A few Questions.

I was asked to fill this Questionnaire for Triathlon Ireland and I thought it would make a interesting blog to give you a bit of an insight into my life and my triathlon.

I will be racing Scottish National XC Champs on Saturday so I will hopefully have another blog up after that.

Date of Birth: 04/06/1992

Place of Birth: Banbridge, Northern Ireland

Coach: Blair Cartmell

Training Locations: Stirling, Scotland

Years in Triathlon: Two

Sporting Background: Swimming

Major Achievements

London Junior Elite Triathlon – 1^st

Tiszaujvaros (Hungary) Junior European Cup – 9^th

Sporting hero: Jamaican Bobsleigh Team, determination to do what everyone told them they couldn’t.

Favourite quote: Do not go where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.

Nickname: Went through school without ever having a nickname but since coming to Stirling and training with the Scottish squad I have recently been called ‘Paddy’.

Hobbies: Anything Sport related.

Favourite music: Wombats and Snow Patrol is what I have been listening to a lot recently.

Favourite movie: Cool Runnings.

Favourite food: Everything and anything as long as there is lots of it. J

Favourite place: Home

Little know fact about me: Represented Ulster U16 and had trials for Ireland U16 and Ulster U18 for Hockey

How I got started in Triathlon: Have always been a swimmer, and tried the Newtownabbey Triathlon for fun; came 1^st Junior and 9^th overall, thought I might enjoy the change and decided to attend the next Triathlon Ireland Talent ID Day.

Athlete Questions:

Pre Race/Training

1. Are you always 100% motivated? Yes

2. What are your aspirations in the sport? To Compete at the higest level in our sport and challenge the best in the world. Competing in Commonwealth Games, Olympic games and World Series.

3. Strangest place you’ve ever swam? Jelly fish infested waters in Aguilas.

4. Least favourite part of training? Conditioning, even though I know it is the most important for me. (Nothing comes easy)

5. What's the toughest training session you do? A challenging set that I would also consider my favorite and extremely beneficial is 10x400 fc.

6. Favourite part of training? The freedom of some sessions, no particular a discipline.

7. What do you do in your down time? Relax and make the most of it, a chance to catch up with family and friends.

Races

1. What are your thoughts when standing on the start pontoon? I tend to zone out, not intentionally but it comes naturally.

2. Thoughts in the lead up to a race? Will I have a good swim, I know if I get a good swim I am set up for a good race, I almost overthink the swim which has been my problem

3. What was your most memorable race and why? London Junior Elite Triathlon, my 1^st elite win, everything clicked and I felt so strong, crossing the line knowing I had won was an amazing feeling.

4. What is the most unusual thing that happened to you during a triathlon and where was it? Tizijauvaros, Hugarian Junior European Cup – I was dismounting as normal with my feet on top of my bike shoes, only when I swung my right leg over my saddle my left shoe unclipped from the pedal and I was thrown over the handle bars landing hard on my head and right shoulder luckily I was able to pick up my bike and run into transition, so didn’t loose too much time, it also got the adrenaline pumping for the run which was a positive.

Other

1. What advice would you give for someone’s first triathlon? Just enjoy it, and be very observant, you will pick up many tips.

2. Besides triathlon (and its disciplines) what other sports are you interested in? Football and Hockey

3. Who or what is your biggest inspiration? The pursuit of achieving my full potential.

4. What is your prior education or employment? Currently Studying Primary Education at University.

5. Your first ever job? Never had one.

6. Food heaven and food hell? Chocolate heaven, cheese on its own (can only eat cheese melted.) would be hell.

7. What’s on your i-pod? Everything I have the widest range of music possible.

8. Do you have any nicknames and if so why? Went through school without ever having a nickname but since coming to Stirling and training with the Scottish squad I have recently been called ‘Paddy’.

9. Best book you ever read? Of Mice and Men.

10. Technophobe or technogeek? Somewhere inbetween but closer to the Technogeek end of the spectrum.

11. I phone or android? Currently have a Blackberry but when I upgrade it would be to an I phone

12. What’s your party piece? Can't say I have one.

13. Do you get to keep all your bikes and if so what do you do with the old ones? I have bought all two of my bikes, one I train on and one I race on. So I intend to just keep them. ...would nice to be sponsored so that i would be in the position to give a different answer;)

14. Describe your ideal weekend? Hard Saturday of training followed by a long ride on a Sunday and plenty of DVD’s inbetween.

15. Who has helped you to get to where you are today? Family.

16. You can start out in triathlon at a relatively lost cost but at the highest level things get a little more expensive. What’s your must prized piece of kit? I love my Oakley radars.

Great Edinburgh Cross Country.

As I finished 5^th in the Scottish University Cross Country Champs I qualified to represent the Scottish University Team in the Senior Inter-district and Celtic nations Race during the Great Edinburgh Cross Country.

As I was racing for the Scottish University Team we were in the senior race even though I would still have been eligible to race in the under 20’s race, but I had to race up an age group as the team as a whole was senior.

It made for a good experience, as it was a very high level of racing, I didn’t have the best of runs as I struggled in the thick mud, (our race was last of the day so by that stage the ground was pretty cut up.) it showed up that I need a lot of work on my strength especially core.

This has given me an early warning of what I need to do before my next race which will be British University Cross-Country Champs in Cardiff in the 1^st weekend of February.

Currently I am back in Stirling as I am on a five week placement in a primary school as part of my degree, this has been hard on my training but all still seems to be going will, it has made me far more efficient with time management etc with trying to fit sessions in, so hopefully it will be a major benefit for the future.

This picture perfectly describes how I felt during the race. Onwards and upwards.

What a difference a Year makes!

Last Tuesday I ran the Castlewellan Christmas Cracker, it was a run race with a bit of I difference; it was a pairs race, you had to cross the line with your partner. I was rather lucky to have a very good partner in the form of Andrew Christie, Andy is a member of the Scottish Triathlon Squad. The race was on and off road mainly off road, for 10 miles; basically the route sent you up every possible hill around or near Castlewellan lough. It was nothing that I was used to but was an extremely good hard work out which was all I was looking for, it was also a bonus that Andy and myself were running well and managed to finish 3rd overall and 1^st Junior pair. Not bad for not being runners, but to be fair the triathletes stuck it to the runners as the top 6 finishers consisted of 3 Triathletes, the other being Bryan McCrystal, who was ½ of the 2nd pair.

So if I come back to the title of the blog; ‘what a difference a year makes’, this time of year always seems to be a time of, out with the old and in with the new and reflection on the year past. Last year was a pretty eventfully one, best described as a bit of a roller coaster. This time last year I wasn’t even allowed to run never mind run a 10mile trail race. Even with my lack of running I still managed to achieve some good results, I managed to come 4^th in the British Junior Champs with only 2 weeks of running in my legs; which qualified me to race at the European Junior Champs, as big a disappointment as it was a lot of valuable lessons were learnt, I also got my 1^st Elite Win at the London Junior Elite Triathlon, and to top it off I got a top 10 finish in a Junior European Cup, with my 9th Place in Tisijauvarous, Hungary. Therefore I can still take some satisfaction from these results when they were achieved after being out of running for 8 ½ months.

Next year is another big year, it will probably be my biggest so far, a year in which I will be trying to establish myself at the Olympic distance, and get some good solid results under my belt. It is obviously going to be tough to make the jump up to Senior racing but I do think that this distance may suit me better, and I am obviously in a much better shape at this time of the year than my previous two seasons in the sport.

Looking forward to 2012 I wish everyone all the very best and lets make it a good one.

Good Luck and Happy New Year.