Spring time (almost) and junior program.

Yes it is spring time again, well almost. The snow has nearly melted completely except for the larger piles. Like the mounds that border either side of our driveway. Last year at this time I had gotten outside multiple times for bike rides but not this year. And as I look out my front window I do hear the siren calls of outdoor biking beckoning me. After six solid months of winter and countless lonely hours tucked away in our basements spinning away on our trainers, the desire to pedal and actually move, and feel the wind in our face is very strong right now. I know some of you brave souls have ventured outdoors for rides. To you that have ridden outdoors, I salute you! I thought of going riding yesterday but the idea of riding in the cold wasn't that appealing. The roads look a little beat up and wet, along with a fair amount of winter type debris. If you were one of the brave souls that did get outside for a ride in the past week I would like to hear about your ride!
The KW Fighting Koalas junior program has been open for athletes under the age of 19 and last summer was the start of our junior program. Our junior program has been slow to attract younger athletes but now we are starting to see some growth. This is really exciting to see the younger athletes start to come into the KW Fighting Koalas triathlon club! We here at the Koalas are big believers in healthy active lifestyles for all ages but especially for younger children. This is an excellent place to learn new skills for swimming, biking and running and under our junior coach the importance of proper nutrition and recovery. Our youth today need healthy options to order to fight childhood obesity. Through proper education and being able to have healthy options I believe younger athletes will blossom and thrive! For more info on our junior and adult programs go to our webpage http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Kitchener-Waterloo.html and feel free to contact us!

Social media links

This is all my social media links for the KW Fighting Koalas Triathlon club!
http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Kitchener-Waterloo.html
http://twitter.com/#!/koalasrob
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sbrguy2011?feature=mhum
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kitchener-Waterloo-Fighting-Koalas-Triathlon-club/197359290292997

I plan on trying to post on twitter at the start of the week the KW Koalas weekly practices and then daily reminders.
The facebook fan page is for posting pictures and practices and any updates or news.
The youtube account I post videos of my athletes and all of the videos so far are from the pool. This is a great tool so the athletes and myself can see what is going on with their stroke above and below the water!
My web page is the main portal that members are attracted to initially through google searches. It has a lot of information on the club, social media links, practice schedule, and other triathlon links. It also has a few pictures but I have posted all my pics on the facebook fan page!
Enjoy my social media links and I welcome any suggestions or comments.
Thank you!
Koach Koala

Training and upcoming races

The month of August, the dog days of summer! Hot and humid, sometimes rainy, sometimes not. But the Koalas have had a really good stretch of training these past 3 or 4 weeks! I'm really looking forward to the members getting out into the late season races to see how they perform. Tonight's swim and run went well. I myself had an excellent main set of 3x400m and felt very strong and was able to drop my time each 400m, especially the last one. The other Koalas are getting there with these sets. I feel that longer interval sets are needed for them to be able to feel more confident once they get out into the open water.
We then had our run practice and only a couple members were able to make it out. A lot of members are on holidays this week and next (me, we are going camping for 3 days!) so attendance is down slightly. The advantage is, that I really get to watch the runners very closely. Since the start of the year I have been preaching the benefits of proper running form, and proper form for swimming and biking as well. But with the run I see a lot of recreational runners running with really bad form. You need good form to conserve energy and to help you run faster and avoid injury. I searched online and found a very good video which describes everything I've been coaching to my members this year.

The next month or so is going to be busy time for our Koalas at the races! Chemong Lake, Guelph Lake, Wasaga Beach and Lakeside triathlons are all coming up! Plus Muskoka 70.3, a very demanding race, especially on the bike and run! Good luck Koalas and continued great workouts and races!