MY KID WANTS TO BE AN IRON KID!!!! HELP!!!

Juan Vergara

 "Hey Dad .... I'd like to be an IRONKID" .... says my 9 year old upon my return from my first HIM last week!!!!

WOW!!!! can't think of a better reward to all my training!!!

The question now is ...... HOW THE HECK DO I KICK OFF AND SUSTAIN HIS MOTIVATION?????

In general terms he's good with sports but "lazy" (very lazy) ..... swims ok, but hates it ..... is afraid of the bike (couple of bad falls) ... and loves running ..... but still he says "I want to be an ironkid"...... can't miss the opportunity (but can't screw it up ....) HEEEEEEELPPPPP!!!!!!

Any experience in the haus??????

spabblington

Wow! Awesome! I have an 8 and 6yo that I am trying to get into it as well bc they both have potential. Hoping there are good suggestions here too!!

pgiesin

At that age group the distances are so short that any kid can get through it regardless of skill and training. My 6-yr old daughter did her first one last year (I did the sprint the day after) and it was the best time we ever had. So find a local race and sign them up. Oh and just have fun!

Tom Glynn

I'd just sign them up for a local event! As noted above, most are really short and I wouldn't even have them train for it. We've done a couple over the past few years. My son, now 10 likes racing, not training. Distances typically are; swim 50-200 yards - usually in a pool, bike 1-3 miles, run 1 mile or less. Totally fun and most events do all the cool stuff like body marking, swag, medal etc.

scott dinhofer

just sign em up... one of my 10yos decided she wanted to do the local "toughkids" event. tried to get her to do some training with me in the pool, on the track, etc.. doesn't happen. Very short distances, so i know she is very competitive. I figure she will go and either enjoy it or come away getting her butt kicked and thinking she needs to work more on the training... The good thing is she is doing it, which is better than sitting on the couch playing x-box (though she will do that later in the day!)

filarl

same as others - just sign him up for a short race, do check the distances first, but most are really short. My now 7-yr did a couple last year and really loved it even though she's so slow on her bike that she runs faster LOL!!! She's still not motivated to ride her bike more and ditch the training wheels.
@Greg B - try to have your kids at one of your early season races to cheer you on at the finish, that will probably be all they need for motivation to try a local kids race later this summer. But I wouldn't try to get them to do much by way of formal training yet, probably best to keep it fun.

tribeathlon_one

They always have fun at the events.

As for training, make sure to schedule a strides run and casually ask them if they want them to come along.

William Jenks

Agreed here. My kids actually swim, so that's something I don't have to worry about.

But the thing you should do to make yourself be HERO DAD is teach them some transition secrets. For example, no putting on a T-shirt in T1. Show them how hard that is and how much time they will save by not doing it. If they have shoes they can go sockless in, show them that. Make a big show of putting some body glide on the shoe to help it slip on. Go buy them some $5 elastic laces so they don't have to tie the shoes...etc etc. Give him a hat and a race belt and show him how to do a fast T2.

If they want to "compete" in the IronKids type events, my observation is that it's mostly about the bike. Most young kids have no concept about what it means to actually work a bike. They do understand running and swimming fast, but it's just la-de-da on the bike. This is nothing about "training" per se to get faster...just if you can rid with him a couple of times and get him to actually go hard while riding. No amount of swimming now is going to change (by training effect) how he does relative to real swimmers...but a few swims (or just a few "races" when he's already playing at the pool) may change what percentage of his ability he will show.

You didn't say how old he is, but I've got 11 year olds that raced a couple of times every year since they were about 7, and a 17 year old who has raced everything from these youth triathlons to the "youth elite" USAT draft-legal races to a half iron... so I've seen a lot. :-)

Al Truscott

Don't do it!!! Steer him into a cheaper sport, like polo or helicopter skiing.

William Jenks

@Al Perfect! :-)

scott dinhofer

come on Al, i was thinking i would get my kids into my old sport of big boat sailboat racing, the air is free, right?

[Deleted User]

 Start transferring that college fund into a triathlon fund.

Seriously though, I've seen kids at local tris riding some pretty fancy brand-name road/tri bikes that they'll probably outgrow in a year or two. It's actually pretty cute to see a little kid riding their roadie with training wheels while wearing an aero helmet . I'm all for being supportive of your kid and encouraging him to get into this sport though. Just make sure you have "the talk" with him (ROI, Four Keys, etc.) 

 

William Jenks

Yeah, I've seen some crazy expensive bikes on little kids too. Like sub-10 year olds with obviously carbon tri frames....no idea how they got them...or what appeared to be custom high end road bikes. It's one thing to see the kids riding on mom or dad's race wheels...another to see a crazy spendy bike underneath them.

That said, when Chris was 12, he saved up $1000 (mostly from soccer reffing money and some odd jobs) towards a P2SL and got some gift money to cover the rest. He got the smallest size (47 cm?) and the base model for something like $1250 with pedals. When he grew quickly in a year or two, we sold it and got him a 54 cm bike same model same year with slightly better components for a net of ~$150...so he basically "rented" the small size bike for ~1.5 years for that amount. Because we chose wisely something that would have good resale value and stuck with getting a used replacement, I'd say that was a pretty good deal.