Last Sunday I got to work with some newbies to the sport. The beginner’s development session was designed to fast track their triathlon knowledge and skills, bring some new people into the club, and offer new Lakers a chance to make up some ground on their more experienced Laker competitors. The first West Lakes race highlighted that while enthusiasm and excitement are important attributes, they can beat knowledge, experience, and practice.
As a coach, there is nothing that makes me feel good about my profession like working with a beginner. Fresh faced and open to learning, they are a sponge for whatever you can throw at them. At first, they are full of apprehension and doubt, providing me with no end of comic relief (helmets going on backwards, Len’s coming out of glasses…), but by the end of a session they operate like a seasoned professional.
Last Sunday’s session worked through the basics of the sport. The progression in bike handling skills is always a highlight. At first the group struggled to let the bike flow as they executed a U-turn, but by the end of the session, when we put a number of skills into a race environment, the apprehension went out the window and they were able to let the bike flow around the course.
Transition is an area most only give lip service to. Yet when you look at the results of any race you will see that in a lot of age groups the second placed athlete often has the quicker swim, bike and run combined time, yet lost out, simply because they hadn’t invested in transitions.
Learning to stand on your wetsuit to get your legs out, run with the seat, take your feet out of your shoes as you come into T2, and lay out your transition area, are all things you can easily learn that will save considerable time. Those who have triathlon shoes, can learn how to get on their bike with their shoes already clipped on in 10minutes, then they just need to practice taking their feet into and out of their shoes in training whenever they are in a safe place.
But it not just the beginners who stand to benefit. Jasper was the second swimmer out at West Lakes, was left well behind at the start. Somehow, he was able to bridge a 20+m gap to Alex Smith to get with and then ahead of him, but the challenge for him now is to work out how he can make sure he gets through the first 50m with the leaders and give himself a chance of swimming with Conner out in front.
With the juniors on Monday night, we had a great session which worked on all the tips and tricks. When we first started Jasper was smashed by the big boys and quickly shuffled back. But it was only when we dissected how he executed his start that we found ways to make sure he came out in front.
I love how juniors just attack things. Over and over, they threw themselves into the water and had a real crack at the skills we were working on. Repetition makes perfect. First, we do it in a controlled environment, then we dial up the challenge and finally we test it under race conditions.
At Moana our Juniors and beginners get another chance to test what they have been working on and find out what they need to improve. On race day we find out if we were able to implement what we practiced or if we need to invest more time. It is this pursuit of the perfect race that makes triathlon such an attractive sport for individuals like us. Yes, we may all be different shapes, size, abilities and ages, but the type of people we are, is typically the same.
Happy training and please feel free to contact me if you have any triathlon training, coaching and racing related thoughts or questions.
Nigel