Personal Best
Training Camp – 7th May – 21st May 2013
I LOVED THIS CAMP!
I’ve wanted to
write about this camp at the end of everyday, however it has been so amazing I
felt I would leave it till the plane ride back to London.
Firstly, this is my
first ever training camp, I had no idea what to expect, what the coaching would
be like, the people, the venue etc. One thing I was definitely sure about
however was not to over train, my coach, Toby Smithson http://tobysmithson.com/en/, bless him was concerned
that I would get carried away and to be fair so did I.
I will be mindful
not to write too much as I may bore you and I can’t have that. So I will do my
best to write as little as possible but endeavour to capture the essence of this
camp. I will write a separate post detailing my experience and what I learnt on
the camp.
This camp is run by
Steve Trew, Personal Best Training and he is accompanied by Dan Bullock, Swim for Tri The camp runs over 2 weeks and the last weekend the Gran Fondo Nove
Colli is held. Athletes have the option of attending 7 days, 10 days or the
full two weeks.
The general
overview of the camp is fairly relaxed, you can do as many or as little
sessions as you like. Generally the days start with either Yoga or a Sea Swim
or a run (alternates over the days), breakfast time, mid morning fitness
session in the pool, followed by a ride (short, long), lunch is at your expense
and can be done whenever you like, after the ride we get back to the hotel and
chill before hitting the pool for an afternoon technique swim session. In the evening we all meet in the bar area of
the hotel for drinks and nibbles before heading in to the dining room for an
amazing 4 course meal (salad buffet, starter, main and dessert).
The staff at the
Hotel Beau Soliel are fantastic. The hotel is run by Dante and his family. The
wait staff are amazing and forever attending to our needs, over time you
develop relationships with them and they surprisingly know your favorite
deserts or portion sizes etc. (Yes, I was spoilt)
This then brings me
to the other athletes that attended, WOW WOW WOW, I have not been surrounded by
so many amazing athletes of various ages, personalities, and ability. We had
athletes in there 60’s and 70’s who have qualified for Worlds, 1st
place Age Groupers, Multiple Ironman, and amazing cyclists. I felt quite
privileged to be surrounded by so much experience and knowledge. Not once did I
ever feel inadequate as I am not experienced like these athletes, I was
encouraged and congratulated by the team each time I made progress be it in the
swim, ride or run.
I will end this
post by saying if you have never attended a training camp or would like to be
trained by two of the best in Europe, I would highly recommend this camp. The
cost, the coaching, location, the sea, pool, staff are simply amazing and I
will be returning next year!
Keep an eye out for
my next post that will describe my time on the camp!