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.
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Biking biking biking biking.
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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.
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Reunited with the varsity girls
after two months away
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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 8th and 9th
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 8th year in a row. The men did almost as well
as us girls and won the team championships for the 7th 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!
