Turnbull is chasing the Olympic 1500m standard of 3:36.60

Gareth Turnbull may race next at the Loughborough International meeting on 18 May after his current training stint in Portugal.

Turnbull has joined several other Irish hopefuls for Beijing at a training camp in Monte Gordo in the Algarve.

"I'm getting into the fun part of training now, with less miles and more track work," Turnbull told BBC Sport.

"Hopefully at the end of this fortnight here in Portugal, I should almost be ready to race."

Turnbull has provisionally entered the Loughborough meeting but it's not 100 per cent certain that he will be in action at his former university.

"It's going to require a good, solid run somewhere local or national to gain entry into a decent race in Europe, but that's the way it works for nearly everyone these days," he added.

Turnbull recently returned from a training stint in the US which included a couple of low-key races, although one planned outing didn't take place because the meeting had to be abandoned as a result of bad weather.

"America went well, although another race out there would have been nice."

Turnbull needs to run 3:36.60 this season to qualify for the Olympics.

His personal best, set in 2003, is exactly the same time as the Beijing standard.