The Best Triathlon Training Camps

Check out the coaches and venues of the best training camps to jump-start your 2014 race season.

Personal Best

Canada’s original warm-weather triathlon training camp company has more than 25 years of experience helping Canadians of all ages. Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame member and Olympic coach Barrie Shepley heads each camp, with support by elite athletes. Camps in 2014 will run Saturday to Saturday from mid- February to May in Tucson, Ariz. Athletes swim in a 50 m pool, ride on over 500 km of bike-laned roads and run on soft desert trails. New in 2014 will be a July one week Bike and Hike Camp in Italy.

Epic Co-Ed Camp and Epic Woman Camp

Originally the brainchild of Ironman great, Scott Molina, and now run by John Newsom and Tara Norton, the world-renowned Epic Camps are designed to push already accomplished athletes, both amateur and elite, to new physical and mental heights. Epic Camps are highmileage swim/ bike/run affairs with all three disciplines addressed daily, but with a focus on bike mileage. Epic Camps are fully supported (including airport pick up and drop off, accommodation, massage therapy, regular meals, training nutrition and even laundry). All athletes do is eat, sleep and train. Camps are held regularly in New Zealand, Hawaii, North America and Europe. Newsom runs the coed Epic Camps and Norton runs the Epic Woman Camps (Kona and Lanzarote).

B78 Destination Camps

Train with Ironman Canada champion Jasper Blake.

Whistler, B.C. Ironman Canada Camps

June 27– 29, 2014 and July 4– 6, 2014 Taking place four and three weeks before Ironman Canada 2014, the goal of the camps is to familiarize athletes with the course as well as share invaluable information about pacing, nutrition and Ironman strategy. B78 is headed up by Ironman Canada champion Jasper Blake.

Bermuda early season camp with B78 and Human Powered racing

Jan. 27– Feb. 2, 21014 Run by B78 and Human Powered Racing, this camp is easy to access from from eastern Canada with perfect training temperatures. The camp covers the basic elements of triathlon with a full range of workouts during the week along with a mini sprint triathlon at the end.

NRG Performance Training Destination Camps Florida Training Camp

Offering two separate weeklong camps in Clermont, Fla., the nrg camps focus on small groups of six to 12 athletes led by two coaches. Athletes ride quiet rolling rural roads, swim in an outdoor 50 m pool and run on dirt orange grove trails. Included are: underwater video analysis, an emphasis on bike handling and group riding skills work and home cooked meals. Everything is included (except for airfare).

Nice Training Camp

Now in its 10th-year of providing European training camps, nrg will be heading to France in May for a nine- day, riding-focused camp. Staying in a four- star hotel with easy access to the mountains, Nice, Cannes and the Mediterranean, athletes will ride seven days for three to five hours with coaches, guides and van support in groups of six to nine athletes of comparable skill. An ability to put long days in the saddle is required (not speed). There will be runs off the bike as well and also open water swims in the Mediterranean.

Lifesport Training Camps

With four training camps in Maui, Hawaii; Banff, Alta.; Mont-Tremblant, Que.; Victoria and Whistler, B.C. to choose from, Lifesport Coaching will get you in tip-top shape.

Join previous Olympic and national team coach Philippe Bertrand up the Haleakala volcano, swim in the gentle Pacific and run on red dirt trails of Maui during the beginning of January ($795). The Banff, Alta., camp runs in the third week of June and includes a race entry into the Banff International Half Marathon ($395). Doing Ironman Mont-Tremblant or perhaps 70.3 World Championship next year? Then you will want to join Lifesport at the end of May ($395) to learn the intricacies of the course and master the hills. The Victoria Camp runs during the second week in June and culminates in the 18th annual Sauder’s Subaru Victoria Triathlon ($595), which you race for free. If you are doing Ironman Canada, you won’t want to miss the July Whistler, B.C., camp ($395).

Most of the camps feature stride and bike position analysis, epic rides, lectures on nutrition, periodization, race preparation and recovery, as well as swim strategies.

All LifeSport camps are suitable for the first time Ironman/ Ironman 70.3 competitor and experienced athletes alike. Travel, meals and accommodation are not included.