Kevin's Spanish Camp Blog

Vodafone National Series winner Kevin Thornton was invited to join Triathlon Ireland's pre season training camp in Agulias Spain. TI's Technical Director Tommy Evans and National Development Coach Stephen Delaney are joined by support staff from the Sports Institute of Nortern Ireland, Physiotherapist Chris McNicholl, Head of Performance Science Declan Gamble and Performance Coordinator Debbie Hanna.

Triathlon Ireland athletes attending the camp include Aileen Reid, Gavin Noble, Bryan Keane, Conor Murphy, Russell White, Aaron O'Brien, Kieran Jackson, Aichlinn O'Reilly, Harry Speers, Emma Sharkey, Neil Bolger and Kevin Thornton. As training partners a number of elite cyclists and triathletes are also on camp including Sam Bennett, Marcus Christie, Fraser Cartmell and Hanna Druet.

Read Kevin's Blog post below and follow his progress at kttriathlete.com

Lego is back on top of the Christmas wish
lists this year. The ol reliable eh! Christmas Day tradition in our house is to
get up for 6.30/7am mass in The Jes or Claddagh Church (having to walk past the
present room on the way out the front door is particularly tough!). A quick
blessing, a taste of bread, a light of the candle, a glance at the crib and
then back to the house for present time. Footballs, computers, disc mans,
remote control cars have all come and gone but Lego has always been there.
(More of a token these days…but still!) Building the blocks of one section,
building the blocks of another, sculpting meticulously until you were done…
then you tear it all down, mix it in with last year’s stuff and start to build
something bigger and better!

The 2nd block of winter training
started a few weeks back.  Donning the multi layers, the arm warmers, the
winter gloves, the waterproofs and the mudguards and heading out… into the
mildest winter in years! It’s been glorious out there, the only problem is
the fricken sweat…some complaint!

Slogging away with my B2R crew and joining in
with a few groups here and there. A casual chat on a bike ride and an enquiring
text lead to an opportunity to head out to Aguilas with some of TI’s Elite
Senior and juniors before Christmas. A chance to train with Ireland’s
elite. Awesome. I jumped at it. Christmas run-in in Dublin? NOOOO! Spain!

Its day 6 of 11. And I’m loving it. 18 Hours
of biking, 7.5 hours of swimming, 2.5 hours of running. Done. The training is
11.“It’s one louder”.  The song goes “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat”. This is
more like Train, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoRkg5-Ieg) It’s
a perfect lead in for what’s to come in the New Year. I’ll be going down to a
two-day week at work. The rest of the week…I’ll be training! Thanks to some
sponsorship, I’ve been given this amazing chance…so I’m going to eat the face
off of it!

Now, swimming is my background but through
years of short, sharp, and flat swimming for water polo, my stroke has morphed
into “The Claw”.  Eanna has the unenviable task of trying to dismantle it
but it’s slowly driving him demented. Lord knows he’s trying.  He’s given
me drills to work on and I’ve been very diligent. Gotta get some of that “free
time” he’s always talking about.

Liar liar ain’t got nothin’ on me

Back home Brian Harris pushes me in training
and together we work hard. Out here, I’ve got 14 faster, smaller and younger Brian
Harris’. There’s no hiding. 3x800s, 15x200s off 1.20 pace. Focus on your
stroke, fix the flaws and swim your ass off.  Go hard, or go home.

Tommy Evans and Stephen Delaney have been
busy videoing, recording and talking me through it. It’s helping but I fear an
example is to be made of it. There’s no greater motivation to improve yourself
than public annihilation… that, or getting your ass handed to you in the pool
by the juniors in the team.

On the bike we have two Postmen with us for
the week, Marcus Christie (@Marcuschristie7) (http://www.stickybottle.com/races-results/marcus-christie-smashes-national-50-mile-time-trial-record-by-over-5-mins-at-ulster-champs/)
and Sam Bennett (@Bennettpostman) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBSeQz2RUG8).
Put them together with Gavan (@gavontwit), Bryan (@tribryan), Russell and
Connor and you have quite the chain gang! As I’m going for the longer half
Ironman stuff next year, the focus has been on getting in as much mileage as
possible. Need to take full advantage of the 20 odd degrees out here. Sure it’s
horrible back home…right?!

Biking being my strongest, I’ve been getting
involved and helping to push the pace but I’m still learning. I’ve fixed that
long bike of mine… but still a bit jumpy in the pack. “Pick your moments to get
up and out of the saddle on the ascents”… but don’t get stuck with anyone
on a fixie for the descent! I’m starting to find my voice too. My roomy
Bryan is drawing it out of me!

One Olympian on the left, One multiple Rلs
Stage Winner and Tour of Britain Stage Winner on the right.

Aqua Blue vs An Post – It starts

Punctures happen here too!

Running-wise, I’m managing. Those baby cows
of mine flare up every now and then, so I gotta mind them. Gotta treat them
right like! That said, I’ve been taking advantage of the amazing trails through
the cabbage fields, or along the beach or through the orange and lemon trees,
dodging the many workers out picking, plucking and pottering. Manual labour is
alive and well in the south of Spain!

My baby cows on the left. Bryan’s small boy
calves on the right.

On the management end of things, Tommy, Gavin
and Stephen are hustling and are well on it. Transport, food, accommodation and
the odd word in your ear. Hassle free. The purest way to train. The Institute
of Sport’s (IOS) Chris Nicholls has arrived in to manage any injury concerns
and Declan Gamble, the IOS’s physiologist has been busy analyzing our pee and
stealing blood.

Today is a rest day. Had a quality long group
ride yesterday. 140km in the bag. After 5 solid days in a row though, me hoop
needed a break! A bit of easy running, a bit of easy swimming, a cafe con leché
or four and I’ll be right as rain for the remaining few days. The guys have
some big stuff planned for us… a few 5-6 hour rides, a fartlek run here or
there and of course, some fast fast swimming.

Home on the 21st. That’ll be the
end of another block. Christmas and with it a week of unstructured, easy
work.  Come the 25th, I’ll be keeping an eye out in my stocking
for this year’s addition to the Lego collection and an eye on my email for
Eanna’s latest schedule. We’ll be looking to build on the gains I’ve made here,
and the improvements I’ve made in the last year. Building the big ass aerobic
Lego engine!