Iconic Ironman Races with Laura Siddall

Foreign.

Athlon podcast finding out how ordinary people do extraordinary things.

You're on the beach, but the cliffs sort of rise up behind you and there's a zigzag and it's just packed with people and it's just a goosebump moment.

That was Professional Iron Man Laura Siddal and this episode is Iconic Ironman Races. In this episode I got the opportunity to chat to Laura Siddal, the professional female Ironman athlete, three times winner of Ironman Australia and five times winner of Ironman Distance. And I got the opportunity to chat to her about what are the most iconic Ironman races out there, which ones really are the ones that we should all be trying to compete and enter it if Iron man is our thing. But also wanted to chat to Laura about how she fueled an Iron man event and how she stays injury free most of the time, although she was actually injured, at the point of which I was interviewing her. But it was fantastic to get the opportunity to step into the life of a professional ironman and understand how, you know, living in Europe for half the year, in New Zealand for the other half of the year plays out in reality, and how it helps her become the best Ironman athlete she can. I know you're going to love this conversation. As much as I enjoyed chatting to Laura, This podcast is brought to you by Vita Coco, the Incredible Coconut Water Drinks. Now, coconut water is so good for you. It's full of electrolytes, antioxidants, as well as loads of other potential health benefits. So it's a great drink to have during or after your training. But I particularly love their new pressed coconut product. It just tastes so coconutty and delicious and I have to say it's a far tastier drink than I'm used to drinking with coconut water. So go check out Vitacoco.com and you can buy them at Ambient Supplies, an online retailer. And if you hang on to the end of this podcast, I'll have a discount code for you too. This podcast is also brought to you by the tribathlon app. The best place to find your next event. Whether you're interested in cycling, running, swimming, triathlons, duathlons, obstacle based races, whether it's on the road or on the gravel, you can find, search for and track down the best events for you to compete in. And not only that, you can find the ones where you know people that are entering as well. So you can have the most fun experience entering those events because you know other people that are attending. So go to trimathlon.com to find out more and download the app.

So, Laura, welcome to the Tribathlon podcast. Delighted to get you on. I've got so much to chat to you about, so. But thank you very, very much for joining us. So let's kick off. For those people that don't know the world of Iron man, can you just tell us a little bit about your history? How did you get into Iron man and what have you been your successes so far?

Yeah, well, firstly, thank you very much for having me on. Super excited to talk to you. So that's good. Yeah. So Ironman triathlon, swing bike run over ridiculously long distances, normally sort of taking, I guess on a good day, anything from around 9 hours up to 10, 11 hours. I actually started the sport or found the sport quite late in life. I was 29 years old when I started triathlon as a complete beginner. But I had always done sports growing up so, you know, I grew up in the UK and played hockey and netball at school and actually came from almost more, I guess a track, a track running background, so 400 meters, 400 hurdles and the 800 meters. So I remember sort of when I was training for those distances the thought of going for a half hour run was like a long run and it fear, you know, filled me with dread all the time and now if I get half hour run I'm like, oh, that's, that's just a short, short run now. So that's, that's, that's pretty good. Yeah. So I grew up playing sports and. But it was very much a hobby. I went through school, university, had a gap year and then got a transfer with my job at the time when I was working the corporate world, got a transfer, transfer over to Australia and was living there and that's kind of where I discovered or had my eyes open to the world of triathlon. Like I said, started as a complete beginner and just got hooked straight away. It was a fabulous community out there. It was such a great lifestyle as well and just got sucked in and sort of, I guess went through the age. Started as an amateur and again like it was a hobby. I was still working in the corporate world and progressed through the age group ranks over the short distances, so over the sprint and Olympic distance really and then got to a place where I had sort of got better and better and was at a crossroads. I wasn't particularly enjoying my corporate job at the time and I was getting older I guess and I think from growing up I, I'd never really given their Netball and the athletics, full attention, it was always the hobby. And so I now got to this point with the triathlon whereas were thinking, look, don't want to look back in 10 or 20 years and think what if and what could have been. And so yeah, I had qualified as well, had got the results that enabled me to turn professional and so did that at the start of 2014, so sort of that four or five years after I started, started the sport as a beginner. I was in Sydney at the time and then moved to San Francisco when I turned professional and started working with a coach over there. And yeah, and that was what, what are we now? Six years ago I guess and it's kind of flown by. I still have to sort of pinch myself. I still feel really new to the sport even though it's probably, you know, it's 10, 11 years that I've been involved in the sport and six of those as a professional full time. But yeah, I still feel very new. I still feel like I'm learning and yeah, still grateful for being able to do what I do and travel and see some great places.

Fantastic. And tell me so when you obviously came to the sport fairly late, as you said, tell me what those first few years look like, you know, what was your first triathlon and then how did you progress on from there and how did you get up top doing Ironman distance?

Yeah, so I joined a beginners group in, I was living in Sydney in Australia at the time and I found a beginners group or a beginner's course, I should say. I think it was a six or eight week course run by a group called Bondi FIT signed up to that and at the end of that course it coincided with one of the local triathlons, a sprint triathlon in Sydney. But yeah, my first triathlon was on a hybrid mountain road bike, you know, flat handle bars, flat pedals, pretty sure it wasn't the right size for me. I've got pictures and I'm like gosh, you just look like you sort of far too big for that bike. But yeah, I think the fact that the group that I was training with, Bondi Fit, was just an amazing group of people and even though at first I was sort of as a beginner and doing the sprint distance, it did have people in the group that were training for the full distances and Ironman and I, I guess just being a sports mad person and wanting to push myself, I was doing was seeing the training that these, the other people of the group were doing for the Iron Distance I was like, well I want to do that because they're doing more reps and they're going longer and we have to, you know, we're, we're doing this short stuff. So actually in, I did that classic age group thing of complete newbie to the sport and in the first year signed up for an Ironman and did that, did Ironman Western Australia at the end of that year, at the end of 2009. But my, my reasoning with that was one, there was a really great group of beginners and we're all doing it as first time first timers. And also at that point I thought I was going to be returning to the uk so it was kind of like, well if I'm going to do an Ironman I might as well do it while I'm out in Australia and the weather's good and the training's good. But yeah, so signed, did that in the first year but then after I'd done that it was very much kind of, oh yeah, right, I've ticked that box. Let's go back to short sprints and Olympics distance. It's much, much more fun and manageable. So then yeah, just developed through the sprints and Olympics and had various age group success then but, and people started saying to me, oh you should, are you going to turn professional? And things like that. And it was pretty new to me. I mean that sport as I grew up, sport was always considered the hobby. You know, you went to school, it was A levels, it was the degree and yes, sport gave you that nice. It made your CV look good because it made you look like a rounded individual and it showed that you had all these other skills. But it was for me in that kind of when I was progressing or growing up, it was never seen as the profession but I think Australia, it was a bit different then. And so everyone was saying, oh, you're going to turn professional in the sport. But because I was that little bit older, there was no point turning professional over the sprint and Olympic distance, which is what I was doing at the time because I was too old anyway. I wasn't in the British Triathlon Development program as I would have had to be. And I'm not a swimmer and my swim was the weak point and to do that sort of ITU racing, it was just never going to happen. And I guess we probably with my coach at the time always knew that being that bit older, being female and just the athlete and the physical abilities that I had, my strength was going to be in the endurance side of the sport. So. But at that point, again, it was, yes, I'd done that first Ironman, but very much as a beginner. And now for the last few years I'd been doing sprints and Olympics and hadn't really given that half distance, half Ironman distance a crack. And so again, didn't want to sort of turn professional without having at least had a few races under my belt over the distance that I would have to be racing professionally at. So that was so then. So in 2013, I sort of picked a 70.3 race and did that and qualified for the world championships through winning that race and was overall female amateur in the race. And so then went to the world championships, which were in Las Vegas that year, and won my age group there and also was sort of again overall female amateur. And so that kind of gave me that impetus to go, okay, maybe there is something here. Maybe I can then progress to that. To that next level. Yeah.

And what was that. What was the. What was your time for your first Iron man that you did?

Oh, my.

Any idea?

1117, I think. Yes.

And what was so. So your next Iron man was which one?

Yes, that was my very first one. And then the next one I did wasn't till 2014, I think the end of that. So five years later in Arizona. And that was as a professional.

Right.

And I. And I think I went. Someone will correct me on stats, but like just even like it's a fast. Arizona is a fast course, but maybe 9 hours 20 or something like that.

So quite a difference.

Yeah.

That's amazing, isn't it?

Yeah.

And obviously we'll come on to your other Ironmans, but in a minute. But given we're on times at the moment, what's your fastest Ironman time?

Oh, good question. It is something around 8 hours 40 something low 40s, I think. And that's at challenge Roth again, a fast course. Yeah.

Fantastic. And soon, given you came to Sport Lake, do you think. Do you wish. I mean, obviously you had good sporting background, but do you wish you could have come to it sooner or were you?

Yeah, there's. Look, I've had a great life so far and lots of amazing opportunities through sports and different sports and I had a fantastic gap year and all this. The. I don't know, I don't think you can call it. I don't think it's a regret as such, but I do wish. That's probably the one thing that I think about every now and again is I do wish I'd found the sport earlier and whether that would have been, you know, I was kind of just that slightly. Just that bit older when they started bringing in all the talent ID programs in the uk. And I wish, I almost wish I'd been a few years younger and been able to be. Had a go through that talent id. And it might not have been triathlon. It could have been another sport that they. That kind of picked me or they picked for me, but I kind of feel I would have liked that opportunity. And also for triathlon, like, just there's so many races that I want to still do and times running out and then you have a year like this where there's no races and there's just. It's such a fantastic sport. And like I said, I still feel so new to it and I still feel I've got so much to learn. I do wish that I'd found the sport earlier.

Yeah, I think I heard you say that in a podcast that I was listening to. And I thought, I absolutely agree with that. I mean, I only found triathlon three years ago, so I was already in my 40s, so clearly the boat has definitely left the harbour for me. But, you know, not that I've got any necessarily any expectations that I would have done particularly well in the sport, but it's such a brilliant sport. I found it, you know, there's so many friendly people in it. It's such such a. I found it to be so good for me that, I mean, obviously I'm older than you and there just wasn't. I mean, I don't think I'd even heard of triathlon when I was doing sport, you know, around school and post school. It has picked up momentum incredibly in recent years, hasn't it?

Yeah, and that's true. I mean, I look at friends or in Australia, in New Zealand. And triathlons, part of the local, like the school curriculum, like the kids do it from junior school all the way through. And we just didn't have that in the uk. It wasn't even, you know, it was very much the traditional hockey, netball, football, cricket, rugby, tennis sort of thing and athletics in the summer. And I remember being at university and I was playing netball at university and one of the girls in the netball team was also a triathlete. That was kind of the first. She was like, oh, I do this triathlon. I was like, okay, you know, why would you do three sports? I'm a runner sort of thing. I just do that. And yeah, I mean, it was only when I got to Australia and actually I Went. I was lucky enough in the sort of the first year after I was there to go to the Beijing Olympics to watch. And I happened once I got to Beijing, just picked up a ticket for triathlon and went to watch and saw the men's race. And that was kind of the. The first early warning signs of Alistair Brownlee on the scene. But that was really the first time that I'd been exposed to the sport. And then it was then going back to Sydney and through friends from work that I kind of had my eyes open to it. But yeah, we just didn't have that. It wasn't part of it at school. And it's funny now, I now. And because I live away from the UK a lot for most of the time. It's weird now kind of coming back to the UK and seeing how different, how much the sport's grown and how many friends reach out and are contacting me saying, oh, I've signed up for a triathlon and I'm pretty sure it's not me, but it's amazing to see how the sport has grown and increased and like you said, there's so many. The community, I mean, the community, the people, the lifestyle benefits are just. Yeah, it's such a buzz.

It is incredible. And yet I don't think schools have still particularly embraced it. I think it's just that the world, the sporting world outside of school, because, I mean, my daughters go to amazing school. They do, but they still do the hockey. I mean, they do sailing, they do all sorts, but I'm not sure. I mean, maybe that'll happen in due course, but I don't think there's triathlon in the mix, but it is really interesting. So the first Ironman you won, am I right in saying that? Was Ironman Australia correct?

Yes. Yeah.

And you. And you've now won that three years on the trot, is that right?

Yes, that is, yes.

So why is that? Why is that clearly your, you know, an amazing territory for you?

I mean, partly, I think I've just been very, very lucky and fortunate over those three years. I think the lucky.

If you can do it once, I'm not sure.

It's. Yeah, it's a pretty. It's a pretty brutal course. It's one of the tough. The tough courses. And I think that the first year, I guess it was just. I had an opportunity in the race and I'd come second in so many races leading up to that race that it was. I was kind of hoping that finally it would turn into that win and it was yeah fortunate that I had a great race that day and was able to, able to take the win and I think it was kind of special because you know having started the sport in Australia and then moved overseas and hadn't and didn't really live there anymore to go back and Ironman Australia is iconic as a race in Australia and it's very much part, it's sort of like the people's Triathlon. All the tri clubs love it. There's a big community up there and it's about a five hours drive from Sydney so a lot of people who found, when they found out I was racing a lot of my friends who had started the sport as beginners with me or had seen me progress over the years they either was racing themselves because they were still doing it or they came up to watch like my very first coach from Sydney and that group called Bondi Fit he came up to watch as well which was great. So it was kind of just this amazing atmosphere and feeling and surrounded by so many friends to go back there and take that win and you know you're always so grateful for a win and you can never take it for granted and you know, I guess when I turned professional I didn't really have, I didn't know what I could do. I didn't have sort of aspirations of yes I want to win a race but I guess I hadn't really dreamt or thought of it. So it was an incredible moment to get that win and then almost as special or more special to them return the next year as a defending champion. And that year they gave the women the number one bib which is normally reserved. Normally reserved. It's normally the men that get those, that top bib. So that was really special and yeah, I mean I had no, I guess I didn't take it for granted having won the year before that I was going to win that second year again different field, still good and yeah, I don't know, I guess it's a course that suits me. I have good memories there and yeah I've just been had three, three good days I guess over the years.

What makes Ironman Australia a particularly tough one?

The. Well the swim is quite unique. It's in the sort of, it's in the, it's in the ocean but it's sort of a marina area actually partway through this room you have to get out the water and climb up over steps over a weir and then you get back in and then you have to come back the other way. The bike Course is probably the bike course and the run course, but the bike course, it's the first ten k's out of town. It's pretty hilly and the road surface is quite rough so it kind of just wears your legs down of that sort of constant sort of bumping along a two lap course. There's a really steep, sharp hill called Matthew Flinders. They actually put carpet up the side of the hill because so many people end up walking up it. And that's sort of with 10 gate, 10km to go on the end of the lap. So you have to do that twice and then I think you get off the bike. And the run course is deceptive because it seems relatively flat, but there's a few, few hills in it as well. So I think it's just the bike course is just a bit. It just grinds you down a little bit and it's not necessarily a particularly fast course. So I think that sort of scares people off a little bit.

Given that you've won it three times on the trot, are you going to.

Go back and do it again?

I did hear you say at some point that there's so many amazing races to do that, you know, so little time. Will you go back a fourth time, do you think? Or will you now try and do something different?

I was planning to go back this year, so it was on. It was originally planned to be in May and it's funny, when I won it for the third year, I'd had such a mixed few months leading into that race that it was an amazing but very emotional win. Taking that third win and I remember at the time, and still I don't think any, any, any other race will top that feeling, just of everything that had gone on beforehand. And then finally coming down that finish, it will be very hard to beat that feeling. So half of me is kind of like, should I just box it up? I've had three great years. I've got fantastic memories and let's leave it on a high. The other half of me is it's such a great community there. I'd love to go back and support it and race again. I have a new coach now, so it'd be great to go back, I'm at, you know, a different athlete and go back and see, see what I can do under, under my new coach, under Julie. But yeah, like you said, there are so many other races as well and we've sort of lost a year of racing, which is a shame. And yeah, I mean, I think I'll always try and get back there to support it in some way. I'd like to go back and race again but yeah I'm not hundred percent committing to anything at the moment.

And you also won Ironman New Zealand didn't you? How does that compare to Ironman Australia and how both in terms of a course but also in terms of how much you enjoyed winning Ironman.

Yeah so I'm quite an emotional winner anyway if that makes sense. It takes a lot. They always have. There's always like a personal connection. So I'll talk about the course first I guess the Ironman New Zealand course again it's similar to Australia. Well the swim is in Lake Taupo which is just this beautiful enormous lake and you swim along the shoreline and back and it can be perfectly flat still it's crystal clear, you can see the bottom or if the wind gets up and the wind whips down the lake. I think I've seen people surfing on the lake before so it can be a bit choppy as well.

I once jumped out of a plane over lake.

Yeah. Oh wow.

20 odd years ago. So I do. It's a great part.

It's brilliant. And then the bike course again it's again Topo has got this reputation for not being a fast course and again it's a little bit due to the road surface it's in New Zealand it's this sort of thick chip seal. So again your speed isn't as fast as you would probably experience on most other roads but it's. And it's a pretty straightforward course but yeah it kind of grinds you down a little bit again with the road surface and then you get onto the run and the runs just that little bit undulating and just can again wear your legs out. But it's very similar to Ironman Australia in terms of it's a fantastic community. The town really do get behind that race and because I now spend a lot of time living in New Zealand so normally I'm six months New Zealand, six months in Spain sort of summer to summer so I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of network. The New Zealanders have sort of adopted me to some extent and so to take that win as well was super special because I spend so much time there and that race as well, it's got a lot of history very similar to Ironman Australia but New Zealand was one of the oldest Ironman races in the world. I think it's the only. It's the first one that was its oldest outside of Kona and just yeah it's such a fantastic place, the people. Yeah, it was super special to win there as well.

It sounds like a fantastic place to do an Ironman. And then last year, you, I think, did you finish the year with third in Ironman Wales?

Yes.

And how was that?

So that, I would say, I would think is the kind of UK equivalent of an Ironman New Zealand. I don't know. So how does that compare to the other two?

Yeah, I think I'm pretty lucky with the races I've done and because they are. Those three are incredible races. And then I'll put Challenge Roth in there as well. I think is an amazing race. Wales was ridiculous. I'd heard so much about it, about the people, the community and that. You kind of. You kind of go, yeah, yeah, you know, it's good. But I've been to Roth and I've been to these. I've been to Australia and New Zealand. They're all good. And people always say that, but gosh, there are certain elements about whales. I mean, firstly, again, the community just embraces it. You're in this tiny place of Tenby, which is just beautiful, like, standing on the beach for the swim start with the Welsh national anthem being sung by a male voice. Welsh male voice choir. Looking back and there's this huge. You know, you're on the beach, but the cliffs sort of rise up behind you and there's a zigzag and it's just packed with people and it's just a goosebump moment. And I remember coming out of the swim and you've got like a kilometer to run through, to transition. And I was running and it was like five, six, seven people deep on each side for the whole kilometer run. And I was just like, this is insane. Like, this is. You just don't get that at any other race. And then the courses, of course, again, it's super hard. I mean, talk about tough courses. The bike course is bad enough, but the bike course in Wales, which is beautiful, combined with that run course. I mean, the run course in Wales is. There is not one bit of flat nor one section that's straight for longer than 100 meters, I don't think, but just the support out there, like, you're running. You're running right through the middle of Temby and whether there's triathlete fans out there, but there's all the locals in the pub. And each lap they get more and more rowdy and drunk as they've been in the pub all afternoon. And, you know, even running out the hill, up the hill of town. It's just the. Again the community and the crowd support there is amazing and it's definitely. Yeah, it's definitely up there with one of the best races worldwide. I would recommend anybody if you've got bucket list of races to do. Ironman Australia and New Zealand for sure but Wales has to be up there for sure. Has to be up there.

Well, having married a Welsh girl is definitely. I'm definitely going to have to put that one on my bucket list. Yeah, it does sound amazing. So what do you. I think I know the answer but I'll ask it anyway. Which do. What's your highlights of your career so far?

I mean every, every win is a. For me as a highlight and whether that was as an age grouper winning world championships or then the wins as a pro, I think the few races that stand that like I think winning Ironman Australia in 2019 last year so for the third time is probably one of the. One of the highlights for me in sort of like I said, I had quite a difficult lead up into the race and so coming through with that win was yeah, I don't think I'll ever get that feeling again. But you know there are other great experience experiences and races. You know, it was amazing at Wales. That's kind of a highlight just to have that opportunity to race. Obvious winning, winning in New Zealand, even like Racing Challenge Roth and I finished second behind Daniela Ryf and it was probably one of my best performances and yeah, I didn't win but I came second. And so there's yeah, certain things like that it's hard to pick out I guess unfortunate but it's hard to pick out one specific moment or memory.

And of the races you haven't done yet, what do you think is. Which one do you think are really. I really must do that one.

Well, I did the Ironman virtual race series last weekend or a couple of weekends ago which was on the Lake Placid course and I've heard a lot about that race. So that was kind of going oh, that'd be quite good to do. I think I've heard that's quite an iconic race I would love to do probably this is a bit long. Go into some of the extreme triathlons and those kind of things. I think they'd be good races to do. Obviously Norseman and Patagon man sound quite cool. Yeah, so yeah that's probably, that's probably what I'd love to do and then. But I mean this year has been so weird obviously with, with everything that's happened, no racing, I just, I think it would be nice to go back and just reconnect with, with the races I've done almost now and the friends and the communities. Yeah.

And you say there's only so little, there's so little time but of course.

You'Ve got your whole life to do.

As many Ironmans as you want. Do you think you will carry it once, you know, once you decide it's no longer time to be pro? Do you think you will carry on doing Ironmans or will it be difficult to do them after being a pro?

I've never actually thought of that apart from there are some races that I haven't that I would love to win and I have thought the only chance I probably stand at winning them is when I am the 70 or 80 year old in the age group category. Yeah, it's funny, I'd like to think I'll still be involved in the sport. I do love the sport and I'm so passionate about it and I'd like to be involved. I'd like to think I'm still racing to some level. You know, I think we look at some of the, you know, Crowe for an example, Cam Brown, all still racing professionally in those what used to be considered older years and they should be retired but now proving that they can still compete with the best. Another Didi Griesbauer, she's about to turn 50 and she's still, she just won Ultraman earlier this year and broke the world record. So there's definitely, you know, the way our bodies are developing and progressing. I think, you know, you can still be competing in the sport for many more years and then yeah, I'd like to think, yeah that I'm still involved and hopefully still competing whether it, or in a relay or doing whatever it is in the next few years, in the following years.

Yeah, fantastic. Coming to nutrition, what's your approach to nutrition? You know, whether it be I suppose what does pre race look like and what does race day look like?

So I'm fairly. I don't follow a specific diet or anything like that and especially not during lockdown. I try and just generally healthy, balanced, lots of fruit and veg, that sort of thing. I do have a weakness for chocolate which has become slightly more so during lockdown. I'm very much like everything in moderation and so that kind of thing. So race sort of leading into race. I don't necessarily do anything different to what I would normally eat. Um, probably maybe a Few more carbs on those days but nothing hugely different. Um, race morning is sort of. Gosh, it's been a while since. Since I sort of. But overnight oats and fruit and yogurt. Probably some like a hard boiled egg as well. And so it's a bit more of the protein and coffee. Race day was it that you talked about as well? Yeah. So I'm pretty, I don't know, unique or lucky that all my fueling during a race is off energy gels.

And are these just traditional energy gels? So maltodextrin gels that you're not.

Yes.

Don't get GI issues from.

No. So touch wood. I've been very lucky in races that I've never had GI issues. Work with a company called Shots, they're Australian, they're actually rebranded as Koda Koda now And actually they've been. I've been working with them since I was an age grouper and I take. So I'll have my breakfast before the race and then I have a gel about 50 minutes before the race start and then once I'm on the bike I have a gel pretty much every 20 minutes. Um, maybe about halfway through the bike I will try and get some like a protein ball or a little bit more protein in. Um, but I'm pretty much on gels and then the same on the run, although it's a little bit more flex, not flex, flexible on the run in terms of I'll probably have like I put my gels in a flask and then I. On the run on the bike it's sort of every 20 minutes and then on the run it might be smaller mouthfuls every 10 minutes or as. And when I feel just to kind of keep topping up. And then on the run as well, I'm drinking Coke for most of it, so. As well. Yeah. And the gels, I start on just normal gels and then go to caffeine gels partway through the bike and then.

A sort of mix and then a mix of caffeine and non caffeine thereafter.

For the rest of it. Yeah. And then don't sleep for about three days afterwards. Yeah.

And do you drop caffeine in the days leading up to an event just so or do you just carry on as you were?

No, I'm a little bit of a caffeine fiend as well. I love my coffees and stuff like that. So I will try and again, try and moderate it but I'm not overly concerned or worried about it. Yeah, I'd Prefer to have a coffee if it relaxes me and calms me down in the days leading up to the race, rather than sort of be more stressed that I can't have one.

And what's the logic behind having. Typically, people would have mostly carbs during the race and actually even before it, but you're obviously introducing more protein with boiled eggs and protein balls during the race. What's the logic behind that?

Somebody told me to pretty much. I'm not very scientific. I kind of do the stuff and if it works, I'll stick with it. So I guess I think it's just that you're a bit of a mix. It helps, I think, absorb some of those carbs as well. And I think I was probably a little bit low on the protein. So it was actually through working with a sports. I don't get his title wrong. A guy called Steve Ingham, sort of sports performance scientist and I did a bit of work with him last year, which is fantastic. And it was sort of through him, we just sort of tweaked that thing to say, okay, put a little bit more protein in. Partly a little bit of a different taste, but I think it just helps with the absorption of those carbs.

Interesting. Thank you. And what does a typical training week look like? I know this will change over the course depending on how close you are to an oilman, but I mean, you know, how many hours would you be putting in if you were a couple of months away from your next event?

So I guess at the moment I'm probably training about 20 hours a week. And that's obviously I'm not actually swimming at the moment. So running and cycling and gym. Gym work is involved in that. If I was swimming or if we were not in a lockdown as such situation and it was sort of normal racing as such, I'd probably only be maybe sort of 25 hours a week. I am an athlete that does prefer volume work, but it's not for everyone. But I guess that's as a professional you do have a little bit more time to play around with those hours and stuff. But yeah, so and so most days it's at least two out of the three. So two sessions a day? Three sessions a day sometimes if you include gym, work and that sort of thing. Obviously there is more cycling. Well, at the moment, very much more cycling and running and no swimming. When I get back to swimming again, I'm sure there'll be a focus on. On that being that's the weaker of my three disciplines. So when I Am doing all three. I do tend to do a bit more swimming than maybe the other athletes as well.

So how many hours would you then therefore be swimming if you were in a typical week, not injured?

Probably. I mean, probably doing five to six sessions a week for an hour, an hour and a half sort of thing. Yeah.

So most days to me.

Yeah. Yeah.

And how do you avoid injury? Because clearly that's a lot of training and then you've got the events as well. What do you do to avoid. Just avoid getting injured?

Well, being injured at the moment. So this is probably a bad question. No, it's a great question because I have been incredibly lucky through my life and life generally, but also sporting career that I have never been. I'm touching wood again. I have never been injured, I rarely get sick and I don't particularly know why I'm so lucky with that, but I think just. I've always had strength and conditioning as part of my training when I was doing athletics and netball and I think that's. That's been a key part to helping injury prevention for me. I think I'm lucky from some respect that my body is pretty resilient. Having said that, yes, I broke my collarbone last year and having now sort of ongoing subsequent issues with that. But I think, I mean, if I look back over the years, I've been incredibly lucky to have no injuries leading up till then. And I, yeah, I have to say, I think just the strength and conditioning is probably the biggest difference in that that I see.

What would a typical. I mean, not going into too much detail, but what would a typical strength and conditioning session look like?

So I used to do think that it was all about those big heavy weights and lifting and that sort of thing. And I used to like those because you kind of get that sense of achievement because you can just keep adding the weight on and you go, yes, I'm getting stronger, but I also bulk up quite a lot, which is not really ideal for triathlons. So now. And I've started working this year with a strength and conditioning coach. She's actually, she's based out of Boulder, Kate Lygler, and she's awesome. And we kind of do probably two to three sessions a week and it's kind of pretty short, sharp, 30 minutes, 45 minutes. And a lot of it's functional movement rather than anything particularly strong heavy weights. So a lot of single leg balancing work and single leg deadlifts and work to open up my thoracic and that sort of thing. An all weight related Almost like combination of movement. So it's not just anything purely static. And yeah. And we do, we do add in some squats and a lot of it may be revert lunges and with weights and that sort of thing and step ups and not say single arm rows and stuff like that. So you do have those more single motion weighted movements. But a lot of it is a combination of movement and balance and getting the different muscles all connected together and working, working as one.

Brilliant. Thank you. And you mentioned that. Just reminds me, I remember reading on your website that you have a stronger left leg. Is that from a cycling point of view or from a strength and conditioning point of view?

I think it's from. So I think I'm slightly. As we all are. We tend to have a little bit of a misalignment I think from years of running around the track as a junior growing up and used to be a hurdler and I did heptathlon and my left leg was sort of that takeoff leg for everything. So it always. And now on the bike I have a slightly imbalance of the way the two work.

But yeah, because I'm intrigued by this because I only recently gave in to getting a power meter. And if you'd asked me before that I would have said my right leg is definitely stronger than my left leg. But I now know I'm completely wrong. My left leg is stronger than my right leg. So is that something that you now work on to try and strengthen your right leg or do you just accept that you've got one leg stronger than the other?

So it's interesting. So on my power meter it comes up. I'm actually pretty, pretty balanced in terms of the percentages. It's actually sort of that 49, 51 or equal. But they work slightly differently and that's how I feel the difference. I also, I think my left leg is stronger but it's got less control if that makes sense. Sense. So if I go back to those running days, the left leg was the power leg and my takeoff leg yet the right leg was the one that offered that stability on landing. So I actually have to work quite a lot on the left leg. And when I do single legged work in the gym, I definitely notice that my left leg might be strong but it's not as controlled and actually the balance is less so. So I'm conscious of that, that I'm also working on my left side at the moment because connects to my right shoulder which is where my injury is and my collarbone. So there's kind of a link across there. But yeah, I think if there's. There's not a huge difference. So it's not like I have to do lots of specific work on that left side. But I think if you have an. The first thing is having an awareness that your body does work in different ways and it isn't symmetrical. So it might be that when you are doing the gym work, you have to give more focus and more concentration. I should say when you're doing the exercise on that left leg, or for me, when I'm riding my bike, if I'm going particularly through sort of that, a skills focus and a technique focus, it's really. I often have to focus more on making sure the left leg is that I'm dragging up the back of the pedal stroke correctly and it's a lot more smoother and I'm using my glutes and hamstring rather than sort of pushing down with the quad and just. Whereas the right leg just seems to do that without me thinking about it, if that makes sense. So I think it's more just as long as you're aware that there are those imbalances and you work to minimize them and work to build them up as much as you can, but without giving too much. So you get like. And then you. Then the weak leg suddenly becomes the. Becomes the strength and you've got your balance the other way.

It's interesting actually, isn't it, because, yeah, you make a very valid point in that. Yeah, my left leg is. I've now worked out is stronger, but my right leg has definitely got more control from a balance point of view or if I was going to kick a football, it would, you know, there's no telling where it would go if it was with my left leg. So that's really interesting. And when you're having some dark moments in an Ironman or any other race for that matter, what mental techniques have you. Have you got any sort of little tricks that you think, well, I'm gonna do this to get me through this, get me back on a kind of more positive performing keel?

Yeah, I mean, it's a whole. It's a huge topic to uncover, I think. And I'm sure a lot of people say this, I think in a race it's knowing and particularly like the iron distance race, it's so long you are going to hit, unless you are just on that flying high all day kind of feeling, but even then you're probably going to hit down, down points and you're going to hit low points in that race. But I think it's knowing that you will always hit a dark point and being prepared for that. So when it comes, you go, okay, that's fine. I was. I was expecting. I was expecting you to arrive. It's then. It's obviously then how you deal with that and how you process it very much, trying to break it down and focus literally on what you're doing at that time. So kind of like, yes, I'm feeling tired. I don't feel good. So one. It's like, okay, when did I last eat? Have I taken on calories? Have I taken on hydration? That's kind of the first thing I check with or check in with myself. And then it's kind of like, okay, I don't feel great, but what can I do in this moment to get the best out of what my body's giving me? And so you kind of go. I kind of go back to really focusing on the present, the here and now, how I'm riding. Like, I'm looking up the road, and I'm looking at the terrain, and is there a hill coming up or is there a corner? So can I ride that piece of road really well and just trying to really break it down? Go. Focusing on what I'm doing at that moment and trying to distract. Almost like distract your mind from those negative thoughts. The other thing I've tried that does. Right. Does work sometimes is to kind of. And I worked again with a. He isn't. I wouldn't even call him a sports psychologist. He is some guru in that space. And when you do get to those dark, dark patches, almost forcing yourself to smile or. He called it Bugs Bunny. So pulling like a Bugs Bunny face. Because there is. It's absolutely impossible when you pull a Bugs Bunny face that you aren't gonna laugh or smile. Like, regardless of how dark. What dark place you're in, if you, like, do that scrunched nose and kind of think about Bugs Bunny or the cartoon, then you kind of just end up smiling. And little things like. Then you know that I think there's a reason why Chrissie Wellington is. Chrissy Smiles is, you know, nickname or. And things like that. And she would smile through the race. Because when you're going through those dark patches, if you force yourself to smile, actually it does change the endorphins in your body, and you will suddenly find that you are in a better place. And again, knowing that you will come out of those dark patches, it will end. I often, like. Yeah, it's thinking about Maybe it's the next aid station and making sure you're getting calories in there. I mean, there's lots of techniques. Some people. Some people fall back on their why. And so that's, you know, why are they racing? Who's there, who's their support crew, who are they doing this for? Thinking about all the hours you've put in on training and you know that race day is the celebration and really drawing upon. Upon that and others, you know, other people draw upon the fact that they are racing for others. So they're racing for people that maybe don't have the opportunity to race or are less fortunate and not able to race. And that works for some people. And, you know, it's one of those things again, it's like nutrition, it's everything. It's so individual that you've kind of got to find those techniques and other techniques I've used as well in the past. Counting, counting. So if you're on the run and you're going through a dark place, just start counting your strides and just go through to like, hundred, start again, 100, start again. And it's just kind of trigger points that take your mind away from the neg is, I guess, a distraction technique that take your mind away from that negative thought and it just goes into. Yeah, kind of a monotonous thing.

That's really interesting. I've never heard that before. I really like that. It's great advice with the mental techniques there. But that counting one, I'm gonna definitely have to try that because I was listening to a podcast. I can't remember who Tim Ferriss was interviewing, but we're talking a lot about sleep and they said that picking one of the best ways to get to sleep, which works fantastically well if you're struggling. Whether it'll work the night before a race, I'm not quite sure, but is to just pick. You imagine a cannon firing random numbers out, and they've got to be between 10 and 100. And it's just that enough mental stimulation to have to find a random number within that kind of 10 to 100 limit is enough to keep you stimulated, but not enough to overstimulate you. And I think, I wonder if that's a similar sort of. There's something similar going on with that, with your counting technique while running. So I'm going to try it out. That sounds excellent.

I like that canon idea as well. I'm going to try that one. I like that.

Well, if you want, I'll have to track down the Podcast because there's a couple of different techniques, but that was the one that stood out for me and I think it's actually a really, really good technique. What's the worst advice you hear when it comes to Iron Man?

Probably. Oh, I think probably that to do an ironman or to do an iron distance, you need to do X number of hours. So you need to do 20 hours a week of training, I think is the worst advice, especially I think for amateurs and age groupers. I think I'm very much that triathlon has to be part of your life and lifestyle and it's got to be integrated into that and you have to. You optimize the hours you have and if you have 10 hours a week, you optimize those 10 hours and you can still do an iron distance on those hours. So I think it's the, the concept that in triathlon and endurance it's always like more, you need to do more, it's more volume, it's more hours. And I think that's always the case.

Okay, brilliant. With that in mind, how do you find living half the year in New Zealand and half of the year in Spain? How does that work from a logistics point of view around your training? Does it. I mean, I can obviously understand the benefit of being in two summers, but does it not cause a whole load of other logistical problems?

Yes, yes. So I have at various locations around the world, I have friends who are very kindly store my belongings and they have an acronym and I don't know if I can swear on your podcast, but it's called Shizzle, which is basically shit that Sid left and there's now kind of a membership of this club. Various places friends have in their spare rooms or in their garage. My shit as I've moved on from one place to the other, not including.

A soda stream in each.

You are correct. I do pretty much have a soda stream in every country, in every location. Yeah. So that side of it does make it tricky because I don't have a one permanent base that, you know, when I open the door, it's my place, it's my stuff in the cupboards and that's like my central hub that I can go back to and things. So it's often it's kind of like working out where you're going to be at what time of year and what equipment do I need for that for that place. And you know, I'm now. So normally I would be in Spain at this time and obviously I've been in the UK for the Lockdown. But I'm looking now to go out to Spain in a couple of weeks. But I'm now thinking ahead of going. Okay, normally I'd just be in Spain for summer and you're racing. So I just normally sort of travel with my race kit and a bits of training equipment. But now if I'm looking and if everything hits the fan again I now need to make sure that I am set up in Spain with training facilities like so do I have a treadmill accessible and got my indoor trainer for the bike and things like that. So now there's going to be a slightly more thinking about what I need in each of those locations. But yeah, I mean I'm lucky. I have great support network and I have great facilities in the location so that makes it easier. But you do, yeah, you kind of find that there's yeah. Bits of equipment in different places and logistically sometimes transfer. Transporting that around is quite, is quite tricky and quite hard and getting things posted to different, different addresses and different places to make sure I've got like nutrition for the next, next load of races or all that sort of thing.

Yeah, it must be a nightmare. I mean just, just, just when we were down in Cornwall, I like to think I've got most of the stuff I need to have down there. I've got a bike down there but I get down there and of course because I've now got power meter I've got the wrong cleats on my shoe. So now I can't cycle until I get find the cleats I need. So I can't imagine the level of the number of lists you must have with different things in different places lists.

And then I always like, yeah, do like an inventory of before as I leave somewhere I kind of make sure I write down what I've left there and that's. But you still, you still forget or you still, you still lose track sometimes of where things are or that and you always get those things of oh heck, you know, that's over in that country and I'm not gonna be able to get it or it's just too hard and so you end up. Yeah. Or you just duplicate up on loads of things all the time and just have very, very good friends and family who store things for me.

Excellent. Are there any books that you found inspiring that you tend to sort of recommend or give away or any. If not books then podcasts or something like that. But anything that you found really valuable that's helped you on your journey?

Gosh, I think as I said I'm kind of a sports nut. So most of the podcasts I listen to are the sports triathlon related ones which I really like. I think I mentioned him, Steve Ingham, I mentioned he actually has a podcast which I really like on sports performance. And there's, I mean I can send you a whole list of the podcasts I listen to. But books wise, I again, I love sports autobiographies or adventure related books I've really enjoyed reading. There's an adventurer called Anna McNuff and she writes really well and you can take a lot of lessons as well from, from her adventures. She ran the length of New Zealand. So that's a book that she. Her first book and it's called Pants of Perspective.

She also run the length of the UK barefoot.

She did, she did recently. That's correct. That is her. So. And then I've just finished reading a book then when she cycled through South America called Llama Drama. And so I really enjoy her books but other than that like the sports autobiographies of people and it's, it's kind of any, any, any sports person. I'm just fascinated by their lives, how they got into the sport, how they grew and developed and their stories. You know, like Andre Agassiz's book Open. Geraint Thomas, who's very funny as well as a writer, wrote I think his first book was the World According to G. Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinson, all of those kind of books. I've probably read most of the triathlon related autobiographies as well. But yeah, that's the, they're the ones I enjoy. I'd love to like the books that are related more around that the scientific aspect of sports performance or performance, be it even in work and stuff. And that crossover between sport and corporate fascinates me and I love to kind of read those, but I read at night and I When are you reading those type of books? You have to be, I guess thinking and stuff like that. I want to be able to read a book that I can just sort of get absorbed into and then you subconsciously learn rather than having to do an exercise on something fantastic.

That sounds like some great recommendations there. In fact, the second time in three days somebody's recommended the ondragosy book. So that's definitely going to be. Go higher up the reading list. Thank you. If you could only pass on one piece of advice to somebody that was going to do, you know, to kind of step into the Iron man world or kind of try and get better at Iron Man. What would that one piece of advice be?

Gosh. Well, as you probably realized, I don't do short answers and one piece of advice. I get it. I'll say two bits. Find your community and support group. So whether that's. It doesn't have to be a triathlon club. It can be a training group like so for me it was a training group called Bondi Fit that kicked me off. Even if it's just a group of friends, I think if you are getting into the sport or want to move up to the full distance, find your. Whether you call it tribe circle, whatever it is, try. Yeah. Find your tribe, whoever that is. And the other thing I would. That's really benefited for me and maybe it's just the type of person I am growing up and then also being in the military was having a coach and just having a coach that you have good communication with, understands what you do. You know, for most people, if you're doing it as an amateur, understands your life, your family, your other commitments. They're not just saying, right, this is a training plan and there's a gotta. You've really got to have a good rapport. So that I think has been. Would be key. And then the, I mean the one if I, if I do one sentence, I would say don't. Don't die wondering. Just do it. Just take that leap. Have a go. Don't. Don't look back and regret it. Just look forward.

Brilliant advice. And I think that the tried point I obviously have to pick up on that because this is Tri Bathlon, but I couldn't agree with that more because I think it's actually quite a. It's an incredible. We've already said it. It's an incredibly friendly community around triathlon but it's actually quite hard to find those little communities. And that's what the app was all about born out of, was that now I found my tribe, which has taken quite a long time to find. It's. My performance has gone way, you know, it's got so much better but my enjoyment of it as well has also skyrocketed. So it's absolutely brilliant and I think.

That'S something that we've probably noticed in the last few months. So with going into lockdown suddenly that those communities or the face to face that we had with those communities or that engagement was taken away and so you then really had to rely on the online community and support to still get that buzz and still get that feeling that this is where is my tribe. And who can I rely on and speak to when we're going through these times? And you know, like you said, the triathlon community is so welcoming. And you go to a race and it's, it's all levels, it's all ages, it's, everyone's got a, you know, it's different backgrounds. I think that's what I love about sport is it completely strips away your job, your status in life. You know, you know, if you look at people standing on a start line and they're all in their swimmers, you don't know who they are. You know, we're all such a level playing field. But I also think as well, it can be quite intimidating as a beginner or someone new to the sport to join a club because they see all these people that have been, you know, training for years together and they know what the lingo is. And so that's why I'm saying what your tribe is. It's either like that podcast community or there's a group online or it's your friends or whoever it is, it might just be some training buddies. It doesn't. Yeah. It can be so many things to different people.

Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. So, last question then. If we were sat here one year from now, looking back, what's going to have happened for you to be happy with the progress you've made over the, over that 12 months?

I would love to be back racing. I would love to be swimming, to really, you know, I started working with my coach, Julie Dibbons in December. So I'd like to kind of be back up to fitness and really able to fully embrace that partnership. I'd love to be able to travel again and have borders open to visit the friends and the communities that I've met through triathlon along the way, to give people a hug. I really miss giving people hugs at the moment. And for there to have been a vaccine, I think give. All of that aside, would be great to see the last 12 months, but I think, you know, on the other side of that is just if I am still, I still feel I'm improving, I still feel I've got things to learn in 12 months time. If I just feel I am a better athlete through the training I've done the last few months, the things I'm learning, then, yeah, that will be, that'll be good for me.

Is there a single goal for that next year or so? I suppose Kona would come into a slightly longer time frame than a year. Is there one particular goal that you've.

Got in terms of racing or in.

Terms of racing.

I haven't thought yet because I think things just are so uncertain. No, I'd love to have a really good race at Challenge Roth next year. I was kind of really excited to be race. You know I missed it last year with my shoulder and so I was excited to hopefully have been racing it this year and giving it a good crack and there's a great start list so I would love to give that a really good a really go next year. But no, at the moment I think just with current circumstances it's just, just get fit, get healthy or get, get fit get swimming again, get my shoulder sorted. But yeah, just hoping that the world opens up again and we can start enjoying and traveling and doing, you know, experiencing all the good stuff. That is why we do or why I do the do the sport. Brilliant.

Well, on that note, I'd just like to say huge thank you. There's so much great advice in there. It's obviously been an incredible journey so far. You've achieved amazing things in your time in the sport so far and I'm really looking forward to seeing seeing you come back to fitness and see what happens next. So thank you very much.

No, thanks. Thanks very much for having me on. It's really good. Enjoyed it.

I'm sure you'll agree Laura has such amazing experience to draw on. She's done incredibly well since getting into Iron man at relatively late age and just had so much brilliant advice to to give and was a genuinely lovely person to chat to. So I hope you took as much of that as away as I did. You can find out more about Laura and all of her social media tags@laurasiddle.com and I hope you took away loads of great advice from that interview.

This podcast is brought to you by.

Vita Coco, the delicious coconut water, particularly their pressed coconut product. I absolutely love, love that. And if you go to Ambient Supplies, the online retailer, you can use the discount code Vita Tribe 15. That's all Capitals Vita Tribe 15. You can even have 15% off your Vita Coco order. Enjoy the health conscious electrolyte packed Vita Coco and don't forget to download the Tribathlon app for more amazing podcasts. But also to help you train, compete.

And to build your tribe.