Adventures at Triathlon Camp!
Bike-handling skills, terrain management, and transition tomfoolery at triathlon camp
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I went to camp once as a kid.
We paddled in canoes, made friendship bracelets, and put on a play. It was a lot of fun.
Recently, I had the opportunity revisit some of that childhood nostalgia-making new friends, going on adventures, exploring the great outdoors- at camp. But this was a bit different because it was triathlon camp!
Over the weekend, Matt and I headed to Travelers Rest, South Carolina to join our coaches and teammates for a 3-day triathlon camp. We worked on bike-handling skills, terrain management, and transition practice.
Our Base Camp at Triathlon Camp
Matt always finds the most incredible places to stay when we travel. He’s booked a poolside cantina in St. George, a glass-walled cabin in Maine, and a tiny house in Clermont, but this Airbnb was truly special.
We stayed at Blue Wall Farm in Travelers Rest. It’s a small family farm that has miniature horses, sheep, chickens, and pigs. The apartment itself is on the top level of an old, red barn that’s been renovated with a small kitchen, living room, breakfast nook, and bedroom inside. There’s even a small closet that has two, twin astronaut beds for kids.
There’s a porch swing, fire pit, and a mini chicken coop so we could collect our own eggs for breakfast! (Our chickens decided to only lay one egg a day so we waited until the end of the trip to cook an omelette.)
We met “Snickers” a very friendly Calico cat, the miniature horses, and hungry sheep, but never found the pigs…
Welcome Campers!
We drove up to South Carolina on Thursday for the start of camp on Friday morning. Here’s the camp schedule for the weekend.
Day 1-
8:30 am- Long course swim at Westside Aquatic Center
10:30 am- Bike-handling skills at Trailblazer Park
1:00 pm- 2-hour terrain management bike ride
2:30- lunch at HeyDay
4:00 pm- 50-min. run at Furman University
Day 2-
9:00 am- 3-hour bike ride at Tuxedo Park
45-minute run off the bike at Summit Lake
2:00 pm- lunch at Flatrock Bakery
6:00 pm- Pizza party
Day 3-
8:30- 2-hour transition practice workout
Day 1- Circle swims, U-turns, and Prom pics
I’d never been to a triathlon camp before, but it always sounded like a lot of fun! I was excited to meet some of our teammates in person that we’d previously only chatted with online.
First up, we met at the Westside Aquatic Center for a long-course swim. It’s a cool indoor complex with a 25-yard pool and a 50-meter pool, which we would love to have at home. We warmed up with some of my favorite swimming drills like single-arm freestyle with a paddle-board and fins, fist swimming, and snorkel sets, in addition to some uptempo work.
After a quick snack, we met at Trailblazer Park for bike-handling skills. I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve been cycling for six years now, but I quickly discovered there’s always more to learn!
We worked on starting and stopping (the right way), pausing and restarting without clipping out (no idea I could do this), braking, navigating corners, and U-turns. That last one is something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve had a few minor incidents in the past that left me with a swollen knee a time or two, so I was eager to learn how to do a proper U-turn (and stay upright while doing it).
Best U-Turn Tips:
Squeeze brakes before the turn. Let it flow in the turn.
Angle to the inside first, then outside.
Get off the saddle, lean bike in, hip to the outside
Outside leg down, weight in feet, light hands
Look where you want to go
I got a lot of practice doing u-turns at camp, since most of our bike rides had out and backs, but I’ll definitely be setting up cones in a parking lot so I can practice more. The goal is to get more confident so I can execute it faster and more efficiently during a race.
Takeaway: Every triathlete should continuously work on improving bike-handling skills, whether you’re an expert, beginner, or somewhere in between.
After we wrapped up skills practice, we headed out for a 2-hour terrain management ride on beautiful, hilly farmland with cows. (I learned everywhere is hilly in Greenville). We practiced good gear selection for race efforts and u-turns.
Then, we ate a small lunch at HeyDay, because we had a quick turnaround for a run workout at 4:00 pm at Furman University. The campus is beautiful with brick buildings, a clock tower, and a running trail that goes around a lake filled with geese.
We did a 50-minute run consisting of a pretty challenging workout with long sets and short rest. As we were wrapping up, the trail started getting busier with kids dressed in fancy, brightly colored dresses taking photos. I’m not sure they appreciated a bunch of sweaty athletes in their formal pictures. ;)
After a quick shower, we met up with Claire, Mack, and Ruthann at Farmhouse Tacos for dinner. Then, it was back to the house for some well-deserved rest after a big day of training.
Day 2- “Ice Cream” Mountain
At 9:00 am, we met at Tuxedo Park just over the border in North Carolina for a 3-hour bike ride. We rode to another beautiful, hilly area with farmland, barns, and horse pastures to do our workout.
The workout was almost an hour and a half worth of race efforts with strong surges on a section of road that we could do out and back several times, which allowed us to see each other.
This was a great opportunity to practice bike-handling skills, because there were wide sweeping corners, a few short, steep hills, and fast descents. We’d been told there was a surprise waiting for us after the workout, which I thought might be ice cream.
It was not ice cream. It was a mountain.
Now, I’ve climbed mountains before. (Matt and I met at the Six Gap Century in Georgia). But I typically use my road bike for rides with a lot of elevation. Today, we were on our triathlon bikes…
I can’t say I was looking forward to descending a mountain with temperamental rim brakes, but we’d had a discussion about descending during skills practice so now was as good of a time as any!
The climb was pretty brutal, because my heart rate got up so high. I legitimately thought I was going to have to unclip and stop, but I made it to the top! It was probably just a 40-minute climb, but felt a lot longer. On the way up, we even rode by a small waterfall.
To avoid standing around and waiting for everyone to finish, once you got to the top you rode back down to the next athlete and picked them up on the climb, so we would all finish at the same time.
After a quick group photo, it was time to descend…
I’m pretty comfortable descending, but I learned a few things that were total game-changers! I learned the importance of having both pedals level (we’re not flamingos) and keeping heavy weight in your feet. This helped so much with stability.
Also, instead of pushing back on the bars and resisting gravity, which makes you taller and less stable, leaning forward and bending the elbows so you form a more compact package that’s closer to the ground, which is more stable.
There were a few steep switchbacks that got interesting, but we’d talked about the difference between braking to stop (squeezing both brakes evenly) and safety braking (intermittent squeezes to scrub speed if you feel like you’re going too fast).
Best Climbing Tips:
Focus on measured breathing, exhaling through the mouth
Ride towards the outer line because it’s less steep than the inside line
Whenever you get a chance, change into a slightly bigger gear to switch up muscle patterns and give yourself a break
Let the pedal stroke flow through the ankle and don’t push your heel down at the bottom of the stroke
Best Descending Tips:
Push back far in the saddle to change your center of gravity
Bend elbows and get down low for stability
Keep pedals equal and weight in feet, light hands
Don’t hold the brakes. Use safety braking to scrub speed.
After the ride, we had a 45-minute run with build efforts around Summit Lake. This was such a pretty area with a gravel trail around a shaded lake that had the most amazing lakehouses I’ve ever seen.
(I ran with Morgan, who go figure, also used to show horses! Small world. Matt learned the value of not letting the boys push the pace ;))
When we finished, the group headed to Flatrock Bakery for well-deserved sandwiches and pastries. We got a pecan bar and a ginger cookie, but we kind of wanted to take home everything in the case.
After a shower, we sat in our compression boots, and met the crew at the Swamp Rabbit Inn for a pizza party! We talked about our beloved canine companions back at home, what we’d learned at camp so far, and what to do if you get a flat with tubeless tires (Dynaplug Racer!)
Day 3- Transition Tomfoolery
At 8:30 am, we headed out on a bike ride through another hilly neighborhood with the prettiest homes (Craftsman, I think?) to get to our transition area. Fellow teammate, Alvie and his son, had driven out our transition bags and racks so the practice area was ready when we arrived. It was across the street from St. Clare Monastery and there was a red barn at the top of a hill with a few horses and a very curious miniature donkey, who thought we were totally nuts.
The plan was to do a lap on the bike, a lap on the run, and repeat several times. But we were told there would be some surprises thrown our way…
(First thought- You’re throwing things at us?)
(Second thought- I must have a different definition of what surprise means...)
Basically, the goal was to practice transitions, but more importantly to do it during a high intensity workout AND to be able to adapt when faced with unexpected challenges while your heart rate is over 175 bpm.
Here’s what happened.
Matt:
All of his run gear was put in a plastic bag that he had to put on while running out of transition.
His bike was moved in transition.
A bottle was loose in the rear bottle cage.
Someone hid his run shoes in the bushes.
His hat was clipped to his shoelaces.
He had to change a flat tire.
Me:
I had to fill up a running flask with water.
My helmet strap was clipped together.
My shoelaces were tied together.
A bottle was loose in the rear bottle cage.
I had athletes running interference and bumping into me.
My running shoes were moved.
I had to change a flat tire.
From all the giggling and snickering going on, you could tell they had way too much fun with this. It was equal parts hilarious, exhausting, and great practice!
This was all done at a strong effort, since the laps were between 3 miles and 1 mile, and I was pleasantly surprised with how my legs held up after a few hard days of training.
Takeaway: All athletes should regularly practice transition skills, under fatigue, especially changing a flat tire.
After riding back to Trailblazer Park, it was time to tell everyone goodbye and exchange phone numbers. We all live in different areas, like Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and South Carolina, and we’re all preparing for different races like 70.3 Gulf Coast, 70.3 Des Moines, 70.3 Wisconsin, American Triple T, and Ironman Lanzarote.
It was fun getting to train together for a long weekend in a beautiful place. We made new friends, explored the great outdoors, learned a lot, and had so much fun while doing it!
Matt and I wrapped up our trip by having dinner in downtown Greenville at Soby’s, getting ice cream, and visiting Falls Park.
If you ever have the opportunity to do a triathlon camp, I would highly recommend it. This was the most fun I’ve had doing triathlon in a while, just focusing on the sport and camaraderie, with no distractions.
Triathlon camp allows you to:
Learn valuable new skills
Train in different places
Get outside your comfort zone
Make incredible new friends
Get a refresh and reinvigorate your love for the sport
Learn to embrace change, adapt, and grow
Even if you don’t have a triathlon coach, a lot of coaches do triathlon camps that are open to the public. We had a blast and can’t wait for the next one!
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