I began triathlon by doing a bit of running and a few sprint races, with my primary aim being 'to keep fit during the off season' from my main love, playing hockey at Wotton Hockey Club. I'd met Neil through swim training at my local pool, which I absolutely loved, but never really had any thought about doing triathlon 'properly' until I noticed that my times were getting faster, and I was enjoying the challenge of triathlon more and more. 

Due to my fear of open water, fish and all things pond-weed, I undertook my first Olympic distance triathlon with the swim section in a 14m pool, and surprised myself by being the first placed woman. It got me thinking. 

My deepest desire growing up had always been to be Really Good at something, ideally sport. By my mid-20s I'd mostly buried this desire, as my days of pushing for the upper realms of hockey were long gone. But on achieving my first race win, and hearing about the 'GB Age Group Team' which takes triathletes of all ages, that dream of my teenage years had begun to resurface. I approached Neil to see if he'd be willing to coach me, which he agreed to, and the whole experience has been Fantastic.

For pretty much the first year, I found myself, day after day, looking at my training plan thinking "crikey, I can't do that, what are you thinking Neil", and day after day I kept proving myself wrong, focusing on executing each individual session, and then the next, and the next... As Neil says, do each individual set to the best of your ability and the rest will come. (I'm paraphrasing, of course!)

Before I became a properly coached athlete I had joined Neil and the Performance Edge gang on on triathlon training camps (a really excellent wonderful exhausting 'holiday'), which opened my eyes to a sport I initially knew very little about. This turned out to be wonderful preparation for coaching, as I understood a bit about the way Neil approaches things, and evidently his pre-dinner talks had penetrated my fatigued brain more than I'd realised, as I discovered my mental game was much more advanced than perhaps I deserved for it to be, given my early stage of training. 

I actually achieved my dream of qualifying for the GB age group team after just a year of Neil's coaching, earning the opportunity to represent GB age group 25-29 at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam 2017. I'm a long way off being a top athlete at that level, but consistently finishing in the top half of my age group at subsequent GB races over the following three seasons has been awesome. 

Neil is a fantastic coach and I highly recommend him. His approach, from the athlete perspective, seems uncomplicated, and the training plans are easy to follow. I trust him absolutely. He pushes me in line with my goals and in line with what is achievable in my lifestyle, so I have never felt stressed or panicked about my training or racing, I just do what he says. And I no longer perceive the summer as my 'off season' - in fact, perhaps September to March is now my off-season - but for goodness' sake don't tell my hockey mates!