Pulse Junior Pursuits in the Park
Well done to the new junior Pulse recruits who came out to train on a chilly but sunny Sunday morning in the Phoenix Park! 13 Junior athletes aged from 10 years and upwards (almost 50 / 50 girls and boys) arrived eager and excited, some confidient and some cautious – some maybe a little shy but everyone was raring to get going in the Phoenix Park that morning.
Pulse Tri club’s Development Officer/TriCoach Dave Adams with Pulse TriCoach Colin Bolger led the bakers dozen in their first club junior training session. The emphasis was on having fun – today was not a competitive race but a training day to learn about what’s involved in triathlon and to enjoy the session.
The young athletes proudly handed their 2013 TI junior membership cards to register with Club Children’s Officer Rachel Eager and Pulse Chairperson Kathy Grassick and were from absolute beginners to Splash and Dash 2012 veterans, with a couple of juniors having a little more tri experience. All put in great efforts doing the following days training:
- Coaches check all bikes and instructed the athlets how to use the breaks before the group headed off.
- A warm up running in pairs while practising the up and over technique – changing places from back to front of pack.
- Fast feet jumping in and out of a variety of rings on the grass.
- No touching bikes until helmets clipped properly.
- Transition – clip helmets on and run 100m to put on jackets, no running until jacket zipped up!
- Cycling in a line close behind each other (drafting was allowed here – no red cards in sight!)
- Coaches asked junior athletes to listen carefully to instructions (good habit to learn for race briefings)
When 75mins was up, everyone retreated to the meeting area at the Papal Cross carpak where they refueled with water, smoothies and home baked goodies while chatting about their first tri training experience.
Hope to see you all again soon for getting started for 2013 season! Watch Pulse website for further training days – www.pulsetri.com
Thanks to everyone for coming and all the Pulse marshals who helped out.