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!