A Look Back at 2012

I had no idea what to expect my first year of U23. 

Last year I was sad to graduate from the junior ranks and was a bit apprehensive...not quite knowing how I would handle the new longer distance or the different level of racing or the unknown competition. 

But this year has been a great adventure and I owe a lot to everyone who has been a part of it. 

January.

Camp in Maui. Absolutely amazing. 

I got to hang out with the Canadian Dev team girls, as well as super triathletes Paula Findlay and Samantha McGlone. I did a ton of riding and took in the island. 

I have to thank coach Patrick Kelly for the amazing support on this trip. He accepted the solo mission to coach eight girls for a month and I really enjoyed working with him and getting to know him. I came back from the camp refreshed and tanned, happy to continue training in the snow and cold in Guelph. 

Pictures stolen from PK and Alex Coates.

Biking biking biking biking.

February.

Not much happened in February...I returned home to Guelph and there was snow. I had a great week of training over reading week with my RTC mates and was starting to get glimpses of good technique in the pool. It was also the month where I had a most wonderful slip on the ice whilst carrying my bike home and it cost me two weeks of training and a race.

Reunited with the varsity girls after two months away

March.

In early March I left for Clermont, Florida to race my first sprint Continental Cup. Unfortunately I wasn't in top form and my knee was swollen and bruised from my fall in February. I had a poor showing in the race but it fuelled my motivation to train and I came back swinging after giving my knee some time to heal. 

The University of Guelph athletic banquet was later in the month and gave me an opportunity to dress up and see the whole team.

April.

In April I felt like things were starting to come together and I ran a fun 5km in Jordan Station to get my Triathlon Canada World Cup standard. Teammate Jason Wilson had a fast run, confidently breaking 15min and then going out to do another workout afterwards! 

Later in April I travelled with some of the RTC crew to Mazatlan, Mexico for our first Olympic distance triathlon of the season. The race was hot and the swim was confusing but in the end I ended up with a podium finish. 

May.

Altitude! The RTC packed up and shipped off to Arizona for a month to train in Flagstaff and Sedona. The training was difficult in the beginning and I struggled with my swimming the entire time. We had some great quality runs and I loved the dry hot heat. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the whole RTC gang as well as a couple of pretty cool people from across Canada. I was lucky to share a room with the gorgeous French girls - killer Amélie Kretz, magnificent Manon Letourneau, and sassy Sarah-Anne Brault. 

June.

June started off right with the birth of A-P and Thida's baby girl Arielle, the youngest member of the RTC. Arielle has already been out to watch some time trials and she will be hitting the pool in no time. This kid is going to run before she can walk.

The camp in May was capped off with a race in Dallas, Texas. We flew over to Dallas and did a bit of training before tapering off for the race. I still remember my very first swim in Dallas. We swam in a long course pool that was covered by a dome. When we started our swim it was lightly raining outside but it soon turned in to thunder and lightening and we were forced to get out of the pool halfway through our warm-up.  I was so disappointed because when I jumped in and started my first 50m I felt like I did not have to breathe the entire time. I was a fish. Flip turns were a breeze and I didn’t come up gasping for air. I was swimming again!

Just before the race, Tristan Woodfine crashed on his bike and fractured his elbow. It was a low speed crash so the rest of him was ok, but he was unable to race and the fracture cost him pretty much his whole season. It was so hard for all of us to see him hurt as he had been incredibly strong in training and we were all ready for him to rip it up.

The race ended up being a bit warm. There were a fair number of people that weren’t able to finish and my feet were completely destroyed after the 10km run on the hot blacktop. 

Manon soaking me with sparkling apple cider.

July.

After Dallas I returned home for one of my best training blocks all year. I put in a ton of work and had a blast training with the boys as the other RTC girls, Domi and Dorelle, were representing Canada in the World University Championships in Chinese Taipei.

It seemed like the World Cup in Edmonton came so soon and even before the race I was feeling like my legs were not quite where they needed to be. I had really pushed to do a lot of training in the weeks before the race and it left me flat for Edmonton. I had a mediocre swim, a good bike, and then a very bad run. I spent the evening after the race sick but recovered quickly and wanting to put in some more hard work. The absolute best part of Edmonton was seeing Big Alexander Hinton crush the field and cruise through into second on the run with an impressive performance. I was so proud.

Even though I was chomping at the bit after the race, Craig was smart and held me back, which lead to a great performance at U23 Nationals in Magog. I was glad that I was tapered and rested because Ellen Pennock was flying.

August.

After some mid-season down time I came back to a pretty rough week of training where I just felt "off" and it took me a while to start feeling like myself again. Jason and I drove down to Windsor to race a non-drafting triathlon. I threw the TT bars on my bike and jumped into my race suit for a fun and well organized event. We were very fortunate to get a home stay from the Rivelis family and I have to thank them once again for letting us use their wonderful home.

Alexander and I travelled to Stockholm for the World Sprint Championships and it was a fast event that I can’t say I was really happy with but I learned a ton and got a taste of the fast-paced WCS racing. The best part was getting to race with Alexander, Andrew Yorke, and Lauren Campbell in the team relay event.

September.

September is a blur. It went by so fast. I started school early in the month (yay…) and was slowly working away at my courses. Slowly being the important word, as I had zero motivation to do school work and just wanted to concentrate on the World Champs. The one thing that makes September stand out was getting to run a couple workouts a week with the varsity cross-country team. I can’t even imagine getting through those hard runs without them and it made me really look forward to running hard and pushing the limits.

Derek Quick and I left on a rainy day in Guelph to drive over to Buffalo, NY for the last Continental Cup of the season. I’m sure that anyone in the car with us would have gone crazy with our constant chatter but having Derek with me made the drive enjoyable.

Buffalo was a get-in-get out type of race and we didn’t really taper going into it and it took me longer than I expected to recover afterwards. I was intelligent enough to push Craig to let me race a cross-country event in London the next weekend, and I found out after about 500m into the race that my legs were still a little fried. I didn’t race my best but I got to hang out with the team and throw on my spikes.

In September we were joined by Amélie who came to train with us and took over my basement for a few weeks. It was a good change and kept me on my toes. She is a speedy little thing.

In September we also got to watch Tyler Bredschnider gut it out solo on a windy day at a local track and improve his 5km PB by over 30 seconds. Watch out for this guy.

October.

I know October was quite the eventful month. My parents, sister, and aunt came to see me during Thanksgiving and I was feeling charged up and ready to go. We left early for Auckland and stayed in a most beautiful bed and breakfast in Clevedon. Then I raced Worlds and made the trek back to Canada.

When I flew home from Auckland everything kind of came crashing down on me. I had two midterms within the first week, two tests, and a bunch of assignments. I felt a bit overwhelmed. Luckily I got everything completed and was ready to throw on my spikes for the OUA Cross Country Championships.

OUA’s was a great experience and I can’t emphasize how much I love running with the varsity cross-country team. I spent the first few days back in Guelph adjusting to the time change and slept through the entire night for the first time the night before the race. The meet was a short bus ride away and the course was slightly hilly. All of the girls and guys raced well and the Gryphon teams placed first overall for the 8^th and 9^th consecutive years in a row.

November.

Perhaps one of my biggest highlights from the year was getting to race the CIS cross-country championships in London, Ontario. Triathlon Worlds was like the main meal of the year…we worked hard to prepare for it and it took a long time to get it just right. After racing and seeing the hard work pay off I was pretty much satisfied. But CIS was like dessert. It seems like a guilty indulgence because you have already completed one season but then your Mom tells you that, yes, you can have a couple cookies after dinner and you start bouncing in your seat because its not every day that you get to eat dessert.

The race was fast and over before I knew it. Gryphon women went 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 for a decent score and we kind of won the team overall championships for the 8^th year in a row. The men did almost as well as us girls and won the team championships for the 7^th consecutive year.

The last few weeks of November were spent doing what I do worst. Down time.

I also had my wisdom teeth removed which was quite a painful experience and I didn't particularly enjoy it although I can't say that I remember much from the day.

The photo I sent to my parents...it wasn't quite that bad. 

I begged Craig to let me train again and I think I annoyed him enough that he let me back in the pool.

December.

I got through exams ok at the beginning of the month and then drove back home only to fly off the next day to Florida. I am now enjoying a small training block with Amélie and am looking forward to settling back in to the routine of train, eat, sleep...with maybe a little bit of school.

Excited for 2013.

Thank you to everyone who was a part of this great year and as always...

Thanks for reading!

Worlds Video

Craig worked tirelessly for days to finish this amazing video for me before Worlds. It is tradition that he puts together a video of the year for athletes that compete in the World Championships.
I was extremely happy to see the video and am so thankful that I have a great coach who is willing to put in the time and go the extra mile.
Thanks Craig!

Auckland World Championships

The RTC Guelph crew + special guests Matty V and AK-47 flew over to Auckland, arriving nine days out from our race.

Our lovely B&B at Springcurl

Breakfast! 

Craig had organized a bed and breakfast in Clevedon for us to stay in for a few days before heading down to Auckland to join the rest of the team. We got some work done in Clevedon and had some fun too and before we knew it we were packing our bikes up again and piling into our 100 year old Toyota van to scoot over to the big city.

Doing some swimming in the ocean in Clevedon

Saying goodbye to our hosts John and Christine

Seeing the whole elite team together is one of my favorite parts of the World Championships, and our team meetings really helped us to gain a sense of community. We were lead by a group of world-class coaches and some amazing support staff that made the whole operation smooth and relatively stress free.

The big city!

In my last few days in Clevedon I began to suffer from some intense pain in my jaw than ran up my temples and across my forehead. My wisdom teeth were growing in and they were being quite loud about it. It left me unable to eat solid food some evenings, but I was really fortunate as the pain cleared up a couple days out from the race and it hasn't really revisited me again yet.

Dinner chez Mama and Papa Hinton!

I was quiet and a bit withdrawn in the days leading up to the event, as my body still didn’t seem too thrilled with being thrown into a different time zone. I was worried that I wasn’t going to feel good in time for the race, but I got a glimpse of where my fitness was at during a swim in an outdoor 60m pool where everything felt effortless and I knew after that workout that I was going to be ready for some fast racing.

The pool that saved me

My fears of coming out of the water a giant ice cube were abolished after we swam in the harbor two days out from the race. I was perfectly comfortable in my wetsuit and could actually feel my face and hands when I got out! Craig only told me after the race that the water was just over 14C.

On Friday I was going crazy inside but managed pretty well to keep it in. I was just ready to go. It was the most anxious that I have ever felt before a competition, and I just kept picturing myself on the start pontoon. When race day finally came I woke up with jitters and could not sit still. I warmed up on the bike with Alison Hooper and we were both quiet as we rode on our trainers. We were so fortunate to have a perfect day – low wind, sunny, and dry.

I was 22^nd on the start list so I didn’t get much choice of pontoon position. I don’t think I could have gotten luckier with my spot as I squeaked in between two very fast swimmers.

Ready... 

GO!

I can’t remember much of the swim, but I know that I had a good start and that I had clear water early on. My first lap of the swim was nothing amazing, but when I dove back in for the second lap I started feeling better and better and made up more and more time while passing a bunch of girls.

Exiting the water

Getting ready to ride                              

I struggled in T1 to get my wetsuit off and lost some time, but was on my bike and off on the course before I knew it. I made up a ton of ground on the first lap, and by the start of the second lap I was well established in a group with some strong riders. We quickly rode down a couple of the fast swimmers that were strung out in front.

I was really well prepared for the hills and felt strong through the entire bike. I would start mid pack at the bottom and then move up as we climbed the hill.

I had a fast T2, but made a big mistake right out of transition. A small gap formed to the two leaders and I made the wrong decision to not surge and to not go with them. I thought that I would be able to reel the girls back in over the course of the 10km. After the two girls broke away I ended up in no man’s land between two running packs. I have no idea how the run would have gone had I latched on right away, but I think that not running with them cost me in the end.

Finally achieved my goal of having a Delly Carr photo

I felt smooth for the entire run and even had a chance to slow up and grab a flag from Barb Sharpe as I ran down the final stretch of blue carpet.

Placing third again at the World Championships was a great feeling, but I think that I have won enough bronzes for a little while. Time for some more colours.

The main reason that I wanted to write this post is to thank a bunch of very special people that have helped me this season and made everything possible.

First of all, I have to thank my coach Craig Taylor. I didn’t think there was anyone who loved plotting to take over the world as much as I did before I met Craig. Craig accepted me in to the RTC in the fall of last year and he couldn’t have made the transition to a new university, a new town, and a new training group smoother. He is so dedicated and very passionate about the sport and his athletes. We have many great years to come and I am fortunate to call him my coach and one of my best friends.

I also have to thank Craig’s girls, his beautiful wife Tonya, his baby Sophie, and his bouncing 4-year-old Kate. They have all been so supportive and I have no idea how Craig is able to pull himself away from them and go to work every day or travel far away. As Worlds came closer, Craig was often out coaching on weekends and I have to thank his family for accepting that we needed the extra time.

Thanks to my parents, my aunt Joan and my brother and sister. My family came out to visit me the weekend that I left for New Zealand and it meant so much to me. They are there for me year round and some of the highlights of my year have been getting to see them.

A huge thank you to my sponsors, starting with the gang at Cyclelogik who provided me with an amazing Focus Izalco to race on this year as well as helped me out with countless other things. I would not have been able to compete without them and they made the move to Guelph so easy by still being willing to care for me. They have amazing staff and a really cool storefront that is always a great place to visit.

Asics has sponsored me for four years now, and they took a risk in 2008 by taking a young athlete under their wing that they didn’t know a ton about. They have been very fundamental to my success and are always very efficient and looking for ways to help.

I was very fortunate to receive an EVOC bike bag and suitcase this year that brought me around the world and back and has held up in amazing form. It is so light and I can pack and unbelievable amount of stuff in my bike bag and still have my bike arrive safe and sound.

Thanks to Titika Activewear for providing me with some awesome clothes for training and hanging out. It was so much fun to visit the store and I hope to be more involved with them in the future.

Nineteen provided me with their new Rogue which I loved swimming in and it kept me warm in the 14C water temperatures in Auckland. I am looking forward to working with them and having some stellar swims…lead pack, you are mine!

Nineteen Family

Thanks to Triathlon Canada for looking out for me and making triathlon possible for me. To Triathlon Ontario, thank you for recognizing my potential and helping me to continue to develop over the past years.

I owe a lot to the ground crew in Auckland; our U23 head coach Carolyn Murray, supporting coach Kyla Rollinson, elite coach Joel Filliol, coordinator-of-all-things Drew MacKenzie, our new HP director Libby Burrell, and mechanic Steve. They made the event very low stress and were essential in the success of the entire team at the World Championships.

To the entire team at Worlds, thank you for making this one of the best World Championships yet. Everyone was very encouraging and your cheers made a big difference. We will need to be there for each other in the coming years and I'm sure that we will only get better at working with each other.

Some of the team in our kits

My training group has put up with me all year and I would be nowhere without them. To the entire crew at the RTC, thanks for accepting my (mild) OCD and being there for me day in and day out. I don’t know what I would do if they weren’t here to beat me up a little bit every day. Shout out to the Hack Squad, Alexander, Dominika, Jason, and Tristan, one day we will learn how to swim real pretty. And a very special thank you to Tyler Bredschneider, who is probably one of the world’s greatest training partners and gets the work done day in and day out, no matter what.

I am also very fortunate to have access to some of the brilliant minds behind Speed River Track and the Guelph Gryphons Varsity Team – Dave Scott-Thomas and Chris Moulton. These guys let me jump in to workouts with the teams and also aren’t afraid to make fun of me and keep my head from getting too big. Three cheers for the Aerobic Alliance!

Speaking of Speed River and Varsity, thank you to all the athletes and to my varsity women’s team. One of the best parts of every week was getting to go out and long run or do a super tough workout with my girls. Those workouts keep me sane and I am so lucky to be able to run with (or behind) some of the country’s best runners. The team listens to me complain and keeps me grounded. They accept the fact that I swim and bike, too.

Rollin.

I have to mention the three M’s…Mike Coughlin, Mike Hay, and Mark Linseman. Mike Coughlin joined Craig for many training sessions and was out at the early mornings at the pool, driving around for countless hours as we rode, and staying out late to see us finish run workouts. Mike Hay is always a welcome face at workouts and helped me out with one hard key bike session that made a world of difference. He is always great to chat with and is always a source of valuable wisdom. And cookies. Mark helped us figure out some important hydration information and also let us use his office as a heat chamber before hot races. He must like the smell of sweat (…?)

I can’t forget about some very important people back in Ottawa, Brian Gomes, David Markin, and Jaime Trick. Brian took me under his wing a year ago and secured a ton of support for me that made racing at an elite level a reality. If it wasn’t for him I would have been on my own for trying to secure sponsors and I had no idea where to start. Jaime and David have believed in me from the beginning and are always among the first people to congratulate me after a race or time trial. David kept me motivated to swim strong all season as we compared PB’s and Jaime provided me with amazing treatment and brought me back from injury countless times. I think a lot about you guys!

Because we love so much to break our bodies down, I owe a lot to those that help to keep me together. Marcell Meresz is a massage therapist extraordinaire as well as part time psychologist. Jennifer McKay is an amazing physio who kept me in one piece all year.

Lastly, as much as we always love to think about where we are going, it is important that we remember where we have come from. Thank you to Greg Kealey, my start in triathlon, and to John Hawes, who has taught me so much beyond swimming. I literally would not be in this sport without these coaches.

For now I will be working my butt off trying to catch up with school. It felt like I was in a bit of a time warp in Auckland and now reality has come crashing back down again. And, as alway, I am eager to do some training and maybe a little bit of this...

Cross cross cross cross cross

Thanks to you for reading!