I grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a suburb outside of Philadelphia. During High School, I began running cross country and track. In school, I always strived to do my best, and I tried to translate the same approach to running. However, I found myself frequently injured, and despite good training sessions, never racing at the level I had hoped.
Read MoreThis holiday season I have had the tremendous pleasure to meet up with many old friends and acquaintances. Usually, the most common response I get from each of them is: "Kyle! It looks like you've been having lots of fun!" It's got me to reflect upon my career and the amazing joy and blessing it is to be a full-time professional triathlon coach.
Read MoreTwenty four years ago two people living in Red Deer Alberta brought home a beautiful baby girl. Their plan? Reinforce the importance of education, the health benefits of sport, and the power of independence and hard work. They registered her in competitive swimming, where she excelled and placed nationally. Her goal was to be an Olympic swimmer in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Unfortunately the universe had other plans. Grade 8 rolled around and while all of the other girls went through massive growth spurts the baby girl who was now an extremely awkward teenager was stuck at a measly five feet. Hours of hard work resulting in a year long plateau devastated our young hero. Coming to terms with the fact that her competitive swimming dream was over, she turned to running. She ran x-country and track and field for her high school and experienced instant success. Little did our ex-swimmer know that despite being able to spend hours in the pool daily, a person shouldn’t spend hours running. Plagued with the beginning of many injuries to come, our hero had to back off from running and try to find something else to fill the empty void. Through the insight of a family friend, the wise parents bought her a road bike for her sweet sixteen and convinced her to try triathlon. They drove her to races across the province, cheering her on as she exited the water first, dropped to last place after the bike and then sprinted her way back up to the podium. Little did they know this was the initial spark of a dream that has only grown with time.
Read MoreI moved up to rural northern Alberta in 2015 after graduating from nursing school. I went to school in Toronto mega-city. I got experience in some of the major teaching hospitals and swam six times a week with an awesome masters group called “Masters of the Universe” - the name says it all.
Read MoreA long time ago in a galaxy similar to this one, a triathlete was born. Well, not really. I wish I could tell you I’ve been doing triathlon since I was a kid, but that’s just not the case. Like 90% of boys growing up in Canada, I started skating before I could even walk. I played hockey from age 4 until I was around 19.
Read MoreGoing away on vacation and not able to spare the room to take the bike? This is such a common concern that triathletes have, but use it as an opportunity - not a stumbling block.
Here are 4 tips that every travelling triathlete should use to get the most out of their training abroad.
Read MoreI hate injuries. Along with the pain as a constant reminder of what you can’t do comes the horrible feelings of how long it will take to get better, as well as the knowledge of how much fitness is being lost when you are unable to train.
Read MoreFor first-time triathlon travellers, the thought of going across country or making a trip to another continent to train or race can be a very intimidating thing. There is so much to consider before making the journey. From travelling with your bike to figuring out where to train, the potential logistical nightmares may seem like giant mountains. Take a deep breath and don’t stress! Here are 6 helpful tips to get you from A to B and back with as little hassle as possible.
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It has been almost 2 months since my last race. Off season consisted of six weeks of recovery and preparing myself for the new season. As many triathletes know, having time off from training is kind of the worst. Sure, lounging around is nice for a couple days but after that the itch to work out starts to creep back. Way back in the day when I was a young, fresh faced college kid, unaware of just how exhausting adulting is, I competed in x-country running. With knees that were unaffected by the weather and ankles that didn’t constantly crack I was able to effortlessly run through various terrain, storming up hills and gliding down them. Oh to be young.
Read MoreThe most stressful part of travelling for Triathlon is worrying about your bike. The wife / husband and kids probably don't stress you out as much as wondering what are the baggage handlers doing with your pride and joy.
You have a few options when it comes to your bike...
In the northern hemisphere leaves are starting to fall, in some cases even snow, and the training is moving indoors. Some people are in off-season and enjoying some non-swim/bike/run-related activities , while others are slowly getting back into the groove of training and building that strength and stamina to get us through the rest of the year.
Read MoreRotterdam: second largest city in the Netherlands, busiest port in Europe, and home of the ITU Grand Final. With over 35,000 kilometres of cycling pathways in the country, the Netherlands is a fantastic country for any triathlete to travel to. Being close to, but not as busy as Amsterdam makes Rotterdam a great city to visit.
I was recently in Rotterdam for the 2017 ITU Age Group World Championships. Here are 3 Simple Tips I learned while there to make your trip to Rotterdam run just a little bit smoother!
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