For me, however, with work busier than ever, several other commitments and a pregnant (non-cycling) wife, disappearing for 7-10 days of cycling simply wasn’t an option. And I expect that’s a situation that an awful lot of people find themselves in. Your holidays from work are, after all, limited; even if you have the time, if you’ve a family at home (and another half is somewhat less passionate about endurance e sport than you), do you really want to spend a large bunch of days off doing your own thing without them?
| Fortunately, there are alternatives. You just need to organize a camp that’s not a camp. But how?
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- The following weekend was the third annual ATAC weekend training camp. Held from Friday to Sunday, it may not be as full-on as a 7-10 day camp, but it does provide 36hrs of extra hard training and bike/run focus. Taking advantage of the nice weather, I chose to ride to the camp (140km) then took part in the rest of the activities. Again, this provided me with a weekend of bike overload, while only really involving 2 nights away (and a very minimal cost).
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- The final option is what I’m calling the Family Holiday Camp! With another public holiday (thank you King Willem-Alexander) on Monday, this week, the good lady and I are heading off to Mallorca for 5 days of fun and sun with some friends. The bike will be coming along too! However, I have a program of no more than 3hrs of riding or running per day, focused instead on harder rides than being in the saddle all day. The idea is to get up early, smash out a ride, or even head somewhere to meet the missus and our mates for lunch. I’m even riding from the airport to our apartment (and back when leaving) in order to fit in the maximum training with the minimum interference into the holiday.
Sure, these types of weekends or holidays can’t quite ever replace a full 7-10 days of smashing it at a dedicated cycling or triathlon camp, but they can replicate many of the benefits. My biking has definitely improved – I averaged 10W (AP and NP) more during the Amstel Gold than I put out last year, did it around 20 minutes quicker and felt far better afterwards.
So, if you can’t manage the big training camp, don’t worry. They’re good, but they’re not irreplaceable.