triathlon fantasy camp!
![[Deleted User]](https://us.v-cdn.net/6029573/uploads/defaultavatar/nNPD77K9K824F.jpg)
Edit: holy crap, I wrote a novel, but in case you are wondering what European camp can be like, read on. I’ll see what I can do about sharing pics or videos, but it may take some time because of an apartment move, brutal work schedule, and travel the next few weeks.
Background: so I decided to treat myself to a nice training camp at the Playitas Resort (www.playitas.info/) on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands). I have not been to Club La Santa on Lanzarote (yet!), but I’m told that Playitas basically started copying their business model as a sports resort about 1.5 years ago. Nice 50m pool, jogging tracks, tons of aerobics, yoga, and spinning classes outside next to the beach, a golf course, full bike shop, etc.
The camp was hosted by the Danish Triathlon Foundation and run by their coach Michael Krüger. This guy knows is stuff, as he is also the coach of Rasmus Henning, Dirk Bockel, Jordan Rapp, and Martin Jensen (and Torbjørn Sinballe when he was racing). Pretty good athlete himself, being the 1st overall AG’er at Abu Dhabi last year. At times our training overlapped with the Danish national team and at times the campers (about 12 of us, half from my local club) did our own thing.
January is a great time to go because it is when all the pro’s are on their first training camps of the year, and Fuerteventura is apparently the place to be these days. Basically a “who’s who” of European pro’s around…lots of me being in awe (see below). Also, January is before the resort/island gets too crowded with German and Scandanavian pensionists!
Day 1 (Sun): arrived at hotel around 2:45 pm. Swim session at 4:00 pm. Heater for pool was broken so we swam in wetsuits all week (water temp was about 65-70 F). Nothing too hard; about 2500m to see where we were at and shake out the body. I needed this because I had taken the previous two days off after going into a funk during a late OS workout. At dinner that night I’m walking around the buffet and happen to cross paths with Michael Realert (I did kind of a double take).
Day 2: early morning run with the team. It was cool to be standing there and Rasmus Henning come up and join us! He, Martin Jensen, and a few others took off, while I stuck with the elite females ;-). This morning run was a pretty regular thing. 30-40 min to start out the day, nothing too strenuous. The campers then went biking later in the morning. First hour was pretty easy as we all stayed together so coach Michael could gauge our level and set some beginners up properly. Then coach, a teammate of mine, and I split off for another 1.5 hours at a pretty moderate pace. It was good to chat it up with him about his coaching and the upcoming year (lots of travel as athletes try to qualify for the Olympics). Swimming again at 5 pm (there were swims every day starting at 4 or 5); about 3000m for me.
Day 3: early morning run again, but in super strong winds (gusts of up to 70 km/h). Planned long bike was moved to later in the day and shortened due to the winds. We still got in a little over two hours, but it was interesting for sure. Funny (or scary) to see a group of cyclists leaning at 75 degrees while riding on straights to balance against the wind. Finally, another 3000m in the pool at 4:00 pm.
Day 4: no morning run, but I got up to walk around while my wife did a yoga class. Went by the pool and some guy needed someone to zip up his wetsuit…it was Mario Vanhoenacker (4 x IM Austria winner, including a 7:52 performance last year). Eventually did a slightly longer run at 10 am; about 75 minutes. Out-and-back on some nice big rolling hills, first with a tailwind and then back into a headwind. Another 3000m in the pool later. After dinner, Martin gave a presentation/talk on being a pro. He’s 27 and last year was his first attempt at Ironman distance races. It was pretty crazy to see his training log. His Kona build included a week with 33km swimming, 830km biking, and 70km running…mind you, this week started 10 days after he took 2nd at IM Louisville. Also saw his power and HR files from Kona (he placed 18th, ahead of his mentor Rasmus!).
Day 5: we met up to go cycling at 10:00 am with the team for moderate-intensity ride but with three climbs. Rasmus and Martin pull up and I’m thinking, “cool, I’ll probably try to hang with them today.” And then super-biker Björn Andersson pulls up on a Cheetah bike he said he borrowed. And then Javier Gomez (current world ITU champ) rolls up. Sebastian Kienle (a good German pro, 7:59 at Roth last year) was there too. Coach sends them off and tells me and my mates to stick with the elite girls, so I listened. Had a solid 3 hour ride, including pulling the group halfway up the last climb before taking off ahead with one other! EN OS paying off! 30 min brick run afterwards at a tempo level pace. Finally, another 3000m in the pool at 5:00 pm.
Day 6: met up again at 10:00 am for cycling. As I was riding around the parking lot, the Realert brothers ran by! Eventually a group of about 8 of us joined Rasmus and Martin on their recovery ride. About 160-170W average for two hours. I wanted to get in a long ride and some more work, so I refueled and headed back out for 2.5 more hours with some climbs and Z3 work. Ended up being an epic ride, volcanic mountains in the background, pushing my limits, fighting off a bonk at the end, etc…definitely a ride I’ll remember and think back to when necessary during a race or future training. Skipped the late afternoon swimming session this day!
Day 7: did the morning run of 30 minutes to shake out the legs, but went back out at about 11am to get in a longer run of 90 minutes. I think Timo Bracht passed me from the other direction (it was tough to tell by the time I realized it, but I had spotted him and Jan Raphael—another Team Commerzbank dude—a round the resort earlier in the week). Had fun hamming it up with my wife in an aquaaerobics class taught by some Spanish version of Richard Simmons. This dude had short shorts, but tight like a speedo, and a shirt that read “Real Men do Aerobics” in pink. Again, skipped the afternoon swim session, but did have my wife get some film footage of me swimming a few laps (to analyze later). The 50m pool had a great underwater viewing area. In fact, the highlight of the day (aside from aquaaerobics) was the Realert brothers hopping in the pool after I got out. I have some good footage of them from above and below the water. The camp ended with a 2 hour talk after dinner by Michael Krüger on training, how he coaches some athletes, and other interesting info (note: this and the Wed. night talk were in Danish, which I only have enough understanding of to get about 75% of the info).
Now back at home in the barely above freezing temps, already thinking about how to fit in a similar trip next year!
Comments
I'm looking forward to a week long camp in March. If it turns out half as good as yours (except for the pool portion) I'll be happy. Meanwhile, we hit the low 70s in Tampa today.
Oh, that sounds like an awesome - and TIRING - week. More star gazing that a stroll down Ali'i Drive in early October!
That is quite a week. Didn't you tell them that we don't swim in the OS? Ha ha...