Sat 19 May 07, Woodlands Park

C & D staying for part of the weekend, we started our Saturday morning with a trip to Werribee South for the Little A's XC race along the beach and the surrounding parklands. The U6-8 1km race was first, I am the 'rabbit' for this race, to make sure they stay on the track, I run about 25m ahead, the first 200m or so I have to move along as the little kiddies start very fast. At the 750 mark I step off the track and stand there and encourage all of the kids who I know very well as more than 95% of them have all been a part of my On Track program as U6s throughout the past 3 years. I then stayed and watched the other races and chatted with all of the kids I coach, already a couple are starting to change their habits and using some of my tips, which is a very exciting feeling.

After hot chocolate and some Coles shopping I stopped at the boys house to pick up their bikes so we could go to the Woodlands Park where my Club had a training session. A small lunch and we picked up a friend and off too Woodlands (past the airport). D is not too confident on his bike and is still using his training wheels and not overly confident. My plan (which did happen) was for the boys to ride thier bikes about 1km on a wide bush trail and then onto a dirt road where I would warm up and they could follow if they wanted, so I ran 5 minutes in one direction, then returned with C and grabbed D and we went 3 min in the other direction and then returned, so 16 min w/up at a good pace. My session was hill repeats, I picked my start point near the road and picked my spot up the top, off I went, the first rep was 1min 11sec and then I jogged back and walked at the bottom until 2 min past and then back up the hill. Eight reps, ranging between 1 min 11 sec and the slowest (final) was 1 min 16 sec, a good work out. I then did 2 or 3 reps with Clare and Kylie, their reps were shorter by 150m or so and a little slower, but it was good for them to have someone encouraging them on their final reps. I jogged back to the start point with D on his bike, very happy to have got a solid work out in and finished off with a BBQ of chicken kebabs.