April 17, 2025 • 67 mins
Soren Jensen opens up about growing up in a close-knit family and the profound impact of losing his father at a young age. He reflects on how grief, responsibility, and his father’s influence shaped his path through life, sports, and personal growth. Through competitive running and triathlon, Soren found healing, purpose, and a connection to nature. The conversation explores themes of family, mentorship, mental health, and the pursuit of legacy through adversity.Soren’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/soren.w.jensen/ SQ Newsletter: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
How's it going everybody and welcome back to another edition
of the Stupid Questions podcast.Today in the pod going to be
talking with Soren Jensen. He is a professional triathlete
who is in his second year as a professional coming into 2025.
I got the awesome opportunity tomeet him for the first time, I
believe it was in 2021, racing Chattanooga 70.3 as age groupers
and he racked right beside me and I knew I was going to lose
(00:24):
to him, but that is OK because he gave me rubber bands for the
first time to use on my shoes. So you'll get to hear that
story. But Soren is an awesome guy.
Have gotten to know him more over the years, got to recently
hang out with him and climb Mount Lemmon in Tucson, AZ.
And I learned that he actually lost his father as well at the
age of 17. So there's obviously some
(00:46):
overlap there in our stories, two different circumstances, but
definitely hardship nonetheless.So I wanted to have him on the
pod and hear his story a little bit.
So thank you, Soren, for coming on, and I will go ahead and quit
talking and let you guys enjoy this episode with Soren Jensen.
Garmin. Yeah.
They were my first ever. It's just funny because of
growing up, like Garmin in my sphere world was always like,
(01:08):
oh, the Garmin, I forget what the name TomTom Garmin thing
where you used like GPS for carsand whatnot when that was like
before cell phones, GPS and all that.
So I was like, yeah, yeah. I remember that we had one of
those when we were driving all across the country and stuff.
And it would always be funny because we'd call it dumb.
(01:29):
Dumb. Yeah, because like, it would
lead us down the road. And then literally, I remember
one time we were like in the middle of the country and we
were going down the road and it LED us down a road and it went
to a bridge, but the bridge had been demolished.
Oh, shoot. So it was just like a dead.
And obviously there were like, signs, like, you can't go any
(01:50):
further. And then, like, to get around
that thing. It took like 30 extra miles on
our trip or something. So then I've got the nickname of
dumb dumb because it always LED us like an interesting roots and
stuff. So.
Yeah, that's crazy. So where did you grow up then?
Where were you traveling around as a kid?
I grew up in Memphis, TN becausemy dad flew for FedEx.
(02:14):
That's right. But that gave us and my mom was
a school teacher, so that gave us all the the summers off.
Yeah. So every summer I grew up and we
would me, my mom, my dad, my sister and two labs.
We would travel all across the US We actually went to all 50
states. Obviously we couldn't drive to
(02:37):
Hawaii, but that was the last state.
So we drove to Alaska 1 summer and it was like a small RV, like
a truck. We had like a 350 dually and
then you put on top a truck camper.
Yeah, that goes in the bed or whatever.
That goes in the bed and then itgoes over the cab and that's
(02:58):
what we drove around in. So we had some crazy adventures
in that and it was, it was honestly like some of the best
experience, life experiences I've ever had.
And like, you just learn so muchthrough traveling and then
you'll learn so much like bonding with your family, like
being that close for that long. Like there's multiple times
(03:20):
where it's like we wanted to kill each other, but at the same
time it just like grew us closeras a family sort of thing.
Yeah, I've gone through many hard times.
It always deepens. Deepens the ability, as long as
you're able to make it through it.
The ability to connect and have those deeper bonds for sure.
How many years are you and your sister apart?
For 10 months. So really close, yeah.
(03:41):
Yeah, what? What does she do in the in the
world of adulting? Well, she, she's more successful
than me, I guess, in certain ways, but she does.
She's a civil engineer. OK, cool.
So both of us, we grew up playing soccer too.
And she played soccer in collegefor a couple years and then she
(04:05):
decided to do civil engineering and stuff and then graduated,
got a job like very, very like following route, the traditional
route versus like, I went to college, played soccer for two
years for the club team, then dropped out because of COVID and
like didn't want to go to onlineschool and then found triathlon.
(04:25):
Kept with that for a while and then now I'm just like finishing
up my degree online. Nice.
What degree are you finishing right now?
Just a bachelor's in business administration.
So I had like half of the credits already or more than
half the credits. So it's more of like, I should
finish this because then I can do a lot with that even though I
(04:49):
might not use it directly. But there has to be something
said for like just just intelligence, like the ability
to learn and the ability to workhard that you can't be taught.
Like more people go to school because it just shows that you
have that commitment for multiple years.
And then that shows that you canlike follow a structure and then
(05:12):
eventually get a job and follow a structure and work for so many
hours a day and so forth sort ofthing.
Did your parents, mom and dad growing up have an idea or a
direction that they sort of wanted to guide you guys in
terms of education and post school world?
(05:33):
That's a good question. I think for the most part, my my
parents always drove us in the way of like finding something
that you're passionate about andthen once you find something
that you're passionate about, you better be the best at it or
the best that you can be at it sort of thing.
(05:54):
So like my sister went the traditional route and did like
civil engineering and was very good in school, 4 point O and
stuff like me 4 point O and verysmart and stuff and that stuff
versus myself. I kind of bounced around in
college. Like I had a couple really bad
(06:14):
years in college getting just like bad grades.
And then there then there's likethe weird classes where I
actually like found something that I cared about and then it's
like I would get A's and that. So I don't know like why that,
why that is per SE, but like it sort of follows the line of like
if you care about it, you'll getA's, yeah, sort of thing.
(06:37):
Yeah, cool. Well, I do have a lot of follow
up questions and I want to dive into some of these earlier days.
But first I just have to say thank you so much for making the
time and coming on the podcast. It's kind of cool to have you on
because I've gotten to meet you over the years before I was even
really into triathlon. Got to rack next to you when you
were starting to go gung ho and triathlon and Chattanooga 70.3
(06:59):
back in. I think it was like the first
race back that they had after COVID.
I want to say maybe like 21 or 22.
I think it was 22 or 21. It was one.
It was either one of those years.
Yeah, I remember. I.
Have to go look, he finished like an hour ahead of me.
So but it was a good experience that when I saw you racking next
to me, I was this is when I was first getting into the sport and
(07:20):
I was like, oh, I can take some of these guys and I saw you and
your bike and I was like, I don't know about that one, but
you you were the first guy who introduced me to rubber bands on
the shoes. Actually, I think you let me
borrow some of yours. And ever since then like I
bought the same package of like multi colored different widths
of rubber. Bands so you got to make sure
you get the correct width ones or they won't snap when you when
(07:43):
you put them. On the hardware I got some of
the thicker ones and pedaled through it and one of it did
break but it broke like in a weird way and smacked my legs so
hard. Yeah.
Definitely happens. But yeah, dude, thank you so
much for taking the time to comeon.
It is an honor to have the opportunity to dive in a little
bit deeper. So the first question I want to
(08:04):
open up with with you is who is Soren?
Well, I was thinking about this because I know I listened to a
couple of other podcasts. I would say that besides that
I'm a brother, I'm a boyfriend, I'm a son to my of my mom.
(08:26):
Besides like the traditional I would classify, I would say that
I'm sort of a protector, a committed, intense, driven
person, caring, but also at the same time, like I keep my circle
(08:50):
small. How come the ho I just, I don't
know. I just feel that I, the people
that I want in my life, I want to have like a deep connection
with and not just know everyone,know a lot of people on the
surface. I want to know the people that I
care about personally, not just,oh, it's so and so's birthday.
(09:15):
So I'm going to say happy birthday, even though I haven't
talked to them in two years or since the last time it was their
birthday sort of thing. Yeah, it's kind of meaningless.
I get those LinkedIn things all the time, kind of a side
conversation. But so you said like you're a
protector. What does that mean?
(09:37):
I don't know. I mean, I know, but recently I
went on a ride with Ashlyn, my girlfriend, and like we were
riding on the road and some carswere being like a little
aggressive towards us and it's like I saw I didn't lose it, but
(09:57):
I was like more of like I got mad.
I mean, when I ride by myself, Iknow that I'm at risk, but like
when I'm riding with someone that I care about, like I take
the the the role of making sure that they're safe, I guess.
And that's any time like when I go out to on dates with, with
(10:20):
someone with Ashland or like I make sure that I sit in a good
spot where I can see the, the area that we are at or like
where we're going is a safe area.
Same with like if I was going visiting with my sister or with
my mom, even. I just feel that the people that
(10:40):
you have close to you, you got to keep them safe.
And like there's always the I'm not aggressive or anything like
that. It's like the the sheepdog where
you, you got to choose your moments to to be aggressive.
And like some of that comes intotriathlon of like you got to
choose your moments of when you're going to go really hard
(11:01):
or when you're going to like more chill back and like look at
the scenario before you like go full in and attack and sort of
stuff. So.
Yeah, interesting answer. I like how you use the the term
like a working dog or a sheepdog.
I have one of those kind of dogs.
He doesn't actually, he's not a working farm dog.
But I did go to New Zealand for Worlds and we went to go visit a
(11:24):
working sheep farm and it was pretty amazing to see those dogs
and like how they choose their moments and can be such a small
animal, but use their presence to drive such a large herd of or
protect whatever or herd of sheep and stuff.
Yeah, that's a cool thing. Yeah, and they have to protect
them, protect the sheep and the lamb from other wolves and
(11:46):
coyotes and stuff and predators that are, you know, try to eat
them. So that's kind of something that
I, I with my other wife experiences.
That's where I've I've found andthat I've been put in that
scenario with unfortunate circumstances of where I feel
like I'm responsible for my sister and my mom's safety.
(12:11):
Yeah, I was going to ask. Oh yeah, go for it.
And then like 2 with with that being LinkedIn.
I've been dating Ashlyn for three years so it's like I
consider her family so. When you were growing up with
your sister, so you're older or younger?
I'm younger. You're younger, OK.
(12:31):
So I mean, you guys are close enough in age that you're
probably going through the phases of life where you're kind
of still always a little bit bigger, I would imagine.
But like that protective Big Brother, was that always the
case for you? Or was that kind of a coming of
age thing where you did, you felt like, oh, I need to be more
protective now. Well.
(12:51):
I'm younger than my sister, so I'm the little brother and I
don't know, it was sort of like the bigger I got sort of thing
like when she's in high school and I'm a middle schooler.
Probably not. But then when I was like I was
getting into high school and shewas still in high school or even
when I was like in my later years of high school and she was
in college then definitely sort of thing.
(13:15):
So and and unfortunate events occur later in high school.
So then even more and then when I was in college, it's always
trying to be there for her because we both went through
hard times during that, but so. So what happened, if you don't
mind me asking? I know you mentioned it kind of.
(13:37):
There's been some things he wentthrough.
But but what's this? I I'm a tattoo on my ribs and
that's the date that my dad passed and it was like sudden
and it was due to health issues,like sudden health issues.
It wasn't. I could go more into it, but
basically it was like within twoweeks and it was sudden health
(13:58):
that works on unforeseen I guess.
Yeah. So if any, if any, at any point
I ask a question that you just do not want to answer, are you
really uncomfortable with no pressure whatsoever?
Like you can stop me or say next, but like 2 weeks is a very
quick time period. So like people know who from
(14:20):
listening to the podcast to me, like my story, bit like I lost
my father suddenly, although, you know, there was signs, I
guess growing up where like something could potentially
happen and we can get into that.Another point if you're if if,
if it so leads to that point in the conversation.
But for you, I guess, how old were you?
And you're not talking about twoweeks, like after you find that
(14:42):
out and you realize that there'sa great chance you're going to
lose your dad. Like what?
What was going through your mindand what were the choices that
you were making during that two week period?
I didn't initially like he went to the ER and I didn't know that
(15:02):
it was so severe, so severe. So I what sort of just went on
living my 17 year old high school life of like got to go to
soccer practice, got to go to school and then was sort of when
(15:24):
my mom, my mom was a school teacher and was sort of started
to get more serious when she started to not she was taking
time from being a teacher off I believe it's been a while.
So I think she started to take time off of being a teacher and
she still wanted me to go to school and do stuff and she was
(15:48):
being going to the hospital likehelping and like making
decisions sort of thing. So I thought it was strange.
It's like, it's so hard to describe to someone because like
(16:09):
you're just like going through life trying to make everyday
decisions while you have pressure of something else on
you that that weighs on you. So then it seems like you're not
totally there, if that makes sense.
Yeah, and like the present reality of.
(16:30):
Life and the present. Yeah, like sometimes I don't
know, I just, I just like have memories from it and it's like I
was walking, this was before he passed, but I was walking down
the the hall and or in the school and like no one was
there. I was there early and I was just
(16:53):
like, why? Why am I here?
Like questioning like what, whatam I doing sort of thing.
And it just seemed eerie. I don't know how to describe
that. And then I guess like I remember
too, there was a school project that I was working with and I
(17:13):
was at one of the partners that I had houses and it was like me
and two other guys working on this.
Like I think it was a biology project of making like Adna
chain or something like a total high school.
And I was like, my mom called meand was like, you should get
over here. Like, like to the hospital.
(17:36):
And then I remember having to tell the people that I was with
that like, I have to go like my dad's been in the hospital for
like over a week and like, it's not good.
And like I never really like told them anything to So we and
then they're like, Oh, I, they didn't know how to react.
(18:00):
They're like, how are you? So like calm?
It's like I, I don't know, like legit like, I don't know how I'm
still so calm because like you just don't feel like you're in
the present. So like you're like trying to
make things normal when they're not.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
So that was like a couple of thememories and then like
(18:22):
eventually it was like when we knew that like he wasn't going
to make it and pass. Like we had my high school
soccer coach who's like another dad to me and then my my
godfather that went across the street and then my sister was
(18:44):
there, obviously and my mom. And like I remember that them
being there and just like not knowing what to say to me.
And I'm just like, I don't know,like you can't process that.
And then like the next morning, like it's just, you can't like
your brain like once you know someone for that long and that's
(19:07):
all you've known, your brain cannot process the fact that
that person's out of your life for a while.
And especially with my dad was he was regularly not there for
days on end because he was a FedEx pilot.
So it's like it's not out of theordinary for him to be gone for
(19:29):
four or five days on a stretch, like stretch.
And then it's like, oh, he's just out fine going to multiple
different airports, do it like working because that's what he
did. And then like he would be home
for three days straight and not have to work sort of thing, sort
of thing. So then it was like very strange
and took a long time for me to actually process like he's not
(19:53):
here, like he's not coming home sort of thing.
Because like before, he would always leave for a couple days
and then come home, so. When, when did it hit you for
the first time where you you started to accept and kind of
move into that stage of grief where it's like the acceptance
of the fact that like he's no longer there?
(20:14):
It took a while to be fair. I think for the, for the most
part, it was so like so that it was in January.
(20:39):
So then and I was a junior, so ajunior in high school.
So the rest of that junior in high school to the finish of the
year of school was just me. And I started to cope with I'm
just going to play soccer and like do my school and just pass
classes and like not think aboutit.
(21:04):
And then summer came up and then, oh, I got a part time job
and was like working, I think, and just focus on that and focus
on playing video games or, and being like high school kid and
like enjoying the free time. And then it wasn't until I think
(21:31):
after it was more the next year when that like the anniversary
came around. And then it was like the end of
my senior year and I was gettinglike senioritis plus the fact
that I was getting hit with a grief, finally getting hit with
the grief of processing it. And like, I think I didn't even,
(21:54):
I really didn't really go to school that year.
It turned into, yeah, it turned into where I would go to school
on the days that we had soccer games because they would not let
me play if I didn't go to schoolthe day of the soccer game.
And then other than that, I would go to like school or I
(22:14):
want to go to school, but then I'd show up to practice and, and
like that was the only thing that got me through it, I guess
was was soccer. And then another one was like
the weightlifting coach that wasthere.
Like he found out about it. And I remember like fresh, he
(22:35):
was like, we I didn't go to school for two weeks straight.
And he was like, whenever you want, you can come to the weight
room and just work out and just like chat with me, like just
talk or just like get a workout in and lift, lift weights.
So that's what I would do is like, I, I think you get a lot
(22:57):
of built up anger and aggression.
So it turned into lifting and then it turned into soccer and
continuing to do soccer. And then eventually it's turned
into doing triathlon. And when I was fresh in the
triathlon, it was more of like dealing with with an outlet of
(23:22):
trying to work out hard and do that.
But now it's more of enjoying the the process of getting
better and trying to better myself, not run from something.
Yeah, you are. You were 17 when this happened.
How old are you now? You're 20.
(23:43):
Nine. I'm 25. 25 I forgot how, how
much younger you are. So that's really not that long
ago, man. Like, I mean you're, you're only
talking seven years. I'm thinking back.
So I lost my dad when I was 16. So seven years after that,
whatever that would be like my early 20s.
Like I, I feel like there's still so much more that I was
(24:04):
still trying to chew through. And even now, like 16 years
later, I'm still trying to like,you know, being married now, I
think about like, man, if he washere, you know, I'm going to
have grandkid kids. Like what is that absence of
that life going to be? Or, you know, if I have a son of
my own, how do I want to continue on raising him past 16?
So there's just like all of these what's ifs, ands or buts.
(24:25):
And one thing I really was curious just to hear your
perspective on, because after mydad passed away, you know, being
being similar to the age you were, I felt like this, there
was this unspoken responsibilityof being like the man of the
house now. And you know, it's 1617.
Like what do we know about what that actually means?
(24:45):
I did you feel that kind of pressure or responsibility when
you when it happened to you whenyou were that age?
Yes and no. I chose well too in in high
school. It was like I'm so, so young and
(25:06):
just living under my parents or with my mom and under their
roof. So it's like more of like just
being a high school kid still. And like my sister was out of
the house by then going to college and stuff.
So she was fine for the most part.
And then like a dinner. It hasn't really, it didn't
(25:29):
really start being like what I'msaying of the the protector
until literally like probably like after I dropped out of
college because like the first two years of college I just
played club soccer and drank andpartied and sort of passed my
(25:51):
classes sort of thing. So and and that was more of
dealing with the loss of my dad too, of like I'm finally in a
place there's no one telling me what to do.
So it's just like, I'm just going to figure just it was
almost like self deprivation andpressed like running from my
(26:15):
feelings and problems. So yeah, honestly, the I was
glad that I made the soccer teamwhen I tried out because I would
probably have gone pretty far down not being in shape so and
so and some form of shape and then eventually started to do
triathlon and pick it up pretty fast so.
(26:37):
Yeah. Were you, were you really close
with your dad? Like I know that he traveled a
lot it sounds like for the FedExjob.
So there's obviously probably some tension there even for any
anyone, even if he was still around.
Like, I'm sure there would be a little bit of that, but were you
guys pretty close? Would you consider yourself to
be like close with your dad? Oh yeah, yeah.
(26:59):
Yeah. Well, I mean, we did so much
looking back now that I'm 25 andfrom the age of 8 to 17, we did
so much. We went surfing, we scuba dived,
we, we did everything that we could possibly do.
We went sailing. We traveled all across the
(27:23):
country and all that. And I don't know many fathers
that do that with their son and and teach them everything that
they know. And it's sort of weird because a
lot of the stuff that he taught me is still prevalent today and
(27:46):
what I believe in and what I used in my day-to-day life.
So I think you have those learnings that you were taught
when you're a kid and then you'll look back and you're
like, oh, that's something that was instilled in me when I was
15 from my dad. So I think that's pretty cool to
(28:10):
think about of like, I don't know, my dad would always have
these these three roles it wouldcome up with like with these
rules. And it's like 1 was like, if
it's not yours, don't touch it. 2 is like treat others like they
(28:30):
want to be treated. And then 3 is like 3 was like
protect be. I forgot what 3 was.
But like I remember the first two, but like I remember stuff
like that. And I think it's funny because
it's still when I go into like abike shop or something and it's
(28:53):
like don't touch that unless youask or like people that you talk
to, you want to treat them like you would like to be treated and
stuff. And then two, it's like he
taught me how to shoot. He taught me how to fish, even
though I became a better fisherman than him and all that
stuff. So I don't know.
(29:14):
I think that was fun because he would have introduced me to
stuff and then I would take it or I would not be too interested
in it so. When you, you, you mentioned
earlier that you guys did some traveling around, I guess all of
the United States and you said that, you know, when you're
doing that kind of traveling, there's a lot that you learn.
Are there any memories that you can think of from some of those
(29:37):
trips when you were traveling oflike really impactful moments or
memories that just bring a lot of joy to you that you use to
reflect on today? Yeah, I could think, I think of
one that comes straight to the the memory when we dreamt to
Alaska. Like I wanted to go fishing
because like it's Alaska. Like there's trout, there's
(29:58):
other things. It's it's the Bush.
Like it's the thing that's untouched by civilization.
So I found like this lake that was like a mile hike through
like Alaskan Bush with the mud because all the the frost or the
(30:18):
the ground, it freezes and then it thaws and then it turns to
mud and the summer. So my dad was always worried
about bears. So we had a shotgun with slugs
in it and stuff. So we hiked in a mile to this
little lake and then we fished for a while and caught some
trout. And then it was funny because
(30:38):
like we started hiking back and we see these two ladies with the
little bear bells. What's a bear bell?
So instead of a gun or bear spray or anything, you shake a
bell and it's supposed to scare the bear.
Well, yeah, it's like a dinner bell.
(30:58):
We thought that was so funny. And they like, they got all
worried because they saw us and my dad had the the shotgun and
stuff and they're like, did you see any bears?
I was like, no, we probably didn't think we were going to
see any, but we weren't going totake any chances.
And then we're like, well, good luck.
Like have fun. It's not that bad of a hike
(31:19):
there. But I don't know.
I thought that was a funny story.
Yeah, no, that was funny. Alaska seems like such an
amazing place. I've seen lots of pictures.
I have friends who live up thereand family, actually.
But it seems like the final frontier of what if you wanted
to go expand, experience that real big wilderness, big game
danger, lots of risk. Like Alaska seems like the place
(31:42):
to go for sure. So who are you?
More like you think your mom or your dad.
Oh, that's a good question. I'd say a while ago I would
maybe say my mom, but now I think we're I'm seeing more of
(32:04):
the things that my dad would do that I'm I would do.
Yeah. And I don't know, my dad was
very intense person and like he just had like a certain look in
his eye that like, I don't know,just don't mess with him.
(32:24):
And I'm starting to see that sometimes I come off that way to
people because I've had people be like, oh, you're actually
like, nice. And it's like, what, what I, I
would think I'm nice and like, you just look so intense.
And I'm like, that's the only look I have for you.
I can't like make myself not look intense.
(32:47):
So I think that's funny. Yeah.
Is there any truth to it though?Like, I mean, you're obviously a
nice person, but is there any level of like, well, maybe I do
give off that because you have just so much intensity within
you because like you said, you're passionate, you're
aggressive about wanting to go after your dreams.
Like you take things very seriously.
(33:07):
Is there anything to that you think?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I tend to.
I think that's also why I keep my circle small and the people
that I let in and stuff. And I would think that the
people that really know me know that I'm a good person and
caring and go to the end of the earth for them.
(33:29):
But you have to pass certain barriers to get there I guess.
Yeah. Sort of thing.
What is the what is the thing that you think you're looking
for? And this may be a little bit
hard of a question because I mean, both of us were still
relatively young and, and finding our path.
But triathlon came into the scene, you know, like you said,
the beginning, you were using almost as like an outlet and a
(33:51):
coping mechanism. And I think that that's a good
thing. But as you have grown in the
sport and grown to mature more and to the man that you are
today, how has your perspective on what your goals and what the
meaning of success is, how has that shifted and changed as
you've gone down this path? Like what is it that you're
(34:12):
looking for running towards? I think recently it's been peak
performance. I mean, I started triathlon when
I was like 20 1/2 and now I'm 25.
I'm going to been doing the sport for 4 1/2 years.
And my first pro year was yesterday or last year.
(34:33):
So this is my second professional year.
And recently I've just started to feel like I'm finally seeing
numbers that I knew I could do, seeing times that I could run
that I, I just, I don't know why, but I just felt like I
would, I'm capable of that, justlike in my soul, I guess.
(34:54):
And, and believing in that I canget to that level.
So I would say peak performance right now as far as biking like
bikes and stuff, I love every aspect of biking.
The technology, the wax, your chain, the tube was what ceiling
(35:18):
are you running? What's the fastest tire?
What width, the tire, specific rotors, ceramic bearings, all
that stuff. I just, I love all that nerdy
stuff about cycling and going and you know that you can be
faster if your machine is the best that you can make it sort
of thing. So Yep, exactly.
(35:42):
So as you've gone through this journey, like your your second
year being a pro, who are some of the mentors or maybe there's
a key few people or the team that you surround yourself with
that not only give you advice asit as it means to be a
professional, but also just likeit life advice and navigating
some of the the things that you have to go through.
(36:08):
As far as learning what it is tobe a professional, I was sort
of, I was blessed in the fat or I was.
I had the opportunity and the the networking of getting
coached by Sam Long for a bit and training with him.
(36:29):
I guess it would have been two years ago or a year ago.
I don't know. It's been a while, but training
with him and did a training campin Boulder and stuff.
And I learned a lot from him of what it what you see, what it
takes sort of thing. And then what to act as a
professional. But nowadays it's shifted more
(36:51):
of I'm relying on Ashlyn, my girlfriend, making sure that
she's like, oh, your mood is good.
Because when my mood starts to get bad, like I'm training too
much. And then I brought in a a swim
coach to Tim Floyd at Magnolia Masters and he's been helping a
(37:14):
tremendous amount. And then as of recently, I
joined the Octagon and we did our team camp and it was really
nice to meet everyone in the team.
And it's nice that it's such a it's a small team compared to
other triathlon teams. It's 30 people.
(37:37):
Are they all? In the US or the world?
Yeah, all across the US. OK.
And it's nice to see everyone come from different backgrounds
and then love the sport of triathlon and everyone has, some
are family and have 4 kids and some have a newborn and all this
(38:03):
and different life challenges. And then me being 25, I'm
walking into this and it's like all I need to do is train today.
And they have all these other stresses that they're dealing
with and still performing at a very high level.
So I think there's something to be said about that.
(38:24):
And then learning from their life experiences and talking
with them because I don't know everything.
So it's fun to get to know how they grew up, how who they
married and where they live and when they had kids and all that
stuff. And it was funny to hear that
(38:45):
people would be like, yeah, you're 25.
Like you just got to dive into this.
Do this full till until you can't.
Because if I was 25, I'd be doing the same thing.
So. If Ashlyn, if I was to ask her
right now, if she's sitting nextto you, like where is your mood
at on a scale of one to 10, one being I'm training 50 hours a
(39:06):
week, don't talk to me and 10 being, oh, that's pretty good.
I feel like I'm floating throughlike we're making good progress.
Where you at right now? 10 is. 10 is like no, 10 is like
peak happiness, 1 is like you'resuper stressed.
You said you train a lot more, so you're just burying yourself
(39:27):
50 hours, 60 hours a week. Not quite that much, but I'd be
like out of seven right now. So that's pretty good.
Just finished a pretty good weeklast week and then pretty diddle
them in today and you know, justget it and taken over the miles.
(39:48):
Decided not to start my season in Oceanside so I'm not starting
till Saint George. OK, so just starting to get into
good form. Yeah.
Is that why you decided not to do Oceanside?
Was like you wanted to be a little fitter.
It was more of talking with the swim coach of I was going to
(40:08):
race, try to race 7 times this year.
And he's like, if you really want to get better at swimming,
you'll cut 2 of your races out. And the, the reason behind that
is because like so every swim week you're well, he has me
swimming 20 to 25 K and I don't care if anyone's saying that
(40:30):
that's not enough, that's enoughfor me to, to still be
improving. And he said that the taper week,
you lose a week and then it takes like one or two weeks
after the race to start to see improvement again.
Because like when you race, you just send your nervous system
(40:51):
into a spiral. Yeah, a massive shock.
Yeah, exactly. So that was more of it because
if you race 7 times, you lose 21weeks like ish 14 weeks of like
the ability to start to to keep improving.
So that's why I cut Oceanside out.
(41:12):
And also is a little close to the team camp because I would
have been wanting to do like full tilt training during that
time. So it just sort of or the team
camp was the the 6th to the 9th of March.
(41:32):
So it's not terribly close to Oceanside, but it's like sort of
like right where you would be scheduling like big weeks of
training because it would be like three weeks big and then
one week a little less and then your taper week.
So it wouldn't, it wouldn't messwith the building to Oceanside
(41:57):
in my eyes. So and the roads are shit.
They're they're so bad on the base.
It's it's so bad there. And I mean, I'm sure we'll see
on coverage. If you don't use a rubber band
on your bottles, you're not going to have your balls.
Game over, huh? Yeah, so.
(42:17):
Yeah, I forgot my question I wasgoing to ask.
So with this race coming up, I guess you're you've decided to
push it aside, you're going to be doing Saint George.
What is it that you would like to see out of yourself in terms
of the swim? Because like that seems to be a
pretty core focus right now. What is something that you like
(42:39):
want to see from yourself? Is it more feel based?
Is it more of like time based? Trying to think of like what my
swimming coach would be telling me.
Yeah, like, I, I think I want toget into the swim and feel that
(43:00):
I actually raced the swim. I didn't survive the swim
because that's what I've been feeling like I've been doing.
Yeah, yeah, that's good. I mean, yeah, I enjoy.
It yeah, I, I, I want to feel that I'm in the race, even if
it's like second, third pack, like making a pack would be
(43:23):
good. And instead of swimming 28
minutes or more. So that's what I'm that's the
goal. Where when you race, do you race
from a place of anger? Do you race from a place of just
kind of get in your own zone, maybe a maybe more from the joy
(43:45):
side? Like how do you race?
Sort of both I would say. Yeah, depending.
On how you feel like, yeah, sometimes I'm like super smiling
and having a good fun, good fun with it and like going really
(44:09):
well. But then also sometimes you just
got to grit your teeth and get alittle mean with it, I guess get
a little angry. I think back to the the half
marathon I did recently and I mean, I did a full week of
training and it's the last day of like I take Monday's easy and
(44:29):
then six days pretty stout. Friday's easy too.
But it's like leading into that race, I had all the fatigue of
the week already in the week prior.
So I had no expectations and then got to the race and it's
like, whatever, we're just goingto send it.
(44:49):
We're going to see what we got. And it went really well.
And the last two miles I felt like I lost something.
I lost something out of my soul of being angry and and mad.
And it's funny because Ashlyn, she did the the quarter
marathon, which is 6 1/2 miles. And the way that they staggered
(45:13):
the start, I knew that I was, ifI was running well, as I would
catch her because I would, I would run past her to the
finish. And like I went out pretty hard
in a group. One guy like went crazy fast
from the start and turned out he's a college runner.
It's like I'm not going to be able to run with a college
(45:35):
runner. But then the second guy, he
gradually ran away from me and then I was sitting in 3rd for
most of the race and I could to the the turn around.
I could still hear the footstepsa little bit behind me, like it
felt like he was maybe 20 yards away.
(45:57):
And then on the turn around, I saw that it was sort of close
and then like you ran down a hill to the turn around and then
you're running up the hill out of the turn around.
And I just started to feel awful.
And I was like, I just have to make it to the top of this hill
and then start to run downhill and try to feel better.
(46:18):
And then eventually I caught my girlfriend and I could still
sort of sense that that guy was still close, close shit ish to
me. And it was funny because I was I
was running by her. I was like, where's the fucker
behind me? I'm like, I'm like, where is
this guy? I need to know because I'm not
going to look behind me because like, that could just be the
(46:41):
little bit of talent. Yeah, yeah, that like this guy's
hurting, so if I put a dig in, he's not going to be able to go
if I catch up to him. But it was sort of fun to
actually be racing and run a good time and just be, just have
fun, get a good effort in. So yeah, that's fun stuff, man.
(47:03):
So earlier you mentioned that you know what some of the things
your dad had taught you, the twothings, one of them was
basically do unto others what you would have them do unto you,
which is more of a religious, like biblical principle.
Was your family or is your family religious and have you
carried that out into your life today?
(47:27):
I am not very religious at all and my family wasn't the most
religious too. I think some of that was the
fact that we were spending almost every weekend at a soccer
tournament or going to what I did, trap and ski shooting too.
(47:49):
So we would go shooting on the weekends and stuff.
And our weekends, normally we'refull of activities.
So we, I don't have anything against people that go to the
church or go and believe in that, like not doing everything
on the weekend. But we just decided to fill our
weekends with activities and stuff.
(48:13):
And now I joke that my, my church is my Sunday long run.
So that's how I'm closer to God,I guess.
Or I, I believe that there's something bigger that is driving
you and helping you decide what you're going to do and pushing
(48:36):
you in the right direction. Part of that is like, I guess
when I was in College of like when I was drinking and being
stupid and stuff. It's like the first year of
freshman year I was being an assand doing a bunch of drinking
and partying and all that stuff.And then the second year
(48:59):
something just switched to me and it's like, actually this
isn't the best. Like I actually because I was
riding the bench for the club team, I wasn't playing very
much. I was like, I know I'm good
enough to play. So then I started training more
and doing the stuff that it takes to take a sport starting
position. So then eventually did that and
(49:21):
I was like, drinking is not really doing anything for me.
So then I started to drink less and that stuff and it's like
something in me had to switch topush me to do that.
And then even with like pushing me to like do a triathlon,
(49:42):
something had to switch. Or it's like, this is a good
idea. And then switching to the point
of like, oh, I'm actually kind of good at this.
So like I'm going to pursue it and then like, oh, this is what
it takes to pursue it. So I'm going to go all in.
And then now it's like I'm all in and have have built up the
(50:03):
years of endurance and I'm finally seeing stuff that I knew
that I could do. It just takes time to be able
to. Yeah, interesting arc, story arc
there. So like, do you, you said you
believe that there's something bigger like out there.
It sounds a little bit like you believe maybe that there's like
a destiny or a way they're supposed to live and a way that
(50:26):
you could potentially live in terms of like the success you
could have the path of life thatyou choose.
Do you ever talk or have you ever talked like internally or
out loud to the like what you tobelieve to be God or this, I
don't know, influence? No, I just, it's just like AII
(50:49):
don't know how to describe it oflike I guess how do you go from
being a college fuck up to figuring out your life and
starting to make decisions and then become good at something
you know? Yeah, something guides us for
sure. I'm obviously religious, so
(51:11):
like, I have my ideas of, like, what I think it is.
But it's always interesting to me to hear other people's
perspectives because like you'resaying, like, you know, Sunday
can be Sunday long runs can be your church.
And there's a lot to that because you have the solitude of
what's going on in your mind. Nothing but the, you know,
bodily motions of left foot, right foot, swinging your arms,
(51:32):
you know, it's all repetitive. And then you can kind of have
this internal dialogue. And I've noticed for me, like
whenever I've gone to do those things, it's a time to think,
time to process. Sometimes that's where some of
my best ideas come from, some also my worst ideas come from.
It just totally depends, yeah. I think there's something to be
said with just being either on your bike or running or even
(51:57):
swimming, like you're just in nature.
So you're you're grounded in nature.
Especially with running, your every foot strike, you're
grounded. So then it's like the ideas and
stuff and you're not looking at your phone, you're not
(52:18):
influenced by other things. It's only your brain and your
thoughts that you're thinking of.
I think that's why it's important not to run.
With music or sometimes I mean biking, I listen to more stuff
because it's just a long time ifyou're not listening to
anything. But then sometimes I'll ride
(52:39):
with nothing and then it's just you're listening to the wind and
you're listening to your bike that's hopefully not very loud
and stuff like that, so. Are you more of a music listener
on the bike or a podcast person or?
It depends, it's if it's like a long endurance or sweet spot
(53:00):
efforts. Maybe a podcast if it's like VO2
or Harder or I mean Threshold orvia 2, maybe some music.
Yeah. And then, yeah.
And then like if it's a group ride, absolutely nothing.
Yeah, same stuff. I've actually, this is kind of a
sad tension, but I've gone on inseveral like rides with a couple
(53:21):
of dudes here recently and I won't name names, but like some
of them put in headphones and are trying to listen to music
while we're doing a group ride. And I'm like, that.
It doesn't make any sense to me.It's like, first of all, we're
here riding together, so let's be sociable.
That's like, that's also sketchy.
It's so dangerous. It is so dangerous.
Yeah, I, I was actually mountainbiking this past week and this
(53:42):
girl, I was like 3 feet behind her on my mountain bike, OK.
On this single track, she has like sound canceling headphones
on and I'm like yelling at her, excuse me?
And I eventually just had to like, buzz her and be like, hey,
sorry. And she got all scared.
And I was like, that is so dangerous, especially.
For and then it's your fault forbeing the the guy who passes
her. Yeah, it's like, Oh my.
God, that's like my biggest pet peeve is when people are on the
(54:04):
path or a trail and you're like running past them or trying to
get around them, and then they act like, what are you doing?
Because they have headphones in.Yeah, yeah.
It's like, sorry, but don't put headphones in if you're on a
public path. Yeah, that and small dog.
(54:24):
Sorry, another 10 small dogs. Yes.
You're not a small dog person. You don't like little.
No, just running. I don't know, maybe I'm too
intense or whatever. It's just like they freaking
lunge at me and bark and try to bite me when I run by.
It's just like, I don't know, I guess all the old people with
(54:46):
their small dogs, they don't know how to deal with them.
Like in, in Arizona. Yeah.
It's, it's pretty funny, even like public trails.
I went and ran the other day andtwo dogs went and launched at me
and tried to bite me as I was running past.
And it's like small dogs. Small dogs, yeah.
(55:09):
Yeah, that's a funny they it's small dogs have those big
personalities most of the time. Yeah, it makes no sense
whatsoever, but they must see you.
As they probably feel threatenedyeah someone running by like big
dogs I have no issue with. They normally like, oh, hi,
yeah. Or like if they're actually
like, mean, they'll just like, bark at you and probably not
bite you because you're like moving away from them.
(55:30):
Yeah. So.
Yeah. Do you have any pets?
We have a cat. Oh yeah, that's right, we saw
that in the beginning. What's the What's the cat's
name? Mare He is an old cat with
arthritis. OK, seriously.
Yeah, she's funny. She she's my girlfriend's cat
and my mom and I sort of shared custody of our dog Bear.
(55:57):
Nice. Avishla.
Avishla. What is this name?
Is that a type of dog or is thatlike a?
It's a type of dog, yeah. Oh really?
I didn't know. That it's a Hungarian Vishla.
Wow, I got to Google this. What is it?
Oh yeah, oh they are pretty. They look like a almost like a
you're probably not going to agree with this, but like a red
(56:20):
Bloodhound, but not really floppy like they have more tight
skin. They look.
Yeah, I get that. Yeah.
They're like the a hound dog, like the the hound dog.
And that can look sort of similar.
Yeah. And then there's like the
Hungarian Ridgeback is another one that can work somewhere and
that so they're the same as likea German short haired pointer.
(56:44):
They have that same sort of pointer energy.
Yeah, so they're pretty wild. It's pretty fun.
Yeah, dogs are fun. So let me ask you this just last
question or so. As you grow older and you're
diving more into the triathlon scene, whatever levels of
success that you find, what kindof a legacy do you think you
(57:04):
want to leave behind and as it relates to the sport?
I guess it's kind of funny. I want to be one of the few
(57:25):
people that figure out swimming that didn't grow up swimming.
Yeah, because if you look through the history of the
sport, there's not very many good swimmers that started
swimming when they were 20 sort of thing.
That would be one of the goals. And then I guess too with with
(57:49):
the team and stuff. I want to be a positive
influence with with triathlon and, and experiencing it through
with others, with the team and like learning how other people
overcome their own challenges and sharing stuff like that
(58:11):
because I believe that triathlonhas bettered my life.
So it's sort of interesting to hear others stories on how they
believe that triathlon has bettered their lives.
Yeah. For sure.
So then let me ask you this final question.
And I think you'll definitely beable to do that given your
(58:31):
history, the things you've gone through had to persevere.
Obviously you've learned lots oflessons it seems like by even
some of your own, I guess intuition of leaving kind of the
party lifestyle behind and seeking a life of health and
fitness more. But for the hardship that you
have endured, namely losing yourdad, would you say that that has
(58:51):
had a net negative or a net positive on your life at this
point? That's a hard question because
it's like I would give anything that I've done to today since my
(59:15):
dad passed to have him back, obviously.
But I think that now I have started living my life in a
better outlook of trying to be the best that I can.
And his vision sort of thing of what he wanted me to do and like
(59:40):
using the tools that he had given me and having such, he had
tremendous Dr. And like if he said he was going to do
something, he was going to do itand stuff like that and like
doing that and use it and doing it and focusing on triathlon and
(01:00:00):
focusing on bettering myself through that, I think that I
will be successful. And I think, luckily, my mom
believes in me just as much as Ibelieve in myself.
(01:00:22):
And. I know my dad would be proud of
what I've accomplished and he would see the the fire that I
have would be similar to the fire that he had when he was 25
sort of thing because he had thesame passion for becoming a
pilot as like I would I have thesame passion of becoming a
(01:00:46):
successful triathlete. Thank you so much for sharing
that. It's been good hearing your
story. Thank you for being open and
vulnerable and honest about it. Like I said, like you've been
through it not even that many years.
And, you know, sometimes I thinksome people think that when you
(01:01:08):
lose any loved 1, you know, after a couple years, it's kind
of like people forget to ask youabout it or it just doesn't
become a topic of conversation. But it definitely lives within
who we are. And like I said, there's not
many, there's not many weeks later on even days that probably
go on that I don't think about like my own father and just some
of the implications there. So I look forward to seeing how
(01:01:29):
you continue to progress in thissport and and learn some of.
Those lessons, I thought it was sorry to cut you off.
I thought it was interesting on when we first met, we didn't
know that at all, that we had both had similar life
experiences. Yeah.
So then and then like when we rode that one day up women with
(01:01:54):
Mark and we went to the cookie cabin, which was funny that I
had never been in the cookie cabin and I've lived here for a
while and never gotten a cookie.But then you're asking me
because you saw my tattoo of like, what does that mean?
And then I believe that I knew that I listened to your
podcasting and talked about losing your dad, but and then
(01:02:16):
like you had found that out. So then it was more of like how
like how did that happen? Like how has something like that
brought in US closer and that wepursued different things in our
lives and we've become successful or successful to the,
(01:02:37):
the amount of time we've been doing something or reached that
level of success? Because I, I would say that we
both have bigger dreams and aspirations to do, but at a
certain point for that time thatwe've been doing each of our
respective things, it's like we have reached success, but we
have more things to do. But I think that's interesting
(01:03:00):
on how something like that can drive both of us in different
paths to be successful. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. My one of my closest mentors,
his name is Jared and he's always been a guy who's big into
data and, and just looking up statistics and trying to predict
based on math and statistics, like where people end up in life
(01:03:23):
or what they're doing. And big entrepreneur.
And he has said to me multiple times like he's so interesting
and fascinating. Like usually people who are it's
quote UN quote successful in business or a lot of
professional athletes or just different facets of life, when
they find success, it's a lot ofthose people have some form of
like a falling out or a hard time that they went through that
(01:03:44):
involves their father, especially men.
And because I asked you that question, you know, do I think
it's a, do you think it's a net positive or net negative and how
that's been on your life? And for me, like for a lot of my
life, I think it was a net negative.
But as I've gotten older and I've started to see like my the
lens of my father as like another human rather than just
(01:04:05):
like a father, it's opened up just a world of of perspective
for me where I can say like, yeah, actually it is a net
positive. Like very different
circumstances. I would do anything similar to
you to have my dad back. But given the way that he went
with him making that decision, there was obviously a lot of
like Gray area there. Like, you know, was he proud of
(01:04:28):
me, this kind of stuff? But with what you're saying,
like, it definitely rings true. And I see it as a net positive
because it's giving me the opportunity to.
I think just it it helps relate to other people who go through
hard stuff. Like obviously you're you've
gone through some terribly hard stuff losing your dad with such
short notice. And yeah, I'm excited for your
(01:04:49):
future, man. I think you've got a lot of
potential. You still figuring it out.
I think we're all going to be continuing to figure it out
until the day we die. There's probably no level of
understanding that we'll get. We'll feel like, OK, well, we
checked that box. There's life chick.
But yeah. There's always another level.
There's always another level, there's always another
mountaintop, and that's the journey of it.
And that's the beauty of that journey, so.
(01:05:10):
Yeah, I, I guess the, the last thing that I was thinking about
talking more about this is like whenever I'm feeling sad or
depressed or like missing my dad, I always think of it as
it's all of the love that I didn't get to show him when he
(01:05:30):
was still here. And I think that once I started
to think of it that way, insteadof like, what the hell, Like,
why did this happen to me? Like this, this is so unfair.
This, this like why? And, and I started to think of
(01:05:51):
like, oh, this is just because Iwish that I could tell him like,
hey, dad, like love you. Like, look at what I've done.
Look at this like it would be awesome to experience this with
you and like just getting to tell him like how thankful I am
(01:06:11):
of like all the stuff that he taught me.
So it's like something that I'vetied to sadness or when I was
going through like I guess grieving, I guess it's more
grieving, not depression dealingwith that.
So we'll. Keep going through it man,
Except that when it comes. I know that's hard, especially
(01:06:33):
on anniversaries and what not, but never waste a good crisis.
Those opera, those times when wefeel like absolute crap and we
can't understand why we can't function or perform mentally or
physically. Like I really have found that
those are opportunities for growth.
And as much as it sucks in the moment.
But yeah, dude, thanks for. Sharing with me.
Yeah, all. Right dude, thanks.
(01:06:56):
See ya. See ya.
Thank you so much to Sworn for coming on the pod, sharing about
his life. Obviously, it's still relatively
fresh, even though they may not sound like it.
Seven years is a short, short while.
So for him to open up like he did and just share from his
heart is really meaningful to meand hopefully to you guys as
(01:07:16):
well. So thank you so much Storm for
coming on. If you made to this point, the
podcast, though, just want to say thank you so much.
If you want to sign up for the newsletter, you can do so.
Check out the show notes if you also want to like, comment,
subscribe on the YouTube video and also for the Apple podcast
and Spotify platforms. If you could comment, leave a
review, any and all those thingscontinue to help grow the
(01:07:36):
podcast and would really appreciate it.
And yeah, that's it. Thank you guys so much for
checking out this episode and we'll catch you in the next one.
How's it going everybody and welcome back to another edition
of the Stupid Questions podcast.Today in the pod going to be
talking with Soren Jensen. He is a professional triathlete
who is in his second year as a professional coming into 2025.
I got the awesome opportunity tomeet him for the first time, I
believe it was in 2021, racing Chattanooga 70.3 as age groupers
and he racked right beside me and I knew I was going to lose
(00:24):
to him, but that is OK because he gave me rubber bands for the
first time to use on my shoes. So you'll get to hear that
story. But Soren is an awesome guy.
Have gotten to know him more over the years, got to recently
hang out with him and climb Mount Lemmon in Tucson, AZ.
And I learned that he actually lost his father as well at the
age of 17. So there's obviously some
(00:46):
overlap there in our stories, two different circumstances, but
definitely hardship nonetheless.So I wanted to have him on the
pod and hear his story a little bit.
So thank you, Soren, for coming on, and I will go ahead and quit
talking and let you guys enjoy this episode with Soren Jensen.
Garmin. Yeah.
They were my first ever. It's just funny because of
growing up, like Garmin in my sphere world was always like,
(01:08):
oh, the Garmin, I forget what the name TomTom Garmin thing
where you used like GPS for carsand whatnot when that was like
before cell phones, GPS and all that.
So I was like, yeah, yeah. I remember that we had one of
those when we were driving all across the country and stuff.
And it would always be funny because we'd call it dumb.
(01:29):
Dumb. Yeah, because like, it would
lead us down the road. And then literally, I remember
one time we were like in the middle of the country and we
were going down the road and it LED us down a road and it went
to a bridge, but the bridge had been demolished.
Oh, shoot. So it was just like a dead.
And obviously there were like, signs, like, you can't go any
(01:50):
further. And then, like, to get around
that thing. It took like 30 extra miles on
our trip or something. So then I've got the nickname of
dumb dumb because it always LED us like an interesting roots and
stuff. So.
Yeah, that's crazy. So where did you grow up then?
Where were you traveling around as a kid?
I grew up in Memphis, TN becausemy dad flew for FedEx.
(02:14):
That's right. But that gave us and my mom was
a school teacher, so that gave us all the the summers off.
Yeah. So every summer I grew up and we
would me, my mom, my dad, my sister and two labs.
We would travel all across the US We actually went to all 50
states. Obviously we couldn't drive to
(02:37):
Hawaii, but that was the last state.
So we drove to Alaska 1 summer and it was like a small RV, like
a truck. We had like a 350 dually and
then you put on top a truck camper.
Yeah, that goes in the bed or whatever.
That goes in the bed and then itgoes over the cab and that's
(02:58):
what we drove around in. So we had some crazy adventures
in that and it was, it was honestly like some of the best
experience, life experiences I've ever had.
And like, you just learn so muchthrough traveling and then
you'll learn so much like bonding with your family, like
being that close for that long. Like there's multiple times
(03:20):
where it's like we wanted to kill each other, but at the same
time it just like grew us closeras a family sort of thing.
Yeah, I've gone through many hard times.
It always deepens. Deepens the ability, as long as
you're able to make it through it.
The ability to connect and have those deeper bonds for sure.
How many years are you and your sister apart?
For 10 months. So really close, yeah.
(03:41):
Yeah, what? What does she do in the in the
world of adulting? Well, she, she's more successful
than me, I guess, in certain ways, but she does.
She's a civil engineer. OK, cool.
So both of us, we grew up playing soccer too.
And she played soccer in collegefor a couple years and then she
(04:05):
decided to do civil engineering and stuff and then graduated,
got a job like very, very like following route, the traditional
route versus like, I went to college, played soccer for two
years for the club team, then dropped out because of COVID and
like didn't want to go to onlineschool and then found triathlon.
(04:25):
Kept with that for a while and then now I'm just like finishing
up my degree online. Nice.
What degree are you finishing right now?
Just a bachelor's in business administration.
So I had like half of the credits already or more than
half the credits. So it's more of like, I should
finish this because then I can do a lot with that even though I
(04:49):
might not use it directly. But there has to be something
said for like just just intelligence, like the ability
to learn and the ability to workhard that you can't be taught.
Like more people go to school because it just shows that you
have that commitment for multiple years.
And then that shows that you canlike follow a structure and then
(05:12):
eventually get a job and follow a structure and work for so many
hours a day and so forth sort ofthing.
Did your parents, mom and dad growing up have an idea or a
direction that they sort of wanted to guide you guys in
terms of education and post school world?
(05:33):
That's a good question. I think for the most part, my my
parents always drove us in the way of like finding something
that you're passionate about andthen once you find something
that you're passionate about, you better be the best at it or
the best that you can be at it sort of thing.
(05:54):
So like my sister went the traditional route and did like
civil engineering and was very good in school, 4 point O and
stuff like me 4 point O and verysmart and stuff and that stuff
versus myself. I kind of bounced around in
college. Like I had a couple really bad
(06:14):
years in college getting just like bad grades.
And then there then there's likethe weird classes where I
actually like found something that I cared about and then it's
like I would get A's and that. So I don't know like why that,
why that is per SE, but like it sort of follows the line of like
if you care about it, you'll getA's, yeah, sort of thing.
(06:37):
Yeah, cool. Well, I do have a lot of follow
up questions and I want to dive into some of these earlier days.
But first I just have to say thank you so much for making the
time and coming on the podcast. It's kind of cool to have you on
because I've gotten to meet you over the years before I was even
really into triathlon. Got to rack next to you when you
were starting to go gung ho and triathlon and Chattanooga 70.3
(06:59):
back in. I think it was like the first
race back that they had after COVID.
I want to say maybe like 21 or 22.
I think it was 22 or 21. It was one.
It was either one of those years.
Yeah, I remember. I.
Have to go look, he finished like an hour ahead of me.
So but it was a good experience that when I saw you racking next
to me, I was this is when I was first getting into the sport and
(07:20):
I was like, oh, I can take some of these guys and I saw you and
your bike and I was like, I don't know about that one, but
you you were the first guy who introduced me to rubber bands on
the shoes. Actually, I think you let me
borrow some of yours. And ever since then like I
bought the same package of like multi colored different widths
of rubber. Bands so you got to make sure
you get the correct width ones or they won't snap when you when
(07:43):
you put them. On the hardware I got some of
the thicker ones and pedaled through it and one of it did
break but it broke like in a weird way and smacked my legs so
hard. Yeah.
Definitely happens. But yeah, dude, thank you so
much for taking the time to comeon.
It is an honor to have the opportunity to dive in a little
bit deeper. So the first question I want to
(08:04):
open up with with you is who is Soren?
Well, I was thinking about this because I know I listened to a
couple of other podcasts. I would say that besides that
I'm a brother, I'm a boyfriend, I'm a son to my of my mom.
(08:26):
Besides like the traditional I would classify, I would say that
I'm sort of a protector, a committed, intense, driven
person, caring, but also at the same time, like I keep my circle
(08:50):
small. How come the ho I just, I don't
know. I just feel that I, the people
that I want in my life, I want to have like a deep connection
with and not just know everyone,know a lot of people on the
surface. I want to know the people that I
care about personally, not just,oh, it's so and so's birthday.
(09:15):
So I'm going to say happy birthday, even though I haven't
talked to them in two years or since the last time it was their
birthday sort of thing. Yeah, it's kind of meaningless.
I get those LinkedIn things all the time, kind of a side
conversation. But so you said like you're a
protector. What does that mean?
(09:37):
I don't know. I mean, I know, but recently I
went on a ride with Ashlyn, my girlfriend, and like we were
riding on the road and some carswere being like a little
aggressive towards us and it's like I saw I didn't lose it, but
(09:57):
I was like more of like I got mad.
I mean, when I ride by myself, Iknow that I'm at risk, but like
when I'm riding with someone that I care about, like I take
the the the role of making sure that they're safe, I guess.
And that's any time like when I go out to on dates with, with
(10:20):
someone with Ashland or like I make sure that I sit in a good
spot where I can see the, the area that we are at or like
where we're going is a safe area.
Same with like if I was going visiting with my sister or with
my mom, even. I just feel that the people that
(10:40):
you have close to you, you got to keep them safe.
And like there's always the I'm not aggressive or anything like
that. It's like the the sheepdog where
you, you got to choose your moments to to be aggressive.
And like some of that comes intotriathlon of like you got to
choose your moments of when you're going to go really hard
(11:01):
or when you're going to like more chill back and like look at
the scenario before you like go full in and attack and sort of
stuff. So.
Yeah, interesting answer. I like how you use the the term
like a working dog or a sheepdog.
I have one of those kind of dogs.
He doesn't actually, he's not a working farm dog.
But I did go to New Zealand for Worlds and we went to go visit a
(11:24):
working sheep farm and it was pretty amazing to see those dogs
and like how they choose their moments and can be such a small
animal, but use their presence to drive such a large herd of or
protect whatever or herd of sheep and stuff.
Yeah, that's a cool thing. Yeah, and they have to protect
them, protect the sheep and the lamb from other wolves and
(11:46):
coyotes and stuff and predators that are, you know, try to eat
them. So that's kind of something that
I, I with my other wife experiences.
That's where I've I've found andthat I've been put in that
scenario with unfortunate circumstances of where I feel
like I'm responsible for my sister and my mom's safety.
(12:11):
Yeah, I was going to ask. Oh yeah, go for it.
And then like 2 with with that being LinkedIn.
I've been dating Ashlyn for three years so it's like I
consider her family so. When you were growing up with
your sister, so you're older or younger?
I'm younger. You're younger, OK.
(12:31):
So I mean, you guys are close enough in age that you're
probably going through the phases of life where you're kind
of still always a little bit bigger, I would imagine.
But like that protective Big Brother, was that always the
case for you? Or was that kind of a coming of
age thing where you did, you felt like, oh, I need to be more
protective now. Well.
(12:51):
I'm younger than my sister, so I'm the little brother and I
don't know, it was sort of like the bigger I got sort of thing
like when she's in high school and I'm a middle schooler.
Probably not. But then when I was like I was
getting into high school and shewas still in high school or even
when I was like in my later years of high school and she was
in college then definitely sort of thing.
(13:15):
So and and unfortunate events occur later in high school.
So then even more and then when I was in college, it's always
trying to be there for her because we both went through
hard times during that, but so. So what happened, if you don't
mind me asking? I know you mentioned it kind of.
(13:37):
There's been some things he wentthrough.
But but what's this? I I'm a tattoo on my ribs and
that's the date that my dad passed and it was like sudden
and it was due to health issues,like sudden health issues.
It wasn't. I could go more into it, but
basically it was like within twoweeks and it was sudden health
(13:58):
that works on unforeseen I guess.
Yeah. So if any, if any, at any point
I ask a question that you just do not want to answer, are you
really uncomfortable with no pressure whatsoever?
Like you can stop me or say next, but like 2 weeks is a very
quick time period. So like people know who from
(14:20):
listening to the podcast to me, like my story, bit like I lost
my father suddenly, although, you know, there was signs, I
guess growing up where like something could potentially
happen and we can get into that.Another point if you're if if,
if it so leads to that point in the conversation.
But for you, I guess, how old were you?
And you're not talking about twoweeks, like after you find that
(14:42):
out and you realize that there'sa great chance you're going to
lose your dad. Like what?
What was going through your mindand what were the choices that
you were making during that two week period?
I didn't initially like he went to the ER and I didn't know that
(15:02):
it was so severe, so severe. So I what sort of just went on
living my 17 year old high school life of like got to go to
soccer practice, got to go to school and then was sort of when
(15:24):
my mom, my mom was a school teacher and was sort of started
to get more serious when she started to not she was taking
time from being a teacher off I believe it's been a while.
So I think she started to take time off of being a teacher and
she still wanted me to go to school and do stuff and she was
(15:48):
being going to the hospital likehelping and like making
decisions sort of thing. So I thought it was strange.
It's like, it's so hard to describe to someone because like
(16:09):
you're just like going through life trying to make everyday
decisions while you have pressure of something else on
you that that weighs on you. So then it seems like you're not
totally there, if that makes sense.
Yeah, and like the present reality of.
(16:30):
Life and the present. Yeah, like sometimes I don't
know, I just, I just like have memories from it and it's like I
was walking, this was before he passed, but I was walking down
the the hall and or in the school and like no one was
there. I was there early and I was just
(16:53):
like, why? Why am I here?
Like questioning like what, whatam I doing sort of thing.
And it just seemed eerie. I don't know how to describe
that. And then I guess like I remember
too, there was a school project that I was working with and I
(17:13):
was at one of the partners that I had houses and it was like me
and two other guys working on this.
Like I think it was a biology project of making like Adna
chain or something like a total high school.
And I was like, my mom called meand was like, you should get
over here. Like, like to the hospital.
(17:36):
And then I remember having to tell the people that I was with
that like, I have to go like my dad's been in the hospital for
like over a week and like, it's not good.
And like I never really like told them anything to So we and
then they're like, Oh, I, they didn't know how to react.
(18:00):
They're like, how are you? So like calm?
It's like I, I don't know, like legit like, I don't know how I'm
still so calm because like you just don't feel like you're in
the present. So like you're like trying to
make things normal when they're not.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
So that was like a couple of thememories and then like
(18:22):
eventually it was like when we knew that like he wasn't going
to make it and pass. Like we had my high school
soccer coach who's like another dad to me and then my my
godfather that went across the street and then my sister was
(18:44):
there, obviously and my mom. And like I remember that them
being there and just like not knowing what to say to me.
And I'm just like, I don't know,like you can't process that.
And then like the next morning, like it's just, you can't like
your brain like once you know someone for that long and that's
(19:07):
all you've known, your brain cannot process the fact that
that person's out of your life for a while.
And especially with my dad was he was regularly not there for
days on end because he was a FedEx pilot.
So it's like it's not out of theordinary for him to be gone for
(19:29):
four or five days on a stretch, like stretch.
And then it's like, oh, he's just out fine going to multiple
different airports, do it like working because that's what he
did. And then like he would be home
for three days straight and not have to work sort of thing, sort
of thing. So then it was like very strange
and took a long time for me to actually process like he's not
(19:53):
here, like he's not coming home sort of thing.
Because like before, he would always leave for a couple days
and then come home, so. When, when did it hit you for
the first time where you you started to accept and kind of
move into that stage of grief where it's like the acceptance
of the fact that like he's no longer there?
(20:14):
It took a while to be fair. I think for the, for the most
part, it was so like so that it was in January.
(20:39):
So then and I was a junior, so ajunior in high school.
So the rest of that junior in high school to the finish of the
year of school was just me. And I started to cope with I'm
just going to play soccer and like do my school and just pass
classes and like not think aboutit.
(21:04):
And then summer came up and then, oh, I got a part time job
and was like working, I think, and just focus on that and focus
on playing video games or, and being like high school kid and
like enjoying the free time. And then it wasn't until I think
(21:31):
after it was more the next year when that like the anniversary
came around. And then it was like the end of
my senior year and I was gettinglike senioritis plus the fact
that I was getting hit with a grief, finally getting hit with
the grief of processing it. And like, I think I didn't even,
(21:54):
I really didn't really go to school that year.
It turned into, yeah, it turned into where I would go to school
on the days that we had soccer games because they would not let
me play if I didn't go to schoolthe day of the soccer game.
And then other than that, I would go to like school or I
(22:14):
want to go to school, but then I'd show up to practice and, and
like that was the only thing that got me through it, I guess
was was soccer. And then another one was like
the weightlifting coach that wasthere.
Like he found out about it. And I remember like fresh, he
(22:35):
was like, we I didn't go to school for two weeks straight.
And he was like, whenever you want, you can come to the weight
room and just work out and just like chat with me, like just
talk or just like get a workout in and lift, lift weights.
So that's what I would do is like, I, I think you get a lot
(22:57):
of built up anger and aggression.
So it turned into lifting and then it turned into soccer and
continuing to do soccer. And then eventually it's turned
into doing triathlon. And when I was fresh in the
triathlon, it was more of like dealing with with an outlet of
(23:22):
trying to work out hard and do that.
But now it's more of enjoying the the process of getting
better and trying to better myself, not run from something.
Yeah, you are. You were 17 when this happened.
How old are you now? You're 20.
(23:43):
Nine. I'm 25. 25 I forgot how, how
much younger you are. So that's really not that long
ago, man. Like, I mean you're, you're only
talking seven years. I'm thinking back.
So I lost my dad when I was 16. So seven years after that,
whatever that would be like my early 20s.
Like I, I feel like there's still so much more that I was
(24:04):
still trying to chew through. And even now, like 16 years
later, I'm still trying to like,you know, being married now, I
think about like, man, if he washere, you know, I'm going to
have grandkid kids. Like what is that absence of
that life going to be? Or, you know, if I have a son of
my own, how do I want to continue on raising him past 16?
So there's just like all of these what's ifs, ands or buts.
(24:25):
And one thing I really was curious just to hear your
perspective on, because after mydad passed away, you know, being
being similar to the age you were, I felt like this, there
was this unspoken responsibilityof being like the man of the
house now. And you know, it's 1617.
Like what do we know about what that actually means?
(24:45):
I did you feel that kind of pressure or responsibility when
you when it happened to you whenyou were that age?
Yes and no. I chose well too in in high
school. It was like I'm so, so young and
(25:06):
just living under my parents or with my mom and under their
roof. So it's like more of like just
being a high school kid still. And like my sister was out of
the house by then going to college and stuff.
So she was fine for the most part.
And then like a dinner. It hasn't really, it didn't
(25:29):
really start being like what I'msaying of the the protector
until literally like probably like after I dropped out of
college because like the first two years of college I just
played club soccer and drank andpartied and sort of passed my
(25:51):
classes sort of thing. So and and that was more of
dealing with the loss of my dad too, of like I'm finally in a
place there's no one telling me what to do.
So it's just like, I'm just going to figure just it was
almost like self deprivation andpressed like running from my
(26:15):
feelings and problems. So yeah, honestly, the I was
glad that I made the soccer teamwhen I tried out because I would
probably have gone pretty far down not being in shape so and
so and some form of shape and then eventually started to do
triathlon and pick it up pretty fast so.
(26:37):
Yeah. Were you, were you really close
with your dad? Like I know that he traveled a
lot it sounds like for the FedExjob.
So there's obviously probably some tension there even for any
anyone, even if he was still around.
Like, I'm sure there would be a little bit of that, but were you
guys pretty close? Would you consider yourself to
be like close with your dad? Oh yeah, yeah.
(26:59):
Yeah. Well, I mean, we did so much
looking back now that I'm 25 andfrom the age of 8 to 17, we did
so much. We went surfing, we scuba dived,
we, we did everything that we could possibly do.
We went sailing. We traveled all across the
(27:23):
country and all that. And I don't know many fathers
that do that with their son and and teach them everything that
they know. And it's sort of weird because a
lot of the stuff that he taught me is still prevalent today and
(27:46):
what I believe in and what I used in my day-to-day life.
So I think you have those learnings that you were taught
when you're a kid and then you'll look back and you're
like, oh, that's something that was instilled in me when I was
15 from my dad. So I think that's pretty cool to
(28:10):
think about of like, I don't know, my dad would always have
these these three roles it wouldcome up with like with these
rules. And it's like 1 was like, if
it's not yours, don't touch it. 2 is like treat others like they
(28:30):
want to be treated. And then 3 is like 3 was like
protect be. I forgot what 3 was.
But like I remember the first two, but like I remember stuff
like that. And I think it's funny because
it's still when I go into like abike shop or something and it's
(28:53):
like don't touch that unless youask or like people that you talk
to, you want to treat them like you would like to be treated and
stuff. And then two, it's like he
taught me how to shoot. He taught me how to fish, even
though I became a better fisherman than him and all that
stuff. So I don't know.
(29:14):
I think that was fun because he would have introduced me to
stuff and then I would take it or I would not be too interested
in it so. When you, you, you mentioned
earlier that you guys did some traveling around, I guess all of
the United States and you said that, you know, when you're
doing that kind of traveling, there's a lot that you learn.
Are there any memories that you can think of from some of those
(29:37):
trips when you were traveling oflike really impactful moments or
memories that just bring a lot of joy to you that you use to
reflect on today? Yeah, I could think, I think of
one that comes straight to the the memory when we dreamt to
Alaska. Like I wanted to go fishing
because like it's Alaska. Like there's trout, there's
(29:58):
other things. It's it's the Bush.
Like it's the thing that's untouched by civilization.
So I found like this lake that was like a mile hike through
like Alaskan Bush with the mud because all the the frost or the
(30:18):
the ground, it freezes and then it thaws and then it turns to
mud and the summer. So my dad was always worried
about bears. So we had a shotgun with slugs
in it and stuff. So we hiked in a mile to this
little lake and then we fished for a while and caught some
trout. And then it was funny because
(30:38):
like we started hiking back and we see these two ladies with the
little bear bells. What's a bear bell?
So instead of a gun or bear spray or anything, you shake a
bell and it's supposed to scare the bear.
Well, yeah, it's like a dinner bell.
(30:58):
We thought that was so funny. And they like, they got all
worried because they saw us and my dad had the the shotgun and
stuff and they're like, did you see any bears?
I was like, no, we probably didn't think we were going to
see any, but we weren't going totake any chances.
And then we're like, well, good luck.
Like have fun. It's not that bad of a hike
(31:19):
there. But I don't know.
I thought that was a funny story.
Yeah, no, that was funny. Alaska seems like such an
amazing place. I've seen lots of pictures.
I have friends who live up thereand family, actually.
But it seems like the final frontier of what if you wanted
to go expand, experience that real big wilderness, big game
danger, lots of risk. Like Alaska seems like the place
(31:42):
to go for sure. So who are you?
More like you think your mom or your dad.
Oh, that's a good question. I'd say a while ago I would
maybe say my mom, but now I think we're I'm seeing more of
(32:04):
the things that my dad would do that I'm I would do.
Yeah. And I don't know, my dad was
very intense person and like he just had like a certain look in
his eye that like, I don't know,just don't mess with him.
(32:24):
And I'm starting to see that sometimes I come off that way to
people because I've had people be like, oh, you're actually
like, nice. And it's like, what, what I, I
would think I'm nice and like, you just look so intense.
And I'm like, that's the only look I have for you.
I can't like make myself not look intense.
(32:47):
So I think that's funny. Yeah.
Is there any truth to it though?Like, I mean, you're obviously a
nice person, but is there any level of like, well, maybe I do
give off that because you have just so much intensity within
you because like you said, you're passionate, you're
aggressive about wanting to go after your dreams.
Like you take things very seriously.
(33:07):
Is there anything to that you think?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I tend to.
I think that's also why I keep my circle small and the people
that I let in and stuff. And I would think that the
people that really know me know that I'm a good person and
caring and go to the end of the earth for them.
(33:29):
But you have to pass certain barriers to get there I guess.
Yeah. Sort of thing.
What is the what is the thing that you think you're looking
for? And this may be a little bit
hard of a question because I mean, both of us were still
relatively young and, and finding our path.
But triathlon came into the scene, you know, like you said,
the beginning, you were using almost as like an outlet and a
(33:51):
coping mechanism. And I think that that's a good
thing. But as you have grown in the
sport and grown to mature more and to the man that you are
today, how has your perspective on what your goals and what the
meaning of success is, how has that shifted and changed as
you've gone down this path? Like what is it that you're
(34:12):
looking for running towards? I think recently it's been peak
performance. I mean, I started triathlon when
I was like 20 1/2 and now I'm 25.
I'm going to been doing the sport for 4 1/2 years.
And my first pro year was yesterday or last year.
(34:33):
So this is my second professional year.
And recently I've just started to feel like I'm finally seeing
numbers that I knew I could do, seeing times that I could run
that I, I just, I don't know why, but I just felt like I
would, I'm capable of that, justlike in my soul, I guess.
(34:54):
And, and believing in that I canget to that level.
So I would say peak performance right now as far as biking like
bikes and stuff, I love every aspect of biking.
The technology, the wax, your chain, the tube was what ceiling
(35:18):
are you running? What's the fastest tire?
What width, the tire, specific rotors, ceramic bearings, all
that stuff. I just, I love all that nerdy
stuff about cycling and going and you know that you can be
faster if your machine is the best that you can make it sort
of thing. So Yep, exactly.
(35:42):
So as you've gone through this journey, like your your second
year being a pro, who are some of the mentors or maybe there's
a key few people or the team that you surround yourself with
that not only give you advice asit as it means to be a
professional, but also just likeit life advice and navigating
some of the the things that you have to go through.
(36:08):
As far as learning what it is tobe a professional, I was sort
of, I was blessed in the fat or I was.
I had the opportunity and the the networking of getting
coached by Sam Long for a bit and training with him.
(36:29):
I guess it would have been two years ago or a year ago.
I don't know. It's been a while, but training
with him and did a training campin Boulder and stuff.
And I learned a lot from him of what it what you see, what it
takes sort of thing. And then what to act as a
professional. But nowadays it's shifted more
(36:51):
of I'm relying on Ashlyn, my girlfriend, making sure that
she's like, oh, your mood is good.
Because when my mood starts to get bad, like I'm training too
much. And then I brought in a a swim
coach to Tim Floyd at Magnolia Masters and he's been helping a
(37:14):
tremendous amount. And then as of recently, I
joined the Octagon and we did our team camp and it was really
nice to meet everyone in the team.
And it's nice that it's such a it's a small team compared to
other triathlon teams. It's 30 people.
(37:37):
Are they all? In the US or the world?
Yeah, all across the US. OK.
And it's nice to see everyone come from different backgrounds
and then love the sport of triathlon and everyone has, some
are family and have 4 kids and some have a newborn and all this
(38:03):
and different life challenges. And then me being 25, I'm
walking into this and it's like all I need to do is train today.
And they have all these other stresses that they're dealing
with and still performing at a very high level.
So I think there's something to be said about that.
(38:24):
And then learning from their life experiences and talking
with them because I don't know everything.
So it's fun to get to know how they grew up, how who they
married and where they live and when they had kids and all that
stuff. And it was funny to hear that
(38:45):
people would be like, yeah, you're 25.
Like you just got to dive into this.
Do this full till until you can't.
Because if I was 25, I'd be doing the same thing.
So. If Ashlyn, if I was to ask her
right now, if she's sitting nextto you, like where is your mood
at on a scale of one to 10, one being I'm training 50 hours a
(39:06):
week, don't talk to me and 10 being, oh, that's pretty good.
I feel like I'm floating throughlike we're making good progress.
Where you at right now? 10 is. 10 is like no, 10 is like
peak happiness, 1 is like you'resuper stressed.
You said you train a lot more, so you're just burying yourself
(39:27):
50 hours, 60 hours a week. Not quite that much, but I'd be
like out of seven right now. So that's pretty good.
Just finished a pretty good weeklast week and then pretty diddle
them in today and you know, justget it and taken over the miles.
(39:48):
Decided not to start my season in Oceanside so I'm not starting
till Saint George. OK, so just starting to get into
good form. Yeah.
Is that why you decided not to do Oceanside?
Was like you wanted to be a little fitter.
It was more of talking with the swim coach of I was going to
(40:08):
race, try to race 7 times this year.
And he's like, if you really want to get better at swimming,
you'll cut 2 of your races out. And the, the reason behind that
is because like so every swim week you're well, he has me
swimming 20 to 25 K and I don't care if anyone's saying that
(40:30):
that's not enough, that's enoughfor me to, to still be
improving. And he said that the taper week,
you lose a week and then it takes like one or two weeks
after the race to start to see improvement again.
Because like when you race, you just send your nervous system
(40:51):
into a spiral. Yeah, a massive shock.
Yeah, exactly. So that was more of it because
if you race 7 times, you lose 21weeks like ish 14 weeks of like
the ability to start to to keep improving.
So that's why I cut Oceanside out.
(41:12):
And also is a little close to the team camp because I would
have been wanting to do like full tilt training during that
time. So it just sort of or the team
camp was the the 6th to the 9th of March.
(41:32):
So it's not terribly close to Oceanside, but it's like sort of
like right where you would be scheduling like big weeks of
training because it would be like three weeks big and then
one week a little less and then your taper week.
So it wouldn't, it wouldn't messwith the building to Oceanside
(41:57):
in my eyes. So and the roads are shit.
They're they're so bad on the base.
It's it's so bad there. And I mean, I'm sure we'll see
on coverage. If you don't use a rubber band
on your bottles, you're not going to have your balls.
Game over, huh? Yeah, so.
(42:17):
Yeah, I forgot my question I wasgoing to ask.
So with this race coming up, I guess you're you've decided to
push it aside, you're going to be doing Saint George.
What is it that you would like to see out of yourself in terms
of the swim? Because like that seems to be a
pretty core focus right now. What is something that you like
(42:39):
want to see from yourself? Is it more feel based?
Is it more of like time based? Trying to think of like what my
swimming coach would be telling me.
Yeah, like, I, I think I want toget into the swim and feel that
(43:00):
I actually raced the swim. I didn't survive the swim
because that's what I've been feeling like I've been doing.
Yeah, yeah, that's good. I mean, yeah, I enjoy.
It yeah, I, I, I want to feel that I'm in the race, even if
it's like second, third pack, like making a pack would be
(43:23):
good. And instead of swimming 28
minutes or more. So that's what I'm that's the
goal. Where when you race, do you race
from a place of anger? Do you race from a place of just
kind of get in your own zone, maybe a maybe more from the joy
(43:45):
side? Like how do you race?
Sort of both I would say. Yeah, depending.
On how you feel like, yeah, sometimes I'm like super smiling
and having a good fun, good fun with it and like going really
(44:09):
well. But then also sometimes you just
got to grit your teeth and get alittle mean with it, I guess get
a little angry. I think back to the the half
marathon I did recently and I mean, I did a full week of
training and it's the last day of like I take Monday's easy and
(44:29):
then six days pretty stout. Friday's easy too.
But it's like leading into that race, I had all the fatigue of
the week already in the week prior.
So I had no expectations and then got to the race and it's
like, whatever, we're just goingto send it.
(44:49):
We're going to see what we got. And it went really well.
And the last two miles I felt like I lost something.
I lost something out of my soul of being angry and and mad.
And it's funny because Ashlyn, she did the the quarter
marathon, which is 6 1/2 miles. And the way that they staggered
(45:13):
the start, I knew that I was, ifI was running well, as I would
catch her because I would, I would run past her to the
finish. And like I went out pretty hard
in a group. One guy like went crazy fast
from the start and turned out he's a college runner.
It's like I'm not going to be able to run with a college
(45:35):
runner. But then the second guy, he
gradually ran away from me and then I was sitting in 3rd for
most of the race and I could to the the turn around.
I could still hear the footstepsa little bit behind me, like it
felt like he was maybe 20 yards away.
(45:57):
And then on the turn around, I saw that it was sort of close
and then like you ran down a hill to the turn around and then
you're running up the hill out of the turn around.
And I just started to feel awful.
And I was like, I just have to make it to the top of this hill
and then start to run downhill and try to feel better.
(46:18):
And then eventually I caught my girlfriend and I could still
sort of sense that that guy was still close, close shit ish to
me. And it was funny because I was I
was running by her. I was like, where's the fucker
behind me? I'm like, I'm like, where is
this guy? I need to know because I'm not
going to look behind me because like, that could just be the
(46:41):
little bit of talent. Yeah, yeah, that like this guy's
hurting, so if I put a dig in, he's not going to be able to go
if I catch up to him. But it was sort of fun to
actually be racing and run a good time and just be, just have
fun, get a good effort in. So yeah, that's fun stuff, man.
(47:03):
So earlier you mentioned that you know what some of the things
your dad had taught you, the twothings, one of them was
basically do unto others what you would have them do unto you,
which is more of a religious, like biblical principle.
Was your family or is your family religious and have you
carried that out into your life today?
(47:27):
I am not very religious at all and my family wasn't the most
religious too. I think some of that was the
fact that we were spending almost every weekend at a soccer
tournament or going to what I did, trap and ski shooting too.
(47:49):
So we would go shooting on the weekends and stuff.
And our weekends, normally we'refull of activities.
So we, I don't have anything against people that go to the
church or go and believe in that, like not doing everything
on the weekend. But we just decided to fill our
weekends with activities and stuff.
(48:13):
And now I joke that my, my church is my Sunday long run.
So that's how I'm closer to God,I guess.
Or I, I believe that there's something bigger that is driving
you and helping you decide what you're going to do and pushing
(48:36):
you in the right direction. Part of that is like, I guess
when I was in College of like when I was drinking and being
stupid and stuff. It's like the first year of
freshman year I was being an assand doing a bunch of drinking
and partying and all that stuff.And then the second year
(48:59):
something just switched to me and it's like, actually this
isn't the best. Like I actually because I was
riding the bench for the club team, I wasn't playing very
much. I was like, I know I'm good
enough to play. So then I started training more
and doing the stuff that it takes to take a sport starting
position. So then eventually did that and
(49:21):
I was like, drinking is not really doing anything for me.
So then I started to drink less and that stuff and it's like
something in me had to switch topush me to do that.
And then even with like pushing me to like do a triathlon,
(49:42):
something had to switch. Or it's like, this is a good
idea. And then switching to the point
of like, oh, I'm actually kind of good at this.
So like I'm going to pursue it and then like, oh, this is what
it takes to pursue it. So I'm going to go all in.
And then now it's like I'm all in and have have built up the
(50:03):
years of endurance and I'm finally seeing stuff that I knew
that I could do. It just takes time to be able
to. Yeah, interesting arc, story arc
there. So like, do you, you said you
believe that there's something bigger like out there.
It sounds a little bit like you believe maybe that there's like
a destiny or a way they're supposed to live and a way that
(50:26):
you could potentially live in terms of like the success you
could have the path of life thatyou choose.
Do you ever talk or have you ever talked like internally or
out loud to the like what you tobelieve to be God or this, I
don't know, influence? No, I just, it's just like AII
(50:49):
don't know how to describe it oflike I guess how do you go from
being a college fuck up to figuring out your life and
starting to make decisions and then become good at something
you know? Yeah, something guides us for
sure. I'm obviously religious, so
(51:11):
like, I have my ideas of, like, what I think it is.
But it's always interesting to me to hear other people's
perspectives because like you'resaying, like, you know, Sunday
can be Sunday long runs can be your church.
And there's a lot to that because you have the solitude of
what's going on in your mind. Nothing but the, you know,
bodily motions of left foot, right foot, swinging your arms,
(51:32):
you know, it's all repetitive. And then you can kind of have
this internal dialogue. And I've noticed for me, like
whenever I've gone to do those things, it's a time to think,
time to process. Sometimes that's where some of
my best ideas come from, some also my worst ideas come from.
It just totally depends, yeah. I think there's something to be
said with just being either on your bike or running or even
(51:57):
swimming, like you're just in nature.
So you're you're grounded in nature.
Especially with running, your every foot strike, you're
grounded. So then it's like the ideas and
stuff and you're not looking at your phone, you're not
(52:18):
influenced by other things. It's only your brain and your
thoughts that you're thinking of.
I think that's why it's important not to run.
With music or sometimes I mean biking, I listen to more stuff
because it's just a long time ifyou're not listening to
anything. But then sometimes I'll ride
(52:39):
with nothing and then it's just you're listening to the wind and
you're listening to your bike that's hopefully not very loud
and stuff like that, so. Are you more of a music listener
on the bike or a podcast person or?
It depends, it's if it's like a long endurance or sweet spot
(53:00):
efforts. Maybe a podcast if it's like VO2
or Harder or I mean Threshold orvia 2, maybe some music.
Yeah. And then, yeah.
And then like if it's a group ride, absolutely nothing.
Yeah, same stuff. I've actually, this is kind of a
sad tension, but I've gone on inseveral like rides with a couple
(53:21):
of dudes here recently and I won't name names, but like some
of them put in headphones and are trying to listen to music
while we're doing a group ride. And I'm like, that.
It doesn't make any sense to me.It's like, first of all, we're
here riding together, so let's be sociable.
That's like, that's also sketchy.
It's so dangerous. It is so dangerous.
Yeah, I, I was actually mountainbiking this past week and this
(53:42):
girl, I was like 3 feet behind her on my mountain bike, OK.
On this single track, she has like sound canceling headphones
on and I'm like yelling at her, excuse me?
And I eventually just had to like, buzz her and be like, hey,
sorry. And she got all scared.
And I was like, that is so dangerous, especially.
For and then it's your fault forbeing the the guy who passes
her. Yeah, it's like, Oh my.
God, that's like my biggest pet peeve is when people are on the
(54:04):
path or a trail and you're like running past them or trying to
get around them, and then they act like, what are you doing?
Because they have headphones in.Yeah, yeah.
It's like, sorry, but don't put headphones in if you're on a
public path. Yeah, that and small dog.
(54:24):
Sorry, another 10 small dogs. Yes.
You're not a small dog person. You don't like little.
No, just running. I don't know, maybe I'm too
intense or whatever. It's just like they freaking
lunge at me and bark and try to bite me when I run by.
It's just like, I don't know, I guess all the old people with
(54:46):
their small dogs, they don't know how to deal with them.
Like in, in Arizona. Yeah.
It's, it's pretty funny, even like public trails.
I went and ran the other day andtwo dogs went and launched at me
and tried to bite me as I was running past.
And it's like small dogs. Small dogs, yeah.
(55:09):
Yeah, that's a funny they it's small dogs have those big
personalities most of the time. Yeah, it makes no sense
whatsoever, but they must see you.
As they probably feel threatenedyeah someone running by like big
dogs I have no issue with. They normally like, oh, hi,
yeah. Or like if they're actually
like, mean, they'll just like, bark at you and probably not
bite you because you're like moving away from them.
(55:30):
Yeah. So.
Yeah. Do you have any pets?
We have a cat. Oh yeah, that's right, we saw
that in the beginning. What's the What's the cat's
name? Mare He is an old cat with
arthritis. OK, seriously.
Yeah, she's funny. She she's my girlfriend's cat
and my mom and I sort of shared custody of our dog Bear.
(55:57):
Nice. Avishla.
Avishla. What is this name?
Is that a type of dog or is thatlike a?
It's a type of dog, yeah. Oh really?
I didn't know. That it's a Hungarian Vishla.
Wow, I got to Google this. What is it?
Oh yeah, oh they are pretty. They look like a almost like a
you're probably not going to agree with this, but like a red
(56:20):
Bloodhound, but not really floppy like they have more tight
skin. They look.
Yeah, I get that. Yeah.
They're like the a hound dog, like the the hound dog.
And that can look sort of similar.
Yeah. And then there's like the
Hungarian Ridgeback is another one that can work somewhere and
that so they're the same as likea German short haired pointer.
(56:44):
They have that same sort of pointer energy.
Yeah, so they're pretty wild. It's pretty fun.
Yeah, dogs are fun. So let me ask you this just last
question or so. As you grow older and you're
diving more into the triathlon scene, whatever levels of
success that you find, what kindof a legacy do you think you
(57:04):
want to leave behind and as it relates to the sport?
I guess it's kind of funny. I want to be one of the few
(57:25):
people that figure out swimming that didn't grow up swimming.
Yeah, because if you look through the history of the
sport, there's not very many good swimmers that started
swimming when they were 20 sort of thing.
That would be one of the goals. And then I guess too with with
(57:49):
the team and stuff. I want to be a positive
influence with with triathlon and, and experiencing it through
with others, with the team and like learning how other people
overcome their own challenges and sharing stuff like that
(58:11):
because I believe that triathlonhas bettered my life.
So it's sort of interesting to hear others stories on how they
believe that triathlon has bettered their lives.
Yeah. For sure.
So then let me ask you this final question.
And I think you'll definitely beable to do that given your
(58:31):
history, the things you've gone through had to persevere.
Obviously you've learned lots oflessons it seems like by even
some of your own, I guess intuition of leaving kind of the
party lifestyle behind and seeking a life of health and
fitness more. But for the hardship that you
have endured, namely losing yourdad, would you say that that has
(58:51):
had a net negative or a net positive on your life at this
point? That's a hard question because
it's like I would give anything that I've done to today since my
(59:15):
dad passed to have him back, obviously.
But I think that now I have started living my life in a
better outlook of trying to be the best that I can.
And his vision sort of thing of what he wanted me to do and like
(59:40):
using the tools that he had given me and having such, he had
tremendous Dr. And like if he said he was going to do
something, he was going to do itand stuff like that and like
doing that and use it and doing it and focusing on triathlon and
(01:00:00):
focusing on bettering myself through that, I think that I
will be successful. And I think, luckily, my mom
believes in me just as much as Ibelieve in myself.
(01:00:22):
And. I know my dad would be proud of
what I've accomplished and he would see the the fire that I
have would be similar to the fire that he had when he was 25
sort of thing because he had thesame passion for becoming a
pilot as like I would I have thesame passion of becoming a
(01:00:46):
successful triathlete. Thank you so much for sharing
that. It's been good hearing your
story. Thank you for being open and
vulnerable and honest about it. Like I said, like you've been
through it not even that many years.
And, you know, sometimes I thinksome people think that when you
(01:01:08):
lose any loved 1, you know, after a couple years, it's kind
of like people forget to ask youabout it or it just doesn't
become a topic of conversation. But it definitely lives within
who we are. And like I said, there's not
many, there's not many weeks later on even days that probably
go on that I don't think about like my own father and just some
of the implications there. So I look forward to seeing how
(01:01:29):
you continue to progress in thissport and and learn some of.
Those lessons, I thought it was sorry to cut you off.
I thought it was interesting on when we first met, we didn't
know that at all, that we had both had similar life
experiences. Yeah.
So then and then like when we rode that one day up women with
(01:01:54):
Mark and we went to the cookie cabin, which was funny that I
had never been in the cookie cabin and I've lived here for a
while and never gotten a cookie.But then you're asking me
because you saw my tattoo of like, what does that mean?
And then I believe that I knew that I listened to your
podcasting and talked about losing your dad, but and then
(01:02:16):
like you had found that out. So then it was more of like how
like how did that happen? Like how has something like that
brought in US closer and that wepursued different things in our
lives and we've become successful or successful to the,
(01:02:37):
the amount of time we've been doing something or reached that
level of success? Because I, I would say that we
both have bigger dreams and aspirations to do, but at a
certain point for that time thatwe've been doing each of our
respective things, it's like we have reached success, but we
have more things to do. But I think that's interesting
(01:03:00):
on how something like that can drive both of us in different
paths to be successful. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. My one of my closest mentors,
his name is Jared and he's always been a guy who's big into
data and, and just looking up statistics and trying to predict
based on math and statistics, like where people end up in life
(01:03:23):
or what they're doing. And big entrepreneur.
And he has said to me multiple times like he's so interesting
and fascinating. Like usually people who are it's
quote UN quote successful in business or a lot of
professional athletes or just different facets of life, when
they find success, it's a lot ofthose people have some form of
like a falling out or a hard time that they went through that
(01:03:44):
involves their father, especially men.
And because I asked you that question, you know, do I think
it's a, do you think it's a net positive or net negative and how
that's been on your life? And for me, like for a lot of my
life, I think it was a net negative.
But as I've gotten older and I've started to see like my the
lens of my father as like another human rather than just
(01:04:05):
like a father, it's opened up just a world of of perspective
for me where I can say like, yeah, actually it is a net
positive. Like very different
circumstances. I would do anything similar to
you to have my dad back. But given the way that he went
with him making that decision, there was obviously a lot of
like Gray area there. Like, you know, was he proud of
(01:04:28):
me, this kind of stuff? But with what you're saying,
like, it definitely rings true. And I see it as a net positive
because it's giving me the opportunity to.
I think just it it helps relate to other people who go through
hard stuff. Like obviously you're you've
gone through some terribly hard stuff losing your dad with such
short notice. And yeah, I'm excited for your
(01:04:49):
future, man. I think you've got a lot of
potential. You still figuring it out.
I think we're all going to be continuing to figure it out
until the day we die. There's probably no level of
understanding that we'll get. We'll feel like, OK, well, we
checked that box. There's life chick.
But yeah. There's always another level.
There's always another level, there's always another
mountaintop, and that's the journey of it.
And that's the beauty of that journey, so.
(01:05:10):
Yeah, I, I guess the, the last thing that I was thinking about
talking more about this is like whenever I'm feeling sad or
depressed or like missing my dad, I always think of it as
it's all of the love that I didn't get to show him when he
(01:05:30):
was still here. And I think that once I started
to think of it that way, insteadof like, what the hell, Like,
why did this happen to me? Like this, this is so unfair.
This, this like why? And, and I started to think of
(01:05:51):
like, oh, this is just because Iwish that I could tell him like,
hey, dad, like love you. Like, look at what I've done.
Look at this like it would be awesome to experience this with
you and like just getting to tell him like how thankful I am
(01:06:11):
of like all the stuff that he taught me.
So it's like something that I'vetied to sadness or when I was
going through like I guess grieving, I guess it's more
grieving, not depression dealingwith that.
So we'll. Keep going through it man,
Except that when it comes. I know that's hard, especially
(01:06:33):
on anniversaries and what not, but never waste a good crisis.
Those opera, those times when wefeel like absolute crap and we
can't understand why we can't function or perform mentally or
physically. Like I really have found that
those are opportunities for growth.
And as much as it sucks in the moment.
But yeah, dude, thanks for. Sharing with me.
Yeah, all. Right dude, thanks.
(01:06:56):
See ya. See ya.
Thank you so much to Sworn for coming on the pod, sharing about
his life. Obviously, it's still relatively
fresh, even though they may not sound like it.
Seven years is a short, short while.
So for him to open up like he did and just share from his
heart is really meaningful to meand hopefully to you guys as
(01:07:16):
well. So thank you so much Storm for
coming on. If you made to this point, the
podcast, though, just want to say thank you so much.
If you want to sign up for the newsletter, you can do so.
Check out the show notes if you also want to like, comment,
subscribe on the YouTube video and also for the Apple podcast
and Spotify platforms. If you could comment, leave a
review, any and all those thingscontinue to help grow the
(01:07:36):
podcast and would really appreciate it.
And yeah, that's it. Thank you guys so much for
checking out this episode and we'll catch you in the next one.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.