We are excited to introduce you to our June Athlete of the Month, Angus Borland.

Living very north in Novia Scotia (although he's from Scotland), he's managed to balance his business and entrepreneurship with training and racing (which is global!). Angus is admittedly competitive, yet he had to learn how to swim to get started. He has gone from completing a race to competing in the race! Coach Brad had this to say about Angus, throughout the training process Angus has demonstrated patience and a commitment to the process. He's a pleasure to coach with his gritty Scottish work ethic and passion to be his best.

Enjoy the Q&A!

1. I understand that you live in Novia Scotia. Are you from there, or did you move there?

I am a Scotsman, my wife (Canadian) and children immigrated to Nova Scotia in 1990 and we have remained here ever since .

I came to Canada as a commercial diver, working offshore in the oil fields, but quickly identified a number of business opportunities and within 5 years we had established a company which is still quite unique in North America.

2. Novia Scotia is a beautiful country. Describe the scenery of your favorite training places.

When the suns does eventually come out in Nova Scotia, it is a beautiful and rugged place. The trail system and lakes are tailor made for triathlon, I'd encourage anyone to visit and enjoy some maritime hospitality.

3. In the States, we are so used to certain nutrition brands (or whole foods) to support our training and recovery, so the intrigue of someone living abroad and what they do for nutrition is always interesting. Please describe some of your favorite local fare for training and recovery.

Nutrition is only starting to feature in my program. Eating well has never been a problem, but understanding the composition of food and what must or must not be consumed and when to eat is a learning process.

I'd like to tell you that I have everything dialed in, but that simply is not the case. I'm 54 now and feel that I will start to see some competitive success in 2-3 years.

4. You went very far south to race, why did you choose the Life Time Miami race?

I think it's fair to say I am a fiend for competition and hate to lose at anything, this doesn't mean that I'm a poor loser it just drives me harder to improve.

Angus with friend at race3 years ago a friend and I decided to give a sprint triathlon a try, this turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I had imagined, learning to swim again, running more than a few hundred meters at a time and cycling for speed and distance instead of going to work were all challenges I had to overcome. I've read a number of accounts written by people who have done the same to achieve what becomes their goal and dare I say it, their obsession.

Their stories have given me inspiration when it was sorely needed, but today I no longer look to complete an event I truly aim to compete in it. It's early days for me ( who's he kidding at 54 years old) but I'm still improving, I can do much better and aim to make the most of the limited time I have left on this earth.

Winters in Nova Scotia can be brutal! This year was no exception, my wife and I must have shoveled 100 tons of snow only to have the snow plow come back round and block you in again. One of those occasions was the time I decided to book a trip to Florida and escape the winter blues. I picked a triathlon to compete in and headed down to Fort Lauderdale to acclimatize in what seemed like Armageddon, the temperatures. The feeling of getting on a bike and cycling in the great outdoors was awesome, there is such a strong cycling fraternity in that region and I hooked on to several pelotons and got dragged along at break neck speed, a truly fantastic experience and completely different from working out in your basement!!

The race was an ocean swim with no wetsuit which, given the sea conditions was almost intimidating. I told myself that I would make the most of it and enjoyed the roller coaster rides during training. The race was relatively calm.

5. Describe your race goals and how you felt when you achieved them.

I managed a personal best in the race, but have the sense that I can do better and also feel that with some focused training at the Olympic distance I can sniff a podium in my age category, bold talk I know, but training for the sake of it is no motivation for me.

6. What races are on your 2015 schedule?

Going forward I have an Ironman 70.3 event in Staffordshire England to complete, my coach , Brad Seng, has prepared me well for it which was no easy feat given my travel schedule, but we squeezed every available training opportunity out of the week and the results over the past few months have been really encouraging.

I have to say that the instruction I've been receiving from Brad on the cycling has yielded the biggest gains. The drills to enhance power/wattage have made a big difference! Prior to having a coach I used to just go out and ride and see if I could beat my previous record time for that route, some days you would, ì others you wouldn't, and I was always left wondering how I could improve.

Swimming remains a weakness, I put loads of effort into it but get so little out in the form of forward motion. I have progressed to overtaking senior citizens, but know that this has to be a primary area of focus for me if I aim to get on that podium.

7. Share a nugget of advice with other athletes about achieving their race day goals.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf I could give anyone a tip it would be not to over think any part of the challenge. I look at the next days training in TP and aim to complete it exactly as it is laid out, but if I can't due to time or other commitments I don't fret.  

I do have to get my 8 hours of sleep per night, this is my greatest weapon in the fight!