It was an early start to training on Friday morning for day 2 of camp.
We arrived to the 10-mile Clay Trail at 7am, before the sun came up. We timed it perfectly as we spent a good 15 minutes on our dynamic warm-ups after the 3-workout day on Thursday and when we started our warm-up, we ran into the sunrise.
The workout on the Clay Trail was our camp long run. Rather than having our athletes run for 90 minutes, we focused on a warm-up (30 minutes) and then the MS split into intervals with short rest. This is one of our favorite workouts as the time ticks away and you can find yourself keeping good form despite the planned fatigue as the set continues on for multiple rounds.
We require all our athletes to run with a hydration belt to get comfortable consuming sport drinks/water while running so I was not concerned about any of our athletes having a "bad' workout due to fatigue, dehydration, cramping or GI distress (yes - not one of our athletes has had GI distress despite using sport nutrition for every workout).
The Clay Trail is amazing. It's a hard packed surface (in most areas) and are are surrounded with nature.
I love running on trails and any surface that is not the road (I love the treadmill) so my body was in heaven during this workout.
Our campers were amazing. Not one complaint and a lot of teamwork. We just love it when our campers support one another and cheer for one another during the workouts. It's hard to not be inspired at a Trimarni camp.
Here's the run workout:
30 minute warm-up (15 min out, 15 min back) with walking as needed
MS: 4-5x's:
4 min steady, 30 sec walk
2 min strong, 20 sec walk
1 min very strong, 10 sec walk
Continue to repeat without extra rest between rounds.
Then cool down 10-15 minutes
Continue to repeat without extra rest between rounds.
Then cool down 10-15 minutes
After the run we gave our campers a 2 hour break to refuel and rest before the swim and by 11:30am, our campers were on the pool deck, ready for another 90-minute swim.
At a training camp, we want our athletes to do things that they may not normally do and this means pushing them to be uncomfortable - mentally and physically. Most of the time, our campers don't realize their full capabilities.
Although this workout was designed to be an endurance set (steady swimming), our athletes were exhausted. Perceived effort was much different than on Thursday.
We were so proud of our athletes - for many of them, this was their longest long course workout.
After the 90-minute swim workout, it was 1:00pm and our campers were hungry. They had another 2-hour break to refuel and relax before our 3pm recovery ride.
Although our campers were moving slow, we knew they would benefit from a recovery spin. This was also a great opportunity for Karel and I to work one on one with our campers.
Karel did a great job talking about descending, cornering, riding in wind, climbing and changing gears. We both rode side by side with our campers, in small groups for extra one on one work.
This one on one work is so valuable and one of the best parts of training with our athletes. We can write great workouts for our athletes but it isn't until we see an athlete in action that we can see if they are spending more energy than needed and we can correct learned habits that are not economical.
After our 90-minute recovery spin, it was 5pm and we could finally call it a training day.
After a recovery drink and snack, Karel and I were off to pick up pizza from Lil Anthony's for our team pizza party.
We want to send a big thank you to Trimarni athlete and baker Sara with Sara Ran Away With the Spoon. You won't believe how great these cookies taste until you taste them yourself. She makes the best stuffed cookies!
Thank you for sending us Fudgy Java Jolt and PB Stuffed cookies.
Time to eat!!
Our amazing Trimarni sherpa, sag, house mom, photographer and organizer Taylor. I don't know what I would do without her.
YUM!
We are just so proud of our campers - two days of training and 6 workouts complete. And only half way finished with camp!
This picture captures how awesome our campers are - there is no shortage of laughing.
And thank you to former Professional Triathlete and 5x Ironman Champion Heather Gollnick for speaking to our group about balancing life with triathlons. Our campers learned a lot!