Training camp as an age group athlete – Yes? No? Maybe?

It’s February, we’ve already had a few cold months with snow, rain and uncomfortable temperatures. Probably many hours of training have been moved indoors and we all long for sun and warmth, cycling in short-short and swimming in the outdoor pool.

On top of that, every day on Instagram, Facebook and Co. you get the most beautiful pictures of the Canary Islands, Mallorca or the Spanish mainland rubbed under the nose of other athletes. And suddenly I catch myself thinking that I also absolutely have to do a training camp in the south. I look for flights and check whether the well-known clubs still have free rooms. But I wasn’t planning to fly to the training camp this year. Once again, I let myself be influenced by social media and all the pretty posts in my newsfeed talked me into believing that if you’re a “real” triathlete, you do a training camp. But is that really the case?

Of course not.

Consistency is key

Please don’t get me wrong. I myself have been many times on Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, or Malle for training. And I always had an insanely great time there. The corona pandemic and the training camps that were cancelled as a result have shown me more and more that training camps are really not a must for age group athletes. They are nice-to-have, a nice time-out, vacation, it’s just really fun to escape the winter and collect kilometers under the sun. But a training camp that lasts 1-2 weeks does not make you a better athlete, nor does it ensure that you will have a successful season. Consistency is key. Especially in triathlon.

So if it is not possible to do a training camp because of work, family or financial reasons, it is not a big deal. It’s much more important to work through the training plan week by week, even if you probably can’t manage 20+ hours per week at home. Continuity will definitely pay off.

Because you must not forget that a training camp always means some stress:

• Still quickly finish all the important to-dos at work before you can say goodbye to your vacation. 
• Borrow bike cases or fetch them from the cellar. 

And how did that go again with the packing?

• Pack your suitcase, don’t forget the food for the training!
• After the training camp, unpack everything again, clean up, do laundry. 
• Training is typically reduced before the training camp in order to arrive “fresh”. The week after training camp, training is also reduced to recover. In addition, travel days are eliminated as training days. 
• In addition, one should not get sick in any case. Not so easy when your body has to cope with the increased training volume. The atmosphere on site also tends to tempt you to do too much, and that’s when we are particularly susceptible to infections. 
• Especially in crowded airplanes and when eating from the buffet, it’s easy to catch something. I myself have had to experience this twice in training camps.

So I close the internet browser with all booking platforms again and tell myself that I will be fit for the season even without a training camp. The KickAss coach Flo gets it right.

To all of you who still have a training camp coming up: 

Enjoy the time and cycle a lap for me! 

See you soon Fia