Ayesha Rollinson, Founder of Team Atomica: A Story of Athletic Triumph and Entrepreneurship

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome back to another edition of the Red Leaf Fitness podcast, a show dedicated to bringing you stories, interviews and conversations about living a healthy, resilient and productive life. I'm your host, sean Blinch, and I want to thank you for making time to listen to this episode today and, if you like what we're putting down, we would love it if you would follow, rate and share this podcast. All right, now let's get down to business. Welcome back to the Red Leaf Fitness podcast. I am joined today by Aisha Rollinson, owner and founder of Team Atomica, a Toronto-based master swim club and group of just all around awesome humans. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2: 0:50

I actually feel really great, Sean Good. Good. And I'll be completely honest, I really do feel at my best when I'm around smart people who are really kind and have amazing work ethic and are determined. And. I'm here at Red Leaf Fitness and I'm in your presence, and so I actually really feel really great that's the sweetest thing. Yeah, it's serious.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Thank you. So you yourself and your company and everything that you do had a massive, profound impact on me and I've been so excited to have you on this podcast. Can you talk a little bit about, first of all, your company and what you guys do, and then could we go back to, like day one of Aisha and just I want to hear your story.

Speaker 2: 1:47

Sure, okay. So Team Atomica was founded in 2008. That's when it started and the mandate or the way that we work is to try to bring. We try to bring sport and movement and make it accessible to absolutely everybody and help them achieve their goals. Really, it really started with swimming because that was the opportunity I was given, but it's evolved into multi-sport and being able to bring triathlon, but also just running and cycling, to anybody who is looking for it.

Speaker 1: 2:40

That's so cool, so it actually started with swing.

Speaker 2: 2:42

It did. Yeah, so I was racing as a pro athlete and I had left my job my engineering job, my stability and to try to qualify for the Olympics in 2008. So I left in 2007 and I wanted to train full time and just see where that led. And I broke my foot at the beginning of 2008,. So it was when it was going to be that last push to try to qualify for the Olympics. But it was misdiagnosed and then I actually ended up training on it for a month. I went to Australia. I broke it about seven days before I went to Australia. So I got on a plane, went to Australia on a pretty intense training camp and did a race at the end of that block and it was the first DNF that I'd ever achieved, because I just couldn't tolerate the pain on the run and came home pretty devastated and finally got it properly diagnosed and I got home.

Speaker 2: 3:57

So that was the end of that period of my life and at that point I'd left my engineering job and I was not going to qualify for the Olympics and I was really busy trying to get myself my foot healthy and trying to keep myself mentally stable At that point and a swim coaching job came my way and so that's what started this whole thing. Wow yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:29

So did you have any triathlon experience ahead of Atomica?

Speaker 2: 4:35

Well, yeah, so I well, that's what I was trying to qualify for was the triathlon at the Olympics. Oh, I see, I see. So I was racing on the World Cup circuit and I had been on the national triathlon team and that's what led into that. But a big part of my career had been as a competitive swimmer, so that was where a lot of my experience was and I had all the quals to be able to run this swim program that I was offered.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Oh, I see so my bad. I thought you were saying that you were racing in swimming.

Speaker 2: 5:14

No, that would be amazing, but no, yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Oh, this is such a okay so I can't, because this is going to be neat, so I can't wait to sort of get. So we have an idea about Team Atomica and the origin is going to be fun to hear kind of how it started from when you were little and how it sort of you know got here. But first I just want to put this out there that I found Team Atomica through Coach Karen, who's one of the coaches here who I believe she trained with you for five or eight years I'm not sure those two numbers are kind of in my mind but she was with you guys for a really long time and she got it to really, really high level and she was one of the people kind of in my corner saying like you should really go for it, you're really enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 6:03

And then I found out pretty fast last year that I really needed to work on swimming as people do, and I have just fallen in love with swimming and it has everything to do with the wonderful coaches. I have had three Team Atomica coaches. Oh, I've actually I've worked with you briefly, so I've had four and it's always been amazing because we worked together at the flip turn. That was cool. But it started with Kelvin, who's lovely, so I'll be seeing him again in the fall session. And then Darian at the Hyde Park session the best, he's so good. And Coach Katie, lovely.

Speaker 2: 6:47

I feel this is one area where you're going to get me a little bit emotional, and it's about my coaches. Like they are absolutely incredible and I, in a lot of ways, don't feel deserving of, you know, having them on my team, like they are just honestly the best, and so I'm glad that you were able to experience more than one and that you had this wonderful kind of all these takeaways from them too.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Yeah, absolutely the best. So, guys, team Atomica and I know there's already been a few Leafs, that's what we call our- group Leafs that are going to be coming with me and this is going to be so great for them to sort of under like, hear your story and then you know, as they embark on their first triathlons. Because we've got a good group of people who are doing Gravenhurst for the first time next year.

Speaker 2: 7:41

So good yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:44

So could we talk about your story right from the beginning?

Speaker 2: 7:48

Yeah, so I grew up in a small town, northebury in Midland, midland, pennetanglesheen area, and my first, the first eight years of my life, I spent living in a two-room school house, not because my parents are teachers, but because my dad owned a used bookstore, and so half of the school, or half of my home, was a used bookstore and the other half was where we lived, and so in our living room we had this the whole living room wall was a blackboard and we had a tiny little water fountain in the hallway. I shared my room with my sister, which was the, you know, the headmaster's office, which used to be the headmaster's office. Wow, yeah, so there was a. I was surrounded by books and this way of life where, you know, there was no, there was no boundary between, you know, work and home, and but there was also this wonderful fluidity and in between the bookstore and the, and our home was, you know, it was the 70s, and so there was this what separated us was one of those beaded curtains.

Speaker 1: 9:12

You know, oh, my God yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:14

So like you kind of went through these two worlds of like the bookstore and you could go and there's just comics everywhere and kids books and anything that you wanted to read you just picked off the shelves.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Is the store still there?

Speaker 2: 9:26

It is. We don't use so much as a store anymore, but the, the building still exists, yeah, and I can, I can flip you some pictures of it and it's as a school and also as the bookstore and and so after that we moved even more rural into into the country where we were pretty, we were on a lake and we had country roads and, again, a lot, of, a lot of freedom. So that, and you know, my, my dad was an entrepreneur and someone who just kind of got things done.

Speaker 2: 10:08

He was his, his motto, which I still adhere to, is there are no problems, only solutions, and my mom, yeah, my mom was just incredibly smart and but chose, chose to decide.

Speaker 2: 10:27

She decided to raise kids and do all these other things Like I was surrounded by. She was. She was incredibly like just this intense curiosity about everything around her and that was. There was no boundaries to it. It was, you know, it flipped between science and art and literature and just just it was incredible, living in that environment, like my mom my mom before it was it was people were doing this. She would go and pick mushrooms and we would go with her and like, just like she would spore, print them and decide if they were poisonous or not and then feed them to the family, you know, and so we, we were out in the bush all the time and kind of just just tons of discovery around that. So that was, you know, that was. That was the formative years of my life.

Speaker 1: 11:27

That's a pretty connectedness to the land to be able to understand, to be able to go out and pick mushrooms and be able to. You know like that's impressive.

Speaker 2: 11:39

What it did was, yeah, like, and, but it was. You know, when you're in it, you know nothing else, right? So this is, this is how we lived. You know, we, we went out on the weekends and we collected mushrooms, right and, and caught frogs and and did those types of things Eight wild plants, and. But you, you know nothing. I like that's, that's your life, and so you don't know that other people don't necessarily live like that, right.

Speaker 1: 12:09

Yeah, and how old are you?

Speaker 2: 12:11

at this point. So I lived in that country home between eight and and 17 when I left for university. Wow, yeah, yeah. So, um, yeah, and I started swimming, so, so kind of that was that's kind of my family, culture, environment. But they put us in sport pretty early and so I started swimming competitively when I was seven and I did that until I was at my main sport until the pool closed down, at which point I started running competitively and and then I was recruited into the sport of triathlon when I was 16. So, um, that was the trajectory.

Speaker 2: 12:55

You were recruited to a certain degree it was a very young sport at that point, right, so that was like around 1992. I think it had been announced that it was going to be in the Olympics around that same time, so 96, something like that and so there had there was a push at that point to get more people involved in the sport, and the national team coach at the time, I don't know saw me running or something maybe a track meet or or on the track and just reached out to someone he knew to get in touch with me.

Speaker 1: 13:27

You are quite actually the in in the like right from the beginning. Incredible.

Speaker 2: 13:35

Yeah, yeah, and the sport I think Ironman started somewhere in the seventies. I'm sure your listeners will correct me here, but um, um, but in terms of it being part of the Olympics, that the inaugural year was 2000. And uh, so there's probably a good 10, 10, 12 years before that where there was an active world cup circuit. Wow.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Yeah, so I was off racing at the world championships, um, you know when, somewhere around 16, because I did find success relatively quickly in the sport, and so I was off racing in Mexico and um, uh, or the other places in the States. And then one of the last junior races I did was over in um, was over in Australia, and that was after my first year university and I decided to stay and, uh, cycle across Australia at that point. So, yeah, triathlon has given me everything, um, including this unbelievable ability to travel um around the world. Yeah, and and just experience landscapes and environments that I would never have been able to experience.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Yeah, I always felt as as a super newcomer to the sport. Yeah, I, I was so taken back by, yeah, um, the most incredible intersection of nature and fitness, two of the most healing things at the same time. And it came into my life when I really needed it, when you were coming up into it. Was that part of it for you? What do you think made you fall in love and say this is for me?

Speaker 2: 15:37

Mm-hmm, it's such a good question and I acknowledge that now that same feeling you have, that exercise and nature are critical to my health and to living right Like I can't imagine, or I can, but I don't want to be there, like I wouldn't want to live without those things, but I don't. I think triathlon just fit. I'd always been someone who didn't like to narrow down my options, so triathlon was a good fit that way. Right, you know, like I could swim and run and do strength training and it all helped each other, you know, and it actually being mediocre at all of those things made me a good triathlete instead of just a crappy, you know runner, so, or a mid-pack runner, and I think just the way that I work just also fit with the sport.

Speaker 2: 16:56

I've just always, I guess, been fairly determined, and you know like I was. I did my first half marathon when I was 12.

Speaker 2: 17:09

And just because so so there was a local race. I was running at that time, so I'd stopped swimming competitively and was running, and my coach at the time wanted nothing of it. My parents gave me the bandwidth to kind of do what I wanted to, so I just trained myself and there was a local race and the prize was this enormous box of stakes, you know, and we weren't well off, and so I was like I'll just win this massive box of stakes for my family, and so I trained myself to do it and to win it, and as a 12 year old.

Speaker 2: 17:50

Yeah, and so I think it, just wherever that came from, you know lent itself to the sport of triathlon. Right, like this desire to achieve again, problem solve you know if they're you know I can figure it out. You know, everybody can figure it out, so let's figure it out. Let's figure out how to do this.

Speaker 1: 18:14

As a 12 year old. What did your training look like? How were you able to organize yourself? I mean, you think about 12 year olds, right? I'm just like how did you.

Speaker 2: 18:29

I remember one. You know, we have these, we have these flash points in our memory, right.

Speaker 2: 18:33

Of like what made us and these, these points. So the one of the things leading into this half marathon was I figured it was going to take me somewhere in the two hour mark. So I did, you know, two one hour runs with about a 20 minute break between them, and like I don't know I was, I just kind of like this is the end goal, what's what's? Same way as I, in some ways, I address things now like what is, what does the race require of me? So let's back it up.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Let's reverse engineer that and figure out like what the training needs to look like, and so I needed to run for two hours. I couldn't do that all in one shot yet, so let's do two one hour runs.

Speaker 1: 19:21

I find that exceptional as a 12 year old to be able to that's, that's special. And you and you won, is that?

Speaker 2: 19:32

I did. I won the box of stakes. Now I don't remember. I don't remember if I I may have won the female category, cause I was still like. I think I ran like a 145. Oh my God. So it was still reasonably good for you know, for a female. It may have been the youngest runner, but I think it was the female category.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Yeah, and you got that box of stakes.

Speaker 2: 19:54

I got the box of stakes.

Speaker 1: 19:56

That's so like inspiring.

Speaker 2: 19:57

My family was happy.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Yeah, and cute and just like heartwarming, all of it. That's so great. So your parents must have been just like, so proud.

Speaker 2: 20:11

I, they. One of the things I think that again cause I can't, they, they didn't push me and they didn't, I don't, I don't. I think it was just a matter of fact, like oh yeah, you, you ran, that's great. Like it wasn't, like they didn't make. I don't remember them making a big deal out of really any of my successes. And.

Speaker 2: 20:39

I that's probably a good thing, Right Cause my relationship with them isn't about my successes. Right, yeah, I don't feel like I need to prove anything to them, or yeah, yeah. Yeah, just like let's, let's eat steak. That's great, here we are. Yeah. And and tomorrow's another day, and so yeah, Are you.

Speaker 1: 21:08

do you have siblings?

Speaker 2: 21:09

Yeah, so I've got a younger brother and an older sister.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Are they similar Cause everybody kind of.

Speaker 2: 21:18

You have kids.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Yes.

Speaker 2: 21:21

There's a similar culture and bonds. We're we were very close as a family, yeah, but they're very different.

Speaker 1: 21:31

Okay.

Speaker 2: 21:32

My brother is incredibly talented athletically, but he came after two very strong athletes and I think that that deterred him from trying to pursue anything for a bunch of reasons. Um, but he, he, he's, he's quite, he's quite talented. Um, he, yeah, I mean he's, he's very successful in his own right. He's a he's a prof at U of T.

Speaker 1: 22:00

Wow. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:02

Um, right on, Um in biology, right. So I mean again, there's lots of exposure to an exploration of nature and and all of that. So, um, maybe there's some destiny there. Um and um, my sister is, uh, actually involved in triathlon with at the at the Federation level, so she's, um, you know, federated a coach. Um, she's not the national coach, but she did go to Hong Kong as the assistant coach in triathlon. So at the.

Speaker 2: 22:34

Olympics. Yeah, um, yeah. So, and she, she was uh, you know she's biked with a professional biking team. She's also raised as a pro triathlete for a few years, um, on varsity swim teams et cetera. So quite athletic as well.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Wow, yeah. Is that her full time job right now? Yeah, absolutely Wow.

Speaker 2: 22:55

Yeah, she works out of uh Montreal and she's got a troop there that she's like a junior, junior development team and she's got one athlete who she coaches personally, who's on the um um, who's vying for an Olympic spot next year in Paris.

Speaker 1: 23:12

Yeah, Wow, so okay you guys are. You know, it's really neat the way you put it earlier. I'm glad that my parents didn't like overly or heavily wait my sort of achievements because it was about me. Um, I love that. I think that's really sweet. Um what? I wonder how you got three 10 out of 10s right, like you to be as successful as all three of you are. Um, your parents did something right.

Speaker 2: 23:45

It's incredible. You know, yeah, they're both really smart. Yeah, Um and they, but they Chose, yeah, I don't know how to describe it. I mean, they, they looked to support, they looked at us to kind of lead the support that they were going to give. You know, and I so, when I think about what we do, um, I see some similarities there too.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Right, like we're looking at, we're looking at the individual and we're we're saying, like we're seeing, we're seeing them, but they're, they're, they're, they're, they've got a goal and we're trying to figure out how we're going to support them, cue them, get them to their goal or to the closest they can come to their goal. Um and so, yeah, like coaching is a lot like good parenting. That way, good coaching is a lot of good parenting. And so I think that they, um, they've definitely helped me on that trajectory, but that that that's. I think, if I was to identify something, that's, what they did was just just support and um and encourage and help navigate, like my mom definitely um in in school, like I loved everything.

Speaker 2: 25:06

Again, that's you know, why, like triathlon, like I loved art, I loved, um, I loved drafting, I loved, uh, I loved English class. You know, I loved physics, um, and. And so my mom was like, what are you going to do? Like, you know, you, you, you love everything. I don't know what I'm going to do. So she's like, wow, you know what about engineering? Engineering combines kind of it's got like, kind of you know, it's got that problem solving, kind of arts. You got to have a little bit of lateral thinking, plus you got to have the marks in in physics and math. I was like, yeah, sure. So she was the one who went through all the um, all the books and was like, okay, like these are the types of engineering you know that you could go into, so, um, so again, like you know, just helping and guiding and then ultimately, um, making those right choices. I think. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:00

Yeah, it just sounds like this very organic, um sort of interplay between outdoors, nature, um the love of, of education and learning and stuff, and maybe there's somewhere in there that's where the magic was and sort of you know, it was sort of this fertile ground to allow for a lot of this growth.

Speaker 2: 26:22

Yeah, yeah, there was no squashing, no squashing whatsoever. It was a very like genderless house, boundary, less house, and by boundaries I mean too. Yeah, like you combine everything, so nature is combined with education. What are we learning here? It's not just being outside. Like, um, you know science, art coming together, um, you know when it. So again, there's these flash points, right, like um, my physics teacher, who you know, I adore him, but he was frightening. Like a lot of people didn't like being in his class. I mean, it's physics, and he looked like Mr Potato Head. He had this booming voice and there was chalk everywhere all the time, on his face, on his like pockets, and you knew when he'd been to the bathroom because there was like chocolate over his fly and like just like there was just and uh, he had this incredible laugh and and.

Speaker 2: 27:18

But you know, I loved physics and he told me I was in his office asking some questions one day and he said, um, he was like, you know, I sure you're going to have to choose. And I was like, what are you talking about? He's like you're going to have to choose between sports and academics. And I was like, really, um, because that was not what was part of my life at home. You know, there was this boundary list thing that you could do, kind of you could combine, everything was together. And uh, hey, I was out running. Um, sometime after that I was out running and it's this brilliant fall day, fall morning, and it was there's a little bit of dampness in the air and when you've I I looked up at kind of the sun through my eyelashes and I think there was a little bit of like condensation kind of around my eyelashes and my eyelashes. Through my eyelashes, there are these rainbows I don't know if you've ever experienced that Right.

Speaker 2: 28:18

So it's like that's diffraction. And there's again this is a slash point in my memory Like so I was like I'm running, but I'm experiencing a physical phenomenon, like, um, you know, diffraction is the, the wavelength light coming through and then being broken apart into into all the different colors, just like through a prism. But you can do that through little splits, and through my eyelashes the light was diffracting and I was like you know, mr LeMans, my, my physics teacher. I'm like, you're wrong, I don't have to choose. This is physics and this is sport, and they're coming together in this beautiful way, Um, and so I'm not going to choose. Wow.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Yeah. Wow. Um, yeah, and so that's um, that's what's kind of defined my life, I think, and that's definitely, like you said, my parents um allowing us to to explore and combine all of these different things. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:20

Can we stay on that moment? Just for you know. So you have this, you know this, this powerful conversation with him. Um, were you able to come up with that refusal language in the moment, or did you take that, internalize it and then go for that run, and then it hit you?

Speaker 2: 29:40

Um, I didn't turn off my phone, so I oh, that's okay.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Do you want to grab it? It's okay, sure, happens all the time. Um yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:58

No, it was in the moment, definitely with with Missy. I love men Um I I refused, I refused that statement right, then, and there. Yeah, and it was the run that happened after that, where that was the affirmation Right, the refusal.

Speaker 1: 30:16

So you the, you knew like your internal it kind of came from deeper than where you're like, you're like no, and then that affirmation happened, and then that's a, that's a really cool. Um, that's cool.

Speaker 2: 30:30

But, um, but I think we have to. We have to go with with those guts and the what's inside like that and what fuels us, you know, and and what drives us? Um, yeah, what fuels us, what drives us? And I wonder sometimes if, um, that the proving people wrong maybe maybe has been um a bigger part of my life than than it should be. There should have been, but, um, but that's what's kind of led me here, I guess. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Well, I like that. I'm interested in that. It's what other like? Can you talk about that? So this is definitely one area where you were, you've you channeled and it's you were like is there? Has it been other big moments?

Speaker 2: 31:26

Um, I think I mean there is. So any kind of flashpoints? Um, yeah, I think you know, I grew up in a very androgynous way again. So I, whenever people see me or I'm like, oh, people are seeing me as female, and then something as lesser than um, and isn't it's in that moment that I realize that I may be proving people wrong? But so that's another part.

Speaker 2: 32:11

That's not necessarily a flashpoint, but it's been a theme and kind of consistent through my life where I'm like, oh, the expectations for me in this situation are a lot lower than, um, they might be for somebody else. I mean, there's the, there's the, the female um presence. There's also the fact that I have blonde hair and I've always kept it long too, so there's, there's some of that that comes into it. Um, so, you know, chicken or egg is it? Is it, uh, that I realize I'm proving people wrong, or that I'm trying to prove people wrong about what they expect of me? I'm not sure, yeah. But it's not.

Speaker 2: 32:54

It's not a driving like it's not. It's not. I don't enter a triathlon or race um anymore with people expecting me anything less than me at this point anyway. Right, you know there's. It may come up in other areas of my life, but but not not in sport, yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:12

But I love that. I just think that's so like who you are. It just seemed like at this beautiful thread of strength that has been there with you this whole time and you hold it in this like quite elegant tension and it allows you to channel through. I think that's really neat, you know yeah it's really nice.

Speaker 2: 33:33

Have you? Have you had that experience about where? Where does your? I know that this doesn't this is not supposed to be about you, but just like where does your striving come from?

Speaker 1: 33:46

Yeah, that's a hard question. That's a very, that's a very hard question. I think a lot of it comes from and I and I'll you know I'll make sure to.

Speaker 1: 34:04

I want to bring us back to your story, but I think a lot of it comes from a place of of healing and and you know, I know that there's a very common phrase or quote or whatever in in endurance sport, where the, you know they say endurance athletes are running towards something and that was said to me recently and I've heard it before or running away from something, and that was said to me really recently and I said I went back to that same person and he said you know, I feel like that's only half the statement.

Speaker 1: 34:37

I feel like we're also running towards something, and so that, I think, is what really draws me. I'm drawn, I'm drawn to that forward moment and I'm really romantic about life and what I do with it. So I think that's sort of the nutshell. So this kind of brings me to. I'm just looking at my questions. It kind of brings me to, and we've talked about it a little bit. So it sounds like in our timeline we're in university or just sort of wrapping up.

Speaker 2: 35:10

This professor, oh, this was this was this was high school.

Speaker 1: 35:14

Wow Okay.

Speaker 2: 35:16

So this was somewhere around yes, 16. Wow 16.

Speaker 1: 35:23

Okay, that's a really big thing to say to a 16 year old. It is.

Speaker 2: 35:29

It is, yeah, you know, and I I didn't say he was the best teacher, you know he, he got the job done for some of us. Um, yeah, he, you know he, he had no right to say that, really, um, and I just wonder, like for me it was fine, it was fuel to the fire. It's obviously again this very salient memory, though, yeah, like it impacted me and that it triggered something. I just wonder all the other poor students that maybe um had other things said to them, that that it didn't or it didn't work out so well, you know Right. And.

Speaker 2: 36:13

I, um, you know, as a coach, and it does make me think, like it's a great question, because it does make me think about the my philosophy as a coach and I it it is one of those things where you got to be really careful about what you say. You know, because you're in this position of authority and they look, you know, the athletes look up to you and your clients look up to you and, um, you know, just playing that line and between being honest and authentic and um and um, not putting, uh, a thought or a narrative in someone's head about something that they can't do, you know, or something that they are right now or they are doing right now, but that doesn't make sure that they don't come away thinking that that defines them. Um, yeah, so so, um, those, those moments are really important, um, in in that position of power or position of authority. I know what's the right word.

Speaker 1: 37:24

They're a position of yeah, we'd look at it both of those things it is powered is authority. You know, as a 16 year old you we're looking at these adults as these like tower, like these talismans of just power and authority. So it's quite shocking to hear they. It's such a um, it's almost um abuse of that power and authority to be able to. But it's so cool you were able to stand there and refuse it in that moment and that you've held it as a flash point.

Speaker 2: 37:58

Yeah, not that you don't have to choose.

Speaker 1: 38:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:01

Yeah, and sport, a triathlon. I don't have to choose one sport.

Speaker 1: 38:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:06

Um yeah, but that, but that kind of that coming again, that that no boundary thing I think I do um, for me anyway it's, it's the no boundary and respecting that, the person as the athlete. I think those two things come into a really important in the way that I, that I coach um, because I do think that every individual, um, we, we can solve the problem of the individual Right. So so I heard on one of your other podcasts, the the neurologist, talking about how for every surgery there's the plan and how every surgery never goes according to plan, and I feel like that's like every athlete right, they come in, you're like from a swimming perspective anyway, you're like this is the theoretical perfect technique, but nobody, nobody's body, can actually do that theoretical perfect technique. So we, we work to um, cue them, encourage them, use all the you know, verbal cues, visual cues, um, kinesthetic cues, and if they can't get there, then we got to figure out. We got to, we got to use that solution mentality and figure out how we're going to get them to move the most efficiently possible, even if they can't be perfect.

Speaker 2: 39:26

Um, and, and it is that, you know, to me it's that blending together Of, of um, all the different kinds of disciplines and the way of thinking, and and to try to get that athlete, um to move the best way possible, um. So so, yeah, I miss you a lot, man. You can do both and both compliment each other.

Speaker 2: 39:52

They're both important.

Speaker 1: 39:53

Yeah, and you've built a beautiful career on, you know, on exactly that. You know it's what's just hitting me just listening to uh, to you describe your. It sounds like you've you're really starting to pull a lot of the pieces out of your philosophy, on on, on how you approach people, and it sounds like it's. I love it. It's just like coming from a place of abundance. And I remember I had, uh, I had a um.

Speaker 1: 40:19

I worked up the courage, I emailed you guys and you got on the phone with me. You booked a call with me and I think I was in the car. We might have both been in our cars, um, but I was telling you, I was trying to tell you why I shouldn't do this, and you spent that call telling me why I should and I had left that call feeling like she actually thinks I can do this, and you had the most, the best uh advice for me and you, you use um. I told you that I was big and you were, and then you used an example of this other person who was also big, and it was like okay, I can do this, I'm going to do this, and I haven't looked back.

Speaker 2: 41:04

I. That's the thing. We have these narratives right, and we have these narratives about what we can and can't do, and I've seen it so many times that it's built on false premises. It's built on these things we've been told, or these singular experiences when, when we're young, or when we're older, as we move through life, um, but like, if you use that, you know, if we go with my dad, let's go with my dad, and uh, you know there are no problems, only solutions. And those narratives aren't true. You know, and as an engineer like I do, you know, I've seen it multiple times you know, like you can figure it out as an individual, as a pair, as a group, like you just figure it out, you figure out how to do it. And so, yeah, I'm glad you were receptive to that, because it's true. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 42:01

It's true in every case.

Speaker 1: 42:03

Yep, and and, and what you outlined, like I, I was unique, for sure, in the sense that, like the advice that you told me in that phone call, actually ended up being the exact advice every single coach gave me, still gives me, and you know, and it was working, you know, and so each session I seem to be getting better and enjoying it more and more. Right, and so you know. Imagine, you know, if we were to parallel that, like if, uh, if you had not been the person you are and you had told me, no, you're too big, or this or that, or I would never have tried. And so it's so neat that, um, your philosophy is quite literally the reason why I'm in the pool and following through on this board and you did your Iron man.

Speaker 1: 42:52

Yes, the best, the best experience.

Speaker 2: 42:58

Yeah, I've never had an athlete or heard any story about someone's mandible gramping.

Speaker 1: 43:07

Oh, did you, did you listen to? Oh, I did yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:11

I, you know that's, that's, that's intense, intense with a capital, I um, but I'm glad you went through it because now I know it's possible.

Speaker 1: 43:23

Yeah, had it not been so intense and ridiculous, I don't know if I would have been able to find the humor in it. Like in that moment I was like this is so ridiculous, your face. And then like I'm there, I'm like grinding out my jaw. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:41

It all worked out, but it's a hilarious story now, um, so like can we talk a little bit about? So you get into university and and one of my questions that's not on my list but it's coming up is um, do you think, did you know, that you were going to go the entrepreneurial route or the coaching route all along, or did you? Did you find that out later?

Speaker 2: 44:04

Yeah, so I've thought about that a lot, um, um, there's, there's some, you know, there's some precursors to my life trajectory. My dad is an entrepreneur, um, and it's like a serial entrepreneur, so he is constantly thinking up ways to to make money, um, and so that was already in my, in my bones, and I had already, um, you know, I, I designed and sold jewelry when I was younger. Wow, um, and, and then I'd also coach. So I'd done a little bit of coaching, um, just on a volunteer basis and and kind of with my friends, again as a, as a teenager, and then I, so I'm in university and, uh, I'm, I'm swimming with the with the varsity team and, you know, as a walk on, I just I was running with the, with the, with the cross country and track groups and decided that it was.

Speaker 2: 45:12

I couldn't handle the work out load with engineering and swimming seemed a little bit more, uh, less intense because the year was longer, so I had a little bit more time to kind of just lay it out and prep and the term walk on.

Speaker 1: 45:26

I've heard that before, but what's, what's that?

Speaker 2: 45:28

I just showed up at practice. Oh okay, like I wasn't recruited, I was in a tent when I went to university for me to actually swim. Oh and again, like I was, I was mediocre at everything. Like I didn't, it was. U of T regularly wins the university championships. They've got um multiple uh, you know the the years that I was swimming there were um multiple Olympians on the team, you know like like it's, it's high, high class, um, so I just like anyway.

Speaker 2: 45:59

So I walked on Byron. Byron, I was, I, you know I didn't drown, I was good enough and so he let me swim, um, and I, I did reasonably well under there, coaching as well. Like I, I made CIs and I won a medal with a bunch of Olympians. He, and like there was no one else that everybody had. You've got these quotas at at meets, like you know when they swim, and you'll you'll discover this you're going to sign up for some meets Maybe. Yes.

Speaker 2: 46:25

So you have these quotas, like you can't swim every event, you can only swim a certain number. And then you've got like you're, you're allowed to two relays per per person, right, Like so you can kind of fill your relays, but you're only allowed to Sean, you'd only be allowed to do the swim to, so they'd run out of people, right, Basically. And so, like I was the last one left and they had a relay and they needed points, and so they're like Asia, you're going to swim with these three Olympians and I'm like okay.

Speaker 2: 46:50

And they put me as anchor. Like I've, I swam my heart out, um, anyway, so I ended up winning a medal. Uh, but do not lose this. Um, so, so, as a walk on, and he, he, um, a master's team was starting at the University of Toronto and he asked me to coach they, they, the facility, asked him to find a coach and he asked me. I've asked him multiple times, cause we still talk, we're still friends.

Speaker 2: 47:25

I've asked Byron multiple times like, why? Why like, why me? Why did you choose me? Cause it. It ultimately did lead into everything here, I think. And he's like I don't know, like he literally was like, just right, he makes it seem like it's just kind of a random, just like whatever. Okay, I find that hard to believe in the way that he works and the way that he identifies and like, identifies people and kind of like susses people out. But he has no recollection as to why he chose me. But, yeah, so I coached the master's team at the University of Toronto until I was done university, wow, mm-hmm, again, no experience, like I don't know. He wrote the first workout, he showed up to help me, or basically run the first workout with me and then he was gone, like that was it, and then I was left to figure it out. So yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:22

Which I guess I did.

Speaker 1: 48:23

And you, yeah, you forged your own coach toolbox and you talk about baptism by fire. Yeah, Like you're like thrown right into it.

Speaker 2: 48:31

Yeah, yeah, but it worked.

Speaker 1: 48:33

And did you enjoy it? Were you like this is me, this is.

Speaker 2: 48:38

Yeah, I mean you know it's hard. Coaching is a hard vocation in a lot of ways and a lot of situations, but I always got a pretty big like. There was an adrenaline. There's a bit of a buzz going in and coming out of every coaching session. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:01

And so maybe it's just that dopamine. For whatever reason, that made me love it or and again. I got good feedback which I don't know if you can relate to, but when you do something and there's all this gratitude that comes back at you and kind of this success circle, there's a lot of positive reinforcement there to keep doing that, you know so.

Speaker 1: 49:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:31

And that's one of the best things about coaching.

Speaker 1: 49:33

It's so rewarding, yeah, and it pays, yeah, it's a non-monetary. It's probably my favorite part about coaching is just what you get out of it. That has nothing to do with money or it's just you. Just you did something, you were able to create that touch point with that person and it's the best. And they're gonna remember it forever, yeah. So you started building your coaching experience as you are setting up for this life of engineering.

Speaker 2: 50:09

Yeah, so it was a job. It was a job while I was studying and then when I got an engineering job right away out of university, so I went to that. So I worked in engineering. I did not coach, for I don't remember any significant coaching in any case, for the eight years seven years that I worked as an engineer, I was incredibly lucky because I came out of university in 2001 and some of your listeners may know, but 2001 was the internet kind of bubble crash, whatever. So I was hired as a manufacturing engineer for one of those companies who went bankrupt. So I was hired on the Nortel team.

Speaker 1: 51:02

Oh, Nortel of all Nortel.

Speaker 2: 51:04

Nortel. It was a huge. They had a huge engineering team that was responsible for their products. But they went bust and so I was super lucky because my boss at the time got. He was targeted at the company that I was working for as management and they wanted to keep him on. So he got moved to a different team and tons of people got laid off Again. I don't know, I just have a horseshoe. I really do somewhere that I probably shouldn't. But he pulled me onto his team and he was pulled into a finance role and we were called cost engineers, but it was finance and so I learned all the back end Like I learned all the back end of how to make a business profitable, basically, and I'm forever thankful for that because that set me up. When I started my own thing, I was like I could look at how to cost and how to price things out, and I really truly believe that it's fine what I do People like what I do and I'm good at what I do from a non-site perspective.

Speaker 2: 52:23

But it's that back end that allowed me to, or that knowledge of the back end that allowed me to keep moving forward. So yeah, so I worked in that engineering until I decided to resign or leave and try to qualify for the Olympics and then broke my heel and then that's kind of stage two of my life. So everything Jane Fondo talks about her life in three acts and right now, up to this point, I do see it as two or three acts there's up until university and then up until when I broke my foot and then after that. Those are kind of the three acts so far.

Speaker 1: 53:10

Act one would be leading up to university, and then university onward was act two.

Speaker 2: 53:14

Yeah, Until 2008 and then 2008 to present as act three as business owner and some, you know, also an Ironman. It was after 2008 that I did my own Ironman and mom and then kind of expanding business owner, I guess bigger bigger stuff.

Speaker 1: 53:44

You know this leads perfectly into my next questions, but I just want to comment Like it's really interesting. As somebody in the coaching world it's very much this iceberg visual for me.

Speaker 1: 53:54

So, it's like you know people, people know Asia as this amazing athlete, right, but that's what they see. And then that back end stuff is like all the stuff under the water. They have no idea how much work it takes to get that product to market to the athlete. And then also it's neat to hear how you learn that like right, and you're like nothing's linear. You're going one direction and then it went this way and then you took those skills and now they're here. So could you talk a little bit about what it's like being an entrepreneur balancing family and I know that you're still training, because, believe me or correct me if I'm wrong did you not go and win the San Francisco Alcatraz race?

Speaker 2: 54:46

Yeah, yeah this year. So I won the age group yeah. So um yeah, it was good. I mean there was intent behind that. I do love that race but um I I don't have a lot of time to train um, but I did try to, having known the race. So this is the second year I did it, I did.

Speaker 1: 55:06

Okay.

Speaker 2: 55:09

And really target the hours that I had towards the outcome that I wanted.

Speaker 1: 55:14

Yeah, Just, it sounds like a story that you told me about a 12 year old. I mean right, yes, yeah, that reverse engineering. Yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 55:30

So answer the question yeah.

Speaker 1: 55:32

Well, I, I want to, I want to hear about that, that race, but but why don't uh, why don't we?

Speaker 2: 55:38

yeah, so uh the balance, yeah, um, yeah, so, um, it's, it's a little. It's tricky right now, definitely, to balance everything, especially if we're talking about, like, health, right? So when you as a as a business owner, um, as a, as a mom, um, and as an athlete, um, trying to prioritize is, is is not easy. I think that, from an entrepreneurial perspective, I again, I have a great team, um, who, uh, I, this, this ship would not be running the way it is without, without them. I have tried, and, and this needs to change a little bit. I've been told this needs to change a little bit as the organization grows, but it's a fairly flat organization.

Speaker 2: 56:48

So the, the coaches and and the staff have a lot of autonomy and they're really self-directed. So that is helpful, because I'm I don't have to, I'm not on that all the time. I have to make sure everything is in play for them to do the best job that they can do, but I'm not telling them how to do their job, um, I'm letting them be the experts, um, and encouraging that, so encouraging the diversity in the staff and and how, the how they, because I trust them. So that's helpful. Um, the, the office, the office, uh, so the office is run by an incredible, incredible woman. Right now and again, she um is that Karen?

Speaker 1: 57:39

Yeah, bless her, she's great.

Speaker 2: 57:42

Like yeah.

Speaker 2: 57:44

If, if I disappeared for three weeks, like again, like speaking of like just getting it, she would just get it done. She would like figure it out and be like I don't know where Asia is, yeah, but here we go, this is what's going to happen, you know. So I, I get, I have a lot of faith and trust in that Um, so that's really helpful from a business perspective. I also don't have um like a bricks and mortar lease too, so, like, all of these things help the business run, um, um, so I, I don't have a ton of stress that way, even though it's still a lot of work. My, my husband is absolutely incredible. He's like the best partner, the best dad, so it's not up to me to do everything. You know he does. He's the lead parent in a lot of cases. He took paternity leave for a year. Wow.

Speaker 1: 58:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 58:39

Yeah, he took paternity leave for the year. For year I mean, I was back on deck coaching, you know, within seven days after my third kid. That's. That's because Mike, just you know, he was there, um and uh, you know, as an athlete I would say again, so this is kind of it was helping all the balance right. So I'm not, I'm not doing everything and as an athlete I've again, I just try to refine it so that I'm really trying to focus on the areas that are most important for whatever race I've chosen to do. So, like I, I still sprint in the pool. So I'll do my fifties and hundreds in the pool and so I, you know, do my best to focus on what's required for that 30 second race. And then I'll go and do Alcatraz, which is a two hour and 45 minute race, and I'll really try to focus on what needs to be done to get that done. So, with the hours that I have, yeah, it just sounds.

Speaker 1: 59:38

none of this stuff is ever easy, but it sounds like you have a lot of trust, A lot of trust in the people around me.

Speaker 2: 59:47

I trust I also really focus on sleep. So sleep is really important in terms of staying on top of things and staying healthy and trying to keep my patients up with everything and eating properly. All of those things help you be able to balance everything, Even though it takes work. I think, in the end, the extra 15 minutes you take to prep your food or to, or the extra hour that you don't watch TV and you go to bed instead, like all of those things help you be able to maintain balance.

Speaker 1: 1:00:32

You're such a coach, right, like that's. You know how. We say that every day, right, and we love our athletes and our clients and stuff, but it's really hard. That's the hardest thing. That's the first thing they go. You know I have a lot going on. I'm stressed out so I'm not sleeping. I've got a lot going on and I'm working really hard and I'm stressed out and I'm not eating right. Those are the first two right, and like that's a pillar for you to be able to be and show up as the person. You are right, there's a lot of wisdom right there.

Speaker 1: 1:01:09

It's really hard to do that.

Speaker 2: 1:01:11

It's hard to do, but I think too, like just the creative problem solving thing too, like helping them, and it's part of the way that I run my life finding exercise in places that may not have been obvious to you before too. You know like I bike my kids and run my kids as much as I can places. You know that's the benefit of being in Toronto is that the distances are fairly short and they're fairly accessible. I bike places as much as I can myself. You know there's this idea. I think it might have been Peter Atilia who talked with this.

Speaker 2: 1:01:50

I could be wrong, but you know, like the mini sessions that you're just dropping and doing like 20 push-ups, like these types of things you can work into your day. But you have to set up those expectations. Like I usually wear, you know, spandex from six am until 10 pm at night, and then I am ready to then run my kids somewhere, right, like I have an opportunity that I can do that. But it's also the way that I set up the expectations of myself. You know I'm not gonna wear high heels during the day.

Speaker 2: 1:02:26

I'm gonna wear my running shoes. I'm gonna be ready to go. So I try to encourage my athletes to think about that as well. And from a food perspective, I think it's really important to have the mindset too, like when you eat a spinach salad like set your mind up to actually enjoy that spinach salad. This is not a sacrifice. You're making this choice chew the spinach, taste it, enjoy it and kind of have that whole experience with the choices that you're making.

Speaker 1: 1:03:04

Right a relationship with food like that. Salad's not a punishment, it's quite the opposite.

Speaker 2: 1:03:11

It's quite the opposite. Like you know that bitterness of some of these vegetables, like how is that? How does that make you feel Like? Try to think about the good in it. Yeah, like, how does that tomato taste? And I think. Once you do that too, you start to make better choices about the quality of your food, if you can, if you have the opportunity to do that too.

Speaker 1: 1:03:38

So when it comes to selecting a race, do you? I guess I have like 50 million questions here. When it comes to selecting a race, how does that? How do you decide what you wanna do with the little time that you have? Yeah, it's called Escape from Alcatraz. Yeah, okay, now it's coming to me. So how did you decide on that one?

Speaker 2: 1:04:09

It was a bucket list, so we had like three channels on the TV. We didn't have a TV right, we were out mushroom picking for the most part on the weekends. But when we did get a TV, finally we had like three channels or two channels. And Escape from Alcatraz was aired on CBC some time in my teens and it came up when I was watching and I was like, wow, this is amazing. So it took me 30 years to sign up for it, but I did, and so it was just it was a bucket list with my husband, mike.

Speaker 1: 1:04:44

So, and when you saw that show, was it like a movie about like Al Capone or something?

Speaker 2: 1:04:51

No, it was a documentary about the race.

Speaker 1: 1:04:54

This race is 30 years old.

Speaker 2: 1:04:55

Oh, this race is. I think it's 40 years old. Wow. I think they told us a lot. They said it and now I can't remember the exact, but I think it's 40 years old. Yeah, it's one of the oldest.

Speaker 1: 1:05:06

Really that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 1:05:08

They used to. They've changed it now because it's changed hands and it's now corporate, even though it's really well run. Like it's amazing. It feels like small town. Feels like small town when you do it, but they used to. They used to ferry them out and you jumped off the Brit, like off the dock, on from Alcatraz, into the water, Like that was the original incarnation of it, and you swam to shore. And then you did a point to point bike. You biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and then you ran from, cause it's pretty hilly there. You ran from one of the bottom bottom areas to the top of one of the mountainous areas over on the other side and that was the original incarnation of the race.

Speaker 1: 1:05:48

Wow. So no loop back to transition, no loop back.

Speaker 2: 1:05:51

You jumped off the dock and you just biked and ran for your life.

Speaker 1: 1:05:55

Yeah, yeah, that sounds so cool.

Speaker 2: 1:05:57

I know, and you finished at the top of, like, the top of the cliff, like you just ran straight up, like it was. Again, I'd have to look at the map. But, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:06:09

So you was a bucket list for you.

Speaker 2: 1:06:10

For sure, yeah, and I couldn't do it before cause I was racing and then I had kids and like. So I felt like that was the time.

Speaker 1: 1:06:18

Yeah, and you go and win it. Yes, that's amazing. How did that feel like it? So it was this 30 year old bucket list and you go and win it.

Speaker 2: 1:06:30

Yeah, it felt good Again, like the podium stuff is, it's a nice cherry, but if, especially at the stage of my life, I can't get too fixated on that because that would set myself up for a lot of disappointment given all the variables right. So it felt really good, it's fun, it's fun to win. The best thing is that when you win, you get a free entry the next year.

Speaker 3: 1:06:59

So I may go again. You're gonna go again, yeah, or might go again. Might go again, yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 1: 1:07:05

That's so cool. I so I think I saw on your Instagram. I'm pretty sure I saw on your Instagram. I went and researched it and I was like this race, so there's sharks. How do you deal with that?

Speaker 2: 1:07:21

So yeah, the sharks exist. They really market this race to be intimidating and to have all these elements that could bring you fear interpretation. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:07:41

The reality is the sharks that are there. I don't think they've ever had an incident and they may be vegetarian, I can't remember, but there's something. There are great white sharks, but they don't come in. Something about, they don't come in that far. There is a breeding ground kilometers out there, but I don't think the great whites, I don't think the great whites come in. It's not the great whites they're talking about. They're underneath somewhere. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08:04

Nowhere in my search about this race did I ever read anything like that. Right, it was all there was definitely sharks. I even went, I think I commented on like a thread underneath the races. I asked I was like, are there real sharks? And then there was like 20 comments, like yes, real sharks.

Speaker 2: 1:08:23

Yes, I'll go look. I don't think they're a threat. They're not a threat for some reason. Anyway, that's what I, that's my, that was my mindset that they're not a threat. So it was more about swimming as fast as I could. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08:40

Did you think about sharks while you were swimming?

Speaker 2: 1:08:42

No, not at all.

Speaker 1: 1:08:43

Not once no.

Speaker 2: 1:08:44

Oh my God, yeah, no one's. Yeah, if you're curious, you should do it.

Speaker 1: 1:08:47

It's a great race, I so I, it's funny, I, my family, lived in Antioch, california, which is about like it's kind of like like living in Mississauga or something. My dad worked in San Francisco for three years and we lived there and he was a tackle board and he was a tech reporter covering the internet of all things and and so I kind of you know I saw that like and I would go to Alcatraz every year as a school trip. Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:09:20

So there's something for me there, and when I saw it I was like this could be cool, but I gotta admit the sharks freaked me out. I just you know, I don't know, you're not the one.

Speaker 2: 1:09:31

You're not the one that they're gonna take.

Speaker 1: 1:09:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:09:36

And if you are like what a story man.

Speaker 1: 1:09:39

What, what if I am? What yeah?

Speaker 2: 1:09:42

Right, I mean, is this morbid? But like. It's how we went out. Come on yeah. Doing what you love.

Speaker 1: 1:09:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:09:49

The one time in history.

Speaker 1: 1:09:51

I'll be the one stat the one. Just looked so juicy.

Speaker 2: 1:09:55

That's right.

Speaker 1: 1:09:56

You know he, they looked up at him and they were like he's the guy, that's the one. Let's go get him. Oh my God, so okay, so that's, that's so good. Like you, you go and you and you crush this, this, this cool race. What's next?

Speaker 2: 1:10:16

So Alcatraz again. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:10:22

I've always wanted to have a, a master's swim record. So maybe, maybe, looking at that and again trying to figure out what the what the path is to have a something, something in stone there or on the internet and trying to bring more, bring more athletes into Team Atomica and expand it so that I can continue to build and keep the coaches engaged and employed. Like I really love feeling like I'm contributing to, you know, the athletes' lives, but also the coaches' livelihoods and the economy. So I, like that's one of the things that I strive for is to keep doing that. That makes me happy.

Speaker 1: 1:11:26

Yeah, let the can we talk about Atomica and like what's next in it, and so here's a question for you. So where can? We're gonna send out this newsletter together that we are collaborating on. We're gonna get this podcast out, so where can people find you?

Speaker 2: 1:11:49

We do have a website, so teamatomicacom is the best place. There is an Instagram account as well Team Atomica, I think, yeah, hashtag Team Atomica, and Facebook as well. So all of those places. And we have a social media person, kim Randall, who manages those accounts, so she's super responsive. And then the email addresses are all there on the all three of those places if you wanted to reach out.

Speaker 1: 1:12:23

And all of those links will be all clickable in like on our Instagram and on the podcast listing and all that stuff. So that's good, but sometimes people are like listening and they might scribble something down. So I mean so it's teamatomicacom, go check it out. And the fall session information has just been posted. It's ready to go, and I always found I was delighted and comforted by the fact that I felt like when I showed up in my first swim session, how I understood what was going on.

Speaker 1: 1:13:09

So when you arrive, there's a workout discussion. It could go on the whiteboard or it could be handed out like on a car, depending on the nature of the session, and that was so similar to what my world is. So when you arrive for your first CrossFit class, or if you're a CrossFitter already, that's exactly what happens. So you roll in. There's usually a bit of a greeting. You know everybody sort of knows each other, or, if they don't, we get to know each other. We talk about the workout. There's a warmup For the CrossFitters at this club and for some of the people in our surrounding area.

Speaker 1: 1:13:46

Don't come to our club, but our CrossFitters. You'll love being walking in. You're gonna understand the structure right away. It's very, very similar in its design and if you're like me, you thought you're walking into a place where everybody is just a collegiate swimmer. It's so dynamic, just like a CrossFit class. You're gonna have people with a ton of experience but zero ego, and then you're gonna have a lot of people just out there getting after it and like that has been my experience.

Speaker 2: 1:14:27

Yeah, we've tried to build it that way so that it is very, very accessible but also very welcoming from the athlete's perspective and from the coaching perspective. It's definitely part of the philosophy that, again, everybody is able, we can make it work we can figure it out.

Speaker 2: 1:14:54

But that also in a group session there are different personalities and trying to understand how to have that group dynamic, work and even when the conflict does arise or something arises again, because the coaches are really trying to work with the athletes and trying to create this cohesive group, we do try to manage that. I feel like that's part of our job to make the group function Absolutely and I would love to give one more.

Speaker 1: 1:15:32

I wanna share a quick story. So Kelvin, in my first session in my first season, was really patient, working with me as my ability to hold my breath increased and eventually he got me to, I believe, what was a five one or a five two pattern. Is that the right terms when you would take five one, five, two, the right terms where you would take five strokes, typically one breath, or if I needed two recovery breaths I would take two. So that was kind of where my swimming ended off by the time I arrived at my Gravenhurst race this season.

Speaker 1: 1:16:16

So I jumped off the boat in Gravenhurst and, for whatever reason, there was one of the buckles in my goggles that came undone, like, of course, on race day. Maybe I did it out of nerves, I don't know, but my goggles wouldn't stay attached, especially the one side, so they kept filling with water and I get to the halfway point and I'm so frustrated, so mad, and I keep flipping onto my side, taking the water out of this side of the goggles, and I remember at that moment Calvin saying five, two breathing pattern. So I pulled my goggles down on my neck and I turn around the buoy and I close my eyes and I go into that five, two pattern blind and the only time I'm seeing is when I'm coming up and sighting and it's blurry. But it was enough. And if I didn't have that, I don't know. I mean, maybe it would have breath stroking. I would have gotten through anyways, but that gave me a comfort in a dark moment. I'm glad I remembered that story. I always wanted to share that with you.

Speaker 2: 1:17:32

So brilliant. His way of coaching has been super impactful on so many athletes Like. He has brought so many athletes up to the level you're talking about and then through so much more. So I'm glad you can give him kudos to that. And it's just, it's having that mantra right. It's that doing it over and over again in practice and then being able to tap into that in a race is super important. Maybe we can talk next time about swimming without goggles once in a while in the pool to prep yourself for even more extreme situations. You know like, oh, that's a good idea, right. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:18:18

So I'm glad you're talking about your equipment malfunctions. What do you do? Right, cause what I've learned through triathlon like it's gonna go wrong, it's gonna go wrong, it's gonna go wrong, you gotta try to work through all those situations or like, have these problems kind of again that solution mentality and talk to the right people like Karen, probably prevented, or your coach and whoever else was guiding you through the Ironman probably prevented you know a thousand things from going wrong because you were prepared for it right, but yeah, she was invaluable.

Speaker 1: 1:18:53

Yeah, okay, so I wanna respect your time. Thank you so much. I know you drove across the entire city to come here, so I really appreciate sitting down, getting to know you and learning more about Team Atomica. So, leaves, look out for info that's gonna be coming down the pipe from me just about how to sign up and get involved with Atomica. With me over this fall and winter session. That's gonna pop us out into the spring next year as better swimmers. And just thanks so much.

Speaker 2: 1:19:27

You're welcome MUSIC.