Five tips for designing your own training camp
Earlier this year, we ran a training camp for athletes preparing for the Quebec Mega Trail. We’re sharing our top five tips for building your own training camp based on our experience and athlete feedback.
What is a training camp?
A training camp is a focused block of back-to-back training days designed to simulate key aspects of your goal race. Unlike regular weekly training, a camp allows you to immerse yourself more fully in the physical and mental demands of your upcoming event. It’s an opportunity to test your fitness, fine-tune your gear, refine your nutrition strategy, and identify any weak points before race day.
A well-designed training camp can provide you with valuable performance insights, help you build race-day confidence, and provide time to make targeted adjustments to your training plan to ensure you show up to your race as prepared as possible.
If you’re thinking about building your own training camp, here are five things to keep in mind to help you make the most of it.
1. Give Yourself Time
Expect to run your training camp for three to four days. Plan it early enough in your training season to give yourself enough time to address any weaknesses you discover during camp. This is especially important if you don’t live in a region with terrain similar to your race location. A well-timed training camp can highlight gaps in your fitness, technical skills, or gear choices. Strategically building your camp into your training plan ensures you have the necessary window to adjust your training focus, troubleshoot any gear or nutrition issues, and build confidence.
2. Design with Intention
Each day of your camp should have a purpose, whether that’s testing your gear, refining your nutrition and hydration strategies, putting your technical or climbing skills to the test, or perfecting your night running. Try to mimic race-day realities and focus on the day’s objectives, resisting the temptation to cram everything into a single day. By isolating specific elements of your race prep, you give yourself the chance to observe what’s working, what isn’t, and where adjustments are needed. A well-structured camp isn’t just about big miles, it’s about building an intentional experience that translates into better performance on race day.
3. Choose the Right Location
In the best case scenario, your training camp takes place on the race course. But if that’s not possible, try to find a location that has the closest similarities in terms of terrain, temperature, and elevation. If your race involves a large climb, try to find a hill or mountain with the similar elevation and grade. Look for a course with the same amount of elevation change per mile/kilometre in a climate that is as close to that of your race location as possible.
4. Focus on Recovery
There’s a good chance you’ll be squeezing in more mileage and spending more time on feet over the course of your three-to-four day training camp. Build some recovery or rest days into your training plan both pre- and post-camp, and be sure to prioritize recovery when not training during camp. Eat well and enough; rest well and enough. Adaptations occur during recovery. It’s tempting to want to play tourist if you’re somewhere new and exciting, but try to choose low-intensity activities and make sure you’re getting enough sleep.
5. Pace Yourself (and Have Fun!)
Training camp should be challenging, but it should also be fun. Moderate your efforts (don’t destroy yourself on day one) and try to avoid a full course preview to avoid premature course fatigue or diminish race-day excitement. You don’t need to actually race the course during camp; focus on your camp objectives and save the race for race day.
Did you know?
Training camp development is part of every athlete’s coaching package at Method Endurance. If you’ve got a goal race on the calendar, we’ll design a training camp based on what works for you, your schedule, and your goals.
Take our quick athlete survey and we’ll book a free consultation to discuss whether Method Endurance coaching is right for you.
