of port was lifted into the training area by Vicky. “Get some of that down you” was the cry. Clearly these girls achieve greatness by pushing each other on to new levels of achievement. Teamwork at it’s best.



At last it appeared to be over, these girls had been at it solid for three hours and I for one stand in admiration. I’d heard how hard these girls trained and now I’d seen it for myself – this was the stuff of dreams, super heroes in the making, dedication beyond the norm. But…my admiration was premature – boxes of chocolate nibbles hit the table just about the same time as the cheese and biscuits arrived – cheddar, stilton, and brie – this top training session was still not over. I sat in stunned silence – how do these girls do this week after week?

Finally coffee arrived and plates were taken away – the finishing tape was in sight and the pain barrier had been taken head on by the Belles and made to look like nothing. An invincible demonstration of what four determined girls can achieve.

Now I know what the Belles are all about, commitment, training, dedication – I often wondered what they did and to be honest once or twice suspected they might be nipping off to the nearest coffee shop and sitting it out.

How wrong could I be?

Steve