2023 Alpe D’huez Training Camp

At the end of May, (after I had spent a sneaky extra week in the Alpes post Aix en Provence 70.3, making sure that the mountains were ridable for us all) we ran our annual training camp in the French Alps.  Our little house, which is the base for the camp is nestled in a tiny village called Le Boulangeard, overlooking Lake Verney, the race start of the infamous Alpe D’Huez triathlon.  The week consisted of a lot of riding up mountains, swimming in the slightly chilly Lake Laffrey, as well as a few indoor sessions at Gavet, plus some specific interval run sessions, and bricks. The overall objective is of course, not only thoroughly enjoy the beautiful scenery and the company but to put in a specific block of endurance, and some race specific intensity just before the race season really starts. Obviously we have the added bonus of a bit of altitude training, and due to our location, we feature a long ride, taking in all of the mountains of  Alpe D’Huez Triathlon,  handy for those of us competing in it….again!  Yet again, it did not disappoint.

A big shout out to everyone that came, namely Becky and Nick, who also supported in a coaching role as well, Annie, Will, Emma, Ben, George, Ian, Eric, myself, Ade and Fin for the odd ride run and swim!.  I think I made it a shade below 10000 metres of climbing up mountains in the week, which included Alpe D’Huez ( a couple of times of course) Croix de Fer, Col D’Ornon, Villard Reculas climb, taking the back road up to Alpe D’ Huez, again, Col de la Mort, and the Col de Malissol.  Plus a sneaky brick run off one of the Alpe D’Huez climbs, and a solid interval session along the path to Bourg D’Oisans. Not to mention some essential afternoon spins to Bourg itself for coffee, ice cream, cake….anything to be honest!

As ever, we thoroughly enjoyed the week training with some of the team, and there are definitely benefits to getting a week like this in before the season well and truly starts. In fact next week, myself, Ade, Ian and some of the training Today Ambassadors will be hosting a podcast on the benefits of a well structured training camp pre season. This can be found at The Training Today Podcast on Apple Podcasts  but for now, here are some of the photos from the week.