Last week, however, this dream came as close to reality as I could possibly imagine as I made my way to the National Football Centre at St George's Park to be put through my paces by the United States' own Michael Johnson.

The four-time Olympic champion and world 400 metres record holder was in the UK with Michael Johnson Performance, a special training camp for elite athletes started eight years ago in the Unites States.

Since its inauguration, the sprinter has opened up centres across the world, with each designed to enhance the "athleticism" of elite performers in an effort to produce better performances in their particular sport.

Lucky for me, and the dozen or so media colleagues who had made the trip to Burton-Upon-Trent, we were given the chance to have a taste of the "Pre-Season Camp" put on for a number of footballers who were hoping to get a head start for the up and coming season.

Arriving at the lowest trough of my sporting career, I was hardly brimming with confidence as I ticked box after box confirming my appropriate "fitness" to proceed with the day's antics. Even my youthful advantage over the majority of my fellow participants gave me little comfort as I painfully gave my life to Michael and his group of hardy-looking coaches.

The pre-season camp gave some of England's professional footballers an opportunity to gain some extra training ahead of the up and coming season ©ITG



After a quick cup of tea to settle the nerves, we headed to the pitch to check out the "pros in action" with the likes of Bolton Wanderers striker Marvin Sordell and Ipswich Town duo Tyrone Mings and Frank Nouble.

Despite being a camp for footballers, this session, held under the watchful eye of friendly American coach Lance Walker, was all about athleticism. Speed, acceleration, agility and reactions were top of the order, with not a ball in sight.

"Ninety-eight per cent of the work on the pitch is without the ball," screamed Walker, as if in answer to my impending question.

"This is about getting to the ball. What you do on the ball is of no interest to me," he added bluntly.

"We're covering the stuff Spain was exposed for at the World Cup." - Fair enough.

After a brief showing of how it should be done, we trudged back inside to undergo a set of performance tests for ourselves.

Led by sport's scientists and coaches of Perform, we split into groups of four ready to have our bodies mocked and weaknesses exposed inside the lab-like gym.

A series of strength, balance and flexibilty tests gave an overview on our strengths and weaknesses going into the day's activities ©ITG



First up was a jumping test. Simple enough. We took it in turns to step inside a laser grid, bend our knees and jump. Perfect! Something I couldn't be bad at; surely.

As it came to my turn I stepped inside and, with a renewed sense of confidence, leapt - soaring as only Michael Jordan himself could. As I landed, smug grin on my face, I began walking back to join the others, arms rolling by my sides with more swag than Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Okay Paul, can you come back and show us your starting position please." - "Oh no."

It turns out my posture was all wrong. Bent back, body leaning forward, all my momentum was pushing me forwards instead of up.

This, according to the coach, can tell him all he needs to know about how fast a person is; how quickly they will accelerate; and, after a couple of other jumps, how prone they are to injury.

Needless to say, I was slow. Not just off the blocks, but in general. What I thought was a respectable height of around 26 centimetres was around half of that recorded by an elite athlete.

My failings aside, the other tests were as interesting as the first. A Y-Balance beam showed how dynamically stable and flexible you were, with athletes using their feet to push a block across a ruler to the furthest distance possible. Obviously the further you pushed each block, the more flexible you were, but the test also proved the likelihood of an injury by looking at the asymmetry between your left and right legs.

If you could push the block a lot further one side, then it was likely that your body was asymmetric, leading to a training programme devised to rectify the problem. A crucial factor when it comes to elite competition.

After we'd had enough of the tests, or the coaches had simply had enough of us, it was time to head inside the dome and the artificial football pitch that waited beyond.

Here we were joined by Michael Johnson himself. Actually, make that two Michael Johnsons as the former Birmingham City defender of the same name jumped on board to participate in the exercises.

Michael Johnson was joined by Michael Johnson as the exercises got underway on the artificial pitch inside the National Football Centre's dome ©Macesport



Johnson, (the Olympian), and his team of coaches, then put us through our paces in a series of warm-up exercises aimed at improving our technique and acceleration.

First up were simple jogging, skipping, and zig-zag drills before we moved onto the ladders. Each exercise was based on technique; looking to teach the correct motions we should put our bodies through when looking to gain maximum efficiency in our movement.

Under the guidance of the coaches, and the watchful eye of Johnson, the exercises proved tougher and more bizarre, before a final 50 metre sprint ensured we tied everything we'd learned into one final package.

"I know the pressure is on, there are cameras around and you don't want to be beaten by your colleagues. But don't forget all you have learned and go back to how you used to run. Use the techniques and they will work," was the final piece of advice by the American great.

Dripping in sweat despite the minimal distance we'd covered, the hard work was now over and it was finally time for my favourite part of any session, the pool.

First up was the viro-pool, a swimming pool of variable depth from 1.2 metres to 1.8m depending on the heights of those who used it. Here we completed a number of cool down exercises to rid our aching bodies of the impending lactic acid build-up.

In the pool, we were shown a series of exercises to help stretch out the muscles and rid our bodies of the building lactic acid from the day's events ©Macesport



Standing gallantly in the corner of the room was the underwater treadmill, and it was here where we headed next.

The £250,000 ($429,000/€314,000) piece of kit allows recovering athletes to complete their necessary cardio training while preventing any further damage to their limbs. Running in water is a lot less stressful on your limbs, making it the perfect environment to regain fitness while minimising the likelihood of creating further injury. In fact, Mo Farah completes a number of his weekly miles on an underwater treadmill in order to reduce the risk of injury during his intensive training schedule, according to our handy source at the centre.

After a quick jog on the machine it was time for a dip in the contrast pools. Something no one in the group had been particularly looking forward to.

We were told to walk through the freezing cold pool first where we would stay for two minutes. With the temperature somewhere between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius, this was a lot harder than you may think, a detail not missed by anyone brave enough to test the waters.

After two minutes of agony we resided to the 38 degree hot tub while the second group braved the cold before repeating the process again - this time with the addition of 10 squats to really test the will.

My fellow media colleagues and I had a dip in the freezing cold waters of the contrast pool in an effort to reduce the swelling and any injuries we may have picked up throughout the day ©Macesport



Feeling utterly sorry for ourselves, it was here that the coach told us that elite athletes would repeat the process five times, while England's national team spent a full 10 minutes in the icy misery as part of their pre-World Cup preparations. Maybe it's not as effective as it seems...

Finally it was time to hit the showers. My stint of elitism was over and it was back to the real world where one can only pander after the specialised training and equipment used by our sporting greats every day.

At least the following morning's aches and pains reminded me of my time in the spotlight, and what life could have been.

Paul Osborne is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.