Since my last post not much has happened other than Track Nationals, so that's where I’ll begin.
Track Nationals were phenomenal. I won the three events I took part in; the Sprints, Kilo and Keirin. The weekend started early Saturday morning with my warm up for the 200m TT. After stretching, some plyometrics to wake the legs up and ergo efforts, I was warm and ready to go.
I qualified first with a time of 10.727s. I wasn’t super content with my ride but I'll take it. After a long day of sprint rounds, I was able to step onto the top of the podium.
One down two to go. The next day started nice and early with the Kilo. My last official Kilo was back in 2015 when I rode a 1:06.7. I knew I had gained some strength since then, so I was aiming for sub 1:06. What happened next definitely surprised me; I rode a 104.168. That time would have put me 5th last year in Kazakhstan. So considering that, it's more than likely that some kilo work will make its way into my program fairly soon in prep for Junior Worlds.
Last up were the Keirins. Last year there was only one round, the final. This year however, there were three rounds with multiple heats in the first round. After flying through the first two rounds, and waiting for the lights to turn back on after the power outage (which provided a nice period of rest I might add), I was ready for the final. After the gun fired, I couldn’t make up any positions and found myself right at the back. It actually worked out quite perfectly as I was right behind Adam, who had the second fastest qualifying time. My strategy was simple, let him lead me out. With a lap and a half to go, he went. I followed him, went straight to the front and didn’t look back. I was super stoked to take all three sprint events. It was an incredibly fun and fast weekend.
Photo Credit Michel Guillemette
After one week of rest, and a few off-road rides, I was back training at the velodrome with non other than Alex Ongaro, the new coach for AVRA.
He also was able to come to track nationals and watch which was very cool. Under Alex’s coaching, the training has been ticking along very nicely. The gym work has also been coming along. My squat max is up to 155 kilos and deadlift is at 150 kilos.
As the weeks fly by and more and more training is added to the bank, I can’t help but get excited for Junior Worlds this summer in Switzerland. Thank you all for the incredible amount of support; it helps so much, and is super appreciated!