Austin 70.3

Ironman 70.3 Austin, was the last race of the season and it was not an easy one to get my head around. In the weeks leading up the race I was feeling very tried and ready to end the season, but I had committed to this race.  My coach Paulo Sousa had my back, making sure I stayed focused on the last race of the year. The last thing we wanted was to perform poorly, I was going there to get the job done. It is interesting to think of Triathlon in this way. I love the sport and live every day to become the best I can, but at the same time this is my job/living right now and sometime it feels just like that, a job.

I had planned to fly to Austin on Wednesday but my flight was canceled due to a shooter near the airport. By chance, flight paths were within range of the shooter so the airport was locked-down for 24 hours. All I could think was ‘this is America’. I was able to get on to a flight out on Thursday, still giving me plenty of time. When I arrived in Austin my home stay Jenn and Jeff met me at the airport. They were fabulous and helped me to and from the race site. It worked perfectly since Jeff was racing as well.

The morning of the race was cold and windy. The water temperature (19 C) was warmer than the air, which made it wetsuit legal. At 7:00am the pro men went off. It was a rather choppy swim and I just missed the main group. I came out of the water 11^th of 28, a little down from where I wanted to be, so my next task was to I focus on chasing down some people on the bike.

The bike course was rather rough.  Austin had recently experienced flooding, and some of the roads were washed out.  You had to keep your head up and watch were you where going. I was able to bring back a few riders over the first 30km and as an added wrinkle, also needed to avoid multiple dog chases. There were a few close calls with some big and fury animals as we rode through the rural back-country of Texas. I caught up to the main group at about 40km and just rode through them. The course was rolling hills and I was testing out a new sponsored set of wheels from Alto Velo. By the end of the ride I had the 4th fastest bike and I came into transition in 4^th place, about 8 minutes down from the leader and 4 minutes from third. This was going to be a real chase to make it onto the podium.

The run was a three-loop “hammer-fest” with a strong wind and hills to boot. I was able to stay relaxed on the first loop and cut 3^rd place’s lead down to 1:20. By the end of the second loop I was able to overtake 3^rd place and was in a world of suffering. All I could think was, ‘this is your last race don’t you dare back off, everything or nothing.’ By 20km I was surprised that I was still moving forward, but I was close enough to taste the finish and I was running on pure adrenaline. I ran into the stadium to clam 3^rd place behind Sam Appilton and Andy Staycwitz. I was very happy to wrap up the season with a podium finish.  I look forward now to some rest and can begin planning for next year.

This season has been incredible. I accomplished almost all that I wanted to do and I have learned so much. Highlights of the year were my two first place finishes, at Ironman Silverman 70.3 and Challenge St Andrews 70.3, a second at Ironman Mt Tremblant 70.3 and third place last weekend, Ironman Austin 70.3. As well, I fulfilled my goal of qualifying for the 70.3 World championships in my first year as a 70.3 professional. I have started an awareness campaign about dyslexia and I look forward to continuing that work in the off-season and next year. I will be setting my goals even higher.

I could not have completed this year without he support of the Triathlon Squad, C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling,  Saucony, Nineteen, Compressport, SMITH Optic, Vorgee, Polar, Riplaces, Awake Chocolate  and my parents.
 

Post race thoughts on Ironman 70.3 Miami

Ironman 70.3 Miami was another hot race. I was able to arrive a little bit earlier thanks to my amazing homestay from Carla and Donna, which this helped me get used to the different time zone. I'd had a good amount of heat acclimatization in California and was ready to race. Miami 70.3 was the first 70.3 race that I had returned to and I was looking forward to seeing how much I could improve on last year, where I placed 9^th with a finishing time of 3:55.

The day before at the race we were informed that the swim might be canceled due to a high number of jellyfish. I prepared myself for all the possibilities. By race day most of the jellyfish moved away and we had a full triathlon on our hands! I prepared for a fast and salty swim, and when the race started I was able to move into a good position. I swam through a few batches of sea ants that bit me, and I also hit a few jellyfish. It was an unusual kind of swim but I came out of the water in a good position, 13th of the 52 pro men.

The bike course was flat and windy, but we had a tailwind on the way out which let me save up some energy for the second half. At about 30km into the bike I was caught by the main group and stayed with them, waiting for the run. 

I started the run a little behind the group and worked my way back into a good position. By 4km in, I had moved into 6^th place with 7^th and 8^th hot on my heels. I saw the top 5 slowly pulling away and just had to focus on my own pace. It was a very hot run. There were a few long stretches without water and just I focused on not blowing up in the second half. I was able to pull away from 7^th and 8^th place by 10km and was slowly eating away into the gap between myself and 5^th place, but there still was a long way to go. At 13km as I climbed over the bridge I heard Marc Duelsen breathing down my neck. He was back, and we started to jockey back and forth, but neither of us was willing to give an inch. At 15km we both overtook 5^th place and were headed back toward the finish. I continued to battle with Marc and at 18km, I put down the hammer and open up a gap of 30 seconds over the last 3km. I was completely spent as I crossed the line, a very hard 5th place finisher.

This was one of the hardest races I have done this year. I fought like an animal to make my way into 5^th place and took 5 minutes off my time from last year. I tend to have my best results on hilly courses and I am glad to have had a good result on this very different type of course. It is very important that I be competitive in all conditions. This year’s Miami 70.3 was a great experience and showed me that I can be in the mix on all types of courses.

I will be off to Austin 70.3 in two weeks for my last race of the season.

Thank you to: Triathlon Squad, C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling,  Saucony, Nineteen, Compressport, SMITH Optic, Vorgee, Polar, Riplaces, Awake Chocolate  and my parents.

Another #TaylorTime

How Triathlon helped me overcome Dyslexia.

When I was 8 years old I found out that I was Dyslexic. I had a lot of trouble reading and writing. This hurt my confidence and made it harder for me to fit in with groups of kids. In the United States, an estimated 5 to 17% of children are diagnosed with dyslexia, making it the most commonly diagnosed learning disability (Trudeau 2008). I started in soccer but I had trouble with team sports because of the pressure I put on myself and I felt from others. Once I started running I had a lot more confidence and allowed me to develop into my own person. It allowed me to develop my work ethic and understand that hard work pays off. From then on I worked just as hard in school as I did in running. There has been some research done suggesting that physical activity may have a positive impact on learning and memory.  It also helps to improve self-esteem. Many studies have also linked school sport or Physical Activity programmes with other psychosocial outcomes, such as school satisfaction and school connectedness. I fell that running and triathlon helped me in all of these areas.

Once I was in High school I chose to go into the academic stream even though my grade school teacher advised against it. I feel that Triathlon had given me the confidence to take the risk and do the work hard needed to excel at my courses. I feel that Triathlon also helped me understand the value of delayed gratification. I was able to make it through high school and into McMaster University.

In University I continues to develope the skills I needed to do excel in the class room through my dedication to Triathlon. I chose one of the hardest fields to study for myself. I studied history that revolved around memorization and writing. But I loved the subject just as much as I love Triathlon. I was able to put all my skills I have developed into getting my degree. I had developed work ethic, time management and I understood myself all through rriathlon. I did not feel peer pressure because I had a larger goal in triathlon and something to focus my life around. Triathlon has helped me develop as a person, get my degree and over come dyslexia. It has been show that sport has a direct effect on balance, dexterity and eye movement control. Also the benefits of exercise transferred significantly to cognitive skills underlying literacy, to the reading process, and to standardized national literacy attainment tests (Reynolds 2003).

There has been tests and research done that shows hoe exercise helps to develop better learning habits. D. Reynolds, R. Nicolson and H. Hambly but together a paper outline how exercise helped children with reading difficulties. The article was called, Evaluation of an exercise-based treatment for children with reading difficulties. It stated that, ‘In children with reading disabilities, a school-based program of balance and coordination training, throwing, catching, and stretching produced significant improvements in both reading and semantics (Reynolds  2003).’ This research helps to out line how I feel about triathlons role in my life. Not only is it an amazing sport but it also helps me over come some of the largest obstacles in my life.

Sports and early detection of dyslexia has helped me develop as a person and get through school. With more technology like Eye Reader that will be able to detect learning disability earlier on children will be able to develop strategies to overcome their challenges. I am working with The Ontario Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (ONBIDA) to help spread awareness about dyslexia.

Citation

Trudeau, F., & Shephard, R. (2008). Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5(10). Retrieved from http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/5/1/10/

Reynolds, D., Nicolson, R., & Hambly, H. (2003). Evaluation of an exercise-based treatment for children with reading difficulties. Dyslexia An International Journal of Research and Practice, 9(1), 48-71

Cozumel to Silverman

Cozumel was the first race that I did after the World Championships. It was an incredibly hot race in an amazing part of Mexico. It was really nice to get back to racing. I got a bit beaten up in the swim but was able to have a very fast bike on a very flat course. I caught the lead group about 60km into the bike, and once I got out on the run I began to pay for that very fast bike. I was able to finish in 10^th place. After the race I returned to Poway, California to re-group with the Triathlon Squad and coach Paulo Sousa. I needed the dry desert heat of California to prepare for my next race.

Two weeks later I drove from Poway to Henderson, Nevada, home of the Ironman Silverman 70.3. The day of the race called for strong winds but cooler conditions. The swim was non wetsuit but the waves were massive. After a good warm up, the field of 30 men lined up. I lined up beside my Triathlon Squad teammate Jason Pedersen who was doing his first 70.3 race. After a few light-hearted words with him, the count-down started. The gun went off and the water exploded as all of us took off. I was able to find a group of swimmers and hide from the waves for a while. Eventually Cam Dye and Michael Raelart pulled the swim apart and I was stuck chasing the group solo. Out there alone in the lake I felt the waves crashing into me. All I could do was take the beating and keep my arms turning over.

  

When I came out of the water I noticed that the person I had been following was Jason. As I ran into transition I heard that I was 2 minutes and 30 seconds down from the leader and in 13^th place. I was not pleased to hear that number, but I put it in the back of my mind and stuck to my bike and run plan. I jumped onto my Cervelo and started to get into my power zone. Jason took off like a rocket and it was very hard not to go with him. The bike course was very windy and hilly, through a spectacular landscape. As we rode through the desert the wind gusts pushed my bike all over the road and I was glad not to be riding a disc. I slowly chipped away at my deficit. At 45km Cody Beals went by me like I was standing still. I let him go and do his own thing. By the end of the bike I had worked my way up to 6^th place. But, unknown to me , Michael Raelart had been disqualified for drafting on the bike, so in fact I was moved up to 5^th place. 

I quickly got my Saucony run gear on and started in on the hilly course. I had felt solid on the bike, but I felt like I was floating on the run. The course was three laps and essentially either up or down. When I had started the run I had heard that the leaders had 4 minutes and 30 seconds on me. I worked hard on the down-hills and hit the up-hills very strong. By the first lap I had worked my way up to 3^rd place and was chewing into the lead. I over-took Cody Beals, who was in 2^nd on the second loop, and finally at 16km I ran down Cam Dye. Once I had moved into 1^st place I put it into overdrive to make sure I did not lose it. When I crossed the finish line I thought I was in 2^nd place since Michael Raelart had continued to race. I was so happy with 2^nd , but when I found out I had won I was over overjoyed. This was my first Ironman 70.3 win! 

Congratulations to everyone who finished on a tough course and congratulations to all the Pros. It was one heck of a race out there!

 

I am now back in Poway, California training for Miami 70.3 in a few weeks.

This win did not come without a lot of support.

Thank you to all my sponsors: C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling, Saucony, Nineteen, Compressport, SMITH Optics, Vorgee, Polar and Awake Chocolate.

From Timberman 70.3 to Zell Am See 70.3 Worlds

The last few weeks have been filled with races. On Aug 16 I raced in New Hampture Timberman 70.3. I had just finished a five-week block of training, and I was very excited to get back into racing. It was a hot and foggy morning. The water was warm enough for it to be a wetsuit free swim.

I missed the main group in the swim and ended up swimming solo for most of it. Once I got onto the bike, I knew my work was cut out for me. I was able to catch a few people before Trevor Wurtele rocketed past. I thought to myself, “I can ride at the same speed as Trevor, what are you doing?” I slotted in behind him and went to work keeping him in my sight. By the end of the bike, I had moved up to 8^th place and had caught up with Leon Griffon.

Trevor pushed the pace early in the run and opened up a gap that I could not close down. All the while, Leon was hot on my heels. For 10km this did not change, and I  passed enough people to put myself in 5^th place. At 12km, Leon pasted me and I held on to 6^th place for dear life. I ended up finishing in 6^th, a good day but not a great one. I learned a few more things about racing on that day, especially during the swim. With these lessons in mind, I was excited and prepared to race in Austria for the 70.3 World Championships.

The two weeks in between Timberman and 70.3 Worlds I spent at home in Caledon. It was very nice to see my old teammates and my family before I flew out. I spent the two weeks recovering from the race but making sure I stayed sharp and ready to go.

I arrived in Austria six days before the race started, in order to adjust to the time change. I did not have much trouble getting into the groove. It was amazing to see the town embrace the World Championships. Every one was very friendly, and the place was buzzing with excitement.

I had a small hotel about 20 minutes away from the race site so I could get away from the excitement and focus on my own race. Leading up the race they interviewed most of the athletes for a television broadcast, which I was very excited to be a part of.

On race day I felt very good. My build up and taper had been done properly. I got to the site extra early so I could calm my mind before the day began. It was very surprising how relaxed I was going into warm up and standing on the start line. I could hardly believe that I was standing there with the best in the world as they counted us down to the start.

A canon sounded off and the race was underway. I started into the water fast and furious, and I was able to fight my way over to the left side and move up to the middle of the group. As we rounded the first corner in the swim, about 900m into the race, I could still see the leaders. The race was on. In the second half of the swim I hung on, making sure I did not lose the feet in front of me. When we finally got out of the water I was pleased to see that there were a lot of big names around me.

I grabbed my bike and started to exit the transition area when everything went wrong. I hit a bump and lost control of the bike, and as the bike fell I tripped over it. When I picked it up, the derailleur hanger was broken. The Ironman race crew responded very quickly, and if the mechanical problem could have been fixed, it would have been done in Tour du France style. There was nothing I could do, and the day was over.

But I will race again. I ended up cheering on my teammates Heathe Wurtele and Magali Tisseyre to their great performances. Once the bike is fixed I will be right back into racing. I plan to race Cozumel 70.3 on Sept 20. The season is far from over.

I took the day after the race to explore Austria. Heather and I took the gondola into the mountains and climbed to the very top. It was a beautiful view.

Huge thank you to: C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling,  Saucony, Nineteen, Awake Chocolate, Compressport, SMITH Optic, Vorgee, Polar and my parents.

Edited by Brendan Reid

Training in Poway

Training with the Triathlon Squad in Poway.

Challange St. Andrews

Oh Canada!

I love my country. Two weeks ago I had my fist podium on Canadian soil and last weekend I clamed my first professional win in Canada.

The race was Challenge St. Andrews New Brunswick. The day was great for a race: a coolmorning and a hotter afternoon.  The swim location was an estuary of the Bay of Fundy called Katy’s Cove. The cold salt water meant the swim was wetsuit mandatory. We were held out of the water until the last moment. At 7:00 AM the horn sounded as the sun was rising above the trees. I was able to work my way into 4^th place by 400m. The race split into small groups by the end of the swim with John Kenny and Alberto Alessandroni leading out of the water. I came out with Dan Feeney.

Challenge Picture

There was a 400 meter  uphill run to transition, partly over gravel road, so I chose to put on a pair of shoes. I was able to enter transition in 3^rd place and 1 minute behind the leader.

 

The bike was very hilly on nice pavement. The first stretch of two –lane road led into a  two-loop course on divided highway, with long climbs and amazing views of the Bay of Fundy. I had to work hard for 30 km before I caught  Alberto, the current leader. He was riding well and once I was in striking distance I settled into his pace to recover. At 50 km I decided it was time to take the lead and see what I could do. In the last 10km of the bike I was able to start opening up a lead.

I enter transition with a 50 second lead, and after a quick transition I was off onto the run. 

Challenge picture

It was a flat, two-loop course along the Fundy shore and through the picturesque town of Saint Andrews. I started off very quickly, opening up my lead to 70 sec by 5km. 

Challange Picture

By the halfway point I had a 4 min lead. Once I heard that, I settled down and ran the rest of the run at a controlled pace.

It was an amazing feeling to come across the finish line holding up the banner. Both my parents were also competing in the race and it was so cool to be able to run in with each of them when they crossed the finish line!

Shot from: Andrew Lynch

I stayed one extra day in St. Andrews with my Family to explore the area. We went whale watching and did not see any whales. It still was a very fun boat ride.

Huge thank you to: C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling,  Saucony, Nineteen, Awake Chocolate, Compressport, SMITH Optic, Polar and my parents.

Full Results

Mont-Tremblant

Mont-Tremblant was an amazing day. There was not a breath of wind the entire day and 21c. The day started with a boat ride to the race cite from my great home stay. ‘When I cannot arrive by helicopter, I like to arrive by boat.’ I set up my Transition zone and had a good warm up.

The water was perfectly calm as 22 pro men lined up. There was a silence as we waited for the start and then the canon sounded. All the male Pros dashed into the water. I had a very relaxed swim coming out of the water in the main chase group and in 6^th position. It was my best swim so far.

I ran my way into 3^rd place by the time we entered into the transition zone. On the bike I let Paul Ambrose set the piece and we quickly caught the two leaders. Once Paul had taken the lead we were quickly over taken by Tyler Butterfield, Jesse Thomas, Cody Beals and Richie Cunningham. The group stayed together for the next 40km until the Green Flash (AKA Lionel Sanders) came by to make us work our butts off too keep up. Lionel over took the main field right at the base of a very large hill and all of use had to counter with a massive surge in our power output just to stay with him. It started to rain in the last 20km of the bike make the road a little slick. On Lac Superior at the last turn around Paul crashed and put lost a far amount of time. I was able to navigate around him safely

and stay in contact with the lead group. The group stayed together for the rest of the bike until Tyler took the lead. He was able to get an 8 second lead going into the tranisition zone.

I had a little trouble with my second transition. Which put me in 5^th place going onto the run.

I put in a big push at the start of the run and I was able to catch Lionel and Jessie in the first km. As I went by Tyler, he gave me a little cheer. He just did not have the legs after his great performance in Ironman Brazil three weeks before. Once I had caught up to Lionel and Jessie I settled into there pace. I thought ok you are in a good position now lets go and win a race. It was very cool running with Lionel how I have training and raced with for years while we both were at McMaster University. Lionel and I had some great comradery out there, at one point I even passed him a water cup when he was not able to reach one. I felt extremely relaxed until 12km into the run. Then it was mind over matter. The three of us where still together 15km into the run when we started to get into the hilly section of the course.

Jessie was the first to pop. I was able to hold onto Lionel until the 17^th km. Then he just started to pull away and there was nothing I could do. I just focused on myself and thought okay now lets minimize the time he puts into me. When I finally saw the finish line I was so excited and emotional. I finished 2nd place.

It was such an amazing day and to be able to race against people I consider stars and Heroes in the sport. Lionel and Jessie are legends in there own right. I still remember meeting Tyler for the first time one year ago in Huatulco and having dinner with him, John Rassmussen and Barrie. The hole pro field was full of great people and it was amazing to race against all of them.

I am now getting ready for Challenge St. Andrews on June 5.

Huge thank you to: C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling,  Saucony, Nineteen, Awake Chocolate, Compressport, SMITH Optic and my parents.

Full Results Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant

Poway training block

I have spent the last five weeks in a focused training block. After competing at St. George 70.3, I made my way to California to work with the Triathlon Squad. I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing Triathlon with this great group, working to improve in all aspects of the sport. It started out rather cold in California, colder than in Ontario at the time. There also was a far amount of rain for the first week but California sure does need it. 

I biked solely on my TT bike, climbing all sorts of mountains in California to get myself ready for a hilly race in Quebec. 

We did a track workout once a week, which was very exciting since I have not been on a track in over a year. It helps a lot to do some speed work with the ITU guys.

Having the ocean so close by has been great for open water swimming. We go to the site of the San Diego ITU Triathlon once a week to open water swimming. The group of ten or so people is perfect to practice sighting and moving around in the group.  After the five weeks in California I made my way to Miami too see Rachel. It was a lot of fun puttering around Miami. It was pretty cool to swim in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in one week. I saw a stingray jump out of the water while I was swimming in Miami witch was really cool. 

Now I am back in Caledon doing some final preparation of Mont Trembant 70.3.

St. George

Not every race can be perfect and my latest Ironman 70.3, St. George Utah, was far from perfect. Maybe I was distracted by school and moving out of my house or maybe it just was a bad day. Regardless of why, St. George did not go as I had planned. I will talk about my day of suffering and how it felt.

            The week leading into the race had been a little crazy spending most of my time moving out of my student house and back home. When I got to St. George I had an amazing home stay with Kirk and Charity Nelson. They own a bike shop called IBB Cycle. Kirk gave my bike a nice tune up. I was blown away by the incredible landscape of St. George and was feeling very good and ready to race.

            On race morning I had my usually breakfast of oatmeal and eggs. I was feeling a little nervous but nothing out of the ordinary. When I got to the race site I set up my bike and did a 20min jog to wake myself up. I was able to get in a 20min swim warm up. The water was cold, about 15C but nothing to bad.

            The swim was the best part of the day. I had a good start and quickly moved myself into the draft of the main group. I worked my way up through the group, looking for Tyler Butterfield. I knew that he was right around my level in swimming, and if I could swim with him I would be in a good position. I found Tyler about 800m into the swim. I settled in beside him and started to look around to see if I could move up the strung-out line of swimmers. I saw that a small gap was opening up and I knew that if I could close it I would be with the lead group. I put my head down and went for it, but after about 400m of holding the same distance to the main group I started to lose ground. At about 1400m a group of 3 people, including Tyler, caught me. I jumped on to the back of the group and followed them for the rest of the swim. I had a 24:53 swim, about 1:40 down form the fastest swimmer. This was the closest I had ever been to the front of the race out of the swim, and I was very excited to be in the race.

When I got onto the bike I could see the main group up the road climbing the first big hill. I thought to myself, You just need to close that gap and the race is on. But I was not feeling great on the bike. I told myself that I had to just bike a little harder at the start to try and get in contact with the lead group. I pushed about 10 watts more then I was planning to. Things were going well until about 30km into the bike. I was holding a good power numbers but I was not bringing anyone back. Then things just started to fall apart and I started to struggle just to hold good power numbers on the flats of the bike course. I was doing OK on the hills but was dead on the flats. At about 45km into the bike Trevor Wurtele went by me. I thought to myself, Try to hang in with him, you should be able to ride at his level, but that was not the case. I held on to him for about 5km then he was gone. At 70km there was a big hill and I was out of it, just trying to keep my head in the game. All I wanted was to go was go to sleep.

I started to get tunnel vision and all I thought about was, Keep your legs moving and get to the run.

By the time I got to the run I was out of the race. I went by Paulo who shouted, ‘Just finish it.’ That is exactly what I did, I just ran. It hurt see such slow numbers on my GPS watch, but I could not go any faster, I was spent. At every aid station I got as much water and Gatorade as I could because I was cooking, out on the run, in the Utah heat. When the race was done it was a strange feeling. I was not happy, but not sad, just tired and ready to move on.

I will take everything I can from this race. It is time to get back to work and prepare myself for the next races. I will be staying in California for a month working with Paulo and preparing for 5150 Mt. Trembant, June 20 and Challenge St. Andrews 70.3, July 5.

Huge thank you to: C3, Kinetico, Royal Containers, Caledon Hills Cycling, Cervelo, Saucony, Nineteen, Awake Chocolate, Compressport and my parents.

Saucony Run Gear

Saucony has some of the best run gear I have ever used. Here I will be looking at some of their running items that have been in my lineup lately. Just like all products there are ups and downs.

Saucony uses a layering system which is much more efficient then having a bulky jacket for a cold and rainy day, called the Total Run System. All of their products have a graphic on them telling you what conditions it is best used for - Run Dry, Run Warm and Run Shield.

Run Dry cloths are made to wick away sweat. They’re best used as a base layer and to keep you cool on hot days.

Run Warm is made for colder winter days to make sure you do not freeze when you go running outside in Canadian winters.

Run Shield is made to protect you from the elements. Great for rainy and windy days.

I have tested out the Saucony Short Sleeve, and it’s been super light and breathable. The fabric has tiny holes in it to allow for great airflow while wicking away sweat. I’ve also run in the Transition Sportop. This long-sleeved shirt is best for cool spring and fall days. It is not very heavy so I would not recommend it for our Canadian winters. All of these cloths need to be mixed with other Saucony running products to get the right amount for layers for the day.

As for shorts, I am a huge fan of split shorts, and the higher the split the better in my mind. Saucony has the Inferno Split Short to cover that need. These are solid shorts that do not wear out quickly and have some nice colour options.

As for shoes, I primarily use the Kinvara 5 and Type A6, but Saucony has a large lineup of shoes to pick from. The Omni 13 is a much more supportive shoe whereas the Mirage 5 is a medium support shoe. The Kinvara 5s are not for everyone, as these shoes have very little support. They are very springy, and it feels like you are running on grass no matter what surface. With such a soft sole the shoes will cushion your landing and reduce injury risk while running on pavement. I have had very few injuries since I switched over to Kinvaras. With a soft sole these shoes do wear out a little bit faster and I have to get a new pair every 3-4 months. In older versions the side wall would blowi out before the sole of the shoe wore out. This problem has been fixed in the Kinvara 5, making the shoes last longer. I am interested to see what the Kinvara 6 has to offer.

The Type A6 are one of Saucony's road racing shoes, designed to be light and fast. I have had many personal best times in these shoes. They are a little softer and more flexible them some other racing flats out there but this helps to reduce pounding on the pavement. The only drawback to these shoes is that if the ground is wet they tend to slip and lose traction. The Type A6 are perfect for races and fast workouts. I wear them for all my speed workouts, tempo runs and races.

All of this gear helps you #FindYourStrong.