I’ve been training with Endurance Nation since 2009; and I’ve been doing my own “Epic Camps” since 2005. But this year is the coaches have put a “Camp Week” into the standard IM plan. The idea is to get a volume “pop” with a little extra cycling on top of the usual Race Rehearsal (RR)#1, five weeks before the Big Event (in this case, Ironman Coeur d’Alene.) This build on the Training Camps they have been holding for years on course for several IMs. These feature back-to-back 6 hours rides on Friday and Saturday, with a long run on Sunday. Now, apparently, you can have all the work of a Camp Week, without the fun of doing it at the race venue, with scores of like-minded triathletes suffering with you. I’m alone out here in the mountains, so I’m going to spitball my plans for this week, which will follow the spirit but not the exact trajectory of the plan.
Monday: I’ll have raced an Olympic Tri the day before; I’ll have had the three days before that on the light side; and I’ll be acclimated to my 8400′ lodgings. So I’m just going to do the plan as written – Monday swim 3900 yds/80 min in the AM and Monday run 5 miles in the PM. Estimated Training Stress Score (TSS, a standard measure of workload): 120
Wed: Here’s where I start to go off plan. The local Epic Climb, Independence Pass (rising out of town @ 7900′ topping @ 12,100′) opens for the season (meaning snow and avalanche chutes cleared) on Thursday, so this is the one of the last days to ride up and down with NO TRAFFIC – a big deal as the road is narrow, steep, twisting, and often filled with tourists. It ends up being a five hour ride to the top (or as close as I can get) and back from my house, so I’ll do it as the second long ride of the week (which the coaches have penciled in for Saturday). The plan has an optional run on Wed; I’m going to drop that. TSS: 270
Wed: Again, as written – Swim 4000 yds/80 min in the AM, 2 x 1 mi @ TP/45 minutes in the PM Est TSS: 120
Thurs: Now I’m starting to scratch my head. I want to do the RR swim/bike/run on Fri/Sat; the coaches have it as Thursday/Friday in the Camp Week protocol. This would leave me a long run of 135 min and a bike interval set of up to 55 min of intervals to fit in on Thurs and Sun. So I peeked ahead to the next week, which allows for Mon & Tues as potential off or recovery days if I do “Camp Week”. Given that, I think I’ll go for the bike intervals, which I’ll do as a series of shorter hills on the climbs in the neighborhood (10-20 minutes long @ 85-105%) – Est TSS: 90
Fri: RR Swim as 800/700/600/500/400/300/200/100/100/50/50; TSS 75
Sat: RR Bike & Run. This is a six hour ride followed by a 6 mile/one hour run. Est TSS 310
Sun: Long Run 135 min/16 miles; Est TSS 170
Totals: Swim 3 hr 45 minutes, 9600 meters; Bike 12:15/190 miles (a lot of hill climbing!); Run: 4:45/32 miles. Totals: 21 hours, TSS 1165>>165/day. Seems doable with a rest day the following Monday. Fired Up, Ready to Go!