Ambitious goals are in the sights of Laurence Côté — professional runner and Premier Tech athlete. Indeed, the 29-year-old runner has just renewed her sports partnership with Premier Tech for the next year, in preparation for the 2021 Olympics. However, long before the Olympics, athletes must put in extensive work and efforts. More often than not, their training schedules are quite busy. Behind her cheerfulness and positivism, Laurence Côté is no exception to the rule.
6 am — It’s in beautiful British Columbia, more precisely in Victoria, that Laurence Côté wakes up every morning. Reaching for her sports bag, she heads off to meet her coach, Heather Hennigar, for her first workout of the day.
9 am — Laurence enters the athletics track. As colourful as ever, she likes to stand out as much by her performances as by her eccentricity, wearing sports outfits that are sometimes fluorescent pink, sometimes zebra striped. She embraced this sport from the moment she started high school. Since then, she has only one idea in mind: to participate in the 800 metres at the Olympics.
12 pm — Three hours later, training is coming to an end. In a single week, the athlete runs close to 90 kilometres during training only.
12:30 pm — Laurence’s high-performance team highly suggests a meditation session to all their athletes. This is a time for the runner to reflect on her great successes and athletic accomplishments since leaving the Rouge et Or team. This track and field team — which she was a part of for over five years — was an important part of her athletic debut and greatly helped Laurence build her strong bond with the sport.
1 pm — Nap time! Every high-level athlete must recover to perform better. It is an essential and crucial part to progress in a sport and to avoid injuries. In order to promote recovery, Laurence makes sure to rest, hydrate well and adopt a healthy and balanced diet.
2:30 pm — Trainings are always around the corner at Athletics Canada’s National Centre. After her nap, Laurence puts on her running shoes and goes out for her second training of the day.
3 pm — A quick jog, followed by stretching or biking, awaits the young athlete. And that concludes training for the day.
4 pm — With such an intense training, the treatment sessions are mandatory. Indeed, an injury can quickly alter an athlete’s future. While the current pandemic situation is making access to health care professionals more complex, Laurence — who is currently recovering from a foot injury — chooses to focus on the positive and compensates for shorter runs due to her injury by spending hours in the pool, on her bike or on the elliptical. Interestingly, despite fewer kilometres, she has still improved her fitness level compared to last year.
6 pm — Laurence returns home to a small apartment in Victoria that she shares with her fiancé, an Olympian in the 800 metres. It has been almost four years since she moved here and she considers she is still adapting to her new city. Although she is passionate about running, life on the West Coast is quite different from the one she was used to in Baie-Comeau, where she grew up. “It’s a sacrifice, that’s for sure! But I love running too much not to be here,” she explains.
8 pm — Tonight, Laurence will sleep soundly, another busy day awaits tomorrow. An athlete’s daily life is no small matter! She falls asleep with only one idea in mind: to continually improve and be the best version of herself, on and off the tracks!
Knowing that the average adult reads close to 300 words a minute, by the time you read this article, Laurence is already 800 metres ahead of you and reaching her Olympic standard.
1 minutes. 59 seconds. 5 tenth.
The entire Premier Tech Team is behind you, Laurence!
