Last week, at a ceremony in Edmonton, after the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials wrapped up, the team headed to Rio was officially named.
Because my events, the 20 km and 50 km, are so long I wasn’t required to compete at trials because of how close it was to Rio.
And because we wanted to get in a big block of altitude training in the Swiss Alps seven weeks out from the games, I wasn’t able to be in Edmonton for the official announcement.
But I am proud to say that I have been officially named to Team Canada and now have the tremendous honour of being able to call myself an Olympian for the rest of my life!
Not being in Edmonton for the official announcement was bittersweet. On the one hand I’ll take my morning St. Moritz views over Edmonton’s any day of the week, but seeing all the photos posted from my teammates who were there, I can’t help but think I missed out, even just a little bit!
The silver lining for me missing the announcement is that training here is going fantastically well, so I know from a competition standpoint I have made the right decision.
While I wasn’t there to celebrate with my teammates, I have been training here alongside the defending Olympic Champion in the 50km, Jared Tallent. Through that I have been filled with confidence that my goal of rising from relative obscurity to mount the podium in Rio is possible, just like he did in Beijing for the first two of his three Olympic medals (he medalled in both the 20 and 50 km races in the 2008 Olympics).
He, and the others I have been training with, have helped push me to some fantastic results in training, especially considering the 1,700 m of altitude we are dealing with.
So far, up here I have walked my fastest ever 15 km in training (1:01:40) and my second-fastest ever 40 km (3:05:56). I’ve also gotten through two 45 km walks in two weeks, to go with the one of those I’d previously done in my entire career.
To say that these last two months of training have been my best ever would be an understatement.
Of my 23 lifetime 40 km-plus walks, 10 of them have come in the last two months. Compare that to the two months before the world championships last year where I had only done one 40 km.
The 50 km no longer feels like a daunting distance and I feel like I am finally in a position where I can treat it like a race, rather than looking at it as I thing I just hope to get through without slowing down too much.
Luckily, that is just the thinking necessary to fight for a medal.
