Kids Triathlon

All 3 kids really wanted to participate in a triathlon this summer. We're tried to run throughout the summer. We've biked here and there, but it seems like every time we went biking we'd end up with some type of flat tire.
 
 Over the past year, we have played a lot in the swimming pool, but haven't really focused on technique or form in the water to swim laps. When we got back from Utah, I made a point of taking the kids over to the pool to get their endurance up a little bit and just get in the water. Oh man...the first time I watched them swim I was mortified at what had happened to my swimmers! They had forgotten/lost so much! The first day I didn't get my suit on, I coached from the deck, and it wasn't very effective. So the next few days I suited up with them, put the baby in child watch and went to work re-teaching the boys how to breathe when they swim, tried to get Lexi to stop doggy paddling and use her big swimming arms and work on kicking. I could see a much bigger difference when I got in the water with them. Happy to say that it didn't take too long to get a lot of the form and technique back, but after two weeks, they still aren't as good of swimmers as they were last summer (after having spent the entire summer in lessons and in the pool constantly).
 
The kids race was on Saturday, July 19th. Their cousin Claire was spending the weekend with us, so she got to come along and help cheer.
 
Here's the kids before the race:

Tyler and Bryce swam two lengths of the pool this year. They were pretty evenly matched for the swim portion.

 

 

 

Marc and I helped the kids get dried off and put their shoes, socks, and shirts on real quick. Here's the boys getting ready to get on their bikes.

 

And they're off!

 

We weren't sure how long it was going to take them to finish it. We didn't want to miss Lexi's heat, but we didn't want to miss the entire boys' portion of the race either! I took Isabel to watch the bike and run, and Marc stayed at the pool with Lexi and watched from the pool side. Turns out later, we had plenty of time. Better safe than sorry I guess.

Tyler came in on his bike first:

 

 

I didn't know the run portion was two laps instead of one. So they came full force into the designated finish area, and we had to tell them one more lap. It was a little demoralizing. Tyler lost a considerable lead he had over Bryce.  

 

 

 

 They didn't have much time to rest before I whisked them back to the pool to watch Lexi.

This little one has been able to swim one length of the pool solidly for over a year. Because she can swim, I signed her up for the race.

 It was hard to watch her swim, because I know she could have done so much better. Usually she just sticks her head in, uses her big arms and gets across the water. I think she was super nervous, was a little uncertain about swimming on the inside lane instead of by the side and was more worried about seeing where she had to swim to instead of just swimming like she knows how. As you can see in the video, she doggie paddled with her head above water almost the entire time. As she was in the middle of the pool, I think everyone was nervous that she wasn't going to make it all the way across. She was the last one across the pool, but she finished!

Marc and I zipped her out of transition. She was racing against 3 other boys. She was the last one out of the water, but the second one out of transition. She held her own after that and neither one of the other boys could catch her.

She had a smile on her face during the bike.

 

The run was a little harder than she anticipated, but she didn't walk, even though she really wanted to!

 It was pretty exciting watching her cross the finish line. We were all proud of our smallest triathlete!

 "I did it!"

 All 3 finishers!

And we had to make sure we got one with Claire in it!

The Nampa triathlon was much more organized and challenging this year! We were impressed by the changes they made. It's a fun little race for the kids. Just hard enough to push them, but not hard enough that they couldn't finish it. I love that my kids have opportunities to participate in activities like this! I love that they are learning that they can do hard things. I'm proud of my little munchkins and I can't wait to watch many more races in the years to come!