Thursday, April 8, 2010

Mallorca, Spain Triathlon Camp 2010

I've been back for a few weeks now from the triathlon camp I conducted with Joe Friel, in Mallorca, Spain. It was an incredible experience, and I will most certainly continue to hold camps in epic places around the world, of that I am convinced.

If you missed this camp, then you most certainly missed out, if the above image doesn't tell you that already! This was a typical view on a ride, and the rides consisted of the tightest switch-backs and hairpins I've ever ridden! The climbs weren't especially long, but they were always there, and the views were always gorgeous, even when it was into the clouds!

We had 19 athletes at this camp, staying at Pollentia Resort, which was housing nearly all cyclists and triathletes. It was a great venue, and the athletes were a lot of fun to work with. It was a much longer camp than our San Luis Obispo one, as this lasted 7 days, compared to 4. This made the camp not as intense, as the training stress was spread out over 7 days, instead of cramming 4 good days together.

At this camp we swam three open-water interval workouts in the Mediterranean, including an aquathlon to finish off the camp with some of the athletes, (great fun!) See the photo below:


Each day had a classroom session, which had either myself or Joe Friel teaching, as well as Q&A, so the athletes could engage in discussion with the coaching staff. Everyone stayed at the same resort, which provided two meals a day for us, so everyone ate together each day and got to know one another better, and enjoy more friendly conversations about training, life outside of triathlon, and sharing many cultural differences. We had athletes from the UK, Norway, Spain and the US, so we had lots of great cultural experiences!

Athletes had underwater video of their swim strokes, complete with individual analysis, run technique sessions, runs along the sea, rides with coffee stops, transition work and a transition competition, a tough 25K time trial competition up a mountain to a monastery, and countless rides on mountain roads with tunnels, countless switchbacks, and great descending!

There was so much to say and write about this camp, I can't begin to do it justice, other than to say I will do it again, and you can join me! Stayed tuned to the blog, as I'll be announcing more of these in the coming weeks and months. (I will be doing another camp in Tuscany, Italy in September, but it is sold out.)

So I will just leave these images for you to get the idea of how the camp went, and I'm sure you will get the idea.







Hope to see you at some of our other upcoming camps!

Coach Vance

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