Fun at Home

I flew home three weeks ago to Saint John, New Brunswick because I haven't been home since Christmas and wanted to reconnect with friends and family. It was a really fun trip but I was always busy working on securing sponsorship for 2016 and visiting everyone. I also had the pleasure of getting my wisdom teeth out! Luckily I also planned on taking most of the three weeks completely off of training after my longest season I've ever had (March 17th-August 1st!).

It was really enjoyed sleeping in and not having to think about training 24/7. But as a triathlete you can only get so far away from the sport. I really appreciate the support from back home in New Brunswick so I held a swim clinic to share some skills and drills that I thought could benefit the local triathlon community. It was a blast and I think I accomplished my ultimate goal of getting everyone to learn something new! After the hour and a half of fun in the water we went up to Seely Street B&B for a potluck breakfast and for me to share my experiences on the road the past couple of years! Thanks again to Helena and Garth Millar for letting me use their house for the event and for Fundy Extreme for helping me organize it. I hope to do another clinic next time I'm home because the feedback was great!

Here is a picture from the clinic that Christian Gallant took:

The next day I went to the Sea Dog's Open water swim to see if everyone was able to apply what I taught them the day before! It was a great event put on by Daryl Steeves, and I really enjoyed helping out a little bit by counting the swimmers as they went into the water!

I also helped out at my mother's Kid's of Steel triathlon the following weekend. It was a lot of fun and riding as I led every age group's bike ride to make sure they were safe. It was pretty inspiring to see so many young kids out there doing the sport I love! It was also great to see my mom taking the time out of her Ironman training to give back to the sport!

Photo Credit: Holly McKay

As I had mentioned at the start of this blog I was working on sponsorship opportunities for 2016. Radical Edge really stepped it up for 2016 and they will be helping me with any sort of gear or components I need for 2016. It was also confirmed that Aberdeen Subaru will once again be supporting me and making a big difference in getting to races in 2016. I had a lot of other meetings and nothing else is confirmed but I think I should be getting support from a few other local companies. Thanks to everyone for helping me out and I can't wait to make you guys proud in 2016!

Yesterday I helped out at a new triathlon format similar to the relays at Canada Summer Games and at the Commonwealth Games was once again held at Rockwood Park. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone had fun. I got a chance to catch up with a few people that I haven't seen in a few years and I wish them all the best for the rest of the season!

It was great being home and getting excited to start training again. I really needed the time off but now I'm more motivated than ever to get back to it! Thanks again to my sponsors for this first season as an elite: Nineteen wetsuits, Aberdeen Subaru, Radical Edge, Human Performance Centre and C3!

SEASON RECAP

My 2015 season came to a close on August 1^st in Ottawa. Earlier in the year I sat down with Barrie and we decided that I would end my season in early August to prevent the normal drop in my swimming performance. This is because senior nationals for swimming are around this time. Andrew Cole (the McMaster swim coach we work with) is done his season and his athletes need some down time come August. I have nothing against him stopping now; it just makes sense for me to stop too if I no longer have the swim team to swim with!

As you all know, Magog went very well for me. Recovering from an Olympic distance race is a lot tougher than a sprint though. I knew this going into Ottawa, but given what had happened in Magog the previous year, I thought I should finish off my season at Ontario Draft Legal provincials. It’s low key and a lot of fun.

Race morning was very rushed, we had a 6:45am race start. This is almost 3 hours earlier than most of my race starts this year! I planned for it but it means your warm up and morning routine has to be altered. We didn’t get a great warm up in but I knew that bridging up on the bike was quite possible with this smaller field.

The swim was an in water start, which I like because of the lack of running into the water! I was off to a slow start right away but I wasn’t very concerned. I just held myself together and swam well. I came out of the water a little back from the leaders but I grabbed my bike with the confidence I needed to hammer. Very quickly, I bridged up with Pat Smith, and the two Forbes. Once we caught up the pace was pretty relaxed with only a few attacks that I had to cover. When I came into T2 I went to the wrong shoes. Taylor and I have the same racing flats and in the adrenaline of racing I ran to his shoes instead of mine. I had to re-rack my bike once I realized and this caused my to become a bit flustered. I threw my helmet and sunglasses (or so I thought) into the bin and tried to make up the time I lost. I ended up feeling it on the running, my legs just weren’t there but I pushed through only to realize that I had a penalty (for the sunglasses not being in my bin). It ended up costing me a placing but I finished 8^th in a very competitive field so I’m very happy with that! Thanks to Patrick Smith and his mom for helping me out and giving me a place to stay in Ottawa!

I’m actually on the plane right now as I write this. I’ve been racing since March and I really look forward to putting my feet up and chilling with my friends back home. I really miss New Brunswick and I cannot wait to reboot and get ready for some hard training in September! Thanks to everyone for your constant support. I really couldn’t be racing at this level without Triathlon New Brunswick, C3, Nineteen wetsuits, Human Performance Centre and Aberdeen Subaru!