Sun, sea, sand and sweat – lots of it. If you need more than a book to stimulate you on holiday, follow Team GB and head to their training resort in Cyprus.

At the Coral Beach Hotel & Resort you’ll get a workout worthy of Olympians, followed by poolside cocktails.

The British Olympic Association and Team GB first used the hotel as a training base before the Athens Olympics in 2004 and have been coming back ever since.

Its facilities are so popular the British national swimming team stayed there last year.

Word has spread to the Netherlands and Norway, whose national teams also regularly use the hotel.

Many of the Paralympic teams come here to train and it’s also used by the French military.

But you don’t need to be an elite athlete or a psyched-up soldier to benefit from such well-regarded facilities – it’s open to the public.

Located just outside Paphos, in the south-west of Cyprus, the hotel is the largest on the island and boasts an open-air Olympic-size swimming pool, an Olympic training gym, a normal gym and enough fitness classes to keep you busy every hour of the day.

On hand to make sure you push yourself is sport supervisor Jason Smith and his team of personal trainers.

Give him notice, and Smith can design a bespoke training package to test any fitness level, while still giving you enough R&R to feel like you’ve had a holiday.

Our first session with Smith involves lengths in the Olympic pool, which was built specifically for Team GB in 2004.

It’s kept at 28C and Smith assures us this is the optimum temperature to keep athletes’ muscles ticking over as they train.

The German Paralympic team are in the next lane and I’m honoured to be training so close to them, if a little embarrassed by my thrashing front crawl in stark comparison to their effortless glides.

Athletes train for up to six hours a day, so after my swim it’s straight into the Olympic gym for circuit training.

There are no cross trainers or treadmills here, just lots of space and some seriously heavy weights. This is where Smith shows his military background, working us hard.

Metro Life health CyprusThe British swimming team have been regular visitors to the resort since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games

The next day, I’m hobbling around but no sooner have I chowed down on scrambled eggs (it takes a lot to avoid the fry-up and croissants at the breakfast buffet) and we’re out for a run through the town.

Military fitness training follows and, finally, Pilates on the patio overlooking the sea, before an afternoon off to enjoy the sun.

Those looking to channel their inner Victoria Pendleton should book with Bike Cyprus ( www.bikecyprus.com) for a tour of the Troodos mountains, two hours’ drive from Paphos.

Our instructor, Thomas Wegmuller, is a former professional cyclist who has entered the Tour de France three times and also represented the Swiss national team.

Thanks to a network of roads built by the British, which are hardly used by motorists, there are some delightful scenic routes for all levels.

The inclines are sometimes tough but the beauty of my surroundings spurs me on as Wegmuller takes us past waterfalls and picturesque churches.

Cyprus also has a big tennis programme, with courts at most hotels.

But the newly opened Annabel Croft Tennis Academy ( annabelcrofttennis.com) is where the wannabe pros come to test their balls skills.

Located in the Aphrodite Hills complex, just outside Paphos, the academy was set up in 2004 and has a mixture of clay and hard courts, which are all expertly maintained to top standards.

Head coach Wyn Lewis’s enthusiasm is infectious and he passes on lots of valuable tips – including that if you time your stay right, you could cross courts with a few of Croft’s professional buddies who come here to train.

With such dull weather in Britain, a week at the Coral Beach Hotel has let me mix business with pleasure.

I’m tanned and relaxed but I’ve worked hard and my muscles ache.

I don’t know about Team GB, but after the effort I’ve put in, I reckon I deserve a medal.

Metro

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