After four months in Australia, I’m back home in rainy and cold Richmond, and I could not be happier. My opening 20-km race of the season down in Adelaide last weekend went much better than I had expected.
The hot weather, which was forecasted to be 38 degrees and sunny, held off and we were left with low 20s to deal with, making for a fast race. After a slow opening couple of kilometres, the pace rapidly accelerated as we ticked off sub four-minute laps. By the 15-km mark, this pace had dwindled the group down to five, but I was just hanging on at this point. At 17-km, the other four made a break that I couldn’t respond to and while I maintained my pace over the final three kilometres, they accelerated rapidly. I finished with my second best time ever, 1:20:34 and I can’t be upset with finishing 5th with three of the guys beating me ranked in the top-10 in the world and the other being my teammate.
The best part of this race was seeing many of the guys I’ve been training with for the past several months make huge breakthroughs to post Olympic qualifying times. It’s a huge testament to the amazing training environment we have, pushing each other every day to be better.
Being the first race of the year, I was definitely a little rusty tactically and that competitive spark wasn’t quite there as this race was meant to just be a fitness tester. Going into the next race, I definitely think I can improve on this time.
Speaking of next race, I won’t have to wait very long. I’m only home for two weeks before heading off to Japan to race. I am so excited for this race because of how fast it is. With temperatures ideal for racing (about eight degrees) and a good course with strong competition (the world record was broken in this race last year) I think I have a good shot at bettering my personal best of 1:20:13, set two years ago.
My schedule is jam packed while I’m here though — a hard week of training coupled with physio, massage and doctor appointments, helping coach the Kajaks kids as they get ready for the season and giving a talk at a local elementary school! I’ll also be attending the KidSport Richmond Gala on March 11 as a table host along with a number of top-class local athletes, as KidSport tries to raise money to help Richmond kids get involved in organized sport. It should be a great event and if you’d like more info, I’d recommend visiting KidsSportCanada.ca.
Overall, I’m returning home in the best shape I’ve ever been in, a new 50-km national record, my second best 20-km and most importantly a ton of confidence heading into the rest of 2016. I started this training camp as someone who believed they could be a medal threat in Rio and I think I’m leaving as someone who other people believe could be.
