LPC Florida Tri Camp - Day 2: National Training Centre!

Today was an awesome day at Camp LPC. We went to the National Training Centre in Clearmont, Florida for an awesome morning of training and seminars – and then did a great skills ride!

 

The morning started out at the track – a beautiful outdoor 400m track. Well, technically, it started on the cross-country course since I took the option of doing my warm-up there. I almost never run on trails so I had to run pretty slowly, but who cares since it was the warm-up. It was fun to weave a few hills on grass! I think the last time I did that was last year, but it seemed like the trail was better groomed this time!

When we got to the actual track, we split into 2 groups. I joined the fast group mostly because I know all the running drills and figured why not. My coach didn’t have my running hard today, but I figured I could always modify my pace as needed.

We started off with running drills – none of which I had any issues with (A, B, C, Karaoke) and then some pick-ups.

The main set was sets of 3x400s – descend 1-3. Since Coach Mark didn’t have a lot of running on my plan, I stuck to 2 rounds. I figured since he had 10x30seconds of intervals (which wasn’t an option so I didn’t even think to do that)…that was about the same as 4 harder reps (i.e. reps 2 and 3 of each set).

Beautiful NTC Track

 

Despite starting a bit too fast, I managed to descend both times. I really had to focus on my pace since there was a big temptation to go as fast as the other people in my group (not that I could). But I thought I did great. I just kept the faster guys in sight and tried not to lose too much ground. It worked well and I felt okay at the end.

After the awesome track workout, we headed up to the main building for our swim session. The NTC has a beautiful outdoor pool which was a pleasure to swim in. Similar to last year, we rotated time with several coaches to get different drills to work on, plus a main set. Each lane then got pulled out to do the swim analysis video at some point during the workout.
 

Photo thanks to Coach James! Swim drills

 

The drills were all great. Coach Alex had us doing drills focused on leading with the hip, Coach Gabby had us doing sighting drills, Coach Jo did the main set – although I missed most of that because of the video.  All in all, it was an awesome session.

Coach Mark did the video this year. I admit, it will be interesting to see the result since I’d just spent so much time doing drills and was a little off. Just hope I have improved my hand/foot entry since I’ve been working on it since my last video in December. Kind of nice to have a new video so soon to see if I’ve improved!

 

Coach Mark doing swim videos

 

After the swim, we had a bit of time to get showered and changed before the seminars. In a weird coincidence, I had someone in the change room ask if I was in the Toronto Triathlon Club (because I had a TTC water bottle). Sure enough, when I turned around, it was my friend Claire who happened to be in Florida. How awesome is that?

I also stopped in to the NTC store and got a really nice feeling Couer bike jersey. Another camper got one as well, so it worked out well (it was buy one get one free) – so we just split the cost. That was nice given the value of the Canadian dollar right now!

The first of the seminars was Coach Mark, who gave an excellent nutrition talk. He gives one each year – but the information is incredibly valuable and there always seems to be a new spin on things.  Seeing as I can now eat on my bike (mostly), it was interesting to go through what we should be eating for different races. I didn’t quite manage the minimum 60 grams of Carbs an hour for Ironman – but I came pretty close. That’s a big improvement over previous races when I had barely anything.

Coach Mark - Nutrition and hydration seminar

 

After Coach Mark, Lionel Sanders gave a great talk. Lionel’s had a phenomenal rise in triathlon over the past few years and it was neat to hear about his journey and the different stumbling blocks he’s had along the way. I was really impressed with his current outlook about racing – which is just to be the best he can be. It’s very much in line with my ‘Be Awesome Today’ motto.

 

Lionel Sanders - Amazing triathlete

 

Lunch was catered for the talk, which was great given the two workouts in the morning. I think my veggie wrap and chips disappeared in minutes. On the way out of the NTC, I also bought a chocolate banana smoothie….yummy.

Back home, we had a little bit of time before the bike session at 4:30. I can’t actually remember what I did which probably says I was a bit tired! But I was good to go by the time the session came along – a ‘skills and drills’ focused session around the resort.

 

Skills and drills!

 

We did a lot of cornering practice going different directions, plus some snail game riding – all of which I enjoy practicing (and I need it). I find it funny that most people prefer going left, whereas I prefer going right. Similarly, I had no issues at all with the right U-turns, but the left ones continue to give me a lot of trouble. Coach Gabby chatted with me after the ‘official’ session and we did a few things to figure out what I’m doing wrong. We didn’t really have a good spot to practice trying to fix it, so if we have time, she said she’d give me some help at Lake Louisa State Park on Wednesday. I do realize that a lot of it is mental at this point – so hopefully I will be able to get it!

Back home, our House of Secrets crew all contributed tons of food to dinner. Not long after that, I went to bed! Amazing how tiring all this training is! But oh so much fun!!!