Benefits of a Training Camp

I’ve been very fortunate over the last 7 years or so to attend and go on many training camps. From Barcelona, Girona, Gran Canaria, the Pyrenees to right now sitting in Fuerteventura. These camps have all been different in nature and timing, some in December/January, others in the mid heat of summer and others just before racing. Regardless I feel and have learnt that training camps all have common themes and I wanted to write about some key reflections and lessons.

Purpose of the camp?

The first question is always what is the purpose of the camp? For me this is exactly where you should start prior to boarding the plane. What do you want to get out of the camp and what is the focus? For example, just now for our squad the key area was aerobic miles on the bike and building our swim intensity. The athletes I coach are not full time and have School/Work/studies so this is a great time to put in the longer rides and up the volume but not go crazy. This doesn’t mean we start riding 300-400kms per week but certainly the load and volume increases, if most (70%) of this work is done at aerobic intensity it is handled well. In the swim we have gradually increased the amount of threshold work and with more swim time and the motivation of an outdoor pool this is easily done and again balanced with aerobic work.

If this camp was to fall in April/May the focus would be different, we would look to sharpen race skills. Short intense run and swim work and more at Vo2 along with more hard group riding and skills (draft legal racing). We touch on this work at this time of year, but it is certainly not the focus of the block.

Increasing Load and Intensity

For most athletes when they head on camp there is generally an increase in load and intensity. I have learnt that you need to be cautious, if you are increasing total volume along with intensity at the same time very quickly you will be fatigued and unable to hit the quality of sessions. Every athlete and group is different but for me I start with increasing the volume and then starting to gradually add the intensity. We “protect” the quality sessions and make sure these can be hit whilst keeping the long aerobic work easy. Again, it always returns to the purpose of the camp and the time of year. Where are you as an athlete right now or who is the group, you are coaching?

Ultimately you shouldn’t be returning from camp in a hole or needing 2 weeks or so to recover. Of course after a hard block you will need some time to allow for compensation and recovery but I see many athletes smash themselves for a couple of weeks and need days off to feel alive again. My approach towards the end of the camp is the last couple of days are long and aerobic, we travel return home have a few days of continued hard training and then rest and allow the adaptations to come.

Changing things up

I have heard athletes and coaches talk of camp as doing exactly what they do at home but in the sun, I disagree on that front as I feel you have opportunities to train longer and harder (gradually) with less distractions, more recovery and time to focus. I change our weekly routine and structure in some places on camp to see how the athletes react and change with this. The general flow of a week is similar but sessions might fall on different days and its always about trying to get the most out of each athlete on each day. Whilst you may go on camp as a group or a team remember you are an individual and will respond differently to others.

In summary, camps are probably the most important periods I feel in our training blocks. Structured wisely, with good communication, periodised well and with clear focus these are the weeks that make a real difference. It’s been a great two weeks in Feuretventura, on Sunday we head back to Zurich and the process moves on and we keep building.

Andrew Woodroffe is a high performance Triathlon coach based in Zurich Switzerland, He offers private coaching via @woodroffecoaching on Instagram.