I had a meet in early February and it went ok but I wasn't quite where I want to be for 800 yet. I went a 9:10, which is a PB for me but it wasn't fast enough. I need to break nine this year and I've been putting in some hard swims to get there.
On Valentine's day I got up at 5:30 and drove to Bangor. It wasn't that long of drive and flying out of the states makes a lot of sense because you save a lot of money. Well, at least most of the time. When we got to the Bangor airport with our three bikes (Mom and dad came too!) we found out it was going to cost 200 dollars per bike to get them to Phoenix. Initially we thought it was going to be around 100 dollars so our trip didn't start out well but thank god we still brought the bikes.
We arrived in Phoenix around six and drove to Tuscon immediately. As soon as we got there we went to bed after a long day of traveling. I woke up the next morning and went to the pool for a swim and saw Barrie for the first time in a while. I really enjoyed talking to him because the last time I saw him was in Moncton at the Tri NB banquet.
After loosening up in the water, I went for a nice scenic ride with my parents and we actually stopped and took some pictures (that never happens!). I finished off the day with a nice and short run with my dad. I was feeling ready and getting very excited to see my new teammates for the first time since July.
We did a morning hour run and I got to catch up with Taylor, Rui, Yorke and John. Everyone else was tired from their long day of traveling and I waited until they were well rested before catching up with them! The hour went by faster than ever and the pace was slow enough that I didn't get dropped!
The rest of the week consisted of some very hard swims, runs and a few hard rides. The encouragement from Yorke, Taylor and John kept me going when I was tired. I can't thank them enough, they really got me through the hard week! We did lots of cool open water drills in the pool with coach Kevin Clark (Edmonton academy coach). Early on in the week I did an insane workout up Mt. Lemon with Yorke, Taylor and John, it was so insane that I cannot give away it's difficulty. Lets just say I slept well that night!
I've really been working on my run, because it needs a lot of work! Jairus Streight (extremely talented running coach) worked with my form throughout the week. I learned so much that I am bringing back with me and I feel faster already!
Nonetheless, I did sit in the hot tub a bit and talked a lot. I met some very nice and talented triathletes from Edmonton and can't wait to see them again! It was so nice getting a solid warm weather training camp in as well as catching up with David, Connor, Rui, Yorke, Taylor, John and everyone else. I hadn't seen them in a while! I'm coming back with more motivation, knowledge and determination than I've ever had before, I can't wait to get to Mac this fall so I can be with these guys all the time. C3 is like a family, and I feel like I've been adopted now. See you guys soon!
Reid
