Heavy legs after three days in training camp

In order to prepare for this year’s IM, I decided to up my bike volume by going on a training camp with “Hannes Hawaii Tours” to Mallorca. So far, I’ve spent three great days of training.

Day 1 started with sleeping in which felt great after the last few hectic days at home. Then a nice big breakfast and the first outside ride of the year. I had registered for the “25-27” group (no nor the age, but the average speed in kph) and we hit the speed almost perfectly. From the start there were a few people to chat with, some hills to test my legs, and only one short break. When we came back after 75k of riding, I felt that I had done something, but not totally spent. Still had enough energy for a swim session (25m pool right in front of my room) and a short core and stretching session.

The next day saw a bit longer session in even hillier terrain. First we did a run drills session in the morning. After that, the bike ride had just one short stop in almost exactly 3:30 hours of riding for 95k. The steeper hills really tested me, and I had to let the group go a little bit on the last steep hill.

I caught back up soon on the downhills – guess I really have to work on my power to weight ratio. :-) A nice shower, and I still had enough energy for another core session.

The third day (Tuesday), we had an even longer ride with a T-run. The terrain was a bit less challenging and a well running group, so we sped through the 105k ride in under four hours. A short break and then a 40 min T-run along the coast left me exhausted for the evening. Good thing that today (Wednesday) is a “rest day” (read: only two hours of easy training).

There is another ride planned for Thursday, which I’ll probably shorten a bit because I’ve signed up for the “big stage ride” on Friday – 170k of riding and about 2000m of climbing – most of it in the first half. Hopefully my legs will still be up for the challenge by then.

I’m really enjoying myself. It feels great to be able to focus on training and be able to talk triathlon and sports the whole day. Already starting to think about what I have to do to achieve some more ambitious goals. Looking forward to the next few days, but already miss my wife …