When I showed up at camp two years ago, it was my first Triathlon experience. That weekend got me hooked and provided a wealth of experiences / knowledge – including that I needed so much additional gear to succeed.
Earlier this month, I showed up for my 3rd Paratriathlon (PT) camp. Much better armed and geared than I was in 2015, I was excited for the weekend. It was great to see new faces as well as many familiar ones.
As in the past, the weekend included strength training, yoga, transition work and two sessions (drills and workouts) for bike, swim & run. An added benefit for 2017 was getting to practice on parts of what will be the PT Nationals Course this coming weekend.
Throughout the weekend, the coaches helped to increase skills, regardless of what the level of the participant was. For me, a couple of the big improvements were on the bike. This is the first season that I’ve been using clips, and it’s been a hard learning process at times. But during the weekend, I was able to get in/out and do starts/stops with a lot more confidence than I had prior. It wasn’t always perfect, but it worked well. While the bike (and swim) were big pluses, the run is still a struggle. I know that I need to get more runs in, and I will continue working on that throughout the rest of the year.
After two days of being beat up… um, I mean, training ;), it was time for the Tri It Triathlon. As you can probably predict from the above paragraph, Swim/T1/Bike/T2 went well; Run was a disaster. Even still, great to see a lot of people cross their first finish line as I did in 2015!
Even with the issues with the run, it was still a great weekend. IMO it’s all about continuing to move forward. It won’t always be perfect, but you can’t let the frustrations break you or make you give up.
If you are disabled and want to get involved in or improve your Triathlon skills, look at attending the 2018 PT Camp! www.dare2tri.org
