Koalas practices this week!

This week the Koalas practices have gone really well. Tuesdays run practice was good, nicer weather does help for members to actually come out to run! But we did two loops warm up to start then 6 infield loops of build leading up to a small hill. So the idea was to start off easy, increasing your pace near the end of the loop which was also the start of the hill! Hit the hill hard, go around the building and cruise downhill and recover. Repeat 5 times then an easy loop no hill, then one last hard effort! They then did an easy big recovery loop then came back and had AM run us through some nice stretching.
Stretching is an interesting topic. It is beneficial and helps us to stay loose, but do we always do it? I know I am bad for not doing and definitely need to do wayyy more stretching.
Then last night the warm weather continues and it was our bike practice!! I got to our meeting spot a little early and managed to squeeze in an 18min warmup ride before the workout. Very windy from the north so I decided to reverse the loop so we were riding the backstretch of the loop into the wind. Started out with two loops of one-legged drills after our warm up ride, then four laps of build. So start off easy then build the pace til the backstretch with the wind going hard, no stopping so the first part of the lap is easy to recover, then a one lap recovery. We then did one lap of standing, out of the saddle and then into the hill repeats! Same idea as the build. Start out easy around the loop, increase your pace around the loop and then up hill! Then cycle easy back down the hill and start another loop easy still recovering, build, hill climb!
I then stopped them for the third repeat and sent them off Grand Prix style for the last hill climb from weakest to strongest climber every 10 seconds! Good for the stronger climbers going at the end to try and catch the ones in front, and the ones in front to try and not get caught!
Then a nice spin back to the parking lot and quick change into their running shoes and out for a quick 15 minute run. Funny to hear the comments when they first start to run..haha. But this is a key workout and one that is in all their training plans, or will be soon. After nearly every bike to do a 15 minute run along with a dedicated brick workout. Bricks can be some of the toughest triathlon workouts for many and I know some that just dont do them at all. But I have found them to be invaluable for racing. I actually enjoy doing them myself and did alot more bricks last summer than pure run workouts coming back from a leg injury.
Today it is off to the pool for a noon swim then back out for a good solid bike ride! Weather today is fantastic as it is going up into the high 20's, wind from NW is dropping to 10km's later on to make for ideal conditions!