by Mike Corona

When I look over the past year and where I have been, the biggest "bang for my buck" on my travel dollar was a training camp with the crew at Endurance Corner.

The last time I was in Boulder, it was a ski trip for my college spring break. If I had been told then the next time I would be back it would be for 30 hours of exercise, I would have not have believed it!

Before I joined Endurance Corner, I would often send e-mails to some of the advisors of the team to learn. Never did I imagine I would have the opportunity to train with them side by side. As it turns out, it is quite simple for anyone!

Benefits of a camp are many, but those I most appreciated were:

1. Removing yourself from the daily grind of work and family obligations to train. The reduced stress allows us to do more!
   
   
2. The people you can meet. Probably one of the best elements of a tri camp is meeting people from all over the world. I'm still keeping in touch with folks and have built some lifelong friendships.
   
   
3. I learned more in a week than I did in the two years prior. There is nothing better than face to face learning, and seeing first hand what top level AGers and pros do while training.
   
   
4. We are “normal” in Boulder. It may sound crazy, but back home many of our training schedules are considered “over the top.” Training for a week in Boulder showed me the opportunity for improvement that still exists.
   
   
5. Learning what our competition is willing to do to get good. I met a couple folks who took sabbaticals from work to devote all their energy to getting fast. At the top end, this is what we are competing against. Seeing their performances after their commitment to excellence made me smile! For one, I was very proud and happy for my new friends! But also, I saw the reason for their success was hard work, not genetic gifts. It's amazing what people can accomplish when they do twice as much as the field.

While the entire week was an amazing experience, these were highlights:

• Running with Big Sexy and new friend Tom down Boulder Creek Path. I was quite chatty on the way out, but on the way back I was hanging on for dear life! Chris shared with us many things, but I recall him talking about what it takes to win -- the gist was you better be willing to lose!
  
  
• Time trialing to Jamestown. After more than three hours in the saddle, we did a time trial and I had a goal of sub-30 minutes. I clocked in at 29:51... there’s no way I could do that alone. Training with people better than us allows us to step up our game.
  
  
• Hearing Chrissie Wellington speak. It's not often we can hear a World Champion speak to a small group of people. This was top notch and very motivating.

I was having a conversation with a few of the guys and one asked if I was having any fun. I responded by saying, "I sent four one-way tickets to Jen, my wife, with a note, ‘Liquidate.’"

A bit later that summer, Jen took her turn to train at EC camp in Boulder and she had an amazing experience as well. Clearly, a return trip is in the plans!

Anyone looking to take fitness to new heights this year, consider traveling to a camp and training like a pro for a week -- it is well worth it!

If you're thinking about a triathlon training camp, consider EC's Boulder Camp in June. You can find more information on our camp page.