Matty White

Breck Training Camp

Well that concludes an awesome 4 days at Breckenridge, it was a tough (2900m altitude) but a beautiful place to train and luckily we had great weather. Personally to get away from Boulder was great for my mental health and the change of scenery was just what I needed. Tim Berkel planned our trip a couple of weeks ago and we embarked on the camp with Mitch Robins and Adam Holborrow. The first day of training involved riding up to Breck which we guessed was about 180km, we knew there would be a bit of uphill riding but we didn’t realize how much uphill it was. I was still in a bad way after my half ironman in Racine so I decided to really take it easy and let the boys hit it up the front. This ride was probably the hardest day of training in my life as it was so much up hill, and included Loveland Pass which is a huge climb up to 3600m! so the air is quite thin, then we descended down to Breck luckily and suffice to say we all were pretty hammered and emo after a long 7.30hrs on the bike with probably about 5 hrs or more worth of climbing.
The next day Mitch and I decided to relax while Tim and Adam went for 3 hrs of riding. At about midday we all went for a swim which is a lung busting experience plus a wallet busting one with a $10 US entry fee! Swimming at 2900m is something I would rather forget, all the boys were breathing hard so we just kept it steady, we finished the day with an hour run on the fantastic trails around Breck.
The next day started with an easy run and another easy swim, the other boys followed it up with a 2nd run as they are training for ironman so I went on a 1 hr brew ride into Frisco to spin the legs over which I think really helped my recovery.
Third day of the camp involved a spin up to Vail which is a gradual hill to 3200m, Mitch and I took it really steady and cruised up taking photos. This ride was great as it took us through a picturesque Valley (check the photos below) and was easy on the eye to say the least. That was it for my day and took it easy spending the day looking around town and eating blueberry pie at Clints coffee shop. I also had oxygen therapy while I was up there which I think really helped my recovery.
Fourth day of the camp was to involve a long run and easy swim. I emphasise fourth in that we were going to spend 5 days here! I felt great on the run and decided to stretch the legs out and it was the best I have felt since ironman CDA so it was great to have the legs back. For the previous 3 days I kept my heart rate at a limit of 155 so I could get used to the extreme high altitude, I have been lucky enough to learn from my mistakes as in 2002 I went a bit too hard at altitude in France and it really put me in a huge hole so I took a really conservative approach. After my run we were informed by Tim that we had to be out of our apartment as the booking was wrong, which subsequently meant we had to ride home! 175km, so we were all pretty happy with Tim about this. Luckily for us Dave and Emily Morton had come up for some training and were gracious enough to take our bags back to Boulder in their car, essentially this trip would not have been possible without them so thanks Dave and Emily.
The ride home was definitely a lot easier than the ride up that was for sure, especially for me as I was starting to feel really good. In saying that the boys really didn’t take it easy though and the heat was on especially up Loveland Pass again into a headwind! Luckily everyone ended up in one piece and got through the trip. It was definitely one of the best trips I have done and we had a blast. Now for me personally its time to get a massage and take it easy as I have 3 half ironman races in the next 3 weeks, but its good to know the legs are coming back.
I will check in again soon, so enjoy the photos.

Matty