Time 2 Tri Program

Some of you may or may not know that Grasky Endurance Coaching is a sponsor of the Tucson Triathlon Club here in Tucson, Arizona. The TTC has started a new program called the Time2Tri program, which is directed at folks that have had a desire to do a triathlon but needed a little direction. The club started signing up athletes in March at TriFest and received a lot of interest in the program. TTC accepted 20 individuals into the program with many more hoping to get in next year. The program will consist of kickoff meeting, run clinic, bike clinic, swim clinic, a 12-week training program, and group workouts. The ultimate goal is to compete in the Tinfoilman Triathlon at the University of Arizona.

On July 5th the program kicked off at the Firecracker Triathlon here in Tucson. Participants in the program attended the race as spectators so they could see first hand what they are getting into. The participants checked out the transition, swim, bike, and run as GEC coaches Brian Grasky and myself along with mentors from TTC answered questions for the participants. Watching the event got the participants pretty excited to be training and ultimately racing in their first triathlon!

The next day we met as a group at TriSports.com retail store for the official kickoff meeting. The kickoff meeting was used to introduce the participants to all the essential gear for training and ultimately competing in a triathlon. It was a great start to the program.

The past few weeks we have had a running, biking, and swimming clinics. The run clinic was held at Fleet Feet where Jeanne Snell spoke to the group. She discussed everything from selecting the proper running shoe to injury prevention and everything in between.

The bike clinic was held at TriSports.com retail store. Since most of the participants are new to cycling we had a lot to cover! We talked about basic bike needs, group riding etiquette, rules of the road, basic bike maintenance, and how to change a flat. I am pretty good at changing flats but when you put me in front of a crowd it got a little more difficult! By the time I was done most of them were ready to buy a can of pit stop…lol.

Day one of a two-day swim clinic was held last Sunday with Geoff Glaser of Dolphins of the Desert. For most of the participants this was the first time any of them received formal swim instruction so there was a lot of excitement throughout the clinic and are all looking forward to day two this Sunday.

Over the course of the program I will be blogging about the experience so check back for updates on how participants are doing!

Brian Nath
Grasky Endurance Coach