(Photo courtesy of Brandin)
Five years prior, Catapult had hosted their first Tri camp at Camp Olympia (Trinity, TX). As I mentioned in that blog, platform diving was so much fun — and opened doors to more fun things. So when Catapult announced that the 2024 Welcome2Running camp would be back at Camp Olympia, I was really excited to see that!
Having spent a fair amount of time working on running in 2024, I was excited to continue pushing at camp. Unfortunately, an unexpected session derailed that.
After introductions, Day 1 began with us running loops (first small and then increasing to larger ones with a hill). Eric helped with the pacing, and the session seemed to go well — especially as I was able to go beyond the initial walk / run interval schedule.
Between lunch and the second run session, we had pilates and strength. Even though I’ve never done pilates before, I could tell that the instructor was pushing at an advanced level. I know that I pulled something during the session, which impacted my run for the rest of the camp. I was able to work through it during the strength session and most of the second run, but then it hit hard.
The second run session of Day 1 started with metronome run sessions (to work on speed and turnover), followed by terrain training. As I mentioned, my body was hurting so much from pilates that I couldn’t get much effort during the terrain part.
I had hoped to get platform diving in when we gathered at the pool later that night. However, they had set up the lighting for the night on top of it. So instead, I swam laps and tried to stretch out the legs. Unfortunately, that just made things worse.
Day 2 started with a long run. My legs were still hurting so much that I had to walk it. After a stretch session (bands) and a TRX session, we had the second run session of the day. This included the tire pull and then running laps. As with the morning, my legs were still not in a place where I could do much, so we walked it out. Once the session was over, I found ice and remembered passing out for a bit. When I came to, the pain was a bit better.
Day 3 was the community run. By that point, my legs were a bit better. While it was still painful, I was able to run it.
While camp didn’t go as I had hoped, I still learned a lot during it. I am grateful to Catapult for the opportunities and to Eric for guiding me.
