Train in the French Alps with IRONMAN Champion Ben Hoffman

As a triathlete, odds are that no matter where you go in the world, you’re always on the lookout for nice spots to swim, bike and run. Even if you don’t have the time or necessary gear with you, you’re constantly checking out the pools and any body of water in the area, looking for roads with nice views and good climbs, and looking for routes where you could drop a fast tempo run or long and easy trot.

While there is no wrong place to go for triathlon training (you can find great sites in the most unlikely of locations around the globe), there are certainly some spots that stand out as must-see, must-swim, must-ride, must-run. One of those places is the French Alps, where IRONMAN champion Ben Hoffman and fellow pro and coach Jesse Vondracek are preparing for a week-long training camp this summer.

If you’ve looked into travelling abroad for a training trip before, the Alps have undoubtedly crossed your mind. That’s likely enough to convince you to dive into this experience, but having Hoffman and Vondracek take care of all of the logistics is even more of a reason to go for it. The tour is the Alpine Triathlon Camp from Top Step Training (Vondracek’s coaching business), and it is set for July 12 to 18.

The Perfect Location

Vondracek lives in Basel, Switzerland, and although he isn’t situated among the country’s mountains, he isn’t too far from a hilly training ride if he wants one. A year and a half ago, Hoffman travelled to Europe to train with Vondracek, and they spent some time in Annecy, a French alpine city not far from the Swiss border.

Vondracek recalls his and Hoffman’s first day in Annecy. He says it was “a gorgeous day” in the mountains that started with them riding a section of a recent Tour de France stage followed by a swim in the “crystal-clear water” of Lake Annecy.

“I remember Ben mentioning, he was like, ‘Man, this place kind of has it all. Like, this is the spot,'” Vondracek says. “I feel like ever since he said that it’s been rolling around in my head to try and get back there and to have a camp or an experience for athletes.”

Vondracek and his Top Step Training team host a yearly camp in Tucson, Arizona, and while he says he loves it and loves the area, Annecy and the Alps “has a lot of things that Tucson doesn’t,” so he cannot wait to bring athletes there to see it for themselves.

Since that first stint in Annecy, Vondracek has returned multiple times to scope out the region.

“I’ve done some more riding around there and, yeah, I got a better handle on the logistics,” he says.

Eliminating “Stress Points”

Vondracek and Hoffman plan to make the Alpine Triathlon Camp as simple as possible for everyone involved. They hope to have up to 12 athletes in the camp — not a huge group, but the perfect size to allow the lead duo to “take care of all the stress points” for everyone involved.

They will pick the athletes up at the airport, drive them to the house they will all share for the week (the house is right on Lake Annecy) and get them ready with their bikes. The plan is to rent rides for the camp, which Vondracek and Hoffman will pick up beforehand and set up according to each athlete’s size and preferences.

There will be a chef at the house, which means athletes will be well-fuelled for the days of riding they plan to do in the Alps.

From travel to bike maintenance to accommodations and meals, everything will be taken care of by Vondracek and Hoffman. That leaves just two things up to the athletes who attend: be ready to ride and be ready to have fun.

(As an extra note, Vondracek mentioned that, while the camp officially ends on July 18, the Tour de France will be passing nearby Annecy just two days later, offering athletes a great opportunity to see the world’s top cyclists in action.)

A Week of Riding

“There’s no report card at the end of the week,” Hoffman says. He says that he knows training camps can be intimidating for some people, but he wants to make sure that everyone knows there is basically no required level to join the camp, nor are there any mandatory activities.

“Obviously, I think to enjoy the experience you probably want to have enough fitness so you can, you know, drag yourself up these passes without too much pain and be able to get through some of the days,” he says. “But yeah, it’s kind of a pick your own poison type of deal. You can decide how much or how little you want to do each day.”

Hoffman says he realizes that people may see his and Vondracek’s names and think the camp will be a high-intensity affair with monster sessions that demand elite skill or strength, but that’s not the case at all.

“I think we want to leave that possibility open for the people that want to do big, hard sessions,” Hoffman says. “But we want to make sure that it’s approachable for a wide range of athletes, because one of the main things we’re looking to do is just get a really good group of people together.”

Vondracek says the plan at the moment is to have six days of riding available to the athletes, but there is no pressure to join the group for all of them.

“It’s a moving target,” he says. “We all know how this goes. People come in and they’re ambitious and they go for it in the first couple of days, then after that they need a break.”

With a fluid, adjustable plan, Vondracek and Hoffman are ready to work on the fly. If multiple people don’t want to go out on a specific day (or everyone), they’ll have a “chill day” by the house pool, by the lake or in town.

“We’re open to all those possibilities,” Hoffman says. “It’s always good to have a plan, a structure, but the main focus is having an incredible time and keeping everybody safe. We want everyone to walk away with a super special memory.”

To learn more about the Alpine Triathlon Camp, click here.

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