Training Camp

Well I know this has been a while since I've posted, but better late than never! Things have been so busy lately I haven't been able to justify spending time to sit down and blog. I survived finals, wow my first year of university went by so fast and I loved it all. Now I am taking a summer course online which seemed like a great idea until I realized a good chunk of stuff was due right after getting home from training camp... And at camp I did not have much free time, and when I did I was too exhausted to get much done. Oh well, I've worked hard and I think it will be ok. Anyways triathlon is always much more exciting than school so I'll get to that!

This year I went with a group from Saskatchewan. Thanks to the coach RossAnn for letting me join in, and to a great group of athletes for some solid training and an awesome time! This camp was 18 days long and included altitude training. We stayed in a house in beautiful Sedona (about 4500 ft) and did some training there as well as Flagstaff (about 7000 ft) and Camp Verde (about 3100 ft). We pushed hard till the very end and got in some great training sessions. We did some bricks twice and it was great to feel solid running off the bike, and make my times faster the next time. I was also super happy to realize that with no practice before this camp, my transitions are still wicked fast. The fourth event of the triathlon seems to be my best one. Some other training sessions involved long hilly rides, intervals, trail runs, lots of good stuff... Including swimming!

Yes, I don't want to jinx this too early, but it's possible that I'm swimming better than I have in two years. We will see once race season starts I guess. I was not sure how swimming at this camp would go since I have only been in the pool about twice a week this winter and my shoulders continue to give me difficulties. I would say that although I had good and bad days at this camp, I have to be happy with the volume and intensity I was able to swim. Other than one day off, I did at least a little bit every day. And by a little bit I mean I was still able to do a couple km maybe, which would have been considered a good practice for me last year. I put a lot of focus into my technique and it seems to be clicking together more smoothly now. I was surprised and excited when I was able to complete some full workouts that were around 5000m. And I was actually swimming decently well. Anyways, I really hope I can keep up the training. Going into last race season with just some 20min easy swims under my belt was far from ideal.

Another highlight of the camp was the race we did in Tempe. Although we were not used to the "picnic style" age group transition area, as I liked to called (wow it makes me glad we have strict rules about where we leave our stuff) or being alone on the bike, or having stairs in the middle of the run and confusing course markings... Everyone seemed to have a good race and us Canadians just showed up and cleaned up our categories. The swim was only 400m which was also kind of weird, I thought it would be great for me but I found my rhythm didn't really set in for the first part anyways. I wasn't too far behind Gab coming out of the water and had a good transition, so I was able to keep her and American junior guy in my sights for part of the bike at least. For both the run and the bike I had some points where I was really feeling those brick workouts in my legs and it was tough to focus on pushing through on my own. The run course was also long so it's hard to compare times to other races but overall I feel like it was a good start to get me pumped up and ready for the season.

I am happy with the work I put in during this training camp, and had a great time. I have said goodbye to my Sask friends, but the good news is I will see them again in only a week!

The first stop in the Junior race series is at home at Bird's Hill Park at 7am on Sunday, June 9. So if you find yourself with a bit of free time come check out the race and cheer on your favourite Manitoba triathletes. Creating a home crowd advantage would definitely be appreciated!