You Win Some. You Lose Some

Saturday was the final day of camp and the Clermont ITU Pan Am Cup. It should have been a fun race after a great camp and a lot of great sessions. Unfortunately my performance was a little different than expected. I have no explanation really. I haven't done a lot of racing in the past few years and I'm still finding my feet and going to keep persistent until it finally clicks. Coach Joel and I have the steps in place, just waiting for it all to come together!

There was a mixed bag of results from our crew. The highlight being @joneskyle's 2nd place finish. And Although the rest of us had less than ideal performances, that didn't keep us from enjoying the 90's beats in the vigour mobile on the way home. We had a great group of people here and they made the work that much more enjoyable. Thanks to super coach Joel for making it all happen. I return home now a different athlete than when I left. Lots more to do though! Back to work :)

Heres the very limited number of photos we took on camp (I hope you can tell the last one is a joke! I would be impressed if Lauren could run as fast as she does looking like that :P )

Return of the Vigor

Vigor is a common word used in our squad. Vigor is Joel's favorite word to use in training. We have the vigor meter used to describe the feeling on the day, the vigor mobile which is the van that transports us all to training in the morning with Rihanna blasting from the mini van calibre sound system. Some days there is bountiful amounts of vigor, other days the meter is teetering on empty. This past weekend in Barbados the vigor meter was off the charts for all of us 3 girls! We all had great races, working together in a breakaway group to come away with 1st, 3rd and 4th positions! Here is a short recap;

Lauren Campbell, Kerry Lang and myself made the trip from training camp here in Florida to Barbados last friday. We were set up with a lovely couple as a home stay for the weekend. They own a sugar plantation and live in the oldest house in Barbados! Kerry and I got to stay in the tree house which was a very upscale tree house. We arrived to the race relatively late and only had a few small training sessions to do before the race. The locale was so stunning it was hard to stay inside! Aqua marine waters and white sandy beaches were our office for the weekend. I couldn't help but think to myself while swimming in the perfect waters of Bridgetown the day before the race that I have the best job. If you can call it a job!

Race morning was very relaxed. I had a great start as you can see here


but unfortunately that ended abruptly when i happened to catch a hole and flopped instead of diving. I found myself towards the back but noticed that it was just a big fighting mob in front of me and it wasn't stringing out so I decided to remain drafting the mob with nice and easy relaxed strokes with no one beside me. This could have been a huge mistake because Kerry Lang punched the transition and first part of the bike to spread out the field. I had a number of people between myself and the small group that had formed in front including Lauren and Vanessa Raw from Britain. I got out of the saddle and sprinted for the first half lap without taking the time to put my feet in my shoes. Luckily no one came with me so I latched on to the breakaway then we got organized and ended up putting 1:30 on the chase pack. The group worked really well together which was extra important in the strong winds.

After such an effort on the bike I wasn't expecting my legs to feel great. Once our feet hit the pavement Lauren was quick to get to the front. I ran a few meters back with Kerry and Vanessa. I'm still getting used to the feeling of racing and how hard to push and I was feeling a little uncertain of my pace but I managed to keep relaxed while feeling like I was working. Lauren slowly pulled away from us a bit more as each kilometer passed and Vanessa and myself slowly broke away from Kerry. I was feeling like I was in a good position for second but lacked the speed in the last couple hundred meters and finished in third spot. Overall I am very happy with this result based on where I am at in my training. I'm also very happy for my training partner Lauren who has had a rough few years much like myself! It feels good to be on the road back! Also a great effort by Kerry who was the drill sergeant on the bike and kept everything rolling smoothly. All 3 of us earned some good points toward getting ourselves into the Olympic qualifying races.



I've got to say, my proudest achievement of the day was opening my first bottle of champagne! I've had a few before but always had to get the guy next to me on the podium to do it or just stand there in embarrassment getting sprayed. This time the men and women's were separate to I was forced to learn. Hopefully I have the opportunity to hone my skills again this year :)




After a nice breakfast cooked by our home stay, Kerry and I were taken out on a tour of the island with a few other triathletes. We even stopped for some body surfing which I miss terribly after living on the beach at the Gold Coast for a year!




All in all it was a great trip! Now it's straight back to work in Clermont. I received a little extra happiness which translates into vigor from my favorite valentine yesterday which also doubles as pocket fuel during our rides this week! Here's to keeping the vigor meter high!

Happy Days

The continuing cricket sounds on my blog can only mean one thing....happy days! I feel like after a few months, it's time to write something or resurrect the blog. Even though Twitter has taken over and blogs are "so yesterday" I'm not quite ready to let go. So I'll scrounge up some content.

The squad training under the guidance of Coach Joel has been fantastic! Lauren Campbell, Kyle Jones and myself have been putting in the work while having a great time. Lauren brings her amicable self to training daily and giggles are more than abundant. Joel will never be bored with us around! #hashtags pertaining to our training and general feeling are bountiful and immensely exaggerated. For example #overcookedricevermicellinoodles was used to describe my arms during a particularly strength based set. I told you Twitter is taking over the world!

The squad is lacking it's cultural flavour due to the absence of our wee Scot, Kerry Lang. We will reunite in Florida in February for training camp. That is of course, after we return from RACING! Yes, you read correctly... racing in January. After a doozy of a year in 2011, I am in dire need of Olympic points as well as ITU points. So I guess it's all aboard the pain train for 2 hours! I am prepared to be in a world of hurt which is fine with me because it will be the good kind of hurt.

Recovering from an injury and staying uninjured is a full time job I tell you! Rehab exercises, chiro, massage, physio, acupuncture, self massage, gym, stretching, graston, foam rolling, NormaTec MVP, ice....you name it! But I believe the primary "exercise" is in practising maturity. I am proud to say I have made numerous mature decisions that I can honestly say I would never have done in the past. Changed sessions, missed sessions, all with intention of getting the most sessions. Sounds backwards but missing one session and healing promptly is far better than pushing one and missing 12. I always knew this but now I am able to practise it. I'm still surprisingly proud after such decisions. And coach Joel concurs. I literally received a pat on the back a few weeks ago. :)


So with that strategy in mind, we are inching forward in fitness and strength. So as I said, happy days!


I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. Happy Holidays from the my family to yours! (minus Dad the photographer)

Cricket Sounds

I received a nice message from a fellow Canadian athlete this week asking if my lack of blogging had to do with the fact that things aren't going well for me right now. This is a common and usually valid observation when following the blog of an athlete. Of course there are always exceptions. Like me for example! The less apparent I am online, the more content with life I seem to be. I am separating life and triathlon here. Sometimes, I admit blogging is easier when all is going well including training and racing but my lack of blogging now has more to do with the fact that this is a triathlon blog and when nothing super exciting is happening in that part of my life I don't really feel the need to update the internet world on the rest of my life! "Today I hung out with my friends and then cooked a nice dinner, it was great" ..... I'm sure you guys don't want that either!! It has been almost 2 months since I last wrote a post and quite a bit has changed so it is indeed time for an update!!

Last you heard, I found out about my stress fracture and was in the air cast. I stayed in that for nearly 7 weeks all together! After that amount of time I was happy to give the boot "the boot!" Things since then are slowly progressing. My fracture is all healed but my plantar fascia is taking it's time. I can swim and bike now and am just beginning my walk/run progression which is always exciting!

The big news is that I am now being re-coached by my longest standing coach ever, Joel Filliol. He has returned to Canada and is coaching a small, fun little group of girls. I am very excited about this. So far things are going great and the much needed direction and attention to detail is doing wonders!

Otherwise there is not much to report! Just "chopping wood and carryin water." Slow n steady, nothing crazy. I think that's going to be the name of the game for me! Ooh well I did turn 23...Eek! (Notice the removal of blog description "Thoughts and Findings of a Young Triathlete" ...? I decided that's no longer applicable, time to think of a new one)


Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before any news worthy of posting happens!