EP 19 | Chronic Illness & Athletic Performance

What does it really take to compete as an athlete while living with a chronic illness? In this episode of The Healing Chronicles, Amanda sits down with Katie fresh off her competition at the ATHX Games in Birmingham.

They explore the unique challenges and lessons that come with balancing chronic illness, training & performance and how movement can become a powerful form of medicine when approached with self-awareness and compassion.

🔑 In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Katie’s experience competing at the ATHX Games
• The realities of being an athlete with a chronic illness
• Why listening to your body is essential for performance and healing
• How movement can support the nervous system, immune health, and resilience
• Finding balance between pushing limits and honoring rest

Whether you’re an athlete, someone navigating chronic illness, or simply curious about the connection between movement and healing, this conversation will leave you feeling inspired and empowered.

Transcript

EPS 19

Amanda: [00:00:00] Welcome back to The Healing Chronicles. I'm so glad you're here today because this episode is an inspiring one. I sat down with Katie just a few days after she competed at the ATHX games in Birmingham. We went deep into what it really means to show up as an athlete when you're also living with chronic illness.

Katie opens up about the resilience it takes to train the importance of listening to your body and how she's learned to use movement, not just for performance, but as medicine. Whether you're an athlete, someone who's navigating chronic illness. We're just curious about how to create a healthier relationship with your body.

This conversation will leave you with powerful takeaways about strength, balance, and self-trust. 

Katie: I was shaky, Joe. Big time. Before I went on, I was like,

Amanda: Yeah. Your nerves?

Katie: Convulsing. 

Amanda: [00:01:00] When was your last competition and have you done a competition, this style of competition before?

Katie: no, no, never.

Because my last, yeah. I did an ultra marathon, a hundred K about two years ago. That was my last one. And then I kind of just focused on the business,

so I had been training for this one since like December, January, so yeah. Good. Like nine, nine months. Never done anything like this before. Especially when it comes to focusing primarily on. Like your strength. So the bodybuilding shows that I used to do, were obviously focusing on your physique, how you look.

Whereas this was purely performance. So how. Heavy you can lift. So never done that before. My partner who I did it with, Steph, she has done weightlifting in the past. That's her [00:02:00] background. So, and she had done this event last January in London, so she knew the lingo.

But for ATHX games, they change the strength movements each year. So

Amanda: Right.

Katie: could be training like specifically for your squat and for your press like I was this year, and then next year they'll do like deadlift. So it changes, but yeah, I never done a competition where you, you focus on like strength performance and then switching it immediately into endurance and then again switching it immediately into Metcon.

So that in itself is a skill. And upon reflection that is a hundred percent what I need to work on. In terms of. Switching from like an endurance based sport, like running ultra marathons to running fast in a short period of time. Yes, we trained for that, but when it comes to the crunch, you really find out how.[00:03:00] 

How much you need to perform on the day. It's a completely different environment, you know, adrenaline, nerves, everything. So definitely need to work on that transition. 

Amanda: So the decision to switch gears to this sort of competition after your ultra marathon experience, like is this like you just wanna try and see how far you can push yourself or like just trying something new just for fun? Or where did that decision come from?

Katie: Yeah, good question. I, so I've always done bodybuilding ever since I was 16, so I have been a bodybuilder for a very, very long time. So I've already got like a good base of strength. And that's been my passion. So transitioning over to endurance. And I knew that I was a good runner anyway. I have been ever since school, so I knew I had like the, the basics there that I could build on.

But the partner that I did it with, [00:04:00] Steph, I've watched her do Hyrox, but I never got that calling to do a competition like that. So when she presented this competition to me, it kind of suited me a little bit better because there is that strength element to it and I knew I could excel in that, in that space.

And I just love the grind. I've never really had the calling for weightlifting or power lifting or anything like that either. It was just the combination of all of them. I was like, yeah, you know, this could actually be really, really fun. 

Amanda: It's kind of like a triathlon where you, you're not just focusing on one sport, one event. You have like that variety, that well-rounded kind of training, like, and it, and it's strategic too.

Katie: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It was funny you mentioned a triathlon because on the way back from comp, my dad was like, oh, you'd be really good at at Iron Man. You should do an Iron Man. And I was like, it just doesn't [00:05:00] interest me.

Amanda: Mm-hmm.

Katie: I'd have to spend so many hours running for the Ultra marathon.

It took up so much of my time.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: like training for something like an Iron Man, it doesn't have that strength element to it. Yes, you still need to resistance train to support your body in any kind of endurance training, of course, but actually focusing on like performance strength is so different.

Like the movements are so different when you, when you're strength training for running, or bike. And I just thought, no, that, that doesn't interest me. Like what was great about this comp is that it was the endurance and the Metcon are in real short bursts, so it is so taxing on the body.

But the training to become goods at those different disciplines is actually. Not like laborious or you, it doesn't feel like a chore. Because it's really intense and I think that's what I prefer [00:06:00] rather than, you know, going on a five hour zone, two run. Do you know what I mean?

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: Sure

Amanda: yeah. The amount of time In, in your training just to get those miles on it. It's a lot. It's a

Katie: is.

Amanda: And then, yeah, to add in biking and swimming into the mix. I don't think I'd have time for that either.

Katie: You know, it's so hard as well when you're trying to run your own business, you know what it's like. And you try and have a life as well. It's so hard to juggle these things. So if you are, I mean, if you're really passionate about long distance running, then you obviously enjoy it and that's cool.

But yeah, it's just not, I've tried it and it's just not, it's not my thing.

Amanda: It's not what you wanna dedicate. Hours and hours a week too.

Katie: no, no, it's not.

Amanda: that's

Katie: Well, I, I, I do miss listening to extensive amounts of podcasts though.

Amanda: Yeah. [00:07:00] lot of time on your hands.

Katie: Yeah, for sure. My run coach was always like, you are running too fast. You're not, you are not in zone two. You are just running too fast. You need to slow down. You need to put a podcast on and stop listening to music. So I think she used to go through so many podcasts.

But

Amanda: right?

Katie: Exactly, exactly.

Amanda: Learning

Katie: Learning and running at the same time,

Amanda: Yeah.

 we were just talking about before we hit record about that the comment that I made about not always knowing. Where that line is, what's appropriate to push my body and what's too far,

Katie: Hmm.

Amanda: like how to find that balance between pushing your body and honoring your recovery. And I find personally some fear still there. And I know that that fear has held me back from. Maybe doing [00:08:00] more than I could be over the past few years. but it's so easy when you have a chronic illness diagnosis to use that as an excuse and maybe say that you're like honoring your body and your rest, but really it's more so that fear of pushing yourself too far.

Do you, like, do you feel that way sometimes? Or how do you navigate that?

Katie: So now that I'm in remission, I would say that my confidence and resilience is at quite a high level. Because I've, I've done a lot of trial and error when it comes to knowing where my limit is. So now I can help people really narrow that time scale so they can learn and tune into their body a lot quicker than what I did.

But I would say I'm in such a good place now. I know exactly how my body is gonna react at different phases of prep and [00:09:00] also how it reacts to comp, because obviously you're in such a heightened state. With nerves and adrenaline and the exertion that it takes out of your body. We know that digestion is not, a priority in your body at that point.

So I know that I'm gonna have to adjust my diet for X amount of days after comp. And leading up to comp when like I'm carving up or whatever, I have to be quite careful as well because overloading my body with carbohydrate is also not ideal. Especially when we're talking about fermentation and things like that.

So I've just, I've got it down to a T now where I know. Yeah, what protocol I need to take. But with that said beforehand, so like years ago when I was navigating active Crohn's yeah, my confidence was in the bin because, I had no idea how my body was gonna react on said day. [00:10:00] It's just been a lot of trial and error, but I feel like now I've built up, like I said, such a, a good amount of resilience and confidence within my body.

I know what works for it and what doesn't. And not that others are completely dissimilar, but a similar protocol works for anyone that suffers with gastric problems because it's all about stress on the bowel. I think I'm, I'm pretty good with that now. Even people that don't have like digestive problems or IBD or anything, they have gastric stress because a lot of people just don't understand that digestion is just not a priority for your body at that point. So you can't do the same thing as what you would do if you are not putting your body through that and expect the same result because it. It just doesn't work that way. And that's why athletes have nutritionists to help navigate that.

As well, if you're traveling a lot, that's a another layer because of [00:11:00] hydration and things like that. But , I felt good, you know, even leading into comp and I was carbing up pretty heavy. I was in, I was in a really good place and. It, showed on on comp day because I got the numbers that I wanted to get.

So I'm really, I'm pleased. There's like another layer of like satisfaction when it comes to like getting your numbers and then also like going in and coming out of comp not having like major, major flare up symptoms, not feeling so fatigued that you're just laying in bed all day 'cause your CNS is in the bin.

That in itself is such a great feeling. And again, it's just building that confidence within your body. 

Amanda: It's like a confirmation to yourself of all the work that you've been doing over the years to build

Katie: yeah. Yeah.

Amanda: you just, you just said something actually that sent like a shockwave through my body. When you said it, you said you don't know how your body's going to respond on the day [00:12:00] of,

Katie: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: and I think that's where that fear lies for me is, because I've had a terrible experience with a half marathon where I. Started into a flare up while I was still training, and I refused to listen to my body and slow down because I had signed up for this race and I just continued to train and I did the race and it was a horrible outcome. And I ended up with such severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that every muscle in my body just seized up afterward.

I could barely walk. It was awful.

And. I think that's where the fear lies for me in this sort of competition setting.

Because when I say I'm gonna do something, I wanna be able to do it. if I don't feel that my body is, going to be consistent enough to know how it's going to perform on the day of, you know, that could be such, a disappointment [00:13:00] if you're just not feeling your best and then you don't get that outcome that you're hoping for and that you've trained for, and put all that work in for, right.

Katie: Exactly, and it's so hard to replicate as well. 'cause you can't ever replicate how you're gonna feel in training on the day. So to a certain extent, it is about trial and error. And I learnt this actually uh, with the horses because the way that a horse. Reacts to not only the rider's nerves, but also its own nerves when it comes to different environments and traveling

the more you take the horse to competitions, the better behaved it is because it gets used to traveling and the environment and the nerves and how the rider feels, et cetera.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: I could take that knowledge and kind of like shift it into a completely different discipline. So the more that you do things like this and, and the more you put yourself in the position of competing, or it doesn't necessarily have to be a competition, [00:14:00] but just pushing your body out of its comfort zone, then the more you're gonna learn about it.

And the better protocol you can put in place to support it. So even when it came down to like the gels that I was gonna take, I went through so many gels to find out what gel and what carbohydrate drink didn't trigger my Crohn's. It was insane, but I had to go through that because I wasn't gonna take a gel that I didn't know how I was gonna react to on race day.

And then how a full blown flare up, you know? So, yeah, there is a, an aspect of trial and error, but, but trying your best to replicate how you are gonna feel in a training perspective is gonna set you up for a really good stead when it comes to actually turning up on the day and, and putting in your best performance. 

Amanda: Yeah, and I mean, you just brought up kind of the whole reason why I wanted to have this conversation about movement with chronic illness because you don't have to necessarily be a competitive athlete [00:15:00] to benefit from movement, even despite your diagnosis. And I feel like this is such a. Sticky subject and a, a place where so many people get tripped up because when they aren't feeling good, and, and especially if you're in a place of experiencing all these symptoms and then trying to get a diagnosis, trying to figure out what's wrong, you know, how long that journey can be and arduous that whole thing.

Can, can be, But I think one of the things that people do when we're not feeling good is we stop moving. And that's a mistake that I made years ago. I convinced myself I was sick and I stopped moving as a result, when really movement is medicine and so many reasons, like we could break down every physical process in the body, from the brain, all the way down to the toes, why movement is [00:16:00] beneficial.

So many people stop moving when they have a chronic illness diagnosis.

Katie: They absolutely do. Yes. And, you don't have to. I think we've spoken about this before, but you don't have to train for muscle hypertrophy or for performance. You can train to help lower inflammation in the body or gut mortality or whatever. You just need to pick the right movements. And this is why I know you're speaking earlier about the app that you're using to train, but on the, the workout section of my app, I've broken it down into like level one, level two, level three, and each level will induce a certain.

Level of inflammation in the body. So if you are inflamed, your gym goals aren't gonna be the same as if you weren't experiencing any symptoms. So it's just about learning, again, like how to tune into your body and give it what it needs at that time to help it heal quicker because. As you [00:17:00] said, movement is medicine.

And these things are really gonna help you from a psychological perspective, not just from a physical perspective, which I think is a huge piece of the puzzle that gets missed out, especially from medical personnel because , the dopamine, that we experience and the healing power within our body is just elevated to another level when we're actually moving our body and giving it what it needs.

Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. And for, for so many reasons, like you said, you're, central nervous system. And lately I've been kind of geeking out on like heart rate variability. And even just looking at that and the role that that plays in your recovery, like it's, it just keeps confirming for me that like our bodies are meant to move.

And whether that's training for a competition or whether that's you know, gentle stretching and walking like. you said, there's an [00:18:00] appropriate movement for every kind of phase or stage that you're in, and it's learning about that. But, but one of the biggest mistakes that we make is we stop moving. And I know that pain plays a role. Pain is a tricky thing to navigate. If you're, if you're navigating chronic pain it can be really hard to move your body when you're in pain. But I would love to like. Kind of hear your thoughts on how, you know, how you perceive limitations within your body and like when you know you can push yourself and when you know it's time to rest a little bit more, how do you, I know you've spent years figuring that out, but how do you navigate that?

Katie: I have become really vigilant on. What is going on in my environment and how that is affecting my body. And I will check in with myself regularly. [00:19:00] So a lot of the time when we have flare ups or we have symptoms that are bubbling away, maybe we haven't had a restorative sleep for a while.

Maybe we've got some external stresses going on with work or relationships. Maybe nutrition hasn't been on point for. A few days or you went out for a meal four days ago or you had a glass of alcohol, whatever it is. I know exactly. What I need to do to keep my body in homeostatic so that it's just in a stable place all the time so that I can get the maximum out of my training.

And like you said, this has taken a while to figure out because I was doing it on my own. So it is taken a long time, but now that I've arrived and I've got that framework, I can take that framework and implement it. During different seasons of my life and different phases of my life.

So the things that you might not register, you [00:20:00] might not think about that are actually quite a big deal that will affect you on a physical basis. Knowing what knob you need to adjust at different times, whether that's like the nutrition, or whether it's movement, or whether it's psychological work or sleep or recovery or whatever it might be.

Just knowing what you need to do at that particular time is what keeps me in a really good place so that I can train hard. All the time. And I don't need, obviously, I have deload weeks and stuff, but I don't need long periods of time where I have to step back because I've really messed myself up.

And I used to do that all the time, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. I used to do that all the time, especially when I was competing in bodybuilding. I would just be like so ignorant to. Everything that I've just mentioned, and it used to get me into horrendous states. 

Amanda: The very nature of bodybuilding [00:21:00] competitions, like the whole prep for them and the, The nutritional side of leading up to competition and being in a deficit long term, and then the dehydration and the like. So much of it just is so counterintuitive toward what we're reaching for to just be well on

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: a daily basis.

Right.

Katie: Yeah, it's hard. It's it's quite a toxic sport. Really stressful on the body. But then again, so is something like running marathons really stressful on the body or what I've just done, really stressful on the body. So they all cause stress on the body. It's just knowing. What framework to use to support it as much as possible.

And yeah, that in, in itself is a, is a skill. So, and it, it, it takes time if you're doing it on your own and you don't have a coach, but it's so worth it because there's nothing [00:22:00] worse than running yourself into the ground and just putting yourself in a place where you can't move your body at all.

Amanda: And that's, that's what I see from, from a client perspective, I see that same kind of pattern of people being. Maybe not aware of what they're doing, and they're pushing themselves just in their daily life, you know, too, too hard. So they're maybe not getting enough sleep and they've got a lot of stress and they're trying to do everything for everybody, and they're saying yes to everything.

And then you just get to that point where you just push yourself too far and you're. Just, wrecked.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: then it's, it's so much harder to pick up the pieces and try and put yourself back together when you've gotten to that point versus like what you're speaking of and kind of checking in daily and saying like, okay, you know, do I need a little bit more sleep?

Am I getting, is my nutrition on point? Like, how am I managing my stress? And then it's like being able to [00:23:00] kind of turn those dials and

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: And make adjustments.

Katie: Yeah, exactly. And it sounds a lot, right? It sounds quite overwhelming when we're talking about it, and I completely get that. You know, I, I would think, where on earth do I start? Like, how do I even start doing something like that? Absolutely. But once you start, it's gonna be messy, but you just need to start.

And once you start building in these practices. It just becomes habitual and you just become so in tune with your body, don't even think about it anymore. And you just do these things automatically. And that's when you can look back and think, oh my God, like I felt fine. You know, I didn't, I didn't actually react or I didn't feel I horrendously fatigued or I didn't have any symptoms.

I wasn't having any abdominal pain or anything like that. And then you can think, yeah, I'm, I'm in a good place and. Like I said before, it's just such a great feeling. Of course you're gonna have body ache, like, my body hurts [00:24:00] so bad, but that's completely normal. And you just have to give yourself a bit more TLC and allow yourself to recover.

Part of that is learning how to slow down, not feeling guilty about that. That's a whole nother chapter, and rebuilding that relationship with rest or building it if you don't have it. Rebuilding that relationship with food and yeah, just kind of like tying it all in together. Like we always say, having a multifaceted approach to everything whether that be like healing the body or whether it comes to.

Preparing yourself for comp or just getting in the gym, just walking into a gym for the first time and building the confidence in the gym that you might not have now. Because a lot of people are scared of the gym you know. If you are gonna go into a comp, you just don't know how you're gonna feel.

Like I had been squatting 1 0 4, 1 0 5, quite easy for a while. Enough to think that is the number that I wanna hit [00:25:00] during comp, if not more. So me and Steph warmed up. You get half an hour to warm up, which actually goes so quickly. It was wild. And then we walked onto the floor and we racked the bar to 1 0 5, because I thought that's what I'm gonna start with.

I've got eight minutes to get the highest number I can get. I'm gonna start with 1 0 5. I unwracked the bar and I was shaking at this point, like my whole body was shaking. It was. It was wild because of the adrenaline and the nerves, and I did a rep and I thought, it feels okay.

It feels okay. My legs feel a bit wobbly, but I feel fine. I did another rep and felt okay, did a third rep, and oh my God, I had to grind that out as if I was like doing a one rep max , but I grinded it out and I was thinking at that point, holy shit, I'm not gonna be able to do two more reps.

Amanda: What have I done?

Katie: Like I, I've just about got the third rep. I'm never gonna get [00:26:00] two more reps outta that. I had eight minutes. So I thought and I probably wouldn't have done this before, but I thought to myself, you need to slow down. Like you've got eight minutes. Even if you don't put any more weight on the bar, you have eight minutes to do this.

Well, technically four, because Steph had four minutes as well, but it wasn't like a 32nd countdown going on, you know? So I installed all the lessons that I'd learned when it comes to slowing down, and in that split moment, I just reset my mindset and I took five breaths, deep breaths with the bar, still racked on my shoulders.

'cause if you put it back, you fail. And after that time, I did another rep. It was hard, but it wasn't anywhere near as hard as a third rep. And then I did the fifth rep and I, and I, and I got the number. If I hadn't of learned how to slow down [00:27:00] or how to not let panic take over my mind, or if I didn't learn how to control my nerves, then I probably would've failed.

I probably would, would've completely failed my squat. So the same goes for learning how to tune into your body and how to. Move it depending on what you're feeling and it all links together. All these practices that you learn, all the knowledge, that you build it, it all links together to allow you to stay in remission long term.

Because that for all of us that have. I, BD or chronic illness is like our North Star, right? So it doesn't matter how advanced or how beginner you are, none of that matters. These practices are what matter. And you can install that into any part of your life, relationship, work, career, training it all, it's all the same feelings.

It's just learning when to, you know, kick [00:28:00] them in at the, at the right time.

Amanda: I love that. And it's wild. What. Nerves and adrenaline can do to your

Like physically. It's not just a mental thing, but like you said, the physical response in your body, your legs shaking and knowing that this is a weight that you've lifted

Katie: yeah.

Amanda: or thousands of times,

Katie: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's

Amanda: totally different.

Katie: Yeah. Yeah. And, that might be in the gym as well, even if you're a daily gym goer. And a lot of people put like their ego, you know, on the frontline and maybe they go into the gym and they can't lift as as much as they did the week before, and they get all stressed about it and they start hating on themselves.

But it's the same thing, right? It's just in a different environment. Because that, that's gonna cause more stress on your body. So just having some self-compassion and learning to slow down and just tuning into your body [00:29:00] is it's, such a big thing that gets missed.

Amanda: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Because so many people, I think, kind of picture progress as being linear.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: start here and they wanna go up here, and they don't realize that there's so many ebbs and flows along the way. And that you could have a shit week at the gym and just feel like terrible. And like, I feel weak, I feel tired, you know, frustrated. But then the next week is a new week and

Katie: And you smash it.

Amanda: goes. Yeah.

Katie: So , it's everything that we do in life has its own little journey and experience. So you just have to enjoy them all and learn from all of them. 

Amanda: Okay, so walk us what's, what was the next lift you did your squat?

Katie: I did my squat, and then we went straight into military, strict military press with a barbell standing no jerk allowed. 10 reps, so [00:30:00] I. I've, I really wanted to get 40 kilo, but I didn't wanna go in with four, so this was the predicament I had. I didn't wanna go in at 40 kilo and I was only getting nine and a half reps at home, so I didn't wanna go in 40 kilo thinking, oh, you know, the adrenaline might get me through so I can get the 10 reps.

I wanted to get something in the bag because if I did 38, which I knew I could do quite easy, I've got 38 on the board, and if I could get 40 great bonus 

Amanda: if you failed at 40, you don't, you don't get anything for that.

Katie: I wouldn't have got anything. And the likelihood of me then getting 38 from fatigue was , maybe I couldn't have got it. Didn't wanna take the risk basically. So. Yeah, the eight minutes started, I went straight into 38. I got that, and then on like the seventh minute, so we had like a minute left.

We racked it to 40 and I failed on [00:31:00] rep eight. Yeah. So I was like, well, at least I got 38 in the bag.

Amanda: I

Katie: that was a mindset.

Amanda: decision. Yeah.

Katie: Yeah. Whether that was a mindset thing. I don't know. Maybe I thought. Maybe I could have grinded it out, I dunno. But then it was very, again, strategy comes in huge 

here because for the Metcon I needed to do 40 burpees, didn't want to exhaust my shoulders for the 40 burpees and the 30 kilo sandbag hoke up from the floor onto the shoulder.

So it was very much like, I just didn't want to exhaust my, my shoulders to the point of no return.

Amanda: Yeah.

Arms.

Katie: Yeah, you know, and we had 40 thrusters to do as well. So I was really pleased with 38. It is just wild how that two kg really changes things.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: So I'm gonna try and get 40 kilo now the next time I train,[00:32:00] 

Amanda: That's your goal?

Katie: that is my goal.

Not in a composition standpoint or anything just at home. I need to get this number.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: I must get it. And then after the strength finished, we went straight into endurance. So it was a 12 minute run as fast as you can. And then, so Steph was doing 12 minutes on the C two bike whilst I was doing the 12 minute run.

And then we'd, and then we switched. So it was essentially like 24 minutes that was all about distance. So however fast you can go, my legs felt okay after doing the squats and going straight into the run. Yeah, I was actually quite pleased with that performance because I'd been practicing outside running where we had incline.

So it was very, very nice running on a, on a flat track. It was very pleasant indeed, so that was good. Came forth on the bike, so I was really pleased with that. It was just, we had 30 minutes to refuel after that with like carb gels and carb [00:33:00] drinks. And then we had to do the metcon. So the metcon was probably the hardest discipline that we, we had that day.

Again, nerves, fatigue. We didn't know how our body was gonna react, even though we'd been doing comp run throughs every single week for the past month. Completely different environment. And yeah, we were just knackered at this point, really depleted. So it was, yeah, we had to pull it out the bag. We were like a minute and a half over our usual time, which was a bit disappointing, but.

I mean we were really, really pleased with how we performed for the whole day, considering it was the first time we'd done it together. So yeah. Yeah, it was, it was fun. It,

Amanda: and how many people competed in the weekend?

Katie: yeah, good question. It was actually really well organized, so everyone had their own [00:34:00] time slot. In our age group across the whole comp. There was 1500 people,

Amanda: Wow.

Katie: but that's just for our age group. And then I think there was like three or four age groups. Maybe three. Yeah, maybe three. So I don't know.

'cause there were a lot of people there, wasn't there?

Amanda: It must have been. Yeah, the environment must have been just crazy to have

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: of people all competing at the same time.

Katie: Yeah, it was, I'd love to to actually find out, but it felt like there were like a thousand people across the whole day

Amanda: Mm-hmm.

Katie: that, yeah, I, I dunno, they actually add your numbers up, so they add your ages up and that's what makes your, your age group and we were one year out from being bumped up [00:35:00] to the older age group

Amanda: Oh,

Katie: my partner Steph was like, God dammit, why are you so young?

Amanda: Yeah, 

Katie: I mean, I'm not young, but

Amanda: could have dominated if you were in the

Katie: yeah, we was in the age group above. That would've been like, that would've been great. But yeah, we were in with like the 20 year olds. So sorry, Steph. Next year though, we, we will be bumped up to the, to the

Amanda: there you

Katie: age group. So we'll see what happens. But yeah, we're just gonna like regroup now and focus on training ready for for the next year.

Amanda: What would you say is your biggest takeaway from this experience?

Katie: Oh, I think that I actually got really emotional, I actually got really emotional when I was on the bike, which was really not a good time, but I, I was like, don't get emotional now. What are you doing?

Amanda: I still have so much to do.

Katie: I know, and [00:36:00] I was just saying to myself, I'm so proud of you. Like, I'm so proud of you for how, how well you're doing.

So I think like my. Main takeaway would be just to acknowledge that and acknowledge that all the hard work that I put in to that, for that one day just, just completely paid off. And to be so utterly proud of that is. Just so heartwarming and fulfilling. It actually makes, it really makes me emotional every time I say it, but there's other people around you that are like, oh my God, so proud of you.

You did so well, blah, blah, blah. But it's not until you truly feel that from within. It's just on a whole nother level. And I think just allowing myself to feel that, has been like the biggest takeaway because it's just put my confidence up like another notch. And I think that in itself, regardless of the [00:37:00] numbers, regardless where I was placing, is just such a huge achievement.

And yeah, it's just a feeling that I will now have for the rest of my life, which I'm really grateful for.

Amanda: Oh, I love that. Yeah. And that's like, that's winning in my mind because can enter these things and I know you, I know you're a super competitive person in that you want to do well, but.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: It sounds like you were still able to be present and, and be feeling that gratitude and pride in yourself while you were there.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: be so easy to get like caught up in things that are going on and just

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: you, it can take you to, to bad places in your mind if you let it right.

Katie: Absolutely. . And I've managed to actually like transition that into different. Aspects of my life. Like I used to be a really competitive tennis [00:38:00] player, as a kid, and I play Paddle now, and I used to get so frustrated with myself if I wasn't playing right or if I was hitting the ball out all the time, or if I wasn't winning and.

That would completely take over my whole game. And I would lose because I could not control my emotions and I could not regulate my emotions in any capacity. But now that I have learned these skills, I can then implement that into paddle, for example. And I have so much fun playing Paddle now. Even if I'm playing rubbish, I am still laughing.

And like, like you said, that in itself is just. Winning for me. So yeah, that would definitely be my, my biggest takeaway. So roll on the next one.

Amanda: Oh, I love that.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: That's amazing. so happy that you could reflect on this while it's still fresh in your mind and kind of break it down. And again, I've said this before, but you [00:39:00] inspire me to, to do more, to do better, to push myself harder because you kind of give me that example of what's possible and then I'm like, oh, wait, maybe I don't have to be scared of. This,

Katie: Yeah. I love that. I love that so much. And hey, you're already doing it, you know, look at this week. So

Amanda: yeah,

Katie: get you there. Yeah, you're gonna be running marathons, you're gonna be p bing,

Amanda: yeah,

Katie: you are gonna be smashing it. So I can't wait to watch that journey, but yeah. That's really beautiful. I love that.

I can, I can do that for you.

Amanda: yeah.

Katie: Yep.

Amanda: I think it, and I think. The fact that we are speaking about this to our community of listeners, people that have chronic illness I just think that's everything because I. When I was struggling with my illness, nobody was saying that. No one was saying these things. No one was saying can have a diagnosis and still do the activities you [00:40:00] love.

You can still be competitive. You can still run, you can still push yourself in the gym and have goals. You're not just written off. You

Katie: Hmm.

Amanda: I think that that's just everything people need to hear that.

Katie: Absolutely. It's, it's so true. And we obviously don't get that level of support by any means. But all these things add up. Nutrition movements, the psychological aspects, all these things are in alignment when it comes to getting yourself into a state of remission. So , multifaceted approach for sure.