ATHLETE OF THE MONTH – OCTOBER 2019

ROSS McDOUGALL

 

 

 

Congratulations to Ross McDougall, AOTM for October 2019.

Ross wins this month's AOTM for his performance at Ironman Barcelona.  The dedication and commitment he showed through his entire training block paid off on race day, well done!

 

A big thank you to our sponsors for donating this month’s prizes.

 

1.                       Red Dog AOTM, how do you feel about that?

Wow, I feel very humbled to have been chosen, there are always so many people achieving great things each month in the club, so very happy to be picked.
 
 
2.                       What attracted you to the club?
 
I was actually about to join Vipers at Corinda as it was the closest to me and the week before I signed up they became part of Red Dog. I’m glad they were, great coaches, great people and a endless choice of sessions.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                 
3.                       How much training do you do at the moment?
 
For Barcelona I was doing about 9 sessions over 15-17 hours per week. 
 
 
4.                       Least favourite session and why?
 
Without doubt any time Cath pulls out the bands at swimming on a Friday morning! Only thing that makes it bearable is when Cath runs down to the 25m and throws me a pool buoy.
 
 
5.                       If you had one wish, what would it be?
 
I’ll outsource this one to the kids, “a Puppy”.
 
 
6.                       Favourite motivational quote? 
 
May not strictly fall into the motivational category but my favorite quote is from my wife and is applicable anytime I’m on program. “Just remember you are only one training session away from divorce!”
 
  
7.                       The one bit of advice I’d give to a newbie is…
 
See answer to question 9, if that’s not possible then it would be, If the run is not your strongest leg don’t try to overcompensate by blowing yourself up on the bike it’s just going to make the run even harder. Took me many races to work that one out.
 
 
8.                       My next race is…
 
Nothing booked in at the moment as I have been given a ban on doing another IM till 2022, maybe 2021 with good behavior and the race needs to meet certain criteria. It needs to be overseas in July-Aug either in Europe or on the way to Europe and Mihaela gets to go home to Romania for at least a week after the race.
 
 
9.                       I couldn’t do what I do without… my wife selflessly spending 3 month in Europe with the kids before the race so I could train guilt free. Also big thanks to Trent for getting me there and everyone else I train with. No matter the session there was always another doggie out there suffering as well.
  
 
10.                   What do you do outside of triathlons?
 
Good question, at the moment it’s spending time with the family with weekends full of kids sport which is why I can rarely stop for a coffee at the end of a Saturday group ride.
 
 
11.                   What’s your one guilty pleasure?
 
Besides the usual Chocolate, lollies and ice-cream it would have to be getting Mihaela to wax my legs for a race, I like to pretend it’s only so I can save a couple of seconds on the bike!.

 

A list of all AOTM recipients can be found here