We all headed down on Friday night, in cars and motorbike (Mark) and after some early banter it was off to bed for an early start to training on Saturday. First off where the triathletes for a long ride of varying distances – 90 to 165km – along the Great Ocean Rd. The wind picked up making it a hard return leg, not to mention some bite in the sun. Sam Hume led the main group through a tough session, while Shaun did a long ride in prep for NZ IM in 5 weeks time. A good ride.

The runners headed off at 8am for some hills, trails and more. After a quick visit to the power station we headed up alongside the open cut coal mine, with our first taste of hills – more of this was to come!! After a quick stop to check the mine view, it was around a gate and into the bush along a smaller road that teased us early on with a small hill, which was just an entrée to the main course of a *&$%# of a hill over about 300-400m, which kicked up at the end. Very tough hill!! The group then split with two doing a shorter run while mark & Monty headed into the scrub down towards the coast, Point Roadknight and a great track back past the SLSC before going back to camp – a good 17km+ and some honest hills!!

Lunch at the camp was great, and after some table tennis we headed to the beach for an open water swim (Tim was the star!!), and some good time on the beach throwing the Frisbee, playing cricket, relaxing and all the things you normally do on the beach…made nicer by perfect beach weather. A quick core strength session before a nice BBQ dinner and an excursion to the pub to watch the Australian Open tennis. Some tired heads hit the bed before 10:30pm.

Sunday was forecast to be hot, and we headed out running at 8am still in lovely weather, with Sam again. The run this day took us along the cliff tops towards Point Addis, making a u-turn before the beach and adding on some extra kms out to Point Roadknight again. Run distances ranged from 80mins to 2hrs…and it was pretty warm by the time we finished. A very good session to finish off the weekend of training.

Thanks to everyone who came down – it was a really good weekend. Special thanks to Sam Hume for including us in his sessions, and his local knowledge, which was a great help. Some photos from the weekend are here:  http://lovetherun.com.au/2011/01/30/photos-anglesea-training-camp/