Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Resiliance and Triumph: Austrian Finest Triathlete Tanja Stroschneider on Nutrition and Athletic Excellence

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Resiliance and Triumph: Austrian Finest Triathlete Tanja Stroschneider on Nutrition and Athletic Excellence · Zone2Speak Podcast

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All right, welcome to Zone to Speak. Today, I am thrilled to be joined by Tanya
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Strohschneider, a professional Austrian triathlete who is making waves in the
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endurance sports world.
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Tanya is not only a fierce competitor in triathlon, excelling in swimming,
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cycling, and running, but she is also a passionate advocate for sustainable health and nutrition.
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As a vice national champion, Tanya has pushed her limits in sprint distance
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triathlons and in the Ironman 70.3 series, inspiring others with her resilience and determination.
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Beyond triathlon, Tanya has recently embraced High Rocks, a fitness competition
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that combines strength and endurance, further showcasing her versatility and drive as an athlete.
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In this episode, we will dive into Tanya's journey in triathlon,
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her approach to balancing training and recovery, and how she overcame challenges
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like recovering from major injuries, including disc surgery,
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to come back stronger than ever.
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We will also explore her experiences with Hype Rocks, her perspective on how
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it complements endurance training, and the unique challenges it presents.
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Additionally, we'll uncover her insights on the role of nutrition in performance
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and the mindset it takes to succeed at the highest levels.
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Get ready for an inspiring conversation with one of Austria's finest,
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Tanya. Welcome to the podcast.
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Thank you very much. Thank you also for the nice introduction.
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I appreciate. Actually, it's my first podcast in English, so I'm a little bit nervous.
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I hope I got all the vocabulary that I need. But yeah, also excited and happy to be here. Thank you.
2:45
Awesome. Thank you for being here. English is also a second language to me.
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So it's okay. We all have accents. It's all good.
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So you are a machine. I'm so inspired by your Instagram account.
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So happy that you made the time to chat with me.
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Tell me a little bit how you started. What was your journey to triathlon?
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Because you are a professional athlete. So some people might take it as a hobby.
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How did it all develop for you?
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Yeah, it came quite, I would say, per accident.
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Like when I was in kindergarten, like my best friends, they were in a swimming
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club because their dad was the swimming coach or the swimming teacher.
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Yeah, I just, for me, it was just I meet my friends and we go and play together.
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And most of the time this was in the swimming pool. So I don't know,
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I've kind of learned swimming and started practicing swimming without even noticing
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that this is actually training already.
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And I always enjoy that. Like I always love being in the water and yeah.
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Within the years, I've been doing a,
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Got just more and more, I would say. Like, I always enjoyed to improve.
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I enjoyed the training itself.
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So I always asked my coach, yeah, but I want to do more. I want to do more.
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Like, we were a swimming club that was, yeah, we were also racing and taking
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part at swimming competitions.
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But it was never meant to be, like, I don't know, like a very competitive club.
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Like fun was always the main focus and
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to get yeah kids learning how
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to swim and yeah at some point I realized well
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I don't know professional sports sounds interesting and this is something I
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want to do and I always annoyed my coach I want to do more and more and more
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and he always said ah we are a club we don't swim more like we swim three times
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a week and that's it Tanya and yeah first leaving or going to another club was
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not an option because I don't know all my friends were there.
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And it was like, yeah, this is where I belong.
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And then, yeah, I don't know, I had this conversation with the swimming coach.
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Then one day, I think I was around 14 years old, where he told me,
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you know what, Tanya, if you like to train that much, maybe you should try triathlon
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because there you've got three disciplines, you can train a lot.
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And I think this would be good for you.
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So yeah, I followed his advice and then switched to triathlon,
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like from swimming to triathlon.
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Wow so you since very early age you had this drive yeah competitive drive yeah
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always yeah yeah and it's always been something very positive for me like racing
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and training and so on like i never experienced this as pressure it was always just fun.
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And how do you, because you have multi distances that you do.
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You do sprint and you do the half Ironman races. How do you mentally and physically
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prepare for the variety of the distance and the disciplines?
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Yeah, I would say it's quite similar. And I also have to say,
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like, until last year, like, my big goal has always been going to the Olympics.
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I didn't achieve that. like I wanted to be in Paris last
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year 2024 I had international criteria
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to race there but obviously we were
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five girls at this level in Austria and we only had
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two spots and then it was our federation to choose which
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of us like which are who are the two girls that
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will race at the Olympics and I was not one of them so of
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course that was tough decision but yeah you have to
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accept it anyway and so until last
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year I only raced Olympic and sprint distance which is
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which are the two shorter ones and after that
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like after i knew that i would not be
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racing at the olympics i was like oh what should i do next i've
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done this sport like with the shorter distances for 20
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years now maybe it's time to try something new and
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yeah only last year i actually raced my first
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half ironman races and i have to say of
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course there was not that much time to change the training so
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much but at the same time the training it's
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not so different like of course short
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distance is a little bit more about speed and the
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longer distances are more like maintaining a good speed for
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a very long time but all in all it's yeah like.
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From a mental aspect i think it's not so different
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like yeah it's pretty similar actually yeah and also i bring a lot of i don't
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know experience anyway so yeah it was not something i have to learn in a new
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way it's something i always knew
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okay how do i get to races what what is mentally asked for me and so on so.
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And do you think you would give it a shot again at the Olympics on the next one?
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I don't know. Like, maybe. Like, it's 2028 in LA.
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We'll see. I think the good thing now is the Olympic qualification always starts
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two years before the Olympics in triathlon.
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So there are two years time now for me to decide what I want to do.
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Like, next year, I want to focus maybe more on middle distance,
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like half Ironman racing and see how that goes.
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And yeah, I don't know if that's where I feel that I belong right now,
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then I will probably stick with it.
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Or if I say, ah, I don't know, biggest dreams, Olympics, always been,
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maybe I will return, but I can't tell right now. We'll see what's going to happen.
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Well, that's good that you can enjoy yourself for these next two years and see
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where you are and pursue that or not. That's good.
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Exactly. And you have been very open about your transformation through better nutrition.
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Can you tell me a little bit what triggered this change and what have you changed
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that has impacted your performance?
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Yeah, like for those who don't know, in triathlon, of course,
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the running part is the last. So you win the race on the run.
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And yeah, when I was very young, it already started that like people,
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it was coaches and people from the feds.
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Consideration especially and so on they said well tanya
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you're very successful at your level
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and like i was a junior athlete at that point so
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no elite athlete but you know there are
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the races won on the run and you also
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know the lighter you are and the less weight you have the
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faster you will run so this was kind of they presented it
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as a rule the lighter you are the faster you run so they
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told me yeah maybe you should consider to lose
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a few kilograms and yeah i thought
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i have to follow what they say and and
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yeah checked my food started to
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count calories and so on and also have to say like at
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that point point i would say i had good
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weight like i was not too heavy like even if i check photos
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from that time it was perfectly fine i
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would say like i was still a teenager so yeah
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i think you always looked perfectly fine
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to me but in sports i think there has always
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been this stigma pressure yeah exactly
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exactly weight yeah so i followed what they said and first it worked out like
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i think i lost one or two kilograms pretty quick and they were happy so i tried
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to maintain those calories i was eating and it was not much i didn't eat enough
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at that point but I didn't know better so yeah.
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Continued and yeah, suddenly I started to gain weight and I had no explanation for that.
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And of course I was the first one to recognize that.
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I was panicked and oh my God, I'm eating too much. So I kept reducing calories
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and yeah, what happened? I kept gaining weight.
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So this was something, yeah, I had no explanation for. And then of course the
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other ones recognized as well.
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And then it was trauma and panic. And Tanya, we told you, you need to lose weight, not gain weight.
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And so on and then I was even sent to an
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institute close to the training center where I trained at that point where all
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the athletes of the national team were training and they gave me a nutrition
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plan with 1500 calories a day yeah I was training around 25 to 30 hours a week during that time.
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And I was like okay if they say that's what
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I should do then I will do it and I kept gaining
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weight and just to get an idea like I'm
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176 centimeters tall and
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when I started I was like around 65 66
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kilogram and I gained like the highest
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weight I had was something over 80 kilograms
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so I gained more than 10 kilograms during that time
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and of course like they always
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were thinking yeah there's no way you're eating that
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little yeah you must be cheating you must be secretly eating
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and stuff like that and no one believed
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me like I was super strict I was reading all the
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food I was eating I was counting calories I tried
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to do everything perfectly and yeah no
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one believed me I had no explanation they had no explanation so I got kicked
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out of the national team because they said I don't look like an athlete anymore
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so I was all on my own whoever's listening like my jaw is dropped I think there's
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more and more I mean I can't wait for you to get to the end of the story,
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but there's more and more research now that it's not just counting calories.
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And I think we all know that 1500 calories a day for someone training 25 to
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30 hours, it's not enough. Yeah.
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Yeah. And that's also why I was so frustrated. Like I was hungry every day and every time.
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Yeah. I was always feeling like I'm not eating enough. I'm always hungry.
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This is not how I want to live. But also I had no explanation.
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Like no one is telling you if you eat more you will lose weight because that's
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what actually was was the case so my luck then was but it took many many years
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like I was on my own not in a national team had to figure everything out on
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my own for quite some years and then by accident I met a nutritionist in Switzerland,
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and we made some tests and yeah at the end he told me girl you are not eating
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enough you have to eat a lot more and you're under fueling yourself and I was like.
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I mean, look at me. I don't look like I'm not eating enough.
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I'm looking like I'm eating way too much, though that's not the case and I'm
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hungry. And yeah, he had all the answers to my questions.
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And then I understood that my metabolism was just ruined.
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Like my body was full of inflammation. And that was why I was gaining weight.
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Like whenever I was eating, my body was in SOS mode and trying to save everything
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possible. was not using the energy I was giving it for training or for anything
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else, but just for survival.
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And yeah, then I ate around, I don't know, three to four times the amount I
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was eating before and I was losing more than 10 kilograms in half a year.
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I mean, I know this was also water because as I said, my body also kept a lot
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of water because of all the inflammation and so on. But yeah,
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when I did that change, my metabolism was working again, was recovering.
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My performance got better because during that time when I ate that little,
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I was only sick, injured and so on.
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Like I did not have the performance I had before.
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So yeah, I'm very lucky that I met this guy because he saved me and he saved my career.
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Yeah, how wonderful you were able to go through this process with him and start
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it in your right. I can't say enough.
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I do nutrition coaching and when people ask me as well, like,
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what is one thing that people could do better? And I always say eat carbs.
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People are not eating enough carbs and you need carbs. Yeah, exactly.
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You're not going to gain weight. It just has long-term damage that you can create by not eating properly.
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Yeah, exactly. And I also learned what was very important for me was to fuel
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yourself well throughout the day.
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Like I think that's a big issue most people have or many people have.
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They don't eat enough during the day. And then when they come home at night
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or in the evening and everything is done, they start eating.
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And I always compare it with a car. Like you have to put the fuel into the car
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before you want to drive. And that's the same thing.
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For training, like feel yourself right before the sessions,
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also during the sessions, like I completely underestimated how much of a difference
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it does when you, even if it's just a short session, when you got your carbon
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drink or gel or whatever, or when you have that banana or bar before the session,
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like it doesn't only improve the performance itself of the session,
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but also you recover so much quicker.
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And yeah, it made me a completely different athlete. So, yeah.
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And what is your go-to pre-meal before a race and post a race?
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Not race, even just a training session.
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For training, it always depends on the session. Like the higher intensity the
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session, the more carbs, of course.
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For racing, it's pretty basic, either oatmeal or just plain rice. So pretty boring.
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So when the season is done with all the racing at the end, I can't see any rice anymore.
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Yeah, and then it has to be simple. I know people always talk about clean eating and so on.
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And of course, nutrition also has to be healthy.
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But for me, for example, there's also no forbidden food anymore.
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I would never do that. So sometimes it's just, I know.
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I had my best 10K run in a race where I was eating chocolate donut for breakfast
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because it was quick carbs and I like it.
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So yeah, it can be, I don't know, rice cakes with jam or I don't know,
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just bread with jam or banana or whatever, like whatever I need for the session.
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And many times right before training, the quick carbs, like the fast carbs are best.
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And many times that's not what would be considered clean eating,
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but for training, this is the best you can do because you need quick energy. So yeah.
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Yeah, I agree. Nutrition, no restriction. And the other thing is absolutely
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what you said, you know, you need something that it's easily digestible.
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So plain rice, donut or something like that, it will hit you quicker.
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Yeah. Because then if you go super healthy and you have things with a lot of
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fiber, it just makes it harder, you know, longer to get into your bloodstream
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and defeats the purpose. So, yeah.
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And how do you recover after a training session? Like, Like what are you eating after?
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It also depends. Like for me, it's at the moment now that I added Hyrox to my,
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yeah, as a sport, sometimes I train four times a day.
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So many times it's when the session is finished. There's only one or two hours
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time until the next session.
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But in general, I try to keep it like my three main meals, like breakfast,
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lunch and dinner. I try to have it very balanced and, yeah, nice food, like healthy food.
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And the snacks are fast, yeah, because I always try to have a little snack before
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I get into the next session.
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So, yeah, and after the session, whether this is protein bar or fruits,
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banana, whatever, it really depends how much time I have until the next session
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starts. So it's always a little bit different.
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Yeah, I was going to ask, actually, like, how is your training like?
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You have to do three disciplines for triathlon, swim, bike, run,
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but then you also have high rocks now.
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How does it work, especially to ensuring recovery and avoiding burnout?
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Yeah, it's tricky. For recovery, I always say nothing beats a good sleep and good amount of sleep.
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Before I would think of all the other recovery methods, I would always make
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sure that my sleep is on point and that it's hard enough.
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I would say even if you're like the more
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if you have a very busy life and and and
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that's the case for me and yeah time
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management I would say and also I have to say I'm doing
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this like sports for 20 years now professional sports so it's nothing it's not
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something that I'm doing just one or two years like I have the experience my
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body is used to it a lot my body is used to train a lot like This is something
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you have to develop over many, many years.
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And I also have to experience now what I have to do. So I would say I also got the idea...
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What sessions I can skip or where I don't have to work that much because,
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for example, my basic endurance is already pretty good, so I can focus more on other stuff.
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So a lot of it is experience and also having a good feeling for the body,
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which is also something I've developed over the years.
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So yeah, and the rest is time management and sleep, sleep, sleep,
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good food, good nutrition, fueling myself well.
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So those are the main aspects I would say I focus on. Yeah, I think you said that.
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I mean, it's not surprising. It's common sense, but nobody has brought up before,
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which is time management.
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And I guess, I mean, obviously that plays a big role, especially that you're doing so many things.
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And how did High Rocks came about and how did you get interested and manage
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everything? Like, how is those competitions?
20:37
Tell me a little bit more and explain maybe for the listeners that don't know what is High Rocks.
20:42
Yeah. so high rocks is many people
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would probably consider it as a very strength oriented sport
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and of course strength is an important
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factor but actually it's much more of an endurance sports i would say you have
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to run eight times one kilometer and you start with running so you run 1k then
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you have one workout then you again run 1k one workout and this eight times
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without a break and the fastest one wins the race.
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And workouts are, for example, you have to push a sled, a heavy sled and pull
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a sled. You have to do 100 wall balls, which is the last workout.
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So you have eight of these workouts
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and in between you always have a one kilometer run and the whole thing.
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Race for me it takes just over an hour at
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the moment so my my pb in hyrox is
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one hour and three minutes and yeah so
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it's pretty similar from the duration of the race to a sprint triathlon for
21:38
example sprint triathlon is also around one hour so this is also pretty similar
21:43
yeah i got into this because a friend of mine alex ronchevich he's at the moment
21:49
the best hyrox athlete in the world because he became world champion in 2024.
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And I already knew him from swimming when both of us were very young.
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And after that, we met again when we were both swimming coaches.
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Like I'm also a swimming coach when I'm at home and giving some swimming lessons
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and so on. And he did that too at the same swimming pool.
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And he always told me, triathlon, it's a nice sport, but you're investing so
22:16
much and you're getting so little out of it.
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Why don't you do something different? like try high
22:21
rocks and i only knew he was doing high rocks but i didn't really
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know what exactly this was it's a
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pretty new sport i would say but it's trending at the
22:30
moment it's getting bigger and bigger and from his
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instagram i only saw all the time oh he's again on the podium and he won again
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and this and so i just knew he's very successful and whenever we met him i was
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oh you've been winning again huh so yeah and then after like when the olympic qualification period
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came to an end and when I knew that I was not selected,
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He told me, maybe it's time now to try something different.
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And I was like, ah, you mean high rocks, huh? And he was like, yeah.
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He's like, let's meet in the afternoon. It was a Tuesday and I will show you the workouts.
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But because you can run already, so you just need to be able to do the workouts.
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And he showed me and I was like, oh, sounds fun or looks fun.
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And I asked him, okay, when is the next competition? And he said,
23:18
yeah, this weekend on Saturday in Italy.
23:21
And I was like well I have nothing to
23:24
do at the moment why not yeah why not
23:27
if I get a ticket I will race and so
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I raced there and got third place at
23:33
the first one like without a proper training session for it and so on I was
23:38
like well this was really fun I would like to do it again so yeah I still at
23:44
that point and I still had some because this was at the beginning of June still
23:48
had to do some triathlon races where I already said that I would race.
23:52
So I still had to focus on triathlon and especially for the half Ironman.
23:56
So the main focus was still on triathlon. But now in autumn and winter,
24:00
I did more races in High Rocks and it went better and better.
24:04
So I said, OK, this is something I want to do because in High Rocks,
24:07
they have this elite 15 rule, which means the 15 fastest in the world.
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They get to race specific race all the time, where it's also about price,
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money, and so on. And it's only for the 15 fastest.
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And this is something very exclusive.
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So I'm on the edge to be number 15 at the moment. So almost there.
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So this is something I'm chasing at the moment next to triathlon because yeah,
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you know, after 20 years only triathlon, I thought it's good to have something
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else to get like taking a little step away, maybe from triathlon to be able
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to be more competitive again.
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Because if you do the same every time, your body is not responding that well anymore.
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So I think also this is a necessary step for me now to keep improving in triathlon.
24:56
Yeah, to have something that's a little bit different.
25:00
And I also already feel it right now. Now that I've focused in training also
25:04
a little bit on high rocks, it is something new to the body.
25:07
I'm responding well also in triathlon. So I think it's for both sports.
25:10
For me, it's a win-win situation.
25:14
Yeah, yeah. I see what you're saying. Because it can take your mind a little bit off.
25:20
But like I said, your body will experience something new. And I think high rocks
25:23
can be a little bit complementary as well to triathlon.
25:26
Because you're doing strength and you still have the running there.
25:29
Very explosive running, as you said. If you're just doing 1K intervals.
25:34
And this sounds like fun. Sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah, I can only recommend.
25:38
And yeah, they also got doubles category where you can do everything with a friend.
25:42
So that's even more fun. Yeah. Also for beginners, I think that's a good thing.
25:46
And also, as you said, now having something else, it's also for the mind.
25:51
I think it's important. Like,
25:54
Those two years of Olympic qualification period, it was so intense.
25:58
It felt like there's no place for anything else anymore.
26:03
So, yeah, also for the mind, it's important sometimes to take a step away from
26:09
something, not to get into a burnout and so on.
26:12
Because those two years, they really took everything out of me.
26:16
So I really enjoy it now to have the freedom to do a little bit different stuff again.
26:23
Yeah. Yeah, have some fun and look at you now, almost on the top 15 in the world.
26:28
Yeah, that's nice. Congratulations. Thank you.
26:33
And recovering from injuries can be really tough.
26:37
I know you're out because you had a disc injury, you went through surgery.
26:42
How long were you out and what lessons did you learn from this setback and how
26:47
did you come back and stay so motivated?
26:50
Yeah, well, that was a tough one. And yeah, it took me four years.
26:55
And the main problem was that we didn't find the cause.
26:59
Like I had several disc prolapses. Like my disc, it jumped or whatever.
27:05
However, it slipped out and out again.
27:08
Like it was one disc prolapse after the next.
27:10
So I went for surgery and I do see this as a big mistake.
27:17
And I always repeat myself there. also because I realized also via Instagram
27:21
that so many people think okay you go for surgery and this is the big solution
27:25
while for me this made everything worse so yeah.
27:30
I wish I had never done the surgery, but I didn't know better at that point.
27:35
And it was where we tried to fix my back problems with physiotherapy for more than a year.
27:41
And then, yeah, we had no success with that.
27:45
Like the pain got more and more instead of getting better and better.
27:49
So I was told, okay, now surgery is the only option that we have.
27:54
And my personal feeling has
27:57
been that the problems were not
28:00
coming like I had it in my lower back that the problems
28:03
were not coming from my lower back but from my sacroiliac joint
28:06
okay but and I told it to doctors
28:09
and therapists and so on but they all told me no no this
28:12
this can't be the case like there's no way that
28:15
this is the problem because this can't can't
28:18
be blocked that it's causing troubles and so
28:21
on so I was like I don't know if so
28:24
many people are telling me that this is not true they should know better
28:27
so I listened to them yeah and
28:30
and I will never forget I went for surgery and yeah surgery is done you think
28:35
ah finally everything is better and and it was more than two years of pain so
28:40
I was like relief kind of oh I can finally I'm pain-free and I can start training again as I used to.
28:48
And I went for an MRI screening again and it looked 100% the same like before.
28:57
So it meant that... How frustrating.
28:59
Exactly. Another disc prolapse right after surgery. Plus, what made the bigger problems now is,
29:06
That type of surgery, it's very intense. Like they cut off that part that was slipping out.
29:13
So my disc there is now much smaller than it used to.
29:17
And everything, of course, was hurt from surgery and so on.
29:21
So it took me just to recover from surgery. It took me half a year at least.
29:26
And then the problems were even bigger because everything there was very sensitive.
29:31
So, yeah, I kept searching. And I think during that period of time,
29:35
those four years, I've seen more than a hundred doctors and therapists and everyone
29:39
telling me there's nothing we can do.
29:42
And they told me so many people told me you will never be able to run again.
29:46
Like that's it. Like professional sports, of course, but also for your normal
29:49
life, you won't be able to run again without pain.
29:53
And yeah, it was, yeah, I was crying a lot during those four years.
29:58
But what helped me was I still
30:01
kept training as much as
30:04
I could and and and those type that type of
30:07
training that was possible at that moment like it was
30:09
changing so much like on some days I couldn't even get out of bed without help
30:14
like I remember I had to call my mom luckily she's living in the same street
30:18
as I do to call my mom because I was like I can't get out of bed I have so much
30:22
pain that she had to come over lift me out of my bed holding me for a few minutes until,
30:29
I don't know, it got a little bit less. And then I tried to work with her help.
30:33
On other days, I was able to swim and bike or maybe sometimes even running in pain.
30:38
And I'm saying this because when I was not training at all, I've tried everything.
30:41
When I was not training at all, the pain didn't get less.
30:45
I would say it got worse. So I was like, okay, not training doesn't make it better.
30:50
So I try to move as much as I can to keep my muscles strong.
30:54
So I don't know, to help my body somehow.
30:56
And, yeah, then I also had days where I was like, I will never forget that I
31:01
was driving my car to the swimming pool because I wanted to go for a swim because
31:04
I was all right on that day.
31:06
I got out of my car and I had to lay down on the street because,
31:10
again, this prolapse, a very fresh one, those who know the pain,
31:13
that type of pain feel me.
31:15
And I was lying on the street and, yeah, had to ask strangers for help because I couldn't move again.
31:21
So yeah that was heavy and
31:24
then at the end i was so lucky because again per
31:27
accident someone told me ah i know a very good
31:30
therapist in vienna go there he's a specialist for sacroiliac joint so after
31:36
four years of no way like if this is the solution now yeah i was there it was
31:43
interesting because he's someone who only works in the middle of the night because
31:48
he doesn't like traffic,
31:49
he says. So I was there at 3 a.m. in the morning.
31:52
But I was like, whatever it takes, I will go there. That's very typical, but okay.
31:58
And yeah, he was looking at me, making some tests and was like,
32:02
yeah, I'm not surprised that you have those problems because your sacroiliac
32:06
joint is severely blocked.
32:08
We have to fix that and you will see the pain is going away. So he fixed that.
32:13
No surgery. No surgery. the joint
32:16
was not blocked anymore and it was crazy like
32:19
it really felt like I have to
32:22
learn how to walk again like not only running because
32:25
my legs it was all so different that you
32:28
really step by step it everything felt weird but
32:31
yeah then it just took a few weeks maybe
32:34
months because all the nerves and yeah it
32:37
was so how do I say it was hurt for
32:40
four years so it took some time to calm everything
32:44
down and after a few months no problems
32:47
at all until today so ever since then
32:50
like the first these prolapse happened in 2018 in
32:54
summer and then in winter 2021 like at the end of 2021 i've met that therapist
32:59
and since 2021 no problems at all so this was it yeah wow what a journey i mean
33:07
i'm glad you found this doctor it took a little bit too long but sometimes you You know,
33:13
we have to go through those journeys to find the right person.
33:16
I mean, you went through over a hundred doctors. That's insane.
33:20
Yeah. Yeah. It only took me or cost me a lot of money.
33:23
And I'm just glad that, yeah, that I didn't listen.
33:27
Like what hurt, like looking at it now, what hurt was that so many people told
33:33
me you will never be able to walk again because yeah, if I would have believed
33:37
them, I would have said, okay, this is it.
33:39
Like not checking or not looking for any therapists or doctors anymore and living
33:45
with the pain, which would have not only meant the end of my career,
33:49
but more than this, like a lot of quality in life.
33:52
Like imagine if I said, okay, there's nothing they can do about it.
33:56
I mean, I'm still not too old. I'm still quite young, I would say.
34:01
So, yeah, spending the rest of my life in pain every day because they said,
34:05
yeah, this is it. And there's nothing we can do about it.
34:08
This would have been, yeah, crazy.
34:11
So, I'm just happy I never gave up.
34:14
I'm glad, too. It just, you know, plays a mental number on you because,
34:22
I mean, no one wants to have the diagnosis.
34:23
You might not walk again, especially,
34:26
I think, an athlete because that's your passion. It's your job.
34:31
Yeah, we need to be very careful. I mean, there's amazing doctors out there,
34:35
but sometimes, you know, some doctors will give you a diagnose that another
34:40
doctor is willing to work with you to change that.
34:44
So I'm glad you were able to change the outcome and you're pain-free and super,
34:52
super active. I mean, you are a machine.
34:55
Thank you. Yeah, that's why I also say, like, never give up,
35:00
no matter what, at the end.
35:03
Yeah, I never regret it.
35:06
Like, if I always said, no, I won't give up, I keep going, I keep searching,
35:10
there must be a solution.
35:12
I think that's the best advice I can give someone, no matter what others are saying.
35:18
There's always a way. And that's what I really believe.
35:21
I agree. i agree and okay so swim bike run what's your favorite and your least favorite.
35:30
Yeah that's the most common question i'm getting asked and i never i never have
35:35
an answer for it i always say if i had a favorite or a least favorite i wouldn't do triathlon like,
35:43
as it is with kids i always love them the
35:46
same like you never can tell you this one i love more
35:48
and I think it changes like sometimes when
35:52
running goes very well of course I love running the
35:55
most and sometimes then when swimming goes very well and running I
35:58
don't know I don't make any progress there or sometimes you just slow
36:01
down and you don't know why it's just part of the process and
36:05
I don't like running but I love swimming at the moment so it always changes
36:09
and yeah that's also the nice thing about triathlon I think like even if one
36:14
discipline doesn't go so well at the moment or if you're injured for example
36:17
and can't run you still can ride your bike and go for a swim so.
36:23
It's the mix of the three. Yeah. Okay. It makes sense.
36:26
I understand your analogy with the kids. It makes sense.
36:30
But I think also because you have a swim background, because a lot of triathletes
36:34
are not a big fan of swimming. Yeah, they could be. Yeah.
36:39
With me, sometimes this is what I do the longest. So sometimes it is the hardest
36:44
to jump into the cold water and do your swim session. Yeah.
36:49
But then it's also on the other side, it's like swimming is always home for me.
36:53
Like, yeah, I started when I was five years old. So it's always feels like home.
36:58
Whenever I'm in the water, I feel comfortable. So this is nice.
37:02
So it always, always has two sides. Yeah.
37:05
That's true. Yeah. It's familiar. It's comfortable. Yeah. Yeah.
37:10
And if you could design the ultimate triathlon course anywhere in the world,
37:16
where would it be and why?
37:18
Definitely South Africa, close to Cape Town.
37:21
Yeah, besides Austria, of course, it's my favorite country. Like I love South Africa.
37:27
I'm leaving for South Africa tomorrow, actually, for five weeks again.
37:31
I always do this every year.
37:33
And yeah, it would have an ocean swim, but warm water.
37:37
So that would be at least difficult around Cape Town because the ocean is pretty
37:41
cold all the time. But yeah, if I can design one, it would be ocean swim,
37:46
but with warm water. So no, no wetsuit for the swim.
37:50
A very hard bike course, hilly bike course, and then a fast run, flat and fast run. Yeah.
37:57
So. Yeah. It's nice after you've
38:00
done a swim and the bike to have a flat course. It's always helpful.
38:05
Yeah. And I train a lot at home here in, I don't know if you know Prater Hauptale.
38:09
It's where Elliot Kipchoge has done his
38:12
inaugural world record like the top two it's straight long
38:15
straight four kilometers long and it's just flat and good for nice and fast
38:21
training sessions and many races are there so I train there a lot so it's always
38:25
okay one straight all out not all out but yeah you run fast there so I'm pretty
38:29
used to this so yeah this would be the course I would design yeah.
38:36
And you are a big influencer, how do you use your platform to inspire others,
38:41
and especially women in endurance sports? Yeah.
38:47
My Instagram account, the way all of this happened was per accident,
38:52
I would say, like a lot of stuff in my life.
38:55
I just shared my experience with my weight and with the little eating and so on.
39:02
And then there I made that what people started calling then the transformation photo.
39:07
So I put the two photos of me where I was like around 80 kilograms versus then 65.
39:13
And I said, yeah, this is a difference of six months. And it happened by eating more, much more.
39:19
And people couldn't believe it. And this one kind of went viral.
39:22
And then I had around 10,000 followers.
39:26
And from that point, not only did I realize the importance of sharing experiences
39:33
like this, also from the messages I received when I started to share my story.
39:38
And also when I realized how many people are affected by similar problems,
39:44
because we all learn, yeah, you always have to be on a diet and so much food
39:50
is forbidden and everyone is chasing,
39:52
I don't know, any sort of kind of diet and it's all about who is able to eat the least.
40:01
And everyone, especially women, they seem to be afraid of eating and this is something pretty sad.
40:09
So when I realized how much I can help with my stories and by the messages I
40:15
received, I was like, oh, this
40:17
is actually a possibility for me to do something good and to help others.
40:21
So yeah, I started just simply to share stories and topics that mean a lot to
40:28
me and where I've learned a lot and where I've felt like this might help other people as well.
40:33
And yeah, once I did that, my account started growing and growing.
40:38
And yeah, so I think it feels good to help others.
40:43
So this is giving me a good feeling. And also the messages I'm giving,
40:47
I'm receiving, it means a lot.
40:50
So yeah, I think it's a nice give and take.
40:54
Because on the other hand, I think my community has no idea how much they have helped me in the past.
41:00
Like when I'm having difficult times and then I'm receiving so sweet messages.
41:05
And like, sometimes I'm just sitting there like, how do I deserve this?
41:10
Like, I've done nothing. Yeah, I'm just actually sharing what's happening in my life.
41:15
And so this is pretty sweet. And I think it's a nice give and take.
41:19
Of course, it also has the negative side, social media, without any questions.
41:25
And when I started, I had no idea what it means to have such a big community that's.
41:31
Yeah, there are not only positives, there are also some negatives and you are
41:34
losing some of your privacy if you want or not.
41:38
Because also I'm someone, I just online, I just want to be the way I am.
41:43
And I think social media develops more into a direction.
41:47
There are pretty strict rules of what you are supposed to post and what you should not post.
41:54
And it always should fit.
41:57
Yeah, I don't know how people want it.
42:00
Like and this is just not this is
42:03
this is not me like i'm having troubles with that
42:06
and i said yeah i won't do this i i
42:08
want to do what feels right to me and i want to be how
42:11
i am and i know i will get some criticism because of this but as long as as
42:18
i can get along with it and and yeah as long as i can handle it i will continue
42:22
but yeah i also had of course times in my life where i had to take a step back because i feel like
42:30
When there's a lot going on in your life and you're stressed and it takes a
42:35
lot out of you, then I'm not able to handle everything that's happening on social
42:40
media and everything that I'm receiving,
42:42
especially then the negative things as well.
42:44
Because people think once you start sharing your life, they have the right to
42:49
get involved and getting involved as far as they want.
42:53
And I think you always need to take care of yourself there and draw the line.
42:59
And you say, okay, until here and not any further.
43:03
So this is something I had to learn over the years. But in total,
43:07
I would say the positives are much more. So yeah, I enjoy what I do.
43:13
I think social media is a great tool. Obviously, you have to filter and really
43:18
just let in what has positive impact.
43:21
I do love your account and your presence online and kudos to you to being true
43:29
to yourself and following your values and putting out there what feels authentic to you.
43:35
I personally don't like accounts that I see that it feels so manicured,
43:40
quote unquote, you know.
43:41
So it's great to see your authenticity coming through.
43:47
And no wonder, you know, your account grew so much as you were influencing,
43:53
impacting so many people.
43:54
I mean, it's great to see realness. Yeah.
43:58
And I was actually going to ask, what is the most rewarding part of being a professional athlete?
44:04
I mean, I see now, obviously, that you shared that you have this big presence
44:07
and you're getting a lot of nice messages to you.
44:10
But is there anything else that has been rewarding in your life?
44:15
Yeah, definitely. The people I got to meet on this journey and also the places
44:19
I got to see, that's like insane.
44:21
I mean, the negative aspect of it is we don't have much funding in Austria for triathlon.
44:28
Like it's not that much of a big, not such a big sport or has not so much importance.
44:34
Like, for example, skiing.
44:35
We are a big winter sport nation, skiing nation, of course.
44:38
So yeah we have to check on our own how to financially manage to do all of this and.
44:46
Especially the short distance triathlon is yeah
44:49
it's based on a very complicated points ranking
44:52
so that means you have to race a lot and the
44:55
races are all over the world so it's not just it's not enough
44:58
if you're only traveling around you in europe when you're
45:01
from europe you really have to travel the whole world but the
45:05
nice thing about thing about it is like i've got
45:08
to gotten to places i would have never seen if
45:11
i haven't done triathlon like i was in zimbabwe i
45:14
was in namibia i've already been to
45:17
japan china korea and so on like i've
45:20
seen so many places of the world and the experience you
45:23
gain from it like of course you're there for the
45:26
race so also always it's always like people think
45:29
okay you travel a lot you see the whole world and
45:32
you do sightseeing and so on and obviously that
45:35
is not the case because you arrive I don't know a few days before the
45:38
race you have to recover stay a lot of the time in your hotel room doing nothing
45:43
or your training sessions and that's it but yeah sometimes maybe the plane home
45:48
or to the next race goes the day after or two days after and you have a little
45:53
bit of time and you always get some impression of the country,
45:56
And yeah, of course, the people you meet, nice friends from all over the world.
46:01
So that's a very, very nice aspect from this.
46:04
Yeah, yeah. I love that. I raced the 70.3 in Vietnam and I was so bummed because
46:11
like you said, you know, you get there, you have to get ready.
46:15
And I couldn't even experience with the food because I was so afraid of getting sick.
46:19
But from all these destinations, do you have any favorite race destinations?
46:24
And what made it special.
46:27
Yeah, I've been lucky that I also got to race in South Africa,
46:30
of course. There we are again. I thought you were going to say that.
46:34
But also a dream come true only in 2024. Last year, I did a race in Australia
46:39
and then a little training camp there.
46:41
And this has been like when I was a kid, I always said, I want to go to Australia
46:45
one day, see the kangaroos and so on.
46:47
So this was nice. But again, South Africa, because it was also there,
46:52
my first international podium.
46:53
So that was yeah that i
46:56
made this in south africa yeah that was
46:59
pretty cool yeah yeah very cool and what's
47:03
next for you in triathlon or hydro
47:06
high rock high rocks yeah any personal
47:09
goals on the horizon yeah like for
47:13
the 2025 season different definitely in triathlon more
47:16
middle distance like more half Ironman racing we'll
47:19
see if the first full Ironman I don't
47:23
know I have no idea if it's already in 2025 or
47:26
just a year later or I don't know we'll see
47:29
that but definitely half Ironman for now and in Hierarchy I definitely want
47:33
to be in the Elite 15 soon maybe I don't know in Las Vegas, but it depends.
47:49
Like I'm just out of the Elite 15 now, but I've already heard that some of the
47:53
girls in front withdrawing for that race because of injury or I don't know,
47:57
time schedule, whatever.
47:58
So maybe I will be there. If not, then I will do another race and try to get
48:02
the time that I need to be in the Elite 15.
48:06
But yeah, we'll see. I'm just enjoying the process at the moment.
48:09
Yeah, focusing on high rocks on the Elite 15 series and half Ironman.
48:14
Exciting. Very exciting. Well, I would love to chat with you again,
48:18
maybe later on this year, once you have done some more high rocks and we can
48:22
talk about that because it's growing. So it sounds really cool.
48:25
Yeah, it's exploding at the moment. All the events, they are sold out so quick,
48:31
because they have so many participants.
48:33
So it's nice and it's fun. I really can only recommend to everyone.
48:37
And if they are afraid to do the first one alone, do it together in a team,
48:41
like in the doubles that's so much fun because you do
48:44
the running together but you can split the workouts
48:47
so if you're afraid that you can't do
48:50
the workouts you can do it together with a friend or
48:53
family member or whatever and then it's
48:55
much easier and it's fun and it's a challenge you
48:58
can face together and also for the running it doesn't
49:01
really matter how slow you run it's like some people are walking
49:04
and that's fine yeah so there's no cutoff time so
49:08
you can take your time to finish it and yeah the community is
49:11
so sweet like high rocks at the moment maybe it's because
49:14
it's such a young sport but they have the sweetest
49:17
and most supportive community so everyone is helping each other so that's pretty
49:22
nice yeah yeah very cool very cool well thank you so much for your time for
49:27
sharing your journey and you know i'm gonna be on the lookout for your new races and adventures,
49:35
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
49:37
It was good fun to chat with you. Thank you.
49:41
And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning
49:46
in. Your support means everything.
49:48
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider following, leaving a review and
49:53
sharing it with your friends.
49:55
Music.