Our campers were able to sleep-in a bit (compared to waking up early for the race - which was cancelled) and the overall energy in the house was positive, uplifting and motivating. Everyone was excited to spend the morning outside, on another beautiful and warm day. Although our race was cancelled, life was not cancelled. One can never plan for the unexpected. Sometimes the best moments are the ones you don't plan for. Trust the magic of the unknown.
Around 8:15am, we all caravanned to Waterfront Park (just as we did on Friday) and got ready for our long ride. For many of our campers, our planned 4-hour ride was the most they had ridden in a very long time - and for some, it was their longest ride ever! We feel that it's important to not only teach our campers good skills and provide a lot of education at our campers but also put our campers into situations that they may not be able to (or are afraid to) experience alone as we feel every athlete is capable of so much more than they think they are capable of accomplishing.
We once again broke into our three groups - which included athletes of similar fitness abilities and skills. However, for some athletes we put them in groups where they would be forced to work a little harder than normal - all because we believed in their abilities. Everyone worked so well together and we were constantly impressed with their teamwork and terrain management skills.
We rode on the same route as Friday (which was the race course) and branched off the course on Sugarloaf Moutain Road. We then descended down Sugarloaf and continued on the ~5 mile Buckhill "loop" which was the course for the main set of the day.
Alvaro positioned the car on Bruce Hunt road so that campers could exchange bottles from the cooler (already prepared to save time), get a snack/drink if needed and regroup. We gave our campers 90-minutes on the loop to ride as they wished - practicing skills, descending, climbing and terrain management. It was really hot out (upper 80's) so fueling and hydration were key. I had instructed all of our campers how to fuel/hydrate for their 4 hour ride and everyone did a great job.
Joe, Karel and I were able to ride with almost everyone throughout each loop and provide feedback and instruction as to how to best manage the terrain. For some campers, we had them stay on our wheel and we paced them throughout the loop and instructed how to change gears and ride the hills. The group was really attentive and hard working.
After we regrouped at 12:15pm, we broke into our three groups again and headed back to the race course. I made a quick stop to say hi to a cow - which I thought was friendly but was not too interested in me. I even told him/her that I was a vegetarian but I don't think that mattered. ;)
To finish off this endurance workout, our campers went for a 40-60 minute run to give them nearly 5 hours of training for the day.
It was awesome to see how strong everyone looked and many of them knocked down mental and physical barriers.
Let's just say that we were toasty at the end of the workout and a cold, fizzy, sugary-filled coke hit the spot at the end of a 5 hour workout in early 90 degree temps.
After the workout we went back to the camp house, recovered with some delicious snacks and smoothies prepared by Kathleen and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon relaxing (although most campers had to pack up their bikes for flying back home the next day).
All is good when Karel can enjoy his ice cream and quarentine himself away from people ;)
Alvaro and I went to pick up the pizza that we ordered from Flippers (coaches treat for our campers) and needless to say, our campers were ready to eat when we returned home.
Kathleen made a few salads to go along with our pizza and we all had a wonderful time yumming on the pool deck.
After dinner, Karel, Joe and I had a chat with our campers and then we did an activity where I had all of the campers write a letter to themselves, answering questions like "what are your long term triathlon goals, why do you do triathlons, what are your strengths and weaknesses, etc." I also had them write mantra's and key words on a notecard to maintain motivation throughout the season. I will be mailing these letters to each camper in June so that they can re-read their letters to keep enthusiasm high throughout the summer.
After dinner it was time for a group pic (and one with jazz hands to get us ready to practice social distancing).
It was early to bed as we had one last day of camp to go on Sunday.