A mini transition and duathlon
Ready when: Bike control games (b1) and Running games and form (b2) done.
What you are learning
The transition: laying out your own change spot and changing from running to riding and back in the right order. The helmet goes on and is buckled before you touch the bike, and comes off only after the bike is racked. A duathlon (run, ride, run) puts it all together.
Words on this card Triathlon, Leg, Transition, Transition area
- Triathlon
- Swim, bike and run; swim and run; run, bike and run.
- Leg
- One of the sports in the race.
- Transition
- The change between sports; T1 is swim to bike, T2 is bike to run.
- Transition area
- The area where the bikes are kept; your own spot in it; the bar the bike hangs on.
Set up
A rack or a wall for bikes; a mat for shoes and helmet; a loop of 100 m.
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- Lay out the change spot: helmet upside down on the bike or mat, shoes beside it.
- Run in, put the helmet on and buckle it, then take the bike and walk it to the line.
- Ride the loop, get off at the line, walk the bike back, rack it, then take the helmet off.
Your part while they practise
Time-keeper; do not compare children.
Step by step
- Set up your own change spot.
- Duathlon laps: run, ride, run.
- Helmet on and buckled before touching the bike; off only after racking it.
- Walk the bike to and from the rack.
- Brakes on before getting on and off.
How much: 3 duathlons 15 min a session once a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Quick shoes
Run barefoot on grass, and on the whistle run to your shoes, put them on and run to the line.
Who plays: 2 to 10, each against their own best time; you whistle and time.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Leave shoes on the change mat
- Jog barefoot on the grass
- On the whistle, run to the shoes, put them on, do them up and run to the line
- 3 tries; keep the best time
- Fair play
- A grown-up puts shoes on sitting down.
- Points
- 1 point for each try faster than your last; 2 points for shoes done up properly every time.
- Fouls
- That try does not count
- Laces or straps not done up
- Starting before the whistle
- Running through someone else's change spot
- Winning
- Beat your best time.
- 2 points for 1 star
- 4 points for 2 stars
- 6 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A shorter loop.
A longer ride leg.
What you will see, and what to say
- the helmet is forgotten
Helmet on before you touch the bike
Click it first. - the bike is dropped
Walk it, rack it
Bike back first.
Self-check
The child sets up and clears the change spot without help, 3 times.
Stop and get a coach when
Collisions.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains transitions, sequence.
Basic is done when the child meets the self-checks on b1 to b4.
awiseathlete.com/sports/triathlon/triathlon-b4