From Beginner to Pro: How a Training Camp Can Boost Your Triathlon Performance
Training camps are often thought of as something only the top-level athletes do. However, over the past decade, we have seen more relatable athletes completing training camps to improve their fitness and technical skills or have an excellent time abroad. This article looks at the similarities training camps have for athletes of all different ability levels.
Training Camp or Training Escape?
Firstly, athletes should consider the definition of “Training Camp. Often, athletes talk about training camps and confuse them with training escapes. A training escape is something where you essentially move an athlete to a location where they can focus solely on the training they need. The day-to-day training may not change significantly, and it is purely an opportunity to train somewhere new and break up the monotony of training at home. On the other hand, a training camp has much more specific purposes and aims an athlete is trying to achieve well out in a different location. There are some crossovers, and athletes will find that training in a new location doing some slightly different things will be exciting and provide a positive experience.
Therefore, the difference between a training camp for an elite or professional athlete and a beginner or age group athlete is minimal. Both athletes will have specific aims to achieve on a training camp, and both athletes will be focusing on training and recovery for a desired effect: to compete better over the coming race season. The main difference between professional athletes and the rest of us is that they will have slightly higher targets or goals to achieve while on a training camp.
“The difference between a training camp for an elite or professional athlete and a beginner or age group athlete is minimal.”
Step up your training – the benefits of a Training Camp
One of the benefits of a training camp is it allows an opportunity for athletes to train intensively. This is different from training intensely. Intensive training means they can increase the training load they typically have in a week. Sometimes, it may also mean an increase in the intensity that the athlete is working at; however, often, because of the increase in training volume, the intensity will not change a considerable amount. Athletes much newer to the sport will find that the intensity needs to be very carefully applied to the training week because the increasing volume will already be a significant jump from what they are used to doing in their regular training and may cause injury.
Additionally, training camps allow a coach to watch an athlete. If there are critical technical changes to be made, they can be made under a coach’s watchful eye. Many athletes find this is one of the best chances to interact and learn from the coach because they have several days with the coach watching them at every session. This means the cues and technical points can be reiterated to him through the sessions. Athletes of all abilities, professionals or age-groupers stand to gain from learning from all the experience that the coaches and other athletes will bring to the table. On a training camp, there are chances to talk about previous race experiences and for coaches to observe athletes in the training settings. This may give them a better understanding of why previous race, experiences or training experience has happened. It’s not that there is no chance to hide, but it is the athletes may sometimes act and behave differently when they have only one session with a coach in the week or a phone call than they will do when they are under the spotlight for a long weekend or week of training.
When an athlete is encouraged to do things differently and take on the challenges set by a coach or a training program, they can often learn and apply this new knowledge to race, scenarios or experiences.
Overcome a plateau
Another great advantage for both professionals and beginner athletes who are about to come on a training camp is that they can push their training volume and, therefore, training limits a lot more than if they were at home. At home, they have the distractions of work or social and family interactions. When on a training camp, the facilities should be more straightforward to access, and the experience should be more focused on training and recovery. It is the focus or ability of athletes to recover more than they would do in their regular workplace that allows them to do more training.
Frequently, it is the athletes’ ability to do a little bit more work and increase the training mode that can help an athlete overcome a training plateau or significantly boost their fitness. As we’ve already mentioned, this training load can be increased because of the improved recovery time. Additionally, they must ensure they recover for the weeks after the training camp as well. Otherwise, if they continue pushing, they are more likely to end up injured.
Mental resilience through fun
Although training camps should always be fun, there will be an element of being tired and unwilling or wanting to push themselves as the week progresses. As an athlete gets more fatigued, they can turn up and still complete the sessions; this part of their mental resilience and mental toughness training will be used on race day. Furthermore, after these big, hard training weeks, it can be a really great opportunity for an athlete to look back and say, “Wow, I achieved that, but I was so tired.” This can be a fantastic motivator for hard training sessions later on when at home or for athletes in the middle of the hard part of a race. Mental toughness is something which is added to day by day.
In fact, because of the nature of a training camp, coaches can help athletes meet the challenges in a safe environment; they can be told to push or hold back at crucial moments. We have seen so many instances where athletes have completed several longest rides on a training camp and passed the boundaries far more than they thought was possible or performed sessions that we felt on paper would be way beyond their ability because they had that support in place. Because they had that support in place, these athletes took that experience and positive drive into the race season with real successes.
Regardless of your ability, you will find that there are huge opportunities by attending a training camp, and there is something for everyone. If you still aren’t sure, check out our camp pages and see if you can see yourself there.
Philip is the founder of Tri Training Harder LLP. He’s a British Triathlon Level 3 coach, and has been coaching for over a decade and is involved with mentoring and developing other coaches.
Philip has have coached athletes to European and World AG wins, elite racing, many Kona qualifications, IRONMAN podiums and AG wins.
Alongside the conventional development through many CPD courses, he has also been fortunate enough to work alongside experts in the fields of Physiotherapy, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition, Psychology, Biomechanics, Sports Medicine. Putting this knowledge into practice he has worked with thousands of athletes to various degrees, from training camps in Portugal and around Europe, clinics in the UK and online coaching.
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