Thanyapura – Craig William’s Experience
GPC athlete, Craig Williams spent 8 days enjoying the Thanyapura triathlon experience in Thailand. Read all about what it’s like in his blog below.
Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort.
Location Phuket Thailand
Simply Triathlon Paradise.
Some of you would have heard of Thanyapura. I was fortunate enough to spend a week at there from the 19th to 26th June. The venue is located on the island of Phuket Thailand.
Thanyapura is a state of the art sports and health resort, it is dedicated to promoting active living and healthy lifestyles through sports and wellness. Thanyapura has some of the finest sports facilities in Asia including running track, FINA 50m & 25m outdoor pools, extensive gym, yoga studio, meditation centre as well as spa, sauna, steam room and cold water therapy in the form of a plunge pool set at approximately 3 degrees. They also have a wellness centre with massage and other services.
A number of the worlds best triathletes train at Thanyapura in preparation for big races.
My stay at the resort gave me exclusive access to all the facilities and classes Thanyapura had to offer, everything is catered for including an onsite restaurant with extensive menu geared towards healthy food options including a vegan menu. There is a cafe onsite which is also centred around healthy food options and was great for me after a hard session. Whether it was a smoothie, a snack or some lunch the options were super delicious.
There is a program specifically designed for triathlon and each session has a coach. Some of the sessions included bike rides from 25km recovery rides to 150km long rides as well as ergo, hill and brick sessions. There were specific triathlon swim training including open water and pool sets and masters swim squads focused on technique. The running included track interval sessions and easy long runs. So no matter what your goal race every distance was accomodated. I found these sessions enjoyable and gave me the opportunity to meet new like-minded people. However there was always the option to train solo and use the high quality facilities.
I also took the opportunity to include some meditation, yoga sessions and complete some strength work in there high class gym. Recovery was easy too with the cold water therapy pool (ice bath), stretching and core strength classes offered.
So whether you have a goal race in mind or just want to complete a solid block of training Thanyapura is a place you can have everything in the one spot. It’s gives you the opportunity by creating an environment to train like a professional athlete by providing the facilities, coaching and warmer weather (read – hot & humid).
In a week I managed to log over 400km on the bike, swim over 11km and run almost 50km. Along with all the other added cross training & recovery such as yoga, meditation, massage and strength work. This would be somewhat impossible at home especially this time of year. I feel this block of training is going to keep me in good stead come my goal race of Lausanne ITU World Champs in August.
Getting there is easy whether direct flight on Jetstar or Air Asia via Kayla Lumpur. My plan is to return middle of next year for an extended period of time. I will source my own accomodation close to Thanyapura as it is extremely cheap to rent accomodation on Phuket island. I will also hire a car for transport.
If this interest you, please get in contact with me as it would be great to share the experience with GPC athletes.