CEBU CITY — Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal is leaving her training camp in Italy for an intensive high-altitude workout in Switzerland.
Tabal, who has been reinstated to the national team and will represent the Philippines in the women’s marathon in the Southeast Asian Games, will train for three weeks in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She will be joined by the other elite runners of the Tuscany Training Camp in Siena, Italy.
“We will be staying there for three weeks. This will serve as the peak of my training,” Tabal said on Tuesday.
She won the silver medal in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games and will be going for the gold medal in this year’s edition in Kuala Lumpur.
St. Mortiz is situated at 5,000 feet above sea level and the high-altitude training, which is Tabal’s first, can further boost her chances of going for the gold medal.
Experts say that for every week of training in high altitude, there is a one percent increase in the levels of hemoglobin.
“This is my first time to train in high altitude. So, I’m excited but I know it won’t be easy,” said Tabal.
Tabal won the silver medal in 2015 with a time of 3:04:39, a minute and 14 seconds behind gold medalist Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand.
Tabal’s SEAG finish was way off her personal best at that time, which was 2:48. She reset her career best in the marathon when she ran the Scottiabank Ottawa Marathon last year in 2:43:29. LBG/MP/PNA-northboundasia.com