Training for the Powerkids 2023 Duoathlon in Putrajaya

Sporting their tri suits!

We decided to sign up the boys for the Powerman Malaysia 2023 powerkids category very late with just 1 month for us to train them up. This is the first time that the boys are participating in a competitive race and so far it has been an interesting experience for us as parents. Whilst we didn't quite managed to train them as much as we would like but I guess we learn as we go along. 

We spent a total of RM339.25 which works out to be RM169.62 for each of them. The entry fees were quite expensive because the RM149 (for LATE registrants) does not include SST and the portal transaction fees which you have to pay extra. Will definitely look out earlier for future events!

We started off by looking at the previous years results for their age categories on the website and used it as a base. The kids results were impressive!

These were results of the 5-8 year old category who had to do a 0.5km run, 1km bike ride and finally 0.5km run:-

Super impressive for these little tykes! Just two and the half minutes for the 1st place podium finisher, 2nd and 3rd place was not that far behind either. 

The results for 9-12 year old category who had to do a 1 km run, 4 km bike ride and finally 1 km run was even more impressive:-

We really had a lot of work cut out for us. Our boys are pretty good on the bicycle and are able to endure 20km to 30km bike ride easily. But speed is not their forte and in competitions like this focus is also a main determinant which our children lack. 

We only had time to train them based on distance and our aim was to get them to run and bike slightly further than the required distance. We just didn't have enough time! 

Secondly we talked them through the entire race and got them to repeat all the things that they would be experiencing and the things that they had to do. Teaching them some of the rules like not cycling in the transition areas took a bit of time. As it was also the first time for us we really didn't know what to expect and just used the race guides and got them to watch previous Powerman YouTube videos from previous years.

The other thing that we also started to look at albeit a little too late was their diet. We only started researching about eating for competitions and started increasing their protein intake last week but in future we will start this earlier.

This week has been extremely tiring for us as a family as we wanted to make sure that the boys would be ready to perform early in the morning. So since the start of this week we started waking them up early trying to emulate race day as possible. We started waking up at 5.30 am and we got progressively earlier. Today is the day before race day and we did the best by getting up at 4.30 am! 

We have decided to give the boys a break today so that they can rest and be at their best tomorrow morning! 

Till next time!

 

  

 

Activities for my kiddos

Not babies anymore! Sometimes it is really hard to think how fast time flies and my youngest just started in primary school! It seemed just like yesterday...ok enough reminiscing but seriously I do miss those chubby cheeks and cute voices when they were toddlers.

I find it so challenging in today's public school system to encourage my little ones to take up sporting activities in school.

I remember vividly during my school days (which was ages ago) that running outside in the fields, netball court, canteen and any other open areas was a norm before school starts, at recess and after school. We played to our hearts content even right up to secondary school! 

Nowsadays...my kids tell me that they are not allowed to run around and play outside. When they go to school they have to wait and line up in the hall for assembly before going to class. The recent blanket directive from the Ministry of Education doesn't help either.  I got this notice from their school:-

So the children are not allowed to play outside during school hours and can only do activities indoors. 

Since May the school extra curricular activities have been turned upside down because they have to hold everything indoors hence all the different activities have had to take turns to use the school hall. This in turn really makes it extremely inconvenient for the children and parents as we had two activities on the same day but hours apart! We had one that started at 10 am and another that starts at 3.30 pm!

Both hubs and I are quite active and prefer the outdoors and we both believe that our children can learn important values and life skills from participating in outdoor sports and playing games competitively. We try as much as possible to incorporate outdoor activities for both our boys as they have a lot of energy!

It has been frustrating for us and we both started to look around to see what we could find for our kids outside the school system. The other consideration is that both my boys like slightly different activities. So far, we started them on triathlon training as we believe it will help them become more of an all rounder. We did this through a private club which trains every Saturday and Sunday morning from 7 am - 11.30 am in Putrajaya. The trainings mostly consists of running exercises then cycling skills and then they finish off with swimming practice. We started for a few months now however, recently it was a little disappointing that they did not have proper training for the younger children and the focus was mainly on their teenage athletes. 

We also found a private volleyball club that training in Subang area and we plan to check it out this coming weekend. 

Finally we registered our kiddos for the upcoming Powerman Malaysia 2023 Duathlon Competition under the Powerkids Category this coming 17th June 2023 in Putrajaya. They are going to do the run-bike-run combo and we are excited as this is our kids' first official competition! Sometimes, I think we parent shiok sendiri more than the kids themselves... Anyway we decided quite late to participate and our training is a little lacking but we just wanted them to experience what it is like to be in an actual race. The race is a 1km run followed by a 4km bike ride and finishes with a final 1 km run. 

"Training" 😅

Do you have any tips for us? We need all the help we can get because it is only 10 days away!

I would love to hear from anyone about their kid's ECA, do share your experiences and how your kiddos are doing in them.

Till next time!