10 Things I Love About Training Camps

For the first time this weekend we were fortunate enough to take part in the annual Canwi Multisport Oliver Half Ironman Training Camp.  Though it was a weekend full of swimming, biking, running and suffering it was also full of laughs, good times and a great opportunity to go out and train on the course that many of us will be racing on in two weeks time.  Training camps are always something I look forward to; to someone not involved in triathlon this may sound peculiar.  This pretty much sums up a conversation Jenna had with a co-worker:

“Oh, you’re going away to the Okanagan for the weekend, that sounds so nice, it should be really relaxing.”

“Well actually we’re going up for a triathlon training camp, I’m really excited!”

“So you’ll be exercising all weekend?”

“Yes, but it will be with a bunch of our friends!”

“And you pay to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Uhuh…cool…”

In ten ways or more I’ll try to explain why we enjoy them so much.

Road Trips – Need I say more…

Group Rides

Testing out new race gear – Jacqui, I think we were all a little intimidated by that kit and set up!

And busting out the race wheels!

Rides on long, old country roads

Being pushed to ride in conditions that would normally have me reaching for my indoor trainer

Post training recovery – Yes, beer does really work 🙂

Early morning lake swims

Putting yourself out of your comfort zone

Conquering new challenges – We climbed to the top of Anarchist on the last day, Richter’s got nothing on this.

Travelling aid stations – If only I had these on a regular basis

Stopping to take in the scenery – I absolutely love it in the Okanagan

Making stupid faces – Why do I always look like this when I come out of the water?!

Ryan, I guess I’m not the only one!

You too Vegas!

Training with the coaches – Sean thought it would be a good idea to really stick in to me on the second day after a very hard ride and swim on what was suppose to be an easy run.  He had fresh legs, I didn’t, he’s pretty fast for an old guy 😉 I couldn’t let him drop me or I wouldn’t hear the end of it.  Not sure why I included this!

Making new friends – These camps are always such a great opportunity to meet great new people that share the same passion for the sport.

Celebrating surviving the weekend at fine local establishments!

We had an amazing weekend and can’t wait to do it again next year.  Thanks to everyone that helped out and of course Sean and Tara-Lee for putting on this awesome camp.  Hopefully next year we’ll be a bit smarter and schedule massages and wine tastings rather than a sprint triathlon the following day!

I should mention I poached some of these photos from friends and mostly from my coach Sean, I hope he doesn’t mind, I don’t have skills like Peter Parker to capture photos while training or fighting evil villains!