First official TTF training event of the year

Well its that time of year again - April - the start of my racing season. Hooray!!  While my first road race of the year is this coming weekend, the Yonge Street 10km (Sun, April 19), this past weekend (Sun, April 12) I had a more formal triathlon training event - a TTF Gold member event held at Steamwhistle Roundhouse in downtown Toronto.
http://www.torontotriathlonfestival.com/race/about-ttf/

It was the first meet and greet of the year, complete with a seminar and Q&A session, followed by a training run lead by the elite triathlon development team based at Guelph. http://www.triathloncanada.com/en/athletes/dev/ 

I took the opportunity to shamlessly fill up my sports bag with all the free Clif bar samples ;) and also to listen to the words of wisdom from Olympic champion - Simon Whitfield, Head Coach - Craig Taylor, and Registered Dietitian & Sports Nutritionist - Jen Sygo.  All of whom provided me with many tidbits of info that will no doubt help with my training.  I especially appreciated the amount of time they spend talking about nutrition where they emphasized clean healthy eating, focussed on whole unprocessed foods, cooking more at home, and not buying into all the hype of the products and supplements.  I've always been a big believer in simple is best and was happy to hear all 3 levels (coach, athlete and dietitian) reinforce the tried and true basics of water, bananas and gatorade for building the base of the athletes fuel.  I can only wonder how many pounds of bananas I've eaten in my athletic pursuits over the years!

Following the discussion panels several members of Team Canada's elite development team (including Alexander Hinton, Joanna Brown, Dominika Jamnicky) lead the TTF Gold member participants in a training run.  We ran ~7.5km from the Steamwhistle Roundhouse along the Martin Goodman Trail until we reached what was/will be the transition area for the TTF this June 21 at Ontario Place, where we turned around and ran back to the Steamwhistle (for water/beers).  We ended up pacing at about 5:08, so I had no trouble holding my own with these elite athletes (a big relief).  I must admit I always get a little nervous when running with such great athetes, even if it is just a training run, but finishing strong is such a great confidence booster going into the racing season.

Attached are a couple of photos of us at the training run.  Wishing everybody who attended a fantastic racing season with lots of PBs: Swim, Bike, Run everyone!!

                           Dominika Jamnicky (L), Joanna Brown (C), Kelly Barrington (R)

TTF gold member athletes and Team Canada development triathletes getting ready for a training run on a bright and sunny spring day.