Lanzarote Training Camp

A few months ago a few WhittleFit coached triathletes (namely Butch, Tom, Pat and myself) decided to head out to the Canary Islands for an early start to our ‘serious’ training for 2015, so on Friday 6th March we headed out to Tiagua81 in Lanzarote with the intention of logging some good bike miles, and throwing in a sprinkling of swimming and running.

Our training week went something like this:

Day of arrival: We arrived at Arrecife Airport just after lunchtime, and were met by Hollie Cradduck who drove us (some followed in a hire car) to our base for the week. We built our bikes and due to the disappearing daylight, we had a very quick shakedown ride (7.6km) just to ensure the bikes were ready for the week to come.

Day 1:

  • Bike: 4hr03 (97.1km & 1464m of ascent): very, very windy day but rode the Ironman 70.3 course (including the Tabeyesco climb), tough start to the week.
  • Swim: 30mins: open water swim, mainly drills, practicing sighting and drafting.

Day 2:

  • Bike: 2hr46 (76.6km & 961m of ascent): easier day including Femes, Playa Blanca, El Golfo & Timanfaya.
  • Run: 28mins (5.9km): off road run, easy start, fast finish.
  • Swim: 55mins: 2.2km hard swim set in a 50m pool.

Day 3:

  • Bike: 3hr49 (96km & 1468m ascent): Hillier day including Teguise, Tahiche, Mala, Orzola, Mirador del Rio, Haria & Teguise.
  • Run: 42mins (9.3km): steady to fast run. 

Day 4:

  • Bike: 5hr08 (138km & 1762m ascent): longer day including Teguise, Haria, Arrieta, Tahiche, San Bartolome, Tias, Uga, Timanfaya, Tiagua, La Santa, Soo, Famara, Teguise & Tiagua.

Day 5:

  • Swim: 25mins (1.75km): open water swim on the Ironman 70.3 swim course
  • Bike: 2hr33 (68km & 1000m): easier day but including a full effort time trial up Tabeyesco to Haria.
  • Run: 33mins (6.3km): easy off road run.

Day 6:

  • Bike: 4hr06 (105km & 1660m): last day! Lots of climbing including Teguise, Haria, Mirador del Rio, Arrieta, Tahiche, Teguise, Famara, Soo, La Santa & Tiagua.

Total training hours:

  • 26hr16mins

WhittleFit Triathlon TrainingAs you can see, the bike was the focus, but we didn't do huge, mega mileage. It’s tough riding in Lanzarote, with some huge headwinds, big climbs and rough road surfaces, making all the riding pretty tough. It’s hard to judge the ‘work’ on the km’s covered or the metres climbed on this island, so lets just say there was plenty of ‘work’ done over the 6 days and we were suitably fatigued in the final few days! 

A great effort from all the lads, everyone worked really hard all week and I’m sure it’ll pay dividends for all of them later in the season.

I’d like to give a quick thanks to:

  • Pedalcover (for bike and travel insurance)
  • Tiagua81 (for awesome accommodation)
  • Elivar (for fuelling and recovery nutritional products)
  • Nuun (for hydration products)

Watch this space for future WhittleFit training and coaching camps!