Purbeck Triathlon Club

The aim of the Purbeck Triathlon Club is to provide coaching and training opportunities for all abilities, from complete beginner to age group athletes. We have a junior and adult section, the juniors are coached by level 1 and 2 triathlete coaches. At present we run 2-3 sessions a week.

Swimming

The early swim session on Monday divides the pool into 3 lanes for the juniors and 3 lanes for the adults. The junior section is then divided into one lane for the faster swimmers, who have a swim set provided to build their endurance, with a pool side coach to offer guidance in their stroke. We then have an improver’s lane and a beginner’s lane, which are fully coached by a teaching swim instructor. The adults are provided with a swim set and are also offered advice on their stroke and training. On top of this the Purbeck Sports Centre also runs 2 laned sessions, on a Wednesday evening and a Thursday morning.

Cycling

Juniors:
As part of the Friday session we include biking when possible. The focus is to develop bike handling skills, understand what transition is in triathlon and practice this 4th discipline. It is also about gaining confidence on the bike. Therefore on the once a month sessions when we head for the forest to run and bike over longer distances, they have the skills needed.

Adults:
Once a month, usually the first Saturday of the month we organise a long ride, meeting at the sports centre at 7.30am. Richie, who leads this bike group rides for as long or as short as you want to. By riding loops, you have a choice of riding anything from an hour up to 4/5hours. What we aim to encourage is to slowly build your time in the saddle over the winter, therefore your endurance will improve and then come Spring, we can start focussing on speed, joining up with Poole Wheelers or Weymouth Cycle Club for some timetrials!

Running

Juniors:
Every Friday we run a session focussing on strength, agility and technique. This session is not about running for miles, it’s about improving running technique to become more efficient runners, therefore hopefully faster runners. Whilst we still have a bit of light, when we are training at Furzebrook we will also incorporate bike technique. Once we lose the light we will focus on building stamina when at Purbeck sports centre, and strength agility and technique work at Furzebrook Village hall

Adults:
Every Friday, whilst the juniors are coached the adults are led by two Purbeck triathlete coaches for a run, either around Wareham or Furzebrook. Intervals, Hill Reps, Pyramid training are included in these sessions. The adults are also more than welcome to take the opportunity to go for a run in Wareham forest whilst we are coaching the juniors. It could be a perfect time for families, to drop the children with us and be able to run together or part of a group.

Fundamentally, we aim to provide a club that the whole family can be part of. I would like to stress that it is for all abilities; however, for the more competitive, we aim to develop our own race series, and are keen for Purbeck tri members to represent the club at local and international races. Our first Junior race takes place on the 21st of November 2010 and it would be fantastic if as many people as possible could support this event!