Falls Creek – Altitude Training in Victoria
Each year, GPC Squad holds a 10 day+ training camp in the beautiful Falls Creek.
Benefits of a training camp:
- Focus solely on training away from the distractions of family & work
- Improved recovery between sessions
- Seeing & training in new places with more difficult terrain
- Challenging yourself with greater intensity/volume
- Bonding with and learning from other athletes
Specific benefits of Falls Creek:
- 1500m+ altitude in Falls Creek village
- Accessibility from Melbourne/Geelong
- Epic road and mountain bike trails to climb
- Spectacular ‘never ending’ trails
- Freshwater open water swimming in Rocky Valley Dam
- Easy access to Mt Beauty swimming pool & Mt Beauty lake
Altitude Training:
Current research suggests that performance benefits are gained from living at altitude and training at lower altitude. The theory being, whilst at altitude the body has to work harder to obtain the oxygen from the atmosphere and therefore begins to produce more red blood cells and haemoglobin thus increasing your VO2 max (the amount of oxygen your body can take in, transport & use in the body). When you return to lower altitudes your body can begin to function more normally and therefore the quality, volume, power produced & intensity of training can increase compared to what can be sustained at altitude.
Not all athletes will see an improvement in performance and is highly dependent on the following:
- Maintaining sufficient iron stores
- Ensuring appropriate nutrition, hydration & recovery
- Stay healthy and free from illness
- Not sustaining soft tissue injuries
Check out GPC’s upcoming training camps.
Further Reading:
Falls Creek Altitude Training Handbook
top-nutrition-tips-for-training-camps
