How a triathlon camp in Lanzarote works, and which week to book

Winter at home means a dark pool and a turbo trainer. On Lanzarote the pools are heated to 26 or 27°C all year, the lava fields begin where the resort ends, and the wind turns a flat coast road into honest work. No wonder national and professional teams spend their winters here.

A Lanzarote camp week is built around the bike, with a coached swim to open most days and a short, careful run to close them.

A triathlon camp in Lanzarote usually starts each day with an hour of coached swimming that mixes technique sets with endurance work. On Coach Russ Cox's February week the 25 m pool sits next to the rooms, and every athlete's stroke is filmed and reviewed. Riding takes up most of the week, on group rides that range up to the full IRONMAN Lanzarote bike course. Some days reach about 7 hours of training, with shorter, flatter options on each. Runs are the lighter part, kept short to protect tired legs but with hill work, speed work and brick runs, where you run straight off the bike. ATW Events' November week adds an open water swim at Playa Blanca and a time trial up the 9 km Tabayesco climb. Strength and stretching sessions fill the gaps, and the evenings end with an awards night. Coaches adjust the plan as the week goes on, so a long day can become a shorter one.

No. The camps on Lanzarote take every ability, and the sessions bend to the athlete. Russ Cox built his week for IRONMAN and half IRONMAN racers, yet it has hosted beginners through to professionals, with the schedule adjusted for each person. ATW Events offers a shorter and a longer option on most rides and makes every session optional. Club La Santa's camps cover complete beginners as well as athletes training for their next race. The group is half the point. You ride with people at your pace and talk training over dinner, and that support often carries on through the season.

Club La Santa runs the fullest winter calendar, with a camp most weeks between late November and late March, while two coached weeks use hotels in Costa Teguise.

The Club La Santa camp calendar for winter 2026 to 2027 has a week for most goals:

Several more run in German, among them the Triabolos, Corpus and Runningman tri camps. Places are limited.

ATW Events runs a seven-day camp at the Barceló Lanzarote Active Resort from 16 November 2026. Transfers from Arrecife airport, breakfast and dinner, coached sessions in a 50 m pool and an evening social timetable are part of it. It suits anyone who wants a first block before Christmas in a relaxed, opt-in week. Coach Russ Cox's camp runs in Costa Teguise from 20 to 27 February 2027, half board. Rooms sit beside a 25 m training pool, and most athletes share. It is the higher-volume week of the two, aimed at early-season IRONMAN and half IRONMAN training, with 14 years of Lanzarote camps behind it.

Base at Club La Santa for every facility on one site and a ready-made group. Choose Costa Teguise for a resort town, a promenade to run on and a camp that brings its own coaches.

Club La Santa, in Tinajo on the island's wild north coast, is rated 9.0 out of 10 by guests. It has three 50 m pools heated to 26 or 27°C all year and a running track. Its saltwater lagoon, at the edge of the resort, gives calm water for open water practice. The bike centre opens from 08:00 to 18:00, lends bikes and helmets free, rents Cannondale road bikes and fits your own pedals. Group road rides run at three levels. Beginners ride 20 to 25 km at 18 to 20 km/h, and the middle group 55 to 60 km at 24 to 26 km/h. Experienced riders go 70 to 90 km at 27 to 29 km/h. Weekly aquathlon, duathlon and triathlon races are open to every guest. Because the pools, the bikes and the track sit close together, a brick session is a walk away. It suits a solo athlete who wants a group, or a club that books together.

Costa Teguise sits on the east coast, and its appeal is a town with the training on its doorstep. The Barceló resort has a 50 m pool, and Segura Sports Lanzarote rents bikes in front of the hotel. The promenade gives flat runs beside the Atlantic, and northbound rides start on about 20 km of flat bike path along the coast, an easy warm-up before the climbs.

Two more triathlon-friendly hotels on the island: Vitalclass Lanzarote Resort in Teguise (8.8) and Hotel Costa Calero Thalasso & Spa in Puerto Calero (8.6 across 709 reviews). Compare them all on our triathlon in Lanzarote page.

Riding fills most of a camp week, and Lanzarote rewards it with quiet roads and considerate drivers. The island is hilly without being mountainous: its highest point, Peñas del Chache, stands at 670 m.

The north holds the climbing. ATW Events rides Tabayesco as a 9 km time trial and gives a whole day to the Mirador del Río viewpoint and Órzola. The Mirador del Río and northern loop from Costa Teguise climbs 1,750 m in 116.3 km. It takes in untouched coast between Órzola and Arrieta and a smooth LZ-10 descent towards Teguise.

In the south, the Tour of Timanfaya and the volcanoes runs 117 km with 1,328 m of climbing from Playa Blanca. It passes the Timanfaya lava fields, the Salinas de Janubio salt pans and white Yaiza. Then come the vines of La Geria, growing in black volcanic ash behind low stone walls. Ride from Yaiza to the national park before 9 am to have the road free of traffic. The full IRONMAN route is 180 km with 2,550 m of climbing, and our IRONMAN Lanzarote course guide covers the race itself.

The wind is Lanzarote's other climb. It blows strong and steady on exposed roads, pushes a bike around, and is fiercest on the coast towards Caleta de Famara, where kitesurfing is big business. Expect steep descents as well as climbs, and narrow, busy roads near the tourist resorts. Carry two full bottles when you head inland, since refill points are few on some routes. The Femés pass, in the municipality of Yaiza, is signed against bicycles at both entrances, so plan southern loops without it. Helmets are compulsory in Lanzarote. Club La Santa's bike centre gives route advice and maps to anyone riding alone, and its bikes carry a spare inner tube, tyre levers and a pump.

Lanzarote stays mild through the camp season, with average highs between 19.4 and 20.4°C from December to March, and the wind matters more than the heat. Strong winds sweep the exposed coastal routes, particularly in spring and autumn. Rain is rare: February, the wettest month, averages 3.3 days with 1 mm or more. Sun and wind are the two constant companions here. The conditions draw professionals too: the triathlete Lucy Charles and the two-time world champion Patrick Lange train on the island in winter.

The table shows Lanzarote's average daily high and low, and its days with 1 mm or more of rain, month by month for 2016 to 2025.

A Lanzarote camp strips a training week down to a warm pool, a quiet road, a group to ride with and a wind that makes every kilometre count. Choose the week by your goal: a November or January camp builds the base, February suits a long-distance build, and March has the swim camps. For a second island, our triathlon in Mallorca guide sets out its bases, and our triathlon holidays with theKlub page gathers every place we cover for the sport. Pick the camp week that lines up with your race, then book your base for those dates on our triathlon in Lanzarote page.