Get Fit Families Tri-Clinic
The three adults and coach Joella at the March clinic.
I’m fortunate to have a strong triathlon community in Pittsburgh. Last year, I joined several clubs to be around more like-minded people; they included a running club, cycling club, and triathlon club. I have been most active in the triathlon club, as such, I’ve been able to meet some amazing people - both male and female.
For me, athletics is a way of life. It is something I really enjoy and not new to me. Even though endurance sports is definitely different than what I’m used to, I’ve learned to love every aspect of it — even the stuff I don’t particularly like. (That stuff all ends up being a state of mind to get through it, for the most part anyway - and while it ends up being the hardest, it’s also the most rewarding!)
Tri Clinic
I heard some amazing things about this tri clinic that Get Fit Families offered. So I thought I would try it out. The first time I attended was in February. I didn’t write about it, I’m not really sure why. But I wanted to write about this one - and I’ll cover about the last one too.
Swimming
At both clinics there were adults and teenagers. Many times the groups were separated. The teens are pretty good athletes as a whole, and some were/are freaking amazing. They compete a lot, and some of their rules are different than adult rules. At first I was intimidated, then my competitive side kicked in — yeah intimidation didn’t last long. I know I’m a very slow runner, so I won’t even try to compete with that. Swimming I can hold my own for a short distance, and cycling, I can hold my own too - or so I thought, until we did the drills. Nope. I was humbled once again.
During the February clinic, we focused on how our bodies worked with the water.
We did different drills to really understand how to feel how our bodies reacted when we changed position or did things differently. Things like: kicking vs. not kicking, keeping our head out of the water vs. in the water, hands open vs. closed, etc. Each group had the opportunity to watch the other group swim underwater, which allowed us the chance to see proper and not-so-proper form. It gave me, and I would imagine all of us a good lesson. We even received video of us swimming above and below water so we could see ourselves swim.
During the early March clinic the swimming focus was on open water swimming (OWS).
We practiced several possible starts for races - jumping in, treading water, diving in, etc. It was a learning experience because I’ve only run in from a beach or started with the water at my waist. It was really cool to practice many of the possible starts because it’s something I didn’t even think of.
The other thing we really focused on was buoys.
This was wonderful! I don’t know if you’ve ever swam in an OWS race, but it can be crazy, and many people get panicky. Practicing some of the craziness helps to prepare for it.
We learned how to swim as close to the buoy as we could by ourselves.
We learned how to get around the buoy as a full group with different groups: adults, girls, or boys in the front, middle, or back. Here, the goal was to get around the buoy in the fastest way possible and get to the other corner of the pool. You could go closely around the buoy, under people, wide around the buoy, whatever worked for you depending on your best abilities. You had to be strategic, and determine what worked best. This was one of the best drills I have ever done! I’ve never experienced what I did then. I learned so much, and learned strengths and weaknesses, and not only that I wanted to get around that buoy, I wanted to get to the front fast because I get super competitive.
Another drill that I really liked, was when three buoys were set up in a triangle and the entire group (teens and adults) would have to swim around them three times and not get lapped. We would do this swimming to the right and to the left. Holy smokes! This is when sighting becomes critical, and it’s hard to do when there’s such a small space, and when there’s what seems like a zillion people splashing while they swim. Oh wait - that’s how a race is!
It’s perfect for learning to get comfortable with things that aren’t natural and when there’s water in your face when you don’t expect it, as well as other unexpected elements — and this was a controlled environment. One of the main points to this drill was to experience all of this. But on race day, the first buoy is the most difficult and there is often a “traffic jam” there; being prepared for the unexpected and for things to get a little slower and how to handle it makes the racing experience a better one.
Biking
During the February clinic the focus was on bike handling.
We did lots of drills and games on our bikes. It was all inside either on a track or on open area between the track lanes. We practiced:
Drafting where groups of four or five would stay in a straight line and take turns in the front position while staying in the line and staying a few inches from the back tire of the person in front of you. It wasn’t easy. Even though drafting isn’t allowed in triathlon, it is good to know, and it helps with hand-eye coordination and balancing.
We also did individual and partner handling drills where we would move our hands in different positions around the bike and our bodies, and different movements with a partner (talk about an added element of difficulty!) As soon as we felt a little more confident with handling our bike we moved to something a bit more advanced:
Being able to loosen and tighten our shoes while on the bike (for those that don’t know - our shoes are attached to the pedals).
That went to inserting our feet in our shoes, removing them, and reinserting them while we were on the bike.
Then we learned flying mounts and dismounts. These are really hard, but Joella made the process “easy-ish.”
She showed me how to get comfortable jumping with my bike at first so I could jump on/over my bike later. But even before I could do that I had to get comfortable running with my bike by holding the saddle. I would have sworn my bike was possessed by something; Joella proved me wrong (As I expected she would - though I think she may have sprinkled magic coaching fairy dust or something, but I didn’t actually see it happen, so I can't be sure.). Well if she could run and hold my bike by the saddle; I certainly could…eventually. Yeah, I did it, after the 20 billionth time, but I did it. (I know, small win.) OK, on to the next step. Jumping with my bike. I can jump, or I used to be able to. Ha!
Bike-1; Gwen-0
After the Bike was up about 10 points and I still had a big, fat goose egg. I finally got a good jump and then a few more. I was feeling confident and tried to actually jump on my bike. Yeah…no.
Ok, so I kept trying, to no avail, but I still kept trying. It was closer than I had been before, which was not trying or even wanting to try. By the end, I had one jump that I landed. And a realization that I AM GOING TO LEARN TO DO FLYING MOUNTS AND DISMOUNTS!!
During the March clinic the biking focus was bike handling and transitions.
Sweet! It’s hard to practice transitions on my own, at least proper transitions. The biking portion was outside this time, and it was chilly. It would have been fine if I planned better, but stupidly I didn’t. I’m not sure why, Joella told us ahead of time what we were doing; I just didn’t pack appropriately. During this segment, two other adults, both women, and I stuck together in a group and the teens did their practicing in their group. The other women and I have gotten to know each other in both clinics that I’ve attended (they’re friends, but have been super nice to me, and I’m super grateful for that - one of the reasons I love triathlon, it’s generally like that, but I digress.)
Everyone got in their groups and road a few laps to warm up and then we practiced bike handling. (I don’t know what the teens did.) For each lap, Joella would shout out what we had to practice on that particular lap; things like taking our water bottle in and out of the cage(s); moving our hands around all of the possible hand positions; keeping a steady line, etc. She would provide us individual feedback (mind you she had been doing this all throughout each clinic, I just hadn’t mentioned it previously).
Then we worked on transitions. Here’s what we did:
Proper way to start out mounting our bikes, and how to remount our bikes (yes, they are different - to make things easier and faster)
Best way to have our stuff set up so its the easiest to change everything on as quickly as possible
If we aren’t doing flying mounts how to mount after the “mounting” line
The best ways to dismount at the “dismount line,” and what will save time in the long run
After each time we practiced a transition and rode a lap on our bikes, we remounted our bikes, put on our shoes and ran a lap
It was really a great overall bike/run workout. Not to mention every time I did it, I felt way more confident in my transition and I got much faster!
I must say this is a really great clinic. Joella is always asking if we are learning everything we want to learn. She wants to know if there’s anything we want to work on that she isn’t covering because she will happily cover it. She truly is a considerate person and a knowledgeable coach. She has been through a lot of her own experiences, has several coaching certifications, and is truly an amazing individual. If it weren’t for joining the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club I would have never really gotten to know Joella and been able to take advantage of all that she does for triathlon in this region. She really has dedicated her life to this amazing sport — to all levels, and all ages - not just through coaching, but directing races, offering programs, and really so much more. If you want to learn more about all of Joella’s endeavors, visit Get Fit Families.
The next clinic is supposed to be March 22, 2020, but with the coronavirus, I don’t know if it will take place. I’m sure Joella will post something on Facebook. As soon as I see it, I will post it on my Facebook page, and I will post it on the Pgh Area Women’s Swim Bike and/or Run group page.