Episode 196
Ep. 196-Permission Granted: How to Drop the Guilt and Own Your Training +Omega 3s
In this episode:
Transitioning from the emotional side of training, we wade into the practical aspects of athletic performance, specifically the controversial topic of omega-3 fatty acids. In our Medical Mailbag segment, we tackle a listener’s question about whether these fishy supplements really live up to their hype in enhancing athletic performance. Spoiler alert: the research is a mixed bag. While there's no denying that omega-3s have some health benefits, the evidence supporting their role in boosting performance is about as clear as muddy water. We dissect several studies, ranging from positive correlations in recovery to the stark realization that many athletes reported no significant performance improvements. So, are omega-3s worth adding to your regimen? We'll navigate through the scientific murkiness and help you decide whether to dive in or stay on dry land. Whether you're looking for that extra edge in your next race or just trying to keep your joints happy, this segment will provide some food for thought—just don't expect any miraculous transformations. Finally, we wrap up with a candid conversation about the challenges many women face in the triathlon community, particularly around the notion of 'selfishness' when it comes to training. Mari Woolner brings a refreshing perspective, encouraging women to embrace their right to prioritize their own health and fitness without the shackles of societal expectations. It’s a powerful reminder that taking time for oneself doesn’t mean neglecting others; in fact, it can lead to being a better partner, parent, and friend. We discuss practical strategies for setting boundaries and communicating needs effectively, especially in a world that often pressures women to be everything for everyone. This episode isn’t just about triathlon; it’s about empowering each other to pursue our passions unapologetically. So grab your headphones and get ready for a mix of humor, insight, and a whole lot of real talk about the balance between training and life.
Segments:
[9:25]- Medical Mailbag: Omega 3's
[44:43]- Interview: Mari Wuellner
Links
Transcript
Guilt is an interesting emotion, and if you look at the definition of guilt, it's the feeling that you have after realizing that you did something wrong.
Speaker A:I would go back to that awareness piece and ask the listeners who feel guilt is going on a run or getting in the pool or hopping on your bike, Is that fundamentally wrong?
Speaker A:Because I do not think that guilt needs to be attached or equated to training and time and selfish pursuits because you are not doing anything intrinsically bad.
Speaker A:And maybe that just that reframe could help just a little bit.
Speaker B:Hello and welcome to the trip.
Speaker B:Welcome to the Tridoc Podcast.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:Coming to you as always from Beautiful sunny Denver, Colorado.
Speaker B:The voice the beginning of the program this episode was that of my guest today, Mari Woolner.
Speaker B:Mari is the head coach and and owner of the Crew Life Coaching Collective.
Speaker B:She is somebody who came to my attention on a Facebook group for podcasts, hosts and guests where I was attracted by what she had to say about giving yourself permission to say no.
Speaker B:Something that I think we as triathletes need to learn a little bit more about because I think we don't have a good sense of when it's okay to say no to our other responsibilities, no to our training responsibilities.
Speaker B:A real problem of finding balance because we want to say yes to everything.
Speaker B:I was really interested in how Mari helps the women that she works with, entrepreneurs, students, professionals, how she is able to help them understand when it's okay to say no and not feel guilty about it.
Speaker B:And so I asked her to come on and we had a really interesting conversation and I think you will appreciate it.
Speaker B:And that's going to be coming up a little bit later on the program.
Speaker B:Before that, of course, we will have the Medical Mailbag, in which I am joined by my friend and colleague Juliet Hockman, the coach at Life Support Coaching.
Speaker B:We are going to answer a listener question today.
Speaker B:That question has to do with the use of a supplement in the form of a fish oil, specifically omega 3 fatty acids.
Speaker B:These are fatty acids that have been purported to have health benefits for quite some time, but more recently have gained a lot of attention for their ability to improve performance and improve recovery.
Speaker B:Are they all that they are cracked up to be?
Speaker B:Is it just another fishy story?
Speaker B:We're going to find out by looking at the evidence and I am happy to say that my new intern Sarah Lopez, who has joined the program, has done an incredible amount of work in order to find a good deal of research to help us answer this question.
Speaker B:So that Medical Mailbag segment will be coming up very shortly in which you will learn whether or not you should be thinking about adding omega 3 fatty acids to your supplement routine, if you have one.
Speaker B: in nice this year, September: Speaker B:We saw that not too long ago Nice elected itself a new mayor.
Speaker B:That mayor is a fiscal conservative, a fiscal hawk, somebody who came to power with the promise of remaking the city's budget and taking an ax to the budgetary responsibilities that the city has.
Speaker B:And I guess he thought one of the really low hanging fruit that he would be able to take on almost immediately was the contract that the city has with the Ironman Corporation and specifically looking at cutting ties with the Ironman World Championship that is slated to take place in the second weekend of September of this year.
Speaker B:As you can imagine, that brought a lot of consternation to people like myself who have booked flights and have planned on spending a weekend in France in September to perform in that race.
Speaker B:Iron man, recognizing the danger and the peril of such a catastrophic news story, quickly stepped up and has basically capitulated as far as I can tell, and decided to assume the costs of what otherwise would have been a burden to the city of Nice.
Speaker B:So both seem to be coming out as winners in the short term.
Speaker B:The City of Nice, clearly, by not having to pay all of the expenses that are stipulated in the contract they signed with Ironman, a long term contract I might add, and Ironman, because they don't have egg on their face with having to rapidly scrounge to find a new site to host the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and deal with all of the fallout from people like me who would have had a big problem with having booked all of their arrangements for travel and everything else that goes along with having qualified for the race already.
Speaker B:Now, in the long term, you have to wonder what this holds in store.
Speaker B:Not just for Nice, not just for Ironman, but for other cities who have contracts with Ironman and for other cities who may be considering signing a contract with Ironman for nice.
Speaker B: hips scheduled to be there in: Speaker B:There's no way.
Speaker B: en that they are taking on in: Speaker B:They should surely be able to find another SU candidates with the amount of lead time they now have to not have to deal with this kind of abrupt turnaround that the mayor of Nice is putting on them now.
Speaker B:The long term situation for Ironman is probably pretty stable.
Speaker B:2027'S race will be in North America.
Speaker B:We still don't know where, although all signals are pointing to Oceanside.
Speaker B:But we will see.
Speaker B:We're hoping that we will see sooner rather than later.
Speaker B: Is set for Oman and: Speaker B:We'll.
Speaker B:We'll have to see.
Speaker B: But: Speaker B:The big question for me though is what about cities who have these contracts now that are looking at what Nice has just done?
Speaker B:How many of them are now going to turn around and say, hey, maybe we can do the same thing a few months before our race is scheduled to be here.
Speaker B:We can just decide that we don't want to honour that contract either.
Speaker B:Are the contracts for regular races written a little bit more robustly so that there are huge penalties if cities decide to renege?
Speaker B:Why was Nice able to renege so easily?
Speaker B:Is there not the same kind of assurances in the contract that protect Ironman from this kind of thing?
Speaker B:I'm not a lawyer.
Speaker B:I wasn't involved obviously in any of these discussions.
Speaker B:I certainly wasn't involved in drawing up any of the contracts that have been written to this point.
Speaker B:But one has to wonder how it is that a city can just walk away from a contract like this without any penalties.
Speaker B:And how it is that Ironman is now going to be left to soak up all of the costs without any ability to try and get compensation.
Speaker B:It definitely is a bad look.
Speaker B:It makes it seem like Ironman is on the back foot here.
Speaker B:And it makes it seem like other cities could potentially have the ability to do something similar in order to extract the kinds of costs that Nice has been able to do from Ironman.
Speaker B:So will that happen?
Speaker B:I guess time will tell.
Speaker B:But at least for those of us who are planning on going to Nice, we can do so now a little bit more assuredly, knowing that the race is going on as originally planned and we shouldn't have to worry too much about the rug being pulled out from under our feet.
Speaker B:I hope.
Speaker B:What I will say though is this news definitely makes the decision to bring back the World Championships at the Ironman distance altogether.
Speaker B:In Kona look a heck of a lot better for Ironman because now not only do they have to not deal with an Ironman World championship potentially being thrown into all kinds of who knows what because the mayor of Nice decides that they're not going to honor that obligation, but they now know with assurance that this race will be in Kona for the foreseeable future and so therefore not having to deal with finding alternative sites for that as well.
Speaker B:So potentially a major obstacle avoided, but definitely a lot of uncertainty in the near future to come.
Speaker B:What do you think?
Speaker B:I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Speaker B:Please head over to the Tridoc podcast, private Facebook group.
Speaker B:If you're not already a member, I hope that you will search for the group on that platform, answer the three easy questions, I will gain you admittance, and we would love to hear your conversation and have you as part of the ongoing conversation that happens there every couple of weeks.
Speaker B:You can submit your questions for future Medical Mailbag episodes, add your commentary, and give your feedback.
Speaker B:All right, with all of that behind us now, let's move on to the Medical Mailbag and discuss the supplements made of omega 3 fatty acids.
Speaker B:Is this something that can enhance your athletic performance?
Speaker B:Let's look at what the science says that's coming up right now.
Speaker B:It's that time again when I'm joined by my friend and colleague, Coach Juliette Hockman from LifeSport Coaching.
Speaker B:We are here for the Medical Mailbag segment.
Speaker B:Once again, Juliette, how are you doing?
Speaker C:I'm doing pretty well.
Speaker C:I'm still feeling a little weary.
Speaker C:I had my first real sort of race effort this weekend, and you can have race efforts built into training, but you can also just really have a race.
Speaker C:And it was just a regional gravel race, but I went after it and I.
Speaker C:Well, two days later, we're getting old guests for some reason.
Speaker B:What it used to be.
Speaker C:I can still feel it.
Speaker C:I can feel it in my shoulders.
Speaker C:Even from all the rattling, I can feel it.
Speaker C:So I'm feeling a little bit beaten up still, even though we're 36 hours.
Speaker B:How tell us some details.
Speaker B:How long was it?
Speaker B:How long was the ride?
Speaker C:It's part of our wonderful kind of regional gravel series.
Speaker C:There's a small, a medium, and a big.
Speaker C:I always do the small because.
Speaker C:Cause the small ends up being more or less what a 70.3 bike duration is, which suits me well for getting ready for the season.
Speaker C:The small has about 3, 500ft of climbing.
Speaker C:It's about 42 miles.
Speaker C:It's mostly gravel, although in this case, the descent was mostly pavement, which is actually great.
Speaker C:And it's always about 250 people.
Speaker C:What I love about the local gravel racing scene is that they mix men, women and all age groups together so you're not separated out with these tiny fields that don't end up being a lot of fun.
Speaker C:So it was great.
Speaker C:I pursued my usual strategy of kind of jumping off the front with the men and trying to make that break and then letting them carry me through.
Speaker C:That's not fair.
Speaker C:I do as much as I can to help, but oftentimes my polls are not as long as theirs anyway.
Speaker C:So it was great.
Speaker C:It was hard.
Speaker C:You get all the training peaks, medals that pop up afterwards.
Speaker C:You're pretty much wiped out at the end.
Speaker C:I did have a couple of funny things happen, which is a great sort of lesson for our athletes that were involved in is one I forgot to put on my heart rate monitor, which I never forget to do, but I did that time so I had one fewer metric.
Speaker C:I don't tend to ride with power during gravel races anyway because I want to react to what is going on around me now I'm down two metrics essentially.
Speaker C:And about halfway up the climb, or a third of the way up the climb, my right foot, I'm like, huh, it's really wiggly.
Speaker C:I wonder if I didn't clip in correctly.
Speaker C:Unclipped, reclipped, still wiggly.
Speaker C:Looked at my cleat afterwards, all three bolts were almost completely backed out of my right.
Speaker B:I've had that happen before.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely thinking smooth.
Speaker C:Keep that foot on the pedal.
Speaker C:Don't yank up too much.
Speaker C:So anyways, an adventure.
Speaker C:It's beautiful day, perfect weather, great people, good tacos at the finish line.
Speaker C:What else could you ask for?
Speaker A:It was great.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm really looking forward.
Speaker B:My son and I are doing a big gravel event.
Speaker B:ASBT gravel.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I'm going to start riding.
Speaker B:I actually just got a new gravel bike because.
Speaker B:A new used gravel bike.
Speaker B:I got it through the pro's closet, so my son gave him my gravel bike.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting that out and getting some gravel.
Speaker C:Oh, man.
Speaker C:You better be prepared to be humbled by your popping off on the climbs.
Speaker B:100%.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:He is going to completely school me.
Speaker B:The kid is quite a machine.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:We have not spoken since Ironman, Texas.
Speaker B:We both enjoyed watching that race.
Speaker B:But since then we have unfortunately learned of another tragedy in our sport.
Speaker B:This follows the tragedy that we saw take place at the Billbone Olympic distance race.
Speaker B:That took place in Miami where two cyclists were struck by a vehicle.
Speaker B:Either they were struck by a car or a car was diverted onto the course and they hit the car.
Speaker B:I'm not sure what the sequence was.
Speaker B:One of them in very critical condition, not expected to.
Speaker B:I don't know if she'll survive, but if she does, she's certainly not going to survive in a very good way.
Speaker B:And at Ironman, Texas, we had another death on the swim course.
Speaker B:And the reason I bring this up is not to belabor a story that is, of course, tragic and terrible.
Speaker B:And we all extend our condolences to the family and friends of the individual involved.
Speaker B:But more so just to highlight what both Juliet and I have witnessed taking place in the world around us.
Speaker B:A reaction to this.
Speaker B:So I personally have felt like we talk about the deaths in triathlon all the time.
Speaker B:All the time.
Speaker B:As if it happens all the time.
Speaker B:Fortunately, it doesn't.
Speaker B:But when it does happen, we do note it.
Speaker B:And it generally tends to be older men.
Speaker B:There have been occasionally women who have succumbed, but this time it's a younger, generally healthy woman.
Speaker B:And this has caused a entirely different kind of response than we would normally get when this happens, which I find in itself unfortunate because any death should be seen as just as tragic.
Speaker B:We shouldn't value life any differently depending on what the person looks like or what their age is.
Speaker B:So what's your take been to the reaction to all of this, Juliet?
Speaker C:Yeah, as you said, just always so tough to hear this.
Speaker C:We don't want to hear about this happening in our sport.
Speaker C:It makes people afraid to participate in the sport.
Speaker C:But I think that and most of the deaths in triathlon, when they do happen.
Speaker C:And again, if you look at deaths per hundred or deaths by thousand or deaths by ten thousand of people participating in our sport, it's really low.
Speaker C:Taking that.
Speaker C:Yes, of course.
Speaker C:Very sad.
Speaker C:And I think what a lot of athletes get really worried about is one, what can they do, if anything, to prevent this?
Speaker C:Number two, are the institutions that run these events, like Ironman, for example, in some way negligent in creating these events?
Speaker C:So there's a lot of discussion out there on the Internet, whether social media or elsewhere, about almost like people want to find somebody to blame always.
Speaker C:And I don't.
Speaker C:And I think that's a human reaction.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's easier when there's an obvious thing that you can point to.
Speaker C:But I think in most cases, with few exceptions, these courses are safe.
Speaker C:And these cardiac events, which is often how people are passing away during the swim are not something that you could see ahead of time.
Speaker C:And you're the doctor, you can confirm this.
Speaker C:But from what I've read and what you've told me over and over again and what I've witnessed is that these events are, I hate to say it, they're unlucky.
Speaker C:These are very healthy people going into these swimsuits.
Speaker C:And we don't know if this particular athlete died of cardiac event.
Speaker C:I should say that there hasn't been any feedback on that.
Speaker C:There is some suggestion that perhaps she was ill and that might have been a mitigating factor.
Speaker C:But in general, these races are very safe.
Speaker C:Ironman and every other race organizer does not want an unsafe course.
Speaker C:This is their biggest nightmare.
Speaker C:They don't want to put athletes into a dangerous situation.
Speaker C:And I would say we are doing these at our own risk.
Speaker C:Whether it's this or whether it's getting on a ski lift or whether it's getting on your bike every day or whether it's whatever physical activity we do, we are doing these at our own risk, and we need to internalize that.
Speaker C:So to point to an unsafe course or what I've seen some on the women's feeds is some suggestion that all the extra body contact out there is causing these by creating panic.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And you and I have talked about this.
Speaker C:Like the suggestion that there are swimmers out there intentionally swimming over other swimmers, targeting other swimmers.
Speaker C:I just.
Speaker C:I think everyone's trying to get to the finish line the best that they can.
Speaker C:And that's messy and that's chaotic and it's going to cause body contact.
Speaker C:And I don't think these are factors that are contributing to death during the swim.
Speaker C:So I think rather than work ourselves up into a frenzy about this, do what you can for yourself to be prepared for these swims.
Speaker C:Practice in the open water with other people.
Speaker C:Practice with body contact.
Speaker C:If that makes you nervous, practice with an accelerated heart rate like you would have on a race day so that your adrenaline is spiked going into the water and seed yourself appropriately so you're not up there with swimmers who are going faster, who are going to try to navigate around you and possibly have body contact on the way.
Speaker C:So that's my take on all of this.
Speaker B:And you make a lot of excellent points.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, you make a lot of excellent points.
Speaker B:And I do think we need to acknowledge.
Speaker B:Look, we don't know what happened here.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:We have heard stories that this woman was quite sick with viral illness leading up to the race.
Speaker B:And I know as a physician that there are Many, many stories of viral infections.
Speaker B:And we know, we saw this with COVID It happens with Influenz.
Speaker B:That happens with a lot of viral illnesses, that those viruses can affect the heart and cause myocarditis and that can result in a significant cardiac problem during a high endurance kind of thing.
Speaker B:And as I have said to all of my listeners and all of my athletes is, look, you have to be the best judge of what to do that morning.
Speaker B:And if you feel like, you know what, this doesn't feel right, I'm not feeling right.
Speaker B:As hard as it is to make the decision not to start, sometimes that's the better decision because better to be able to come back another day and have another go at it.
Speaker B:Now, look, I'm saying this recognizing that I was at Ironman 3 where the smoke was thick and I was like saying to everybody around me who would listen, this is stupid, we shouldn't be doing this.
Speaker B:This is gonna have lifelong effects on our lungs while I'm setting up my bike in transition and not preparing to not race.
Speaker B:So I get it.
Speaker B:I 100% get it.
Speaker B:But we do have to remember, like you said, personal responsibility does have something to say here.
Speaker B:The other thing I will say is, look, Ironman, like you said, they're not interested in having these deaths.
Speaker B:They're not interested in having any and toward kinds of events happen.
Speaker B:They want every athlete who starts to swim to finish.
Speaker B:They want everybody to have a good day.
Speaker B:They've got tons of support out on the water, but the nature of a swim is such that it's very hard to identify an athlete in distress, very hard to get to them, very hard to render aid.
Speaker B:So that's why when these things happen, even in the best supported course, even in the best kind of situation, it's very hard to have a successful outcome.
Speaker B:And that's what we saw here.
Speaker B:I think the seating question is a huge one.
Speaker B:We have way too many people that put themselves too far up in the false belief that, oh, I need to give myself more time.
Speaker B:Yes, your time starts the mat.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And you get the exact same amount of time.
Speaker B:110 For a half, 220 for a full.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter where you start.
Speaker B:And people, I don't understand why we continue to see people put themselves further up, not recognizing that they're causing problems for themselves and everybody around them.
Speaker D:Put yourself.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think they'll get into that starting shoot and they see how many people are ahead of them and they, and they just, people feel really anxious that, oh my gosh I'm so far back.
Speaker C:I'm so far back.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I've seen suggestions.
Speaker C:Maybe we should all wear swim buoys.
Speaker C:Maybe everybody should be subject to a pre medical check.
Speaker C:And again, you have to think about the consequences if there's 2,000, 3,000 athletes in the water with swim buoys, with tethers.
Speaker C:Think of the chaos and the entanglement that's going to create.
Speaker C:And I don't know if you've ever swum out there, Jeff, when you've been out there with a guided swimmer.
Speaker C:I have once or twice.
Speaker C:And I've got.
Speaker C:And I've somehow inadvertently swum in between the guided swimmers and the blind swimmer and the tether is there and I'm like, oh my gosh, what did I just do?
Speaker C:Because you are.
Speaker C:You're all tangled up.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Or these premedical checks.
Speaker B:We've talked about that on the program.
Speaker B:Yeah, we've talked about that on the program.
Speaker B:They give a false sense of security when they're negative and when they're positive, they're often false positive.
Speaker B:And you end up chasing down something that isn't actually there.
Speaker B:The reality is that most people who have a problem have had some kind of medical check in the recent past and turned out that check ended up being negative.
Speaker B:So I've seen a lot of things come out of this on social media, again, because this was an influencer.
Speaker B:She had a big profile and it's getting a lot of interest from people who don't do triathlon.
Speaker B:And the misconceptions by people you're seeing, stuff about these mass starts are gonna engender this kind of danger.
Speaker B:And I'm like, gosh, people, we haven't done mass starts in years.
Speaker C:We haven't done mass starts.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And then this whole notion of, if only people got their medical checks and did their biomarkers and everything else, and I'm like, oh my gosh, people, get a grip, recognize that you can only do so much and that you still, at the end of the day, need to pay attention to your own body.
Speaker B:Is there going to be opportunities to intervene and recognize that there's a silent cardiac thing?
Speaker B:100%.
Speaker B:People who are at risk, people, men and women over 40, should get a baseline cholesterol for sure.
Speaker B:But this idea of running out to get some random panel of who knows what cardiac testing, it's not helpful.
Speaker B:It's not gonna predict when this can happen.
Speaker B:And in this 38 year old, I guarantee it would have been negative.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:What happened to her if she had a heart problem is very likely related to the acute illness she had in the days leading up to the event.
Speaker B:And all the random checks in the world done a month, six months before would not have predicted that.
Speaker B:So very unfortunate.
Speaker B:We're all very sad that this has happened.
Speaker B:I'm sure that she, I know that because given how positive she was about triathlon, she would not want her death to have this kind of impact on social media where people are questioning whether or not they should do triathlons.
Speaker B:It's just not what she would have wanted.
Speaker B:She was trying more than anything to get participation.
Speaker C:So just again to circle back and try to end on the positive.
Speaker C:And what is a really sad incident is what can we do and what can we encourage athletes to do?
Speaker C:Try your wetsuit out ahead of time.
Speaker C:Make sure that it doesn't feel constrictive and you know what it feels like.
Speaker C:Swim with other people in the open water.
Speaker C:Approximating an open water.
Speaker C:Start where your heart rate's already up, go run quarter mile and then charge into the water so your heart rate's up so you have that adrenaline spike.
Speaker C:Practice body contact whether it's in the pool or in the open water.
Speaker C:So you know what it feels like to have people swim in over, around.
Speaker C:You do the good mental check ins when that does happen to remind yourself that this person's not out to get me in the water.
Speaker C:We're all trying to get to the first buoy and then the next buoy and then the next buoy.
Speaker C:So if you hit someone else or someone else hits you, or if your goggles get knocked around or whatever it is, just stick your head back down, keep swimming and finally have those mental, those, those strategies for if you do get really worried and scared out there for what are you going to do?
Speaker C:And again, these are not necessarily the incidences that causes whatever is happening to these athletes in the water to cause death.
Speaker C:But if you believe they are and you're worried about this and this is what is stopping you from being in a triathlon, you can mitigate these by being ahead of it and on top of it and preparing.
Speaker C:Just like every other thing we do, you do the training, you practice your nutrition, you practice your transitions, you do everything else.
Speaker C:Make sure that you're practicing this piece as well.
Speaker C:And we can do that in the pool.
Speaker C:We don't even need open water.
Speaker C:That's what I would say.
Speaker B:And the last thing I'll add to that is something I've said several times on this program, which is when you Start to swim, go slow, go slow.
Speaker B:Do not rush out to your race pace right away because that sudden surge in your heart rate, the sudden surge of blood flow to your upper extremities can really be a stress on the heart.
Speaker B:And by going out slow for the first couple of buoys and easing into your swim, you're not gonna lose any time and you very well may just mitigate a potential problem.
Speaker B:So, yeah, actually funny on that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Okay, wait, I have one funny story, which I think.
Speaker C:Yeah, so I have an athlete who is a former national team rower.
Speaker C:So this guy's a, a big strong man and he has put himself into some really extreme.
Speaker C:A typical race duration for a man in a, in an eight oared shell is about five and a half minutes.
Speaker C:So you can imagine it's five and a half minutes of pure helm.
Speaker C:And so he enters his first sprint triathlon, does it on a whim.
Speaker C:He's so excited.
Speaker C:He's a really strong young guy.
Speaker C:He charges into the water as if he's blasting off the starting blocks of an Olympic rowing race.
Speaker C:And he gets 100 meters in.
Speaker C:He completely has his, has a panic attack, right?
Speaker C:And he's, oh my God, what just happened to me?
Speaker C:So even the most experienced world class athletes, right, we can all know what this feels like.
Speaker C:And he's laughing at himself and at the same time believing he's going to drown in like 20ft of water.
Speaker C:So the point is, since then he's done a lot better, but you got to practice these things.
Speaker C:And so anyway, to end it on a sort of a funny story, but anyway, okay, should we move on to medical mailbag or we have something else?
Speaker B:We have a question and we should get to answering it because one of our listeners has written in.
Speaker B:So Juliet, what is the question we're going to answer on the medical mailbag and give our listeners some positive things, things to think about as they go forward, for sure.
Speaker C:So this comes from Rob Lynch.
Speaker C:Thank you, Rob.
Speaker C:We really love it when listeners give us some ideas.
Speaker C:So we're not just generating them ourselves.
Speaker C:And most of the times they come from you, but thank you, Rob.
Speaker C:So Rob actually sent Jeff an article that he had seen and it was really more around cycling, but cycling is very related to triathlon and it's all about whether or not the supplementation of omega 3 fatty acids, essentially, which we all know are what we find in fish oils, whether those supplements can enhance performance or not.
Speaker C:And of course, his article that he sent in was all about how wonderful these were for athletic performance in the cycling world.
Speaker C:So what did your team find out about this, Jeff?
Speaker B:Yeah, and I want to take this opportunity to thank our brand new intern, Sarah Lopez, who stepped into the role and did some wonderful research to get me a bunch of articles.
Speaker B:We met yesterday to go over it and it's an interesting topic.
Speaker B:So omega 3 fatty acids, as you mentioned, found in basically fatty fish.
Speaker B:That's the best source for them.
Speaker B:I believe they're also found in some nuts.
Speaker B:But for the most, I think if you want to find them in any kind of density, you got to find them in fish.
Speaker B:You can get them as supplements.
Speaker B:They're not particularly expensive.
Speaker B:It's like a works out to about a dollar a day if you want to supplement with this stuff.
Speaker B:One of the big problems with the research around this, and this comes out with a lot of things we've looked at, is that there's no standard dosing.
Speaker B:And none of the studies have really come to a good answer as to how much of this stuff you need to take.
Speaker B:But it seems that it's somewhere between two and three grams a day.
Speaker B:That seems to be where most of the studies have landed.
Speaker B:So I do want to just start by saying that the other thing is, I want to acknowledge before we get too far into the research that there's definitely no downsides to supplementing with fish oil stuff.
Speaker B:So the omegas, the fatty acids, it's sometimes marketed as dha, which has a very long chemical name, but that's one of the main Omega 3s.
Speaker B:There's really no downside to taking this stuff.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of purported benefits, which I will go into when we talk about the literature.
Speaker B:But I do want to just tell you right up front, the short answer is that once again, there's a lot of disease oriented outcomes here where people are saying, oh, look, taking these things really helps with a lot of markers of inflammation, markers of cell breakdown from hard efforts.
Speaker B:But when it comes to true patient oriented outcomes or athlete oriented outcomes, the things that you and I are really interested in, are we gonna perform better?
Speaker B:Are we gonna go faster?
Speaker B:Is our VO2 max gonna be improved?
Speaker B:And that has been lacking to this point.
Speaker B:So let's get into it.
Speaker B: of these articles comes from: Speaker B:Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation improves endothelial function and maximal oxygen uptake in endurance trained athletes.
Speaker B:Now, this was an article that was cited in this blog post and basically just lays the groundwork for why there is this theoretical benefit to taking fish oils or omega 3 fatty acids.
Speaker B:And basically what has been shown in tissue samples, in petri dishes and at the basic animal levels of animal models is that when you have high levels of these Omega 3 supplements, that you see changes in the way our small arteries and capillaries react that allow for improved reaction to nitric oxide.
Speaker B:And nitric oxide is that signaling molecule.
Speaker B:Remember we talked about beet juice?
Speaker B:Beet juice is a potent releaser of nitric oxide.
Speaker B:And the way beet juice works is it causes vasodilation, allows for improved blood flow, improved oxygen delivery.
Speaker B:If you take a lot of omega 3 fatty acids, you end up seeing something similar.
Speaker B:Not that you get this widespread vasodilation, but that you get an improved sensitivity to nitric oxide.
Speaker B:And so it would then seem intuitive that, oh, we should then expect to see improvements in things like VO2 max.
Speaker B:So this was a study that looked at 13 elite cyclists.
Speaker B:It had them divided into a group that took the stuff versus didn't.
Speaker B:And indeed they did find some positive correlation with improvements in some of these cellular, these disease oriented things.
Speaker B:Nitric oxide sensitivity was better.
Speaker B:Their endothelial, that was definitely better.
Speaker B:But when it actually came down to the actual performance metrics, there was really nothing.
Speaker B:There was a theoretical.
Speaker B:The authors were, we think this should definitely improve their aerobic capacity.
Speaker B:But they didn't actually have any measures that showed that.
Speaker B:It did.
Speaker B: A Systematic Review from: Speaker B:Are there benefits from the use of fish oil supplements in athletes?
Speaker B:A systematic review.
Speaker B:This looked at a series of studies that 137 papers were identified, 32 met all the inclusion criteria, and it looked at all of these different trials that looked at fish oils and whether or not fish oils could be seen to have any effects on true measures of performance.
Speaker B:And they had in their theoretical considerations that, yes, there is some evidence that shows that taking fish oils actually improves cardiovascular health, it improves inflammatory markers, and it seems to have some improvements in neurologic health.
Speaker B:And I'm not gonna get into the cardiovascular or neurologic stuff here at this point.
Speaker B:If people are interested, ask me to and we can do another segment.
Speaker B:But for right now, we're gonna focus on the performance stuff.
Speaker B:In terms of true performance.
Speaker B:This large study basically found that there seemed to be across studies and there was a lot of heterogeneity here, meaning that you weren't really comparing similar studies.
Speaker B:But there seemed to be some subjective reports of improvements on recovery.
Speaker B:So people seem to have less muscle soreness, they seem to have less muscle fatigue, but when you actually measured true performance outcomes, they didn't perform any better when they were taking fish oils after a hard effort.
Speaker B:And there was no evidence whatsoever of any kind of ergogenic performance using this stuff.
Speaker B:Okay, a lot of theoretical, again some definite marker improvements, but not great.
Speaker B: Another paper from: Speaker B:This one looking specifically at the question of took the premise that oh, these things help, but do they help as much for amateurs versus like high level train.
Speaker B:But the problem with this paper is it's coming with the bias that they already help.
Speaker B:Right, because you could tell that in the title, are they equally beneficial basically with this study, very small study, it didn't have a huge amount.
Speaker B:It basically reviewed a bunch of papers and made the suggestion that look, there seems to be no really great positive findings that this oil, fish oil supplementation really helps elite athletes.
Speaker B:It seems to help the undertrained people more than anything else.
Speaker B:And there wasn't anything to say that performance significantly improved really across the board, but that the people who were getting benefit, the under trained amateurs, seemed to be improving more in recovery.
Speaker B:So they would do a workout, they would feel less sore, they would feel less fatigued and they'd be able to do a next workout which would suggest that hey, if you're just Starting this, maybe Omega 3s are a good idea.
Speaker B:Because as we all know, when you're just starting into this, it's like you do get sore, you do get tired pretty quickly.
Speaker B:So interesting.
Speaker B:We found one positive study which looked at DHA again, one of the Omega 3s.
Speaker B: This is also from: Speaker B:It's from a journal that's notoriously not great at weeding out industry.
Speaker B:Sponsored.
Speaker B:It's from the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition.
Speaker B:I have reviewed them frequently and they frequently look at studies that are basically made by the supplement makers, which always makes me question.
Speaker B:But this is a paper that basically said that omega fatty acids actually can improve ventilatory threshold in competitive amateur cyclists.
Speaker B:They had a very strong research protocol in that it was double blind, placebo controlled, randomized and then crossover.
Speaker B:So you were comparing yourself to yourself as well as you against the other group of people.
Speaker B:And what they found is that there seemed to be some improvement in absolute power at ventilatory threshold and relative power output at ventilatory threshold, suggesting that omega fatty acids seem to have a true measurable performance benefit.
Speaker B:But I will say this was the only study we found that showed this.
Speaker B:No other study.
Speaker B: t we found another paper from: Speaker B:No, the Jeffrey Sanko title writing school.
Speaker B:Four weeks of Omega 3 supplementation does not improve cycling time trial performance and trained cyclists.
Speaker B:So there you go, you know what the paper's about, you know what they found.
Speaker C:You don't even need the answer.
Speaker B:You don't even need to read the paper.
Speaker B:Four weeks of high dose omega 3 supplementation.
Speaker B:They looked at cycling time trial performance, VO2, heart rate, RPE.
Speaker B:They looked at all kinds of stuff.
Speaker B:And again, this was another very strong double blind crossover study, a really good study and just no improvements.
Speaker B:So no improvements at all in cycling time trial performance.
Speaker B:No improvements in any of the physiologic parameters.
Speaker B:But I thought it was a pretty important negative study because this was one of the only studies we found where not only did they give you the supplements, but they measured your blood to make sure that the omega fatty acids were actually getting into your bloodstream.
Speaker B:So they wanted to show that, yeah, you're taking the supplement and it's getting into your bloodstream, so you really are getting a dose effect.
Speaker B:You really are getting this stuff delivered to your cells.
Speaker B:And they showed that.
Speaker B:But it didn't correlate with any of the things they were looking at.
Speaker B:Now this was not a paper looking for evidence of recovery, so I can't see if there's any recovery stuff.
Speaker B:And then speaking of recovery, supplementation, of reesterified and this is what DHA stands for, it's doco.
Speaker B:I'm not going to be able to say it.
Speaker B:Docosahexaneoic.
Speaker B:Hexaenoic.
Speaker B:Docosahexaenoic.
Speaker B:That's what DHA is and I can't even say the other word.
Speaker B:It's basically these two omega 3 fatty acids reduce inflammatory and muscle damage markers after exercise and endurance athletes.
Speaker B:A randomized control crossover trial, again, disease oriented outcomes, measuring all kinds of different inflammatory markers and finding that if you take these fish oils, your inflammatory markers, they definitely improve, like measurably improve.
Speaker B:However, nothing that really mattered.
Speaker B:So when they measured people's ability to perform after hard workouts, it did not change if you were taking this stuff.
Speaker B:Athletes did report less muscle soreness, which I think is important.
Speaker B:I think that is an important finding.
Speaker B:It's a subjective one, but still it's important.
Speaker B:But they did not perform any better.
Speaker C:That's antithetical, isn't it?
Speaker C:On the one hand, it's reducing inflammation.
Speaker C:I assume you're talking about systemic inflammation.
Speaker C:Athletes feel better and yet performance is not being enhanced.
Speaker C:Did I hear that right?
Speaker B:Okay, that is what you heard.
Speaker B:That is exactly what you heard.
Speaker B:And the final one, the final study, this is effective.
Speaker B:12 Weeks of omega 3 fatty acid supplementation in long distance runners.
Speaker B:They gave them about 3 grams of omega 3 fatty acids per day.
Speaker B:They had 14 in the fatty acid group, 12 in the placebo group.
Speaker B: some kind of running test, a: Speaker B:And basically what they found was, I found this really interesting.
Speaker B:So the Omega 3 supplemented athletes had improved running economy.
Speaker B:In other words, their ability to use energy, hold form.
Speaker B:Yeah, and hold form and use energy was better.
Speaker B:It also improved VO2 peak to VO2 max type indicators.
Speaker B: hysiologic markers, but their: Speaker B:So again, all of these physiologic signals, but no improvements in the things that you care about.
Speaker C:So both of those last two studies that you referenced were in elite athletes, elite cyclists and elite runners, Am I correct?
Speaker B:The last one was not elites.
Speaker B:The last one was just runners?
Speaker B:Yeah, amateur long distance runners.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Because I was just thinking if they're already at the top of their game, maybe it helped them feel better during recovery, but they're already looking for that 0.011%, whatever it is.
Speaker C:So maybe they're just not going to get any faster.
Speaker C:Whereas if it was a bunch of age groupers, maybe they would see an improvement in performance.
Speaker C:But no, I guess that last study was not the case.
Speaker B:No, there's nothing here that's overwhelming.
Speaker B:I gotta say.
Speaker B:I'm coming away from this though, feeling very neutral about it because there is clear signals in terms of the physiologic benefits of taking this stuff.
Speaker B:I think we've all been told.
Speaker B:I remember watching TV where kids were had to take that fish oil.
Speaker C:A teaspoon of fish oil.
Speaker B:Teaspoon of fish oil.
Speaker B:It's coming from somewhere.
Speaker B:We also know that fish oil itself, I think is very high in B vitamins, if I remember correctly.
Speaker B:But the supplements are probably not.
Speaker B:The supplements are likely purified.
Speaker B:Look, the way I read this is there's zero downside.
Speaker B:If you don't mind spending a dollar a day, you don't mind taking the capsules, which are really benign.
Speaker B:I see no issue with taking this stuff.
Speaker B:The only real issue I have are these articles that are way overblowing what you can expect in terms of performance.
Speaker B:Because as always, what people are saying, the studies do not support what people are saying.
Speaker B:There's a glimmer and they're turning it into a burst.
Speaker B:And that's just not what's happening here.
Speaker B:There's definitely a signal.
Speaker B:In terms of the physiology, I think there is no question.
Speaker B:Inflammatory markers improved, markers of cell damage improved.
Speaker B:Some subjective reports of muscle soreness in some papers.
Speaker B:But across the board, every study we looked at, we could not find anything that supported this idea.
Speaker B:Except for that one very small paper.
Speaker B:We could not find any study that said definitively that, yes, performance is going to be improved in a measurable way.
Speaker B:So I'm left with, if you want to take this, I have no problem with it.
Speaker C:I'd say we're putting it in a neutral bucket, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it's another one of these things where it's a natural product.
Speaker B:Nobody's really making a quick buck off of this.
Speaker B:I think that it's a healthy thing.
Speaker B:And there seems to be some evidence for both cardiovascular and neurologic improvements with it.
Speaker B:Why not?
Speaker B:If you want to make this as part of your daily routine, I don't have a problem with it.
Speaker B:I just don't expect it to change anything dramatic in terms of your performance.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker C:And correct me if I'm wrong, I believe that over the years is these omega 3 fatty acids have demonstrated helping other physical systems.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:I think they're good for your brain.
Speaker C:I think they're good for other things.
Speaker C:It's just.
Speaker C:So what we always cover on this program is are they helping performance in endurance sport?
Speaker C:And so they're not necessarily proving themselves in that category.
Speaker C:But as you say, they're not dangerous to take.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:They're safe to take.
Speaker C:And they may be helping other parts of your life, which has nothing to do with your training.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:And so for that reason alone, I think, why not?
Speaker B:There's really.
Speaker B:Except for the dollar a day, there's no negative here.
Speaker B:And you're gonna get.
Speaker B:What I couldn't really find was, like I said, I can't tell you at optimal dose.
Speaker B:It seems to be between 2 and 3 grams for most of these studies.
Speaker B:And I also can't tell you how much fish you have to eat to get 2 or 3 grams.
Speaker B:I'm not able to opine on that, but I can tell you that taking the stuff, not a bad thing.
Speaker B:I would say, why not go for it?
Speaker C:So as we make our way through the podcast this year and we create our buckets of.
Speaker C:Don't even think about trying it.
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh, this is the best thing since sliced bread and Myth neutral.
Speaker C:This is going in the myth neutral category.
Speaker B:I'd even put it more than that.
Speaker B:I'd say I'd almost put this with the normatex.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, we've talked about the normatex as something that doesn't have any objective evidence of performance benefit, but it does seem to make you feel better, and that's worth something for sure.
Speaker B:And this is the same thing.
Speaker B:There's no objective evidence of benefit.
Speaker B:There is some physiologic signals that it may help with recovery.
Speaker B:And you know what?
Speaker B:If it's going to improve your overall health, why not?
Speaker B:If you want to take it, why not.
Speaker B:But do you have to?
Speaker B:Of course not.
Speaker B:And just don't expect anything miraculous from it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think it's definitely a little bit more than meh, but definitely not greatest thing since sliced bread.
Speaker B:That's not.
Speaker B:That's not this.
Speaker B:All right, cool.
Speaker B:I want to thank Rob Lynch.
Speaker C:Yes, Rob Lynch.
Speaker B:Rob.
Speaker B:For the question.
Speaker B:I really appreciate you sending that in.
Speaker B:Juliette said.
Speaker B:I want to echo her.
Speaker B:Thanks.
Speaker B:And for all of you, if you've got a question, we have a few more that are lined up in episodes to come, but if you have a question that you want to hear us answer, then please do send it along.
Speaker B:You can email me directly@triodocloud.com you can head on over to the Tridox private Facebook group where you can join the conversation, give us your comments on things like Ironman Texas and the tragedy that unfolded there, your thoughts on the swim in general, or you can submit a question to be answered on a future medical mailbag.
Speaker B:Until then, Juliet, I want to thank you for being here once again.
Speaker B:I look forward to chatting with you on the next episode.
Speaker C:Thank you, Jeff.
Speaker C:Have a great couple weeks.
Speaker B:My guest on the podcast today is Mari Woolner.
Speaker B:I'm probably not getting it.
Speaker B:I just asked her how to pronounce her name, and I'm already getting it wrong.
Speaker B:She'll correct me.
Speaker B:Mari is living proof that granting yourself for permission changes everything.
Speaker B:At 24 as a college dropout and a single mom, she built a state farm agency from zero to $3 million in annual premiums.
Speaker B:Then she granted herself permission to step back and pursue coaching.
Speaker B:Today she is CEO and founder of the Crew Life Coaching Collective, making expert coaching accessible through a faculty of coaches in mindset, productivity, wellness, and relationships.
Speaker B:Her permission granted talk draws from permission slips that she's written along the way.
Speaker B:Permission to try when unqualified, to change direction, to say no, to reach for more, and to design life on her own terms.
Speaker B:She's married to a corporate pilot for 20 years.
Speaker B:She has three kids, and her mission is to be a catalyst for others to live on purpose, one permission slip at a time.
Speaker B:And for now, I'm going to welcome her to the Tridoc podcast.
Speaker B:Mari, welcome.
Speaker B:And thanks for being here.
Speaker A:Thanks, Jeff.
Speaker A:And yes, I will let you know you if it's Mari.
Speaker B:Mari.
Speaker B:Gosh, I asked her just before we started.
Speaker B:Mari, awesome.
Speaker B:Mari, thank you for giving me permission to get that wrong when we started.
Speaker A:You're the first.
Speaker A:So it's weird.
Speaker B:We came across each other on a podcast guest host website that allows guests and hosts to meet each other for podcasts.
Speaker B:And I was intrigued by Mari's whole sort of ethic and ethos about giving yourself permission to say no.
Speaker B:And we chatted a couple of weeks ago about how that might be a topic that would resonate with my audience, who feels a lot of pressure to get workouts done to satisfy all of their obligations around family and work and everything else.
Speaker B:And so I wanted to have her on to help us understand what it means to let go of all of this pressure that we put on ourselves to try and be perfect.
Speaker B:Mari, thank you for being here.
Speaker B:Tell me, you obviously deal with this a lot in your business, and you probably see a lot of people who are very type A, like a lot of triathletes are.
Speaker B:How do you even start with someone who feels like they've got so many balls in the air and they just can't let any of them drop?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Thanks again for having me on the show and I'm excited to share my story.
Speaker A:And as I mentioned to you when we were chatting, I am so unqualified to be here talking to your inspiring listeners of triathletes.
Speaker A:I am a triathlete failure dropout.
Speaker A:I tried and I wasn't able to do it.
Speaker A:I just wanted to say I really appreciate being able to have this conversation, and I'm a little intimidated.
Speaker A:And I think that that's part of the puzzle is awareness.
Speaker A:So for however we're stepping into a conversation or decision or boundaries or deciding what to prioritize, where I'm going to start with the folks I'm talking to is awareness as the catalyst for change.
Speaker A:If we're not aware that we are juggling too much, if we are aware that maybe some balls are dropping, if we are aware of what our priorities are at a given time, priorities shift.
Speaker A:They just do.
Speaker A:If we're not aware of that, I have a feeling we're gonna make decisions that are not in line with our values and maybe are in line with a reactive response, a reactive decision versus really intentionally choosing what to do, choosing what to say no to and responding to all the balls that so many of us are carrying.
Speaker A:But particularly your listeners, because I am slightly aware of the enormous amount of time it takes takes to do what you do and to do it at the level that you do it at.
Speaker B:Yeah, and that's really what we're talking about, is this idea that you're trying to be a productive person and employee in whatever you're doing.
Speaker B:You're trying to be a dedicated, potentially partner, spouse, parent, whatever.
Speaker B:But then also you have this personal thing.
Speaker B:Because triathlon is at its root a very selfish pursuit.
Speaker B:It requires a lot of time on your own, putting yourself either in the pool, on the bike, running, and doing all of those things really for a goal that doesn't necessarily contribute, at least in the short term, to any of the other things that you're doing.
Speaker B:We always talk about how being healthy and being fit definitely has a change to our overall mindset.
Speaker B:It gives us a better chance at living a longer life and being around for our loved ones.
Speaker B:But in the short term, it is very much a selfish pursuit.
Speaker B:So you talk about this idea of awareness.
Speaker B:How should people look inwards in order to become aware that maybe I need to step back.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think that a values based conversation would be a great place to start.
Speaker A:And with something like this, it's such a time commitment and it might.
Speaker A:It's like the word.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker A:Multitasking.
Speaker A:How?
Speaker A:Multitasking is a lie.
Speaker A:There's no such thing as being able to multitask.
Speaker A:When you're multitasking, you're just doing multiple things poorly and your task switching and actually losing a lot of time and losing a lot of efficiency.
Speaker A:So I would say with something like this, it's learning how to prioritize what you're doing in that moment.
Speaker A:And it's going to be a trade off.
Speaker A:We don't multitask.
Speaker A:We counter balance between one priority and the other priority.
Speaker A:And so my invitation would be, what are the values that are most important to you right now?
Speaker A:And if the decisions that you're making feel very values resistant or we're really dropping the ball in certain areas, let's say family is a value and it's starting to have some negative consequences, is taking a step back, getting aware, having conversations and making some changes and also knowing that there's seasons where we get to Be really selfish towards a pursuit that means so much to us, and we will, if we trust ourselves, counterbalance into the family, into our friendship, into whatever other values you deem important to you.
Speaker A:But when you use that word, selfish, to paint my heart happy.
Speaker A:I coach women and one of the things I really invite them to become is a bit more selfish.
Speaker A:Because in our culture, we are really taught to be selfless.
Speaker A:Like our worth is based on how much we can give other people.
Speaker A:It made my heart really happy to hear that your listeners do have this pursuit that is purely for them.
Speaker B:That's really interesting that you bring that up because within the world of multi sport, the participation of women is not as high as we would like to see.
Speaker B:It remains fairly low, probably in the Ironman distance, which is the biggest event, biggest in terms of the most commitment.
Speaker B:The longest event, it's only at around 25 to 30% women.
Speaker B:When you get down to the shorter events and the half Ironman, it's probably closer to 35%, but it's really.
Speaker B:It's nowhere close to 50, 50.
Speaker B:And one of the reasons that has been continuously spoken of by women in the sport is exactly what you just said.
Speaker B:Because we have so many demands on our time for us to give up something and be as selfish as this as requires, we're not able to do it.
Speaker B:We either don't have the support of our spouse, we don't have the support of our society.
Speaker B:And so we end up letting our husbands do this if they're so inclined.
Speaker B:But then we don't get to pursue something like this that we might otherwise want to.
Speaker B:So for a woman who might want to be selfish, how does she have that values conversation that results in her not feeling guilty?
Speaker B:Because let's face it, women carry a lot more guilt around this stuff.
Speaker B:Oh, if I'm training on my bike for five hours, I won't be there for my kids or I won't be there for my husband.
Speaker B:Whereas men generally don't tend to carry that around.
Speaker A:Yeah, first of all, this answer is going to seem so simple, and I know it's multifaceted, but guilt is an interesting emotion.
Speaker A:And if you look at the definition of guilt, it's the feeling that you have after realizing that you did something wrong.
Speaker A:I would go back to that awareness piece and ask the listeners who feel guilt is going on a run or getting in the pool or hopping on your bike, is that fundamentally wrong?
Speaker A:Because I do not think that guilt needs to be attached or equated to training and time and Selfish pursuits because you are not doing anything intrinsically bad.
Speaker A:And maybe that just that reframe could help just a little bit.
Speaker A:And I talk a lot about mom guilt.
Speaker A:I'm sure there's a lot of that.
Speaker B:A lot of that, yeah.
Speaker A:And realizing that you're not doing anything wrong, that guilt is an emotion that you can try to wipe off the table.
Speaker A:You probably talk about this all the time, but when we take care of ourselves, we're so much more apt to be more present at home, be more available, be a more patient, kinder partner or mother when we do get selfish.
Speaker A:One of the things that folks say that I absolutely hate is put your oxygen mask on first.
Speaker A:And what that implies is the only reason for us to save ourselves is to save someone else.
Speaker A:And I want women just to give ourselves permission to save ourselves, full stop.
Speaker A:And if running or training or spending hours on the pavement is truly saving yourself.
Speaker A:Good enough.
Speaker B:Powerful words.
Speaker B:I could hear a lot of women going, yeah, but because just like men, listen, I have navigated these waters as well.
Speaker B:This is a big time commitment.
Speaker B:If you're working a 40 to 60 hour job and then you want to train on top of that another 10 to 16 hours a week, that's a second full time job.
Speaker B:And a lot of those hours end up on the weekend.
Speaker B:And that's where you end up with conflict.
Speaker B:I've actually spoken with a marriage counselor before on this podcast about exactly this topic.
Speaker B:And she basically talked a lot about how important it is obviously to have communication, set expectations, things like that.
Speaker B:So how do the moms listening to this, do the women listening to this, who may be coming to this from a societal perspective of they don't.
Speaker B:And I'm saying this not because I believe it, but because it's a societal perspective of they don't deserve the same amount of time as men do to train for this.
Speaker B:How do women come to this and yet have that conversation with their partner in order to set those expectations that, no, I am going to take this time for myself because just like you would be a better person, I'm going to be a better person for it.
Speaker B:How do you advise women to do that?
Speaker A:Not everybody has a partner as awesome as mine.
Speaker A:And so what I would just how I would do it would be, here's my goal, here's our season, here's what's happening, here's the support that I would really love.
Speaker A:Obviously I would sit, tell Tom my why and my reasoning, and we would have a family conversation around.
Speaker A:Here's how mom's not going to be available.
Speaker A:Now, I also know the reality of having a partner who's, oh, yeah, go for it, go get it.
Speaker A:It might not be there.
Speaker A:So my invitation would be, yes, have the conversation.
Speaker A:Listen to that replay of the marriage therapist being on this show.
Speaker A:I'm sure there's so many great tips in there.
Speaker A:And also be prepared to solve the problem in other ways.
Speaker A:So if it's children need tending, can you get a sitter?
Speaker A:If it's meals need cooking, can you get a service?
Speaker A:If carpools need to be figured out, it's more work.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And it might just be the thing that needs to happen for you to get that 10, 15 plus hours a week is for you to problem solve ahead of time so that all of those responsibilities aren't necessarily landing on your partner.
Speaker A:They may say, yeah, no problem in this season, I'll do that.
Speaker A:And if there's pushback, there are also other alternatives and other ways to get everybody handled while you put yourself first in this season.
Speaker B:I love this whole season thing because it allows for this idea, like, look, this is my season and the season might be from February till August, that this is gonna be my season.
Speaker B:And you know what?
Speaker B:From August to February, that's gonna be your season where I'm gonna be here to give back and reciprocate the way you've been supporting me these few months, I'm gonna now turn it around and be there for you.
Speaker B:And I really like that.
Speaker B:And it goes back to a lot of what our marriage therapist said, which is to really be ready to compromise, to be ready to give the kind of support that you're looking for, to give back.
Speaker B:I also like your whole thing about give yourself permission to say no.
Speaker B:That's gotta be so hard for women who carry around this societal burden of guilt.
Speaker B:So in this context, how should a mother, a wife, a girlfriend, how should she be able to give herself permission to say no to the constant requests being thrown her way?
Speaker B:Because she needs to put herself first.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:Such a great question.
Speaker A:And my answer is an annoying one.
Speaker A:It's practice.
Speaker B:Oh, that's not so annoying.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I think we want the magic bullet.
Speaker A:We want the switch.
Speaker A:We want to just know how to do it and not feel badly or feel guilty or feel like people are going to be disappointed or not like us.
Speaker A:I believe that the only way to learn how to say no with authority and feeling confident is to just start practicing in little ways.
Speaker A:Say no to the PTO fundraiser just right now, just to Practice.
Speaker A:Say no to the football booster.
Speaker A:Say no to boss asking if you can stay late.
Speaker A:It's like, oh, I'm not available for that right now.
Speaker A:Practice in, I think smaller ways to build up the muscle of just, I'm not available for that and putting myself first.
Speaker A:And I have to say people tell me no all the time.
Speaker A:I've asked multiple people to be on my podcast and folks say, nope, your show is not big enough or you don't have the reach or whatever.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:I feel like no is a boundary that helps both people.
Speaker A:And when I hear a no, I see, oh, I see her confidence, I see her strength.
Speaker A:I get to lean into that as well.
Speaker A:And then to surround yourself with folks who are also less afraid to say no, who maybe have solid boundaries, who have big goals, who do support your dreams.
Speaker A:I think that is also one of these really easy things to do to slowly, painstakingly get better at disappointing people and saying no.
Speaker B:And correct me if I'm wrong, but saying no, it's not an offense.
Speaker B:It's not you saying, I'll never do this.
Speaker B:It's you saying, I'm not going to do this in this moment.
Speaker B:And people generally do understand that.
Speaker B:It's just we don't tend to understand it because we are so conditioned to not say no, especially women.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh, yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:And that was the story that I shared in the Facebook group that when I said no on my run that you reached out to me and you were saying, oh my gosh, I feel like my listeners would love to hear that story.
Speaker A:So I was.
Speaker A:My run.
Speaker A:You guys are gonna laugh.
Speaker B:Nobody will laugh.
Speaker B:We are.
Speaker B:We have beginners through Ironman age group champions listening here.
Speaker B:So you are right at home.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Couple years ago, I was wanting to get back into running.
Speaker A:I've run a couple half marathons here and there.
Speaker C:Errand.
Speaker A:I love doing challenges.
Speaker A:Like a 30 day, just a 30 day challenge to see if I want to implement a new habit.
Speaker A:So my challenge was run a mile a day.
Speaker A:That was it.
Speaker A:Sometimes it turned into a coup more, but basic, just run a mile a day for 30 days straight.
Speaker A:I did it for a year.
Speaker A:That was one of my most fun challenges is running a mile a day for a year.
Speaker A:Anyway, I was on this run and I was so committed to not stopping.
Speaker A:And I was rounding the corner of my mile just having a hard time and one of my neighbors came out, an older gentleman, and he flags me down.
Speaker A:I take out my earbuds, I'm running in place.
Speaker A:Because my mile, I want to actually just run the whole time.
Speaker A:I don't want to walk.
Speaker A:And he's like, hey, can I show you something real quick?
Speaker A:And for a blip, I almost said, oh, my gosh, of course.
Speaker A:Because condition conditioning tells me this older man, respect, whatever, all the things is asking something of me.
Speaker A:I must say yes.
Speaker A:But I made a promise to myself, and so I just said, I'll come back after my run.
Speaker A:And I pop my earbuds in.
Speaker A:And you should have seen the look on his face.
Speaker A:Pure shock.
Speaker A:I'm sure he has not been told no in a really long time.
Speaker B:And not by a woman.
Speaker A:It was, thank you, absolutely not by a woman, Especially someone younger than him for something as silly as a run.
Speaker A:It's a big deal, though.
Speaker A:It was a big deal for me.
Speaker A:And his face said it all.
Speaker A:We will not not be judged.
Speaker A:It will not be easy every time.
Speaker A:But I was so proud in that moment.
Speaker A:And I was only gone for four minutes.
Speaker A:I just had to really quickly finish out my mile and I came back.
Speaker A:But I was so proud.
Speaker A:And also, Jeff, when I share that story, for women and folks who have a hard time saying no, they lean in.
Speaker A:They're like, oh.
Speaker A:Because I think like a triathlon, when you see someone in that body, in that age demographic, in that gender do something so amazing that feels so hard for you, it inspires one, it inspires someone else to have a go at it.
Speaker C:Go try it.
Speaker A:Go try to say no to someone.
Speaker A:See how it feels.
Speaker A:You're not gonna die.
Speaker A:You're gonna be okay.
Speaker A:And you might get more comfortable the more you practice.
Speaker B:All right, so we wanna flip this around now, because I want to give athletes permission to say no to training sometimes.
Speaker B:Because as triathletes, we are very type A, we are very dedicated to our training.
Speaker B:And what ends up happening is that sometimes that could become very stressful.
Speaker B:And so an athlete gets.
Speaker B:Especially athletes who are on training peaks who have a coach.
Speaker B:So I coach several triathletes.
Speaker B:I give them a schedule every week based on their availability.
Speaker B:But life happens.
Speaker B:And for whatever reason, maybe they can't get that hour done on a certain day.
Speaker B:And if they don't get it done, then that little tile for the workout turns red and it stares at them with these guilty sort of red color.
Speaker B:So how does somebody like that give themself permission to say, you know what?
Speaker B:No, I can't do the workout today.
Speaker B:This isn't going to be the end of the world.
Speaker B:I'm going to survive I will come back tomorrow and I will get things done.
Speaker B:And how do they give themselves permission to know when to say no to the right things?
Speaker B:So sometimes you can't say no to the PTO or to the football booster and you have to say no to your trainer.
Speaker B:So how do you say no with the same amount of conviction and know that you're okay?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think this is going to take a lot of self reflection and my first thing would say hire Jeff.
Speaker A:Hire a coach who you can get that outside reinforcement.
Speaker A:And then also back to seasons.
Speaker A:What season are you in?
Speaker A:Is it the season for family?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:If it's training season, yes, you're still going to.
Speaker A:You're still out there, you're still doing your thing.
Speaker A:But what you commit to, your number one priority for that season is the pto.
Speaker A:Then it becomes a little bit more clear when there's a either or.
Speaker A:I'm not a big fan of either or.
Speaker A:I like the both.
Speaker A:And however, if there's an either or, my invitation would be to ask yourself what season you're in.
Speaker A:And I don't know if you recommend journaling, but I love a good morning practice, really getting clear on what my intention for the day is, what my, my priorities and goals for the day are ahead of time.
Speaker B:That's really interesting.
Speaker B:So journaling in the morning as opposed to at the end of the day because I know it serves different purposes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I've never really had an evening practice that's worked for me, but I've done the morning practice for over 15 years now.
Speaker A:And I really do try to set an intention for every day.
Speaker A:Just a feeling like how I want to step into a room even if I'm the only woman in the room.
Speaker A:What's the energy I'm bringing to that day?
Speaker A:And it changes obviously based on all the things, my cycle, my commitments, how I'm feeling, all of that.
Speaker A:But I think when I do three one to three little priorities, come hell or high water, barring an emergency, these three things are getting done that helps me when the either or comes around.
Speaker B:All right, I want to give you a chance to tell my listeners about the Crew Life Coaching Collective because there may be, I'm sure, women listening to this going, this sounds like a big hill to climb.
Speaker B:Being able to learn how to say no.
Speaker B:Tell us what the Crew Life Coaching Collective is, what you guys do and how people can reach you.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we are multifaceted, multi layered.
Speaker A:I've been a coach for over a decade and I spent a lot of Money investing in coaches.
Speaker A:And what I've realized is is the, the hurdle to get into really excellent coaching a lot of times is finance and a lot of times you have to pick between a mindset coach or a business coach, or a productivity coach, or a health and well being coach just because of the cost.
Speaker A:And so I am really passionate about making personal growth and development accessible to all women, not just wealthy white women.
Speaker A:So I created the Crew Life Coaching Collective that there are six top of their line coaches who I've hired and in in different niches and the members pay $97 a month and they have access to six different coaches and an amazing community.
Speaker A:So that when you're in the season of looking for mindset work, maybe learning how to say no and how to feel less guilt, you can check into the mindset session.
Speaker A:But maybe when you're in a season of of really need to dial in organization because you have this big goal, you're going to head over to the productivity coaches session and learn how to systemize and be productive in a really intentional way.
Speaker A:So the Life Coaching Collective, the Crew is your one stop shop for all of your health and personal growth and development needs.
Speaker B:And you mentioned for women, is it exclusively for women?
Speaker A:It is for women, yes.
Speaker B:All right, if this is something that men are interested in, let me know and I will see what I can find for men because I know these kinds of things exist for men as well.
Speaker B:But Mari's company is exclusively for women.
Speaker B:So for all my women listeners out there, if you're interested, I will have links to where you could find Mari and the Life Coaching Collective in the show notes.
Speaker B:I hope that you will check her and it out because I think it sounds like an amazing venture and a way for a lot of people to navigate their way through a lot of challenges that can be day to day things but also can help with your training and get you set on achieving the goals that you are trying to establish and trying to get to in your multi sport life.
Speaker B:Mari Woolner, I can't thank you enough for joining me on the Tridarch podcast today.
Speaker B:I think this has been a really interesting conversation.
Speaker B:I try to bring interviews to my listeners that are not just focused on multi sport athletes and coaches and people within the world of triathlon.
Speaker B:And I think you have really been a shining example of somebody who can come from outside that world but really bring something of great value to all of my listeners.
Speaker B:So thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.
Speaker B:It was really an enjoyable conversation.
Speaker B:And yeah, I hope that at least one of my listeners might find way to you and we'll see if they get some benefits.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker A:Thank you Jeff Arms and twined in.
Speaker B:Yours I'm singing all the songs that no one knows.
Speaker D:My name is Stephanie Van Bever and I am a proud Patreon Supporter of the Tridock Podcast the Tridock Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Sankoff, along with his amazing interns Cosette Rhodes and Nina Takeshima.
Speaker D:You can find the show notes for everything discussed on the show today, as well as archives of previous episodes@www.tridocpodcast.com.
Speaker D:Do you have questions about any of the issues discussed on this episode or do you have a question for consideration to be answered on a future episode?
Speaker D:Send Jeff an email@tridoticloud.com if you're interested in coaching services, you really should.
Speaker D:Please visit trycoaching.com or lifesportcoaching.com where you can find a lot of information about General Jeff and the services that he provides.
Speaker D:You can also follow Jeff on the Tridoc Podcast Facebook page, Tridoc Coaching on Instagram and the TriDoc coaching YouTube channel.
Speaker D:And don't forget to join the Tridoc Podcast private Facebook group.
Speaker D:Search for it and request to join today.
Speaker D:If you enjoy this podcast, and I hope you do, I hope you will consider leaving a rating and a review as well as subscribe to the show wherever you download it.
Speaker D:And of course there is always the option of becoming a supporter of the podcast@patreon.com tridockpodcast the music heard at the beginning and the end of the show is Radio by Empty Hours and it's used with permission.
Speaker D:This song and many others like it can be found at www.reverbnation.com where I hope that you will visit it and give small independent bands a chance.
Speaker D:The Tridoc Podcast will be back again soon with another medical question and answer and another interview with someone in the world of multisport.
Speaker D:Until then, train hard, train healthy.
