What a weekend!! If you have never been to a camp specific to your hobby or interest in life, it’s well worth giving it a try. This is the second tri camp I have attended and both have been with Studio 7 Multisport, the first being 3 years ago, and then again this weekend. Coach Sonni, my coach, puts on this camp every year for his athletes and if there are spots left open he will bring in anyone who may not be currently under his, or any of his coaches, supervision.
Tri camp this year was much different from the last time I went to it. Last time there was more of a short course group of triathletes and some beginners and it was more instructional (or base camp as Sonni describes it), which was great for the sprint triathletes. This year was a very different (positive) experience because this camp was an “Epic” Camp focused on experienced triathletes, mainly Ironman distance triathletes. We had a group of athletes most of whom were going after their first or successive ironman races and were there to enjoy the aspect of training all day.
To give you and idea of where this place is and what it was like, it was located on the Kerr Scott reservoir outside of Wilkesboro, NC. I have driven through Wilkesboro thousands of times in my life I never knew this place existed. The place we stayed in was a lodge that could house many people. We have 12 athletes in all and the lodge was about 100 yards from the lake with our own dock for the swim starts. This part of the lake was at the upper end and was a secluded wide deep water cove which stretched about .8 miles from our dock to the upper end with mountains surrounding all sides of the lake. The actual lodge had a large kitchen and living area where we all hung out between training sessions (typically eating constantly) and just relaxing before the next session.
Arriving on Thursday evening for check in I was immediately met by “Joe” who is a triathlete I have met previously at St. Anthony’s tri both last year and this year. He was heading out to paddle the canoe for a group of swimmers who had arrived early and asked if I wanted to paddle along with him. So the camp was on!
Joe and I paddled along the swimmers for the duration of the swim and then went back to the lodge for the fist of several great meals prepared by Sandi Dyer (Coach Sonni’s Wife). So the first evening we all spent time getting to know each other and planning the details of the events for the following day.
So from here on in the blog I will just break down daily events and cover what we did each day:
Friday: This was a tough day for me. We started out in the morning by eating breakfast and after letting breakfast settle somewhat we all headed down to the dock for our first swim. Water temps were in the low 70’s so all of us wore wetsuits. We essentially started our swims typically with 2-3 other swimmers at the same time but because we are al different speeds in the water we would quickly break up as groups. Our goal was to either swim to a picnic are up in the cove which was about .8 miles away and back which would give us a 1.5 -1.6 mile swim or to swim that distance and then swim back up to a buoy in the cove and back which I later found out would give us 2.6 mile swim.
My swim went great and I did the 2.6 mile swim which was a long swim and took about 1hr, 20 min. I wasn’t pushing it but I kept a consistent stroke count the whole way. It’s funny, on swimming, once you have a good swimming base in your training, even though you may not be a fast swimmer, once you get past a mile it’s not that much exertion, but rather just going through the motion of rotation and thinking about stroke technique. After all, when your in the water for over an hour what else are you thinking about!
After the swim it was back to the lodge eat more. Sandwiches, chips, fruits…you name it. This was great because we would certainly start tapping the calories as the weekend progressed. After grabbing a little time prepping for the next session which was a bike ride, we headed off to the Kerr Scott State park about 3 miles away which was at the dam on Kerr Scott Lake. The goal was to bike either 30 or 60 miles and then do a transition run on the running trails. Great, let’s go. I was pretty eager to get the biking portion going, so when the lead group went off I went with them and we hit the first hill pretty quickly which they precede to drop me pretty quickly! Ouch!
Not to let that bother me I latched onto another very good Cyclist, Sean. I really pushed myself keeping with him on the pace and on the climbs, and there were many, many climbs.
I am not sure what the temperature was on this day but it was very hot and there was no shade and steep hills. I was sweating profusely keeping the pace and I continually had problems with sweat getting in my eyes, which I have never had happen before to this extent. Sean dropped me on a long climb about 4 miles out from the end of the 1st loop and I never caught back up. Once I go the end of the loop, I was toast on the bike. The pace I was pushing along with the heat was too much to go for a second 30 mile loop especially knowing the ride I had the nest day coming up. So I went back to the staging area where we left our cars at the visitor center and I started my transition run which was all on shaded trails, AHHH! So I got a 40 minute run in which really felt good after the ride experience.
We all got back to the Lodge and I was telling Coach Sonni about what had happened and his solution was simple, I needed to add endurololytes (help support my electrolyte levels) to my training session for the next day to help with cramping and dealing with the heat. While I had yet started calculating my sweat rates (in progress now) he had some endurolytes capsules and told me when to use them and how many. As I asked around everyone uses these along with fluids to help retain fluids and higher heat situations for electrolyte replacement. I guess I was the only one not using some type of electrolyte replacement to train in the heat. So this was a great lesson learned!
Saturday: The next day started with several people getting swims in prior to the start of the EPIC bike session this day. The course was to start at a small general store near the intersection of Hwy 194 and Hwy 421 after you pass the parkway as you head towards Boone, NC. It would take us through Watauga County, Ashe County I think I saw Avery County and it also took us into Tennessee briefly. The ride was 82 miles long and we experienced 8,000 feet of total climbing.
The ride started with everyone staying together for 7 miles as we cycled along the New River. This was beautiful county and a good distraction as we approached the mountains. So at mile 7 we hit the first climb which broke everybody apart and caused us all to naturally break into groups of similar abilities. Again, I broke off with Sean And Craig (Sean, who I had ridden with the previous day and was dropped). These guys were better overall cyclist than I was in endurance type cycling but since this was a such a long ride we had a pace that wasn’t excessive and I was able to stay with both of them for most of the race. The ride went well and I certainly struggled a few times on the latter half of the ride as we climbed hills and finally at mile 70 on a long climb, I dropped back and was solo. I didn’t bonk but I didn’t have a lot of energy left to climb those last hills either. After 2-3 miles solo, Craig came back and got me on his wheel and let me draft behind him to get back in the pack. Craig’s a great cyclist and I really appreciated him coming back to help me up that last climb before the end of the ride. He got me caught back up with the pack about 4 miles before the finish. Whew! I was glad that ride was in the books but I was equally happy that I got through it with not much of a problem. This was the longest ride I had ever done to date.
After the ride it was back to the Lodge for a quick swim in the cold water which felt great and then on to have a cook out on the back deck and talk about the ride we had all just been through.
Sunday: By today I was ready to head home and see Jill and the kids and spend some time with them but first we all had a long trail run. It took place in the same state park that we had run in two days prior and most everyone went down early to get the run out of the way and then return for breakfast. The run was again all shaded and all trails and most people ran between 60 minutes and 2 ½ hours. Since I was just making the transition from short distance to long distance I got 90 minutes in which was about 9 miles based on the pace on the trails. No big deal at all and it was actually quit fun running on trails instead of the road as I always do.
All in all this was a very successful camp for me. I reached new levels in swimming and cycling. I now knew I could swim the 2.4 miles for the race in Kona, I felt a got a good start on the bike by riding a very challenging mountainous course for 82 miles and like the bike, the run will build over time. I still have 4 months before Ironman Hawaii! I am just glad it isn’t next week!
Tri camp this year was much different from the last time I went to it. Last time there was more of a short course group of triathletes and some beginners and it was more instructional (or base camp as Sonni describes it), which was great for the sprint triathletes. This year was a very different (positive) experience because this camp was an “Epic” Camp focused on experienced triathletes, mainly Ironman distance triathletes. We had a group of athletes most of whom were going after their first or successive ironman races and were there to enjoy the aspect of training all day.
To give you and idea of where this place is and what it was like, it was located on the Kerr Scott reservoir outside of Wilkesboro, NC. I have driven through Wilkesboro thousands of times in my life I never knew this place existed. The place we stayed in was a lodge that could house many people. We have 12 athletes in all and the lodge was about 100 yards from the lake with our own dock for the swim starts. This part of the lake was at the upper end and was a secluded wide deep water cove which stretched about .8 miles from our dock to the upper end with mountains surrounding all sides of the lake. The actual lodge had a large kitchen and living area where we all hung out between training sessions (typically eating constantly) and just relaxing before the next session.
Arriving on Thursday evening for check in I was immediately met by “Joe” who is a triathlete I have met previously at St. Anthony’s tri both last year and this year. He was heading out to paddle the canoe for a group of swimmers who had arrived early and asked if I wanted to paddle along with him. So the camp was on!
Joe and I paddled along the swimmers for the duration of the swim and then went back to the lodge for the fist of several great meals prepared by Sandi Dyer (Coach Sonni’s Wife). So the first evening we all spent time getting to know each other and planning the details of the events for the following day.
So from here on in the blog I will just break down daily events and cover what we did each day:
Friday: This was a tough day for me. We started out in the morning by eating breakfast and after letting breakfast settle somewhat we all headed down to the dock for our first swim. Water temps were in the low 70’s so all of us wore wetsuits. We essentially started our swims typically with 2-3 other swimmers at the same time but because we are al different speeds in the water we would quickly break up as groups. Our goal was to either swim to a picnic are up in the cove which was about .8 miles away and back which would give us a 1.5 -1.6 mile swim or to swim that distance and then swim back up to a buoy in the cove and back which I later found out would give us 2.6 mile swim.
My swim went great and I did the 2.6 mile swim which was a long swim and took about 1hr, 20 min. I wasn’t pushing it but I kept a consistent stroke count the whole way. It’s funny, on swimming, once you have a good swimming base in your training, even though you may not be a fast swimmer, once you get past a mile it’s not that much exertion, but rather just going through the motion of rotation and thinking about stroke technique. After all, when your in the water for over an hour what else are you thinking about!
After the swim it was back to the lodge eat more. Sandwiches, chips, fruits…you name it. This was great because we would certainly start tapping the calories as the weekend progressed. After grabbing a little time prepping for the next session which was a bike ride, we headed off to the Kerr Scott State park about 3 miles away which was at the dam on Kerr Scott Lake. The goal was to bike either 30 or 60 miles and then do a transition run on the running trails. Great, let’s go. I was pretty eager to get the biking portion going, so when the lead group went off I went with them and we hit the first hill pretty quickly which they precede to drop me pretty quickly! Ouch!
Not to let that bother me I latched onto another very good Cyclist, Sean. I really pushed myself keeping with him on the pace and on the climbs, and there were many, many climbs.
I am not sure what the temperature was on this day but it was very hot and there was no shade and steep hills. I was sweating profusely keeping the pace and I continually had problems with sweat getting in my eyes, which I have never had happen before to this extent. Sean dropped me on a long climb about 4 miles out from the end of the 1st loop and I never caught back up. Once I go the end of the loop, I was toast on the bike. The pace I was pushing along with the heat was too much to go for a second 30 mile loop especially knowing the ride I had the nest day coming up. So I went back to the staging area where we left our cars at the visitor center and I started my transition run which was all on shaded trails, AHHH! So I got a 40 minute run in which really felt good after the ride experience.
We all got back to the Lodge and I was telling Coach Sonni about what had happened and his solution was simple, I needed to add endurololytes (help support my electrolyte levels) to my training session for the next day to help with cramping and dealing with the heat. While I had yet started calculating my sweat rates (in progress now) he had some endurolytes capsules and told me when to use them and how many. As I asked around everyone uses these along with fluids to help retain fluids and higher heat situations for electrolyte replacement. I guess I was the only one not using some type of electrolyte replacement to train in the heat. So this was a great lesson learned!
Saturday: The next day started with several people getting swims in prior to the start of the EPIC bike session this day. The course was to start at a small general store near the intersection of Hwy 194 and Hwy 421 after you pass the parkway as you head towards Boone, NC. It would take us through Watauga County, Ashe County I think I saw Avery County and it also took us into Tennessee briefly. The ride was 82 miles long and we experienced 8,000 feet of total climbing.
The ride started with everyone staying together for 7 miles as we cycled along the New River. This was beautiful county and a good distraction as we approached the mountains. So at mile 7 we hit the first climb which broke everybody apart and caused us all to naturally break into groups of similar abilities. Again, I broke off with Sean And Craig (Sean, who I had ridden with the previous day and was dropped). These guys were better overall cyclist than I was in endurance type cycling but since this was a such a long ride we had a pace that wasn’t excessive and I was able to stay with both of them for most of the race. The ride went well and I certainly struggled a few times on the latter half of the ride as we climbed hills and finally at mile 70 on a long climb, I dropped back and was solo. I didn’t bonk but I didn’t have a lot of energy left to climb those last hills either. After 2-3 miles solo, Craig came back and got me on his wheel and let me draft behind him to get back in the pack. Craig’s a great cyclist and I really appreciated him coming back to help me up that last climb before the end of the ride. He got me caught back up with the pack about 4 miles before the finish. Whew! I was glad that ride was in the books but I was equally happy that I got through it with not much of a problem. This was the longest ride I had ever done to date.
After the ride it was back to the Lodge for a quick swim in the cold water which felt great and then on to have a cook out on the back deck and talk about the ride we had all just been through.
Sunday: By today I was ready to head home and see Jill and the kids and spend some time with them but first we all had a long trail run. It took place in the same state park that we had run in two days prior and most everyone went down early to get the run out of the way and then return for breakfast. The run was again all shaded and all trails and most people ran between 60 minutes and 2 ½ hours. Since I was just making the transition from short distance to long distance I got 90 minutes in which was about 9 miles based on the pace on the trails. No big deal at all and it was actually quit fun running on trails instead of the road as I always do.
All in all this was a very successful camp for me. I reached new levels in swimming and cycling. I now knew I could swim the 2.4 miles for the race in Kona, I felt a got a good start on the bike by riding a very challenging mountainous course for 82 miles and like the bike, the run will build over time. I still have 4 months before Ironman Hawaii! I am just glad it isn’t next week!
1 comment:
Dale,
I was vacationing in Todd over the weekend, and was having breakfast at Riverside Saturday morning (where you guys all met to start your ride). I'm an agegrouper, and had my bikes up there, but didn't have my nutrition and clothes in the car at the time. I got a cue sheet from Sonni, and tried to intercept the route later in the day. I went to Creston, to a little convenience store, about 2:15, when the first pack came back through. Justin was in that group. I got in behind them for a bit, but they were too fast for me! That climb back over Three Top Mountain is fun, but the descent was more fun. I ride quite a bit when I'm in Todd, and I will do that ride again! Sounds like you had a great experience at Sonni's camp. Maybe in a few years I'll be at that level...maybe.
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