Running Alien

First active holiday… Club La Santa

Until this year holiday mean total disconnection from work and also from my sporting activities (exceptions being only the skiing trips). I know people who take their running gear on holidays so that they could still go for a run… not me! The only running I was doing on holidays was from a sightseeing place to another…

Somewhere last year while browsing Instagram through various athlete profiles I ran for the first time into Club La Santa. And then again and again… so I’ve decided to try to find out more about this resort which seems to be pretty popular with both amateur and professional athletes.

So in case you didn’t hear about Club La Santa before, probably the best way to describe it is sports all-inclusive! Think tennis, squash, swimming (3 Olympic size swimming pools), athletics track, cycling, golf, wind surfing, SUP, kayaking and many more (including all sort of classes) all included in the price of the accommodation. More on what you can do at Club La Santa here.

Probably if you have a sporty partner is pretty easy to convince her/him to join you for visit to such a place… My lucky break came when my girlfriend said she want a holiday in the sun in the middle of the Dutch winter. My proposal? Lanzarote… ahhh Club La Santa? ๐Ÿ˜€

Surprisingly enough she agreed and also surprisingly we managed to find accommodation on a very short notice…

So without too much planning on the 24th of January we landed in Lanzarote and headed for a 1 week holiday at Club La Santa.

Although the initial thought was that the first day will be for blending in, getting used to where the different sport areas are and some chilling, as soon as we arrived there we realized that we don’t want to waste time and would like to make use of the facilities as much as possible. So many things to do for only one week ๐Ÿ™‚

Based on your preferences you can either join the activities organized by Club La Santa (they issue a weekly schedule of classes and events) or you can arrange your own activities (although you must make sure that it won’t interfere with the activities organized by the club).

In order to join classes and events you must book them via the smartphone app (WiFi is freely available in all club premises) or at the various sports booking centers. At the beginning of the holiday each person gets 250 points which can be used to book classes and events (some are free). This way you can have a busy schedule, but you’ll not be able to go crazy and book everything – thus giving others the chance to participate as well. Once you participate in the event the points you “spent” for the booking are returned to your account and you can plan the next class/event.

There are events and classes for everyone (from beginner to advanced) and for all sports: we’ve tried golf, participated in intro classes for tennis and squash, did SUP (StandUp Paddling), went to some group runs and even participated in a friendly 10k running competition. We booked mountain bikes for an off-road ride in the area and I’ve been doing my first hills rideย and also had my first group ride thanks to the events organized by the club (cycling through the Timanfaya national park is quite an experience). The 3 Olympic size swimming pools available (you can just go and have a swim at time during their opening hours) meant I’ve had some great outdoor swimming sessions. I even went to a group class where for 1 hour I’ve used a foam roller basically on almost every piece of my body – a class which was way more interesting and useful than I initially thought.

And… yeah, I shouldn’t forget the massages at the spa center… it was without any doubt the best sports massage I’ve ever had – in 50 minutes David pulled, pushed, massaged leg muscles I never knew I have and gave me at the end some tips on how to strech them… Thanks David!

Since the club is in a rather remote area we’ve decided to go for the full board option – most probably next time we’ll visit the club we’ll book half-board only. It will gives us more flexibility for the lunch time activities and there are on premise restaurants which over a good menu for lunch.

This being said, I must add that this was probably one of the best holidays I’ve had so far (and even my girlfriend really enjoyed it). It’s no doubt we’ll be back for more ๐Ÿ™‚

Below you can find some pictures taken during our stay at Club La Santa.

Thanks Club La Santa for a great holiday and thank you for reading this!