Training Camps Revisited

Early season camps probably provide one of the biggest fitness and confidence boosts to the campers that attend them. The camps give folks a reason to train in the dark months of the year (need to “train to train”) and often times people realize their fitness is in much better shape than they might have expected. This is particularly the case with repeat campers; I usually see second-, third-, fourth-year campers really benefit as they have a better grasp of how to approach these training blocks.

Whether you are attending one of our camps or any of the other camps popping up in Tucson and Southern California, I’ll offer up some advice:

1. Everyone that is ripping your legs off on day one will pay the price. They will. I promise. We all show up fresh and excited and the first couple hours of Day One can be really fast. Endurance Corner almost always places a challenging day on the first day so be patient and let the fatigue come to you. You don’t need to try and get tired; you will get tired
2. Understand that you are training with a group, and not by yourself. Triathletes constantly train on their own; more so than any other group of endurance athletes I know. Then all of a sudden they are thrown in a scenario (for a week) where they seldom do anything on their own. You will be sharing lanes, riding side-by-side, taking pulls, etc., and at time the group relies on you (for example, pointing out debris on the road or knowing when to turn). Always be aware of your surroundings and help one another out. You might never want to go back to solo training when you realize the benefit of having great training partners around you.
3. Practice good hygiene. People get sick at training camps. Their immune system is depressed and they are around a lot of people. There are just two things I think you should always remember: Wash your hands after riding and wash your hands before eating.
4. Remember that training camps are meant to make you better at racing. They are not races themselves. A good training group pushes one another, but does not break one another. Don’t make it goal to try and drop your training partners all day long. That is of course, until you see the city limits sign…

Have fun, be safe and get fit.