When "Just Finishing" Isn't Enough: Caitlin Thompson on Competing, Belief, and Going After More.

She watched strangers cross a finish line in Hamburg and cried. A week later she signed up for her first 70.3 on a $200 road bike with no training plan and no idea what she was doing. 

In this episode, Caitlin (@caitlin.thompson.tri) shares how losing one path led her to discover something deeper, a fire she couldn’t ignore. What began as a weight loss journey turned into a relentless pursuit of what she’s truly capable of.

We talk about the moment everything shifted, from simply wanting to finish to choosing to compete, and what it takes mentally to stay in the race when things start to fall apart.

This is a conversation about belief, identity, and the courage to go after more, even when you’re not sure you deserve it yet.

If you’ve ever felt the pull toward something bigger, this one will stay with you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hi, um, everyone, and welcome to Strong Core. Um, I have the pleasure of um sitting here today with uh Caitlyn Thompson, um, which I've been following on Instagram for a while, and truly enjoyed seeing her spirit almost on flame just growing bigger and bigger. Before we started the interview, I asked her, is it true this is what I'm noticing? And she said, Oh yeah. So I think we're going to talk a lot today about the fire within and how to not just maintain it, but how to keep it growing and declare I'm going after it. That's kind of what I observed and checked before, and it seems like um that's what's going on, among other things, probably for Caitlyn. So thank you for coming. Thank you for taking it. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

And uh I thought we'll start with the usual kind of for all the listeners who don't know you, and I actually also don't know your behind the scene, behind the bike in the pool um story. So a little bit about yourself, whatever you'd like to share about your family, if you if you're working, where you where you're living, of high level, so so people to get to know you a little bit better.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Sure. Yeah. So I'm Caitlin Thompson. Um, I have three children. Uh I have a 13-year-old daughter, a 16-year-old son, and an 18-year-old son. How I'm old enough and crazy enough to have an adult child is beyond me. Um, and then I have a husband, he is a pediatrician, and we live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Great. Do you currently work?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I don't. So um I used to own my own bakery, and then um, lo and behold, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, um, which prevents me from, you know, eating gluten and baked goods. Um, so my career kind of went out the window with that diagnosis. Um, but at the same time, that was kind of when I was really going to pursue my um triathlon career. So it was kind of like this nice segue um so that I could kind of more fully immerse myself into triathlon at that time.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it out there and I'll I hope that we'll go back to it kind of as we transition the conversation. Um, but I wonder if we have some parallel path. Um, for me, I was in the corporate world for many, many years, four kids, and um, I remember when I was just even playing with the idea of leaving corporate um job, even my husband I think was a little bit mortified. What are you gonna do? And I was like, I'm gonna find other things to do. I have a dream to do a triathlon. I didn't know about Iron Man back then, and I wanted to do a PhD. And my story, and I'm wondering if this is similar, we're gonna get there, is I felt like I needed to, I wanted to, not needed, to swap those identities so there's not a void void there of I used to have you know a title in a company to I'm I'm I have other things, I'm not just taking things out of my my uh personality, if you will, my identity. I've added other things that are filling me up. So I don't know if this is a similar story or very similar, very similar.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

I just felt um like I had put all of my eggs in this basket of owning my own business, and it was like getting really successful. Like I felt like I was kind of on the brink of like, you know, needing to hire more people and you know, being this businesswoman that um, and it really did fill a bucket for me of I can be successful, I can do my own thing. I think having a husband who goes through medical school and residency and like seeing him pursue these big goals, I just never wanted my kids to think that like my husband was the only one who could do big things. So when that was stripped away, I was like, well, shoot, like I'm definitely gonna, you know, go go after this next thing that was really starting to like set my soul on fire. Like I love triathlon and I was um feeling that almost like gravitational pull towards endurance sports.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

So that's just a step back there. I I I totally, my heart, I feel like in all of those stories, I'm finding Sisters of my Heart. There's so many similarities, I think, in that. You know, for the listeners who don't know, there's this uh concept called the hero journey by Joseph Campbell. A lot of movies, including Star Wars, are mimicking that um journey where the hero goes out there to the world, has to fight demons, then he gets some help. Then he finds himself and goes back and kind of gives back to the community. Uh researcher took that um very famous story and journey, it's a psychological journey, and call it the heroin journey. And I think what I'm finding in all those stories of iron moms and endurance moms is the heroin journey. It's their ability to join something masculine. That's the story of the heroin, right? They join what's more masculine than iron men, right? Losing some part of themselves to become stronger and being among men, and then something in life challenges them. It could be motherhood, it could be loss of something like even if it's um by consent, leaving your business, leaving corporate America that kind of breaks things for them. They go on that journey, they have helpers along the way. It doesn't always have to be the husband, by the way. There's other helpers, coaches, and community, right? And then the story of the heroine is not just coming back to um the community, it's coming back to herself and connecting with the feminine parts parts of her. So I think it's a long story. I'm sorry if I bore the listeners, but it's a long story. I think this is why each of those stories I'm saying, you're a sister of my heart. Like I get what you're saying and what it felt for you. So I'm gonna put it back uh with a question for you. Take us back to um, were you an athlete before you become a mother? What what kind of sports have you done? And then when did triathlon and iron man got into the picture?

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Sure. So I definitely was an athletic kid. I did track and cross country and swim team um in high school. I was never very good. I was just kind of like, you know, mediocre, but like really enjoyed being active. And then I got married very young and had babies very young and um really did not do anything. I was at that time um a member of a very high-demand religion who placed a lot of emphasis on motherhood and staying at home, and really like that was my identity and what I thought I should do. And um it was very patriarchal in that they, you know, like kind of wanted like these traditional gender roles of like the husband works and the mom stays at home. And I really bought into that narrative for I don't know, a good 12 years of motherhood and like supporting my husband on his medical school journey. Um I also gained a lot of weight during that time because I was, you know, pretty like inactive and um, you know, had three babies kind of back to back. And my husband was gone a lot. We didn't have money. We, you know, there was no gym, like I couldn't go to the gym. And so um it it honestly started as like a weight loss journey for me. Um, I was tired of the way that I looked and like wanted to, you know, get back to like some athletics. And um, so I I kind of went on a weight loss journey. I took a job at the YMCA because they gave me a free, a free gym membership. Um and yeah, just started this journey of like getting fit. Um and at the time, one of my good friends here in Michigan was training for her first full Iron Man when we um were moving away um after residency. And she's a person who um, you know, like she she just thinks she can do whatever she puts her mind to. And I was like, this girl's crazy. Like she's so crazy. I can't believe that she's gonna go, you know, run 140.6 miles. So I kind of we moved away, and at the time my brother was living in Hamburg, Germany. And um I went out to visit him and his wife, and we were walking the streets of Hamburg, and he's showing me around, and we stumble upon Iron Man.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Thought so.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Um, and it was towards the end of the race, so there were finishers coming across the line, and the emotion on their faces. Some of them were crying, some of them were limping, some of them, you know, like it just looked so incredibly difficult. And I had this moment, like I'm just sitting there crying, and I had this moment of like, I have never done anything in my life that has brought me to that point of wow, like I just did that, you know, and um really pushing the physical limits of your body and mind, and I was so drawn to it immediately. Like I wanted to do it. And so honestly, like probably a week later, I signed up for my first Iron Man 70.3.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Immediately, wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, I just like kind of jumped right into it. I had not been on a bike, I hadn't swam in many years. Um, so luckily it was, you know, a full year away. Um, I think I signed up in June or August, or I'm sorry, July or August, and it was in June. So um, that's how I did it. Like I was just so inspired by watching the Iron Man and just wanting that feeling that I saw when those athletes came across the line.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yes. And did you and did you get it in your first finish line?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, I yeah. So I did um 70.3 court d'aile, and it was way harder than I could ever imagine, and it was so humbling. I literally finished it on a$200 road bike. It was just, you know, it was bad. Like looking back, I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that I attempted that with the gear and the minimal knowledge that I had, but that finish line meant everything. It was so amazing. And then of course, the next year I signed up for the same race and I brought two other women with me. And the next year I signed up and I brought three other women with me. You know, it was just like this like you have to do this thing, like it's so cool. And you know, eventually that snowballed into I need to do a full. And um, it's just been an evolving process of what I want for myself in this journey.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

I just want to validate what you said about um you saw a friend back then, it seems impossible, but the idea was there, and then you brought a friend, and then you brought more friends, and again, in each of the interviews that I had done, doesn't matter even what distance, but it's usually the endurance where it's a little bit hard to make that leap. There was always, and I've said it in other interviews, uh so you'll hear me probably again if you're following along with the with with the podcast, it's always someone, it could be a spouse of your one of your girlfriends, it could be a mom or another mom, someone at work, someone at the gym, but someone who kind of um gave their hand and said, join me, and yeah, you were crazy enough to join. And so I think if there's a takeaway here is the power of either join someone when they are calling you to join the journey, or if you're already on that journey, just offer to someone. You'll probably hear a lot of time you're crazy, there's no way, but someone will agree to to join to join you, and we know that the numbers are declining, and so it would be so great to see more women on on that. We're very it depends on the race, and specifically about moms, I would say, because when you register for a race, it's male-female, right? They don't know how many of them are dead or moms. Uh, but we know many are fathers. We see a lot of wives standing and cheering. If it it depends on the race and how hard it is, it's between 10 to 25, sometimes close to 30 percent participants, women, so even less than that, mothers. And so anything we can do for each other to reach out and encourage to mothers mothers and women to join the journey, I think we're doing each other a favor.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah, that's a huge passion of mine is bringing more women to the sport, encouraging them, showing them. I think, you know, a lot of the reason that my story resonates is because I'm not an at like I'm not a I wasn't a collegiate athlete. I wasn't um a high performing athlete. I think I've come from a place of like true beginner, um, and just worked my way up to the place that I am. And and I think that's the reason that a lot of age groupers at least can relate to my story.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Absolutely. That's what grabbed and why I wanted to bring you here. Um, I've seen you through the years. You started as an average age grouper, and then we're gonna turn around and talk about what what changed, where was that fire coming from? But I don't want to say all of a sudden, I definitely saw the change, but you started to believe uh I can and I will, and I and I'm seeing it in the work that you're putting in. At what point you just named yourself. I wasn't a beginner, I wasn't even an athlete before college or during college. I became a fitness mom, if you will, um and then got into the at what point do you remember you started to call yourself an athlete?

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Oh, that's a good question. Um there was a point, probably five years into the journey, that I was just in the bathtub late one night, and I for many years had said that I don't care about how fast I do it. I just, you know, I only want to cross the line. And there was a moment where I was like, I am such a liar. I'm a liar, like I'm lying to myself that that's all that I want. Um, and I think it was this moment of being truthful with myself about where I wanted to go and being willing to get there because at the time I was even hesitant to hire a coach. I didn't want um to have any pressure of like letting people down. Um and honestly, like investing in myself too. Uh, it felt selfish, and I think that goes back to some of my roots of like I don't deserve to do this thing because I'm just the mom, you know? Um, so yeah, I think probably five years in, and I like immediately I was right then and there. I emailed somebody locally, my first coach who I'm no longer with. Um, I emailed that person right then because I didn't want to talk myself out of it again. Um, but I think it was that moment where I was like, I actually do want more. I want to be an athlete, I want to be a competitor. And that's kind of a difference between um, you know, just being an age grouper that wants to finish and actually wanting to compete.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I'm here, I'm hearing the the language around it is compete or complete. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm in the complete. Um, um, I think I have a imposter syndrome where it comes to even declaring where you are at, and and I just love that leap that you took. And so maybe you can tell us what what changed. Uh, you you talked a little bit about five years into this where you are I'm an athlete, I want to compete, but I feel like something else happened within you, just watching you in the last maybe two years or so, a year and a half, where you absolutely uh turned up the heat.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yeah, I think well, part of it is that I hired the right coach. Um I before did not feel like the person I was with um saw me going to the world championship or saw me on podiums or whatever. And my current coach, Kayla, is she's so invested in me and like true belief in my capabilities. And I think that bleeds into like what I believe about myself. Um, but also so I've I've gotten really close to these goals and missed them several times. Um, but I realize how close I am, like it's so close that I can like smell it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

You say these goals just for the listeners, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah, I I really do want to qualify for the world championship. And I've I've missed it by one two times. Um the first time, you know, it was one of those things where like my race really fell apart and I didn't I didn't perform well and it was devastating. But in Florida, you know, ran a sub-Eleven Iron Man, and I was the third in my age group and 11th woman overall.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

And still listeners know that top 10 are qualifying for world championship.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Yeah, so so it was again this well, and there were issues with the new system that they had in place where men were kind of taking the vast majority, if not all. So at my race, the men took all of the world championship spots for age groupers, which was devastating. Um, but you know, after talking to my coach about like, of course I'm sad, but we can flip it around and be like, whoa, like this goal is so within my reach and it's so within grasp. And like my past three races, I've ended up on the podium in fifth, third, and third. So these things are happening for me, and it's it's so exciting, and it's just I feel like once you have the momentum, um, you just gain more belief. And when you have that genuine belief, then the performance comes through. It's when you start doubting yourself that your races fall apart. And I think that's what happened in Texas this past year where I did miss um my slot um because I things started to fall apart and my belief in myself and my capabilities also fell apart.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

During the race or before?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

During the race. Um, I just felt it slipping away and I was so hyper focused on that world championship slot and like the race result that I was not even focused on what I could do in that moment to salvage my my race and my day.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

So yeah, I think so. What changed? I'm always so interested in the mindset and and I guess the sports psychology started. So what changed in the other races? Do you do let go of their results? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah. So and I worked really hard with um Kayla on some mindset coaching about being so present in the race. It's when you let your mind go to race results that you don't get the result. It's so funny because it's when you are hyper-focused on the result, the result doesn't come. And so um really letting go of the result and really diving into the process, um, being super present and not letting my mind wander. So for me, that looks um like during the run, I'm only focused on the mile I'm in. I don't even think about, you know, mile 20 because I'm on mile four. Um and that really salvaged my Iron Man marathon. I was able to run, you know, a great marathon time at Iron Man, Florida just by changing my mind. Mindset.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

I mentioned in other interviews, uh under podcast uh that I've done that my uh son is an athlete, uh, is going D1 in wrestling, and one of the biggest things I've learned along the way, watching him, what he's learning about mindset is, and he has it um written all over big in his room is execution over expectation. Yeah, stay in the moment, execute what you need to execute that mile, you know, that swim, and don't think about oh my god, I have 12 more hours today. I'm gonna cross the finish line, which is really hard to do. That's I love swimming, I'm a swimmer, that's what got me into the sport. I was like, I'll deal with the rest of them later. Well, little did I know that the other legs are so much harder than the swimmer. It's like supposed to be my happy place, and I found myself needing to learn how not to say, Oh my god, this is just the first 20 minutes. I have like a million more hours to go. So just stay present. You have to execute this swim. Very important. So working with Kayla, your coach on mindset, staying present, staying in the mile that you're in, was helpful. Uh, but also you're saying declaring to myself I deserve, I can. I sound it sounds like a lot of in the literature we call it self-efficacy. It's it's kind of the belief in myself, the idea that my by the way, my mantra, I don't know if you have one, so you have a minute to say to think about it. But my mantra that I love is I can and I will. And so during races, I'm not as experienced as you are, but during races when I'm feeling like I'm about to fall apart, I keep I just keep saying it to myself, I can and I will, I can and I will.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

That's very similar to um, I think Kat Matthews said, Um, I am able to try, I can try, I will try. And I've repeated that to myself before too, because you know, I think before races we get so at least I get so nervous about what my performance might bring. Um, and the only thing you can do is try. And all of us have good races and all of us have bad races. And sometimes it's inexplicable why something happens and your race falls apart. Um, but it's just that willingness to put yourself out there over and over again. And sometimes at the scrutiny of, you know, like when I share things online, I almost feel like, oh like, you know, people are watching, and um, but like I don't owe it to anybody to have a good performance. I can only try, and that's all I can do.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yes, you know, I'm smiling because I love that mindset. I remind it to myself, and that's why I keep trying new things, including doing this podcast. But there is this saying in the community, I think, of endurance spare that's endurance sport that are saying something like um race is temporary, but the results on the internet are forever. Something like that that reminds you that actually everything you do is there, but but I think that's the beauty of the I think the neuroscience that we all are much more aware these days, the neuroplasticity, the ability to rewire the brain and say, you're not a failure, if the race didn't go uh the way that we want it, or even if you did not finish, you learned something from it, and you try again kind of not letting the brain believe, um, because it's all thought, it's not facts.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah. And I try to remind myself, you know, like I follow professional athletes and I see them succeed and fail. And it doesn't really change my opinion of their capabilities. Like it's just so I think I'm harder on myself than I am, you know, watching other athletes. I remind myself that people can see my successes, they can see my failures, and just see that I'm human. And um, this is the way it goes. Not all not all races can be good races.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

That's right. And I think, if anything, for me as someone who's watching on the side, seeing the fall or the mishap, if you will, and the ability to rise up, that's resilience, right? To get up after things went um not the way you planned, that's really what I'm I'm after in people, not those who consistently perform. I mean, I admire them, I love watching them, but what I'm inspired more by uh are those who fail and stood up again. You mentioned the way you were brought up, the earlier in the marriage, the religion and kind of the society that had different expectations of mothers. Um, and then you changed the narrative for yourself, which I'm applauding you for. Thank you. Was there or still is any guilt related to societal expectation or people around you that are seeing what you're doing and saying, Isn't it enough? Like, don't you want to spend more time with your kids? Don't you want to spend this money on vacation with the family instead of I don't know, going to Kona by yourself? And I'm not leading with the question. If you don't experience it by all means, not all moms experience guilt.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah, no, I definitely felt guilt. And I think I have felt um some scrutiny from certain members of my family community who still identify with um that religious group and like kind of those more traditional um roles. I have felt that um they look at it as selfish and um it, you know, it's it's coming to terms with a new belief system for myself, but sometimes my mind does slip back to some of the things that I was taught in my youth and growing up about my identity, and um I have to try really hard sometimes to shut that all down. Um, and I think I do a pretty good job of it for the most part. I I genuinely believe that I am deserving of this journey and the time and the resources that have gone into it. And what I like to think about is what I want for my daughter. What do I want for my daughter? And I want those same things for myself, you know. I I don't think that all of my doors were open to me as a younger girl, or like when I was, you know, in college, or um, I I don't feel like the world was open to me because of the belief system and because of a lot of the expectations of me. Um so I I just think about my daughter and what do I want for her? And what do I want her to believe? I want her to believe that she can do literally anything that she wants to do. Um, so I trained.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Um I'm curious to ask. I have four boys, so I never had the pleasure even to think about role modeling for a girl. Yeah, in an interview I participated in, the host asked me, Do you think mothers for girls are doing it for that reason, more so than boys? And I said I couldn't, I couldn't tell by my research because many of the moms were just had mixed gender, so when they say I want to be a role model for my kids, I or even if she said I want to be a role model for my daughter, she also had other kids. Here I'm hearing a distinct this is for my daughter, and you have three kids, right? So I assume they're boys. I can make assumptions about what you're saying, good assumptions, on why it's so important the mother-daughter role modeling, but maybe you can speak them out loud. Why why is it that you're calling out specifically the role modeling for the daughter more so than the than the boys?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah, I and it's not that I don't want to be a role model for my boys as well. I think there are some shifts that I have made in terms of what I expect of my boys as well. I expect them to want their wives to pursue more if they choose to get married or their daughters or whatever. Like I want them to have a different narrative as well. But I think specifically I have felt it's hard to say. Like I I feel like I was very ambitious as a child and as a teen, and I feel like it was really stifled. And some of what I'm some of the fire that I have now, I think I've always had it. It just was like squandered and squashed, and it wasn't given life, you know? So I think I just feel so responsible for making the shift for my daughter. I think that it's I feel the weight of that um like opening the doors for the door.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

I was doing this with my hands, and as you said, that opening the door. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Yeah. Um, I just don't want her to ever feel the way that I felt.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Yeah. And I I think my boys' doors, uh, I see it. I mean, and and like my husband and my brothers, like I feel like their doors were much more open. Um, and I and we see that in Iron Man.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

You enter the room in a different hallway than we do.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Yeah. I I get what you're saying, but I never had the opportunity to ask because my study wasn't specifically about mother-daughter or role modeling for daughters. And when you say that, I uh my curiosity went there. So thank you um for explaining. And I, by the way, never assume that you don't care about the boys. Yeah, there's something extra special, if you if you will, extra weight that you're feeling in role modeling for her. Continuing with, I guess, this thread of of um being in control, paving the way.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Um, when are you at your happiest?

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Yeah, you know, I think my happiest moments come from doing something I didn't know that I was capable of doing. Whether or not that's a training day, whether or not that's a race. Um I love that feeling of I didn't know that was in there. And it's just exciting and validating. Um, I think particularly post-race, because you know, my family's usually there and it's like the celebration of like all the hard work and all the days that nobody really saw. But yeah, I love exploring my limits.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Do you have a memory that you remember in particular that it you were at your happiest? It doesn't have to be race related.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah, well, I mean, one of my happiest moments was at Iron Man, Florida this year. Um it was it was executed, my day was executed to the best of my ability, finally. I think after so many tries of like, this isn't going well. Um, and you know, I had so much support that day. I had, you know, one of my best friends and her husband flew out from Michigan and they were all over the course, like all over the bike course, and they rented bikes and were all over the run course. And my in-laws flew in from Texas, and my aunt and uncle drove up from Tampa, and it was just like this celebration of the goal was accomplished, but like people I love were there and supporting and just there for me. And also at Florida, I felt this because the number of women that were on course was so low, and because we all kind of knew that we were gonna get screwed out of our world championship slots, all of us, I have never had that kind of camaraderie on course ever. Every single woman on course was cheering for me, and vice versa. We were so like it was just this united front of women showing up and showing out and doing the thing that we love. I love it. And it was just an incredible day.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

You just made me happy. So I totally understand what happened to you that day. Yeah. And on the and on and on the flip side, or the other story of it, um, what does a hard week look like when you barely get through it?

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Yeah, sometimes um, I think particularly during an Iron Man build, when the um amount of time, the amount of training that I'm doing is just very overwhelming. I still love it, but some some weeks get very difficult when I feel like I am failing in other areas. Um, you know, I'm not able to, you know, get to the grocery store and prepare nice meals and I'm showing up to things ragged. And, you know, um, I think those are my hardest, my hardest moments of am I doing this thing at the expense of my family and at the expense of the comfort of you know them? And I just that's when the guilt comes and that's when I feel really low.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Yes. I I I I think where I felt the guiltiest was during the Iron Man Builds. Um and I chose a summer, end of summer race, and um I remember my kids would ask, can we go on a Saturday? Can we go today to the ocean? I said, No, I have a long ride. So they're like optimistic and hopeful, and I said, Okay, so can we go tomorrow on Sunday? And I was like, Oh, I have a long run, and I felt so guilty and I felt so proud. And I'm I learned somewhere from a psychologist that said, I guess as a person in general, but particularly as a mom, when you put boundaries and someone else on the other side is disappointed, you know you put the right boundaries. And so and so I knew that putting those boundaries were right for me to be able to get through another week, right? Of another build toward towards an Iron Man. But I felt the fact that I disappointed them. So to self, don't do an iron at the end of the summer where their entire vacation you can know to them.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Um I like the same thing with uh race strategy when you pick your race, and I have to pick races that I build while my kids are in school. That's it's just key to me feeling okay about yes, keeping that balance of my kids are happy, I'm happy, there's harmony in our home, you know, just keeping everything nice and level.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

On a busy, on a on a busy season. Uh I don't are you racing right now towards uh preparing?

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Yeah, so I'm signed up for three halves and two fulls. So it's gonna be a really busy, it's gonna be a busy season. Um, but I I kind of stacked my fulls towards the end of the year, so um my kids will be back in school when I do all those long rides.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Which races are you are you signed up for?

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yeah, so I'm signed up for Iron Man Chattanooga 70.3, and then I will do um Michigan's Titanium 70.3, which is just a local, it's a great little local race. And then I am oh before that actually in July, I'm um going to race as a guide for um an autistic athlete, and we're gonna do I think Iron Man Muncie Um 70.3. And then um my twofolds are Iron Man Maryland in September and Iron Man Florida in November.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Oh, you're gonna love Maryland. That's the one. Yeah, I was so excited. Hopefully, you won't have a lot of jellyfish on like. I hope not.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

I I had some jellyfish in Florida too, and I was just like, well, I hope I'm not allergic. Just keep swimming.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

I'm trying to portray a picture for the listeners who obviously get from you you're busy, three kids, all of them still in the house. How do you structure your days um and stay consistent?

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Yeah, so I do most of my training in the morning. Um it's really nice because uh I live very close to the high school and the middle school. So my kids just walk to school. Um, my husband is up with them in the morning, so I don't actually need to get up and see them off, which is so helpful because um something I've struggled with a lot is my sleep. Um so to not have to set an alarm and um just really prioritize like my body's natural circadian rhythm has been huge. So I, you know, I usually wake up around eight and eat breakfast and I'm out the door by usually nine o'clock. I usually train from at least nine to eleven. Depending on, I mean, of course, depending on what type of race I'm training for, sometimes much later. There are days though that my kids walk out the door to school and I'm training and they're home from school before I get back. And yeah, just the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Obviously, pool, you go to the gym, but for the rest of the run and run and bike, you go to a gym or you do it at home?

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Um, it depends. I mean, here in Michigan, I I unfortunately spend more time on the bike trainer than I would like. Um, so I do have a trainer and I have a full gym downstairs, which is great. Um, but otherwise I will go cycle outside, run outside. We have great trails here. So I try to keep it like fairly close to home. I don't have to travel far to get anywhere, which is great. Um but yeah, and then I try really hard to be home when my kids come home at around three o'clock. And um, you know, I we live so close to the high school that our house is just buzzing all the time. There are so many kids here in and out. And I've tried really hard to create like a safe environment for everybody. I mean, like our pantry is open, they're taking snacks, and you know, just trying to really connect with my kids and their friends. And um they're just great too. They're curious about what I'm doing. They ask what I'm doing, um, they ask what my training was. I one of my son's friends brought me like this giant bag of uh gummy bears because he saw that I was eating gummy bears on my bike, you know, and it's just it's been fun to kind of share that with with my kids' friends. Um, but after school is a lot of activities. All of my kids are involved in sports and music, and so it's a lot, but fortunately two of them drive now.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

So in life, I mean it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah. So I only have to drive my daughter to her activities now. So, but yeah, I mean, it's still a lot. I try to support every activity as best I can. Um and so yeah, I mean, we're we're just going, going, going until about eight o'clock at night. And then it's yeah, by that point, I'm like, uh I need a snack.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

When you miss a workout, it was about I was about to ask, do you ever miss a workout? Of course we do. When would you when you do, what's your philosophy? Are you feeling guilty about it that there's gonna be a red dot? Are you lenient with yourself and say it's okay today, but tomorrow I'll make up? Or is your policy okay, tomorrow I'll do double? How do you deal with missing a workout?

SPEAKER_00 42:42

Yeah, so luckily I it doesn't happen a lot because of how efficient I've become. And because I think like a good coach puts you in a position where you do hit most of your workouts and it's fine. At this point, though, I don't even worry about it. I don't stress about missing workouts. We travel quite a bit, and I don't stress about training while we're on vacation. I try to be really present. So honestly, like if there's a red dot, there's a red dot. And I don't try to make up. I think former Caitlin would have done that because I would have felt guilty. I it's just like evolving also means learning that fitness doesn't disappear overnight, and that listening to your body and skipping a workout is perfectly fine. And just being uh learning to be smart, I think too. Because I think sometimes the best thing you can do is skip one of your workouts.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Yes, I love it. And and I asked a little bit of a leading question here, I know, but I wanted the listeners, those who are struggling, because I used to be like this until I couldn't anymore. Um, for me, when you said something about Protecting your sleep. Someone in one of the Facebook groups for women in triathlon asked, Has anyone did a PhD and an Ironman together? I'm thinking about it. There were a lot of answers, and I think there was only one person that did it, and it was me. There were a lot of answers. I did have, I did it, you know, there were kind of variations, but nobody did. And my answer was it's which just showed me how insane it was because I, for me, really, I became sick. Let me say it this way before I answer what I answered at the Facebook, because I didn't protect my sleep. I think up at night where it's quiet to think and write papers. When your brain is so busy, it takes you hours to fall back in sleep, and then you have to wake up and you know do your workout and take care of the kids because in in our household I'm the one doing this. And so I was so sleep deprived, put into it post-menopause. Um, I was so sleep deprived that um I don't think there was a way out of it other than just um completely pausing to to recover. I I really drew every took out every any possible my answer to this lady was it's totally possible. Anything is possible, right? We learned that, but you will have to protect fiercely your sleep and recovery. More than anything, more than miss more than doing all the workouts, more than although it's important stretch and mobility, more than anything, if I learn out of it, and my biggest mistake was I didn't know how much I needed to protect um sleep and um and recovery. So this is a big tip for you guys listening.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Absolutely, and you know, part of part of the process, I used to wake up at about four in the morning to go to the pool, and um, you know, I was just really grinding it out, thinking that I was doing what was best, and you know, always hitting the numbers, and I was always injured, I was always injured, always dealing with, you know, hurt muscles and just extreme fatigue. And it wasn't until I shifted to, no, we're just gonna work out later in the day, and we're gonna go to sleep and also eating. Something that I am really passionate about is I make our family a nutritious dinner every night, and it is a huge time sacrifice, but it's also investing in myself and what my body needs to recover, and also the fact that my kids are athletic and presenting them like a nutritious meal is it's a gift to them. It's a gift to me. And um, I just can't emphasize how much sleep and nutrition have made a huge difference in my performance.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

I get the where you put the training in, right? Driving kids, I do the same. Yeah. Um, making fresh meals. But for me, even just going to the supermarket twice a week to buy the fresh food, it just takes. I know it sounds like half of the day, it does take half a day. You pick up the dry clean and all that. How when do you do that? Do you do it only on the weekend? So you have food for all the week, or do you like twice a week, give yourself like 15 minutes? I want to know all the details.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Yeah. Um, so when I am at my busiest, I actually have invested in a grocery shop like Instacart, um, grocery delivery, because it does take so much time. It is, and you know, I have big kids now, so they're eating like adults, and it's a lot of food. And so on my busiest weeks, I use Instacart and I just have the groceries arrive and then I feel more able to prepare the meal. Um, but you know, week to week I typically go grocery shopping on Sundays um when, you know, after my workout and when my husband's home and is hanging out with the kids. So, but yeah, it's that has been a recent development as well with me doing grocery delivery because it's just such a time set.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

It's such a small shift, but it it's even this ability to let go of I'll choose the tomatoes.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

Yes, someone else made it. It's okay. And I'm like, who toast these? These are terrible, but I didn't have to go, so yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Um there's three more questions I wanted to touch before um we bring it to a close. I ask everyone because I'm really this is the question that makes me lean forward and and know more. What is your why? Why are you keep doing this? Someone from the side might say, You've done a bunch of these, you've role modeled to your kids, that your mom can do hard things, you've achieved happiness. Why do you keep doing this? Why not do something else?

SPEAKER_00 48:54

I think the answer to that is just a genuine belief that I haven't reached my limit yet. I haven't reached what I'm capable of yet. And I think what I'm capable of, it may shift, but I still think there's more in me, and I genuinely believe that.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

Awesome. So that's your why. And then um when your kids kids are watching you, what do you think they're taking away? What are some of the lessons? You touched on it a little bit, and and even their friends, I and I love that.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

I hope that what they're I hope what they're taking away is that they don't need to be afraid to try. They've seen me not do well. They've seen me, you know, from the beginning. And I want I think the fact that I just keep showing up, I just want them to know that whatever path they choose in life, if they keep showing up, they're gonna get to where they wanna be. I don't care what path it is, whatever they feel passionate about, if they keep doing the things and like putting their heart and soul into it, they're gonna get there.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

And the last question I always ask before the rapid fire, I ask every iron mom is um what would what advice would you tell a mom that is considering entering um triathlon or maybe in the shorter distances, hoping to get into the longer distances, but is afraid of the commitment. Maybe she's not ready, maybe she doesn't have it in her, but she's interested. What advice do you have for other moms like to try this sport?

SPEAKER_00 50:47

You're never gonna be ready. That's the thing is you're never gonna be ready. You're never gonna feel like, oh yeah, like I can totally go run 140.6 miles, no problem. I think it's just showing up, even when you're scared. And um, I think the amazing thing, the thing that I didn't know was gonna happen was the crazy amount of support that you get from other women in this sport. I cannot even tell you the amount of time that has been invested into me and the amount of encouragement from other women. I genuinely believe this is unlike any other arena. Um, I've never seen it anywhere except long-distance traffic on this group of women who genuinely want other women there. It's not a threat to us to have more women and more competition. I want more competition. I want the best women around me. Um, and I think that that is a across the board, that is what women in Iron Man want. They want more women there. So we want you. If you're interested, we want you.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Yeah. What's a what's a good place to start? You you jumped into the half. Um, I can tell the listeners that my best way, after I did an Olympic, I did sprint Olympic, and immediately I was like, I want to do, I want to do half Iron Man. I went and volunteered in a Half Iron Man, and when I saw, and maybe that's where it started for you, because you saw, you see everyone on the race, everybody type, every type of you know, person you can think of is on the course, and you say to yourself, if they can do it, I can do it. That was my that's my tip to say just start because there's someone like you out there on the course.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

Yeah, that's that's funny that you said that because my first thought was go watch one, go watch one. I think you cannot help but be amazed, inspired, awed. I just think the amount of people who are able to do this, like you said, there's every body type. My first half Iron Man, you know, at the time, they the body marking was a thing. So there were eight-year-old man past me.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

78, and I'm sitting there on my bike and I'm like, that's crazy! Like, no way. Um, and you know, it was like also really humbling, but I I am so inspired by the other athletes on the course that that would be my biggest recommendation to anybody who has like even a glimmer of interest, like, go watch it, go be inspired, and then you can't help but want to be like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Such a great advice. Yes, I I agree with you. And I jumped in the middle and I'm sorry about that. But for those who are maybe new to the sport, um few years ago, until a few years ago, on your calf, they would write your age group, your your specific age, not age of group. Yeah, there would be 50 something, 60-something people ahead of you or passing you, and you would be like, I know.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

And it's just at this point, I love it when I see somebody, especially a woman, uh, at Michigan's titanium last year. I was passed on the bike course by, I think she was like 55. Um, and they did body marking. So I I saw her age and I wasn't even mad about it because you know, as somebody who's still, I've got, you know, 17 years till I'm 55, that is encouraging to me. Like if she can perform like that, so can I, you know?

SPEAKER_02 54:37

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

So I love seeing older athletes, and if they're performing well, it's just honestly uh yeah, encouraging to me that my best years are still ahead of me.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Absolutely. It it sounds like it. And uh, at the show notes, I will include your um Instagram handler for anyone interested to see what um a flame that keeps growing looks like. Um definitely in your story. All right. Um thank you so much for taking the time to answer all those long um questions. We're gonna transition to the rapid fire where I'm gonna ask you a few short questions and just answer with whatever comes to your mind. There's no right or wrong, one word or you know, complete a sentence, and if something just doesn't click, you can just say let's let's move on. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

So solo workout or working with others? I want to ask why, but I can't right now anymore.

SPEAKER_03 55:36

Um, one word as a mother. One word as an athlete. What grounds you and what pushes you internal Something inside of me.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

I don't know what the word that I'm looking for is. Something inside of me.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

What is something that you're still figuring out? I don't know. That one's hard.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

There's a lot that I'm still figuring out. I think parenthood, yeah, especially parenthood, sorry, this is not rapid. Parenthood of adults, children. This is something that is I'm really learning to navigate.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

It's different.0, and I think once the kids are I'm not there yet, but when the kids get married and have their own kids, that's another type of parenting.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

We're shifting, yes. We're yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

What's the best advice you ever got?

SPEAKER_00 57:00

The best advice I ever got, um when I was training for my first 70.3, I met a man in the pool who had a bat an Ironman backpack, and we started talking, and I was telling him I was training for my first, and he's he told me, you are going to fall in love with this sport, and it will become you know a part of your life forever. And that has maybe it's not advice, but it was just like this like golden nugget of believe that it's gonna be better than you think it's going to be.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

And that has stuck with me for all of these years. I still remember that.

SPEAKER_02 57:48

Okay, I love it. Now finish the sentence.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

I feel I feel most like myself when I have accomplished a really big goal, a training day, a really long bike ride, I feel most myself when I have stripped myself all the way down to just this raw energy.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

Yeah. I I I get it. And last one, um, my kids finished this. My kids would describe me as a go-getter.

unknown 58:28

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 58:29

Yeah. Caitlin, thank you so much for joining me today. It's such a pleasure getting to know you and your story behind the pictures. Um, there's so much you can learn, you know, from Instagram and visuals, and there's so much more in the narrative. Uh and I truly um think I found another new friend.

SPEAKER_00 58:46

Absolutely. I'm so glad we could finally connect and you know chat in real life.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

Yes, same here. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Thank you.