Lessons Learned in Sedona and Dallas

Hey Everyone,

Just though I would make a little update as to what I have been up to for the past month. I have been putting this post off for a while because It didn't go the way I had planned. I guess that's part of being an athlete it's not always an uphill progression. Everyone at some point and I bet more than once reaches a plateau or even a downward slope.
The month of May for me was one of those downward paths. I was very excited to go to my first altitude camp based in Sedona, Arizona at 4,300 ft. I came into the camp with a bit of a cough and thought nothing of it. I wanted to push and train through the illness. However after the first couple days my cough progressed, still my stubborn head thought it would go away so I kept working out. At about day 6 into the camp that's when I hit the wall. Any sort of intensity would have me hacking up phlegm like an 80 year old smoker, by body was weak and I couldn't do anything. I was forced to stop hard training and decided to see a Doctor. It turned out that I had asthma induced by bronchitis and on top of it I was allergic to high amounts of pollen caused by the wildfires that clogged up my sinuses. So camp for me was a bit of disaster. My new goal was to get healthy for my race in Dallas. 20 days we were at camp and I managed to get 3 days of solid training at the end. If I had gone to the Doctor right away and taken those first few days off it would have been a whole different experience. Oh well I definitely learned my lesson and I won't let my hard headed stubbornness get me next time.
Other than the fact that I got sick I tried to make the camp the best experience I could and I have my awesome team mates, training partners, and coaches to thank for helping me.
Sedona overall is a beautiful little town and it is truly a surreal place to train. The scenery is incredible, the riding is challenging and the whole laid back relaxed feel was just what I needed.

Here are some pics from the camp:
Diving into the beautiful pool in Sedona


Our backyard for 20 days


Practicing our drafting.... I'm in the lead in the white cap


Met world class triathlete and Olympian Lisa Norden


Girl power pace lines.... rocking the awesome RLM kit!


Beautiful riding in Sedona


Track session in Camp Verde


Met up with London Olympic Marathoner Dylan Wykes



After our training camp we flew right to Dallas, TXS to compete in an ITU Continental Cup. Hotshot Laura Bennett was racing so I was excited to line up against some strong girls. The race did not go the way I wanted or expected it to go. It was a learning experience and what danger I put my body through. Race day was roughly 43 degrees Celsius and freaking HOT! The best way I can describe how it felt was racing in a sauna. I had my first DNF in my whole entire career as a triathlete. I was disappointed and felt like my race was incomplete.
I had a good starting spot and got on some fast feet and tried to hold on. My first loop was strong and the second loop was weaker for me and I lost contact. Eventually a gap formed from the pack I was in. I tried to do some blast strokes to catch up but I wasn't strong enough.
I got onto the bike and absolutely drilled the first loop to catch the packs ahead. (Looking at my power file I pb'd my 5 minute power test in the race of 299Watts). Even from the start of the bike I didn't feel like myself. I felt weird like I was cold. I hydrated a lot but that still wasn't enough. Eventually a pack formed for me and we worked really well together. It wasn't until the 6th lap that my chain dropped as I was down shifting. I lost my pack and put it on as fast as I could. I worked really hard to try and catch back up. After going onto the 7th loop I got really dizzy. I got really cold and I was so desperate to cool off that I poured Gatorade from my bottle onto my head. I biked to the side of the road onto a side street and collapsed. That was the end of my race. I had passed out from heat exhaustion. Of the 25 girls who started the race 12 finished. Half the field literally dropped to the ground and out of the race.
I am going to keep my head up high. I work hard and the pay off will come. I do have to remember that it is my first year U23 and I am still at the bottom of the ladder and that it is a process like my Junior years were. I am going to keep climbing that ladder and at some points there will be a couple steps back in order to move forward.

Sorry for such a debbie downer post but on a positive note, I am back home and finally feeling like myself in training. I am having some great session and I have another week here in Guelph before I head out to a staging camp in Vancouver. From there I will travel to Taiwan to compete for Canada in the FISU World University Triathlon Championships. This will be my first time in Asia so I am very excited.

I will be sure post an update after FISU.

Dominika