Saturday, March 24, 2012

140.7 St. George Training Camp recap








Our camp in St. George started with some concern. There was a strong storm was moving into the southwest and was threatening the one weekend we would be there with snow, rain and hi winds. This pic is the closest we got to any precipitation
Things turned out quite well. I adjusted the itinerary a bit to accommodate the weather.


In the end we rode every day, got in one swim at the very nice St. George aquatics center ran over 3hr’s in the 4 days of training. We rode the entire St George Ironman bike course. Ran the entire run course and rode the critical loop on the bike course 3 times. Not bad for a long weekend.














The goal with this camp as is many training camps was 2 fold.
Volume and course recon/ learning.
The volume starts with consistence. Train every day at camp and you’ll have plenty of volume. The way we went about this was “letting the workload come to us”. We did not set out on day 1 crushing it for 5+ hours. We did an easy ride, reconing the course. Day 2 was less volume still, with a short 1 hr. ride and our long run on the race course. We moved the long run too day 2 to accommodate for colder weather and the rain. Which never really came. So at the start of day 3 everyone was feeling good and highly motivated. A morning swim, 3+ hr ride with some tempo on the big rolling hills and home for a 30’ run on the trails behind out condo. “Alright EK now I’m starting to feeling it.” we all were. However, still in good spirits and not to beat up we set out on day 4 with 100 miles on tap along with a max effort 30’ brick run. Ride was at IM race pace, fuel as you will in race.
This last day was crushing, everyone performed well. “if you had told me I was going to do this much workload at this camp, I would not thought it possible.” “ but here we are” I said…







With the fatigue built up this day put a true stamp of approval on our fueling plan. Every one of the days gave us time on the race course, often at race pace. it gave us all info on how each of us would tackle race day. what sections would be tough? What parts would be not so hard. Where should we fuel, etc. it was an enlightening time for everyone.

The best moments for me as a coach and leader of this trip was on day 2 a client attending the camp who was not planning on racing st. George said in the car on the way home after the long run , “So Eric, we need to adjust my training plan. I’m doing this race.” And again on the morning of the last day another of our campers came up to me and said “I know why you call this the 140.7 training camp. we are going beyond the finish line” and we did. In terms of training, knowledge, experience, and just having a plain old fun time.
Details for next year’s camp will be up May 10th. So far we have a verbal commitment for a 100% return form this year’s campers. We are going to need a bigger house.



Of course I must thank Infinit Nutrition for keeping us fueled. I think we drank almost 10 gallons of mix. There are some new Infinit users for sure now. And Mix 1. These little bottles go a long way. thanks a bunch guys!!