Training Camp Ardeche, France

I have just returned from a four day training camp with the Montlucon Duathlon/Triathlon team in the region of Ardeche in the middle of the Massif Central. The area is renowned for chestnuts, terraced hillsides and the famous Ardeche Gorge.

Ardeche is hilly rather than mountainous, with some long ascents and descents (up to 20km) at quite moderate gradients of between 2% and 5%. There are no traffic lights and the roads are very winding which means four hours of riding is four hours of pedalling.

For those interested in some numbers, I logged up around 330km on the bike and 50km of running over the four days. Some of the Ironman guys in the group had logged up closer to 500km on the bike in the same time frame. Most importantly, we incorporated a lot of Strength Endurance and Interval work into the hours spent on the bike.

I will not race until the 220 Vert Duathlon on the 21st of this month as I try to get some solid training behind me before the final racing phase leading into the World Championships.

Cheers
Radar