Episode #151 - Steph Clutterbuck, Professional Triathlete

In this episode of Stupid Questions, Seth sits down with professional triathlete and podcast host Steph Clutterbuck for a powerful and honest conversation about ambition, identity, and what it really takes to build a life in endurance sport. From her early days as a competitive swimmer to rowing at university and now racing Ironmans professionally, Steph shares the highs, lows, and everything in between.

Steph’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/stephclutterbuck/
Buck the Trend Pod: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QDekZ0hI8NHiKCpQStYRg?si=d3f62ef3d4db44b5

Z2: https://z2alwayschasing.com/

Z2 Code: STUPIDQUESTIONS

SQ Newsletter: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/contact

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
How's it going everybody? And welcome back to the Stupid
Questions podcast. Today on the pod, we're going to
be talking with Steph Clutterbuck.
She is a second year professional triathlete, has had
a background in rowing and swimming and a few other things.
Really enjoy getting to connect with her.
She is the host or Co host of Buck the Trend podcast.
We'll make sure to at least thatin the show notes so you can

(00:20):
check that out as well. By the time this airs, she will
have already raced Ironman Hamburg, which is what we are
going to be talking about a bit,and her recent race at I'm in
Texas as well. Super sweet gal, really awesome
story. Hope you guys enjoy it.
So without further ado, I want to introduce you to Steph
Clutterbuck. So tell me a little bit, where
are you at right now? I assume you're back home or

(00:43):
somewhere near home? Yes, yeah.
So I am, I am at home after a month of travelling in April,
which has been, I mean, it was such an amazing trip.
It's like my first proper trip as a professional for more than
just a race or just a training camp because we kind of did
both. So it's been that was great.
But it has been lovely being home just own beds own like

(01:05):
kitchen and routine. And we kind of started to hit UK
spring, summertime as well. So the weather's showing up for
us too, which is always lovely. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I know. We're, I'm in Northern
California, just recently moved here, but it's been getting into
more of the summer vibes for sure.
We had our first day of rain in like 6 weeks just the other day.

(01:27):
So it's nice to get a little bitof rain, but I'm definitely
enjoying the many months of summer in in heat.
It's kind of been fun so far. Yeah.
So where are you from originallyand is that where you're living
now? Yeah, so I live in the Cotswolds
near Bath in the southwest of the UK and it is actually where
I grew up. But we moved, I moved away and I

(01:49):
left home and then found myself back when I was looking at
places that we wanted to settle and that had I guess job
opportunities, but also good places to train.
And the cycling here is just amazing.
So it was a bit of a no brainer to to return home.
And yeah, it's it's lovely. I've got I've got family very
close which helps when I need anemergency dinner.

(02:12):
I can give my mum a call and. She'll give dinner for me.
Yeah, that's awesome. How far away is she living from
you in terms of just like time? 10 minutes.
Oh, that's so nice. Yeah, which is great.
Yeah. When you were younger, did you
have the mentality of, oh, I want to, you know, flock the
room from the nest and get out and go and mark my own path?
Did you ever think that you'd becoming back home?

(02:34):
I didn't, I don't think I ever really thought about it when I
was at school. I had like there was always
questions about should I go to the US on scholarship for
swimming or do I stay in the UK?And I, I didn't really have any
desire to go out of the country,but I was desperate to kind of
go away to university and experience life at uni.

(02:55):
But I guess I didn't really think about life after that.
That is that I'll go to university and I'll experience
that and then I'll be an adult when I graduate and we'll deal
with that when it comes. But I haven't really hit the
adult part yet. So yeah, yeah, for sure.
When when did you graduate university?
2016 was my undergraduate and 2017 for my masters.

(03:19):
OK, nice. Yeah, very similar.
I graduated in 2017 with a bachelor.
It's not a master. So you're, you're a bit more
educated than I, I. Don't know about that, the
masters was actually so that I had an excuse to carry on rowing
for a year, so goodness. So I heard some swimming in
there. I've heard rowing.
Obviously the collegiate aspect was a big part of your future
and what you were aiming for. When did you first like get into

(03:41):
what sports when you were younger?
Yeah, I my parents when I was growing up insisted that I
learnt to swim. So they like it was it was a
skill that was a non negotiable for them.
And I think I embraced the competitive nature very early
on. So it kind of got to, I was, I

(04:03):
think I was about 7 and the swimming lessons were going to
stop because I could swim by that point.
And I was like, I don't want to stop swimming.
So we found a swimming club and I joined a swimming club.
And that was kind of it for the next 12 years.
I was, I was a swimmer. Yeah.
Turned your back stroker which was worst event but it was the

(04:26):
one that I was good at which wassuch a shame.
I had a love hate relationship with it.
Yeah, I'm sure. So yeah, I kind of that was that
was my childhood. That's that was what I was doing
through my formative years and who I identified as as I was
growing up. And then I think like so many,
so many swimmers that either didor didn't make it, I was in the

(04:49):
didn't make it category. I fell out of love with it.
But there was a huge amount of resentment towards the sport
because, well, I gave up everything for it.
I didn't have a normal, like my teenage years were not
traditional. And, well, I mean, it depends
what the traditional is, isn't it?
But yeah, you know, I dedicated all of my spare time around

(05:09):
school to swimming and I went touniversity to not do sport to I
just wanted to be normal. I was done with it and then
decided I went to, we have something called Freshers Fair.
So it's where you go in your first year to look at like
different sports teams and different clubs that you might

(05:31):
want to join. And the rowing team was huge.
And I was like, oh, that looks like a really good way to meet
people. That's that's kind of fun.
I'll join. So I joined that and ended up
being quite good at it. I don't know if I was actually
good at rowing at that point, probably not.
I was just really good at pushing very, very hard, which
is not normal. And then, yeah, that was again,

(05:54):
that was it for the next like five years.
So all the way through to the age of 24 I was in full time,
full time sport essentially. Yeah, lots there.
So going back just a bit, like you said, 12 years of swimming
and then you grew to that place of resentment.
And I have heard that story fromeven Olympic swimmers like that
seems to happen at times. But for you in that lead up to

(06:18):
the eventual I'm done with this.Where was your motivation to
continue into the sport through those 12 years?
Solely from yourself or was there external factors like with
your parents? Like no, you should really keep
doing it. You know you have a future.
Or what was the motivation? It was all internal.
My, my, we pushy parents are a real thing in swimming.

(06:40):
I'm, I'm, they're everywhere andit's intense and it is
relentless as a swimmer, whetheror not they're your parents,
just kind of experiencing that towards another individual.
My mum had grown up as a swimmerand therefore had also
experienced pushy parents and they'd made a commitment that

(07:01):
they didn't want, that they theywanted both me and my sister to
swim because we wanted to swim. My sister stopped quite a few
years before I did. So it was not something that
they were pushing me towards. I was there, I was the driving
factor and unfortunately you can't make me do anything I
don't want to do. So it was very much, it was very

(07:21):
much me. And yeah, I actually went away
to school for my sixth form years, my last two years at high
school. And so I was away from home and
therefore, like in complete control of what I was doing
because if I didn't want to turnup, I just didn't go.
And it, yeah, it was, I loved it.

(07:42):
It was amazing. And the the squad environment
there was fab. And at no point was not turning
up ever an option like you wanted to turn up and you wanted
to be around people. And we were all striving to do
great things. And there are people that I
trained with that there that nowhave Olympic medals.
And that's like really cool. I was just not one of those
people. Yeah, you also said a few

(08:03):
minutes ago in the last piece ofthe conversation like that you
we're trying to be normal. Would you consider yourself
normal now? Ohh, not even remotely.
I gave up on that goal a very, very long time ago.
Yeah, what what makes you abnormal?
Like obviously it's the, the, the drive for sport, but I, I'm,

(08:24):
I'm curious to know, like the nature versus the nurture aspect
of who you are. It sounds like your parents
weren't the pushy parents, but you had an internal motivation
and drive that it seems like a lot of people can be born with.
But would you? How would you assign that?
Yeah, I think it I, I have never, I've never struggled with
motivation. Well, I don't know if that's, I

(08:47):
don't know if that's true. I've never needed motivation.
I think it might be more accurate.
So therefore it's never been a athing that I've kind of
considered everything like I know why I want to do things and
therefore I go after it with everything that is that I, that
I can and I and I always have done.
I think that, you know, I watched, I watched kind of

(09:11):
friends growing up and I was always in awe of how people
could like manage themselves through social situations and
balance kind of friendships and school and all of that sort of
stuff. Whereas my mind it, I, I, I have
learned in the last couple of years, I'm really introverted.
So these big social situations Ifound very, very hard and sport

(09:35):
was always there like a fall back.
It was my safe space because swimming is just you in the
black line, rowing, it's you in a boat.
And then obviously triathlon it's, it's you on your own for 9
hours of the day, which to me isheaven.
It's. Wonderful.
There's a lot of internal dialogue that happens.
Yeah, yeah, it's great. And I think I've, I've learnt so

(09:57):
much of myself about myself, like growing up through those
three sports where it is you andyour mind and you do have to
become friends with yourself because you know you, you have
conversations with yourself to get yourself through whatever it
is that you're, you're moving through.
And I feel very privileged that I've had the time and space to
have done that throughout my life.

(10:19):
Yeah. As you've gone through,
especially from such a young age, you've had that motivation.
You're driving towards some kindof goal.
I'm curious how you have viewed,you know, because you said being
friends with yourself, which kind of reminds me of what, how
do you value yourself and how doyou measure your own worth
internally versus, you know, Yeah, I'll just leave it
open-ended like that. Yeah, I, I think it's for me,

(10:43):
even though, even though it's internal, I, I place a huge
amount of like my worth on the impact that I can have on other
people. So yes, with triathlon, there is
a big part of it that I want to be the best that I can be.
And that is what drives kind of the nitty gritty of turning up

(11:06):
in training and suffering. But there's also this other
piece around creating a legacy and leaving the sport in a
better place than when I found it.
And I think as a professional that is like, that is part of
our role within every sport thatwe're in is where we see
something that can be changed. We commit to supporting people

(11:26):
to change it. So you've got this kind of weird
true 2 prongs, like I guess balance beam of my worth is how
good I am versus my worth is theimpact that I leave behind.
And I'm hoping that I can continue to like marry them up.
And when I leave the sport, I will be leaving it having done

(11:47):
the best that I can because I haven't done that yet in either
of the other sports. So I'm committed to doing that
because I'd like to leave a sport feeling fulfilled, but
also finding that fulfilment elsewhere as well and leaving it
better than the kind of the moment that I stepped in back in
2019. Yeah, that's super deep.
I love the aspect of like leaving it a better place by

(12:09):
possibly impacting the people around you.
Sometimes that can be easy and other times that can be very
difficult depending on the the humans that we interact with.
But in terms of, you know, you said you wanted to find in this
sport the kind of the pinnacle or fulfillment of being all that
you can be feeling like you've you've hit your best.
I hesitate to ask this question because I don't know if it's

(12:31):
like if it's even possible to pull it out, but how do you how
do you think that or what do youthink would need to happen
internally, externally, however you see it for you to stand up
and say like, yeah, I feel fulfilled in this.
This chapter has been sealed andcompleted and.
Oh, that is a that is a big question.
I think there are some, there are like the I say they're

(12:52):
boring, but they're not boring. There's like the obvious ones
that I, I'd love to be world champion.
And I think that is what that iswhat drives me.
Yeah, but that isn't the sole definer of success because that
is also reliant on other people.For me to be world champion,
other people need to not be. And that in itself is quite a

(13:13):
risky thing to have as a goal. I actually think it's something
that you'll just know in that we, we're always striving for a
perfect race, but we basically never have one.
And I think there is like a, there will be a point in time
where physiologically we don't see the adaptations and training

(13:34):
that we are currently seeing andwe don't see the progress that
we are currently seeing. So then it's all about race
execution. And one day I am hoping that I
will just have a race that I'm like, that is as close to
perfect as it's going to get. And in that moment, either
you're going to be like, OK, I'mready to step away or I think

(13:55):
I've still got more. I want to find more.
So I don't, I don't even, I don't think there's a measure.
I don't think there's a time. I don't.
I think it's just like a, there is a feeling that we may or may
not get when the time has come. That's like, actually I am
content to be like, I've done all that I can do here.
And this is like this is me ready to move on.

(14:17):
Yeah, yeah, It's interesting. I feel like the older we get, I
don't know how you are, but I'm,I'll be 33.
I assume you're close in age because of your university
graduation turning. 31 in a couple of days.
Yeah, okay, well, early happy birthday to you.
That's exciting. It's interesting to me because
as I've gotten older, just my perspective on what a pinnacle

(14:39):
for any level of like peak fitness or mental fitness or
even what, you know. I remember when my mother turned
30 years old, OK, She had me relatively young, obviously.
And I remember thinking that is an ancient age.
And now that I sit here at 33, I'm like, well, you know, like
45, like that seems maybe that'sstarting to approach old.
But it's like I keep the older Iget, the mountain seems a little

(15:01):
taller. The wave seems a little bit
further ahead. I know there will come a time
when physiologically, like, I'llrealize, OK, my brain thinks I
can do this, but my body cannot.So there is that.
So with the goals and the perspective shifts, you know,
you mentioned contentment, finding contentment is like a
very difficult thing. I think actually to to do
practically for people that havevery high aspirations and

(15:24):
ambition. You agree?
Yeah, Oh, for sure. Because there's always something
that doesn't go right. And this is, I think this is
when you're looking for a perfect race.
And all of our race plans are, you know, if we execute it, that
would be excellent. But I, I always, I talk to
people that don't do Iron Man's is imagine everything that goes
wrong in a normal day. It doesn't have to be big things

(15:46):
like you could just drop something on the floor or stub
your toe and then put yourself at your physical limit.
And then imagine that again, where you like, you start to
lose kind of cognitive ability and all that sort of stuff.
But it doing an Iron Man starts to become how well can you deal
with things going wrong? So it's almost like we're

(16:08):
planning for a perfect race thatis almost certainly not going to
happen because stuff goes wrong and that's fine.
And I don't know how content youwould feel if you have a perfect
race because it might actually just feel like, oh, that was a
bit of an anti climax. Like where was the fireworks
that I'm used to? Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
Like I, you know, talking about all the little things in life

(16:29):
that go wrong. I'm thinking of just
historically some of the more famous or well known generals or
captains or lieutenants, just a lot of these different war
stories. It's typically the people who
are able to maintain a level of calm amidst extreme chaos that
like keeps you just I really outof harm's way.
I mean, you know, war is obviously a terrible thing.

(16:51):
And there's this isn't a perfectcomparison, but I'm thinking,
you know, I've really learned asI've gotten older, like the
importance of staying calm, likegetting lost in the backwoods of
like this 18 mile thing. Like I remember sitting one
place panicking and my heart rate's hitting like 180 beats
just because I'm panicking and I'm dehydrated.
And I'm thinking, you know, now what you're talking about with
Iron Man. It's like if you get into these
situations, the ability to stay calm is very difficult.

(17:15):
Like you have to really train that as well.
Yeah, definitely. I can't remember who it was, but
it was a sports psychologist whotalked about work they've been
doing with their athletes to help them positively plan their
way out of situations. And I loved that because one
thing we can guarantee is that we'll make a mistake or

(17:35):
something will go go wrong. Especially, you know, Oceanside.
I hit a pothole and I lost my bottle.
If there's stuff that happens that can feel like the end of
the world and can feel like the world is against you.
But if you are confident in yourability to positively plan your
way forwards and out and up and through and all that stuff, and
very quickly kind of come up with, OK, so I've lost my

(17:59):
bottle. I've lost X amount of carbs.
I either need to pick up anotherbottle with fluids or salt, or I
need to pick up X amounts of carbs or I need to adjust my
effort. All of a sudden it doesn't feel
like the end of the world anymore.
And your performance is impactedso much less.
And then you take that learning forwards and you're like,
actually, I'm going to strap in,strap in my bottles even

(18:20):
tighter, or I'm going to change the position of the bottles or
I'm just going to not ride over potholes because I'd be very
sensible. And I think that is that is our
power as athletes because everyone trains really hard.
Everyone trains a lot. We're all working to our kind of
physiological maximum. But what differentiates us is

(18:41):
mindset. And it is the ability to adapt
in races. And I, yeah, I think it's, it's
something that I can control. I, you know, I'm, I'm not
capable of being as fast as Taylor, never on a bike or run
as fast as Kat Matthews. But what I can make sure that I
can do is be resilient and be mindful and be able to plan when

(19:04):
situations go wrong and stay, stay calm when things kind of
don't go as I expected because that's fully in my control.
Have you always, and it's kind of a dumb question, I guess, but
being able to have that mindset of, oh, I, I can only control
what I can control. Is that something you've had to
learn over time? Oh, big time.

(19:26):
So when I was as a rower, it wasI, well, actually towards the
back end of my swimming career, I started to have a kind of
performance anxiety in races. And we, we thought we'd managed
to solve it, but I think we justput a plaster over the
situation. And then when I got back into,
when I was rowing and performance became a focus, it

(19:49):
was very obvious that, yeah, the, the, the problem was still
there and I was experiencing huge amounts of self doubt.
And I have, I have perfectionisttendencies and they were not
being useful. They were very much getting in
the way. And I was having a lot of
intrusive thoughts about what I was or could be capable of.

(20:10):
So if a session wasn't going exactly as it needed to.
I would completely spiral, whichis a huge problem because as
we've discussed, things go wrongand it, it got to the point that
it was basically every week I was having these kind of panic
attacks. So I had to start, I started
working with a psychologist for well, for the rest of my own

(20:32):
career actually just to help me understand like my mind and what
was going on and also to help rationalize with the thoughts
that I was experiencing. And then after that I'm kind of
once I stopped rowing again, I swore off performance sport and
started to work within a people and behavioural consultancy.

(20:54):
OK, so we did a lot of work withbusinesses to help them support
their people better and create cultures of performance.
But hopefully healthy performance rather than
unhealthy performance is relentless.
And I learned a lot through thatas well around the kind of the
thinking behind what makes you resilience, but also the
triggers that we can experience that will spike stress and

(21:16):
anxiety and stuff like that. And they're all things that I've
used to shape who I am now as anathlete.
Because again, it's stuff that Ican control and I love.
I love having knowledge and understanding things and
understanding why my brain worksin certain ways.
So for me, kind of learning all of that has, yeah, it's helped
me almost distance myself from the Super emotional side of my

(21:38):
brain and be like, oh, no, I understand why you're reacting
like that. And I'm going to sit and I'm
going to listen to you, but I'm basically going to ignore you
and we're going to move forwards.
Yeah. Would you consider yourself a
relatively emotional person? Yes, Yeah.
Big time. It's yeah.
And I, I like that. I am.
I feel a lot. I feel a lot of emotions.

(21:59):
But I've had to learn when to switch them off.
What helps you to practically like switch them off is it have
you trained like just to kind ofbury it for a little bit then
you reopen it later on purpose or like how does that work?
I always see it as a light switch.
So they're like when sessions are gay, it's it's usually
around sessions like when sessions are getting hard,

(22:20):
especially if they're feeling harder than they or I think
they. Should you think they should?
Yeah. Yeah, I'm like, OK, we're just
going to switch that off. And that has, I mean, it's taken
a lot of time and it doesn't always work.
So sometimes you are kind of you, you switch it off, but it's
it ends up being on a dimmer switch and it just, it goes half
off rather than fully off. Yeah, a good analogy, as you

(22:43):
have gained more experience and knowledge just in kind of the
sports psychology side or just psychology in general with how
to manage expectations and work with anxiety and turning that on
and off. Have you found that underlying
issues for like panic attacks oranxiety or stress as related to

(23:04):
a session? Like, oh, I'm not hitting these
numbers that there's usually like a deeper thing going on
internally that's maybe related to something more personal life?
Or is it usually not as that deep?
I think a lot of it, so when I was rowing, a lot of it was it
was driven by conversations thatwere happening about my
capability as an athlete that didn't involve me.

(23:28):
So it was whether I would make it or not, whether I was good
enough or not, but I was not involved.
So the the British Rowing has some guidelines.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you have ergo times that
you have to hit. And I was quite small and I and
also I was very injured. So I'd really struggled on the

(23:49):
rowing machine because I just didn't have the power that girls
that were kind of 15 kilos heavier than I was dead.
And I think that reawakened the feelings that I had from my
swimming career where I didn't achieve what I wanted to.
So I kind of I didn't get an international vest that I
wanted. Wait.

(24:10):
I mean, it all just seems so arbitrary now, but feels.
Big at the moment, yeah. Yeah, it was huge.
And I, you know, it, I finished the sport feeling very
underwhelmed. And then I go into rowing and I,
you know, I was progressing well.
And then these conversations start happening and it drags up
all of that sort of stuff that wasn't, you know, stuff that I
hadn't processed because I was 19.

(24:31):
And how do you work through stuff like that when you don't
even know what it what it is or whether you need to?
So when I was in this transitionary phase between
rowing and triathlon, when triathlon was not even a thing,
it wasn't a consideration. I did process all of those
feelings from rowing and I did work through a huge amount

(24:52):
around kind of the self belief and my worth and not tying it to
one thing and making sure that you know, if you've, if you're
measuring yourself with a yardstick, it's got to be one
that you actually have full control over and not one that
relies on other people not succeeding or other people's
opinions of you. It's something that you can
measure and that you can hold tight because that's all that

(25:13):
counts. So and I kind of stepped into
triathlon. I had, I had all the scars, I
suppose from working through those things, from swimming and
rowing, but had huge amounts of lessons.
That's definitely made me more resilient with my thoughts and
aware of kind of what what is going on and where my brain
might take me. And I still get them.

(25:34):
Like those thoughts are still there, I'm just able to converse
with them in a slightly more healthy way than I was before.
Yeah, yeah. I always love hearing the story,
especially from not everybody gets to this point, honestly,
even in their career. I think as a as an athlete or
even outside of being an athlete, just living

(25:56):
professionally to be able to separate the value or how we
perceive ourselves, like where our value and true identity
comes from. It sounds like from a very young
age, like you were able to startto realize from swimming, oh,
maybe my identity shouldn't be so wrapped up in this and I'm
going to throw it out. And then you kind of try to
relearn that lesson with rowing.And it sounds like you've come
full circle and been able to really disassociate yourself to

(26:18):
from to a degree. I mean, obviously what we do is
a piece of who we are, but the values, the mindsets, the
perspectives we take into applying our all to whatever
that thing is that can be transplanted and transplanted to
many other dips of different types of professions.
So that's why I love having these conversations, just to
hear how people have gone through those steps because I

(26:39):
think everybody, even age groupers or whoever, because
I've met plenty of people who have failed relationships,
marriages, lives, because they end up really worshipping the
thing or like, I'm going to be this, this is who I am.
And then when that doesn't work,when a hip doesn't work, when
then you can't swim or something, it's like everything
melts around us. Yeah, and I it's so funny.
You like, I think when because Idid it as an age grouper as

(27:03):
well. It's like at work someone says,
you know, what do you do? I'm a triathlete.
Yeah. I know someone asks like, yeah,
it's like, that's what I, you know, that's what I do.
And I just had this complete unwillingness to be associated
with work. So therefore triathlon was
everything. Whereas now as like as a
professional, I'm like, I'm a podcaster or I'm a content

(27:23):
creator. Yeah, I just happened to also
be. Yeah, just a professional
triathlete at the same time. And when I was in the USI was so
fortunate that Christian Gustav and Casper Storms were training
there as well. So got to like meet them for the
first time. And what I was absolutely blown
away with was how much fun they have.

(27:47):
Like for them it is just, it's fun and they work super hard,
but it's not perfect. And if they like your swim
session more than theirs, they'll do your swim session.
You know, it's not done exactly as training Peak says it needs
to be done. And yes, they are triathletes,
but they're also going to go forcoffee after a swim.
And then they're going to go and, you know, bring in some

(28:08):
Crossfitters to record a YouTubefor them and all this brilliant
stuff that is not actually really about triathlon at all.
And you're like, oh, there are there are age groupers that take
this much more seriously than some of the top professionals in
the world. And then they miss out on so
much because it they miss out onthe fun side.
Yeah, yeah, being human, that's like that's, that's something

(28:31):
that I from this podcast even I hope more people continue to
come on and be able to give thatplatform to let people know
like, hey, most of these people,in fact, all of them, they're
all just humans at the end of the day.
We all were born by our parents.We all grew up as little
children. And then, you know, we skinned
our knee for the first time. And because I've been fortunate
to meet people who also in the other side of the world in

(28:51):
business, run very big companiesor have founded huge companies.
And at the end of the day, like some just, I'll give one short
example because it's so cool. Like I got to meet through a
friend. His dad had Co founded Oakley
Sunglasses and nobody knows thisguy's name and he lives in this
quaint place up in the Pacific Northwest.
And I got to sit there on Thanksgiving Day with them and

(29:13):
their family and just they were having a little squabble around
the Thanksgiving dinner table. And I realized at that moment I
was like, we're all just human. It's like it was a brother and a
sister basically trying to hold each other in a headlock.
And they're good friends. And it's just, it really hit me
over the top of the head. I was like, well, at the end of
the day, I think people just want to be treated like you're
another human being because we're all trying to figure it
out. We all have our quirks.

(29:33):
We're all this, that and the other.
But I think that that can also be inspiring because it lets
people know like, Oh yeah, I don't have to take this as
seriously. I can be human.
I can make the mistakes and go the path A. 100% and also like
these people being human means that they will also not where
they are now once before, so anyone can get there.
Yeah, that's what I love. Like you meet these athletes who

(29:56):
are at the top of their sport and you're like, oh, you are so
normal and well, normal in the way that I'm also normal.
Like very not normal. Yeah, very not normal, yeah,
but. But it is it is inspiring.
And you're like, I, I, I feel like, yeah.
It's when you get to know the humans that sit behind the
sport, it opens up so much intrigue.

(30:17):
And it's what I love about Iron Man's is the stories that every
athlete has when they cross the finish line that I mean, Cat
winning Texas. Cat's relationship with Texas in
itself is kind of it's, it's a roller coaster and quite rightly
so. So when she comes back and wins,
everybody feels it. And then you had Taylor, who

(30:37):
was, you know, is a second Iron Man, and she went in as
favorite. Well, everyone was talking about
her as favorite. She's like, I just want to
finish. You know this is really hard.
This is a long day. And like, you can go through all
of the top ten and just reel offthese incredible stories of
perseverance that they have had to get across that finish line.
And it's always missed. We always miss those bits.

(31:01):
But it's just, yeah, that's whatI love about the sport.
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely normalcy and abnormality for
sure. So I'm curious, we've talked a
little bit about or a lot about your why we talked about what
you're doing. I'm curious to know from your
perspective, given the context of our, you know, 30 minutes of
conversation so far, who do you think that Steph is?

(31:24):
Oh God, I don't know. I think I'm still figuring it
out. And I, I'm, I, I see like, I
love that. I love that.
I don't know yet. Because when I was growing up, I
thought I'd have everything sorted out by the time I was 26.
And like, I'd be done with sportand I'd have a job and I'd own a
house and I'd probably have kidsand that would be that.

(31:45):
And we'd be done. And yeah, it would be, I would,
I would be in my box and that would be who I am.
And I feel like from January last year, I've kind of, I mean,
I know I was, I was almost 30 atthis point, so I hadn't quite
hit my age of 26 deadline, but Iripped all of that up.

(32:05):
I'd quit, I was quit. I quit my job.
That was the corporate job that as a, as growing up was the
thing that you kind of aspired to having.
And I, yes, I own a house. I'm very fortunate.
I do that, but I don't know who I am.
And I like that because it meansthat who I am is, is I'm
exploring, I'm figuring it out. I'm experiencing the world.

(32:28):
I get to travel and I get to notbe in a box.
And it's something that, yeah, I, I love because then I, yeah,
I've not kind of, I've not put myself in a corner to quote, to
quote a wonderful film. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So who do you think that you're more like?
Your mom or your dad? That's an excellent question.

(32:51):
I'm probably more like my dad inthe Yeah, he, he's very
reflective. And my mum, my mum is excellent
in social situations. Like she can hold a room,
whereas much like my dad, I am. I am on the quiet, which is,
which is weird considering I siton podcasts and talk and I'm
very active on social media. But it's just me and my phone.

(33:14):
Yeah, it's easier to do when you're not surrounded by 1000
places, yeah. Yeah.
So yeah, I I would say that I'm much more like my dad.
Yeah. Do you do you mind or do you
care? Or do you like or dislike the
fact that you are so introverted?
No, I don't. And I, I, it was a, it was a

(33:35):
proper light bulb moment kind offiguring it out because it's,
it's nothing like I, I don't really put much stock in it.
It's just a, a piece of me that when I understood it, I was kind
of like, oh, that's why I get sotired.
That's, you know, that's why I find these things so hard and I
can last for about 30 minutes before my brain wanders off.
And that's why like I, I hate walking into rooms.

(33:56):
First someone has to go in before me.
I can't open doors. Like it's and it's just like a,
it's just a thing. It's just a quirk.
And that's fine. But yeah, I don't mind at all
because it's, it's me. And it hasn't stopped me having
like really wonderful friendships and doesn't mean
that I hate people. Or anything like.
That I just, it's the big kind of the I get very, very

(34:18):
overwhelmed and over stimulated in big groups.
So I just get to I'm better off if I'm speaking to a smaller
group of people. Yeah, yeah, the older I've
gotten, I've so I grew up very extroverted, probably more like
my mom. She is like a world of
difference level of extroverted than I am.
And people think that I'm very extroverted.

(34:38):
But as I've gotten older, it's interesting how we start to
change a little bit. And I started have taking on
more of the appreciation for thesilent morning or evening or a
few hours or just sitting out inthe sun and kind of not doing
anything else except for staringat some trees or something like
that. There's just, there is something
about it that that brings a lot of value.
And especially the podcast, the one-on-one Conversations.

(34:58):
Yeah, there. If there's one thing I learned
from growing up and getting intocollege and getting in the
business world a little bit, it was always the one-on-one
Conversations because you can learn so much about just life
through someone else's eyes and perspectives.
Because I so many times, even when I've invited guests on, you
know, I'll see their social media, It's usually how I engage
1st and then I'll draft up unbeknownst or not meaning to,

(35:23):
but drop this draft in my head of who I think they are.
And then I get into a conversation with him and I'm
like, wow, it's totally wrong like 99% of the time.
And that's a good thing. And it's not like, oh, I think
these people are bad people. But yeah, it's just interesting
how the the one-on-one conversations can add a ton of
value. Oh, for sure.
And I think social media is it'sit's such a powerful place.

(35:43):
But even when you try and keep it as real as you can, it's not
it's not real. Yeah.
And people are always surprised and they're like, oh, you'd like
you, you struggle in social likeyou struggle in big groups.
I'm like, yeah, but I'll be poston social media all the time.
It's like, yeah. And I don't have to see any.
Yeah. You don't have to see the
eyeballs. It's just a number at the end of

(36:04):
the screen. Yeah.
So I mean, I then get to have like a series of one-on-one
conversations with people because it's just, if it's
someone messaging me, it's just it's just one person and I can
engage or choose not to engage. But yeah, I think, yeah, social
media is definitely skewed like what people see as real and who

(36:25):
people are and that. But then it's then fun when you
do meet them or get to speak to them for the first time and
you're like, oh, I get to, I do get to know you as a completely
different person. Yeah, And we all have this like
social media, I don't know, filter about us a little bit.
I try not to establish it, but even in my own self, when I've
like recorded a video or something and then I watch it

(36:46):
later, I'm like, I have like this different tone that I use.
It's almost like how we talk to our dogs or cats or something.
It's like, what is this thing that I'm doing?
It's the presenter voice. You see it when like, I mean,
that's I love GT. I'm not a great global.
Triathlon Network. Yeah, but they have their
presenter voices and you speak to them like away from that, and

(37:06):
you're like. Did you know that today we're
gonna be talking about this? Yeah.
Yeah. It's almost like a newscaster a
little bit. Exactly.
Exactly. So talk to me a little bit about
Buck the Trend podcast. And this is your podcast that
you started. You guys have been rolling and
you're obviously serious now. You got the headphones and the.
All mic. I think it's are your headphones

(37:27):
audio technica as well. I think so, yeah.
Yeah, so you're like matching making me look bad here.
I need to like I've been using these since day one.
I need to get some different but.
I'm I'm pretty sure they just had a deal on so I bought both.
Nice. That's what's up, that's what's
up. Got to take advantage of it.
So tell me about the podcast. What is the aim, kind of the
goal or why you're doing it, whyyou started it?

(37:47):
There, I mean, there's so many, there's lots of different
reasons, so I'll talk you through all of them.
Why not? Part of being a professional
athlete is, I think anyway, it'snot just about performance on
the field anymore or out on the course.
And you, we are all creating ourown businesses that sit behind

(38:07):
who we we are as athletes and, and people are doing it and the,
the really successful athletes that have done it for years.
And we saw creating a podcast assomething that's actually not a
while there are so many podcasts, there aren't many done
by athletes as like people who are in the sport talking through

(38:29):
their experiences as a as a professional.
So we decided it was, it was so me and my partner Matt, that it,
it would be a really good kind of tool within our business to
say we have a podcast and it is kind of part of who Steph is as
a professional athlete. That's kind of the, I guess,
really unemotional side. I, I just wanted to have a bit

(38:53):
more of an outlet to share with people my experiences as a
professional. So we've done the first year and
I'd learnt a huge amount and I was fortunate enough to qualify
for Kona last year. So I've, I will have had that
over 12 months to build up for it.
And we were like, you know what,how cool would it be is instead
of just a YouTube series, which we have yet to start, why not?

(39:17):
Do been there. Yeah, podcasting's just easier.
Why not do a podcast that is a performance, like a performance
driven podcast? That leads us up to Kona, where
we get to explore all of the things that we kind of love to
hear about in podcasts, but through the eyes of a
professional triathlete and her really wonderful partner who

(39:41):
gets dragged along for all of the ups and downs of every race
day and training day and all of that sort of stuff.
So ready go, Matt. Yeah, yeah, he is the MVP.
Couldn't do without him. So yeah, that was kind of the
why. And then that kind of feeds into
the legacy piece because triathlon is still very much
male dominated, both from like the the kind of hardcore numbers

(40:05):
of people that are racing, but also from the media side.
So there are more male commentators, there are more
male podcasts. Males tend to be slightly more
active on social media. And it as kind of like, you know
what, I've got to be a part of achange.
If you want something done, don't yourself, you know, be the
change you want to see or that. Buck the trend.
Buck the trend. We're going to do it

(40:25):
differently. I was like, I, I am a relative
unknown. I don't have any huge
performances out on the field. You know, I, I, I'm very proud
of my first year, but I didn't come in and win every race.
You know, it's I'm, I'm, I have a journey that I'm on.
And I just figured it would be powerful to show people how I'm

(40:48):
going from being an age grouper who did her first Iron Man just
to finish it, to wanting to win the World Championships and
create a journey that's around that.
And that's not winning the WorldChampionships this year.
Please, no one bite my head off like this is like a 10 year
project that we're on. OK, I'm very realistic about
this, but it's all part of it. And I think, yeah, that that is

(41:11):
kind of the other bit is we justneed more women in the trifle
media space. So someone has to do it.
So I thought, why not? Yeah.
So every episode you do, do you typically have a guest come on
or is it mostly like you're saying just kind of a I'm
talking through the training this week, what with you and
Matt or what upcoming races, because I heard listen to some

(41:31):
of them like post Texas and thatstuff like you unpacked that,
but then you did have some guests.
Yeah. So we've had the, we have a list
of guests that we want on. I am not very organized or
proactive. I can be very organised.
I'm not very proactive. So we, we will get on to having
more guests because I, I think we can all learn a lot from

(41:51):
different sports and different occupations who are related to
sports. So that's kind of when we look
at the journey to Kona, we want to talk to people that are, you
know, heat specialists and all that sort of stuff.
So we have like this road map that we have yet to start, but
in general there is. So it's Matt and I talking each
week. There's a bit of it that is,

(42:12):
yeah, just like what's going on?What training am I doing?
Briefing and debriefing from races, which is quite fun.
They're, you know, they're the, I guess the easiest content
weeks to record because there's just so much to talk about when
you're talking about a race that's happened.
And then other bits is I like tohave a topic that we run

(42:34):
through. So we've done like a mindset 1
and we've done like a a beginner's and triathlon 1.
And you know what happens when something goes wrong.
So there's yeah, there are talking points through each of
them. Oh, and we did a Ironman goes
back to kernel 1. So yeah, the intent is to record
every week and just you get to have a coffee and listen to Matt

(42:57):
and I talk about stuff that I guess we talk about anyway, but
we've just got microphones in our faces.
Yeah, well, that's what people like is the very honestly
informative but non overproduced, just like the
basic conversations, because it does feel like, oh, I'm in the
room, like experiencing the actual emotion or the thoughts,

(43:18):
the processes that are going on.So I I I'm a fan of that.
The documentation style is obviously a lot easier than the
produced YouTube video, but it'sit's more authentic in a lot of
ways. So I really, yeah, I dig it.
That's awesome though, that you're doing that.
So one of the stated goals that I was reading on one of your
pages is that you want to createa sustainable business out of

(43:41):
being a professional. You just finished your first
year as I guess you're in your second year now.
How's that going? Better than expected, yeah.
So it was a huge jump in Januarylast year leaving my full time
job, but it just was not going to work.
So I wanted to, yeah, financial stability is so important

(44:04):
because we own a house and have to feed ourselves.
So like it's a bit of a non negotiable and I guess it's
probably the one of the least talked about sides of being a
professional athlete. Is like we.
Actually have stuff that needs to be paid, yeah.
Like the bills come in every single month and someone's got
to put money towards them. We, I expected to make

(44:25):
significant loss each year, certainly for the first couple
of years. And while like I and if I, I
guess if I was taking my pure earnings as being a pro athlete,
I would be, but I, I'm self-employed as well.
So I pick up some kind of on theside consultancy bits and I do

(44:47):
some coaching and all that sort of stuff, which has meant that
we're not like, we're not losingthe house.
We're, you know, able to eat more than beans or toast, which
is good. And it, it has meant that like I
was able to travel to the US fora month and we're planning
potentially 2 more similar tripslater on in the year in another

(45:07):
training camp. And so I'm we're in a, it's in a
much better space than I expected it to be kind of midway
through my second year as a pro,which is really cool.
Like, it's very cool. Yeah, yeah.
Congratulations. I've, yeah, I've heard stories
of, you know, sleeping on people's couches for a couple of
years and, and that kind of stuff.
So to be able to be at that place is definitely something

(45:28):
special and hopefully affords you the opportunity to continue
to build toward being world champion.
At some point, yeah. And I, I think I, I'm very
fortunate to be able to learn from people that are successful
in this sport. And it was Philip Sepp actually
last year said be professional and the rest will come.

(45:50):
And that's kind of just how we've gone about things is
you've got to act like you've been here for years.
And that's not acting with the arrogance that you know
everything, but it's act as though you've kind of you're
well, well entrenched within thesport and brands will treat you
as though you are and they won'ttry and take advantage of the
fact that you're new and you might just need kit.

(46:12):
And it's like, actually, no, that's, that's not what running
a business is. Don't just need free stuff and
making sure that my body is fully looked after and not just
the training. And you know, you're just
professional with how you go about everything and you're
booking instead of super early morning flights or super late
night flights because they're cheap.
You're booking the flights at the time, time of day that make

(46:35):
the most sense for your performance, whatever it is that
you're kind of going to perform for.
It's a good point. Yeah.
And that's just been, I mean, it's, it's how we've driven that
from the point that he's at it like the last half of that last
year and then the first half of this year.
I think it's paying off. Yeah, yeah.
Well, we'll, we'll continue to check in.

(46:55):
So for you and Matt, like obviously there's some financial
pressure and you guys have this new lifestyle that you're
figuring out. How is it going in terms of just
figuring out what the balance looks like?
Because he has to take the wheelon some areas and then take the
back seat and others and vice versa.

(47:15):
And I know that can require a lot of communication for, for a
relationship to be going well. So if you don't mind me asking,
how's it going? Yeah, He is as bought into this
as I am, which has been amazing and I genuinely could not do it
without him. So when when we looked at.
So it's always a joint decision.So should I turn professional

(47:38):
was not a decision that I made on my own.
Should I hand in my notice that my job was not a decision that I
made on my own? He supports me across the board
with all of the kind of brands that we work with and obviously
the development of the podcast, the running of the YouTube when
we get around to it and Instagram and stuff like that.
So this is a joint partnership. I just happened to be the one
that goes out on the racecourse.And I think he's quite thankful

(48:01):
that he doesn't need to do that.He doesn't have to do Iron Man's
frequently, but it does take a lot of communication and it
takes some like very robust conversations around what I need
and what he needs. And there are days where, you
know, I'm not that fun and I'm emotional and I'm tired because

(48:22):
I'm in the middle of an Iron Manblock.
But he still needs something from me with regards to kind of
another part of the business. And I have to, you know, I have
to deliver. I can't, I can't just not just
because I can't be bothered because I'm tired.
And he does a brilliant job of managing me through stuff like
that because I know it's not easy because I get annoyed of

(48:44):
myself. But I think we we're both quite
even keeled. Like, neither of us really.
I hate arguing, I hate confrontation.
So our default is always to justtalk things through, which is
very helpful. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah. As long as you can make it
happen. I know for me, like, I tend to

(49:05):
be the flamethrower down the foxall the time of a guy like,
let's get this out and deal withit right now.
And then my wife is a bit more like you, where she's like, I'm
just going to not talk for a fewminutes, but we're going to talk
about it in a little bit later. So it's, it's a different
dynamic. And I've learned after, you
know, being married almost eightyears, it's throwing the
flamethrower down the foxhole isn't always the best way to get

(49:26):
it out by the right. One, yeah, but I mean, there
are. So I, I think when it comes to
once I've decided that I want todo something, I'm like, well,
let's just go and do it now. Yeah, Matt's always the one
that's like, why don't we take abreath and actually think about
more than the next 20 minutes and decide, you know, whether or
not it's actually a good thing or, you know, let's plan like,

(49:51):
like, how much is it? The the podcast is a really,
really good example. I decided that we were going to
do 1. And he was like, have you priced
it up yet? Like, do you know how much money
this cost? I was like, oh, it'll be fine.
We'll figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's interesting. Like you were saying too
earlier, just like how emotions can change things, it's always

(50:14):
interesting to me how when I am very emotional or anyone is
emotional about something, it can inflate the size of whatever
it is you're talking about or dealing with in such a drastic
way. Because in the moment when I'm
really angry or upset or sad or whatever, it seems
insurmountable. It seems like I there is no
other way than to just blow thisthing up.

(50:35):
But then you come back 20-30 minutes a day later sometimes
depending on what the issue is. And it's like, oh, when the
blood pressure comes down, it's just everything seems to like
change quite a bit. Mountains literally become
molehills. Yeah, it's seriously so easy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So fascinating.
So for you, when it comes to, I guess we'll ask about Iron Man

(50:55):
because it it takes a lot of focus, determination and
flexibility. What does it take for you to get
in the zone to get in the right headspace to approach a race
like that? So I, I, I love Iron Man's like
for me it's like Christmas Day because I've done all the hard

(51:18):
work and I just get to go and dothe thing that I've trained for
and that I love the most. There are kind of elements of
confidence that I kind of need to have, I guess, from training
in the weeks leading up that areimportant for me to allow myself
to feel the excitement on race day and not have those kind of

(51:39):
moments of trepidation. So I feel like I've, you know,
I've, I've got Iron Man Hamburg in like 2 weeks, which is
bizarre, but I've ticked a lot of those boxes because I did an
Iron Man 3 weeks ago. So you're like, OK, well, I've,
I've kind of fed the, the self belief thing because I've
already achieved it and we did all right, so that's kind of
fine. But quite often I'll be like
there'll be a bike ride that I want to make sure that I do and

(52:01):
it'll be a specific bike ride that coach probably doesn't
care. But for me, I'm like, I want
this is one that I want to do and I want to do well.
Similarly with a long run, like I want to have done a long, like
a specific long run just to it'slike almost ease the fierce
because Iron Man's are really long, like they're really hard.

(52:23):
And so much of that is about theadventure of just doing it.
So like what I love more about Iron Man's than, and I don't get
it with 70 point threes is you stand on that start line and
genuinely anything could happen.Like there is a very real
possibility that you don't feel the finish the race for whatever
reason, just because it's so long and so much could happen.

(52:45):
So that like the confidence sideof it is really important for me
to feel the joy and excitement on race day.
Even though anything could happen, I just feel ready to
take it on and deal with it. Yeah.
So 2 weeks coming up, Yeah, You have some of that confidence.
Yeah, I can see like it's shrugging a little bit like
that's a, it's a big undertaking.

(53:05):
How do you think it's going to go?
I have no idea and that's reallyrefreshing.
I've never done an Iron Man withquite such a short turn around
before. And that was intentional because
we, I wanted to do the Pro series this year and we needed
to do it in a way that wasn't going to cost me lots of money

(53:28):
and time flying too many long haul kind of flights.
So we did the trip to the Statesand ticked off Oceanside in
Texas. Obviously there's one in Europe,
so it makes sense to do it. So yeah, flying out to Hamburg
not and I don't like, I don't know what to expect, which is
which is fine like I feel. Yeah, it's new territory.

(53:50):
Yeah, it is new territory. And I think I'm in a good place
after Hamburg, after Texas, sorry.
And I'm excited to go out and race hard, which I think is all
that you can ask for. But beyond that, like I don't, I
don't really know. And I don't, I don't tend to go
into races with like what targets, like I want to hold
this much power. Like I'll have a range and I'll

(54:11):
have a range on the run that I want to shoot for.
But a lot of it's around the execution and I'm confident that
I'll be able to execute it and I'll be able to fuel as I want
to fuel and I'll be able to ridemy bike as I want to ride my
bike. And what that looks like is just
what it looks like on the day. And I don't know what that will
be. What it looks like, it feels
like, yeah, I've definitely beento that place where I had a

(54:33):
grandiose vision in my head of what it was going to look like
when I get off of a pretty good bike.
And then I'm like, oh, wow, my legs just aren't working how I
really thought that they were going to work.
And you try to push them, and then the heart just, like,
explodes. And you're like, what in the
world? Yeah.
So what do you think? I mean, aside from finishing?
Like, obviously you want to finish and you have some ranges,
but in your mind, what do you think would make you feel like,

(54:56):
oh, that was a successful race? I I really want to have a good,
good marathon. I don't want a good half
marathon. I want a good full marathon.
I running for me is like the of the three, it's the one that is
probably the most volatile. So it will either be excellent
or it won't. And I had a really great race in

(55:18):
Chattanooga last year when it rained.
So I had it's my best power thatI had on a bike ever.
And then I was expecting to probably blow up on the run.
So it was raining and it was a hurricane.
It was super windy and I just wanted to get off the bike
because I felt so unsafe. So I rode very, very hard and I
expected that to like pay for that on the run, but I didn't

(55:41):
and I ran AI think it was like a17 minute PB.
I would love to get close to executing that again.
But in chaps we didn't have a swim because the the hurricane.
It's yeah, it was crazy. I was there.
Yeah. Yeah, it was wild.
So I'd yeah, I'd like to, I'd like to get close to executing
that. It's it's kind of the yeah.

(56:03):
What was something that's in theback of my mind?
Yeah, good deal. So then let me ask you for the
broader scope of the season kindof a little bit in closing, what
needs to happen for you this therest of this year for you to
feel like you're on the right track?
I think finishing the Pro SeriesI, I, I'd love to be in a

(56:25):
position where I kind of place as high as I can.
That would be quite cool. But just executing 5 races of
the field sizes that we're seeing is way harder than you
can anticipate. Like we've seen it already, the
amount of DNFS and people havingto change their seasons because
a Pro Series race didn't kind ofgo to plan.

(56:45):
So I think taking off the five Pro Series races and being like,
yeah, you know what? I executed them as I wanted to
and we finished. I don't know if we finished 35th
and that's what we've done, thenthat's fine.
I'd, I'd love to be top 15. That would be great overall in
the series. And then I would like, we'll do
some other races. I'd like to, you know, I'd like

(57:05):
to podium podiums, podiums for fun.
Yeah, they're really great. And we'll have some races later
in the year that we kind of shoot for that.
But this was a, it was a different kind of year because
when choosing to tackle the Pro Series, I'm under no illusion if
I podium at a Pro Series race, it would be absolutely
outstanding, utterly outstandingthis year.

(57:28):
So it's not something that we came in aiming for.
So when you then say, well, you know, what would a successful
season look like is that was kind of hard to say because I
came into it actually just wanting to do some good racing
and taking the the finishing positions like completely out of
it. I would like to have a solid

(57:50):
race in Kona. I've had ADNF and I've had a
walking marathon there. The heat stroke, yeah, heat
stroke twice. So I would just like that would
be excellent if we can just havea have an OK day.
Yeah, that would be great. And is I'm sure that anyone
that's gone to Kona will know isreally hard.

(58:12):
Yeah, Yeah. I can only imagine.
I haven't been there. I've been to Hawaii, but never
for the race and never at the level of heat that is required
to sustain for yeah, so many hours.
But I really admire how you havetalked a lot about your
professional journey in the context of we, which I assume is
you and Matt and your team are like sponsors.
I think that's really important because it is a an individual

(58:36):
sport on the racecourse to a degree.
But to hear the about the largerteam aspect that's definitely
involved to get you those flighttimes that are best for your
body and get the nutrition, get your bike.
Congrats on the ventom and like all of that stuff.
So yeah, it's pretty cool. Well, let me ask you this one
final question. Is there any questions that you

(58:58):
feel like I should have asked you?
I don't know. I don't, I don't know.
I don't think so. Okay.
That's a good boring, isn't it? No, no, no.
It's all good. Yeah.
I mean, sometimes people have nothing to say.
Sometimes they do. Yeah.
It's it's always fun to, to ask any sort of a question just to
see where the conversation flows.
I don't like to try to keep it super regimented because the,

(59:21):
yeah, natural conversations always seem to be the most
interesting for anyone listeningand being a part of them.
So yeah. Well, Steph, I really
appreciate. And you do prefer Steph, right?
Yes, yeah, that's great. OK.
Well, I appreciate you taking the time, Steph, to come on my
humble podcast and Share your story.
Wish you all the best. This will actually air after

(59:42):
Hamburg, so we'll have to link some of the results or some of
your post recap stuff from your pod or whatnot and in the show
notes. But yeah, looking forward to
tracking it and thank you again for taking the time and.
Thanks for having me. Thank you so much to Steph for
coming on and taking the time for me to ask questions about
her life. It is cool to hear about her
journey so far and wishing her all the best as she continues

(01:00:05):
through the rest of this 2025 season and in through a Kona and
into next year. Make sure to go check out in the
show notes her podcast Buck the trend, new and new and up and
coming podcast. And it's if I'm going to listen
to, if you want a little bit more insight to the pro world of
triathlon. If you made to this point the
podcast though, just want to saythanks.

(01:00:26):
Really appreciate you being here.
If you're on YouTube, like comment, subscribe, turn the
notification bell. That really helps to continue
grow the pod. If you are on Spotify or Apple
Podcasts or any of those things,if you could also like comment,
review in anything that you can do on those platforms that
continues to help grow this pod.Check out the show notes again
for all the stuff in there. Really appreciate you guys being
here and we will connect you or connect with you in the next

(01:00:49):
one. Peace.