- We're hear in Chattanooga
at the 70.3 Ironman World Championships,
just a couple of days before the race,
and the reigning world champion, Holly Lawrence,
has said that she'd like to have a chat with us.
So, we're just outside her hotel.
We're gonna go and find her and ask her a few questions.
(lively electronic musi)
- Thanks, Holly, for joining us.
Well, obviously we were chatting earlier,
and you were saying about your injury a few months ago.
I know as an athlete, it's that constant balance,
of how you're pushing yourself hard enough,
but staying injury-free.
How do you find that balance?
How do you work that out?
- Yeah, well last year it was all about being consistent.
The year before, I had kind of up and down results,
because of just putting together
a really couple of hard weeks, and then being floored by it.
This year, I had a really consistent winter,
and my last year results showed after a consistent year.
I actually got an injury
which was unrelated to an overuse or anything,
as most kind of injuries are
of pushing yourself or whatever,
where I kind of pinged it on a rock
coming out of an ocean swim.
So, it was just one of those unfortunate things,
and I'm lucky that it's kind of healed up now.
Yeah, I'd lost a bit of running, but we'll see.
- But how do you,
so you know, you've,
I don't think lucky's the right word,
but with that, how do you manage
how much you can push your body,
and what do you listen to to cut it back?
- [Holly] Yeah, well I'm very in tune with just how I feel,
and I think I've been doing it enough now that,
to just trust what I think
and what my body tells me ultimately.
I'm lucky that the coaches that I work with
are very science-based,
so usually the numbers back up how I feel anyways,
so it's not like we're contradicting each other.
- What do you measure, then?
What numbers do they take?
- So, it's all like stress scores,
because of the power data and heart rate data
and everything that comes out of my training,
mainly on the bike
because it's the biggest kind of commitment.
Train Sharp, my cycling coaching company,
they track all of that, and they can see if my stress level,
like the total stress balance is elevated,
that you know it's only gonna be a matter time
that I'm gonna be ill or injured or whatever.
So, that's taken away a lot of the guesswork behind that.
- Do you find when they tell you that,
that you normally are like, "Oh, yeah."
It adds up with how you're feeling?
Or does sometimes it surprises you,
and you're like, "No, I'm fine."
- Yeah and no.
Pretty much, the data always reflects how I feel.
Like if I'm feeling really tired or whatever,
you can look back on the last how many weeks,
and it's like, "Yeah, it's okay, I'm supposed to be tired.
"It's because of this, and I need a bit more rest,"
or whatever it is, yeah.
- That's cool.
I saw you changed that recently with that.
Was it a few years ago then,
when you go to working more with numbers?
- I was originally with Train Sharp years ago,
and then when I first went into 70.3,
I went for a full triathlon coach.
Then after my first year of hit and miss results,
and going into spirals of overtraining and fatigue,
I went back to Train Sharp.
That was the beginning of last year,
so it would run up to World Champs,
and then all of this winter, so yeah.
- So, it's working for you?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Cool.
- Yeah, for me it's just dealing with what I can control,
and you know, whether it all goes wrong,
or if you have a great day,
you can only do what you're going to do.
As long as you swim, bike, and run as best as you can
you can look at yourself afterwards,
and do the best that you can do,
then you've got to be happy with it, no matter what.
That's honestly how,
what I think about.
I don't get stressed out about it so much.
Yeah, obviously there's a bit more pressure this year,
being kind of the defending world champion.
But that just kind of gets,
the slate's wiped clean.
- [Heather] Yeah, it's another race.
- Yeah, so, yeah.
- And what about actual like, you know,
irrelevant of the expectation,
like as athletes I think,
especially a lot of our viewers,
who will have race day nerves,
irrelevant of what level you're racing at.
I still get race day nerves, whatever the race is.
Do you get them, and if so,
how do you deal with those nerves
irrelevant of the pressure, just the actual like?
- Yeah, I mean everyone,
I mean, but there are things that fuel you as well,
so like, you know,
you have a lot of coffee in the morning as well,
so it kind of heightens that,
but I'm all about positive energy in the morning,
and I know that sounds very hippie-ish,
and it's not at all.
But, I go around hugging everyone I know in transition,
and I kind of have a love for people,
and people think I'm not taking it seriously,
and taking the mick, but that's just my way of,
like if I have fun, and I'm easy-breezy,
then I'm gonna have a good day.
So, yeah, that's what I do.
- I think that's awesome to hear,
and I'm sure a lot of our viewers
could take something from that.
You ready?
Before you race, would you rather eat
(Heather laughing)
I'm sorry.
(beeping)
Alright, before you race,
would you rather eat an entire chocolate cake
(Holly laughing)
or, wait for it,
or drink three litres of fizzy drink
and you couldn't pee?
Which would you do?
- Chocolate cake, without a doubt.
- [Heather] Would you?
- Maybe a gluten-free one, though.
- [Heather] Fussy, here.
(Holly laughing)
If you had to run in flippers, or swim in trainers?
- Swim in trainers, definitely.
Injury prevention.
(Holly and Heather laughing)
- [Heather] I like this.
She's thinking very logically, here.
Would you rather do the run section running on the spot,
or doing the bike section on a children's bike?
- Oh, bike on a children's bike,
but--
- [Heather] But I'm not sure what you're not about.
(Heather laughing)
What were you gonna go with?
- Obviously, bike on a children's bike.
- Okay, what was your caveat?
- Well, obviously performance is out the window,
so I don't know really.
- Yeah, no earnings on that race.
Would you rather run in the winter wearing beach clothes,
or run in the summer wearing ski clothes?
- Only because I'm used to it,
run in the winter wearing beach clothes.
- Would you rather run the cycle distance,
or swim the run distance?
- Run the cycle distance.
- Wow, run 56 miles.
- Yeah.
- Cool.
- I couldn't do that much swimming.
(Holly laughing)
- Bet you could.
So Holly, thank you so much for your time.
It's been a real insight into, well, life as a pro,
and been really interesting, so thank you.
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