Page 23 - Retail Pharmacy Assistants - October 2020

You’re a professional Ironman athlete with an inspiring story of moving up the ranks from age grouper (amateur) to professional. Talk us through this journey and what it took to move up the ranks in sport. I didn’t discover triathlon or endurance sports until my late 20s, so I was definitely a late bloomer in sport. After an unhealthy run in my 20s of late nights and partying, I was ready for a change. My best friend challenged me to run a marathon in 2008, and while I thought she was nuts, I agreed. I was living in San Diego, California and decided to get more out of the Californian outdoor lifestyle. In that moment, my life changed forever. However, I ended up getting a femoral stress fracture while training for that marathon, and found triathlon ‘by accident’ as I was able to swim and ride a bike while recovering from the stress fracture. In hindsight, that stress fracture may have been the best thing that ever happened to me. I immediately gravitated towards triathlon as I loved the variety of training and never got bored. I began racing triathlons at 28 and made my way through the various distances (sprint up to full iron distance) at the amateur level for the next four years. In 2012, after winning quite a few amateur titles, I thought I could give professional racing a shot. Even though I was still a long way from the top, the only way to improve is to constantly surround yourself with people better than you. I raced professionally for a couple of years while maintaining my full-time job as a school psychologist, but my (now) husband convinced me to take a leave of absence to really dedicate myself to the sport. With his guidance, I was able to compete with the top women in sport and get the most out of myself, winning a few international races along the EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 21 one who’s getting older (I can’t believe I’m 40), the thing I need to focus the most on outside of my training is, absolutely, sleep. I try to go to bed right after I put the kids to bed, around 8.30pm, and get up at 5am most mornings. I also use a sleep tracker to check the quality of my sleep and really try to protect my sleep time overall. Outside of sleep, I don’t focus too much on recovery as the girls and my businesses keep me very busy. So, sleep is number one. As a mum, how important is it to exemplify health, strength and beauty from the inside out, to your girls? As a girl growing up, I never really responded to people who told me to be healthy or strong, because words are just that: words. Instead, I always responded to and admired those who led by example and truly lived a strong, healthy lifestyle. This is how I try to parent my own way. Somewhere in there, I also trained through two pregnancies and loved the process of returning to racing after giving birth. As a female athlete, is there anything you need to be careful of – in terms of nutrition, recovery, rest – to make sure you’re recovering and performing at your best level? For me, as a female athlete, but also children, by setting an example of a healthy, happy, strong and independent woman and hoping they want to be that one day. However, back to words: they’re still important. I try to compliment my girls every day by focusing on their positive qualities and not their appearance. Instead of saying, ‘You’re so pretty’ or ‘You’re so cute’, I try to say, ‘You’re so smart’, or ‘You’re so strong’. TO PAGE 22 RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • OCT 2020