When the packaging on the Weet Bix breakfast cereal the kids eat changed late last year and started advertising the Weet Bix Kids TRYathlon, there was quite a bit of talk between our two eldest boys about how it would be fun to give it a try. Then when Santa delivered a new bike for Christmas to our 8 year old, one of the first things he said was that he could now do the triathlon.
We went to the Weet Bix Kids TRYathlon website and investigated what distances were involved for each age group.
For our 8 year old, he would be in the 7 – 10 year old age group and it would be:
- Swim – 100m
- Cycle – 3km
- Run – 500m
For our 11 year old, he would be in the 11 – 15 year old age group and it would be:
- Swim – 200m
- Cycle – 6km
- Run – 1km
Both boys seemed confident that they could do these and agreed that they would be happy to do training, to make sure that they would indeed be able to swim, cycle and run these distances. The whole philosophy behind this event as you may have guessed, is for kids to get out there and give it a try! They do not require any previous experience and are designed for kids to learn about triathlon and to have fun while doing so.
So we signed the boys up and then used the website to create their personalised training program. The above image is of our 8 year old’s training program. It is actually more than 6 weeks to the Melbourne triathlon (Sunday, 14th March), so we are doing some training weeks a number of times in a row. Mr I wrote on the Mondays for the next couple of months on the family calendar, what week’s training the boys should be doing. We are being flexible with the daily tasks and I am leaving it completely up to the children to follow – their training schedule is their responsibility.
It has been a fantastic, purposeful activity for the boys to have during the school holidays. They look in advance, as to what they have to do and talk to me about what other activities we have on for the week. They work out what they can fit in at what times and have even started factoring in the weather conditions. They know if it is going to be a hot day, that they should do their running or riding in the morning.
It has meant a few additional trips to the pool, that I probably could have lived without, but I am really admiring the way the boys are approaching their training and seeing them actively enjoy exercising, so it is a small price to pay!
If your kids have been participated in the Weet Bix Kids TRYathlon, I would be very interested to hear any tips that you might have.
NB: Just in case you wanted to know, next week the boys will be completing the week 2 training schedule!