Living The Tri Life!: July 2014

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Kids Splash & Dash that I put on in Shreveport at the Southside Pool and after watching the kids go from swim to run I could tell that I wanted to help with their transitions. So I started planning a Kids Triathlon Transition Clinic! I recruited Coach Hallie and Coach Rachel to help me. They are both triathletes and coaches with COSST (City of Shreveport Swim Team)!

Every year the day before the big River Cities Triathlon, Sportspectrum puts on the IRONFISH Kid's Triathlon. I've never been out to watch it, always too consumed in my own self and resting before River Cities. But after coaching for the past year here in Shreveport I want to give back to this race, so not only will I be volunteering this year at the kid's race but I wanted to help them with one of my favorite parts of triathlon - THE TRANSITION!

This morning about 20 kids and their parents arrived at the Southside Pool with their bikes and all of their swim, bike, and run gear for our first Transition Clinic! The Sunrise Tri Club generously offered to provide refreshments and Matt Brown and Sportspectrum gave us some awesome door prizes to give away! I had some Aquaphor samples left from last year so I handed those out to everyone too!

We started with a talk about the race itself -went through what they would be getting in their packets. Talked about the race tattoos that they will have this year. Then went over a transition map and a poster I made showing how to set up their transition area. It's always good to have an idea ahead of time of where the swim, bike, and run enter and exit the transition area.

Then Rachel, Hallie, and I did a run though so they could see how we handled our transitions! That was fun!
After that we got all of the kids to set up their transition areas and we did a walk through - walking. They did really well so we regrouped, reset the transition area but this time they swam 25 meters and did the transitions at full speed! These kids ROCKED IT!! I was so proud of them!

We gathered back under the patio area and talked a little more about what to eat then night before and morning of the race, and a few other things like SMILING FOR THE CAMERA AT THE FINISH LINE!
Had some ice cold chocolate milk and water and then did the drawings for the door prizes! We had enough prizes that everyone went away with something fun! There were tshirts, hats, a backpack, a blanket, a water bottle, and socks! I think they had a good time. Coach Butch said the parents were very happy and excited about the clinic. Harrisen and Evangeline's mom said something that made me feel great, she thanked me and told me that they would have had no idea on what to do had we not put on the event! I call that an absolute success!