Episode #11 - Embracing a Growth Mindset: Thriving as You Age in Triathlon - Jan Hannaford

Join us in this inspiring episode with local athlete Jan Hannaford who started triathlon training a bit later in life.

Jan shares her journey from the early days of her triathlon training to the pivotal moment of an accident that she was involved in, and the challenging recovery that followed. With honest insights, she reveals how she turned adversity into an opportunity for growth, ultimately qualifying for the World Championships.

Tune in as Jan and I discuss the strategies that helped her recovery, and the importance of a growth mindset in overcoming obstacles.

Whether you're a seasoned athlete or someone looking for inspiration to tackle your own challenges, Jan's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the human spirit. 

This episode is packed with valuable lessons on resilience, mindset, and the persistent pursuit of dreams.

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Transcript

0:03

[Music] hi I'm tiia boothman founder of LTR coaching and I'd like to welcome you to the inspired triathletes podcast where I'll be bringing you stories from female triathletes and taking on topics that are important to women in the sport hello and welcome to today's episode today I'm here with Jan hord um who is a inspiring triathlete from pen Brookshire um and we're going to be chatting about her journey in the sport and some of the challenges she's faced some of the things that she's maybe had to address as an older athlete um and yeah we're just going to get into it now I'm not done a podcast like this face to face so we're a little bit like oh how's this going to work but I'm sure it's going to be great um if you're listening you'll be hopefully the sound quality is good we've just checked it so it should be good um but yeah it's a different format to what I'm used usually doing um so Jan what was your background before you got into Triathlon how did you kind of like what led you into the sport okay um at school and stuff I was never one of the Speedy ones I love sport I loved outdoor activities but um was never stunning at it um I did the global challenge which global challenge I don't know if you know this anyway no I don't probably don't right in 2004 I sailed around the world oh I remember you had a sailing background yeah yeah I was a dingy sailor and then I got the opportunity to sail sail around the world so is a race yeah it's a race with 12 identical Yachts which are crewed by 18 people one is a professional skipper the rest of volunteers um and it's worked out in legs so yeah we went around we went from bsouth right around the world and came back sort of nine 10 months later okay so that was a Prett Big Challenge that was a pretty big challenge that I learned lots of stuff about myself yeah not all they good but interesting interesting so yeah um I did that and then I first came across to Aon when my son did the first on M whales okay so what you would that have been then was the first time they did it yeah it was I think it's 2011 it was around about then it was the first one we went down to watch him and I was just blown away by the atmosphere the the friendliness the fact that people were all ages they were all shapes it was men women and they all got the same amount of support on the course and I just I thought wow there's something to this Tri on at the time I my bike had a basket on the front I could swim um and I had done out okay but I was nowhere near being able to put it all together so I just decided right I wanted a little bit of this so went and bought bike and we were really lucky at that time we had the goo tries try yeah the little the little ones swim 400 m in a pool so you're not worried about there and then short bike and a 5K run and some of the people that I met on those first travles are still my tra friend so yeah that was that was kind of how I got into it and the distances just got a bit longer and a bit longer when I started doing it I never ever dreamed that I would be able to do an Iron Man the first time I ever heard the word Iron Man I didn't know how a human being could actually do that yeah and then it just blew my mind up later on I was doing what I had thought was physically impossible yeah so the timeline was you in 2011 you watched Iron Man Wales I think that was the same year I got inspired as well like oh my God this is amazing because it was the first time he came through pemrick year um then you the year after you did the go triy yes they were were they called go TR yeah I think they were go tries yeah yes you did that the year after and then what what year did you do the full Iron Man well my first Iron Man didn't go well um that was 2013 okay so that was two years after I've done a standard and I've done a half as well before I tackled the okay I I just wanted to Circle back as well because I'm a bit nosy um you s you talked about like when you were doing the the sailing Challenge and you found out a lot about yourself and some of it wasn't good I'm really intrigued by that because I know that I found out some stuff that wasn't good about myself when I was training for Iron Man so it must have kind of put you in a good stead for Iron Man what can do you mind sort of sharing anything that particularly you learned from that um I really discovered well I was to set the scene a little bit I was the oldest woman in our boat and as a dingy sailor my job I had a varet I jobs I was a Helm that was a really good job um as a seamstress I was in charge of sale repairs um as a as a physio I was in charge of the medical stuff and also the fitness stuff okay um but I still felt really vulnerable because I was not a strong person so when the sales needed lifting and stuff no they didn't come to me to ask to do that so my job when I was able to do it was helming the boat and I felt good so that was a position I was very protective about right um and if it looked like that that was going to be taken away from me yeah I discovered that I could be quite selfish right um and even on one occasion I found myself talking to somebody in a way that was really disrespectful and it's kind Hey where's that come from yeah but it was survival Instinct yeah and you're on a boat with that many people for a long amount of time as well there's extra sort of it was me trying to survive as a person yeah probably the rest of the good weren't aware of that but I I felt all those responsibilities um and it was almost kind of I'm doing all this but I'm not good enough yeah so it was a bit of like your ego kind of like holding on to this is my thing that I do and I can do this and I'm gonna continue to do it so that was a bit I didn't really like about me that's really interesting now I know cuz I remember like um there was one bit One race that I did quite a long time ago and I had a mechanical I'd come out of the water and I thought I was like in first place I was like yeah I'm gonna win it I'm gonna get all this prize because they had prize for like first out the swim and uh I wasn't actually first out of the swim I didn't realize someone else had come out before me but I thought I was and I I then like had this mechanical and I instead of I tried to fix it a couple of times and got really frustrated and then just like sat on the side of the road and I could see everybody going past me and things and I was like I'm not even going to bother doing this race there's no point now it was like I didn't want to do it because I was not going to do as well as I thought I I would and so I pulled out after the bike and actually when I looked back on it I was I gave myself such a hard time about pulling out anyway as well there was all that kind of going on but then I was really annoyed with myself for allowing my ego to go you can't do it now you're not going to do it now because you're not going to do any you're not going to like come in the top three or whatever it was that I wanted to to get and that I really didn't like about myself was like that's not very you know you could have just finished and you still probably would have got in the you know pretty a pretty good time because I wasn't that far back on the bike and my Runners I would have caught up quite a lot so yeah I was a bit like we do that part of the learning c yeah you took that forwards and you learned from it and I know that my things that have gone wrong I've always tried to yeah like you learn and you go okay that made me feel a certain way and I didn't like the way that made me feel so I'm going to look into it rather than just carrying on and kind of like continuing in your way which might not necessarily be benefiting you or anyone else either because it does have an effect on other people as well you know I was in a foul mood for the rest of the day with my family I was just not very nice so nope that's not good not good so that kind of leads us on to your first Iron Man Wales when you didn't P I know I know right okay so I'm my Wells in 2013 the swim was horrendous it was the last Mass swim it was before they changed them into the five we did it that same did we do it the same year is that the same year I did it no it wasn't I did the year after because we had a bad swim as well yeah the one after wasn't much better but that was horrendous for anybody that knows the cause that first boy we had a fullsize Lifeboat at it and I couldn't even see the fulls side Lifeboat till I was about 50 yards away yeah the waves were so big um so the swim yeah you and it's the two lapper you get out after the first one and you go deep breath got back in I guess I got to do it again so I did um but the downside was that it took me about 20 minutes longer than I was expecting it too so into transition that run through town um and then out on the bike not an easy bike course and I knew I knew it was close I knew it was going to be close my friend had come over from Switzerland to watch and my god daughter was there it was just everybody was there yeah and come back into town can I do this can I do this and I arrived at the the entrance to transition and the gate was still open and as I got there they shut it said I'm sorry I can't let you carry on yeah 90 seconds yeah it was just oh it's harsh isn't it it was so harsh so yeah and they don't let you then carry on and do the run you just go and collect your stuff while I was collecting my stuff my son who also happened to be racing he was walking what are you doing I just keep being sick on the rad I just can't do this so he pulled out as well right but we were hosting a pro lady oh yeah and it turned out that she came third I think second third can't remember uh so we had absolute houseful we were celebrating her Podium and we went home and we had a Chinese nice which really so instead of being a going home and Ming about it we had an amazing evening it was brilliant it really was so that kind of didn't leave it with horrible feeling about it just left me 90 seconds Liz said if you hadn't come to the L in transition you'd have done it easy to look back on that 90 seconds 90 seconds is neither here or there right so with a bit more training and another year I think I could do it yeah I did yeah and that was 2014 then you did it again and you made the cut off and the swim wasn't great in 201 either quite a slow I remember being annoyed about that and going oh my God it's really like slow much slower than I thought I was going to be but yeah and then so how much time did you have when you got into transition it when I came off the bike yeah well I think I was about 20 minutes or so so it was it was okay so yeah and then it was out on the run and I as I was doing the run I was thinking I cannot believe I have driven everybody dull for this last year saying I didn't make the run I've made the run it's horrible what I doing yeah no it was it was amazing so yeah so on that one I came in and yeah got my pony place out of itome so from it sounds like with the dnf um you it doesn't sound like you let that really get you down or kind of put you off no it was a driver to just make me realize that I wasn't strong enough I just needed more time I needed more strength up the hills yeah um I probably need to sort out my Nutrition a little bit more yeah no it was definitely worth giving it and you weren't like annoyed or upset or anything like that after embarrassed my friend had come over from swiland and I hadn't finished but there's always that people quite often get more upset about the other people that have come to watch them I remember reading Christy Wellington's book and she said that didn't she like she'd got all these people to come to watch and she felt like she couldn't pull out I think when was it when she'd had that accid she had an accident but the year before she hadn't finished or something and she was like I've got to finish this year because they've all they W they came out last year and they didn't see me and that this year I'm got to go and she just crazy like what she did um but yeah and those people probably don't really aren't thinking the same things no I don't think they do I'm sure they don't but we just put our values into them I think yeah yeah because if it was the other way round I mean you probably wouldn't be going oh they didn't even get on the road dare they give them a really big say you done amazing exactly as funny as I know um so yeah you you did it again you you qualified for Kona um and you went to cona didn't you I did it was amazing yeah it really was um I think I was thinking today sort of the highlights of stuff and definitely the swim start I remember so well going down the steps because it's a deep water start so you got to get in the water and I just remember my glasses were filling up on the inside because I was just crying because I couldn't believe that little old me was there actually taking place in a world championship and it's going come on get your ass together they're supposed to keep the water out not the water in just get back together and get going but yeah that definitely was another it is like iconic isn't it that water start when you see it and you were in there I actually saw a purle in the water on my way to the dark um B my ma name is tur is it yeah cool I didn't know that so it was really it was meant to be yeah it's lovely when all these connections come together and all the synchronicities happen it's awesome yeah so you've qualified for World Championships a few times haven't you so you can I and so you keep saying little old me and all this but actually you're doing really well in your age group and you're you know you're competing you're taking part and so we should be like we've talked about this before we both got this a bit of an impostor syndrome and of like oh I'm only good enough because of this and I only made it because of this that that go through your head not as much as it used to I am really quite strict with myself on what I that what they call the internal dialogue yeah what I allow myself to say I might say it to really close friend and then even with a smile on my face because they know I shouldn't be saying it either but I tend not to good yep so that's something that you've been able to develop through training and definitely yeah so more kind of confidence and acceptance of yourself would you say yeah I think so that I am who I am yeah um and yeah I'm not the speed but then that's not telling a lie to say I'm not the speediest but I get out there and I do I get out there and I do the work so I think yeah I have to give myself a part of back for doing that and also who are you comparing yourself to when you say oh I'm not the speediest you know who are who is it that you compare because that's what that's where we get bogged down isn't it when we start comparing ourselves to other people and going oh well they're doing this and they're doing that and it's like in reality you don't know anyone else's circumstances you don't know the situation and you have no control over that either all you've got control over is your own mindset and your own training your own way of doing things and so we have to lean into that rather than going looking everywhere else around us and getting distracted and that's well that's one of the joys of triathlon you look forward to going up an age group how how sports do you look forward to getting older this year I just moved up into the 70 to 74s and it's just kind of I've already started calling myself 70 this year then I I will be 70 in June so a couple of weeks now but in my brain I'm I'm already 70 and that's okay yeah yeah yeah I know I remember looking forward to that and it was only when I was 40 It Feels Like Only Yesterday yeah we were just yeah talking about that the other day my husband's bet training now for half Iron Man and uh he he's really tired he's just he goes well you know don't you and I said yeah but you know I did it differently to him because I didn't try and train early in the morning and and still kind of like work because he he's a tatuo artist he works like till sort of six or whatever he starts a bit later but then he stays in work later and then he does drawing when he gets so he's like he's very busy and he's had a lot of other stuff go on this year but he said oh you know what that's right didn't you and I was like yeah it's not quite the same for me and then I was like the when I was training for Iron Man it was well the last time I did an Iron Man was cona which is 2017 which is like how many four seven years ago it quite a long time ago it doesn't feel like that long but if it is a long time ago and you know we're both a bit older now as well so it does make a difference um so yeah so actually how that leads us again and to another question about a aging and so how do you approach your training now that you are an older athlete well you started Triathlon as an older athlete so it completely different to someone who say like been in the sport and been doing things a certain way all their life did you start and have to adjust things or did you just kind it was interesting I started off with somebody who said oh I'll give you some training and it was kind of I spent my life saying sorry I can't haven't been able to do this no no this didn't fit in and that coach and myself just we weren't even on the same page yes um and then I coached myself for a while that was okay read all the books did all the stuff and then after my Miss in Wales I then got a coach yeah um and that helped because you just read it and do it yeah some else says that's it that's what you have to do and if you don't do it you have to kind of explain why you why you didn't do it so that that really worked but equally um he doesn't live locally so I had to have really good communication yeah and on a couple of occasions we had to kind of almost sit down and work out where the lines of communication were because I was getting tired and maybe he hadn't realized I hadn't communicated it I'm sure you understanding all that situation um so yes it's really was balancing around the amount that I could do yeah and learning that I could be tired through training but there was a different tiredness if I had done too much right was almost really listening to my body and and realizing no actually I'm I'm not sleeping that well I think possibly I've done just a little too much I possibly just need to take a day off here yeah and then would a day off kind of reset you or did you ever get to a point where you're like I need to take more than that I think maybe a couple of times but otherwise yeah not that much really just pulling it put just like reset and making sure so with training like sticking are you one of the people that's very good at sticking to what you're told or do you just do you because I know a lot of athletes I coach will look at the training thing go yeah I'm doing that but they'll do it harder than it's supposed to be or been so hard to actually do it the actual speed I'm supposed to right I think probably only this last 18 months that I've actually done exactly what I'm supposed okay so we you're going under then no problem trying to go too F yeah that's good I've so well I've done a little bit more than he wanted okay no no no no no and looking back at it now it's going that really wasn't the idea so it's taking quite a long time to get a bit of a head around what it's all about but the good thing about starting as an older athlete is you don't have all these PBS that you set when you in my brain I Still Still PB yeah I still could set my best run PB my best swim and I still look at the bike and think well yeah some of those bikes they could have been bad they could be better so you're not fighting the past yeah you're creating your own story as you go along yeah and I think like people can learn from because we do get it is hard when you have been a lifetime athlete and you've got all these sort of data behind you and all these numbers behind you and then you go out and you're like oh no that's not very good so it's hard for people to adjust their mindset and sometimes I think it's even good just to like step away and do something different or do a event that you've never done before something you know a different type of challenge maybe just so that you're not giving yourself a hard time about I was faster then like you know it's like you you got to remember like every day you're a new person and you're not the same person as you were yesterday but the the great thing for you is because you got into it later like you say you've still got potential because you haven't had as much experience as when you started earlier in the sport that's what I liked about it actually it was like I was getting older and I mean I was in my 40s which isn't like super old but I was getting much faster than like my run times in my 20s or whatever you know I knew I was fitter basically and I think that's quite a nice thing to be able to think but not everybody can do that so it's it can be a challenge for some people that um okay so we talk talk a little about bit about your mindset and how you've developed it but is there anything else that you want to like add to what we've talk about already hang on a second pleas me shouldn't really talk but okay so we talked about um negative dialogue yeah so yeah um I went to see a lady and that's was my thing I said to her I just I'm always saying horrible things that I wouldn't say to other people and she actually made me do a mind M and it made me realize that actually myself as a triathlete was only such a small piece of my person uh there was so many other things I was a mother I was a friend um I was a sailor a Physio and actually why was I coloring it all with that little tiny bit called a CH yeah so yeah that really made me change the way that I feel thought about myself as a CH so that was that was one thing for mindset um okay um right is is the point to say about my accident because that actually I'll I'll just add to that mindset bit a little bit because it's something that I've just talked about actually on my Instagram account um talking about because when when before we moved here I used to climb and I was like identified as a climber you know I was like a climber that's who I was um and when I got pregnant it was like oh God I can't do this anymore and I got to this point where I felt like I don't know who I am I was really upset with myself because I couldn't do what I wanted to do and as you say there's so many other parts of of your life that you are so what I've done over the years is identified like core values I don't know if she would have got you to do that but have a go because it's really useful to go okay what are the things that really like like up and make me come alive so for me it's things like being in the outdoors being strong and kind of like I don't know inspiring I suppose to people those kind of values that you have in in your life and what you live by those then inform like your activities and what you do so then you check whether everything's in alignment so if I'm doing something sometimes you can have this dissonance with like it's not sitting right with me why am I doing this and it's because it's not aligning with those core values so if we get those established then that can also help with that negative mindset because it's kind of like oh but I'm still being inspiring or I'm still I don't know being nice to people or like being you know spreading some kind of inspiration to people or you know even just being nice to someone in the supermarket or what you can feel it can't you you can feel the energy off off of those things so that that's something that I'd recommend people to do as well to help them with their mindset it sounds similar because it's like you know you've got these different things in your life but there's the the core values tie everything together okay they kind of like in the different areas of my life this is where this is what I'm trying to achieve overall as a person like how do you want to be remembered what kind of person you want to be and as you say you're not just a triathlete you're all sorts of other things and have lots of different vales but yeah we can talk so let's talk about your accident all right so 2016 I went to Roth so and I loved it I did a really good race I did 1307 I was really pleased what was the first thing I thought when I saw that time how could I have been seven minutes faster like but anyway um and I was going to do Aram whales on the back of it because it Bally goes past my door okay I was out running and I got hit by a car um multiple fraes to my ribs other bits and pieces as well um in hospital a week later I collapsed with a lung full of blood so my child my son cheerfully says yeah you need died twice a month um so when that happened I was at a bit of a Crossroads there as a triathlete I could have just said that's it that's me finished I'm a bit of a broken body here but no I chose the other that it's a man in the car is not going to take and make that decision to stop me being a athlete I will make that decision when I want to yeah so basically that meant that I had to get back fit enough to do it's bad enough when you're normal but to come from there down there so through that process of getting fit again I sort of determined a few things and actually I remember it was the week before I'm mels I was in a hole I was in such a hole I didn't feel good enough I just felt too slow and I went around to see my neighbor and I sort of said of all that stuff and she said yes but you do it because you can do you know and then that was a light bulb moment so instead of me digging myself a hold I started standing on the spoil Heap and it's kind of you know you're really right I'm doing this because I'm alive I can do this if I'm not good enough it's only it's not a problem because I've done my best H so I turned my whole thinking around at that point so one of my things that I use when I'm actually out racing is because I can and when things get bad I'm here yeah the alternative yeah I mean that must have been like really you know to to know that you could have that could have been it and that that kind of puts things into perspective really um so yeah I think having it it would definitely change your mindset and but and also like as a lesson for other people you don't have to get to that stage no no no no you don't have to get to a new death experience to be able to have gratitude and to be able to go do you know what I'm here and I can do this aren't I lucky to be alive every single day we should be saying that to ourselves aren't I lucky to be alive I can move I can run whatever you can do even if you can't run and you're struggling with an injury and you can just do some weights or something or what whatever situation you're in there's always something that you can kind of hold on to and go okay I'm grateful for that little tiny thing did you use anything like that when you were recovering from your injury did you kind of like because it must have been hard to it took a long with the progress you know like it was so slow but I mean I'm surrounded by really encouraging people so yeah people were lovely and yeah they T helped me take off all the little sort of things that I was able to do yeah means to help them that so yeah it was it it came back it did come back thankfully really hard work again in some probably dark times at that point it going to going to yeah but no I was so determined that it was going to yeah and it sounds like you had a good support I did Network in place as well which is again is another thing that we sometimes Overlook as who have you got around you who's supporting you or not supporting you because not everybody does have a a great support network and no my coach was just amazing absolutely amazing so yeah we did we I mean we started again from scratch on that one and built it all up again so that's that's kind of one of my really strong things because I can and I actually put it on a piece of white tape and I put it on my handlebars on there and the other one that I use is actually it was the our boats theme Jun when we used to come into Port I can't think what it was called but it was um you would want me to s it's the right here right now right here right now oh yeah is it Chemical Brothers I don't know is it insomnia I'm not don't know I'm gonna make it a thing now because I sang in a different one right right now right here that is but it's it is so much when you're actually out there you're out there on the bike and you know you have another 75 miles and it's just kind no all I can do is I can think about what is happening to me at this moment in time and it's not always can I go faster it's am I feeding right have I got the right technique am I warm am I cold do I need to do anything about those things so that is my right here right now it's think about what you're actually doing at that moment in time and in running there's another one that they say which is to run the mile you're in yeah and again i' had always thought that meant don't think about all the miles that you've got to run ahead of me and that was the way I was using it until all of a sudden it came to me no I've got to forget about the 10 miles I've just run yeah because I'm carrying fatigue because I'm carrying those 10 miles with me yeah so it's kind of no I'm at this point in time am I running the best I can be am I fueling right again so yeah that's those that's on the other C of right here right now and sometimes it goes on my hand I think I might yeah I've got B here now I used to have B here now which is similar very similar yeah just stay at that moment the present moment yeah because otherwise it can just all get too big and sometimes it does come in as well and it's like you kind of it comes in and you go okay and then you read the thing and it and it helps it's not like that's just going to stop you thinking those thoughts they'll come at it yeah they they will come in but you you need to nip it in the bird quickly yes yeah and that's it the written thing on your handlebars or on your hand or whatever it's way more powerful I think than people actually realize because it does it's just that visual reminder you can read it you can see it in front of you and the song is great because I had that like um there was what I wrote be brave be bold on one of on my thing at one point and I had see on the Run was another one and then there was some like Med not meditation but hypnotherapy I was doing before and one of the things was when you're going into hypnotherapy it says go deeper go deeper go deeper to sort of get you in a hypnotic State and when I was on the run I remember going It came it popped into my head and I was like ah dig deeper okay that really helps it's funny the sometimes these things will pop in like spontaneously as well and I think use those things as long as they're positive obviously don't use them I'm[ __ ] no yeah I'm going really slowly the kind of mantras you want to get them replaced with something positive as quick as you can so if you've got a bank of them you can just go okay I'm going to use that one but yeah those are those my main ones I think yeah so it sounds done it sounds like you've done like work you know like you've actually sat down and thought about this stuff because I think a lot of people don't actually think about it until it happens and then they're like they they're in this dark place and they don't have the tools because it's a tool kit that you need and in an event like an Iron Man it's going to happen you're going to need those tools at some point in the day and if you've not prepared for that then it's much harder in the moment to come up with something but also there's that library in your ring of bad experience we share very easy to get do you remember Sandman the swim in Sandman not the first oh my goodness the Saturday had been a glorious day and we went down and it was horrendous they shortened the swim we put our wet suits on to keep warm it was such a cold day and it was there were just waves the whole way out because it was coming over a sandbank yeah well I might just as well put Wellies on from the angle at which I swam out and it was so so bad I think it definitely is so if I get a bad swim now I just look back it's not as bad as man you finished that and it's not as bad as man Wales and you finished that so yeah it's these little things that yeah I've done worse I can do this yeah and that comes with experience you can't sort of bypass that either because I think I was talking to someone the other day about this about them being worried about um long course weekend swim and she was saying oh I'm worried and we were trying to get to the bottom what what are you worried about and it's because she's still thinking in the same way as she did when she started even though she's had experience now she still thinks she's back here so we went through and said well look you've done this you've done that look at the progress you've made look at where you are now you're not there you're here now and so you can take that in to the event so you know remembering also that your mind can get sort of Trapped In This habitual Loop of like I am this this is who I am but as I've just said we're different every day you don't stay the the same person from or even minute to minute we change don't we y cells are like changing all the time but it doesn't need even to be TR that can give you that extra bit of B when we were out in cona the first time and I was practicing it up there that Hill down from the Harvey was so so windy and I was so so scared yeah I really was and I just thought well I'm not I cannot take my hands off the handlebars I'm not going to be able to drink or anything and I sort of tapped in to think well what else have I got in my life that I've ever been like that and I actually went back to dingy sing yeah and it was kind of yeah when you're out on the wire and you're flying the Kite you're on the edge yeah and it's it's exciting so you need to capture that excitement and yes okay you just got to be careful but there's an excitement instead of a fear yeah and you've been in a situation that's similar even though it's not exactly the same it's similar and you've you've got through that before so you know one of like going back to sort of core values and things that is one of your core values I can be this person I can be strong in this situation and fearless in this situation um because I've done it before in a different situation yes very much so yeah and I think as women actually really good at that yeah yeah yeah I don't think we always realize it though no no you're right on often on training camps I'm the one now that rephrases people's negative comments and turns things around and and they kind of look at me and they say no that's not the way it is and just to try to make them realize that no they're stronger than me realize yeah yeah for sure yeah we're not we don't always like celebrate how how strong and so we underestimate ourselves quite often yep definitely okay going back I so Mo yeah how do you stay motivated when when things we've talked a little bit about this but what's you kind of I think I just love I like the fitness I like the I've made so many more friends I've love that group of people that are inct on um often if I start to get a bit demotivated I realize that I've spent too much time doing my own training get back into a few group sessions and feel the love and feel the the laughter that often surrounds those so I think it's definitely a case of a little bit of mix and match they making sure you have the social aspect and yeah yeah and try and training with people and letting other people inspire me and yeah yeah yeah that wor okay cool um and so how how is it has it impacted like other areas of your life at all so we kind of talked about it sounds like you learned a lot and um yeah just developed as a person from doing it you know and it's and I got to say as well that it's what's inspiring as well to people is that you you are the age you are but you're still growing and developing and not going oh but I'm too old for this or I'm you know you're still like able to come to things with a fresh mindset and and a fresh pair of eyes and go okay what can I take away from this how can I develop as a person how can I grow as a person and I think to stay healthy and fit and our minds working as well as they can as we as we do age that's such a amazing quality to have and we've got to remember that but I went off on a tangent there but has it has it impacted other areas of your life do you think I mean how um well my cupboard is full of an awful lot of life I do spend an awful lot of time in in racing clothes um and not much time in party clothes so yeah okay yeah so my life is is casual and comfortable I would say and that almost describes it um I think triathlon's enabled us to be triathon tourists yeah we've been to a few different countries so went to my first one back after the accident was actually in New Zealand yeah so went down to W and that one and just met again to the home stay with an amazing lady so that again was the the community again yeah it's really one of your Co Val Community yeah I think it is I think it is I just I love that that group of people yeah yeah def around um I think I try to encourage other people to get into it my friend came on Camp with her daughter and that gives me great pleasure when I see other people just enjoying triathon as well yes yes you you're going to enjoy this you don't know it yet you're GNA enjoy it it's gonna be good yeah I think what what I like about it is it's the sort of Jour it's I know it's such a cliche oh the journey but there is a lot that you do it is a journey you do learn if you if you're open and you're willing to you can learn a lot from from doing events like this and and doing something that's really hard you know and a lot of people will never do and they go why would you want to do that it's like because because you can because you can because they can yeah exactly so what advice would you give if you know to other actually to older women possibly let's let's touch on that a little you want to do the older women rather than just women well let's yeah I think so because you you started a bit later so what do you yeah um what advice would I give them I mean it's probably similar you know to women in general but is there anything specific that you would say I mean have you had to take like you you talked about you had to take extra recovery MH um is there anything else different that you know I I know it's difficult for you because you haven't got anything to compare it to that's the problem so it's you know you weren't training before[Music] um I don't really know that it is an older woman thing at all I think it's just a training thing I think it's you can't suddenly say decide to make be your athlete and wake up the next day and find you are one no it's defin it goes back to that cliche Journey yeah of each day will make you stronger so you just turn up and you just do it and whether you want to or not you put the clothes next to the bed and you get out and you get into it and it's the doing of it that will make you stronger in the end but there's also got to be an enjoyment in it it's no good just doing it for the drudgery and just I you got to do this yeah there are times when it gets a bit like that and it's going I need to shake it up a little bit because I'm supposed to be enjoying this it's not supposed to be yeah yeah a burd something yeah try to put some fun back into it and things um otherwise yeah go and I go and I go to New Yorker on training camp and I just love it absolutely love it again it's the community so yeah it gives opportunities for those um else would I say just go tap everybody the knowledge and start small maybe I think so I think so it's one enormous challenge if you suddenly decide you want to go and do ir and I think he missed out on a lot of the fun yeah I think the fun can be on the short step actually you're just turning up and you're learning and you're doing it and you're going home and yeah you've done it that's good it's not that you I felt like a superhero you know the first sort of Super Sprint I did I was like wow I just SW I run it's so cool so yeah I was in a pool okay I don't care I didn't have hassle of of trying to deal with the worry of the sea and everything else it took that away so it it led me into it in small stages and I didn't know anything about Iron Man really when I started I don't think it was like oh that's just something that crazy people do I'm not going to do that I just do like the easy small ones and they're not easy anyway they're still you know they're challenge if you've never done anything like that before in your life then it's a massive massive challenge so yeah don't be like afraid of of starting a bit smaller because I think sometimes people want to just jump in and they think Iron Man is the thing to do and it's not necessarily no that's what I'm kind of know just turn up enjoy it yeah yeah yeah and don't worry about I one of the things I did do I took myself off a stra okay yeah that's a good idea because straa always encourages you to go faster you're always trying more or do those segments and somebody's looking at you and I just took myself off stra it's it's about me it's about what I do if I run slowly or I don't do many miles this week I don't want anybody else looking over my shoulder shouldn't do much this week you think people do that though some do okay I think some do I think that's more about them though yes probably yeah so yeah it comes back to that comparison thing again doesn't it of like not comparing yourself to other people and if people are doing that to you then that's kind of their problem that they got kind of you know why would you be that interested in what someone else is doing kind of a bit I think it's a bit weird to be worried about do yeah I mean I sort of look sometime I used to look sometimes and then go I don't care really you know that's that that's what they're doing it's their their life and and whatever but yeah I didn't I I I sort of stopped using stra I put everything's on it but I don't really use it anymore I don't think I'm even on it anymore yeah but it's it's quite funny when you get little emails coming through somebody's just taken King of the mountain or whatever or your lo I when I used to use it I I was running in some I mean I ran in the Forkland and I think I was still using somebody has just taken your well I don't think I'm going back to defend yeah I had a load around Spain we went on holidays in Spain when I was training for and I had some quite good like segments there and yeah they've gradually all got off and it's like oh well I remember one one time the local Legend my husband got obsessed with the local legend of the there's a segment just down the road there and he was a local Legend on it and one day he came in and went someone's taking my local Legend the kids always take the piss out someone took my Loc I'm like why are you bothered about that it's really not important but people do get really wrapped up in it and it becomes like a massive thing but you're not doing yourself any favors absolutely because it's not what you have been you what you're supposed to be doing probably if you're being coached by someone if you're trying to break a segment or do your fastest PB or whatever you're just going that and I had my stuff on there and it was like well if I get a segment so beer but I'm not that's not what I'm going out to do it's just I'm doing my training ride and you know sometimes I'd get those there was one time I went out I'm gonna see how many que am I got and it was at the end of the season and I'd not gone out for ages I was just like right I'm going on my bike and just G and it was really good fun but it was like I had fun moments yeah I think that's it it's like it is fun but if you want to perform well then it's not what you should be chasing no it's not it's not the same thing it's good for motivation and for fun but if you're actually like trying to train for an event it isn't gonna be compatible with no no and yeah and just buy the t-shirts if you see the nice clothes just buy them because when you come to use them again it actually brings back the memories to the place where you were um it can make you feel good it can make you run well if you've got something that's sort of special to you from that moment I didn't do that I didn't do that I had this thing I can't I can't buy the top because I haven't done the event yet oh yeah Bob did he got top because he didn't worry because he wasn't going to do anything and now I look at his top and go why didn't I get one because of they were all sold out by done yeah that was all I was like why is everyone buying the tops like before they've done the event and then yeah afterwards I went in I was like there's nothing I really want here and I didn't go in until like two days later CU I had to go to hospital oh yes yeah so yeah it was there was definitely nothing left after that so yeah this time when I went back I the do I definely bought the do yeah I know and it's like don't be afraid to celebrate your achievements and and be proud of that as well because you know I know I don't necessarily do that or I have in the past or I've just brushed it under the carpet and oh it's nothing and then move on to the next thing really quickly and and kind of not really acknowledge what I achieved and then you look back sometimes years later and go oh actually that was pretty good yes yeah yeah I think yeah I think so I mean this time out in cona seven years later um I was 35 minutes faster amazing and it was kind like oh yeah I'll take that yeah it's like yeah I was really pleased with that one yeah that's amazing so was it all over the B The Swim Bike and run or was it one discipline that you got was there was bike more and yeah I don't think I don't know that the Run was any faster because I ended up doing walk run again yeah as I often do well it is yeah bik yes yeah yeah okay nice okay so yeah well what are your goal what you know what's your next plans future plans okay right well I've just recently come back from New Yorker where I managed to NAB one of the places to go to D so another world championship yeah yeah that's it's going to be interesting I really like the half distance yeah I quite like being home in time Fati yeah quite it's quite good but it's interesting I think my body is actually more is better at Iron Man it's a diesel right it just keeps going and in the half Iron Man you've got people who do the standard distance who've extended themselves so they're quite Speedy yeah yeah so me coming from the other end I'm not quite so Speedy so it's a different different ball par but it's good I like I really quite like that so yeah that is on for December okay book flights combination you get that that is really exciting I'm really pleased at that but before that are you doing on you are good I am not doing no um I'm using the skills that I have acquired through being a triathlete and in August I'm going to go and climb kill Manar cool nice yeah one of the things that I tried to do in 20 and eight was to climb at kaga okay which is the highest mountain in South America right and I got one day from the summit and that and turned back because of bad weather actually pairing our tents and blowing our waist I think it was fairly extreme even for them yeah yeah uh so this is a little bit of Unfinished Business and also I thought it be quite nice yeah so I got that and then in September I'm doing the dark 10 P swim okay I'm hoping that where that that's in Deon D oh Dart yeah yeah I thought you said dark I is that dark so I'm hoping that will at least do two of that for me okay so yeah those so it's just in there I think they have beavers yeah so yeah I'm just changing things up a little bit because last year Theona it was an awful lot of training and I can't lie if I said that by the end of it I was getting a bit better up with keep going the draining and the long bike rides which I never managed to do quite long enough because the just the IR man distance yeah it's a lot on time a lot of training a lot of training so yeah I thought i' mix it up there so that's so the triathon bit is at the end of the year okay and I still got a little bit a little bit of me you really love one day to wear the g v oh yeah I would love to be that as as an age grou yeah but I really need to feel that if I put one on I'm going to be able to do a race that I'm proud of right you're not proud of any of your races some of them some of them yes some of them but you wanted I would love to be able to I've got to be able to run the run right okay that would be my so what age group would you want to qualify in or yeah yes that middle distance okay yeah I mean I could have qualified it for various different ones before now yeah but um it didn't quite fit in what I wanted to do so yeah that's kind of that's in the in the pipeline yeah maybe maybe space okay well yeah it's nice to have the different goals that we can have as well like there are different ways that you can achieve different things in Triathlon there's like a whole Aven lots of different Avenues you can pursue within it as well so that's really good awesome Okay so yeah is there anything else that you you want to add or that you think we've covered talk quite long I I didn't check I forgot to check the time so I have no idea how long we've been talking or anything like that certain I think yes it's good but yeah it's been really good to talk to you and I'm sure everybody's been inspired by your journey and what you've achieved you know even if you have maybe not thought it was as you know in the past you might not thought it was inspiring I I was looking at your Tri Club post the other day and every every single person had written wow Jan you're so inspiring underneath and I was like that's so cool um so it's nice when people say that to you and acknowledge that that you are inspiring them to to do I think so yeah I mean when at the prize giving in New Yorker when I came down off the stage having got my Pro people were coming up to me and saying can can I take my photo with you oh and it's kind yeah yeah if you really want to and even the organizers from the lady who had been doing the microphone and some of the other girls came up and said oh you're such an inspiration and yeah we want to be like you so my answer was yeah yeah yeah you could gra the pink bit in your hair if you me it's just kind of one of the that was one of the things I did the last di my Wells right and it's it's amazing how just doing something simple like that almost changed my mindset on the run if it rains my hair does not look very good and I it's running around in the dark with hair plased head is not a good look no matter what so I decided you know I'll just make it different yeah and I then got noticed as a lady with a pink hair oh okay so in the end I didn't want to wear my hat because I was the lady with the pink hair and even the commentator it's the lady with the pink hair when I came over with the Finish Line it's the lady with the pink hair so sometimes just doing something small like that can just change your mindset it's bizarre it disrupts the like yeah the pattern yeah absolutely yeah so yes recommend everybody can get little pink then everyone will have pink hair yeah do matter doesn't matter that I could get them because I've got gray here and here yeah so maybe I could just get the there you could indeed you pink Badger stripes or something not quite sure Trend anyway I don't I'm not racing anyway so it's not gonna happen yeah thank you very much for your time it's been great to chat with you and yeah we'll see you next time and just wish everybody doing trong just enjoy it yeah enjoy it really enjoy it and learn from it as well use it use it to your advantage if you're going to invest that much time and energy in something then get something back that's going to improve your life yeah thanks for listening today have a great day take care bye for now[Music]