Long jumper Tomlinson has his work cut out

Last week, however, the Middlesbrough- born long jumper had a much tougher task – he had to teach me how to long jump like a professional.

Him, the reigning British record holder, a World Indoor silver medallist and someone who has finished fifth at an Olympic Games. Me, an unfit journalist who seems to recall once coming fourth in the long jump at Wolsingham Comprehensive School sports day...out of five competitors. Clearly, he was going to have his work cut out.

Now, forgive my ignorance, but I always thought the long jump was about running and jumping into a pit. So after changing into my vintage PE kit at Gateshead International Stadium’s impressive indoor athletics arena, I casually strode over to the long jump runway.

“Where do you think you’re going,” asked Chris. “I thought we were here to do the long jump,” I replied. “Yeah, but you’re going to do it properly,”

he said. “And that means a warm up first.”

I still play a bit of five-a-side football, so for me, a warm up means a quick jog from one end of the court to the other, a couple of stretches which are little more than an unsuccessful attempt to touch my toes and a 60-second natter about what was on TV last night.

But if you’re about to start an Olympic final, the phrase ‘warm up’ means something completely different.

First, there was jogging.

Then, there was sprinting.

Then, there was jogging interspersed with sprinting. Then, there was something I really couldn’t fathom which seemed to involve lifting your knees up into your chest and flinging your arms around in the manner of a drowning man calling for help, but which was still interspersed with the now obligatory jogging and sprinting.

Never has one unfit man breathed so hard and so often.

Still, at least we were finished weren’t we? “Right, stretches now, and this is where the warm up really starts.” Starts? If I had been any warmer by that stage I would have been baked.

Nevertheless, the next ten minutes saw me flexing parts of my body I never knew flexed. Long jumping might look simple, but it actually places an immense physical strain on muscles and tendons that are generally underused.

The force a long jumper places on his knees and calves as he springs off the takeoff board is higher than almost any other in the whole of athletics, and as Tomlinson knows to his cost, injuries are common thanks to the relentless pounding that occurs during the course of a season.

Groin, hamstring and calf muscles are particularly susceptible, and if Tomlinson knows he is carrying a slight niggle in any area, he will spend up to 15 minutes warming up that part of his body alone.

“And it’s very rare that any athlete is 100 per cent fit when they compete,” said the Teessider. “If they tell you they are, they’re either just coming back from an injury or they’re lying.”

I wasn’t coming back from an injury, but I was certainly lying when I told him I felt okay after a two-minute rotation of my hips.

Warm up completed, though, I was ready to go. Or at least I thought I was. “What leg do you long jump off,”

asked Tomlinson.

Now as far as questions go, that’s not exactly a common one. ‘What’s your name’, maybe. ‘What’s gone wrong at Newcastle United,’ I could have been there for hours. But ‘What leg do you long jump off’. I said the only thing I could think to say, ‘Whichever one hits the board’.

That was certainly the way I used to operate in my school days, but things are actually much more scientific.

If you’re a right-footed pub footballer, like me, you should take off on your left foot when you long jump as that’s your standing foot when you’re shooting in football and therefore it should be used to taking more weight.

All fine and dandy, except for the fact that if you’re naturally right footed, you tend to want to take off on your right.

“It took me quite a while to get my head round that as well,”

said Tomlinson. Great news given that I had ten-or-so jumps to prove my worth.

“Now different long jumpers have different run ups, but mine is 55 metres – do you want to try that?” Fifty-five metres? That’s not a run up, it’s a day trip.

I can honestly say I’ve been on full-day excursions that have taken me less than 55m, but that is the distance required to enable Tomlinson to hit full sprinting speed before he arrives at the board.

“How’s about 10m,” I suggested hopefully. In the end, we settled at 25. “Don’t think about it, just do it,” he said.

And that’s what I did. I didn’t think about anything – as was apparent from my take off at least half-a-metre beyond the take-off board. “Maybe we’ll push that run up out a bit more,” said Tomlinson, who was barely able to suppress a chuckle.

Attempt two was legal – just – and left me feeling rather pleased with myself, even it was 10cm or so less than my fellow jumper from the Shields Gazette. It measured 4.31m, but Tomlinson felt I could do better if I ironed out a few flaws.

“You’re stuttering in your run when you’re approaching the board, and that’s losing you lots of speed at take off,”

he said. “And you’re hanging quite high, whereas the best jumps for someone like you tend to be quick and flat.”

Jumps three, four and five involved stutters, but number six was a belter, extending my personal best to 4.57m.

“We’ll do two more,” said Tomlinson. “And this time, look away from the board in the last two strides and don’t worry about over-stepping it.”

Believe it or not, long jumpers aren’t supposed to look at the board as they jump.

“Once you’ve done it a few times,” said the world number one. “You just know it’s there.

Although if you’ve already done two no jumps, it’s safe to say you’ll be having a peek.”

Jump seven was a no jump, but effort eight was the best of the lot. “That one we’ll measure for keeps,” said Tomlinson, and with the tape not exactly tight, it came in at 4.71m.

I knew Tomlinson’s current British record stood at 8.29m, and I knew he’d jumped 8.23m in Germany at the end of last month, but for a 30-year-old novice, I honestly didn’t think it was bad.

“It’s certainly improved,” he said. “Although I was working with a group of 14-year-olds down in north London last week and one of them jumped exactly six metres.”

Tired, sore and beaten by a schoolboy who was only 14.

Next time someone suggests training with an Olympic athlete, I’ll tell them to take a running jump.

■ Watch Chris Tomlinson competing with other top athletes at the Aviva British Grand Prix at Gateshead International Stadium on Monday, August 31. To book your tickets visit www.uka.org.uk or call 08000 556 056