Hard Work (and Some Fun) at Sierra Nevada Altitude Camp!

Hard Work (and Some Fun) at Sierra Nevada Altitude Camp!

Team Trainer Koen Pelgrim talks about the Sierra Nevada Altitude Camp, which was recently completed by several riders of Etixx - Quick-Step.

Several riders of our team have just completed an altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada. During a period of 2 weeks, our riders prepared the second part of the season at an altitude of 2310m. Matteo Trentin, Gianluca Brambilla, Zdenek Stybar, Michal Kwiatkowski, and Michal Golas spent more than 40 hours and 1200km in the saddle in order to build their shape for the upcoming races.

The hours were divided according to this chart:

After a long spring period with many hard races, the riders need to complete a big amount of relatively low intensity endurance training, but also combine it with more specific work like high intensity climbing efforts and off-bike strength- and core training. All this was done during the past weeks in southern Spain, in order to tune the condition towards one of the most important periods of the season.

One of the main concerns of an altitude camp is that riders don't recover as well from hard training days, plus that the low availability of oxygen at altitude has a negative effect on training quality. In order to avoid these pitfalls, an important part of training was done at sea level. Everything worked out well and the riders have worked really hard and with a great spirit. I have to say it's a fantastic group of riders to work with.

Our riders were active on social media during this camp.

Finally i did it...arrive to the top of sierra nevada!! My garmin signed 3063m...different rest day,… https://t.co/291DRO2aDB

— Gianluca Brambilla (@glbrambilla) May 28, 2015

Easy day training up today! Some gym and track to spin the legs! #cycling #altitude #trainincamp… https://t.co/Ii39Ih2Swo

— MATTEO TRENTIN (@MATTEOTRENTIN) June 4, 2015

Training camp at Sierra Nevada was not only really focused, but in between these hard training sessions riders also need to recover. In order to do so, there is time for a bit of relaxation. For example, during this trainingcamp Michal Kwiatkowski celebrated his 25thbirthday. Without the presence of his close relatives, we tried to make it a day he won't forget by giving his bike a nice pink tune-up and a birthday cake after training. After more than 5 hours of training, we ended the day with a good dinner all together. It was really a nice moment to share stories and experiences. This is also part of training camp — not only working out, but keeping the morale high and build up the team spirit even more.

Here is his Tweet about it: 

Thank you