Triathlon Training Camp

As much as I love sitting on my trainer and riding the flat roads of central KS day in and day out eventually the hills beckon to prepare for the up coming season end championship races. I say that only half sarcastically because in reality I really don't mind my normal training regimen which enables me to hang out closer to home. But I know if I truly want to give an honest effort at a hilly course like 70.3 Worlds in Las Vegas I must do the training to help better prepare. To that extent I have done some short , albeit intense, weekend training camps away from home the past couple years in the time lead up. This year I chose to do several of these, each with a different focus. I have a favorite training spot with a few hills on the Smokey Valley Road by Lindsborg. I visit there periodically and went out there a few weeks prior to my Branson training camp to get the legs thinking about hills again before the bigger ones in Branson. There are only a few hills so it's a better place to do repeats than anything.

For the second year I attended Joe Company's (Endurance Company) training camp at Branson, MO. The timing of this camp works out nicely as it is three weeks out from Worlds and is definitely the hardest weekend of training I have all year. I have written about the training from last years camp in a previous post (here) and we followed a similar regimen of swimming in Table Rock, cycling on the High Road, and brick running; as well as reconing the Branson Rev 3 course. Joe pulled out all the stops this year and improved an already great camp by bringing in retired pro cyclist Scott Moninger (below) and dietician Cassie Dimmick. Both were amazing and offered up an amazing amount of information.

Joe does a great job to keep all the workouts flexible so you can do more or less mileage as desired. I would highly recommend it, especially if you plan to do the Rev 3 race in the future. 

I finished off my block of training by trying a new location at Wilson Lake near Wilson, KS on I70 between Salina and Hays. This is a terrific spot if you're within a couple hours with both short and long climbs for biking and minimal traffic. Not to mention they boast having the clearest lake in KS. I tried it out and they weren't lying according to the few lakes I've been in. They also have one of the best mountain bike trails in KS with the Swtichgrass Trail. I caught some glimpses of the trail hugging the lake side cliffs and will definitely go back to test it out.
We will see if these training camps pay dividends come Sunday. On to Vegas.