Thank you Marc!
For making me believe in myself
Back in Autumn of 2011, I was a wannabe triathlete recovering from a femoral neck stress fracture. In 2015, I won a half ironman as a professional athlete and managed a 10th place at the Ironman 70.3 Worlds Champs. I may have pushed the pedals and scooped the prizes, but there was one person working hard behind the scenes throughout that journey: my coach, Marc Montandon.
He brought his experience and expertise to my training plans, innovated and pulled out new ideas when he felt I was getting bored, encouraged me all along and even shared a bike session or two. He dealt with me in every mood from ecstatic to depressed, from happy to downright bitchy, spent countless hours on the phone, wrote over 350 emails and generally stuck by me through thick and thin in his steady, supportive way.
The one thing I have struggled with over the last four years has nothing to do with Marc, but rather the lack of a consistent and positive training environment in which to get the absolute best out of myself day after day. Constantly running from place to place, juggling jobs and training sessions, scrounging lane space whenever I could and generally living out of my car was not only stressful, but absolutely not conductive to decent rest and recovery. As an elite athlete that is a compromise which is more and more difficult to make.
I know many very good athletes hold down a full time job, have a family and manage to train at the same time but for the moment that’s not me.
A few weeks ago, I was offered the opportunity to train with some of the world’s best for a few months, as a full time athlete in one of the best training locations currently on the map.
Of course my head immediately dealt up 100 questions, to which ultimately I had only one answer: it’s now or never.
Am I really a good enough athlete to be dropping a job and going all out? Can I really make a go of it? Until I try, I won’t have that answer. I don’t want to get five years down the line and regret not having given it my all. I’m not 20 anymore, it’s time to give it my best shot.
It’s new, it’s a little scary, it’s super exciting and it’s definitely going to hurt. Needless to say Marc, as a professional but also as a friend, was one of the first to encourage me and support my choice. It was a big step to take and I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do so if he hadn’t helped develop my self belief over the last few years.
I would like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for all he’s done for me and pushed me to achieve. Without his experience, guidance, patience and commitment I would not be the professional athlete I am today.
I may be moving on, but I won’t forget where I came from, and who helped me along the way.
Merci Marc!
