Magog Continental Cup and U23 Nationals

If you have never been to Magog you are seriously missing out. It is such a beautiful small town with a cozy downtown and some interesting small shops and cafés, almost like Canada's mini Europe.
The last time I was in Magog was as a Junior in 2010, and the race was Junior Eastern Canadian Championships. I managed to win that race and it helped me to qualify for Junior Worlds.
Two years later, Magog is just as charming and I am back for a different race, this time it is U23 Nationals and a Continental Cup.

We stayed in a condo close to the race site, and it was very fun to stay with my teammates, coach CT, and Emma Lujan from B.C. and Lawrence Fanous from Jordan. There was an electric atmosphere in the condo, and everyone was excited to be together and ready to race. We had some family dinners and played some board games to keep things loose before the race.
Going into the race, I was very at ease. I had put in a big block of training before Edmonton and then just rolled the next two weeks prepping for the race. I was rested and restless...more than eager to get to the start line.

It was my first time this year being first on the start list and I got to pick my position on the start line. Craig had watched the races that morning and directed me on where to go at the start and in the end it ended up being a great tactical decision. I was very happy to start beside Dominika Jamnicky, because I knew that if I could stick with her, or even try and be relatively close, I would be ahead of the rest of the field. We were a bit thrown off by a late start, but Domi and I took the opportunity to crack some jokes and ease into our warm up. We chatted some more with Craig and started with huge smiles on our faces.

Domi out front and me trying to hold on

The start was fast. Domi was out like a firecracker and it took everything I had to stay on her. I ran in the water as far and as fast as possible and then proceeded to dolphin dive before falling into the water and putting my head down to swim. Being an Olympic distance tri, the swim was 1500m, but it was a one loop swim course. All of the Olympic swims that I have done this year have been a 2 loop course and I was a bit bewildered by the long loop that seemed to take forever. At the first turn buoy, 600m out, I was way behind and a lead group had formed in front of me.
I knew that it was going to be essential for me to catch up and minimize the gap as much as possible. I got into a good rhythm and worked as hard as I could to catch up to the tail end of the leaders. By the time we reached the exit, I had swam my way up to a small group behind the leaders. I had a quick transition and hammered the first 4km of the bike to catch up to the lead group before the far turn. The rest of the bike was pretty uneventful, with a small group of Canadians working well together to keep the tempo up.

When I got off the bike and transitioned to the run, I didn't feel great at first and ran in a small group with Ellen Pennock, Domi, and Alex Coates. Ellen and I got a small gap by the first turn and then proceeded to run together for the next two laps. My legs were feeling quite good and I knew that I had more in them. I held onto Ellen and then tried to get a small break before the last lap. My body cooperated, and just focused on getting my legs around and staying strong.

Many thanks to my awesome anti-doping chaperone Nadine!

After the race on Saturday I headed out to a Fast and Female event with Amelie Kretz (the superstar winner of the Junior Elite race that morning) and we got to hang out with some fun girls and tell them about triathlon. There was also a dance but my feet and legs were so sore that I just kind of moved my arms around and shuffled a bit.

I was sad to leave Magog but hope to be back again very soon. Thanks as always to Cyclelogik, to all of my supporters, and to my family for coming out to take in the race. It was great to see the Asics reps at the race (who I have known since I was 16!) and spend the evening with them catching up. 

Thanks for reading!

Edmonton World Cup

Leeches are hematophagous creatures that feed on the blood of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. To feed on their "hosts", leeches initiate contact with their anterior suckers and then use a combination of mucus and suction to stay connected and snack on your blood. After going for a nice little dip in Hawrelak Park in Edmonton the day before my first World Cup of 2012 and observing a bazillion leeches swimming happily in the little lake, I dreamt of the start of the race...the horn blasts and the athletes jump into the water...there is chaos as everyone struggles to establish their position as the water churns and all you can see is a furious flash of arms and legs...and then someone stops suddenly and begins yelling...they are slowly being pulled down under the surface...as they disappear the crowd catches the smallest glimpse of a dark grey creature...the MOTHER OF ALL LEECHES!

The Mother of All Leeches

Thankfully, the Mother of All Leeches decided to behave on the day of the World Cup and there were no unfortunate victims. I did, however, flash all of the possibilities through my mind; leach in my suit, leech in between my toes, leech in my hair, leech in my ear, swallowing leeches. Needless to say, it was great incentive to get out of the water as fast as possible. 
Edmonton was a sprint World Cup - sprints are becoming increasingly popular on the world cup circuit as they make for fast and spectator friendly racing. A sprint has a swim of 750m, a bike of 20km, and a run of 5km. I participated in sprints all last year as I was in the "Junior Elite" category. This being my first year of U23, I thought that I would be participating solely in Olympic distance tri's (twice the distance) but I have already done a couple of sprints this year. 

Ready...

Set...

GO!!!

The race was in the afternoon, and after a morning of relaxing and taking in some of the Junior PATCO races, I headed down to the race site and completed my warm up. Before I knew it, I was on the starting pontoon, lining up, and waiting for the gun. I had a relatively good starting position and got off the pontoon (after jumping over the wall of leeches that wriggled in anticipation in the shallow water) and started towards the first buoy. The packs immediately split and I was caught in the middle and decided to go with the pack that had the more direct line to the buoy. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off veering to the other side, as that pack was much smaller and contained some fast swimmers. After about 100m I found myself caught up with another athlete, who I later discovered was my good friend Manon Letourneau. We kept running into each other and I was getting quite frustrated, as I would move over and she would follow me and it was almost as if we were tied together. I had no idea that she was also battling with someone on the other side of her, so as I moved over to giver her space, she moved closer to me in attempt to disentangle herself from the girl on her right. I knew that I was going to have to have a stellar swim if I wanted to even be in contention, but my swim ended up being very sub par and I was well back from where I wanted to be. I exited the water and booked it to transition. 

On the bike I was in a small pack with Manon and Chantell Widney and we caught up to the lead group after 5km. Flora Duffy from Bermuda was out front, soloing the ride, and we managed to reel her in on the third lap. My super speedy team mate, Dominika Jamnicky, and I managed to grab a bike prime on the third lap and I was feeling quite good and excited to run. 
When I got onto the run I knew right away that something wasn't quite right. My legs were not responding the way I would have liked. I held a good position up the hill but then got dropped on the way down and started to cramp and feel quite nauseous. On the two loop run, I made my way back up again on the hill, only to be dropped again and plod along to the finish. 
I returned home and did a couple of easier weeks of training in preparation for the Magog Continental Cup and U23 Nationals that was two weeks later. 
I have to say a huge congrats to my travel buddy and training partner Alexander Hinton and Coach Craig Taylor. Zander had an absolutely astounding race, placing second in his first World Cup, and made everyone extremely proud. More great things to come.