Training Camps

[ra ra]

I've been searching around the website and forum for whether teamtbb has training camps for age group triathletes.  Have there been camps in the past and are there any for the future?  I love reading the forum and think the training philosophy is fantastic.

[Matthieu O’Halloran - "M@"]

Hey and welcome to the forum!

YEs TBB used to have organised training camps for age groupers in 2007!
It was pretty cool because would could do some training session and have supper with the team athletes 

But there has not been any recently because everybody has been very busy with other aspects of the team and also with consistent moving around! And as you can imagine, these camps take some serious organisation...

I think that all of the TBB stores in SE Asia have group training that is based from the store itself! So depending on where you live, that could be a start!

If you look in on the photo pages of the team website, you can see some pics of some of the camps we hosted in a beautifull part of Thailand!

[teamTBBmgr]

Thanks Mat for chipping in and all very true.

Ra Ra, as Mat rightfully says, we could not continue to age group training camps the past 2 years as we had our hands very full with teamtbb itself and as you might know, its 30 full time pro's.

But I have some good news for you and many others who wrote to me on this topic many times before.

teamtbb management has decided to consider 2010 as the year during which we will re-launch the teamtbb training camps again.

So if you don't mind, I will highjack this topic from you now to get input from our forum readers on this topic of traininc camps...

Our 2010 plan is to have a few options for age group training camps as following:

Camp A: In March / April 2010 in Asia (heat training camp)

Plan B: In June / July 2010 in Switzerland (altitude training camp)

Plan C: In Sept 2010 in Korea (IM Hawaii training camp)

All of these camps would be organized around our teamtbb pro camps, so interaction with the squad is a basic part of the program. As you can see this aspect is enjoyed by both the pro's and age group athletes.

So a few questions for our forum readers:

1. IF we would organize any or all of these training camps in 2010, what would be your preferred option?

2. What do you find the ideal lenght of a training camp?
    4 days, 6 days, 10 days, etc

3. What would be critical elements for you that must be addressed in these training camps?

4. What should NOT be done in these age group camps? We rather know what would piss people off, then receiving the obvious "I want this..." 

Well, let's wait for the response from anyone on this forum so we can strategize our plans for 2010.

Thanks,

Alex

[dexter_ding]

1. Asia for sure.... Subic would be perfect! cost of living is cheap and the hills are wild! Ofcourse not as crazy as swiss fo shou.
2. 6 days because we are limited to 15 days vacation leave and 15 days sick leave. we would also like to "live & train" like a pro triathlete as much as possible. so being able to see and live a day-to-day life of a pro triathlete would be awesome and it will be great to trasin atleast a week with the team.
3. Efficiency in all three disciplines.  Specifically in the area of race day and strength training in all disciplines including nutrition.
4. what you should do: Freebies from sponsors! hahahhah discount on official teamTBB Gear. less seminar more on training. i know we wont be able to catch-up w/ the pros but hey I would like to atleast hear the doc say"HTFU"!

sounds exciting. if we could do a city version that would be great! Here in Alabang, Manila we have a good road. Olympic siza pool and can workout a good area to replace the track sessions. smaller in scale, shorter period. We could do a 3-day event that starts on friday morning and end sunday evening. lemme know what you think, i would love to volunteer already.

[BellaBayliss]

Well done Dexter_ding

Great views on what you would want on a training camp.  Sounds like a good idea to me.

I'm sure you would get to hear a few HTFU's from the boss 

[StephenBayliss]

I wrote the above    Forgot to log out Bella 

[Murder13]

Love the forum and nothing but utmost respect for Doc and Team TBB athletes. I as well would love to attend a TBB camp. Being from Canada I would choose the Asia camp as it would kick start our season. I enjoy camps where the training is the priority and the learning and Q and A takes place over lunch / dinner or down time between workouts.

[bakz14]

I agree with the points raised by dexter_ding. Subic, Friday to Sunday etc. I've been a avid tbb fan eversince and can't imagine passing up a chance to join your training camp. Hope this would prosper. I'd be the first ones on the list. 

[ra ra]

Whew, I was getting a little anxious and thought no one would ever get back to my question!!  I ditto Murder13 with regards to doc and TeamTbb and I think a training camp at Asia with Q and A's during downtimes and 6 days plus for camps.  It's an item on my "To Do List" is to attend a training camp with professional triathletes and what better way to spend it is with TeamTbb athletes.  It would be great to catch a glimpse of the life of a pro and just be able to soak in some knowledge about training and coaching.  Fingers crossed for 2010 training camp!

P.S.
Thanks for the welcome!

[jules]

1. Asia - it would be good to have the camp with a focus on the Singapore 70.3 on 21st March.  Would also allow overseas athletes maybe to stay on for the race (short taper....).  Thailand would be my preferred venue - the old TBB haunt maybe?

2. 4-6 days - no more.  Maybe a basic camp for 4 days with options for those that wish to extend.

3. Apart from the usual triathlon lessons from ole doc, depending on numbers I would wish to see soem individual feedback on all three disciplines - even if it is just the main pointers.

4. Allow the camp to get too big and too impersonal.

[jvigaray]

I´d like a camp in January to peak for IM Malaysia 

[Jocelyn Wong - "Wongstar"]

I think if the camps get a little too popular we need to have the applicants send in photos with height listed on it 

when I was 18 and a wee little age grouper I went to an ironman training camp, it was 5 days long, with some pros including Mike Pigg!  I absolutely loved it...training with the pros and asking them all sorts of questions "do you really pee on yourself in a race?"  "what do you eat?"   

[Amanda]

I would vote for a Swiss camp. I'm from Uk, training in the heat of Asia would kill me!!! Also the travel etc needed to get there could cost me out of considering it. Plus the travel time would have to be added either end of the training camp, maybe a bit extra for jet lag.

6-10 days would be a better length than 4, cause less than a week doesn't give any time to get going. It would almost be un packing to pack straight back up again.

What bugs me, and I'm thinking of a specific camp I have attended in the past, is when almost as soon as you get there they are trying to sell you stuff - be it their coaching package, to replacing bits of kit (that you don't really need but their sponsered by them...).

I'd rather learn in a hands on kind of way, than sat in a lecture learning lots of theory - that means nothing unless you can put it into practice!

It's always good to have ability groups too - there's nothing more demoralising than setting off in a group ride, being dropped, and not seeing the coach for the next billion miles - because he/she is having a great time racing up front with the speedy ones!

What could be addressed - technique issues. Sometimes I don't realise I'm doing something I shouldn't, or not doing something I should - unless someone is there to point it out. It often needs a trained eye to look at you to pinpoint it too. My biggest progress has been made in the last year by being picky, and getting smaller things right - minutes saved by correcting bad technique, or working in a more efficient way over a longer course soon add up!
It would be good to be able to chat to some of the team in a more informal environment. A chance to ask the stupid or basic questions you might not want to shout out in a Q&A session!

I'm sure more stuff will come to mind, but that's some of my thoughts to be going on with.

Amanda

[cervelo-van]

So, Wongstar, what was the answer to your questions posed to Mike Pigg as outlined below, or do we only get the answers from the new pros like you when we attend the AG camp?

As well, I assume you welcome all age groupers, including those of us in the 50-54 category even if we no longer look like the pretty boys so favored by some of the TBB babes?

I think if the camps get a little too popular we need to have the applicants send in photos with height listed on it 

when I was 18 and a wee little age grouper I went to an ironman training camp, it was 5 days long, with some pros including Mike Pigg!  I absolutely loved it...training with the pros and asking them all sorts of questions "do you really pee on yourself in a race?"  "what do you eat?"   

[teamTBBmgr]

Great feedback all around and valuable input to our planning process!

Please keep the flow comming as this is really great input.

Alex