Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / Community, Coaching, and Confidence: The Real Power of Training Camp Ep 141
Transcript
- 0:37Coach Carlie: Every athlete remembers that moment when things finally click.
- 0:43Coach Carlie: And for a lot of our athletes, that happens at camp and in just a matter of a few days.
- 0:49Coach Carlie: So we just wrapped up our most recent Treflon training camp.
- 0:53Coach Carlie: And yes, we are going to have more coming soon.
- 0:56Coach Carlie: But this is where we truly see this like magical transformation and how it happens so quickly.
- 1:03Coach Carlie: And also knowing that it's not just about fitness, because there's only so much fitness that we can gain in a short amount of time, or if a matter of days, but the biggest piece that we saw, and we really wanted to share this with you all, both from an athlete point of view and a coach's point of view, confidence, clarity, and connection were the big themes that we saw from this most recent training camp.
- 1:26Coach Carlie: So we wanted to really share what we learned so that you can see what's possible for you, not only as an athlete, but as someone who wants to be active for life and how that's connected to your longevity.
- 1:40Coach Carlie: So first and foremost, we know that doing hard things together builds confidence.
- 1:48Coach Carlie: So we have that community building through a shared effort.
- 1:51Coach Carlie: So when our athletes were grinding up a hill in the mountains of South Carolina, they knew that they could share that story both with the athlete who was next to them at the time and with the other athletes who may not have been with them later on, talking about, oh, do you remember that hill that we went up or that dog that we saw?
- 2:12Coach Carlie: Or did you see that sweet couple holding hands when we came down that hill?
- 2:16Coach Carlie: All the things.
- 2:18Coach Carlie: So doing those hard things truly does build confidence.
- 2:22Coach Carlie: And then when you're actually pushing your limits and you didn't think that you could handle something, getting over that is just a massive breakthrough to be able to witness.
- 2:34Coach Carlie: So keeping in mind that confidence comes from experience, not just fitness.
- 2:42Coach Carlie: So you can build it by doing hard things, and even more so when you're not doing them alone.
- 2:48Coach Carlie: So another thing that we really witnessed was this element of personalized coaching that actually eyeballs on athletes led to this amazing fast progress.
- 2:59Coach Carlie: So it truly is where the magic really happens.
- 3:02Coach Carlie: At camp, athletes got real-time individualized support.
- 3:07Coach Carlie: So these were some of the things that we were able to help folks with.
- 3:11Coach Carlie: So two athletes, I sat down with them individually and we built out their hydration plan based on their sweat testing that they had already done, but hadn't really addressed that whole hydration plan part of things.
- 3:22Coach Carlie: So we made it all make sense.
- 3:24Coach Carlie: They had their actual products with them, actually writing on the label, writing it down on paper, having it most of the way from what they had at home, but then actually putting it all the way together when we were in there.
- 3:38Coach Carlie: Another thing that I was able to do with some of our athletes, with their permission, of course, was some of them express concern over maybe say their desire to lose weight while they're training.
- 3:50Coach Carlie: And how do they do that even better?
- 3:52Coach Carlie: So we were physically able to get out a plate, to get out our little containers that you, you know, take to work with you because they had had some of those with them from coming from work.
- 4:05Coach Carlie: And so we were able to actually build out what does a plate look like for you in terms of the macronutrients need that you need, the protein that you need, the portions that you need, so that all of that makes better sense.
- 4:16Coach Carlie: There's so much that I can do as a dietitian through the screen.
- 4:20Coach Carlie: It's so much easier and faster and goes so much smoother and makes way more sense and clicks so much faster.
- 4:28Coach Carlie: When you are physically in the kitchen together, able to see things as they need to be, it just makes all the difference.
- 4:36Coach Carlie: And the other thing that we really got to see, especially related to nutrition or fueling and hydration, is because we were providing all the food, both from a dietitian and a chef, all this delicious food is like, oh my gosh, I have all this healthy, delicious food that's literally served right to me.
- 4:53Coach Carlie: Is athletes got the opportunity to actually see what are the things that go really well for before I go out for a workout?
- 5:00Coach Carlie: What are the things that work really well for after my workout or dinner of the night before a big workout?
- 5:07Coach Carlie: So by providing those meals, we were able to really show that to them physically on their plate.
- 5:12Coach Carlie: And boy, isn't it nice when you don't have to lift a finger, you guys.
- 5:17Coach Carlie: So all that to say that many athletes are underfueling or they're guessing, they they made us not know.
- 5:25Coach Carlie: So by going to this training camp experience, we were able to totally remove that guesswork and iron things out in the moment.
- 5:33Coach Carlie: It was so awesome.
- 5:33Coach Carlie: Another theme that we saw were that small fixes led to big gains.
- 5:40Coach Carlie: So it is totally amazing how sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from the smallest adjustments.
- 5:49Coach Carlie: So some of the things that we worked on with athletes were, say, for example, your cleat placement, or whether your cleats are actually worn out or not worn out.
- 6:00Coach Carlie: And these are more specific to the bike, for example.
- 6:03Coach Carlie: So when we we can actually see your gear and see what's happening with it, we can say, hey, you know, this would serve you better if we did it this other way.
- 6:14Coach Carlie: Another big thing that we worked on for folks, especially our newer cyclists, is adjusting their pedal tension so that they can clip in and out so much easier, which means less tipping over, less falling down, which means less bruises, less scrapes, and more confidence.
- 6:33Coach Carlie: Again, there's that theme again, more confidence when you're out there doing something hard and hopefully making it more fun.
- 6:41Coach Carlie: We also saw a lot of transition support.
- 6:44Coach Carlie: We had one of our athletes who, no lie, she got on and off her bike with our little transition area that we set up probably 30 times because she was like, I am getting this.
- 6:57Coach Carlie: And then we and we just worked through it.
- 6:59Coach Carlie: Like, what was that appropriate gear that she needed to be in for transition, starting a transition depending on how your start is?
- 7:07Coach Carlie: Where is her crank position need to be for the smoothest start?
- 7:11Coach Carlie: How does her, how do her pedals need to be angled in order for her to get the right foot in?
- 7:16Coach Carlie: Which leg is your dominant leg for being able to clip in and out first or get on your bike as efficiently as you can, swinging that leg over, or doing a flying mount or or a flying dismount?
- 7:30Coach Carlie: So, all of those things we were able to actually get those little small fixes that made big gains.
- 7:38Coach Carlie: And even by just doing some of these little tiny tweaks in our little transition setup, of course, I'm timing everything and being obnoxious and yelling out times, easily, just with these little small fixes, easily taking 25% off of a transition time.
- 7:54Coach Carlie: Like that, that's massive when you think of how much effort and fitness is required to do this sport.
- 8:00Coach Carlie: And you just do a couple of quick changes, like putting your shoes on just a little differently, your shoes and socks on if you choose to um.
- 8:09Coach Carlie: So in this particular athlete's case, they use socks.
- 8:12Coach Carlie: Putting your shoes and socks on differently was an easy way to save 10 seconds.
- 8:16Coach Carlie: Like that's pretty cool.
- 8:19Coach Carlie: Another big thing that we saw again, small fixes, big gains, shifting on hills efficiently.
- 8:23Coach Carlie: It's one of those things that the coaches and I were talking about, you know, sometimes things happen very intuitively for athletes.
- 8:31Coach Carlie: And sometimes they just absolutely don't.
- 8:34Coach Carlie: And if you're just out there riding your bike, or if you are following a training plan, or your coach says, hey, you know, go ride your bike in zone two for, you know, an hour and a half or whatever, they're counting on you being able to execute effectively with the right gear and doing it the right way.
- 8:52Coach Carlie: But when you don't actually know how an athlete is pedaling and what gear ratio they're in and how they're able to smoothly and efficiently shift and get up and down hills is so massive.
- 9:07Coach Carlie: So that was so fun to be able to hang out the window of the sag vehicle and yell at people to shift.
- 9:14Coach Carlie: So it's great that shifting efficiently is part of the game.
- 9:18Coach Carlie: And also, especially for athletes who may not have a power meter yet, seeing what their cadence looks like.
- 9:26Coach Carlie: So we had some athletes who were just grinding up hills and really had to get them to be a little bit more efficient and effective in their pedaling so that you are it's all about metabolic cost.
- 9:38Coach Carlie: So the harder you're pedaling up a hill, the more energy you're using, the more cars you're using, the more you're just gonna get overly fatigued.
- 9:47Coach Carlie: So when we can see those various things and see how we can actually change it in the moment, it's just it's so enlightening, both for the athlete and so exciting for the coach to actually see, oh my gosh, like we can do things so much better and make so many big gains out of just these little fixes, these little tiny things that can make such a big impact.
- 10:12Coach Carlie: So things that may have felt clunky or you didn't even know were clunky or stressful or time-consuming or energy consuming suddenly become smoother and more automatic, which is really amazing.
- 10:27Coach Carlie: Another big thing that we saw was technique.
- 10:30Coach Carlie: So, how little changes in your technique, again, can really impact everything.
- 10:34Coach Carlie: So, one of the things that we did, especially since we were in such a hilly area, is we did hill climbing drills.
- 10:41Coach Carlie: And it was great to be able to actually run alongside with these athletes and remind them real time.
- 10:47Coach Carlie: Okay, hinge forward from the hips.
- 10:49Coach Carlie: Okay, keep, you know, chest open, drive the knees up, use your big toe, think about your glutes, like all these different cues that were helpful to remind athletes that form does matter and to be more efficient, even with just little reminders that you can, that they can use for themselves, which means more efficiency and less injury risk and more speed.
- 11:14Coach Carlie: So it's just so amazing to see that these little things can really, these little technique tweaks can really change things.
- 11:22Coach Carlie: Another thing that we saw in terms of technique, uh, other than bike and other than run, was swim.
- 11:28Coach Carlie: So because we literally had a lake in our backyard and we could just walk right on down to it, hop on the paddleboards, throw out the buoy, and you guys are in this big, beautiful lake, uh, which was wonderful that we didn't have any boat traffic.
- 11:42Coach Carlie: We were at the end of a little cove.
- 11:44Coach Carlie: So we could just hang out and do all the stroke technique, all the long swims, all the short swims that that made our hearts happy.
- 11:53Coach Carlie: And it was just great to be able to provide that immediate stroke technique improvement, both for open water swimming and just swimming in general, so that people feel more relaxed, they feel more controlled in the water.
- 12:05Coach Carlie: And when your form improves, everything feels easier, even at a higher effort.
- 12:13Coach Carlie: So it felt so great to see these athletes really see that just little technique tweaks can make things that much smoother.
- 12:23Coach Carlie: Another thing that we saw is especially for our newer athletes, but it doesn't mean that it's exclusively for newer endurance athletes.
- 12:34Coach Carlie: We're reducing anxiety through exposure.
- 12:38Coach Carlie: So practicing skills in a safe, supportive environment and having that repetition, again, getting on and off the bike over and over again, or going around, we had a 10-mile loop that was not easy for the bike.
- 12:53Coach Carlie: That people could do sometimes they did three loops, sometimes they did four loops, sometimes they did one loop.
- 12:59Coach Carlie: And that was totally fine.
- 13:01Coach Carlie: Giving them the opportunity to do the same course a couple of different times and being able to have that confidence going into it of, okay, now I know I need to shift differently, or having somebody on a paddle board while you were in open water and encouraging them to relax their neck or put their head down or stretch their arm out.
- 13:23Coach Carlie: So those things that used to feel intimidating, like open water, like transition, like climbing hills, start to feel normal, uncomfortable, and dare I say it, fun.
- 13:37Coach Carlie: Because at the end of the day, that's why we're there, we're doing this, right, you guys.
- 13:42Coach Carlie: So the more relaxed you can get, the less anxiety there is.
- 13:47Coach Carlie: And finally, our biggest theme of the weekend was community.
- 13:53Coach Carlie: Community as a performance and longevity advantage.
- 13:59Coach Carlie: So supportive relationships, whether they be with a coach, whether it be with other athletes, it was so great to see other athletes exchanging phone numbers.
- 14:08Coach Carlie: But that means that you have that consistency and you have that motivation to keep going.
- 14:15Coach Carlie: And that matters even more as we age.
- 14:18Coach Carlie: The literature suggests that the older we get, starting with right after college, the less meaningful relationships we continue to have.
- 14:33Coach Carlie: And part of our vision is to try to stop that and turn that in the opposite direction and really finding community through this fun thing that we call endurance sports, no matter what your level or your fitness is at, or your age, but doing it because you know you have a community who's there to help support you, but as you are also moving your body.
- 14:59Coach Carlie: So we see that very clearly.
- 15:01Coach Carlie: People who move together and play together have lower mortality rates.
- 15:07Coach Carlie: And then training becomes something that you look forward to and that you get to do, not something you have to do or that you grind through, but you get excited, like, oh, I'm gonna go run hills with my buddies.
- 15:24Coach Carlie: That sounds great.
- 15:26Coach Carlie: And every anybody else will probably look at you like you have four heads.
- 15:30Coach Carlie: But truly, community is a performance and longevity advantage.
- 15:35Coach Carlie: And I cannot tell you how much we laughed at this training camp.
- 15:43Coach Carlie: It truly was such a joy to see all the athletes connecting with each other, to see the coaches connecting with each other and see the coaches and the athletes connecting too.
- 15:56Coach Carlie: It truly was an amazing experience.
- 15:59Coach Carlie: So to tie all this together, know that faster progress can be made in just a matter of days than what you would make in months and perhaps even years by yourself.
- 16:17Coach Carlie: You really get to build these amazing relationships.
- 16:20Coach Carlie: It really is like being a kid.
- 16:22Coach Carlie: Being a kid and going to camp.
- 16:24Coach Carlie: That's what it like.
- 16:25Coach Carlie: That's what it's like.
- 16:26Coach Carlie: But you're an adult and you get to do this for fun.
- 16:29Coach Carlie: It's so awesome.
- 16:30Coach Carlie: And then to see the confidence that carries you not only into races, but also into life.
- 16:38Coach Carlie: So this isn't just about getting faster or performing better.
- 16:42Coach Carlie: It's about becoming the kind of athlete who knows they can handle hard things and knows that they can keep going.
- 16:50Coach Carlie: So if you ever get the chance, I would love to invite you to our next training camp, which in the next two weeks or so we'll be announcing our dates for spring 2027 training camp, as well as some train, some single-day training camps that we're gonna have locally if you're in the Raleigh Durham area throughout the summer.
- 17:12Coach Carlie: And then we might have something special that's gonna be coming out in the fall.
- 17:17Coach Carlie: Not quite ready to tell you what that is yet, but I will let you know it's gonna be pretty awesome.
- 17:23Coach Carlie: And if you're just looking for a community and want to be part of our training programs and club, you certainly can join the club program.
- 17:32Coach Carlie: We've got our coaching programs as well as our class memberships that do include in-person sessions.
- 17:38Coach Carlie: That really is what keeps people motivated and what keeps people continuing to come back is that community.
- 17:46Coach Carlie: So if you can't do it here, I encourage you to find a community where you're at, get connected, stay moving.
- 17:53Coach Carlie: You're amazing.
- 17:54Coach Carlie: Thank you so much for listening.
- 17:56Coach Carlie: And I will see you next time on the Find Your Edge podcast.