NicoleThis past weekend coach Dave Burgess of Podium Training Systems and I held a pre-season triathlon camp here in Colorado Springs. We had athletes in attendance from the DC area, Canada, as well as local Southern Colorado athletes. Here’s a quick recap of the weekend.
Friday: Day 1. We started this evening and convened in a conference room at Epicentral Coworking to make introductions and give a presentation on swim technique. We would be swimming at 7am the next morning so we wanted to give the athletes a heads up on what we would be doing, common issues with technique, and some drills we might do to help correct any issues. And let them experience mini-cupcakes from the Cupcake Girls, a bakery owned and operated by the wives of a couple pro triathletes here in town.
Saturday: Day 2: The sun hadn’t quite come up yet when we met at 6:45 outside the pool building at the Olympic Training Center, where we were fortunate to be able to lease a couple lanes for the weekend. This session was very technique focused. We had them warm-up a bit and then we ran through drills. As coaches we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in terms of technique issues (always a good thing!) and worked on drills to improve head position, hand entry, and elbow/hand position in the water. They got in a great session in the 50m pool!
Next up was a running session. We headed to the track and started with the importance of dynamic warm-ups and then worked on run mechanics. We were also able to get a little video of their running form. We were fortunate to have a few elite runners at the track at the same time so that we could point out what great form looks like.
After this session everyone was pretty hungry! We headed back to Epicentral where Jimmy John’s was delivered and then has a presentation and discussion on the basics of periodization. It’s important for athletes, even if they have a coach, to understand how seasons can be structured.
The afternoon was the “fun session.” We had a hands on how to change a flat session, explained the importance of understanding the parts of your bike and why you need to keep it maintained. We gave away a few goodies from some sponsors with a bike parts quiz and then kitted up to go work on cycling skills.
An empty church parking lot and temperatures in the 50s made for an excellent afternoon working on bike handling, braking, and cornering skills. Everyone learned something here. Even those with good skills already were able to work on getting better, and definite improvement was seen in those newer to cycling. After this Day 2 was over, although a few of us met for a social dinner at Rasta Pasta.
Sunday: Day 3. Another 7am session in the pool. This time we had them work the higher end energy systems and they wanted to do a benchmark test so we had them do a 100/400 test. We also collected some underwater video for review. Those from sea level were definitely feeling it today!
The group showered up, grabbed some breakfast and then we met up at Monument Valley Park for a run session. Yesterday’s relatively warm weather was replaced with a few inches of snow and slightly sub-freezing temperatures. Beautiful for running! We reviewed the dynamic warm-ups and put them on a fartlek run on the trails.
Everyone was able to work at their individual pace and seemed to enjoy the efforts! We then made our way back to Epicentral for the final presentation on the importance of recovery and recovery methods, as well as race planning tips. After a final Q&A session, we were done early afternoon.
We hope the athletes enjoyed their time at camp getting some new knowledge and skills as they start their 2016 triathlon season. The coaches certainly had a blast working with everyone!
Nicole
