Why events?

When Dustin Booth asked me to do a triathlon with him in 2007, there were exactly four multisport events within 100 miles - the Spring Fling, Millerton Triathlon, Shaver Lake Triathlon, and Sierra Kids Triathlon. 5 years later, and there are a multitude: those four events plus the ViTri, Tri-This's Hensley Offroad Duathlon, Splash and Dash, Fig Kids Tri, Pinnacle Cyclocross Duathlon, Tulare Triathlon, Hanford Duathlon, China Peak Triathlon, and Bass Lake Triathlon. In terms of Triathlon Clubs in Fresno, the Sierra Multisport club went away but a stronger TC3 has emerged in recent years, along with the Visalia Triathlon Club, several new Cycling-only clubs, ICAN, Fig Kids Triathlon Club, Pinnacle Youth Triathlon team, and tri-this alone has brought more than 50 youth into the experience, most who are continuing their pursuits of fitness after they graduate high school (we have 8 youth currently who graduated high school but are still either borrowing a tri this bike or Tri-This helped them build their own...).

For myself and Tri-This, we host events partly to support the non-profit financially - overhead costs alone are about $500 a year and last year on bike parts alone we spent $3,000 in 2011 to keep the bikes as safe as possible for our population (thanks to bike shops generosity, they donated about $600). In the first two years of Tri-This, we had about 25 kids solidly involved - 15 of those students had at least one parent who had a job or even both parents. In the last two years, Tri This has had about 35 new students who in contrast, had 25 (71%) whose parents/parent did not have jobs or only one parent involved in their lives, and were entirely dependent on government assistance.

So as the needs go up, Tri-This has done more fundraising (hosting events seems like the most logical way, easier than asking for donations and more reliable than receiving grants) because we believe that income shouldn't be a barrier to a healthy, active lifestyle. By hosting our own events, we can let our kids race those events for free, give back to the community that has given us SO much, and in the words of one kid who camped with us all three weekends last year at the Hensley Offroad Series - "Hensley was the most fun I've had since my dad died four years ago - thanks." It's quotes that like that which motivate me to keep convincing kids to come out for practice, for the camping, for the community - and to Try This!

tri-this.org

trithisevents.com

The Big Picture

Since it started in 2007 with a few kids, the goal of giving all kids the multisport lifestyle is getting closer!

Now at a middle school and a dedicated donor and volunteer base, Tri-This is poised to reach even more kids directly in 2012 than ever before.

The goal would be for any kid to be able to say, "I'd like to go mountain biking this weekend," or "road biking" or "trail running" and check the tri-this calender and connect with a leader taking kids out there that weekend... or maybe they just go camping with their friends one weekend and end up getting hooked with being outdoors.

To that end, we went more facebook-friendly this year and update a google calendar at fresnomtb.org and tri-this.org

We also made cards to give to all the bike shops talking about our events and about our donation program. We don't just give the kids bikes, we make sure they can do basic fixes, and as kids proress in the program they can do more complicated repairs and upgrades. If a kid knows how to replace a Fork, change out handlebars with confidence and install a new chain, I'd say they're doing better than a lot of regular adult cyclists!

Through low-cost and high quality events over a diverse spread of disciplines, we can partner with other groups looking to get kids outdoors. (ICAN, Fig Garden Tri, Central Valley Trips for Kids, etc.) our core focus remains helping kids from low-income areas get involved and then use the training and trips as incentive for mentoring and to help keep them successful.

It's going to be a great year, thanks for an amazing 2011!

Perceived Difficulty vs. Actual Difficulty

In teaching as well as coaching, the main part of our job entails helping students achieve goals. These could be goals we gave them, goals they set for themselves, or goals that no one even intended to achieve.

When I give a test in class, I often will have given them a 'practice test' beforehand - an ungraded/collected by me summary of the types of questions I will give on the real test.

I usually make it much harder than the actual test - so there are MORE tricky plus/minus questions, places where simple mistakes can make. Then, they get to the performance assessment, and it feels easier.

The same goes with a race, except that I've found often no matter how hard you train, the race should still feel difficult! You don't pay money to slack off, right? However, the goal for training is to do more hills on the bike, faster sets on the swim, and more sprints on the run so that the actual race should FEEL easier than that you did in practice.

One of the best coaches and athletes in the Fresno area is Faron Reed. I was once at a talk he did for the Visalia Triathlon Club and he stated, "When I'm on the swim, I look forward to the bike. When I'm on the bike, I look forward to the run. And when I'm on the run, I enjoy my training to the finish line." This was inspirational to me because at the time, I was a good swimmer, enjoying running, but didn't have the time or fitness for the bike. As time has gone on, I've become a cyclist who can hold his own, still a good swimmer, and a struggling runner. But that mindset is inspiration while training to not hate the run, but make it something to look forward too!

Getting back into things

For over five years I've had this blog and used to post to it fairly frequently. Recently I've decided to do so again. I'm starting my Masters in Education at Fresno Pacific University (also my alma mater), and a ton of the stuff - the Masters itself even - is online. It's made me really think about how I communicate online and how I hardly ever actually write online anymore! I need to get back in the practice of analyzing things in a public forum and be ready to respond to criticism, so I will start to update this blog about things that relate to teaching and coaching in a public education system!

Long overdue update

It's Spring break here in Fresno, and that means Kids Tri Camp!

Pictures

It was a great week but I'm tired now!

My fave's:

quick update

Counting some students that have turned in their paperwork and super discounted price ($10), registration is up to 50 and we anticipate about 60 athletes! Wow!

Shirts are ordered, swim caps are in... good times!

Posting elsewhere now...

In an effort to better compartmentalize my life, I'll now be posting exclusively on Facebook for personal posts and http://trithisfresno.blogspot.com for Tri Team stuff... I mix the two too much anyway but this way at least I can 'build a following' for the tri team and not distract them (and keep them!) from my personal life a bit. Thanks for your support of the new location and FOCUS!