Hey Tom Club La Santa offers tons of training camps, from MTB to biking - led by Tony Doyle. They also run a tri trg camp. Check out this link.



http://www.clublasanta.com/Default.asp?ID=1621

I am doing one my Sean Roach next year in Majorca.



Graham

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Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz

That is awesome. It says 140 Euros. There is no way that is right- that has to be on top of the nightly room/resort fee. Even at that it seems more than reasonable.

Ever been there? It looks like an ultimate training destination. The Volcano Triathlon looks interesting also.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,
Check with Hannes Blaschke of Hannes Hawaii Tours, they are very experienced in that regard. Plus it seems that the Germans in general seem to know something about training and trainong camps. :-)
Herbert
Litespeed/QR

Herbert,

Good to have you back. Thank you for your reporting from Kona. Your men did quite well.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Hey Tom I did not go but my son Mat did and ended up riding with some of the top pro road teams who were training out there pre season. One of his favorite stories is the manager of one of the teams actually backed off the brakes on all the bikes and told the team to race down hill. Mat was in the middle of a group doing about 65 MPH, with no brakes to speak of - his bike handling skills went up about 200% in 25 miles.

Graham

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Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz

For English speaking tri-specific camps do a web search for Richard Hobson (this camp includes the Volcano tri) or Robin Brew.
SteveMc

Tom, Club LaSanta is like "base camp" for the top Euro triathletes. All the Euro studs go to train there in the winter. You could likely show up on any week from Jan to Apr solo and have tons of dudes to train with, even if you don't show up for a formal camp.

Hey, if I could afford it, I'd just show up there and invite a whack of guys from slowtwitch and you'd have a without the costs.

In fact, you could organize your own. Pick a week when you want to go, and post the planned workouts and invite folks to show up at their own expense. Post it on a thread in Slowtwitch with a link back to your own web site with all the details and you'll be set.

"There has to be a triathlon training camp there. Prefereably 2 weeks, prefereably during the U.S. winter. "
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Have a look at the events page: http://www.clublasanta.co.uk/events.php

Looks like Joe Beer (http://www.jbst.com/) has one in Feb and Robin Brew (www.robinbrewsports.com) has one in March .

How the heck could I have missed this all my life? This place is awesome!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"Looks like Joe Beer (http://www.jbst.com/) has one in Feb and Robin Brew (www.robinbrewsports.com) has one in March ."

Wow! It must be quite a kegger when Robin Brew and Joe Beer get together! Sign me up. If we can't get six packs on our abdomens we can suck a few of them back with these guys!

I've stayed at Club La Santa seven times. Need I say more? OK, I will. It's awesome, and until the dollar went down the toilet, was incredibly cheap for Americans, but it's still pretty reasonable. I only ever met one seppo there on all my visits. You tend to need to transfer in Spain or the UK. I went with three different groups, including with Robin Brew, and I think that helps, especially in getting pool time and coaching, not to mention meeting new people. If you get three folk together then you'll get a good deal on an apartment (typically one person on a pullout bed in the living room), which will be fairly spartan but adequate, and there are far fewer cockroaches these days. The pools and beach are great, the track and other sports facilities awesome, and the best thing is the scene, just a great atmosphere for athletes. Sprint triathlon every wednesday morning, as I recall.

Oh, did I mention the topless girls repping 100s Long-Course going every 1-25? Only saw that a couple of times, but I doubt you'll see it anywhere else!

Check out http://www.clublasanta.com/

Holy sh..t! Looks great. Just how clean is this place, as my wife is very picky regarding this, and I need to sell her on this the best I can.

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Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.

Hi Tom,

My club team (swimming) used to go there for training camp. Although all we did was swim, 90km per week, I remember some of the things on the island (other than the tiles at the bottom of the swimming pool). It can get really hot and really windy. Although the temperatures aren't that hot during the winter months. The facilities are all really nice. And then there were those hot blonde aerobic instructors! All men on the swim team used to do some volunteer aerobic session after our morning practices...and swimmers are usually not very talanted at that kind of thing.

I also remember that the triathlete that came along left after the first week. He couldn't take the boredom of the island anymore. He's been there many times and the scenery can get boring after a while. The island is not exactly big. But it's nice to go there every once in a while. I wouldn't necessarily spend my money and travel there from the US. There are many places in the US you can train during the winter months and it will save you some money. But there are many, especially German triathletes, that go there to train in the cold winter months.

I wouldn't travel there from the US to train. If you really want to go to the canary islands, spend the money for the trip and do the IM. Stay a couple extra days for recovery and go diving, enjoy the beaches, and surf. Plenty of people are on party vacation near the southern part of the island, around Puerto del Carmen.

I just found a map and read that Lanzarote has approximately 900 square kilometers (including some other smaller islands around). Look at the map and you will realize that you will not have that many options for longer rides. North-South distance is 60km, East-West distance is only 20km.





hope that helps,



daniel

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�The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.� -Michelangelo

MoodBoost Drink : Mood Support + Energy.

Looks great. Thx for bringing this to my attention Tom.

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Searching for the bliss of ultimate exertion.

La Santa is a great place to train. Everything is there on-site. I mean everything (okay, maybe not Tibbs' lap dancers). The temperature stays in the 70s right through the winter, and the roads are generally in good repair with cyclist-friendly traffic throughout the island. There are some very good climbs that you can spend all day going up and down if you are that way inclined. And La Santa organises training events right through the week, including a mini-triathlon on Wednesday mornings. I've been twice, and bought a 2-week timeshare a few weeks ago for two weeks in May. Might see some of you there!

I'm amazed there hasn't been more media attention. I would have figured the magazines would be all over this place. It seems to be somewhat of a secret. or maybe I'm just stupid for not knowing about it sooner.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

They advertise in the British tri mag 220 regularly, maybe they don't realise the potential of a US market, or maybe they gave up on it already. La Santa has been a Mecca for European triathletes for as long as I can remember.

That does look enticing. I'd be curious to know how much it costs to get there and such. Since I'm interested in doing IMVolcano some day, going there could be a fun time. I'd have trouble selling the wife on it unless there's some great snorkeling, though.

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What can a training camp provide that a group of like-minded training buddies cannot? La Santa has a good 50m pool but a shallow and salty lagoon for swimming in. Other than the running track, the choices aren't great. Off road running is difficult with the luna-like landscape. The cycling is pretty good but a lot of the roads are bumpy and the wind can make it dangerous. Plus the landscape is pretty boring. Nonetheless it is hot and dry year round. Frankly it depends what you see as important in training. Are you the kind that enjoys 3 hour turbo sessions or do you prefer nice alpine routes with the odd cake stop? There are plenty of other places one can train in with better roads, food and some culture. I like La Santa, I know that I will improve dramatically over a two week Hobson camp BUT it's kind of dull and a bit like being in an outdoor gym...
SteveMc

There is another option, located in southern Spain.

It is the High Altitude Training Center in Sierra Nevada, which lies at a wussy 8,000 feet amsl. The city of Granada is 30' away by car. On a good Winter day, you can ski in the morning and be at the beach for lunch. No other place on the planet can claim this I think. Or, you can ski while looking at the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains in northern Morrocco.

This place caters to all sports, they have medical staff that will analyze your blood levels on a consisten basis. People go here to focus on training and little else, as the training center is located overlooking a ski resort. If you want to do some tourism, the city and province of Granada are spectacularly beautiful. As a challenge, you can cycle from Granada up to Sierra Nevada, which was an individual time trial stage this year at La Vuelta a España. Significantly longer and harder than Alp D'Huez from what I have heard/read.

There is another triathlon camp in Palma de Mallorca which is quite popular, you should check into that one as well. The only benefit to the one in Sierra Nevada is the high altitude.

I've been there several times. I give you one advice: DO NOT GO THERE WHEN THEY HAVE THE AEROBICS WEEK!!!
Lots of women working out the whole day - very loud music all over the place and those women need something to do at night ... you won't have any power left for triathlon training.
This is not fiction - I've really been there several times and I've experienced this "aerobics week".

regards,

Frank

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.

I forgot to leave you a link, here you go

http://www.trevenque.es/car.granada/

Very Popular with members of our Tri club with a few having had appartments out there. In fact some are out there next week to kick of there winter training. They say 1km of cycling there is worth 1m any where else. Many pro cycling teams train there at different times as well as Tri guy like mr 'Hell on Wheels'. Of course the Lanzarote Ironman was suppose to be the toughest, though I thing France had that title, but now they have changed venues perhaps Lanzarote has it back. I have heard romours about the Aerobics being a great spectater sport there too.

I've gone there the past two winters for CSC's training camp, and I can't say I am too impressed. I actually like the island (though many find it boring) but LaSanta itself is not that impressive. Don't get an all-in, the food is lousy and fatty (which is rather strange for a sports-oriented accomodation). But there are a few simple but good restaurants in town just a few k away.

The riding is good if you're working on mental toughness, I've never had a day without wind there and the asphalt is so rough it sucks the life out of you. The running is OK but limited, I've never used the pool there so I wouldn't know. And don't expect luxury, LaSanta is pretty spartan (that I actually like about it).

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle