Ironman 70.3 Champion, PTO Champion, World Triathlon Series Champion
Episode 51: Ironman 70.3 Champion, PTO Champion, World Triathlon Series Champion
See below for Deals and Coupon Codes, Show notes, Timestamps, and Links
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Show notes (please see Timestamps below for more detail)
In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg Bennett has a delightful conversation with Paula Findlay. Paula has one of the most incredible stories of perseverance.
Ten years ago, she burst onto the world scene in dominating fashion. Winning 5 World Triathlon series events in a 12-month window as a 21-year-old. After those events, she dealt with several almost career-ending injuries. And spent the better part of a decade rebuilding herself. In the last few years we’ve started to see glimpses again of the great champion and on Dec 6th, 2020 at the Challenge Daytona, PTO championships, we saw more than a glimpse, we saw the physical prowess, the mental fortitude, and the emotional strength of one of the worlds greatest back on top with a dominating exhibition of how to race a Triathlon.
In this episode, Paula describes her journey into the sport and her fast rise to the top. She discusses the effects of being a 20 year old on top of the world and the expectations that went with it. It hasn't been all smooth sailing, Paula has dealt with multi stress fractures all over her body, anemia, and body image issues. But she's kept her passion alive. She's worked with various coaches to try and find the right path. Finally, now with her coach Paula Sousa and her partner Eric Lagerstrom, she is in a great place. You can hear it in her voice. It's been a journey but she's there.
We discuss her incredible performance at the Challenge Daytona PTO Championships and so much more.
See the timestamps below for more detail.
Timestamps
0.0 - Introduction to show
1.26 - Sponsors
4.56 - Start to show – Introduction
5.50 - General chit-chat
6.30 - PTO Championships in Daytona - Preparation and lead-up to this major championship - Winter in Canmore, Alberta - "The mental strength you gain from training inside, really played to my advantage in Daytona" - YouTube series That Triathlon Life - Heat training in the garage - No pre-race events (Texas 70.3 canceled last minute) - "This year has taught has to go with the flow"
12.20 - PTO Daytona Challenge the race itself - "I prefer to race the Olympic Distance" - "The training I do is pretty much the same as the ITU athlete" - Lisa Norden was great to have as a riding partner - "It was hard, but it felt aerobically easy, I always had another gear" - Altitude training in Canmore, Alberta, Canada - Altitude 5000ft is one increment, then every thousand feet after that is 1 increment - Doing math in the race - the lapped athletes - "You could still get a penalty overtaking lapped athletes" - Thoughts on lapped athletes
27.30 - Spending the 100k prize money - moving to bend Oregon - Van Life
28.30 - Sponsorship - Eric Lagerstrom - "Before this race I had no luck getting anything" - "We enjoy doing the social media" - That Triathlon Life apparel
31.20 - Winding the clock back - Swimming and Dancing was Paula's background "Dancing helped with my running" - "I loved the social aspect of swimming" - Collegiate swimming as a 400IM swimmer
34.55 - Finding Triathlon "I was pretty successful pretty quickly as a junior" - "I split between swimming and Triathlon" - Edmonton World Cup planted a seed -
37.30 - Edmonton as a place to live and train
38.20 - Going all in for Triathlon - Moving to Victoria, Canada in 2009 - "I put my studies on hold and focus on Triathlon... I chipped away at my studies and finished them by 2017" - "I really want to go to med school" - "I think doing some studies as well as training is a healthy thing"
42.20 - The progression "The progression happened quicker than I expected" - "There was such a whirlwind of support and everyone wanted to get on board, looking back, it was to much attention" - "I was a difficult athlete to work with, I was stubborn and wanted to keep pushing and never taking a rest" - "There was an insane amount of funding thrown into me" - "I felt enormous pressure from the outside from all the support I was getting and from me 'Now I really have to win a medal at the Olympics'" - "I'm so good at putting blinders on and forgetting all the stuff that happened, I just forge ahead and look at the next thing"
47.40 - Meeting Eric Lagerstrom - "He flipped my switch" - 2017 Beijing International Triathlon
50.30 - Team and Relationships - "I have a much smaller team now" - Paulo Sousa and Eric Lagerstrom and parents and brother and sister
53.00 - Mental Strategies - "I switched coaches several times and always hoped that would be the right change" - "Siri Lindley renewed my love for the sport" "Although I never had races like I did in Daytona, I always believed I could" - "The hardest thing for this race in Daytona was getting the little things organized"
57.30 - Nervous on the start line - 6 months out of the pool in 2020 - "I was anxious, but as soon as the gun went off then I relaxed pretty quickly"
1.00.00 - Training now in 30's - "I'm running less and biking more" - Paula prescribes training by how I feel not numbers - "Taking the swim out helped me have the energy to focus on the other two"
1.02.40 - Injuries - stress fractures all over the body - "I was unhealthy in my late teens"
1.04.40 - Nutrition - "I worry less about it"
1.06.30 - Nutrition - going back and telling the youth - "Don't compare to others, train well and fuel properly"
1.08.40 - Tokyo 2021 - "I would do it if I didn't have to jump through hoops" "I don't have any points to qualify"
1.12.00 - Training places - "Boulder is my favorite place to train" - "Then also Tuscon is also great" - "Bend Oregon" - Training partners are important Heather Jackson
1.14.15 - Events - 1) St. George, Utah IM 70.3 - 2) Challenge Daytona - 3) Oceanside, CA 70.3
1.16.30 - Conclusion - 2021 Making plans but ready to change them - "Getting a dog has given us a great balance in life" - Oceanside, St. George and the Collins Cup in Slovakia - Long term Kona is on the radar - "This past Sunday was a huge confidence builder looking long term"
Links
Be sure and check out bennettendurance.com
Find Greg on social media:
Twitter Greg Bennett Show
Instagram The Greg Bennett Show
Find Paula Findlay at:
Youtube: That Triathlon Life
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paula_findlay/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulaFindlay
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