A Trimarni training camp is a long time in the making. Reserving the Swamp Rabbit Lodge, contacting Trimarni sponsors for swag, planning the workouts and routes and reserving pool lanes. There's a lot that goes into every Trimarni training camp as each camp is a little different and we always cater to the needs of our campers.
For the 2017 Trimarni endurance camp, we specifically designed workouts that would help our campers build endurance but also to improve skills and confidence for long distance training and racing. While the majority of workouts were not intense, the overall volume was high. It was important to us that each camper felt challenged and uncomfortable while also feeling resilient and strong. Knowing that we had 4.5 days to overload our 16 campers with endurance-focused workouts, we specifically focused on routes that would stretch comfort zones and push physical and mental limits.
With the official camp start day on Wednesday afternoon, my friend/SAG support Joey and I packed the swag bags on Tuesday. I am always incredibly grateful to the sponsors who contribute to our training camps for we only reach out to the companies that we believe in and support. We want our campers to have quality products/gear and we owe a huge thank you to the following sponsors who supported the 2017 Trimarni endurance training camp:
- Clif Bar
- Infinit Nutrition
- Hot Shot
- Mg12
- Xterra
- Boco Gear
- Oobe
- Beauty Counter Sunscreen
- Swamp Rabbit Inn and Properties
Campy was an excellent guard dog to make sure that nothing happened to the camper swag bags.
On Wednesday morning, Joey and I set up the swag bags at the Lodge, along with the camp t-shirts. A few hours later, Karel and I (and Campy) went out to mark our bike course for Thursday (with pink duct tape).
Campy made sure that we were always on course.
Around 4:30pm, Karel and I rode a mile down the road to meet our campers at the lodge for an optional EZ 70 minute spin. Luckily, the rain stopped and it was just hot and sticky out for our easy spin. We had a good group of campers who arrived early and joined us for the optional spin. We rode on nicely paved, low traffic roads near the base of Paris Mountain and it was the perfect way to interact with our campers and move some blood for upcoming workouts.
There's something special about the stress-free atmosphere of being on a bike and just enjoying nature with friends.
In the evening, around 7:30pm, we had a chat with our campers and a meet and greet session, which was a great way to get to know everyone and talk about the camp layout and what to expect.
We officially started day 1 of camp on Thursday morning at 7:30am. We picked a beautiful scenic route but sadly, our campers were not able to see much due to the cloudy sky and the sprinkling rain. We knew we had a great group of campers when not one athlete complained about the weather. They were eager to get on their bikes and get to work.
We broke into three groups with me, Karel and assistant coach Joe as leaders of each group. We rode out about 12 miles on the rolling hills before getting to the 4.85 mile loop that we marked on Wednesday. The loop included every type of terrain (rollers, climbing, false flats, sharp turns and descends without much flat road riding) for our campers to practice their skills while executing a workout of 3 loops - easy, moderate, strong.
The ride totaled around 3 hours with about 3200 feet of climbing.
Karel, Joe and I helped the athletes negotiate the terrain and practice their skills on all types of road conditions. Despite the rainy conditions, our campers did amazingly well for the first bike workout of camp.
We broke into three groups with me, Karel and assistant coach Joe as leaders of each group. We rode out about 12 miles on the rolling hills before getting to the 4.85 mile loop that we marked on Wednesday. The loop included every type of terrain (rollers, climbing, false flats, sharp turns and descends without much flat road riding) for our campers to practice their skills while executing a workout of 3 loops - easy, moderate, strong.
The ride totaled around 3 hours with about 3200 feet of climbing.
Karel, Joe and I helped the athletes negotiate the terrain and practice their skills on all types of road conditions. Despite the rainy conditions, our campers did amazingly well for the first bike workout of camp.
With no cars on our loop, it was the perfect start to camp (minus the rain).
Here are two pics of the beautiful views that were taken on Tuesday when Karel and I pre-rode the course.
We love our views and bike friendly roads!
After the workout, we broke into groups again and we rode back to the lodge to get ready for a brick run.
I lead our campers to the Swamp Rabbit Trail and then they ran around Furman for a 2.85 mile run. The rain stopped and it was a great way to end the first brick workout of camp.
For nutrition:
Bike: 3 bottles - each with ~220-240 calories INFINIT Speed (flavors Grape, Fruit Punch, Pink Lemonade).
Run: 1 flask with ~80 calories Clif hydration. 1 flask with water.
For nutrition:
Bike: 3 bottles - each with ~220-240 calories INFINIT Speed (flavors Grape, Fruit Punch, Pink Lemonade).
Run: 1 flask with ~80 calories Clif hydration. 1 flask with water.
After the morning workout, we gave our campers a few hours to rest/fuel/recover and then it was time for the afternoon session - a 90-minute swim at Furman University.
With the entire pool reserved for our campers (6 lanes), we split our campers into lanes based on swimming fitness level and gave each lane a swim workout that ranged from ~3000-4300 yards. It was great to see our campers step outside their swimming comfort zone and be pushed by the other campers.
After the swim session, it was time for a meal and then our nightly chat with our campers around 7:30pm to wrap up day 1 of camp and to prepare our campers for the mountain climb on day 2 of camp. We were incredibly proud of our campers for being open to our suggestions and for being comfortable with being uncomfortable. We were really impressed with the hard work ethic of our campers and we knew day 2 would be one day to remember for our campers.
After the swim session, it was time for a meal and then our nightly chat with our campers around 7:30pm to wrap up day 1 of camp and to prepare our campers for the mountain climb on day 2 of camp. We were incredibly proud of our campers for being open to our suggestions and for being comfortable with being uncomfortable. We were really impressed with the hard work ethic of our campers and we knew day 2 would be one day to remember for our campers.
A big thank you to our SAG support Joey for taking pictures and for being out there just in case we needed her.