Fwd: Excel Youth Triathlon- Practice # 2--two week training suggestions

[dva...@aol.com]

 

Hi Athletes and Parents-

Despite the cold weather on Saturday, we had a fantastic practice! 

Athletes learned the rules of cycling with others and then got to practice riding and practicing their hand signals.

We also got to practice Transition 1 aka T1. 

Even though we didn't swim, we practicing running barefoot to T1, putting all equipment on, hopping on the bike and doing a small loop around tower park. 

If you are riding with a group or in a triathlon it is important that you communicate well with others, so everyone is safe.

Cycling Rules:

1. Always wear a helmet.

2. Helmet chin strap has to be fastened before leaving T1 (Transition Area # 1)

3. Always ride to the right of the race course or the road.

4. Always pass another cyclist on their left. 

5. Let the Cyclist know you are passing them- say passing on your left.

6. When cycling in a race, you must be 3 bike lengths behind the person in front of you.

7. When Cycling in a race, if you need to pass the person(s) in front of you, you must do it withing 15 seconds. 

8. Never Ride your bike in transition. Don't get on your bike until you pass the mount line and be sure to off your bike before the dismount line.

How to set Up your transition area:

Parents- It is important that your athlete knows what they need to have in transition area and how to set it up.

At a lot of races, parents are NOT allowed in the transition area, so athletes are responsible for themselves. 

Equipment needed in transition area (Keep it as simple as possible)

1. Bike

2. Helmet- should be upside down and backwards. When you get to T1- throw on your helmet quickly.

3. Towel to lay everything on and establish your area.

4. Shoes*

5. Race Belt and number attached to it

    Race belt should have number pointed backwards when you bike and number should be pointed forwards when you run. 

Ideally that is all you need to have in Transition area. To reduce the amount of time you spend in transition (b/c the clock is still running), you don't want to towel yourself off or put on extra clothes. Swim in what you are going to bike/run in. It can be a swim suit or a triathlon race suit. 

* Parents- noticed a lot of athletes did NOT have the bungee cord shoes laces, so they wastes a lot of time tying shoe laces. It would be a good investment to buy a pair this week, so athletes can practice faster transitions.

Our next practice is not until Saturday, April 25. 

That means atheltes will need to practice on their own for the next two weeks.

Everyone has a weakness. That is going to be the focus for the next two weeks is working on the weakness. 

These next two weeks:

1. Work on your weakness 4 times. My weakness it running, so I would plan on getting 4 run workouts the next two weeks. 

2. Work on your 2 strongest sport 3 times. My 2nd strongest sport is cycling, so I would plan on cycling 3 times.

3. Work on your strength 2 times. My strongest sport is swimming, so I would plan on swimming 2 times.

If you are part of a team, keep working out with the team. You can count your team workouts as part of your triathlon homework.

For instance I know we have several athletes that swim with Excel. Just consider those workouts extra credit!

In ADDITION to swim, bike, run workouts, we also want athletes to work on their transitions. 

That means setting up your transition area just like we did on Saturday.

Run to T1, throw on helmet, shoes, race number and before jumping on your bike.

Try to establish a mount and dismount line either by drawing with chalk on the pavement or using cones. 

You can combine our transition workout with a bike workout if you want. 

The more comfortable an athlete gets doing transitions, the safer each athlete will be and the faster they will be.

Happy Training,

Coach Dee, Dawn and Ashley

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