Another Triathlete in the Family?

Sunday was a very active day for the family.  I rode with the tri club in the morning downtown for 22 exhausting miles.  Daddy, Collin and Burke showed up to walk Burke around the park before we went from the park to a coffee shop to meet up with other cyclists.  It was cold but we had a good time getting to know the other people there a little better.  From there, we went home.  Collin and Daddy threw the baseball a little in the front yard to practice before the tryouts in March.  Then, we all went inside to rest before Collin went to the junior tri club orientation.  We plan for him to be a regular attendee, maybe even race AND, more importantly, meet new friends.  If he decides he wants to not use his training wheels like all of the other kids.  That would be a bonus!

When we arrived, Collin clung to me instead of talking to any of the kids.  He stated that he was shy and did not want to talk to anyone.  Then, Finn, one of the boys he is familiar with but does not now as well, came up to him and started talking to him.  He said, "I know him" to me and smiled.  He talked a little to him and then started following me because I walked away.

The first thing the kids did as part of the orientation was to split off into groups of three based on the distance the kids planned to ride.  I choose the shortest one for Collin (2 miles) because I was not sure if he could make the next distance which was 6 miles.  The 2 mile route was a loop so we could go again if he was ready and had the energy.  Plus, I was planning to run next to him.  Not that 2 miles is long but I have not been running lately.  He saw that there were several kids close to his age in the group so he did not complain that he was not going with Finn who went with the 6 mile group.

He did great on the ride.  The route had several inclines so I was interested to see what he would do.  When we came to the first one, he wanted off his bike.  I made him stay on and talked him through how to peddle up the hill.  At the next incline, he started to get off but I talked him through peddling really fast to get him up the hill.  I pushed on his back a little and he told me he did not need the help (making progress already).  After about a mile, he said he wanted to go around again.  I told him we might depending on how he felt after we finished the two miles.  Throughout the ride, he was close to the front.  There was one time that the leader had to go back and help someone in the back.  I wanted to keep going but Collin did not want to lead.  This probably goes back to him being shy and not wanting people to look at him.  I kept running and he did start to follow me....and we kept going until we finished the 2 miles.  He did want to stop so I could massage his legs because "they are tired!"  He then got back on his bike to go around again.  I could see that the kids were lining up to start working on drills.  Not Collin's favorite so I prepared for him to not want to do it.

Collin is in the front in green and I am running on the right in a red shirt

Instead of doing the drills, Collin wanted to rest.  I knew he was not tired because he just finished asking me to go around the loop again.  I finally got him up to stand in line and do at least one of the drills which involved him getting in plank position walking his hands down a row of open plastic circles.  Then he got up to run in the circles alternating feet.  With the next set of circles, he got into the plank position again.  At the end, he got up to run for 1/3 mile to the end, turn around and then sprint back.  He loved the running part and actually got back in line to do it again.

The last drills was sprints.  The group split into two groups and raced each other down the field and back.  The parents were included which Collin liked except that I was on the other team to even it out.  I had fun because my competitive side shown when I had to run against an 8 - 10 year old.  We finished at the same time....at least he did not beat me!

Lined up ready for a race.   Collin is on the left in the green shirt.

Look at that boy run

Ready for the hand off

After the plank-walking drills

Attendees of the first orientation.  Maybe there is a new friend in there waiting for Collin to get to know him or her better.

After the sprints (twice), the kids got to have a snack and then go.  Collin was eating his chips and asked Daddy if he could have his training wheels off.  Both of us looked at each other and smiled.  I hope Collin will be riding without training wheels really soon.  I would love to ride side-by-side with him regularly.