Arizona Recap
New Brunswick is developing many high performance athletes in every sport. The one problem is once they become high performance athletes they need to take it to the next level. They need to have a high performance coach and they need to train with people that are faster, better and stronger than they are.
The plan was simple: go to Arizona, see if Barrie Shepley, a highly regarded triathlon coach, thinks I have what it takes to make it in this sport. Two days in I already knew I had benefited from this camp, and I had surpassed Barrie’s expectations both physically and mentally.
While I was in Arizona I had the opportunity to train with high performance athletes of my age as well as Sean Bechtel, a professional athlete and a coach. In many sports you would be lucky if you could even get an autograph from a pro and I had the opportunity to swim, bike and run alongside one.
From a skills point of view, I acquired many in this week. In seven days Sean and Barrie helped me fix something that has been wrong with my swimming technique for the nine years I’ve been swimming competitively, something that I have never been able to fix. Sean taught me many bike skills like how to properly corner, emergency brake and make a fast and effective 180 turn on a bike. On the run another athlete attending the camp told me to think about driving my knee forward, which is something I have never been told and now my running feels even stronger.
Physically I benefited significantly, in the one week I trained more than 35 hours. Most of the training was very difficult and having athletes that would push me in all three domains is something I’ve never had in New Brunswick. The swimming was in an outside pool which was really cool. I have never climbed so many hills cycling in my life; one in particular was Mt. Lemmon which is 25 miles of an average of 5% grade. Finally the running was on some of the most scenic trails in North America, and they were everywhere!
I have never been pushed this hard in my life. I benefited most on the mental side of the sport. The camp gave me the confidence I need to push myself harder than ever no matter where I am. I have been invited to train with some of the best elite athletes in Canada this summer in Hamilton, Ontario. This is what I need to take it to the next level. Without this camp I would not have had the confidence, the skills or the physical ability to make it to the top. Now I do and I plan to focus every ounce of energy on this sport training, promoting it and most importantly racing it!
“Success in triathlon is never a 100% guaranteed, but having coached triathletes for over 30 years, Reid Burrows falls into a very small handful of teenage kids I have observed. A solid swimmer who I believe has the swim mechanics to swim faster into the future. Reid has the right physical attributes to be a very very competitive bike rider (both in drafting and non-drafting races). Reid’s run mechanics are very strong, and while he did not show me exceptional running form or speed (relative to his age group peers), there is nothing to indicate that he will not become an exceptional runner down the road. Triathlon success is a mixture of desire (which I believe Reid possesses), talent (which he would fall into a small cohort), financial resources (which it appears between parents, PGB can be enough) and long-term planning (something we are working on right now).
My most significant advice is the importance of Reid gaining training interaction with stronger athletes to help him improve at the speed required for international junior racing. Discussions have occurred for Reid to spend a block of time in Ontario training with my top elite male triathletes. I was hopeful to see a solid athlete when I met Reid, and I was more then pleased with the complete package that I observed. There is nothing to indicate to me, that Reid cannot be very successful this summer in elite jr draft racing, and make the significant steps to become competitive in the elite male racing.”
Sincerely
Barrie Shepley
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