2016 Canmore Spring Training Camp

Last weekend was Team Tri Life‘s spring training camp in beautiful Canmore, Alberta.

Camp was only two weeks after the Phoenix Marathon and I was definitely not feeling fully recovered from my race yet.  My goals for camp were to:

• Have fun hanging out with my teammates.
• Be smart about the level of intensity of my workouts.  Listen to my body and back off when required.
• Get feedback on my swim.

Friday – pm spin

I drove to Canmore on Friday afternoon and arrived with plenty of time to eat dinner and be ready for a 90 minute spin starting at 7:00 pm.  I learned from my mistake last year of eating a huge sandwich super close to class and ate something a bit lighter and a bit earlier.  As for a late evening spin, my bedtime is usually anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30 pm so I was nervous about doing a workout so late in the evening.

Luckily Coach Sarah Van Tine did a great job of making the ride fly by.  I had to back off the gearing near the end as my legs were starting to feel fatigued and I didn’t want to burn them out completely on the first night.

Saturday – am long run with drills and hill sprints

We headed out as a group on the pathways in Canmore for a warm up run to a short hill we could use to practice some hill sprints.  Once we got there it was time to practice some simple drills to help us warm up and work on our form.

Coach Sharon Styles ran us through some skipping, butt kicks, hurdler extensions, and high kicks.  Having views of those snow capped mountains off in the distance was a great perk!  After we were suitably warmed up Coach Sharon and Sarah gave us pointers on how to tackle some hard, fast 0:30 hill sprints.  I kept my effort at more of an endurance pace, then headed back a bit earlier to keep my run on the shorter side.

Strava

Saturday – am swim

After a snack and some coffee it was time to get in the pool!  We did a lot of work with a pull buoy, paddles and an ankle band to really tire out our arms.

Saturday – pm hike up Lady MacDonald

After a quick lunch break it was time to take advantage of the nice weather and head out for a hike up Lady MacDonald.  It was 15C out, but I figured you never know what conditions will be like as you hike up a mountain so I was wearing plenty of layers.

I wound up being overdressed, but it is easier to shed a layer than to underdress and be cold on your way up or down!  We set off as a big group, but the ascent up Lady Mac is steep from the get go.  Everyone settled into a rhythm and went up the mountain at their own pace.

Conditions along the trail were mixed.  Parts were bare and dry, but there was also quite a bit of mud.  There were also some good patches of ice here and there.  On the ascent I felt fine in just my hiking boots but on the way down I strapped on my Kahtoola Microspikes to be on the safe side.

I’m a bit of a nervous (less steady) descender so I turned around after an hour to make sure I’d have enough time to make it down the mountain and not feel rushed.  I still managed to spot some lovely views of Canmore down below as some clouds were rolling in.

Strava

Saturday – pm yoga

Saturday was not quite over yet…we still had a yoga session on our schedule!  Trish Huston, a yoga instructor from Banff, took us through a very gentle one hour session.  She focused on stretching and restorative poses and was really mindful about giving us modifications if we were too tight!  When I had issues sitting back on my hips in child’s pose I realized I probably need to spend some time incorporating more stretching and yoga into my routine.

Sunday – am swim

After a slightly short night thanks to DST we woke up to snow falling Canmore with a 90 min swim on the schedule for 9:00 am.  I don’t know if I have ever swum so hard in my life.  We did a lot of very fast 25 m sprints and a lot of paddle work.  I honestly thought my arms would fall off.  I’m in the pink cap (top right of your screen).

Sunday – pm spin and brick

After eating copious amounts of food to refuel from an incredibly hard swim it was time for the final workout of camp – a short spin and a brick run.  This was my first brick run of the year and I tried to focus on light, fast feet until my legs came around.

By the time camp was all said and done I wound up logging about 9 hours of activity over the weekend alone.  Crazy!!  Luckily I kept the intensity level lower when I needed to and my body and brain are feeling pretty good post marathon these days.  Thank you to Coach Sharon and Sarah for making us work so hard and for all of the feedback over camp!

Time to bring on 70.3 and Ironman training!!

I’m linking up with Kris from Canadian Girl Runs for Fitness Friday.