Question:
My 10 year old daughter has expressed
an interest in doing a kids tri
in late August. I have done one
short beginner's tri myself and
have done the training for a sprint
tri (which I'll do this Saturday),
so I feel I can coach her with the
knowledge I have accumulated so
far. I come from a running background
and can definitely help her there,
where she'll need the most istance,
since she has never done much running
for distance. She is an excellent
swimmer, so no worries there. On
the bike she can ride, but needs
to work on her handling skills a
bit more. We have six weeks to get
her feeling confident and ready
for her first race.
I realize that she doesn't need
to train the way I do for my races
- I put in 5-6 days of workouts
per week - but I feel she has a
ways to go, mainly in the run. The
race distances are s-100m, b-5k,
r-1.5k. How many days and workouts
per week would be best for a child
of her age? I want her to go into
the race feeling ready, but without
putting her through such training
that she'd get sick of the work
and want to quit.
OK, now since her mom and I live
apart, and I see her a few nights
per week, I figure I will mainly
coach her on running form and endurance,
and actually run with her, working
from a run-walk-run up to a 15-20
min. (near?) continuous run. I guess
the idea is for her to be able to
finish the race without killin herself
in the process. I'll make it clear
that walking in the run leg is perfectly
acceptable. For the swim, well,
she's got two more weeks left in
her competitive swim cl (that'll
put her at level 8 out of 12), so
I'll let her do her own thing -
she'll be fine I know it. I plan
to teach her about tri rules, basic
tri skills, transitions, and hope
she'll appreciate the fun side of
this sport. Any other thoughts?
Answer:
First your very lucky to have a
kid that's shows interest in tri's.
Been trying to sucker mine into
one for quite some time without
success.
As I have
no experiance with coaching kids,
or much of anyone for that matter,
I can only point out what I've been
told by others. The amount, type
and intensity of the training is,
as it is with adults, entirely dependant
on the child. We have several younger
10-12yr old runners around here
that follow some very rigourous
training plans, and to all outward
appearances, follow them willingly
and joyfully. OTOH the exact opposite
can also be true, where the child
doesn't want a damn thing to do
with any type of excercise.
This would
be the case with my kid. In both
cases I think the key is the same,
which not surprisingly is the same
as it is for adults, keep it fun
and rewarding. The big difference
is what we find fun and rewarding
is not teh same as a 10yr old. It
would be the rare 10yr old that
got a great deal of pleasure out
of doing a 4 x 400 faster than they
did it a month ago. On the other
hand beating dad from this light
pole to that one could be great
fun.
To me your
biggest challenge will be the running
aspect as for the most part, running
is just hard. However a 1.5K run
is not an overwhelming distance
and the type, distance etc could
be kept interesting. Having her
run on a track may be a new experiance
and may be enough to keep her intersted
for a couple of workouts. Maybe
a trail run or two. All sorts of
things.
The biking
can be fun just going out for a
ride. Maybe pick a route with a
few hills. Just doing the distance
will get most people in shape. I'm
thinking that the workouts should
be planned as in hey we'll run today
but not we'll do a 5 minute warmup
4 x 400 at blah blah blah In the
end the more fun she has the more
likely she'll be to do it. Good
luck and be sure to have fun your
self too. Maybe she can teach you
a thing or two.
