July 29, 2025 • 39 mins
Jennifer Comfort is a USAT-certified triathlon coach, Ironman triathlete, and open water swim observer whose approach to performance blends endurance, mindfulness, and a deep respect for inner stillness.
Jennifer didn’t start her journey as a seasoned pro. In fact, during her first triathlon 20 years ago, she basically dog paddled through the swim, terrified to put her face in the water. Today, she’s a multiple-time Ironman and 70.3 finisher, a Boston Marathon qualifier, and a respected coach guiding adult athletes at all levels. She leads open water swim workouts on the Columbia River and supports world-class endurance swims as an official observer.
What sets Jennifer apart, though, is how she’s embraced silence as part of her champion’s mindset. In a surprising turn, Jennifer shares how a 7-day silent meditation retreat completely changed her life—sharpening her focus, helping her manage anxiety and depression, and giving her a deeper edge as both a coach and an athlete.
Looking for a new challenge? Try silence. Whether you’re a Masters swimmer, a returning triathlete, or simply someone looking to reconnect with purpose and grit, this conversation offers insight, inspiration, and practical advice.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How Jennifer went from dog paddling her first triathlon to completing full Ironman races and coaching elite athletes
- What it means to be an open water swim observer, and why that role is vital in endurance swimming
- Why her weekly “Open Water Wednesday” swims are creating a strong local swim community
- What it’s really like to go completely silent for seven days—and the breakthroughs that can come from it
- Her advice for first-time triathletes, including mindset, gear, and how to start without feeling overwhelmed
- Practical tips for using breathwork, mindfulness, and internal awareness to enhance training and racing
- How to balance parenting, training, and business with grace and mental strength
Notable Quote:
"We're with ourselves 24/7… so we might as well learn to like ourselves a little bit." – Jennifer Comfort
This episode is for you if you:
- Are a swimmer curious about trying your first triathlon—or returning to the sport
- Want to bring more mindfulness and presence into your athletic routine
- Are intrigued by the idea of a silent retreat and what it might unlock in your life
- Appreciate hearing from women who lead, coach, compete, and rise through challenge
Jennifer’s story reminds us that becoming a champion doesn’t always start with winning. It starts with showing up, staying curious, and sometimes—even staying quiet long enough to hear what really matters.
Tune in to learn how silence, grit, and intention shape the journey of a true endurance athlete.
Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, where we
celebrate the grit, grace andgrowth of champion athletes and
coaches, pushing their limitsand living with purpose.
I'm your host, kelly Pallas,and today I'm thrilled to
welcome someone who embodies thespirit of transformation and
tenacity.
Jennifer Comfort is aUSAT-certified triathlon coach,
(00:24):
endurance athlete and open waterswim observer whose story is
both powerful and inspiring.
She's competed in multipleIronman and 70.3 races,
qualified for the BostonMarathon and now guides athletes
of all levels through the sportshe loves.
Based in the great NorthwestWashington's Tri-Cities region,
(00:46):
jennifer not only coaches openwater groups in the Columbia
River, but also serves as anofficial observer for some of
the longest, most daring swimsin the world.
Her journey from struggle tostrength is a masterclass in
resilience and I can't wait foryou to hear it, jennifer Comfort
.
Welcome to Champions Mojo.
Kelly, thanks so much forhaving me today.
(01:07):
Yes, I'm very excited because Iknow that a lot of our
listeners are swimmers who doopen water.
They may have dabbled with theidea of doing a triathlon A for
the first time or B, maybe doingit again.
I'm one of those swimmer masterswimmers who was a triathlete
back in the day, I'll say, and Ihaven't done one in a while.
(01:29):
So maybe I want to get backinto that.
But I want to talk with youabout your triathlon coaching
and I'm so interested in thisopen water swimming observer.
That's really cool and justgenerally how a champion like
you, somebody that's doing, asuccessful someone that's a
successful entrepreneur andreally out there as an athlete.
(01:50):
So just tell us, like right now, what is the top thing that
you're doing in your life?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Coaching and I train a little bit myself because I
love training, but I am mostlycoaching.
I would say, what I'm lovingright now so much is our weekly
open water swims.
I call them open waterWednesdays.
I've wanted to do it for yearsand finally this year every
Wednesday evening we have agroup, I'm up on my paddleboard
(02:22):
and we head out into theColumbia River.
It's a very large river andeach week I have different
workouts for the athletes andlast night actually, finally we
got some calm waters.
We've had lots.
Down here in southeasternWashington it can get very windy
.
We've dealt with white caps,current, all of the wonderful
open water swimming elementsthese athletes get exposed to
(02:46):
every single week.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That is great.
What does an open water, riverworkout look like?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Sure.
So we've done everything from,for example, race takeouts, so
starting out super fast, like weall do and often do in open
water races, or even in poolswims too, racing in the pool,
elevating the heart rate onpurpose and then settling into
it.
We've also done draftingpractice, where we'll pace line.
(03:14):
We've done some technique work.
I've even had the athletes dosome drill practicing different
types of breathing, whether it'sunilateral or bilateral.
We practice our sighting, whichis a very important skill to
have in the open water.
I'm sure all your listenersthat are open water swimmers
know how easy it is to get offtrack without sighting very
(03:36):
frequently.
But again, it's a skill and sowe practice those things.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, so what is the range of athletes that's in that
group things?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah.
So what is the range ofathletes that's in that group?
We have everything frombeginners.
The first week we had a ladywalk in get ready to swim and
walked right back to the shoreand just observed she was not
ready that day.
Two athletes that are they are.
They could buy for worldchampionships a lot in Chadwine.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Wow, how do you manage that wide range of
swimmer?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, that's a good question.
Actually, I have some.
I just employed somebody elseto come help me out.
After a few weeks of managingit by myself, I was like, oh, I
need some help.
I think.
We also have another thing I dowhich is so wonderful the area
where we swim there's twodifferent docks I call it the
blue dock and the old dock andit's 100 meters in the river,
(04:28):
and so we do what I call docklaps, swimming back and forth
100 meter repeat between thesetwo docks, and so that's a good
way to keep athletes togetherthat are from different
abilities and also get the openwater exposure.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
So I love that this interview with you is coming on
the heels of Matt Mosley, whohis podcast.
He's a river swimmer.
He does.
He swam the Colorado River.
He does river conservation likehe thinks it's so important
that swimmers get in real water.
I'm kind of a pool swimmer.
(05:01):
I've done a lot of open watertoo, but tell us what you are
seeing as someone that's in theriver, that you're in the
Columbia River.
What is that river like thesedays?
The clarity of it, thecleanliness of it, the
temperature of it?
Just kind of give us a riverreport.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, it's such a good question because it's so dynamic
.
When we started out, we were.
The temperature, for example,was in the upper 50s 57, 58.
It's in the upper 60s now 66,67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Everybody's wearing wetsuits oh, there's a couple of people
that aren't wearing wetsuits,but the majority do wear full
wetsuits and so that's just in amatter of a month and a half.
(05:44):
It's a desert here, so it's warmenough.
It's warm.
It's hot here, so the riverdoes warm up.
We have wind, so the athletesare dealing with wind oftentimes
.
As far as the quality of thewater, right now it's okay.
We do have problems with toxicalgae blooms, and so I'm on the
(06:07):
health department website dailychecking if there's any new
updates so I can make sure thatthe swimmers are staying safe
out there in the water.
That toxic algae is verydangerous, especially for
animals and smaller dogs thatare on the shoreline, and you
can pretty much see it.
I don't know if I ever thoughtit would.
Obviously we would call it aday and not go out, but because
the river's flowing, so it's sodynamic and it changes every
(06:29):
single day.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
What does a toxic algae bloom look like to you if
you come upon it?
It's green.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It's shiny, it's at the surface of the water and
it's usually more in black water.
So where we swim, the water'sflowing, so I have confidence
that it's safe.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And it's unmistakable yes absolutely.
Okay, so so your day job iscoaching.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Full-time, yes.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And how do you fit your own training in?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It just kind of depends what I'm training for or
if I'm training for anything.
Right now, I'm really intostrength training personally, so
my strength training comesfirst.
I am also going to be doing the70.3 Ironman in our city in
September the second year we'rehaving it so I am doing quite a
bit of running and biking andswimming as well.
(07:24):
Myself I fitted in.
I used to be a very.
I know early mornings are thebest, but and I did master swim
for 15 years, waking up at 4.30,three to four times a week Once
2020 hit and the pools shutdown, I haven't gone back to
that routine.
I found out that I like tosleep, so I do.
(07:48):
Oftentimes I do noontide winsfrom where I work.
There's a wonderful outdoorpool three minutes away from
where I am, and then my bikerides and runs are usually in
the afternoons or evenings.
I just find that that works forme personally right now.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So translate for us people who did triathlons back
in the day.
Now they call triathlon 70.3 orwhatever.
I think I knew them as SprintInternational and Ironman.
What are the distances?
What does 70.3 mean to peoplethat may not be?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
as hip.
So for triathlon there's fourdifferent distances.
There's what we call a sprint,an Olympic, a 70.3, which is a
half Ironman, and then a 140.6,which is a full Ironman.
So a 70.3, aka half Ironman, isa 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike
(08:45):
and then a half marathon, 13.1miles.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So isn't the Olympic swim a mile?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
0.9,.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
yes, so they only add 0.3 to the swim and then double
the bike and double the run.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You got it.
I don't know why, but you'reexactly right yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so that's why I got out of triathlon.
It's just, it's just not fairto the swimmer, Um so.
So, in that vein, if we do havepeople that are just swimmers
or or they're new, what is youravenue?
What race would you tell themto get?
(09:27):
And what would you tell someonethat really wants to just try a
triathlon?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Sure, I would recommend first hiring a coach.
That's what I did.
I mean honestly, I don't saythat just because I'm a coach.
The very first triathlon I did,I thought I knew how to swim.
I had grown up with backyardpools.
I did not know how to swim forracing.
I doggy paddled.
I hired a swim coach the nextweek.
That was 20 years ago.
(09:54):
So I would recommend hiring acoach to get technique down.
I would recommend, once you feelcomfortable, getting into a
master's program.
And once you feel comfortablegetting into a master's program,
they're just invaluable on somany different levels, from
progressing to being challengedand, as I'm sure all your
listeners know, swimming withpeople that are faster than you
(10:15):
make you faster, help make youfaster, and just the cultural
aspect of a master's community.
I would also say definitely getin.
You have to get into the openwater because they're so like I
mentioned before, it's sodynamic, it's so different from
pool swimming.
And then a sprint triathlon,which is the shortest distance,
(10:36):
would be the place where I wouldstart and just kind of get your
toes wet no pun intended andsee how you like it or what you
learned from it, be curiousabout it.
And what did you learn what?
What scared you, what made yougrow as an athlete?
What did you do well and whatwould you maybe like to do
differently the next time?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
swimming background or feel like their, their mind
just says what is a masterswimming program.
They might not even know that.
Um, but I I do agree, havingbeing on the elite end of master
swimming.
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I'm here glitched second.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It glitched here on my end.
Gosh, I cannot stand this IBMApple pop-up that comes.
It's the first time it's doneit.
Oh no, that's the beauty of theedit.
So being on the elite end ofthe master swimmer and having,
(11:46):
when you go to a master swimmingpractice, just like you
described in your river workout,you're going to have people
that are elite, world recordholding master swimmers, and
then you're going to have peoplethat are really new, and I love
the master swimming program inMelbourne, florida, which I've
been a member of for many years.
We have guppies we call themthe guppies and the mahisis, and
the guppies love being calledguppies.
They're brand new and sosometimes the guppies come in
(12:09):
and they really need, they needcoaching.
So I totally agree thatswimming is the scariest part of
a triathlon.
We can all pretty much ride abike or run and you can even
walk, yes, so the swimming partis especially open water, the
mass start.
So I totally agree, get a swimcoach and then get into a
master's program if you have onenear you, and then I would just
(12:32):
I'd love your coaching and yourideas on if somebody is doing
their first triathlon, do youjust say just get through it.
Like, what do you recommend onequipment?
Because that is an overwhelmingpart of triathlon, I think for
a lot of people absolutely trigear can, can add up and thought
I'll be expensive, pricey.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, your first triathlon ride, anything.
I borrowed a bike from myparents garage.
It literally was like a leisurebike.
It wasn't even a true mountainbike.
I wore a water skiing wetsuit.
I did not have even a triathlonquote, unquote wetsuit.
I probably would have beenbetter off not wearing anything,
because those water skiingwetsuits, there's no buoyancy to
(13:17):
them whatsoever.
So yeah, comparison is thethief of joy.
So you show up at a race ortraining and if you're just
starting out, use what you have,or there's no reason to invest
in the pricey equipment untilyou know that it's something
that you, that you, actuallylike I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I comparison is the thief of joy is one of my
favorite sayings.
It's such a great way to liveyour life.
Tell us about your very firsttriathlon.
We love stories.
Our listeners love stories.
Give us the Jennifer and I wantthe details of what was a
success and what was a disaster,cause we all have them on our
(14:00):
first triathlon.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, actually I'm so happy that you asked me that
because just five days ago wasthe anniversary of my 20th
triathlon my 20th year doingtriathlon so I did the race that
I started with 20 years ago andit was also on my.
It was on my birthday and theysang happy birthday to me and I
started crying before the race.
It was just so special to be inthe same place where I'd been
(14:26):
two decades ago, scared andnervous, and my new.
Five days ago I was still verynervous, but, as I am before
every race, but 20 years ago inthis race it's the local
mountain bike sprint triathlon.
So it's in the Columbia Riverand it's a half mile swim down
(14:47):
river.
I never put my face in thewater.
Once I was, I was terrified.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Oh, I love that you never put your face in the water
.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
No, no, my first triathlon, my face did not.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Were you wearing goggles?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh, yes, I was wearing goggles, but I might as
well not have been wearinggoggles.
I never used them.
I was so scared and I had beenout in the river a couple of
times before and I was just very.
I was very nervous, which Iknow.
A lot of people are in openwater, it's not uncommon and I
wasn't immune to that anxietyeither.
(15:22):
I got out of the river, I gotonto my whatever this bike was.
I got out of my parents' garage.
It was a piece of work,probably weighed 120 pounds, and
I went and rode it and wentthrough the trails.
The chain fell off and then Iget in and then I go on.
The run was I'm more from arunning background still, the
five kilometer run, three miles,that wasn't too bad.
(15:45):
But coming off of a bike,there's jelly legs and I
actually just don't got myselfand I probably looked so silly
and I saw a group of people overthe real triathletes over on
the other side of the awards,and I was like I want to be like
them and they ended up becomingmy very best friends in my
community and so that was thestart of it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That is a great.
That's a great origin story ofyou and triathlon.
So what is this passion thatI've in my research on you?
It's just you just lovetriathlon and you want to share
it with everyone.
What do you think is the reasonthat people need to do
triathlons?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, it's just so dynamic.
It's a lot to juggle, and I dorealize that, of course, and we
all have busy lives and familiesand careers, but at the same
time, there's always somethingnew and fresh.
Each day you're doing adifferent type of workout, a
different style of workout.
I think for me it just keepsexercising and being healthy, so
(16:54):
dynamic.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I have some hammering going on in the background,
which I mute my line just for asecond.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Well, he was hammering so, but you fell in
love with it and from there what?
At what point did you reallystart getting serious, like
after two years, five years?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
serious like after two years, five years.
I seem to escalate thingsreally quickly, but but I so I
went in all.
I went all in.
That being said, I didn't makeit into my first 70.3 high fire
world championship qualificationfor 10 years, so that so it
wasn't.
It did not happen overnight byany means.
I just kept in hindsight Iguess I did have some patience.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But I went all in and trained and just really
embraced the lifestyle and thecommunity and those became my
training partners, became mybest friends, and it's kind of
what we did yeah, yeah, I, Idefinitely had the triathlon bug
when I had it and just it'sreally fun when you get it and
(18:06):
you can do it and you're in thebest shape of your life.
So what good comeback storiesdo you have?
Like, has there been a timethat you know you were injured
or sick or whatever that youreally just thought, oh gosh,
I'm down and out, and then youcame back?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yes, I was just going to mention that because I feel
like I'm painting this rosypicture of triathlon life and
it's not always that pretty byany means.
I have had name and injury andI've probably had it when I say
I jumped all in and it became alifestyle.
It also in hindsight I wasovertraining, I wasn't sleeping
enough.
I had three very, very youngkids that I was taking care of
(18:41):
full time, so I would say acouple.
I had piriformis issues for twoto three years.
I think my worst injury was myplantar fasciitis in my left
foot.
I ended up having aplatelet-rich plasma procedure
done on it, wore a boot and wasin crutches for weeks on end.
(19:02):
That was probably that was mylowest point then, when I wasn't
, when I was sitting on a couch.
I I need to be outside andactive and I just many listeners
can probably relate withinjuries I just felt like a
caged animal and I think notonly just physically recovering,
but mentally.
It was very difficult for mebut I survived.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So it's more of a like two steps backward, one
step forward type comeback Likeoh, now I'm down again with
piriformis injury, and oh, now Ihave plantar fasciitis.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And then you just keep going back.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, boy, that's definitely.
I'm sure a lot of our listenerscan relate to that, and this is
where you can throw in yourthoughts on this.
I feel like that's one of thebeauties of being a three-sport
athlete, that when I have alower body injury, boy, I get to
swim, and when oh, I can't swim, I've done something to my neck
or my shoulder as well, I cango run or walk or cycling.
(19:58):
You can kind of always docycling, I think, unless unless,
well, you know, but you've gotthat option yes, absolutely.
When I wasn't able to run, I wasin the pool five, six days a
week yeah, yeah, you're way tooyoung for this, but I remember
back and this was in the maybe,I'm gonna say the early 90s when
(20:19):
Lisa Leidy was a pro triathleteand she broke her neck in, yeah
, in a cycling accident and shewas swimming.
She could not turn her head andI think she was in a neck
collar, but she kept swimming bydoing no flip turns and just
doing 25s, I mean she was notgetting out of shape.
(20:41):
So I I hope nobody goes that faras an injury.
But yeah, you can really dothings that keep you going.
Let's transition to yourcoaching and then at some point
you obviously become certifiedto observe open water swimmers,
which is really interesting to alot of our listeners because
I've always had in the back ofmy mind maybe one day I'll swim
the English Channel, but now I'mnot going to do that.
(21:03):
After I interviewed Matt Mosleyand that's popular- you have to
listen to Matt's interview whichis right before this one, where
he talks about why he doesn'twant to swim the English channel
, and he makes such a greatpoint.
So, but I know, when you dothese big swims, you you need
observers, and so let's tell ushow you got into coaching and
then how you got into observingand what those are.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Sure.
So I got into coaching in 2015.
I was at a point in my lifewhere I'd been racing for so
long and I was ready to giveback to the community and it was
just kind of it was for me, itwas a natural progression.
I come from a long line ofeducators in my family and I
really think coaching is justeducating others.
So I became certified.
(21:48):
When I got in for open waterobserving, it really was from a
fellow swimmer, one of myfriends, and he just reached out
and he had these ideas of whathe wanted to do and they have to
be.
These huge swims have to beobserved and and I honestly at
that point I had never done itbefore and the first one I did
(22:08):
was in 2020 and August of thatyear and I said, yeah, sure,
I'll observe you and but I had.
There was a bit of a learningcurve and it it's been just
absolute honor to witnessspecifically that he did the
Hanford National Reach 33 and ahalf miles in the Columbia River
(22:29):
, down river, in seven hours, alittle over seven hours, and
that was August of 2020, whichwe all know.
Nothing really was going onthen in the world, so it was a
good time to be outside, be in ariver, and that's where I got
my start.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So what are you observing?
Like is it that they can'ttouch the boat that they have to
tell us?
Like what do you?
What does an observer doing?
And I know one of them youobserved was like 50 miles right
, so that's a lot of timestanding around and checking
boxes.
What are doing?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
it's a lot.
All of the above, okay, and sofor me and the coach or anybody,
it's very mentally engaging.
I mean you have to, I have tobe on my game.
We're monitoring.
There's lots of there's.
You have to know the rulesfirst of all, whether no
touching the road it's keeping.
So it's being up to date on allthe rule it's keeping.
(23:22):
So it's being up to date on allthe rules.
It's keeping the athletehealthy fewer than hydrated.
That is a huge part of it.
So you have to keep track ofwhat they're eating and drinking
when they're swimming for thatlong.
So there's lots of logs.
There's just lots of data, lotsof numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So you're not just observing, you're actually part
of the feeding process, veryactive.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yes, and it might be different on some other long
swims, but for the ones thatI've done I've managed all of
that.
There have been some otherpeople in the boat helping as
well.
I'm not doing it by myself, butmost part of managing it.
Did you see the movie?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Nyad the Netflix movie.
Yeah, and there's somecontroversy around whether her
observers were actually accurate, and you know what?
Are your thoughts on that movie.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, yeah, oh, the swim and the swim.
That just gave me thegoosebumps, because it is quite
a responsibility.
The observers you have to be,you have to be on your game and
I think what she did was nextlevel.
I an absolutely unbelievableyeah, I mean regardless.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I mean, let's say she , I think she did the whole
thing.
That's just me.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I think she did it.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
But let's say she got on the boat to go to the
bathroom or something.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
But she still did.
It just doesn't seem.
I mean she's not going to geton the boat to go to the
bathroom because we all know theocean is a great place to do
that, but I think that she,whatever if the boat stopped or
slowed down or she touched it,it still doesn't take away from
the type of swimmer that she wasand the fact that she went
after that thing four times.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I mean yeah it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So you're obviously balancing a lot.
You're a mom of three.
You are a world you knowchampion triathlete.
You're world championship.
You didn't win the worldchampions.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No, not even close.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But you went and you're now this coach.
You're very successful.
What would you say some of thepractices, your rituals, your
routines that make yousuccessful, anything that you do
?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I do have a mindfulness practice.
I started that about 10 yearsago and it ebbed and flowed.
But in the past year alone I'vegone on to seven day silent
retreat as much as I love peopleso much and but I also love and
I find joy, and in silence aswell.
So I'm wow, wow, we, we've gotto hear about a seven day silent
(25:56):
retreat.
I mean, I know everybody's likestop Kelly, don't let her go.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
What in the world?
How is I mean?
You know, give what's it like.
Give a little summary on thatCause, I am just Well, my first
one a year ago.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
It was scary.
I think that's why I did it.
I love challenges.
I don't know if I lovechallenges, you do you do.
Oh, not one.
Okay, I'll take it.
I like challenges and it wassomething that that did scare me
, but I was so curious aboutwhat happens when you don't talk
for seven days to other people.
What happens?
(26:33):
Everything I do with, withathletics and coaching,
everything here on the outside,it's the, external, it's the.
I am also equally very curiousabout the internal conversations
that we have with ourselves,myself included, and I wanted to
see where my brain would go inseven days on it when left to
its own device, and it would setup, set up the rules of it.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Where you were, what the environment was like it's.
Drop your cell phone.
Here's your, your, your cellblock, or what I mean what is it
?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
a dorm room?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
it was a dorm room, did you just say in the dorm?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
it's not a dorm room, like it's not at a university,
it's at a.
I go to a retreat center inCalifornia called spirit rock.
It's based on the insightmeditation lineage of meditation
, and and so, yeah, I turn inyour cell phone, have a dorm
room and there's a schedule.
So you wake up, you meditate.
It's a schedule every 45minutes.
(27:32):
You're doing somethingdifferent.
You're either doing a sittingmeditation, a walking meditation
, which I am really I'm bad at.
I need to improve my walkingmeditation because the walk is
very slow and I move fast, yeah,and so it's back and forth
between different types ofmeditations.
And then there's some, there'ssome talks, there's detox, then
(27:52):
we would.
Then there's trails there, so Iwould go on a trail run every
day as a moving meditation forme.
Sometimes I would stay on thetrails a little bit too long and
miss some of the sessions, andthat's okay too.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Did you journal?
Did you have anything?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
No, they recommend no journaling, no reading.
They really just want to fold,just wipe out.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
How did your mind respond to that?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
After the first two days of my birth retreat, I
wanted to leave.
I was a wreck.
I was crying.
I don't like the word hate, butI hated it.
And, that being said, I kind oflike in sports, I'm not a
quitter so I was like gosh, dangit, You're not leaving, because
I could walk out the gate.
Nobody's making me stay there.
(28:35):
I could have left any time, butI was like heck, no, I'm doing
this and this is why I'm here.
And then, after the third,fourth day, everything starts to
kind of.
My mind was too loud day.
Everything starts to kind of.
My mind was too loud when, forme, by not talking, the silence
created noise in my head, and Ithink this is a common practice.
(28:57):
I've talked with others, I'veread about it.
The mind gets very, very loud,and so how did I've never had to
deal with that before?
What do I do with that?
What do I do with all thatnoise?
And it's actually verybeautiful when you get to a
point where I figured out whatto do with it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
What do you do with it?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And you just let it float by like clouds.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, you let it go.
What happens, you just let it go, you find something, you go on
a walk or you sit, and sobreathing is really helpful for
me personally.
Sometimes sounds would helpgoing outside.
I'd always have to go outsideand sit on a bench and listen to
the birds or the wind orwhatever it might, whatever
(29:38):
sounds, breath or sounds orwhere I return to usually.
And so by the fifth, sixth daythen I didn't want to leave.
I was like no, I don't want togo back to the real world, and
so that's why I signed up for asecond one nine months later,
and with that, For another sevendays.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Yes, Wow, Okay, who knew that we were going to that
here?
I think I'm going to be talkingto this you know endurance
triathlete about the tough lifeshe did as an athlete and now
we're talking about you knowit's.
I mean, this is a new frontierfor us, people that like
challenges, which you do, I do,Maria, my former co-host, and my
(30:18):
sister-in-law, who's aworld-class endurance cyclist.
She's she's got a book outcalled do tough and, um, I don't
think either of us have everdone this seven day silent.
I one day, usually on the firstday of the year, I do a silent
day with no yeah, but yeah but Ithat's so.
It's such an interesting newfrontier.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It's fascinating.
It's absolutely fascinating.
I agree with you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, now when you reentered life how was that?
Was it like, oh like, ananxiety feeling of, oh no, I got
to check my cell phone pingsand noise.
Were you desensitized or wereyou oversensitive to things when
you returned?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, I really didn't know what to expect.
When I got my phone back afterseven days, I didn't even turn
it on, I didn't care.
And then by the time I got tothe airport, I turned it on, and
when I when I was ready, but Ididn't turn it on immediately.
And even when after this wasinteresting after I gave the
phone away for the first two,three days, I was putting my
(31:22):
hand in my pocket, constantlygrabbing, grabbing for it and it
it wasn't there.
And so to go from that togetting it back and really not
being that interested in it andI mean I use my phone all day,
every day now I mean, I'm just anormal person.
I think I was very concernedabout going straight to the
airport, san Francisco airport.
(31:43):
I've never stood in the line,all the lines, and felt so fine
about it.
I nothing, I well, and therewas.
I mean we all know airports arejust loud and crazy and busy
and people are are getting allthese different places and I
just I felt like it was allhappening around me.
It didn't, it didn't, and I wasvery concerned about how like I
(32:05):
it was, that I would beoverstimulated, I wouldn't know
how to react and it was very, itwas quite painful and and I
think that's something that Istill, to this day, I try to do
and I'm not I don't do itprobably very well half the time
, but there are moments wherethere's been a grocery store
line at a red light at anairport when I travel, to just
(32:25):
try to return, to centering onbreath or just being present and
relaxed and letting everythinghappen around me.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Wow, this has been so interesting and valuable my
gosh.
So would you say overall thatsilence has affected your life
positively?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I mean it's changed my life Absolutely.
It has completely changed mylife, and I that I'm I am still
a work in progress.
I do not know, it isn't.
It's a daily, it's a practiceright, kind of like, like what
we do, what's court or anythingelse.
I've never and there's, there'sperfection is not the goal, it
won't happen.
Well and so, and I also thinkthat I think it's helped me
(33:10):
become a better coach.
I think it's helped me become abetter athlete.
Actually, I think it doesn'ttake the edge off to have some
presence and awareness by anymeans.
If anything, it helped me racebetter.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Were you before you did this?
I mean, did you do it?
Have you suffered from anxietyor panic attacks or anything?
So what like brought you thereto that that fit?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
All of the above.
I have diagnosed depression andanxiety and it has helped me
more than any, more thananything in my whole life.
Yeah, yeah.
And again it's still a work inprogress.
Some days are still messy, Somedays are very messy and some
days are.
Some days are okay.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, wow, well, we dove deep on this, but that is
just so interesting and that'swhat I love about interviewing
all different kinds of champions.
Everyone has some incrediblegem in them when I get them on
the mic here, the mic here, andit's just that's really cool.
So is there another retreat inyour future?
(34:14):
Your seven day?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yes, I don't have it planned.
It's actually on my screen onmy computer right now.
There's a couple that I willdefinitely be going back before
the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Now, is that something that one could do with
a friend, or you don'trecommend that you can?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I wouldn't recommend it, though.
I recommend going solo.
Get uncomfortable, and itdoesn't have to be a seven-day
silent retreat.
I am zero to 100 on everything.
That being said, I did do aone-day silent retreat where I
lived many, many years ago, andso you could even do a one day
retreat.
You could do one minute ofsilence and see how it feels.
(34:53):
I mean, you don't want that.
There's so many different waysto do it.
There's actually a 30 dayretreat.
I'm eyeing that's in my future.
Oh my gosh, oh, that's so cool,I know.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Do hard things, not do tough.
So do tough is Maria Parker'sbook.
Do hard Things is Steve Magnus'book, which is one of my
favorite books.
I know I just I love SteveMagnus.
I'm trying to get him on theshow that study where they put
(35:33):
people in a room and they askthem to just be alone for 15
minutes without their phones oranything.
And people are so unfamiliarwith that feeling that they said
, if you want to have somethingto do, the only thing you can do
is either sit here and be quietwith your thoughts or hit this
button and it'll give you asmall shock.
And it's a painful shock.
And that it was just 15 minutesand there were people that hit
(35:54):
that button.
I'm going to either it was,either I was, 167 times in 15
minutes.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Oh gosh that they would rather be.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Some people would rather be shocked and painfully
hurt than to spend 15 minuteswith their own thoughts.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we're with ourselves 24seven, so we might as well learn
to kind of like ourselves alittle bit.
Yeah, yeah, yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
So the question that started that off was are there?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
any rituals.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
How about, jennifer, things that normal people can do
, anything that we normal peoplecan do, anything that we normal
people can do, that might behelp.
Any anything you do that normalpeople do that would help your.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
That has helped your success, oh well, and then I'll
start with it.
There were breathing techniquesand I just did that with an
athlete last week.
I mean, there's, there's somany different ways to breathe,
right, there's, or you know, tocalm the breath and to get the
parasympathetic system revved upor slowed down.
So box breathing and numbercounting.
(36:58):
I did one just with an athletelast week, where you take a
really big deep breath in andthen you take a second deep
breath in and then you let itout.
That's it.
That's just in the past coupleof weeks.
That's my favorite.
Go to.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Yeah, I love, love, box breathing, yeah, and then
all breathing, all breathing.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, yeah, and there's so many different
techniques as far as routines.
I love coffee.
I drink coffee a lot,unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Well, you are from Washington state right up there,
where coffee is very nice yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yeah, lots of coffee.
What else do I do?
I read, I like to read.
I read at night, before I go tobed.
I don't do.
Yeah, I do do screens sometimes.
I try not to, but I'm human soI do.
Sometimes I'm on my phone andI'm like nope, put it away.
I'm an avid reader.
So another something else thatI like to do to wind down at the
end of the day.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Nice, nice.
All right, that is such greatstuff.
Now, last question before we goto our speed round of questions
or our sprint around, just sopeople get to know you a little
better.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Is there anything?
that I haven't asked you, thatyou want to share with our
listeners Is there anything thatI haven't asked you that you
want to share with our listeners?
I think, just as far as livingan active, healthy lifestyle,
just remain curious, and it'sokay to step out of your comfort
zone and do things that feeldifferent.
One quick example I had anathlete who was just starting
(38:26):
out with me.
He really didn't know how toswim.
We started with him blowingbubbles in my backyard pool like
literally blowing bubbles likea toddler swim lesson.
Five years later he's in theworld championship.
So uh, for both the half ironman and the full iron man, both
by starting with blowing bubblesand doing bonds up and down and
(38:50):
like.
So I think to give yourself abreak and meet yourself where
you're at.
It's so important and it mighteven sound cliche, but it's
easier said than done.
I totally realized that myself.
But really start where you'reat and go from there.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I love that.
I love that.
Okay, are you ready for somequestions?
Let's see here.
Okay, what's your favoritesandwich?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Garbanzo Garbanzo beans.
Think of a tuna fish sandwich,for example, but mashed garbanzo
beans.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
What do you own that you should throw out Too many
clothes?
Okay.
Scariest animal A badger.
Ooh, yeah, badgers.
What celebrity would you mostlike to meet?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
All right, what is the hardest swimming event in
the pool?
You may not know thispersonally, but you have an idea
if you've watched the Olympics.
Anything with butterfly.
Yeah, I'm right there with youfavorite movie uh, don't really
watch movies wow, okay, that's agood answer.
Favorite smell.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Vanilla.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Do you make your bed every morning?
I do yes.
Kickboard or no, kickboard,definitely.
If you had to listen to onesong for the rest of your life,
what might it be?
Taylor Swift Anything by herOkay, window or aisle.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Definitely aisle.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Describe your life in five words.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Full connected, happy messy and full of sunshine.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Okay, last question what wordcomes to mind when you are
swimming in the water?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Peace.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Peace.
Awesome, jennifer, thank you somuch.
This has been so wonderful tochat with you, really really
appreciate your time and wishingyou all the best.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, where we
celebrate the grit, grace andgrowth of champion athletes and
coaches, pushing their limitsand living with purpose.
I'm your host, kelly Pallas,and today I'm thrilled to
welcome someone who embodies thespirit of transformation and
tenacity.
Jennifer Comfort is aUSAT-certified triathlon coach,
(00:24):
endurance athlete and open waterswim observer whose story is
both powerful and inspiring.
She's competed in multipleIronman and 70.3 races,
qualified for the BostonMarathon and now guides athletes
of all levels through the sportshe loves.
Based in the great NorthwestWashington's Tri-Cities region,
(00:46):
jennifer not only coaches openwater groups in the Columbia
River, but also serves as anofficial observer for some of
the longest, most daring swimsin the world.
Her journey from struggle tostrength is a masterclass in
resilience and I can't wait foryou to hear it, jennifer Comfort
.
Welcome to Champions Mojo.
Kelly, thanks so much forhaving me today.
(01:07):
Yes, I'm very excited because Iknow that a lot of our
listeners are swimmers who doopen water.
They may have dabbled with theidea of doing a triathlon A for
the first time or B, maybe doingit again.
I'm one of those swimmer masterswimmers who was a triathlete
back in the day, I'll say, and Ihaven't done one in a while.
(01:29):
So maybe I want to get backinto that.
But I want to talk with youabout your triathlon coaching
and I'm so interested in thisopen water swimming observer.
That's really cool and justgenerally how a champion like
you, somebody that's doing, asuccessful someone that's a
successful entrepreneur andreally out there as an athlete.
(01:50):
So just tell us, like right now, what is the top thing that
you're doing in your life?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Coaching and I train a little bit myself because I
love training, but I am mostlycoaching.
I would say, what I'm lovingright now so much is our weekly
open water swims.
I call them open waterWednesdays.
I've wanted to do it for yearsand finally this year every
Wednesday evening we have agroup, I'm up on my paddleboard
(02:22):
and we head out into theColumbia River.
It's a very large river andeach week I have different
workouts for the athletes andlast night actually, finally we
got some calm waters.
We've had lots.
Down here in southeasternWashington it can get very windy
.
We've dealt with white caps,current, all of the wonderful
open water swimming elementsthese athletes get exposed to
(02:46):
every single week.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That is great.
What does an open water, riverworkout look like?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Sure.
So we've done everything from,for example, race takeouts, so
starting out super fast, like weall do and often do in open
water races, or even in poolswims too, racing in the pool,
elevating the heart rate onpurpose and then settling into
it.
We've also done draftingpractice, where we'll pace line.
(03:14):
We've done some technique work.
I've even had the athletes dosome drill practicing different
types of breathing, whether it'sunilateral or bilateral.
We practice our sighting, whichis a very important skill to
have in the open water.
I'm sure all your listenersthat are open water swimmers
know how easy it is to get offtrack without sighting very
(03:36):
frequently.
But again, it's a skill and sowe practice those things.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, so what is the range of athletes that's in that
group things?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah.
So what is the range ofathletes that's in that group?
We have everything frombeginners.
The first week we had a ladywalk in get ready to swim and
walked right back to the shoreand just observed she was not
ready that day.
Two athletes that are they are.
They could buy for worldchampionships a lot in Chadwine.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Wow, how do you manage that wide range of
swimmer?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, that's a good question.
Actually, I have some.
I just employed somebody elseto come help me out.
After a few weeks of managingit by myself, I was like, oh, I
need some help.
I think.
We also have another thing I dowhich is so wonderful the area
where we swim there's twodifferent docks I call it the
blue dock and the old dock andit's 100 meters in the river,
(04:28):
and so we do what I call docklaps, swimming back and forth
100 meter repeat between thesetwo docks, and so that's a good
way to keep athletes togetherthat are from different
abilities and also get the openwater exposure.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
So I love that this interview with you is coming on
the heels of Matt Mosley, whohis podcast.
He's a river swimmer.
He does.
He swam the Colorado River.
He does river conservation likehe thinks it's so important
that swimmers get in real water.
I'm kind of a pool swimmer.
(05:01):
I've done a lot of open watertoo, but tell us what you are
seeing as someone that's in theriver, that you're in the
Columbia River.
What is that river like thesedays?
The clarity of it, thecleanliness of it, the
temperature of it?
Just kind of give us a riverreport.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, it's such a good question because it's so dynamic
.
When we started out, we were.
The temperature, for example,was in the upper 50s 57, 58.
It's in the upper 60s now 66,67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Everybody's wearing wetsuits oh, there's a couple of people
that aren't wearing wetsuits,but the majority do wear full
wetsuits and so that's just in amatter of a month and a half.
(05:44):
It's a desert here, so it's warmenough.
It's warm.
It's hot here, so the riverdoes warm up.
We have wind, so the athletesare dealing with wind oftentimes
.
As far as the quality of thewater, right now it's okay.
We do have problems with toxicalgae blooms, and so I'm on the
(06:07):
health department website dailychecking if there's any new
updates so I can make sure thatthe swimmers are staying safe
out there in the water.
That toxic algae is verydangerous, especially for
animals and smaller dogs thatare on the shoreline, and you
can pretty much see it.
I don't know if I ever thoughtit would.
Obviously we would call it aday and not go out, but because
the river's flowing, so it's sodynamic and it changes every
(06:29):
single day.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
What does a toxic algae bloom look like to you if
you come upon it?
It's green.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It's shiny, it's at the surface of the water and
it's usually more in black water.
So where we swim, the water'sflowing, so I have confidence
that it's safe.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And it's unmistakable yes absolutely.
Okay, so so your day job iscoaching.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Full-time, yes.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And how do you fit your own training in?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It just kind of depends what I'm training for or
if I'm training for anything.
Right now, I'm really intostrength training personally, so
my strength training comesfirst.
I am also going to be doing the70.3 Ironman in our city in
September the second year we'rehaving it so I am doing quite a
bit of running and biking andswimming as well.
(07:24):
Myself I fitted in.
I used to be a very.
I know early mornings are thebest, but and I did master swim
for 15 years, waking up at 4.30,three to four times a week Once
2020 hit and the pools shutdown, I haven't gone back to
that routine.
I found out that I like tosleep, so I do.
(07:48):
Oftentimes I do noontide winsfrom where I work.
There's a wonderful outdoorpool three minutes away from
where I am, and then my bikerides and runs are usually in
the afternoons or evenings.
I just find that that works forme personally right now.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So translate for us people who did triathlons back
in the day.
Now they call triathlon 70.3 orwhatever.
I think I knew them as SprintInternational and Ironman.
What are the distances?
What does 70.3 mean to peoplethat may not be?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
as hip.
So for triathlon there's fourdifferent distances.
There's what we call a sprint,an Olympic, a 70.3, which is a
half Ironman, and then a 140.6,which is a full Ironman.
So a 70.3, aka half Ironman, isa 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike
(08:45):
and then a half marathon, 13.1miles.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So isn't the Olympic swim a mile?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
0.9,.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
yes, so they only add 0.3 to the swim and then double
the bike and double the run.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You got it.
I don't know why, but you'reexactly right yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, so that's why I got out of triathlon.
It's just, it's just not fairto the swimmer, Um so.
So, in that vein, if we do havepeople that are just swimmers
or or they're new, what is youravenue?
What race would you tell themto get?
(09:27):
And what would you tell someonethat really wants to just try a
triathlon?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Sure, I would recommend first hiring a coach.
That's what I did.
I mean honestly, I don't saythat just because I'm a coach.
The very first triathlon I did,I thought I knew how to swim.
I had grown up with backyardpools.
I did not know how to swim forracing.
I doggy paddled.
I hired a swim coach the nextweek.
That was 20 years ago.
(09:54):
So I would recommend hiring acoach to get technique down.
I would recommend, once you feelcomfortable, getting into a
master's program.
And once you feel comfortablegetting into a master's program,
they're just invaluable on somany different levels, from
progressing to being challengedand, as I'm sure all your
listeners know, swimming withpeople that are faster than you
(10:15):
make you faster, help make youfaster, and just the cultural
aspect of a master's community.
I would also say definitely getin.
You have to get into the openwater because they're so like I
mentioned before, it's sodynamic, it's so different from
pool swimming.
And then a sprint triathlon,which is the shortest distance,
(10:36):
would be the place where I wouldstart and just kind of get your
toes wet no pun intended andsee how you like it or what you
learned from it, be curiousabout it.
And what did you learn what?
What scared you, what made yougrow as an athlete?
What did you do well and whatwould you maybe like to do
differently the next time?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
swimming background or feel like their, their mind
just says what is a masterswimming program.
They might not even know that.
Um, but I I do agree, havingbeing on the elite end of master
swimming.
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I'm here glitched second.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It glitched here on my end.
Gosh, I cannot stand this IBMApple pop-up that comes.
It's the first time it's doneit.
Oh no, that's the beauty of theedit.
So being on the elite end ofthe master swimmer and having,
(11:46):
when you go to a master swimmingpractice, just like you
described in your river workout,you're going to have people
that are elite, world recordholding master swimmers, and
then you're going to have peoplethat are really new, and I love
the master swimming program inMelbourne, florida, which I've
been a member of for many years.
We have guppies we call themthe guppies and the mahisis, and
the guppies love being calledguppies.
They're brand new and sosometimes the guppies come in
(12:09):
and they really need, they needcoaching.
So I totally agree thatswimming is the scariest part of
a triathlon.
We can all pretty much ride abike or run and you can even
walk, yes, so the swimming partis especially open water, the
mass start.
So I totally agree, get a swimcoach and then get into a
master's program if you have onenear you, and then I would just
(12:32):
I'd love your coaching and yourideas on if somebody is doing
their first triathlon, do youjust say just get through it.
Like, what do you recommend onequipment?
Because that is an overwhelmingpart of triathlon, I think for
a lot of people absolutely trigear can, can add up and thought
I'll be expensive, pricey.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, your first triathlon ride, anything.
I borrowed a bike from myparents garage.
It literally was like a leisurebike.
It wasn't even a true mountainbike.
I wore a water skiing wetsuit.
I did not have even a triathlonquote, unquote wetsuit.
I probably would have beenbetter off not wearing anything,
because those water skiingwetsuits, there's no buoyancy to
(13:17):
them whatsoever.
So yeah, comparison is thethief of joy.
So you show up at a race ortraining and if you're just
starting out, use what you have,or there's no reason to invest
in the pricey equipment untilyou know that it's something
that you, that you, actuallylike I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I comparison is the thief of joy is one of my
favorite sayings.
It's such a great way to liveyour life.
Tell us about your very firsttriathlon.
We love stories.
Our listeners love stories.
Give us the Jennifer and I wantthe details of what was a
success and what was a disaster,cause we all have them on our
(14:00):
first triathlon.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, actually I'm so happy that you asked me that
because just five days ago wasthe anniversary of my 20th
triathlon my 20th year doingtriathlon so I did the race that
I started with 20 years ago andit was also on my.
It was on my birthday and theysang happy birthday to me and I
started crying before the race.
It was just so special to be inthe same place where I'd been
(14:26):
two decades ago, scared andnervous, and my new.
Five days ago I was still verynervous, but, as I am before
every race, but 20 years ago inthis race it's the local
mountain bike sprint triathlon.
So it's in the Columbia Riverand it's a half mile swim down
(14:47):
river.
I never put my face in thewater.
Once I was, I was terrified.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Oh, I love that you never put your face in the water
.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
No, no, my first triathlon, my face did not.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Were you wearing goggles?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh, yes, I was wearing goggles, but I might as
well not have been wearinggoggles.
I never used them.
I was so scared and I had beenout in the river a couple of
times before and I was just very.
I was very nervous, which Iknow.
A lot of people are in openwater, it's not uncommon and I
wasn't immune to that anxietyeither.
(15:22):
I got out of the river, I gotonto my whatever this bike was.
I got out of my parents' garage.
It was a piece of work,probably weighed 120 pounds, and
I went and rode it and wentthrough the trails.
The chain fell off and then Iget in and then I go on.
The run was I'm more from arunning background still, the
five kilometer run, three miles,that wasn't too bad.
(15:45):
But coming off of a bike,there's jelly legs and I
actually just don't got myselfand I probably looked so silly
and I saw a group of people overthe real triathletes over on
the other side of the awards,and I was like I want to be like
them and they ended up becomingmy very best friends in my
community and so that was thestart of it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That is a great.
That's a great origin story ofyou and triathlon.
So what is this passion thatI've in my research on you?
It's just you just lovetriathlon and you want to share
it with everyone.
What do you think is the reasonthat people need to do
triathlons?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, it's just so dynamic.
It's a lot to juggle, and I dorealize that, of course, and we
all have busy lives and familiesand careers, but at the same
time, there's always somethingnew and fresh.
Each day you're doing adifferent type of workout, a
different style of workout.
I think for me it just keepsexercising and being healthy, so
(16:54):
dynamic.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I have some hammering going on in the background,
which I mute my line just for asecond.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Well, he was hammering so, but you fell in
love with it and from there what?
At what point did you reallystart getting serious, like
after two years, five years?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
serious like after two years, five years.
I seem to escalate thingsreally quickly, but but I so I
went in all.
I went all in.
That being said, I didn't makeit into my first 70.3 high fire
world championship qualificationfor 10 years, so that so it
wasn't.
It did not happen overnight byany means.
I just kept in hindsight Iguess I did have some patience.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But I went all in and trained and just really
embraced the lifestyle and thecommunity and those became my
training partners, became mybest friends, and it's kind of
what we did yeah, yeah, I, Idefinitely had the triathlon bug
when I had it and just it'sreally fun when you get it and
(18:06):
you can do it and you're in thebest shape of your life.
So what good comeback storiesdo you have?
Like, has there been a timethat you know you were injured
or sick or whatever that youreally just thought, oh gosh,
I'm down and out, and then youcame back?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yes, I was just going to mention that because I feel
like I'm painting this rosypicture of triathlon life and
it's not always that pretty byany means.
I have had name and injury andI've probably had it when I say
I jumped all in and it became alifestyle.
It also in hindsight I wasovertraining, I wasn't sleeping
enough.
I had three very, very youngkids that I was taking care of
(18:41):
full time, so I would say acouple.
I had piriformis issues for twoto three years.
I think my worst injury was myplantar fasciitis in my left
foot.
I ended up having aplatelet-rich plasma procedure
done on it, wore a boot and wasin crutches for weeks on end.
(19:02):
That was probably that was mylowest point then, when I wasn't
, when I was sitting on a couch.
I I need to be outside andactive and I just many listeners
can probably relate withinjuries I just felt like a
caged animal and I think notonly just physically recovering,
but mentally.
It was very difficult for mebut I survived.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So it's more of a like two steps backward, one
step forward type comeback Likeoh, now I'm down again with
piriformis injury, and oh, now Ihave plantar fasciitis.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And then you just keep going back.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, boy, that's definitely.
I'm sure a lot of our listenerscan relate to that, and this is
where you can throw in yourthoughts on this.
I feel like that's one of thebeauties of being a three-sport
athlete, that when I have alower body injury, boy, I get to
swim, and when oh, I can't swim, I've done something to my neck
or my shoulder as well, I cango run or walk or cycling.
(19:58):
You can kind of always docycling, I think, unless unless,
well, you know, but you've gotthat option yes, absolutely.
When I wasn't able to run, I wasin the pool five, six days a
week yeah, yeah, you're way tooyoung for this, but I remember
back and this was in the maybe,I'm gonna say the early 90s when
(20:19):
Lisa Leidy was a pro triathleteand she broke her neck in, yeah
, in a cycling accident and shewas swimming.
She could not turn her head andI think she was in a neck
collar, but she kept swimming bydoing no flip turns and just
doing 25s, I mean she was notgetting out of shape.
(20:41):
So I I hope nobody goes that faras an injury.
But yeah, you can really dothings that keep you going.
Let's transition to yourcoaching and then at some point
you obviously become certifiedto observe open water swimmers,
which is really interesting to alot of our listeners because
I've always had in the back ofmy mind maybe one day I'll swim
the English Channel, but now I'mnot going to do that.
(21:03):
After I interviewed Matt Mosleyand that's popular- you have to
listen to Matt's interview whichis right before this one, where
he talks about why he doesn'twant to swim the English channel
, and he makes such a greatpoint.
So, but I know, when you dothese big swims, you you need
observers, and so let's tell ushow you got into coaching and
then how you got into observingand what those are.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Sure.
So I got into coaching in 2015.
I was at a point in my lifewhere I'd been racing for so
long and I was ready to giveback to the community and it was
just kind of it was for me, itwas a natural progression.
I come from a long line ofeducators in my family and I
really think coaching is justeducating others.
So I became certified.
(21:48):
When I got in for open waterobserving, it really was from a
fellow swimmer, one of myfriends, and he just reached out
and he had these ideas of whathe wanted to do and they have to
be.
These huge swims have to beobserved and and I honestly at
that point I had never done itbefore and the first one I did
(22:08):
was in 2020 and August of thatyear and I said, yeah, sure,
I'll observe you and but I had.
There was a bit of a learningcurve and it it's been just
absolute honor to witnessspecifically that he did the
Hanford National Reach 33 and ahalf miles in the Columbia River
(22:29):
, down river, in seven hours, alittle over seven hours, and
that was August of 2020, whichwe all know.
Nothing really was going onthen in the world, so it was a
good time to be outside, be in ariver, and that's where I got
my start.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So what are you observing?
Like is it that they can'ttouch the boat that they have to
tell us?
Like what do you?
What does an observer doing?
And I know one of them youobserved was like 50 miles right
, so that's a lot of timestanding around and checking
boxes.
What are doing?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
it's a lot.
All of the above, okay, and sofor me and the coach or anybody,
it's very mentally engaging.
I mean you have to, I have tobe on my game.
We're monitoring.
There's lots of there's.
You have to know the rulesfirst of all, whether no
touching the road it's keeping.
So it's being up to date on allthe rule it's keeping.
(23:22):
So it's being up to date on allthe rules.
It's keeping the athletehealthy fewer than hydrated.
That is a huge part of it.
So you have to keep track ofwhat they're eating and drinking
when they're swimming for thatlong.
So there's lots of logs.
There's just lots of data, lotsof numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So you're not just observing, you're actually part
of the feeding process, veryactive.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yes, and it might be different on some other long
swims, but for the ones thatI've done I've managed all of
that.
There have been some otherpeople in the boat helping as
well.
I'm not doing it by myself, butmost part of managing it.
Did you see the movie?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Nyad the Netflix movie.
Yeah, and there's somecontroversy around whether her
observers were actually accurate, and you know what?
Are your thoughts on that movie.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, yeah, oh, the swim and the swim.
That just gave me thegoosebumps, because it is quite
a responsibility.
The observers you have to be,you have to be on your game and
I think what she did was nextlevel.
I an absolutely unbelievableyeah, I mean regardless.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I mean, let's say she , I think she did the whole
thing.
That's just me.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I think she did it.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
But let's say she got on the boat to go to the
bathroom or something.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
But she still did.
It just doesn't seem.
I mean she's not going to geton the boat to go to the
bathroom because we all know theocean is a great place to do
that, but I think that she,whatever if the boat stopped or
slowed down or she touched it,it still doesn't take away from
the type of swimmer that she wasand the fact that she went
after that thing four times.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I mean yeah it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So you're obviously balancing a lot.
You're a mom of three.
You are a world you knowchampion triathlete.
You're world championship.
You didn't win the worldchampions.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No, not even close.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But you went and you're now this coach.
You're very successful.
What would you say some of thepractices, your rituals, your
routines that make yousuccessful, anything that you do
?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I do have a mindfulness practice.
I started that about 10 yearsago and it ebbed and flowed.
But in the past year alone I'vegone on to seven day silent
retreat as much as I love peopleso much and but I also love and
I find joy, and in silence aswell.
So I'm wow, wow, we, we've gotto hear about a seven day silent
(25:56):
retreat.
I mean, I know everybody's likestop Kelly, don't let her go.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
What in the world?
How is I mean?
You know, give what's it like.
Give a little summary on thatCause, I am just Well, my first
one a year ago.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
It was scary.
I think that's why I did it.
I love challenges.
I don't know if I lovechallenges, you do you do.
Oh, not one.
Okay, I'll take it.
I like challenges and it wassomething that that did scare me
, but I was so curious aboutwhat happens when you don't talk
for seven days to other people.
What happens?
(26:33):
Everything I do with, withathletics and coaching,
everything here on the outside,it's the, external, it's the.
I am also equally very curiousabout the internal conversations
that we have with ourselves,myself included, and I wanted to
see where my brain would go inseven days on it when left to
its own device, and it would setup, set up the rules of it.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Where you were, what the environment was like it's.
Drop your cell phone.
Here's your, your, your cellblock, or what I mean what is it
?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
a dorm room?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
it was a dorm room, did you just say in the dorm?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
it's not a dorm room, like it's not at a university,
it's at a.
I go to a retreat center inCalifornia called spirit rock.
It's based on the insightmeditation lineage of meditation
, and and so, yeah, I turn inyour cell phone, have a dorm
room and there's a schedule.
So you wake up, you meditate.
It's a schedule every 45minutes.
(27:32):
You're doing somethingdifferent.
You're either doing a sittingmeditation, a walking meditation
, which I am really I'm bad at.
I need to improve my walkingmeditation because the walk is
very slow and I move fast, yeah,and so it's back and forth
between different types ofmeditations.
And then there's some, there'ssome talks, there's detox, then
(27:52):
we would.
Then there's trails there, so Iwould go on a trail run every
day as a moving meditation forme.
Sometimes I would stay on thetrails a little bit too long and
miss some of the sessions, andthat's okay too.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Did you journal?
Did you have anything?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
No, they recommend no journaling, no reading.
They really just want to fold,just wipe out.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
How did your mind respond to that?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
After the first two days of my birth retreat, I
wanted to leave.
I was a wreck.
I was crying.
I don't like the word hate, butI hated it.
And, that being said, I kind oflike in sports, I'm not a
quitter so I was like gosh, dangit, You're not leaving, because
I could walk out the gate.
Nobody's making me stay there.
(28:35):
I could have left any time, butI was like heck, no, I'm doing
this and this is why I'm here.
And then, after the third,fourth day, everything starts to
kind of.
My mind was too loud day.
Everything starts to kind of.
My mind was too loud when, forme, by not talking, the silence
created noise in my head, and Ithink this is a common practice.
(28:57):
I've talked with others, I'veread about it.
The mind gets very, very loud,and so how did I've never had to
deal with that before?
What do I do with that?
What do I do with all thatnoise?
And it's actually verybeautiful when you get to a
point where I figured out whatto do with it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
What do you do with it?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And you just let it float by like clouds.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, you let it go.
What happens, you just let it go, you find something, you go on
a walk or you sit, and sobreathing is really helpful for
me personally.
Sometimes sounds would helpgoing outside.
I'd always have to go outsideand sit on a bench and listen to
the birds or the wind orwhatever it might, whatever
(29:38):
sounds, breath or sounds orwhere I return to usually.
And so by the fifth, sixth daythen I didn't want to leave.
I was like no, I don't want togo back to the real world, and
so that's why I signed up for asecond one nine months later,
and with that, For another sevendays.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Yes, Wow, Okay, who knew that we were going to that
here?
I think I'm going to be talkingto this you know endurance
triathlete about the tough lifeshe did as an athlete and now
we're talking about you knowit's.
I mean, this is a new frontierfor us, people that like
challenges, which you do, I do,Maria, my former co-host, and my
(30:18):
sister-in-law, who's aworld-class endurance cyclist.
She's she's got a book outcalled do tough and, um, I don't
think either of us have everdone this seven day silent.
I one day, usually on the firstday of the year, I do a silent
day with no yeah, but yeah but Ithat's so.
It's such an interesting newfrontier.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It's fascinating.
It's absolutely fascinating.
I agree with you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, now when you reentered life how was that?
Was it like, oh like, ananxiety feeling of, oh no, I got
to check my cell phone pingsand noise.
Were you desensitized or wereyou oversensitive to things when
you returned?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, I really didn't know what to expect.
When I got my phone back afterseven days, I didn't even turn
it on, I didn't care.
And then by the time I got tothe airport, I turned it on, and
when I when I was ready, but Ididn't turn it on immediately.
And even when after this wasinteresting after I gave the
phone away for the first two,three days, I was putting my
(31:22):
hand in my pocket, constantlygrabbing, grabbing for it and it
it wasn't there.
And so to go from that togetting it back and really not
being that interested in it andI mean I use my phone all day,
every day now I mean, I'm just anormal person.
I think I was very concernedabout going straight to the
airport, san Francisco airport.
(31:43):
I've never stood in the line,all the lines, and felt so fine
about it.
I nothing, I well, and therewas.
I mean we all know airports arejust loud and crazy and busy
and people are are getting allthese different places and I
just I felt like it was allhappening around me.
It didn't, it didn't, and I wasvery concerned about how like I
(32:05):
it was, that I would beoverstimulated, I wouldn't know
how to react and it was very, itwas quite painful and and I
think that's something that Istill, to this day, I try to do
and I'm not I don't do itprobably very well half the time
, but there are moments wherethere's been a grocery store
line at a red light at anairport when I travel, to just
(32:25):
try to return, to centering onbreath or just being present and
relaxed and letting everythinghappen around me.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Wow, this has been so interesting and valuable my
gosh.
So would you say overall thatsilence has affected your life
positively?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I mean it's changed my life Absolutely.
It has completely changed mylife, and I that I'm I am still
a work in progress.
I do not know, it isn't.
It's a daily, it's a practiceright, kind of like, like what
we do, what's court or anythingelse.
I've never and there's, there'sperfection is not the goal, it
won't happen.
Well and so, and I also thinkthat I think it's helped me
(33:10):
become a better coach.
I think it's helped me become abetter athlete.
Actually, I think it doesn'ttake the edge off to have some
presence and awareness by anymeans.
If anything, it helped me racebetter.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Were you before you did this?
I mean, did you do it?
Have you suffered from anxietyor panic attacks or anything?
So what like brought you thereto that that fit?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
All of the above.
I have diagnosed depression andanxiety and it has helped me
more than any, more thananything in my whole life.
Yeah, yeah.
And again it's still a work inprogress.
Some days are still messy, Somedays are very messy and some
days are.
Some days are okay.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, wow, well, we dove deep on this, but that is
just so interesting and that'swhat I love about interviewing
all different kinds of champions.
Everyone has some incrediblegem in them when I get them on
the mic here, the mic here, andit's just that's really cool.
So is there another retreat inyour future?
(34:14):
Your seven day?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yes, I don't have it planned.
It's actually on my screen onmy computer right now.
There's a couple that I willdefinitely be going back before
the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Now, is that something that one could do with
a friend, or you don'trecommend that you can?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I wouldn't recommend it, though.
I recommend going solo.
Get uncomfortable, and itdoesn't have to be a seven-day
silent retreat.
I am zero to 100 on everything.
That being said, I did do aone-day silent retreat where I
lived many, many years ago, andso you could even do a one day
retreat.
You could do one minute ofsilence and see how it feels.
(34:53):
I mean, you don't want that.
There's so many different waysto do it.
There's actually a 30 dayretreat.
I'm eyeing that's in my future.
Oh my gosh, oh, that's so cool,I know.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Do hard things, not do tough.
So do tough is Maria Parker'sbook.
Do hard Things is Steve Magnus'book, which is one of my
favorite books.
I know I just I love SteveMagnus.
I'm trying to get him on theshow that study where they put
(35:33):
people in a room and they askthem to just be alone for 15
minutes without their phones oranything.
And people are so unfamiliarwith that feeling that they said
, if you want to have somethingto do, the only thing you can do
is either sit here and be quietwith your thoughts or hit this
button and it'll give you asmall shock.
And it's a painful shock.
And that it was just 15 minutesand there were people that hit
(35:54):
that button.
I'm going to either it was,either I was, 167 times in 15
minutes.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Oh gosh that they would rather be.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Some people would rather be shocked and painfully
hurt than to spend 15 minuteswith their own thoughts.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we're with ourselves 24seven, so we might as well learn
to kind of like ourselves alittle bit.
Yeah, yeah, yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
So the question that started that off was are there?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
any rituals.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
How about, jennifer, things that normal people can do
, anything that we normal peoplecan do, anything that we normal
people can do, that might behelp.
Any anything you do that normalpeople do that would help your.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
That has helped your success, oh well, and then I'll
start with it.
There were breathing techniquesand I just did that with an
athlete last week.
I mean, there's, there's somany different ways to breathe,
right, there's, or you know, tocalm the breath and to get the
parasympathetic system revved upor slowed down.
So box breathing and numbercounting.
(36:58):
I did one just with an athletelast week, where you take a
really big deep breath in andthen you take a second deep
breath in and then you let itout.
That's it.
That's just in the past coupleof weeks.
That's my favorite.
Go to.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Yeah, I love, love, box breathing, yeah, and then
all breathing, all breathing.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, yeah, and there's so many different
techniques as far as routines.
I love coffee.
I drink coffee a lot,unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Well, you are from Washington state right up there,
where coffee is very nice yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yeah, lots of coffee.
What else do I do?
I read, I like to read.
I read at night, before I go tobed.
I don't do.
Yeah, I do do screens sometimes.
I try not to, but I'm human soI do.
Sometimes I'm on my phone andI'm like nope, put it away.
I'm an avid reader.
So another something else thatI like to do to wind down at the
end of the day.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Nice, nice.
All right, that is such greatstuff.
Now, last question before we goto our speed round of questions
or our sprint around, just sopeople get to know you a little
better.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Is there anything?
that I haven't asked you, thatyou want to share with our
listeners Is there anything thatI haven't asked you that you
want to share with our listeners?
I think, just as far as livingan active, healthy lifestyle,
just remain curious, and it'sokay to step out of your comfort
zone and do things that feeldifferent.
One quick example I had anathlete who was just starting
(38:26):
out with me.
He really didn't know how toswim.
We started with him blowingbubbles in my backyard pool like
literally blowing bubbles likea toddler swim lesson.
Five years later he's in theworld championship.
So uh, for both the half ironman and the full iron man, both
by starting with blowing bubblesand doing bonds up and down and
(38:50):
like.
So I think to give yourself abreak and meet yourself where
you're at.
It's so important and it mighteven sound cliche, but it's
easier said than done.
I totally realized that myself.
But really start where you'reat and go from there.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I love that.
I love that.
Okay, are you ready for somequestions?
Let's see here.
Okay, what's your favoritesandwich?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Garbanzo Garbanzo beans.
Think of a tuna fish sandwich,for example, but mashed garbanzo
beans.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
What do you own that you should throw out Too many
clothes?
Okay.
Scariest animal A badger.
Ooh, yeah, badgers.
What celebrity would you mostlike to meet?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
All right, what is the hardest swimming event in
the pool?
You may not know thispersonally, but you have an idea
if you've watched the Olympics.
Anything with butterfly.
Yeah, I'm right there with youfavorite movie uh, don't really
watch movies wow, okay, that's agood answer.
Favorite smell.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Vanilla.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Do you make your bed every morning?
I do yes.
Kickboard or no, kickboard,definitely.
If you had to listen to onesong for the rest of your life,
what might it be?
Taylor Swift Anything by herOkay, window or aisle.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Definitely aisle.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Describe your life in five words.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Full connected, happy messy and full of sunshine.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Okay, last question what wordcomes to mind when you are
swimming in the water?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Peace.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Peace.
Awesome, jennifer, thank you somuch.
This has been so wonderful tochat with you, really really
appreciate your time and wishingyou all the best.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
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