#Canada’s best athletes have found creative ways to train in quarantine

2016 Games: Bronze, 100-m;
Silver 200-m; Bronze 4 x 100-m

We were still training in January and February—and I’m based in Florida. But in March, that’s when people started taking it more seriously. I was hearing in the news about people getting sick and dying. We got kicked off our track. We lost the use of our facilities, so we couldn’t use our weight room. At first we thought we’d be out for a week or two. As it turns out, we didn’t get a chance to use it from March until September.

Before the Olympics were postponed, we were wondering where we could train. We were trying to find grass fields, turf, a private gym to do our weights. It was tough because everything was getting closed down. Eventually, we ended up going to public parks. I’d try to get there early in the morning, before people started coming out on their walks. We’d see joggers or people walking their dogs—you had to let them walk by first. That was an adjustment. It’s not something you’re used to as a professional athlete.

Someone might come up on a walk—just random people—and ask if you’re part of a soccer club. You talk to them, because you don’t want to be rude, and say, “Yeah, we run.” And then they ask questions about where we run and all that. After a few weeks, we got access to a beat-up high school track. It wasn’t ideal, but it was something to use.

When we got the news that the Olympics were postponed, that was a breather for us. At least now we didn’t have to stress ourselves about training. For me, it was a reset for my mind and body—there were bigger things going on in the world.