Question:
I hear a lot of credit to Epic Camp for the recent success of the participants. I know only those with times under 10:30 were invited so I would have expected this success with or without the camp, no? Was it the long distance, training with others, knowledge learned, training in preparation for the camp etc. It looks like most achieved personal bests which to me is a more telling fact given the level of participants so was there a specific reason for this dramatic improvement. I would love to hear the response from a non-elite athlete and maybe some thoughts from Gordo.

Answer: Andrew Charles:
I'm probably best able to respond to your message because I'm certainly non-elite and I was the guy on camp with the slowest IM time.

For me it wasn't the training in preparation for the camp as in fact mine was pretty ordinary so I went in to the camp under-prepared (I won't be making that mistake again). There were 7 guys on the camp with different levels of IM experience. For 12 days straight we trained and lived like IM was the most important thing in the world. I had information overload by the second day and had to go and buy a notebook so I could write down everything I was learning. Scott and Gordo were inspirational and I probably learned just as much from the other 3 age groupers - Macca, KP and John. The information included training, nutrition and race strategy.

The volume and intensity of training was something I hadn't experienced before. I was probably riding at a higher intensity in the early days of the camp than the other guys (even when drafting) because of the fact that the other guys are so much quicker than me. In fact looking back to IM OZ 3 days ago I probably suffered more on the Epic camp rides then I did in the race. What the camp did teach me is that there are no limits and no shortcuts. I've been trying to drum that into all my mates back in Brisbane since I got back from the camp. I would look at the other 6 guys on the camp and realize that they deserve all the success they achieve because they train at levels that I didn't think were possible.

Despite the fact that you can imagine how tired all of us were at various times on the camp (including when I was throwing up off the bike on day nine) I never heard one person complain or make a negative comment in the whole 12 days. Everyone seemed to thrive off the energy and positive comments from the others. By about the fourth day of the camp it became evident that everyone wanted to push beyond their own personal limits to see what they could achieve - it got to the stage where Gordo had to bring in a rule that if you were going to do any extra training on top of the scheduled stuff you had to at least offer the opportunity to the others to join you. It propelled me to do things I never thought I would be able to. The scheduled "rest day" on day 7 (after the half IM) became a 3km open water swim race followed by 80 km on the bike in 2hr 20min.

The camp gave me confidence to train hard and the knowledge to race smart. I also gained inspiration from what I saw the other guys do. The most inspiration I got from the following (hope the guys don't mind me repeating these things):

1. Kevin Purcell (KP) - KP turned up with a broken arm in two places so that he could only ride in the aero position. Despite this he never once complained even when I queried him during rides as to how he was feeling. He swam with his arm in a brace and on the third day he put his finger through a plastic lane rope divider which put a gash in his finger deep enough that the pool official wanted him to get it stitched. His response was to stick tape over the gash and get back in the pool to finish the last 10 minutes of the swim session. This guy is the toughest guy I have ever met. Whenever I am suffering on rides I remind myself of what KP is prepared to put himself through.

2. John Mergler - John arrived with a stress fracture in his foot which prevented him from running. He prepared for the camp by riding 1000km per week. On the third day of the camp (after we had ridden 455km the previous two days) whilst the rest of us ran John went out again and rode another 120km in gale force winds. He finished up the camp with 2000kms. I thought riding was his strength until I learned that he raced and won a 100 mile run as a 15 year old. I never dreamed someone could run for 18hrs straight without stopping.

3. Chris McDonald (Macca) - Here is a guy who has been riding a bike for less than 2 years and has put in enough hard work training with Gordo and Scott that he was first of the bike in the Queenstown half IM and just finished both NZ and Aus IM's with times of around 9hr 30min. On the camp Macca wouldn't leave any of us back on the road and would actually ride back to us so he could then drag us back up to the other guys if we were struggling off the back.

4. I had read Gordo's reports about training etc before I went to the camp but never appreciated it was possible to be so focused and dedicated to training. Everything Gordo does appears designed to ensure that he will have no regrets when he finally hangs up his IM boots. There is no chance he will be sitting back thinking "if only I had done that". He made me realize that if I give 100% I'm not going to die wondering. The knowledge he has about how to train effectively and race smart is enormous.

The greatest thing about the camp was that is was serious fun. There wasn't one single moment when I wasn't having the time of my life. Scott brought a sense of lightheartedness to the camp that makes the training enjoyable and memorable.