Monday, May 25, 2009

First Time is the Best

The first time you do anything in life is pretty special. First steps you take (for your parents anyway), first day of highschool, first kiss (yikes) and yes, your first triathlon. Yesterday at the Kinetico Kids of Steel race, fun2tri had six athletes complete their first triathlon. Congratulations to Brianne, Carter, Paige, Chalmers, Ginny and Natalie!! All of you did a fantastic job and should be very proud of yourselves. All of your hard work has paid off and you achieved your goal. I hope you enjoyed yourselves and that this is the first of many.

In all, fun2tri had 19 athletes race and we "pinked the podium" in all but one race in which we had athletes entered. Congratulations to Sasha (1st female, 14-15), Aidan (1st male, 12-13), Nolan (1st male, 10-11), Paige (2nd female, 12-13) and Myles (3rd male, 14-15). fun2tri had 6 athletes in total who placed in the top 5 in their age group and 11 athletes in total in the top 10 in their age groups. Great job.

A big thank you to the C3 club and its many volunteers for putting on a great event.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Rolling Right Along

Training has been going very well for everyone. The bike skills continue to improve at a very fast pace. We haven't done much distance running but when we have, the athletes have done a great job.

One week until the Kinetico Caledon KOS Race. C3 always puts on a great event (thank you to them) and we are all looking forward to a fun day and some fast racing. Just a reminder that the Tuesday night group, will meet at the race site next week to review the course and get familiar with everything.

And finally, a special thank you to the Thursday group for their suggestions for the new t-shirt slogan. Your suggestions were most entertaining: tri not to die, tri not to tri, why run when you can walk, and we're serious this year? - I will not go on except to say, stick with the training because you have no future in advertising.

Have a great long weekend. Get out on those bikes and enjoy the weather.

PS Congratulations to the fun2tri athletes who competed in the North Peel cross-country championships. Great performances by Myles, Aidan, Ben, Paige and Natalie - they all finished in the top 20 in their categories. Myles, Aidan and Ben's school (Allan Drive M.S.) placed first among junior boys teams and first overall. Congratulations and thanks to their coaches, Mr. McCauslin and Ms. Dall.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bike Skills From Week 3

Each week fun2tri athletes practice a variety of bike skills. I have been so impressed this year with how they have improved so quickly. Great job! Last night was the first night of the "popular" bottle drill. The drill works on balance and control. Athletes must pick up a bottle from the top of a cone and place it either in a bucket or on another cone (depending on the difficulty they choose). Above, Graham shows us how it is done. The success rate was fantastic last night. By the end of the session, I think we had almost 100% success on the pick-ups and even a few successful placements back onto the cone. What a great improvement from when we started last year.

Now, if only we could improve on the cheating during the helmet game!

See you next week (hopefully with some warmer weather).

Monday, April 27, 2009

Week 2 - Golf Game

Week 2 of the fun2tri training involved a review of the bike skills we learned in week 1. The mounts and dismounts were looking quite good and on the cornering drills, only a few cones continued to take a beating.

We then played a couple of rounds of golf - triathlon style. Each hole incorporated a running drill and groups of four moved from "hole to hole". Despite my best efforts to avoid it, the game quickly became a race. Perhaps we need to incorporate the snail game into the golf game.

This week we will be working on our transition skills. I can't wait to use the new bike racks than Ginny and Chalmer's dad, Emlyn made for us (many, many thanks).

On another note, I encourage you to check out the Ontario Provincial Triathlon Centre's blog. Craig Taylor, the provincial development coach keeps us up to date on the triathlon world and provides lots of helpful tips. Last week Craig wrote a great post on safety - providing two suggestions that we should all consider. Check it our at www.provincialtriathloncentre.blogspot.com

See you Tuesday.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Week 1 - A Great Start!

Well week 1 was a big success. We have 23 athletes in the club this year which hopefully will mean a sea of pink on race days. A special welcome to newcomers Brianne, Carter, Paige, Duncan, Chalmers, Ginny and Natalie. Great to see our 16 returning athletes too.

Bike handling skills were a big part of week 1 and will continue to be a focus for the athletes throughout the season. A big game of tag at the end of training was a hit, as usual.

Special thanks to Lynn (Chalmers and Ginny's mom) for helping with the paperwork - much appreciated.

Week 2 will involve some new bike handling drills and a game of golf - and you thought this was a tri club? And of course... tag (bring your tag ideas).

I will try to remember to take some pictures this week so that we can get some new pics on the blog (and get rid of Myles and Sean - I did not post this pic). Bring your best smiles.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Tri Training Starts Tuesday

Finally... that time of year. The fun2tri triathlon club training is about to start! Next Tuesday (April 14) we will meet at Robert F. Hall for our first session of the year. There will be a combination of new faces and returing faces which is very exciting. Remember to bring your bike, bike helmet and running shoes (you don't need transition stuff for week 1). If you have any questions, send me an email. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

PS As I write this, I am looking out the window at a winter wonderland - about 6 inches of snow (at least). I will keep you posted if our plans have to be changed. In the meantime, hope for lots of sunshine and warm weather.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

2009 KOS Summer Camp

Just a quick note to let athletes and parents know that the camp is now FULL. However, we are starting a wait list and MAY be able to add an additional week if demand is great enough. If you are interested in being added to the wait list, please email me at zagarlp@rogers.com Thanks to those that have signed up - it is going to be an exciting week.