If you’ve been considering participating in the St. Albert Triathlon on Aug. 11, the St. Albert Road Runners & Triathlon Club (STARRT) can teach you how to go the distance. There are still spots left in the Kick STARRT Newbie Triathlon Clinic.
The clinic was designed to help people prepare for the St. Albert Triathlon, which is a 750-metre swim followed by a 20-kilometre bike and then a five-kilometre run. Participants can also choose to participate in the Tri a Tri, which club president Joanne Graham says is a more accessible option. The Tri a Tri is a 250-metre swim followed by a 10-kilometre bike and two and a half-kilometre run.
The seven-week newbie clinic combines information sessions with practical swim, bike and running sessions. Graham says the club started the program last year to get more people involved and take the intimidation factor out of competing in a triathlon.
A lot of people think a triathlon is completely unattainable – it’s not,” Graham says. “You have to want to do it, it’s not easy, but it’s completely attainable. So I think if you’ve got that bug in your ear that you want to do it, you absolutely can.”
To participate, Graham says all that is needed is a basic level of fitness, a bike and the ability to swim from one end of the pool to the other and back again.
“I think they should really be prepared to surprise themselves at what they can do,” she said.
Heide Buckley signed-up for the newbie clinic this year and has already been surprised by her abilities just in the training.
“I guess I’m surprised that I remember how to swim and it just came back very naturally,” Buckley says. “I haven’t been in the pool in years to do laps – it’s been a long time. I’ve done more running and more biking so I’m pleasantly surprised that I still remember how to swim. So kudos to the coaching back in my youth.”
Buckley, 38, swam competitively with the Olympian Swim Club from the age of seven to 15, and her biking experience is mostly mountain biking. She has completed a couple of half marathons as well as the St. Albert 10-Miler, but didn’t want to continue with distance running.
“I decided I don’t like distance running so a triathlon is a way to have shorter distance running but do more events,” says Buckley.
She trains four times a week with the newbie clinic and has been enjoying the experience.
“It’s really great. They have a number of different coaches so you get different perspectives and variety on the running and the swimming and the biking.”
Graham says that in addition to the clinic sessions, new triathletes are encouraged to train on their own as well.
“They really need to be prepared to have about five training sessions a week because you are dealing with three sports. With the clinic we do two swimming sessions, one running and one biking, and so we hope they can work in another bike or another run.”
To sign-up for the newbie clinic or find out more, visit the club website at www.starrt.com or get in touch with club president Joanne Graham at [email protected] or 780-819-7363.
