Beyond the Finish Line: Diana Almazova on Sport, Self-Belief, and Starting Stana

This episode is a conversation with Diana Almazova, founder of Stana, a clothing brand created for active women who want to feel strong, confident, and supported in every aspect of their lives.

Diana shares her journey from discovering sport to recently completing her first 70.3 triathlon, reflecting on the discipline, resilience, and self-belief required to take on one of endurance sport's biggest challenges.

We discuss what first drew her into an active lifestyle, whether she could ever have imagined crossing the finish line of a 70.3 when she was younger, and the inspiration behind signing up for the race. 

Diana opens up about the moments of self-doubt she experienced throughout training, the toughest aspects of preparing for the event, and how achieving such a significant goal reshaped her understanding of what she is capable of.

Beyond the race course, we explore the story behind Stana and the original vision that led Diana to launch a brand dedicated to modern, active women. She talks about the gap she identified in the market, how her own experiences as an athlete influence the products she is building, and the realities of creating a business from the ground up.

Diana also shares insights into balancing the demands of entrepreneurship with training, the importance of surrounding yourself with a supportive community, and the mentors and role models who have helped shape her path. 

At the heart of our conversation is a discussion about the impact she hopes Stana will have on the women who engage with the brand: encouraging them to pursue ambitious goals, trust in their potential, and redefine what they believe is possible.

Finally, we look ahead to what's next. From growing Stana to setting new personal challenges,  Diana reflects on the exciting road ahead and the mindset that continues to drive her forward.

If you've ever questioned your own limits, considered starting something from scratch, or wondered what can happen when you commit to a goal that scares you, this episode offers an honest and inspiring perspective on embracing challenge and building a life aligned with your ambitions.

Stana on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wearestana/

Diana on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dianazova_/

Diana on Substack https://wearestana.substack.com/

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Celia 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 with Diana Almazova, founder of Stana Clothing, which is a clothing brand specifically for women. And we're going to chat to her about her journey in triathlon and sport and also founding a a clothing brand which is in its very early stages, I think, at the moment, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Yeah. So for people who are discovering you for the first time, just tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do and also bit about your sporting background. Of course, and thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to have this conversation today. Um, so yes, as you said, I'm Diana. I am currently building a sportsware brand for women, as you said, called Stanner. And the main thing really is that I really wanted to design active wear for women only. So, not adapted for men's, but like really from scratch started for women. And in terms of sport, I am what I would call myself a recreational athlete. Okay. Um but um I recently did my first 70.3 last month. Uh which is very exciting. Um so yeah, that's uh that's my triathlon I guess claim. Okay. So which 70.3 was it? So did the outlaw. Yeah. Yeah. Nottingham, which is lovely. Would definitely recommend that as a course. Yeah, it's quite flat, isn't it? And I did um I think I did it a while ago, a long time ago now because I lived in Nottingham for a little bit when I left school. I went to uni there. Nice. It's quite a nice town to be. It's a nice place. Yeah. And the course is quite pretty. So, it's it's Yeah. Was lovely. Yeah. It's got a good strong textiles connection as well, hasn't it? Not like that. Well, it did when I was Oh my god. Probably maybe in this situation. Think about it. How how long ago was that? When I went to uni, it was like a strong sort of textile um clothing thing cuz I actually did textiles and clothing for an H&D in textiles and clothing when I left school. Um and I did it there, but there was a big textile department at the university. So maybe there's like some kind of weird Yeah, maybe I need to look into it. Yeah. Okay. So, how did you get into sport? You say you're a recreational athlete. So, how did that journey kind of happen? And what were you would do you think you would have thought you'd ever done a 70.3 when you were younger? Yeah, I think um I mean when I was little I did swimming and tennis. Like our parents really wanted us to do sports. So even though we didn't do them competitively, we would do them consistently like every day we probably would be doing something. Um I suspect it's because we had a lot of energy and needed some way to burn it. Um but I think if you you know like asked me told me that I was going to be doing a 70.3, I'd be like what even is a triathlon? Like I had absolutely no understanding of triathlons even like marathons. Like it wasn't something that I knew. And I think like so many girls when I hit kind of teenage got my period I very much fell out of sport a little bit. Um so that consistency very much went and I just didn't know how to deal with swimming in period is a little bit awkward especially if you know a couple decades back that was even more awkward than it is now. So um yeah, very much fatal sport like still did it very casually at school and uni in like kind of team sports but like not know any as consistently or as kind of like definitely not professionally and I think my running and triathlon journeys kind of came roughly around the same time. So I I think I started running around like mid20s. My flatmates used to do this thing where they would book a half marathon abroad and train for it together and then make it like a girls holiday to go and do a half marathon somewhere which is really fun. And I went and spotted them one year and I was like this is really cool. Like I've never seen anyone do a half marathon. Didn't know this was a thing but like this like this feels like such a cool thing to do. And I remember asking my PT whether he'd think like I could do something like that and he was like yeah 100%. Let's like train for it. It'll be fine. Um, but I think by that point, like I've never probably even run like maybe I ran a 5K at some point at school, but like not really. So, complete beginner. Didn't really know what I was in for. But it was nice to have a coach at the time to like help me do the sessions and kind of just also I think like you know about I think this would have been like maybe 10 years ago like you had no expectations or like there was no really understanding of like what's a good pace like all that kind of stuff. So, it was so easy to start running cuz you kind of just went out and ran and you saw some people in a park maybe if you were lucky and that was kind of it. So, yeah, it was a nice time. Um, and I think I just caught the bug of like having a race or like a challenge to train for. I I just found that it gave me such great consistency because like I knew I was doing something that I haven't done before. And even though maybe like I wasn't even though I haven't done it before, I always believe that like if you train well enough like you can do it. You might not be the first one like but you can do it if you like do something with training and intention. Um, so having these half marathons and then triathlons like gave me that consist consistency of like okay it's like a few weeks or a few months that like you're really going to get that consistency in because you want to do that race and you want to enjoy that race at the end and you know it just I don't know it really helped me from that perspective and it made me feel really capable cuz most people can't do half marathon or a triathlon so I just think got addicted to that feeling of like working hard for something doing it crossing that finish line be like this has been great. Like what what am I doing next? So I think that's kind of yeah how my journey I think developed over the years. Yeah. So you caught the bug. It sounds like that's really interesting what you were saying that you knew that if you trained for something you had that belief already. So that must have come from somewhere like with your do you think it was from doing sport consistently when you were younger or maybe I think part of it was I think part of it is seeing other people do it around me like I think it's been so helpful um having my friends and like my flatmates train for a half marathon and like I'd go to classes with them when I was working in London and I was like well we kind of do the same thing in a class so like if I can do that with them here then maybe I can do the half marathon Um, and I think the more you do it, the more you believe that you can do slightly longer things, right? Like you've done a 5K, well, why not a 10K, you've done a 10K, why not a half marathon? And you just keep building and building and building. Um, so yeah, like I think, you know, when I first signed up for a half marathon, if someone told me to try doing a 70.3, I'd be like, absolutely. Like, no way. That feels like way too hard. But I think the more you do those things, the more capable you feel of, you know, training for bigger um goals. Yeah, definitely. And it's that sort of it's not like going straight into doing something big. It's kind of like gradual buildup. Some people do go straight in for something big and and some people sort of like to build I prefer to build up gradually and I think it's better for the body as well probably to do. No, I'm the same. I think when we my friend wanted to do the 70.3 and I've done a few sprints before and I kind of was the one who's like why don't we just do a standard first cuz it's kind of half the distance. see how that goes and if we like that then let's do the 70.3. Um I think she just wanted to go like full in and I was like no let's actually do the one in the middle and it's kind of training for it anyway so it's fine. So yeah I'm very much similar to you where I'd like to build things gradually. I feel like it just makes it more enjoyable and again it like helps with the confidence piece of it doesn't feel like it didn't feel so impossible to train for a 70.3 because I knew I've already done half the distances. So like doubling the distances, maybe it's a weird mental endurance thing, but like doubling the distances doesn't feel like that much of a thing. It's not too Yeah. It's not as bad as I mean, it's still pretty intimidating, isn't it? When you get to like your first time and you think about the distances and you're like, "Yeah, okay. Think it's going to work?" Yeah. I don't know. I've never done it before. Yeah. So, we talked a little bit. So it was your first you've done your first 70.3 just a few weeks ago out in your half and the inspiration behind that I'm guessing was your friends doing it or was it just like it was your goal as well? Um I think the friend definitely like tipped me over their edge right like if your friend is doing it you have to do it with them I think. Um, but I've done a few sprints and I think I just really enjoy triathon as like as a race more so than maybe just running races. I don't know what it is about having three disciplines. I just enjoy having that variety during a race. And I also enjoyed the variety in the training that you end up getting because you're doing three disciplines rather than one. Um, so it just felt like a natural like challenge after doing a few sprints. It was kind of like, okay, well, let's build it up and see whether we can do more. Um, and I'd much prefer to do, it sounds pretty weird to my friends when I say them, but like, I would much rather do 70.3 than train for a marathon because I haven't done a marathon yet. Um, and in my head I was like, 70.3 feels like a more enjoyable thing to do than a marathon. So, let's do that first. Yeah. No, I get that totally because it's more you've got the variety of training like you say. You're not just running every day and it isn't all in one block and it's just it breaks things up definitely. So it's it is a different thing. I didn't do a marathon until after I'd done like three iron man. So but I mean I didn't see the the iron man marathon is not the same as a standalone marathon. So yeah, I didn't do one for a long time after I'd done triathlon. So, it's it's something that's people do sometimes. They want to do the marathon before they've done Iron Man, but it's like a it's a completely different kettle of fish in my opinion. And the training is different for it. Yeah, I think that's definitely true. The training is completely different for a like even a half marathon versus a 70.3, it'll be it'll feel very different. Yeah. More much more run volume and then it can get I think it put me off doing you know half marathon training a long time ago. I did, you know, my first one and it was like, oh, I'm sick of running now. I just want to stop running. And so, yeah, swim, bike, run, you can do it. Bit of mix. It's good. Yeah. So, did you always believe you could finish it or was there a little bit of self-doubt there at all? I mean, I think it's it is a scary distance, right? Cuz I knew from doing the half that like it'll take me anywhere between six to seven hours probably to do. So, I was like, there is a long time to keep going. So, I think that was a little bit daunting. Um, but I think I just I think getting a coach was really like I knew I wanted to get a coach because I felt like this wasn't something that I could fumble. Like I did the training myself for the standard cuz I kind of have a basic understanding of like what a training plan involves. But for such a long distance, I wanted to get some help. Um, and I think that was the thing that really like tipped me over there to like, yeah, I'll totally be fine because I've got someone who's done it before, who knows what they're doing, who's helping me with the programming, so I know I'll get the training in as long as I follow the training plan and then I'll be fine on the day and we'll just see what happens. So, yeah, I don't know. I think my brain always goes to like if I can nail the training, the race will be fine. I don't know why my brain works that way, but that's how I look at it. So, in a way, it helps because it it you don't think about the race and the big distances. you kind of think about like the small step in front of you of can I nail the training for the next few weeks which feels a lot less daunting. Um so yeah so I think like there was definitely doubt definitely you know you'd like I remember in the morning of I was sharing an Airbnb with my friend and we were like what did we get ourselves into like it's it's 4:00 a.m. in the morning we're waking up to go swim in a really cold lake and then do things for like you know six hours. I was like, "Why? Why? Why did we think this was a good idea?" But you know what? It was great. Yeah. Yeah. No, it is. It's amazing the atmosphere and everything. It's always worth it when you do it, but you do question. It's like, "Oh my god, I think my first 70.3 I was terrified." And I had no sleep the night before cuz we booked an Airbnb with like next to these bells. Um it was like a church. There was a church in the village and it had, you know, those clock towers that just go off every quarter of an hour. We had exactly the same thing. We had exactly the same thing. And I was like, really? Like it's they're like at 10:00 p.m. in my bed. I'm like, I really hope like after 10:00 p.m. like they stop or something cuz like I just like Yeah. And they just go on all night. You're like, "No." You're like lying in bed trying to fall asleep just like counting every 15 minutes that you're not asleep yet. I know. That's so horrible. Yeah. But you did it. you finish. So that's great. So do you think that completing a the 70.3 changed your perspective on what you're capable of? Yeah, I think doing any challenge like that is helpful. And I this is the thing with SA that I'm really passionate about is getting women to take on bigger challenges and bigger races and do these things that maybe they feel like they can't do. Um because I don't think there's anything else in my like day-to-day life that I do that makes me feel as capable as these kind of things. And there are some fun stats in the US from kind of female CEOs that 98% have done sport professionally or semi-professionally at like university level. Um so there is clearly a link between you know confident success and doing sport. So I think it's really important for women to do more of that. Um, but I guess to answer your question directly, like, yeah, I do think it makes me feel a lot more capable doing the sport. Not just because I do the race, but also because of the training that you do, cuz the hardest part really is the training. You know, you're committing to weeks and weeks of consistency, of waking up early, of, you know, eating well, resting well, all of these things. And I think knowing that you can do that makes you feel like, well, if I can do that, then I can set my mind to other things and do them, too. Yeah. Yeah. And that's happened pretty immediately for you because for some people that takes a while for that sort of connection to happen. It's like I feel confident in this area. Like for me I feel confident in sport but with business stuff it's like less so. And so it took me a while to go oh hang on a minute you've done all this and you know been pretty competent doing that. Why can't you apply it to something else? And so yeah, do you think that I don't think I'm always like I think I come across very confident. A lot of my friends will say this as well, but like to be very honest, like I very much question everything I do all the time. And founding a business is like a very sure way to like really screw over with your confidence, especially doing it solo, right? Because you're getting very little feedback from people. Like you don't have a manager who's telling you you're doing a good job or anything. you're doing so many things that are completely unknown to you and you kind of like have a goal and you just have to keep going. So I think you know going back to sport and trying to like relate well if I can do these hard things in sport like I can hopefully do these hard things in business is a bit of like a self-help mechanism I think for me which is why I keep signing up to these crazy things I'm doing them because it keeps building me up. Yeah. And I guess the other thing with sport is you've got that community with you and you've got your coach who's kind of helping you plan something and you've got that plan in place. Whereas when you're setting up you're founding your own business, you're having to make the decisions unless you've got someone that is on your team that is helping you with that and and giving you feedback. So it is a bit different and yeah, it's probably a bit more challenging as well. So it's probably going to help you you know moving forward with your brand having that in your head. So what was the inspiration behind Stana in the first place what happened? So very much my own personal journey. Um so I when I started running more especially during co I think we all started running more because there was not a lot of else that we could do. I just really struggled to find a sports bra that would work. either it wasn't supported enough or if it was supportive enough it was so restrictive or it chaved or it dug in somewhere or and they all looked horrible like if you were above a decup everything just looks like a bit of a bulletproof vest and feels like a bit of a bulletproof vest. So I just was a bit surprised that a sports bra, which is a product that really has only been created for women, has not been done better. And I started digging a little bit into it to try and ultimately find something better for myself, but generally just educate myself on it. And I came across University of Portsouth uh breast research health group. So it's a whole research group that just studies breast movement and how we can support them during exercise. And I just was fascinated by all the research that was coming out of there and just didn't really see that being implemented by brands. Like even though they do work with brands, they test a lot of sports bras. I still just couldn't really find a product that worked. So, I very naively, I think, thought, well, you know, there's all this data, like how hard can it be to make a sports bra? I'll just like make my own. Um, and I think I've I've worked in startups for a while, so I've always kind of had an inkling to maybe do something of my own, but um I really wanted it to be coming from a personal space and with like a bigger mission in mind. So, that's how it kind of evolved. And I think now um we're maybe like a couple months away from launching and I think thinking about the brand and what I wanted to stand for, I really wanted to encourage more women to have a challenge, you know, pick up a challenge in sport, get into sport, and most importantly like enjoy sport. And part of that is through creating better products that fit women and mean that you don't think about your like what you're wearing when you do sport. Like I think we as women still very much have to really consider what sports bra we're wearing, what shorts are we wearing, what top we're wearing, is things going to fit. I think it's, you know, like we still have to think about those things and I don't want that to be a barrier. Um and then secondly, I think a lot of brands um portray women in sport in still very old-fashioned ways. Like I think we still have brands that over sexualize women in sport um or just you know show don't show different shapes of women in sport or don't show our strength or our capabilities and I really want to have a brand that shows that now more than ever with and everything coming out like I think we really need different imagery for women because I don't know like when I was 14 I didn't see women in sport and I really want that to not be the case for 14 year olds currently you know so I think that's kind of the bigger are the bigger piece behind the brand is to try and encourage more of that. Oh, that's great. Yeah, really nice mission. I love it. Um, yeah. Is that the stats with the they did the study with the marathon times and they found women finish like it's like a is it 4% quicker? It's like quite a big percentage quicker if they had like a better fitting sports bra or something. I think the Well HQ you have you heard of? Yeah. So the the stat is actually that if you don't have um well for starters a lot of women do run marathons without sports bra which to me sounds crazy but I am a little bit bigger. So like for me even walking outside without a bra feels horrible. So um but the stat that I found fascinating is that um women's body tend to compensate if there's too much movement and discomfort around your breast. So if you're not wearing a sport of bra, your body tries to prevent the pain ultimately. And it does that when you run by shortening your stride. And what that means is that when you're running a marathon, you're basically running an extra mile because your body is trying to compensate for that discomfort. So that's why even on a performance level, having a supportive sports bar is actually really important for your performance. You know, similarly how we'll think about trainers, like you're not going to go and run a marathon in a pair of like Converse shoes, right? But we would go and run a marathon without a proper sports bra. So I think we need to start thinking about sports bras in a similar way because it can actually really impact our performance but more generally our comfort and we all know like the more comfortable you are the better you perform. So yeah definitely definitely. Yeah. And there was to thinking about like body shapes and you know seeing that in I remember seeing a a photo it was quite a while back now actually. I think I sent it to my dad because I was like this is really interesting. I don't know why I said it like that. It's very bizarre. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was had like load of women lined up and they were I think it was the Olympics or something and so they showed them all the different sports and the different body types and I was like that's really cool cuz they're like prof not they're Olympic athletes but they just all look completely different and some of them are like really muscular, some of them are tall, some of them are short, some of them are more skinny, some of them are bigger and it's you know it doesn't it's really cool because they sort of embody their sport whatever they their sport is and we do need you know the ampic thing I just read something recently about that how we're going backwards now we've like sort of you know built up quite a great good community supportive for women and then it's like what's going on what are we doing I don't like I think it's really important Because when there's a study that I remember reading where they surveyed why men and women exercise and the top answer for men was for fun and the top answer for women was for looks to look a certain way. Yeah. And we wonder why we have such a gap in the UK but also across the world of women participation in sport. Because if the only reason that you're exercising is because you want to look a certain way and let's be honest, that certain way is a very unrealistic, you know, expectation of a female body, then of course you're not going to enjoy it. You know, that's not going to be enjoyable thing for you. So, I think it's really important for us to have different imagery of women in sport to just know that bodies can look different. Strong bodies can look different and actually exercise is not just about how you look. It's about how it makes you feel and how capable you are. And I just don't think enough brands or any brands frankly are like are going with that message right now. And I think it is really important for where women support is and you know to to try and progress it forward. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So the gap in the market that you want it want Stanner to fill really is that kind of empowering women, giving them that way of making them feel good with product. I think it is making them feel good, but also making them feel like they can take on bigger challenges. Um, and I think it's creating products that are really designed for women. They're not adapted from male versions. They're not shrunk, you know, they're not taken from like a lot of the time I think clothing is just taken from a kind of a sample prototype that everyone uses the same sizing and all that kind of stuff and just actually rethink all these products where they were used to and make them for the female body. Um I think for me especially cuz I'm a little bit curvier I guess than a typical athlete. Like I'm not as straight I have boobs. I have a bit of a bum. Um, so thinking about, okay, like if if that's your body shape, what what are your needs? You know, like we've all I think the like prime example of this is running shorts, right? You have all these really beautiful floaty shorts that I wish I could wear, but whenever I wear them, they're super uncomfortable for me. So that automatically makes me think, oh well, maybe running isn't for me if I can't even fit in the shorts that everyone's wearing. And I think we need to be really careful with kind of fashion and sportsware as an industry to not make people feel that way and design for all the different shapes that we have because I can do a 70.3. I can run a half marathon. Like I'm still a sports person yet the industry makes me feel like I'm not because I can't fit fit into some of the clothing that exists, you know? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So that kind of leads on to how how your own athletic journey has influenced your brand and and the products that you're going to create. So you say sports bras are one of the things that you're creating. Is that the only thing that you're going to be looking? So to begin with, yes, because as you get into creating products, you realize it like costs a lot of money and I'm kind of selfunding this at the moment. So we had to kind of be sensible and just start with one. And I think my thinking was I'd rather do one thing really well than do many things averely. So we I spent almost like two years I think on the sports bra. I had three different prototypes. We tested it on myself. Like I did the triathlon in the sports bra. So can confirm it can sustain 70.3. Um and I did a high rocks in it. Um, so like I really tested it a lot, but then also tested with other people in other sizes, right? So I've like gave it to some of my friends and like friends of friends um who are in different sizes to just make sure that it doesn't just work for me, it works for other people as well. Um, but all of those things obviously take time and effort and money to do that. So if I want to create every product with the same rigger, like that's going to take time. So I want to start with the sports bar, see how that goes. hopefully people love it as much as I've loved it and my friends who've tested it loved it. Um and then from then kind of keep going and creating more and more products from um yeah to expand the range ultimately. Um but I think my experience ultimately dictates yeah the products that we develop and how we make them. And my perfectionist self is also about I think why we're doing them the way that we're doing them. No, that sounds really good to to get that. You know, in the sports bra, as you've talked about, is probably your most important bit of kit, which is probably not how people would see it. We sort of look at what we look like and you know what we're wearing on the outside, but actually that's going to make more of a difference to us than anything else. Definitely. Yeah, for sure. And like in a triathlon, a sports bra is for me was so important. So, I'm a I think I'm a 32E. Um, so not necessarily, you know, big by any by any, you know, standards. Um, about basically the average in the UK, I think, but, um, finding something like that would work under a tric that could get wet in the water and then still be fine, that I could cycle with, but then also run with. It's not it's not that easy um to do. So, it was definitely I think doing triathon definitely helped with the development because I was really very much thinking like okay like well we can't use any padding or anything like that cuz that's just going to get wet and horrible in the water so let's not do that. Um and you know like it does inform your product development. I think I think that's why some of the brands that are coming out now um from runners are so good in terms of the product because they really live you know the lifestyle bras are probably pretty good. I mean, I don't It's been a while since I've bought a sports bra, to be honest. But I'm quite small, so I can kind of get away with really crappy products, basically. I'm not very good. I had Yeah, it's been a long time, but some of them are so uncomfortable and just Yeah, I don't know. Like this the hooks and stuff sometimes bend and things, you I've had some really nice ones which I've really liked, but then the hook and eye bent when I put them in the wash and it's like a so frustrating. Yeah. Again, something we looked at. I we did not have a hook and eye cuz I have exactly the same experience as you cuz you wash it a few times and then the the hook breaks and then trying to do it up at the back while like it's like impossible. So yeah, we definitely looked at all of those things. Um to try and Yeah. make sure it's like as as good as it can be. Um yeah. Well, that sounds amazing. I have to check it out. So, what's been the biggest challenge then of of building that brand from the ground up? I saw that you were in marketing before. Is that right? Yes. So, my background is in marketing, so I have no fashion background. So, I think that part was definitely hard to figure out. um you know like I've never designed anything and I wouldn't really call myself a creative in the sense that like I don't I mean I love a good mood board but like it's not really what I live and breathe. My marketing side was very much more numbers driven and looking at you know like how do we optimize the customer journey and things like that. So it was very different to your usual creative fashion side. So figuring out all of that and the supply chain was definitely difficult practically. Um, so finding the right people and I think fashion is just such a strange industry because it's, you know, most suppliers don't have websites and like it's unless you know someone who knows someone's actually really hard to like find your way in. So that was definitely a challenge. But I think the harder thing actually was more the mental load of starting something by yourself and a like the mental load of like doing all the decisions by yourself and you know like not having anyone to kind of like rely on to do the decisions instead of you. Um, and then also, um, just like learning everything new, you know, like there's so many things that you've never done before. And I think doing so many things new where you're not that good at any of them is really hard. Like it's a really hard thing to do. Um, so I think yeah, I think the mental load has definitely been surprisingly harder than I think I anticipated. Like I thought the hardest thing was to actually make the product but actually um getting through the mental thing of it has been tough which I think why sport has been so helpful for me because it's a great way for me to you know go for a run after like a hard day at work and just get rid of some of that anxiety or some of that kind of thinking and just feel good about myself again if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, that does make sense. So that sort of leads me onto the question of like how you manage your energy with, you know, founding a business and also trying to train for a big event 70.3. Now you I guess you're not training for 70. The last month has been delightful. I'm not waking up at 6:00 a.m. anymore, you know. Um but no, I think actually um the 70.3 has been really helpful to create structure in my day because I almost like sit down on Sunday and like plan my training for the next week. And having a coach for that has also been incredible because it takes away my decision load cuz I don't have to think about what like I just need to make sure all the training is done and she kind of organized it for me so I know what I'm doing when and that creates the initial structure for my week and then I add in all the work on top of it. Um, so that's been great and in a way it has been helpful that I am working for myself that I can create a bit of flexibility with timings and stuff. So, um, I can go to the pool at like 8:00 p.m. and start work at 10:00 p.m. and just work a bit later. Like it's not that hard for me to do. Um, so that has been helpful. Um, and I think a lot of the exercise gives me energy. Like I've always been a person who do some type of movement most days. So that hasn't really changed and that's been good. That said, I think the last few weeks of training where your volume and your load goes up is quite hard energy wise because just trying to make sure you're like eating enough and resting enough and like you are just tired because you are doing three-hour sessions and your weekends are basically you know you're doing break sessions and all of that kind of stuff. So it is it does take the energy out of you and I think it's just a case of being a bit kinder to yourself if you're a bit more sluggish at work say so that we're doing a lot this you know weeks but it is temporary and um you know you can get back to it later. So yeah I think this speaks a trough like anything and it's just um being yeah aware of that and being kind to yourself with the different different periods. Yeah, that's really good advice for people is being kind to yourself and and also the temporary nature of it as well. It's like this isn't forever and you made the choice as well to do it. You know, it's like you're choosing to to invest your energy in that and the benefits obviously outweigh the most of the time, you know, sometimes it the they don't and it's time to sort of have a look at things, but yeah, you know, most of the time it's pretty you can kind of manage things pretty well. I think it's also a case of preparation. Like I think um and maybe social media isn't particularly helpful here where you know everyone seems to be doing a marathon all the time or doing a triathon all the time and like that's not what most most people can't do that. And ultimately if you're doing a day-to-day job and training on the side like you need to be prepared that some of those higher volume weeks are going to be tougher on your body. So you need to be prepared. So maybe don't book a triathlon or like a marathon like the week of your like big presentation for the year. You know what I mean? Like just be mindful of those things and be prepared. Yeah, definitely. No, that's a really good idea for people because you know some people don't do like everything at once, you know, and it's too much. We can't and you don't have to either. You know, sometimes the culture sort of celebrates and look at everything you're doing. And it's like, yeah, you can do that, but it's not necessarily that you're going to function at your best. And it comes back to that being kind to yourself. Give yourself a little bit of space. And it's not a bad thing. It's not negative. It's not, you know, something to be sort of looked down on or anything. You can you don't have to cram it all in. Agreed. And I think you need to be um I think honest with your goals. Like you can't have everything all at once. Like I know especially as women I know that's what we've been told but like no you cannot have everything all at once and you just need to be honest about that. Like I think when doing the 70.3 like I didn't have a time goal. I didn't have you know like I straight away told my coach like look I want to do the training because I want to be able to do the volume and I want to like enjoy the day like know that I can do the volume and not you know really struggle with it. But like I'm not going for a certain time. Like I don't want to set a PP in anything and like because I know physically that like I would not be able to do that and also start a business at the same time. Like it's just not going to be feasible for me to do both of those things. Um and I mean to be honest like personally I've never really done races for times. Like I know a lot of people do and I think it's great that if that's the goal that you want to set, but I think we also need to normalize not doing something for time and not always setting time expectations and just having expectation of like I want to do a challenge. I want to train consistently or like I want to just do something different and that's enough of a goal. Like it doesn't need to be a sub to whatever or I don't I don't know what goals we're setting these days but you know like it can just be enjoyment and consistency you know. Yeah because otherwise it can become another thing to like for you to get stressed about and to to be worried about definitely and feel disappointed. I think the thing that makes me sad is that people will do a marathon and then they feel disappointed because the time isn't in line with what Instagram tells them the time should be. And I'm like, you've done a marathon. Like 90 whatever percent of people have never done a marathon and will never do a marathon in their life. Like you should be proud of that achievement. And yes, if timing is something that's important to you, fair enough. But I think we maybe think about that a little bit too much and forget why we do the sport. It is for enjoyment and to feel capable, you know. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned social media a couple of times with can be a bit of a double-edged sword, can't it? Like it's useful and, you know, can be really helpful, you know, when you're building your brand to some extent. Um, but yeah, I have mixed feelings that about it. And sometimes, you know, I'll have clients that I'll tell them just don't use it for those, you know, like if it's making you feel awful, then just have a break from it for the next few weeks before your big race. So, you're not seeing everybody going talking about and people say all sorts of stuff that isn't really helpful. So if you have that break then it just gives your head a little bit of space takes the pressure off. It's such a weird we were actually talking about it with my flatma yesterday because it's such a weird thing where on one hand seeing a lot of people do the sport helps right like we you know seeing a lot of women do marathons it's motivating you know it makes you feel like well if they can do it I can do it. But then on the other hand, I don't know how we got there, but I think social media creates such an expectation that it almost puts people off now where they're like, well, if I'm not running a certain pace, if I don't have a certain gear or if I don't look a certain way, I can't do the sport because that's not what it looks like on social media. And that's a shame. Like, I think that's not the reality obviously. And you just have to go to a park run to realize that most people do not look like influencers when they're running, you know? And you do not need all the gear or like fancy sunglasses or a carbon plated shoes. Like I I mean I think it's really easily done. Like I remember when I joined the training group for the triathlon um because it's like a bigger group and there's a lot of people who are really really into triathlons and I remember being a little bit like scared because I think the first two conversations that were happening there was about power pedals and I'm like what is a power pedal? Do I need one? What's going on here? Um, and carbon cheese, which also I've never run in carbon cheese. And like the kind of the message was like, "Oh, well obviously everyone's racing in carbon shoes these days, so like how are you guys breaking them in?" Or something along those lines. And I was like I like I was like, "Oh no, I'm going to now need all these things." And obviously you don't, you know, like I think um it's important to remember that um you know, triathon especially I think with the logistics people can get a little bit um yeah hung up on that. It is represented like that, isn't it? You know, all the photos are of people on these snazzy bikes and stuff. It took me ages to get a time tri I think I didn't buy a time trial bike until I'd been doing triathlon for like ooh about seven or eight years something like you know I took quite a while cuz I I knew it was more about the training to be honest like you know having the plan and executing it well. It's more about that when you first start. Definitely like all the stuff isn't going to Yeah, for sure. It's not going to make it but you know it's not it's not you're not investing in the right area really in the No. Agreed. I suppose we want the shiny sort of flashy stuff, don't we? It's more exciting than training every day. For sure. You know, I mean you have to do that I think a little bit in the sense that like getting in your outfit always makes you want to go out and do something, you know, like there is a little bit of that. I totally agree. But I think yeah, for triathlon especially, like I did all of my sprints in my Olympic and my kind of commuter bike that was I don't know maybe 200 pounds I paid for it or something like that which it was a road bike but like that was it. Like I didn't need anything more complicated. And I had one tryuit that I've done maybe five triathlons in. I just like the only one I could find and that was that. Um I've never run in carbon cheese to be honest. I'm not a fast enough runner I feel like for them to make a difference and I quite like my knees and ankles to be intact. So, that'd be great. Um, I did not have a TT bike for the 70.3 either. I did upgrade my bike. Um, but um it's like I've had my old bike for like six years, so I felt like okay, like I feel like for this we can upgrade it. But I didn't have bars on it and it was it's just a normal road bike, you know? It's not definitely top of the range or anything like that. I just um yeah so I think um I think that's a good me you know important message for women is that you don't need to have everything and you don't need to spend loads of money I mean it is expensive sport when you even if you don't kind of buy everything you still need a bike and you still need a you know there's certain things that you do need which you can get fairly cheap you don't have to go all in for so the most expensive stuff know my husband did Iron Man last year and he's got a road bike and he said he put it in transition at one race and some guy was like, "Oh, that's a an old clunker or something." You know, something really unflattering about and he was like, "What's wrong with that bag?" It was like probably quite heavy, you know, like an old, you know, had it for a while. Not not the most expensive thing, but you know, he finished and he did a really good time. So, yeah, it doesn't matter. Yeah, I don't think it does matter. I think you really I have a few friends who now want to do triathlons and I kind of tell them look find a friend with a bike because I bet you you have a friend who has a bike has sitting in the garage they're not using and you can just borrow that borrow that for a few months. Um running is easy cuz you just need a pair of trainers and that's pretty much it and a good sports bra. And then swimming, you just need a pair of goggles, right? And like a swimsuit. Um wets suits are a bit harder. Like you do probably need a wet suit, but vintage is your best friend. You can get a lot of wet suits on vintage and that's kind of it. Like you don't need to over complicate it. Um so yeah, I think try and make it easier and cheaper for yourself if you're getting in. Yeah, definitely. When you first start out and then you know it naturally sort of you progress if you stay in the sport then you naturally go oh actually I want to upgrade this or I want to change that because it make a difference to me. So yeah. Yeah. So um talking about like community and mentors and role models have they helped you along the way? Any communities or people that stand out? Yeah, so I joined 10 women which is a community in London and Bristol. Um I'm in London so London was the one that I joined. Um initially actually when I was training for my standard cuz I wanted a group to go out and cycle with. I felt really nervous cycling with myself in London. So I found the group that did laps in region spark on Wednesday. It was all women, so it felt quite safe for me to go because I, as I said, didn't have a fancy bike and I didn't have all the gear and I wasn't very fast. So I was kind of like wanted a girl only group because it felt a bit safer than having a mixed group, which I know can be quite um speedy, which is fine. It's great for them, but for me at the time, that's not what I needed. Um, and they were great. Honestly, they I would really really highly recommend finding a community that's like welcoming and can help you out because I got so much advice from that community. Um partly because so many of them have done half iron mans full irons are doing all these crazy things and they've like been there done that. So they have all this advice that's really helpful that is really small things but like they really adapt like putting boiling water into your water bottle the night before so all of your sugar is like dissolved like it's such a tiny little thing but like it was so helpful. Um but yeah and I think it's also helpful for um just like surrounding yourself with people who have done it makes you feel like you can do it too. And the girls have been so great at, you know, every time you doubt yourself be like, "Oh, I'm not really sure about this." They'll be like, "Of course you can do it. Like, I've done it, so you can do it. It's absolutely fine." Um, I think community plays like a really massive role in enabling you to do those things. And I also think it does a really great job at like making you take on bigger challenges because again, you are cycling with these girls every week and they're like, "Well, you can totally do a full if you want to. like you don't have to, but if you want to, like 100% you can do it cuz we've all done it and we'll do it with you. So, I think yeah, community for these kind of things is really really helpful. Yeah, definitely. And having that So, do you think that's the kind of thing that you want to create with your brand as well, that community? And I think so. I think it's um I think it's interesting like I think a lot of brands are starting their own kind of run clubs and things like that and I don't really want to do that because I feel like we have enough of that. Um but I do want to support other communities especially women focused community and I want the brand to come across in a way of like like when I don't know in marketing when we come up with brands we often try and give them a persona like a style a tone of voice and I always said that I wanted Stana to feel like a bigger sister um who've like maybe done a few things and like is the one that will always cheer you on to do whatever crazy thing you've decided to do. So, I very much hope that we can we can kind of be that sort of brand for people that cheers them on and gets them to do big things. Yeah, definitely. And supports their Yeah. their goals. Oh, that sounds nice. I like it, too. Um, obviously you've got the brand launching, but have you got any other goals in in the process? And where can people find out, you know, be put sort of first on the list to find out more about when you launch. Yeah. So, I think Instagram is probably the easiest way to find us. So, um our handle is we are stunner. Um so, hopefully easy enough for people to find. Um that's where we'll definitely be updating like when we launch and the website and everything. And we're starting to cheat some of the photo sheet as well, so you can start to get a look at the product. Saw a bit. I saw Elena in there. Yes, Elena from Tenn Women was one of our models who kindly volunteered to spend a day modeling. Um, so yes, um, she's been great actually. Um, but yeah, so that will probably be the best place to find us and we should be launching in the next month or so, so you can get your hands on the bra soon. Yeah, super exciting. Yeah, that'll be really amazing. So, are you positive about it? If you've got like quite a bit of interest building, I think you got to stay positive. Yeah. Um, honestly, I think selfdab does come in because sometimes you're like, am I just going to launch this and my friends are going to buy it and no one else will ever know about it. I obviously hope not, but I'm doing everything I can to like spread the word, meet some communities, and just like really um, yeah, promote it as much as I can. Yeah, definitely. Okay. And have you got any other races lined up or that you'd like to do on your wish list?

Sorry. So slow that someone always comes in when you're about to chat. Um I couldn't hear them. So Oh, that's great. Um so in terms of races, so I've purposefully did my race in May because I wanted to train through the winter, which I know feels odd, but I wanted to train through the winter and have that motivation and then in the summer kind of enjoy my fitness a bit more. So do long rides, you know, go, I don't know, cycle to a vineyard and have a nice time and take the train back and like do those kind of things more of um and then um maybe sign up for a race towards the end of Yeah, I think I want to do a half marathon because the run for my 70.3 wasn't my best run and I just I think I I mean it was my first 70.3 so it's understandable but I just felt like I didn't have a lot to gave on the half marathon and it almost like made me question whether I can even run a half marathon. So, I think I want to do half, of course, I can, but I think I want to do half marathon in the end of the year and like just train for that just to kind of be like, "No, of course you can do a half marathon. You're absolutely fine." So, I think that's probably what I'll sign up for. But, um, I kind of had a rule with myself that I'm not going to sign up for anything for a month because I just want to absorb what I've done and then think about it after. Um, and my friend really wants me to do another 70.3 next year. So, the same friend that we've just done it with. So maybe 70.3 next year, but that's to think about next year. Got a lot going on at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you get through the launch and things and and then see. But the half marathon is a good time of year, isn't it, to be looking for those kind of events. So that's great. Oh, well, good luck with that. And I hope the launch goes well as well. It's really nice to speak to you and thanks for being my guest today. I'll put all the links to your kind of social media and things like that on there. And you've also shall I put a link to your substack as well because that's interesting about you know your thoughts about women and the the kind of environment for sports clothing and things like that. It was good. Yeah, I think the sapstack is very much my kind of like really honest thoughts and it's really varies from just what's happening in the business and the building to kind of you know my thoughts on the industry and what I'm learning as a bit of an outsider to the industry. So yes um would love for you guys to read it and um yeah I'm glad you found it and enjoyed it. Yeah. No, that was great. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. It's been a great conversation. Thanks for listening today. Have a great day. Take care. Bye for now.