The Madeline and Becca Podcast

The remote race course with Kate Coward

Episode Summary

Kate Coward recently left her career as a global finance executive to found Luce Line Brewing in Minnesota. She's also the founder of Full Potential Coaching, a tailored coaching business for endurance level athletes. As an accomplished endurance athlete, Kate will take us to the remote race course, where the conditions are arctic, moose attacks are prevalent, and exhaustion brings hallucination. Kate will discuss the importance of mental positivity, how she uses blocking and tackling to defeat negative thoughts, and how you can build confidence by faking it until you have it.

Episode Notes

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On The Madeline & Becca Podcast, we chat with leading women from a variety of industries about their career journeys and how they developed professional self-confidence. 

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Episode Transcription

Episode #13: The remote race course with Kate Coward 

 

Kate [00:00:01] I think I was born with a strong mental toughness. And so, I've had very low points in my life, but I've always been able to bring myself out of them. And these races in particular really do challenge your mind. I mean, there are times where your mind will start to wander, and you start to get into this negative cycle, and you have to kind of rein yourself back in. I remember my first Arrowhead years ago and I got into this pack of a few guys and there was this one, this one guy who had done the race many times and other ultras and I, I kept saying, like, "how long or how long is this gonna be?" Because it was warm and so we were walking, and we could barely ride our bikes. And we walked for hours and hours and hours and more hours. And I didn't bring enough food for that many hours. And, you know, I said, I said something like, "I came to ride my bike and not to, not to walk," you know, something really sad and pathetic. And he just, he said, "Kate, like, you can't do that. You just gotta, you gotta stay positive. You've got enough time. One foot in front of the other." And I'll never forget that, because literally at that moment in that race and ever since then, it has been something that I have used everywhere I go. [Music transition].

 

Madeline & Becca [00:01:32] Welcome to The Madeline and Becca Podcast. The mission of our podcast is simple, to inspire professional self-confidence in women everywhere. I'm Madeline. And I'm Becca on our podcast, you will hear stories from real world influencers, women who have experienced tremendous success in their careers by building self-confidence. Thanks for joining us. [Music transition]

 

Becca [00:02:11] On today's episode, Madeline will be interviewing Kate Coward. Kate recently left her career as a global finance executive to found Luce Line Brewing in Minnesota. She's also the founder of Full Potential Coaching, a tailored coaching business for endurance level athletes. Kate spent 15 years in corporate finance spanning roles at G.E., Polaris and most recently serving as a divisional CFO at Cantel Medical. Having accomplished what she wanted in her finance career, Kate knew that she wanted to be her own boss and to bring the community together in an energetic way. She spent several years preparing to be able to leave her job and clear the mental headspace to found a business. As an accomplished endurance athlete, Kate will take us to the remote racecourse where the conditions are Arctic, moose attacks are prevalent, and exhaustion brings hallucination. Kate will discuss the importance of mental positivity, how she uses blocking and tackling to defeat negative thoughts, and how you can build confidence by faking it until you have it. Here's Madeline. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:03:24] For our listeners who are considering a career switch and, you know, maybe they have quite a few years into their belt or, and you know they've been thinking about this and deliberating. What advice can you give them in terms of action steps that helped you through that decision-making process over the course of several years, when you were deciding to make a change? 

 

Kate [00:03:43] You know, I think just making a list of the things that are important to you. So, for example, if money is really important to you, well then, you may not be able to launch yourself off on a career path that has little to no sort of monetary success attached to it, right? So, you may have a great idea, but a very low success rate. And so, I think making that list of like what's important to you, what kinds of things need to happen in your life in order for you to be, to build that launching pad to do it, which is are we in a financial place to do this? And, and then, and then having some ideas about what that is. Actually, in my case it was just having the space to explore that. So, I didn't have any mindspace leading up to the day I didn't return to my job. And to think about it because I was so consumed by that job and I was, and I am a mother and I have hobbies and things that I'm doing on the side. And I just wanted that space. So, it was, I had the ability to do that and think about it. So, I took six weeks, talked to people, explored, thought through things, and then made the decision to get into the beverage industry. 

 

Madeline [00:05:14] You know, I think some of our listeners who perhaps, maybe they're interested in starting a business like a brewery or a restaurant, but don't even know where to start to educate themselves on what to do to open that up. What, what kind of resources or what did you find helpful in that process? Because obviously your background is in finance and not in brewing. 

 

Kate [00:05:33] Right. I would say there are three things. So, one resource is people and making connections. So, what I was really surprised about was, you know, you know they, you talk about like energy and how you what you put out there, the universe kind of comes back to you. So, I was sitting with my financial advisor and telling him about how I had this dream to open a brewery. And he said, "well, I know a guy who owns a brewery in town." So, I met with that guy. And then he introduced me to the next person. And then I was talking about the idea with someone else and they said, "oh, you know, so-and-so is an owner of a brewery and my best friend, well, you know, this or that." You might find that you're actually really dialed into whatever it is you're trying to get into that you actually don't know more about than you think. And so, making sure you're talking to people about it and putting it out there, you'll, you'll get a lot back. So that's number one. Number two, is the Internets are just a wonderful thing, the World Wide Web. So, you know, just doing searches and reading and consuming is the second and then and at the end of the day, and presumably you're getting into it an industry or a business that you're a consumer of which is probably part of the interest. Right? So, your own instincts and own interests can also, you know you might have more in your menu than you think. But that's sort of the third, the third resource. 

 

Madeline [00:07:08] Yeah, I think that's really valuable, valuable advice that, you know, when you are the consumer of a business then, you know, you're going to understand the product or the service better because you're going to put on that consumer lens. 

 

Kate [00:07:21] Absolutely. And then having, making sure that you are also open to the idea that you may be actually a small consumer. So, for example, in the beer industry, right? There are certain beer styles that I love, but not everybody else loves. And so, now I'm at this, this, in a situation where I'm trying to understand what does the market want versus what sort of my, my ego passion that I want. You know, like if I, if I really like half of Hefeweizen right? That's my favorite style beer and may not sell well. I don't know. A lot of people are liking lighter beers and lighter styles. Hazy IPAs are really en vogue right now. And so, you have to also be open minded that some of, some of the reasons you got into it and the things that you love may not be necessarily what the consumer loves and just being open minded, that you may have to take a little bit of a course correction or a deviation from your original idea. And honestly, our business plan has changed at least three times because the main reason, because of Covid-19. And then just everything about it, you know, architects, builders, partners and locations, everything has changed at least five to ten times. And so, we're just having to adapt with that as well. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:09:04] I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about you as an athlete and an adventure, an adventure endurance sport athlete specifically because I think it's just, it's amazing what you do. And I'm just, some of the races that you have participated in, I know our listeners are going to love to hear about. So, can you start by just telling us how did you even get involved in this type of sport? 

 

Kate [00:09:32] I have, I have two answers for that. So, one is, one is sort of scope creep. Many years ago, a friend of mine, Martina Sailer, ran a marathon. It was on my bucket list like I'm going to run a marathon before I die because everybody has a bucket list, and everybody must have a marathon on their bucket list. Right? So, she, she ran one and I thought, holy cow, you're actually running a marathon. I can't believe this. And she said, "well, Oprah ran one, so I thought I should run more." And I said, OK, fine, if Oprah ran, won and you ran, won, I'm running a marathon. And so, I just signed up for one, thought I broke my feet. I literally was on crutches the next week, because I didn't know how to train. I didn't use a coach. I didn't have a book. I just thought, just go out and run as much as possible and that will prepare you. And, and then from there, I started doing more marathons. I ran a marathon in every continent, and then I started getting into triathlons, specifically Ironman’s. And just in the course of being a little bit on the edge of the ultra-world in in ways, I met a couple people who had or had a couple friends who had done the Arrowhead 135, which is one-hundred-and-thirty-five mile race on the Arrowhead snowmobile trail up in northern Minnesota, from International Falls, Minnesota, to Tower, Minnesota, in the coldest week of the year, the last week of January. And I, at the time, I didn't realize that it was a race done on fat bike, ski, foot or kicksled. I thought it was just biking. And, you know, I thought "you guys did that, okay I went in on that." And I somehow convinced the race director to let me in. I did have a reference from somebody. I bought a bike and a month later I was doing this race. And it was, I thought it was just absolutely crazy. But I fell in love with it and it was this whole world that opened up. And then from there, I did an Ultra Marathon, so a one-hundred-mile race. I did a two-hundred-and-seventy-mile foot race in, in January in Minnesota. And then, I just got primarily into these winter Ultra's. So, these are long distance races that can span anywhere from twelve-hours to ten days to thirty days on snow. Typically, they are on fat bike, your feet, skis, sometimes kicksleds. You carry everything with you either on your bike or in a backpack or on a sled. And so, what's everything? It's a sleeping bag. It is a stove and other survival gear, food, water, layers of clothing, other, anything else you could think of that you might have to survive for potentially days in the wilderness of something. You know, if you're out there on a, in a race and a blizzard comes, you know, there's not, it's not like you can just get on your cell phone and call somebody to come and rescue you because you're often in very remote places. And I just started getting into it. And my, my passion is really on the bike. I just, I love to bike, whether it's winter, summer, fall, anywhere. And, and so this year, because I was working for myself, I was able to really focus on the races and did a whole number of them, which was really, really fun for me. 

 

Madeline [00:13:28] How many days is the Arrowhead135 take? 

 

Kate [00:13:33] Well, the Arrowhead, you have sixty-hours to complete it. So, if you're on foot, you're out there for at least two-days. And on average, three. If you're on bike, the course record's around the twelve-hour mark. Probably the average, I would say, is 20 to 24 hours. But you can take three days. I mean, some people do go out there and they'll ride during the day and they'll sleep overnight at the halfway point and they'll ride again the next day, so, it's more of a tour than a race. And, but it also depends on the weather conditions. There could be a blizzard. It could be negative 30. It could be plus 20. And they, they all have their own, whatever weather comes just has its own challenges along the way. 

 

Madeline [00:14:24] I'm really interested, and I know our listeners will be too, in how you actually train and prepare for those types of conditions. I mean, Becca and I went to St. Lawrence University and I think of times just walking across the quad that were difficult in the weather conditions much less being out there, you know, and, and having to sleep overnight and carry everything and fuel your body and all of that. How do you train? What are sort of the important guideposts in your training? 

 

Kate [00:14:51] Yeah, I always struggle answering this question because I have not traditionally been a great trainer for these. So, my first three or four years, I would say I was training by throwing my equipment on my bike a couple weeks before making sure nothing fell off. I don't advise that by the way, that is not advice for anybody, especially someone starting a coaching business. But the other, you know, I, I also just kind of stay in a certain shape all year round so my body knows how to do this now and I can go out and finish almost anything that I start. I've only DNF'd two races in my life and I still think about them because it's, one because I was utterly sick and the other because I was, I didn't train and it was on foot and I got like one-hundred-and-thirty miles in and I was crawling and I realized that I couldn't crawl 30 miles in a 10-hour cut off period. But this fall, I was able to train for these races. And in terms of your athletic performance, like just being able to be out there for many hours, let's say sitting in a saddle, if you're doing a bike, you have to put in the time on the bike. So, you certainly, it's tougher if anyone out there has been off the bike all winter and then, you get it on the bike in the spring and your back hurts a little bit and your shoulders hurt and you have all these aches. So, some of that is just time in the saddle. Whether it's, you know, you could be on a peloton, you could be on a stationary bike. But being outside on the bike is best. In terms of the weather, I mean, some people come to these races from Florida or warm climates, and so it's tougher for them to test their gear. But certainly, getting out there and testing your gear. So, you know, it's, it's funny because I'm on these Facebook groups and there were a couple weekends this winter where the temperature plummeted. It was going to be like negative ten, negative 20. And everyone just like fate that those groups explode with activity like, oh, can't wait to get outside and do my, train this weekend versus like everybody else that I know is thinking we're gonna watch movies inside this weekend. Did we get the hot cocoa and the s'mores ready; you know like where are the Schnapps? So, having the if you can, being able to go out there in the elements that are going to mimic being out there, because it absolutely can be very dangerous if it's negative 20, negative 30. I've, you know seen people with frostbite. I've, I know people who have had their toes amputated. It's, it's very serious. So, you need to make sure you know how to protect yourself. Also, just the other type of training is just reading, listening, consuming, asking questions of other people, of what's tried and true, doesn't mean it works for everybody, but there are a lot of consistencies across groups in terms of tips and tricks to handle the weather. And then, and then with food, you know, that's another one that can be individual. I like to eat real food when I'm out there. I am a huge advocate of real food. I'm, I'm also a plant based. I live a plant-based place lifestyle. And so, I'm eating dried fruit and nuts and liquid calories. You want to bring sugar, but you want to use it, you want to save it and use it for when you're tired or when you really need it. I think a lot of people go out there and they make the mistake in these races of just bringing a ton of sugar, like "I can eat whatever I want, I'll bring all the Twinkies and just stuff my face." And there is a time where you want to pull out the Twinkie for sure and it's going to feel awesome, but your stomach will hurt probably if you start off with that. The other piece of it, though, that is really hard to train, that actually, I think just comes from racing. And then the mindfulness of thinking about it, is really the mental aspect of these races. And that's the piece that I have very, I think I was born with a strong mental toughness. And so, you know, I've had very low points in my life, but I've always been able to bring myself out of them. And these races in particular really do challenge your mind. I mean, there are times where your mind will start to wander, and you start to get into this negative cycle, and you have to kind of rein yourself back in. I remember my first Arrowhead years ago and I got into this pack of a few guys and there is this one, this one guy who had done the race many times and other ultras and I, I kept saying, like, how long, how long is this gonna be? Because it was warm. And so, we were walking, and we could barely ride our bikes. And we walked for hours and hours and hours and more hours. And I didn't bring enough food for that many hours. And, you know, I said, I said something like, "I came to ride my bike. Not to, not to walk," you know, something really sad and pathetic. And he just, he said, "Kate, like, you can't do that. You just gotta, you gotta stay positive. You've got enough time. One foot in front of the other." And I'll never forget that because literally at that moment in that race. And ever since then, it has been something that I have used. Everywhere I go. And that doesn't mean that I don't get into negative cycles. But in my job, when you're working, I was working like 18 hours a day and trying to breastfeed and, you know, do a PowerPoint and breastfeeding at the same time and like, you know, trying to take meetings and calls in the, you know we didn't even have like nursing, we had an old office, that was converted into a mothers room at my old work because all of our offices were all glass, so there was no escape and you know, I'm in there trying to be on a call while this machine is pumping, while I'm pumping breast milk. You just, you just have to stay super positive and it's amazing how the results and the experience and the results are very, very different. And so, I've been training myself in these races that I can then apply to life, to manage or control the, the mind in that way. So, you know, for example, in March, the first week of March, I went up to Alaska to do the Iditarod. The Iditarod historically is a dog sled race up in Alaska, a thousand-mile dog sled race from just north of Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which is on the far western seashore. And I don't know exactly how many years ago I think it was like, I think was 19 years ago there, because next year is the 20th anniversary, a human powered version started. So, this is foot, ski or bike. And I mean, there weren't even really fat bikes back then. The first bikes when people did it, they had welded wheels together to make them wider and thicker. But there are two human powered versions. One is a three-hundred-and-fifty-mile race and one is the thousand-mile race. And you're going over lakes and rivers through mountain passes in Alaska. Like you see, one morning I was riding on the race, I saw Denali off to my north. It was, it's unreal. It's very remote. It can be very dangerous. This year in particular, had all kinds of weather challenges which made it, some people say it's, you know, if not the toughest year or one of the top two toughest is what I heard. So, if anyone wants to challenge that, I don't really care. It's just what people are saying is for many reasons, one is there was many feet of snow, you know depending on where you were out there on this trail between six and twelve feet of snow, the two weeks leading up to the race. And there were pictures of people up to their necks in the snow and you know, snow machines or snowmobiles couldn't even drive through it. And then the other, the other reason that it was a big weather year was it was just cold, which you expect, but it was also cold on top of the snow. And when I say cold, I mean like negative 40, negative 50. The next reason was the wind was also a, I guess, a record wind year. I mean, you always expect wind up there. But I was told this was definitely a tougher year. I mean, there were three straight days of just this brutal headwind. And if it's negative 40 or negative 50, it's got to be like negative 80 or 90 windchill to your face. There were times where the wind was so strong. I was going over this mountain pass, it's called Rainy pass and pushing my, it's like 4:00 in the morning, dark. And it's so windy that I had to turn and put my back into the wind and brace myself against the bike. I couldn't even ride because it was so windy, holding the bike and then just barely able to stand. So, I don't know how strong that wind was, but it was brutal. And then the other reason it was a tough year was because of all the weather the moose were out on the trail and the trail is a trail that snowmobiles break. So, they break the trail, they drive on a path on the snow. And it kind of packs it down a little bit. And the moose were ornery because there was so much snow is was hard for them to walk around, so they were out in the trail and there were actually five moose attacks at the race this year. One that I'm, I just can't believe that it wasn't more fatal than it was like someone in the snow with a moose stomping on top of his chest and he was able to escape. But it took five days, which is pretty long for cyclists for the fat bikers. The record is a day. And the first place, male or top three finish in four days plus something this year. But, you know, I was kind of in this weird space because you had the top three men were out in front and then there was this huge pack, I don't know, like between four or five hours. But by the end of the race, like a day behind me. And so, I was kind of out there all by myself day and night, really cold, very windy, scary moose. And because of the weather, it was hard to bike the whole time, so there was lot of walking and you're just walking and you're walking and you're walking. And you look at the mileage and it takes you an hour to go less than one mile or an hour to go a mile and after six hours of that, you feel like you've gotten nowhere. It is really hard to stay on track. You're super cold. You're super hungry. You're really thirsty. Can't see because your face is all puffy. You can't see because you're trying to shield yourself from the wind. And I shared this story with someone and what it felt like trying to manage the mental strength during all that. Because oftentimes I am, I was like, "I get to be here. This is so exciting. That is so beautiful. I can't believe it." Plus, I was in race mode. I was trying to win. I was like, "don't look behind. Just go as hard as you can. I don't sleep. Keep going." I mean, I didn't sleep for three days. And then I finally crashed for like a couple hours. And then another day goes by. And I had this 24-hour push and I finally slept for six hours and then it finished. So, it was a really brutal week. I can do that. I can go without sleeping. But it was hard where it's just "when am I going to get there?" And I lost my G.P.S. at mile hundred. And so, I also had this fear of, oh my God, I'm out here in the middle of nowhere and I can't call anybody. And you see maybe one snowmobiler in a 24-hour period who is either a cargo carrier or a hunter. And there weren't, there were only sometimes only three cyclists in front of me. And the wind, there was so much wind that I couldn't really see their tracks even if I wanted to. So, I was just hoping I was on the right track. And, but I had this, I explain this as like I kept sort of getting into maybe like, you know, negative that negative space. And I'd just have to, like, rein it in. And it was like blocking and tackling like, oh, you're gonna be negative. Like, boom, boom, bam. You know, just kind of like fighting with myself. But in a positive way, like slapping myself back. And just like, it was almost like I was, I kept telling myself, just stay positive, you know, stay strong, because there were many times I wanted to cry. And you'll find, you talk to people and a lot of people do cry out there. They just sit down. And I just thought, you know Kate, you can cry when you finish. Just keep going. And so, it was an interesting, I don't know if I had like a way, I could draw a cartoon of, like, the image I have of what I was mentally doing. And it was just reigning it in and talking myself through it in slow motion, almost. And it was, it was fun. It was fun and very necessary to survive that. 

 

Madeline [00:29:33] It's incredible to me that given the conditions and the weather and the duration and the lack of sleep and the animals and everything, you can stay positive in those circumstances. Do you think that exercising, it's almost like a, the way I'm hearing you describe, it's almost like a muscle, like it's part of like you're exercising a muscle and you're building a muscle almost, you know, with your positivity muscle over time. 

 

Kate [00:29:58] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, your brain is a muscle. And, you know, there's a reason people practice meditation and mindfulness techniques and seek, you know, habits, mindful habits, not just self-help, but things you can do to manage your emotions and your mentality on a daily basis. And I am not perfect, and I have to work at it. But if you have those intentions and you put them to work, it's pretty incredible how powerful they can be. And that's not just for sports, but that's for anything in your life, whether it's relationships with other people. It's your, you know sitting in your office job. I say office job, like your office job because I don't have that anymore. 

 

Madeline [00:30:46] You're free from that now. 

 

Kate [00:30:49] Yeah. But whatever you do, it's very powerful. I mean, and it's hard to create the space for that because you don't necessarily see the results that you do when, you know, when you eat a salad versus eating French fries, you feel good right away. When you, when you exercise, you know, you probably lose a pound or two of sweat and you, you feel good. And after a week you look in the mirror and you're like, all right, yeah, I'm feeling good. This is great. But with the mind, you don't necessarily see those results in front of you. And so, it's hard to have the patience to invest the time in creating the space to work on it. And it's, it's also a little tougher to measure if you're not being mindful about it. 

 

Madeline [00:31:39] I want to ask about setting goals, because do you set goals year over year about what races you want to accomplish? Or is it, you know, within a race you're saying, all right. The next mile I want to do X or, you know, little goals, big goals. How do you, how do you set those goals? 

 

Kate [00:31:55] Both, so I do, I do set goals on races, and so, you know, this year, the first race I did, it's called the Tuscobia 160, and I said, I want to break the course record. And I did! By two hours. So, I was very happy about that. And then going out into Arrowhead, Arrowhead 135, I wanted to set the course record with the bike, but it became, it was really warm, so it just wasn't going to be a fast bike year. So, I decided to skate ski it instead. And, and I did, and I broke the course record by 18 hours, and then I guess I signed up for the waitlist for Iditarod. So, it was not on my radar. And they called me up because typically a handful of people drop out the week before due to injury or just change of plans or whatever reason. And I went out there intending to win. And so, yeah, I do set those goals. But, the goals during the race are also very important. And sometimes those goals just turn into putting one foot in front of the other, because if you start to focus on the end game in these long-haul races, it'll crush you because it will end up taking forever, your mental strength will crumble. It just will. It's too hard because it's going to take too long to get there. And so, getting into sort of a steady flow and being in the moment is a really great place to be. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm not in the moment thinking like, OK, I want to get to this checkpoint by this time. Right. This is my goal. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get this time, and this time, and this time. And now that I'm racing these more competitively, I'll write those down on a piece of paper or print them and laminate them and then take safety pins and tape them to my handlebars so that I can see them. Because the other thing that happens in these races is you get really like looney. You just, you kind of lose your mind because you're really, you're a little dehydrated all the time. You're low on glycogen, your brain, your tired, your brain isn't working, and you hallucinate. I mean, I once had, I once thought my breath was a ghost coming at me. It was the middle of the night. And I breathed and I started swatting the breath and screaming, because I know this sounds crazy, but like you do not need to buy drugs to get high. You can just go do one of these races, if you can start hallucinating, it can be pretty fun. It's fatiguing. But you do have to write those things, literally write them down sometimes to remember what they are and even things like when you get to a checkpoint, what your list is. OK. Take this off. Bring this inside. Do this. Do that. Because you'll forget what it was you intended to do just because you're completely out of it. 

 

Madeline [00:35:23] Yeah, so for our listeners who are thinking about getting involved in endurance sports. Do you have any advice for them on how to take the first steps? Because I think, you know, hearing some of the numbers that you put out today, it can be rather intimidating to think, making a leap just even from leap from a marathon to an ultra-marathon. I mean, that just seems like a lot of miles. So, what advice would you give to our listeners about taking the first steps? 

 

Kate [00:35:50] I think one is you need to talk to somebody. So, if you can, and you can talk to me, I'm happy to talk to you. But if you can talk to somebody who can show you the ropes. My first hundred mile ultra, I called a friend. We went for a walk and I just peppered her with questions and she just pulled me along and helped me. So, I felt really confident going in that the only thing left undone was really my abilities and whether I could you know, finish and my feet weren't going to break by the end. So, call someone and get some input and advice. Two, is I would say, don't, don't be afraid to make a leap. I mean, I signed up for an Ironman before I'd even done a triathlon, because and a lot of people, some people, their very first triathlon is an Ironman distance. So, for those who don't know an Ironman, it's 140.6 miles swim, bike, run, and you run a marathon at the end of this. And some people, that's their first triathlon. And that, I'm just. I'm amazed by. But, talk to somebody and get some input and advice. You don't need fancy gear. There are ways to do this with minimum or used gear. My first, that first bike race, I did buy the bike, but I borrowed all the equipment from my friends. They gave me a bag and I had all the, you know, the packs that you put on the bike and even gloves and mountain feed bags, whatever you need on there. I borrowed from people and then it was something I wanted to get into, so I started accumulating my own equipment. But you don't, you don't necessarily need to go spend a bunch of money if you want to do things like that, especially ultra-running, because oftentimes you just need your shoes and the hydration pack so that can be not as an expensive of sport. But just try it, like you don't, you don't know unless you try. And I would say ultra-sports people tend to be really welcoming. It's just a very, I've found it personally to be the most inclusive group I've ever found because it's you know, we're all kind of weirdos out there. And we understand one another. We go through these things together. And I think it'll be worth your while. You also don't need as much time as you might think you need. I mean, if your goal is to go and finish something that's going to take a very different commitment than if your goal is to go out there and win something. And so, ask some questions, figure out if you don't have a lot of time, a minimalist lifestyle. And then also importantly is you need to make sure that you have a plan with your partner and your family. So, if, you know, if I, if I'm gonna go out there and do a race and I talk to my husband and say, OK, this is the race I'm intending on doing, and are we in agreement? Can you support that? Because we both race, he in a different way than I. But it takes time and so you have to have that support. And, I know that's a, that can be hard for people. And then the last thing is just being creative. So, again, if you don't have time, be creative with it. Like, I just did this challenge in May, where I ran a mile for the date of the month. So, May 1st I ran a mile. May 2nd, I ran two, May 21st I ran twenty-one. And so, the last six days of the month, I ran 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. And, you know, it was hard, but I got up early. I got up at 4:30, walked the dogs. And then went for a run, came back at eight, grabbed my son and we would go, you know, for two hours and just explore with the stroller and I'd get a few miles in. Now, I do realize I work for myself, so I had the luxury of being able to kind of like finish the workout at 10, 10a.m. But we got creative around the weekends. I'd go do my run. My husband had a race. I'd grab my son. We ran to the race and then we'd run to intersections to see him crossing, you know coming out of trails and running onto another trail. And, you know, that's just, that's what we did. So, I think where there's a will, there's a way I know it sounds cliché, but it's true. And like I said, the listeners can talk to me about that. I'm happy to share more thoughts. 

 

Madeline [00:40:35] And I'm interested. I know especially for women who are becoming new moms. Like I know you've recently had a child. And how has that changed your training or how have you been able to you know, besides what you've talked about here, you know, balance sort of the family life and the training?

 

Kate [00:40:58] It you know, it didn't change too much, so, when I went back to work, so my son now is 20 months and I went back to work in January of 2019. And so, I was, I went back after four months postpartum and I started training for an Ironman. And we got a puppy. That was maybe like the most challenging time of our lives. But, you know, if I had a run, sometimes it would just be with him. Take him in a stroller and then have to wake up really early. And then the commitment with my husband on that time. But the more I can take my son with me, the better just because I enjoy that time and I'm fine waking up early. My son wakes up around seven-thirty, eight. We did sleep training with him really early. So, he'll sometimes wake up and like sing and play in his crib for an hour. You just giggle and watch him on the monitor thinking, it's like the best show to watch in his crib in the morning. But yeah, I, I don't know, I've, I've never, I haven't been like, "oh this is so hard" I've always faced it as, "aren't I lucky?" And I don't know if that, I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I have a super involved husband and I also have family support down the road. And we have a nanny and every chance I get; I am grabbing my son. Now he runs around the house saying, "run, run, run." This morning he woke up and he started yelling, "run, run, run." And he was running in a circle in the living room. And he was like crying and whining because he wanted to go run. We said, "no it's time, you know, why don't we eat breakfast first?" And he went, "no, run, run, run, run." So, there have been times where he's yelling, run, run. I'm like, yep. All right let's go. Put on the shoes, we head out the door. And I mean it's not much of a run for me, but he, it's awesome. Like, he's seen that from us. And so, we do it. And, you know, but getting back to your question, like I said, I just, I think about it as I am, I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky I have this human being I created. I'm so lucky I get to be his mom. I'm lucky that I am healthy and can do this. And I also can take on a lot of stress, which is one of my superpowers. And so, I try to do it all, which some people might say is insane. But I do because I just I still want to live life and I have things that I love to do and I find a way, I figured it out, I just figure it out and find a way to make it work. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:44:18] So, in closing we always like to ask all of our guests, if you had if you have one piece of advice to give to our listeners that they can apply to their own careers, specifically with respect to developing professional self-confidence. 

 

Kate [00:44:34] One thing is, the best secret that I discovered a few years ago was really nobody knows what they're doing. You're sitting in a conference table and I sat around, I sat at many, many with 10, 20 men. And I was the only woman there. I looked around and I thought, no, they do not know what they're doing either. Or, you know, they're all, they all have imposter syndrome too, and they just don't realize it. I found that more people are actually not what you make them out to be when, you know, having that imposter syndrome. And, and getting over it. It's something that I think men and women, you know women more than men. But men have it too. And, so anybody out there, just everybody, everybody else feels the same way. So, if you can just put one foot in front of the other and fake it. A lot of people are drawn to that, meaning they don't realize you're faking it and you can just gain confidence through that. I very self admittedly faked a lot of confidence and it becomes real and tangible. So, I would say that's a good way to start. The second, is I would say find somebody, a mentor. And when I say a mentor, I mean somebody actually in your office or in your field, somebody that can really pullEpisode #13: The remote race course with Kate Coward 

 

 

Kate [00:00:01] I think I was born with a strong mental toughness. And so, I've had very low points in my life, but I've always been able to bring myself out of them. And these races in particular really do challenge your mind. I mean, there are times where your mind will start to wander, and you start to get into this negative cycle, and you have to kind of rein yourself back in. I remember my first Arrowhead years ago and I got into this pack of a few guys and there was this one, this one guy who had done the race many times and other ultras and I, I kept saying, like, "how long or how long is this gonna be?" Because it was warm and so we were walking, and we could barely ride our bikes. And we walked for hours and hours and hours and more hours. And I didn't bring enough food for that many hours. And, you know, I said, I said something like, "I came to ride my bike and not to, not to walk," you know, something really sad and pathetic. And he just, he said, "Kate, like, you can't do that. You just gotta, you gotta stay positive. You've got enough time. One foot in front of the other." And I'll never forget that, because literally at that moment in that race and ever since then, it has been something that I have used everywhere I go. [Music transition].

 

Madeline & Becca [00:01:32] Welcome to the Madeline and Becca podcast. The mission of our podcast is simple, to inspire professional self-confidence in women everywhere. I'm Madeline. And I'm Becca on our podcast, you will hear stories from real world influencers, women who have experienced tremendous success in their careers by building self-confidence. Thanks for joining us. [Music transition]

 

Becca [00:02:11] On today's episode, Madeline will be interviewing Kate Coward. Kate recently left her career as a global finance executive to found Luce Line Brewing in Minnesota. She's also the founder of Full Potential Coaching, a tailored coaching business for endurance level athletes. Kate spent 15 years in corporate finance spanning roles at G.E., Polaris and most recently serving as a divisional CFO at Cantel Medical. Having accomplished what she wanted in her finance career, Kate knew that she wanted to be her own boss and to bring the community together in an energetic way. She spent several years preparing to be able to leave her job and clear the mental headspace to found a business. As an accomplished endurance athlete, Kate will take us to the remote racecourse where the conditions are Arctic, moose attacks are prevalent, and exhaustion brings hallucination. Kate will discuss the importance of mental positivity, how she uses blocking and tackling to defeat negative thoughts, and how you can build confidence by faking it until you have it. Here's Madeline. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:03:24] For our listeners who are considering a career switch and, you know, maybe they have quite a few years into their belt or, and you know they've been thinking about this and deliberating. What advice can you give them in terms of action steps that helped you through that decision-making process over the course of several years, when you were deciding to make a change? 

 

Kate [00:03:43] You know, I think just making a list of the things that are important to you. So, for example, if money is really important to you, well then, you may not be able to launch yourself off on a career path that has little to no sort of monetary success attached to it, right? So, you may have a great idea, but a very low success rate. And so, I think making that list of like what's important to you, what kinds of things need to happen in your life in order for you to be, to build that launching pad to do it, which is are we in a financial place to do this? And, and then, and then having some ideas about what that is. Actually, in my case it was just having the space to explore that. So, I didn't have any mindspace leading up to the day I didn't return to my job. And to think about it because I was so consumed by that job and I was, and I am a mother and I have hobbies and things that I'm doing on the side. And I just wanted that space. So, it was, I had the ability to do that and think about it. So, I took six weeks, talked to people, explored, thought through things, and then made the decision to get into the beverage industry. 

 

Madeline [00:05:14] You know, I think some of our listeners who perhaps, maybe they're interested in starting a business like a brewery or a restaurant, but don't even know where to start to educate themselves on what to do to open that up. What, what kind of resources or what did you find helpful in that process? Because obviously your background is in finance and not in brewing. 

 

Kate [00:05:33] Right. I would say there are three things. So, one resource is people and making connections. So, what I was really surprised about was, you know, you know they, you talk about like energy and how you what you put out there, the universe kind of comes back to you. So, I was sitting with my financial advisor and telling him about how I had this dream to open a brewery. And he said, "well, I know a guy who owns a brewery in town." So, I met with that guy. And then he introduced me to the next person. And then I was talking about the idea with someone else and they said, "oh, you know, so-and-so is an owner of a brewery and my best friend, well, you know, this or that." You might find that you're actually really dialed into whatever it is you're trying to get into that you actually don't know more about than you think. And so, making sure you're talking to people about it and putting it out there, you'll, you'll get a lot back. So that's number one. Number two, is the Internets are just a wonderful thing, the World Wide Web. So, you know, just doing searches and reading and consuming is the second and then and at the end of the day, and presumably you're getting into it an industry or a business that you're a consumer of which is probably part of the interest. Right? So, your own instincts and own interests can also, you know you might have more in your menu than you think. But that's sort of the third, the third resource. 

 

Madeline [00:07:08] Yeah, I think that's really valuable, valuable advice that, you know, when you are the consumer of a business then, you know, you're going to understand the product or the service better because you're going to put on that consumer lens. 

 

Kate [00:07:21] Absolutely. And then having, making sure that you are also open to the idea that you may be actually a small consumer. So, for example, in the beer industry, right? There are certain beer styles that I love, but not everybody else loves. And so, now I'm at this, this, in a situation where I'm trying to understand what does the market want versus what sort of my, my ego passion that I want. You know, like if I, if I really like half of Hefeweizen right? That's my favorite style beer and may not sell well. I don't know. A lot of people are liking lighter beers and lighter styles. Hazy IPAs are really en vogue right now. And so, you have to also be open minded that some of, some of the reasons you got into it and the things that you love may not be necessarily what the consumer loves and just being open minded, that you may have to take a little bit of a course correction or a deviation from your original idea. And honestly, our business plan has changed at least three times because the main reason, because of Covid-19. And then just everything about it, you know, architects, builders, partners and locations, everything has changed at least five to ten times. And so, we're just having to adapt with that as well. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:09:04] I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about you as an athlete and an adventure, an adventure endurance sport athlete specifically because I think it's just, it's amazing what you do. And I'm just, some of the races that you have participated in, I know our listeners are going to love to hear about. So, can you start by just telling us how did you even get involved in this type of sport? 

 

Kate [00:09:32] I have, I have two answers for that. So, one is, one is sort of scope creep. Many years ago, a friend of mine, Martina Sailer, ran a marathon. It was on my bucket list like I'm going to run a marathon before I die because everybody has a bucket list, and everybody must have a marathon on their bucket list. Right? So, she, she ran one and I thought, holy cow, you're actually running a marathon. I can't believe this. And she said, "well, Oprah ran one, so I thought I should run more." And I said, OK, fine, if Oprah ran, won and you ran, won, I'm running a marathon. And so, I just signed up for one, thought I broke my feet. I literally was on crutches the next week, because I didn't know how to train. I didn't use a coach. I didn't have a book. I just thought, just go out and run as much as possible and that will prepare you. And, and then from there, I started doing more marathons. I ran a marathon in every continent, and then I started getting into triathlons, specifically Ironman’s. And just in the course of being a little bit on the edge of the ultra-world in in ways, I met a couple people who had or had a couple friends who had done the Arrowhead 135, which is one-hundred-and-thirty-five mile race on the Arrowhead snowmobile trail up in northern Minnesota, from International Falls, Minnesota, to Tower, Minnesota, in the coldest week of the year, the last week of January. And I, at the time, I didn't realize that it was a race done on fat bike, ski, foot or kicksled. I thought it was just biking. And, you know, I thought "you guys did that, okay I went in on that." And I somehow convinced the race director to let me in. I did have a reference from somebody. I bought a bike and a month later I was doing this race. And it was, I thought it was just absolutely crazy. But I fell in love with it and it was this whole world that opened up. And then from there, I did an Ultra Marathon, so a one-hundred-mile race. I did a two-hundred-and-seventy-mile foot race in, in January in Minnesota. And then, I just got primarily into these winter Ultra's. So, these are long distance races that can span anywhere from twelve-hours to ten days to thirty days on snow. Typically, they are on fat bike, your feet, skis, sometimes kicksleds. You carry everything with you either on your bike or in a backpack or on a sled. And so, what's everything? It's a sleeping bag. It is a stove and other survival gear, food, water, layers of clothing, other, anything else you could think of that you might have to survive for potentially days in the wilderness of something. You know, if you're out there on a, in a race and a blizzard comes, you know, there's not, it's not like you can just get on your cell phone and call somebody to come and rescue you because you're often in very remote places. And I just started getting into it. And my, my passion is really on the bike. I just, I love to bike, whether it's winter, summer, fall, anywhere. And, and so this year, because I was working for myself, I was able to really focus on the races and did a whole number of them, which was really, really fun for me. 

 

Madeline [00:13:28] How many days is the Arrowhead135 take? 

 

Kate [00:13:33] Well, the Arrowhead, you have sixty-hours to complete it. So, if you're on foot, you're out there for at least two-days. And on average, three. If you're on bike, the course record's around the twelve-hour mark. Probably the average, I would say, is 20 to 24 hours. But you can take three days. I mean, some people do go out there and they'll ride during the day and they'll sleep overnight at the halfway point and they'll ride again the next day, so, it's more of a tour than a race. And, but it also depends on the weather conditions. There could be a blizzard. It could be negative 30. It could be plus 20. And they, they all have their own, whatever weather comes just has its own challenges along the way. 

 

Madeline [00:14:24] I'm really interested, and I know our listeners will be too, in how you actually train and prepare for those types of conditions. I mean, Becca and I went to St. Lawrence University and I think of times just walking across the quad that were difficult in the weather conditions much less being out there, you know, and, and having to sleep overnight and carry everything and fuel your body and all of that. How do you train? What are sort of the important guideposts in your training? 

 

Kate [00:14:51] Yeah, I always struggle answering this question because I have not traditionally been a great trainer for these. So, my first three or four years, I would say I was training by throwing my equipment on my bike a couple weeks before making sure nothing fell off. I don't advise that by the way, that is not advice for anybody, especially someone starting a coaching business. But the other, you know, I, I also just kind of stay in a certain shape all year round so my body knows how to do this now and I can go out and finish almost anything that I start. I've only DNF'd two races in my life and I still think about them because it's, one because I was utterly sick and the other because I was, I didn't train and it was on foot and I got like one-hundred-and-thirty miles in and I was crawling and I realized that I couldn't crawl 30 miles in a 10-hour cut off period. But this fall, I was able to train for these races. And in terms of your athletic performance, like just being able to be out there for many hours, let's say sitting in a saddle, if you're doing a bike, you have to put in the time on the bike. So, you certainly, it's tougher if anyone out there has been off the bike all winter and then, you get it on the bike in the spring and your back hurts a little bit and your shoulders hurt and you have all these aches. So, some of that is just time in the saddle. Whether it's, you know, you could be on a peloton, you could be on a stationary bike. But being outside on the bike is best. In terms of the weather, I mean, some people come to these races from Florida or warm climates, and so it's tougher for them to test their gear. But certainly, getting out there and testing your gear. So, you know, it's, it's funny because I'm on these Facebook groups and there were a couple weekends this winter where the temperature plummeted. It was going to be like negative ten, negative 20. And everyone just like fate that those groups explode with activity like, oh, can't wait to get outside and do my, train this weekend versus like everybody else that I know is thinking we're gonna watch movies inside this weekend. Did we get the hot cocoa and the s'mores ready; you know like where are the Schnapps? So, having the if you can, being able to go out there in the elements that are going to mimic being out there, because it absolutely can be very dangerous if it's negative 20, negative 30. I've, you know seen people with frostbite. I've, I know people who have had their toes amputated. It's, it's very serious. So, you need to make sure you know how to protect yourself. Also, just the other type of training is just reading, listening, consuming, asking questions of other people, of what's tried and true, doesn't mean it works for everybody, but there are a lot of consistencies across groups in terms of tips and tricks to handle the weather. And then, and then with food, you know, that's another one that can be individual. I like to eat real food when I'm out there. I am a huge advocate of real food. I'm, I'm also a plant based. I live a plant-based place lifestyle. And so, I'm eating dried fruit and nuts and liquid calories. You want to bring sugar, but you want to use it, you want to save it and use it for when you're tired or when you really need it. I think a lot of people go out there and they make the mistake in these races of just bringing a ton of sugar, like "I can eat whatever I want, I'll bring all the Twinkies and just stuff my face." And there is a time where you want to pull out the Twinkie for sure and it's going to feel awesome, but your stomach will hurt probably if you start off with that. The other piece of it, though, that is really hard to train, that actually, I think just comes from racing. And then the mindfulness of thinking about it, is really the mental aspect of these races. And that's the piece that I have very, I think I was born with a strong mental toughness. And so, you know, I've had very low points in my life, but I've always been able to bring myself out of them. And these races in particular really do challenge your mind. I mean, there are times where your mind will start to wander, and you start to get into this negative cycle, and you have to kind of rein yourself back in. I remember my first Arrowhead years ago and I got into this pack of a few guys and there is this one, this one guy who had done the race many times and other ultras and I, I kept saying, like, how long, how long is this gonna be? Because it was warm. And so, we were walking, and we could barely ride our bikes. And we walked for hours and hours and hours and more hours. And I didn't bring enough food for that many hours. And, you know, I said, I said something like, "I came to ride my bike. Not to, not to walk," you know, something really sad and pathetic. And he just, he said, "Kate, like, you can't do that. You just gotta, you gotta stay positive. You've got enough time. One foot in front of the other." And I'll never forget that because literally at that moment in that race. And ever since then, it has been something that I have used. Everywhere I go. And that doesn't mean that I don't get into negative cycles. But in my job, when you're working, I was working like 18 hours a day and trying to breastfeed and, you know, do a PowerPoint and breastfeeding at the same time and like, you know, trying to take meetings and calls in the, you know we didn't even have like nursing, we had an old office, that was converted into a mothers room at my old work because all of our offices were all glass, so there was no escape and you know, I'm in there trying to be on a call while this machine is pumping, while I'm pumping breast milk. You just, you just have to stay super positive and it's amazing how the results and the experience and the results are very, very different. And so, I've been training myself in these races that I can then apply to life, to manage or control the, the mind in that way. So, you know, for example, in March, the first week of March, I went up to Alaska to do the Iditarod. The Iditarod historically is a dog sled race up in Alaska, a thousand-mile dog sled race from just north of Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which is on the far western seashore. And I don't know exactly how many years ago I think it was like, I think was 19 years ago there, because next year is the 20th anniversary, a human powered version started. So, this is foot, ski or bike. And I mean, there weren't even really fat bikes back then. The first bikes when people did it, they had welded wheels together to make them wider and thicker. But there are two human powered versions. One is a three-hundred-and-fifty-mile race and one is the thousand-mile race. And you're going over lakes and rivers through mountain passes in Alaska. Like you see, one morning I was riding on the race, I saw Denali off to my north. It was, it's unreal. It's very remote. It can be very dangerous. This year in particular, had all kinds of weather challenges which made it, some people say it's, you know, if not the toughest year or one of the top two toughest is what I heard. So, if anyone wants to challenge that, I don't really care. It's just what people are saying is for many reasons, one is there was many feet of snow, you know depending on where you were out there on this trail between six and twelve feet of snow, the two weeks leading up to the race. And there were pictures of people up to their necks in the snow and you know, snow machines or snowmobiles couldn't even drive through it. And then the other, the other reason that it was a big weather year was it was just cold, which you expect, but it was also cold on top of the snow. And when I say cold, I mean like negative 40, negative 50. The next reason was the wind was also a, I guess, a record wind year. I mean, you always expect wind up there. But I was told this was definitely a tougher year. I mean, there were three straight days of just this brutal headwind. And if it's negative 40 or negative 50, it's got to be like negative 80 or 90 windchill to your face. There were times where the wind was so strong. I was going over this mountain pass, it's called Rainy pass and pushing my, it's like 4:00 in the morning, dark. And it's so windy that I had to turn and put my back into the wind and brace myself against the bike. I couldn't even ride because it was so windy, holding the bike and then just barely able to stand. So, I don't know how strong that wind was, but it was brutal. And then the other reason it was a tough year was because of all the weather the moose were out on the trail and the trail is a trail that snowmobiles break. So, they break the trail, they drive on a path on the snow. And it kind of packs it down a little bit. And the moose were ornery because there was so much snow is was hard for them to walk around, so they were out in the trail and there were actually five moose attacks at the race this year. One that I'm, I just can't believe that it wasn't more fatal than it was like someone in the snow with a moose stomping on top of his chest and he was able to escape. But it took five days, which is pretty long for cyclists for the fat bikers. The record is a day. And the first place, male or top three finish in four days plus something this year. But, you know, I was kind of in this weird space because you had the top three men were out in front and then there was this huge pack, I don't know, like between four or five hours. But by the end of the race, like a day behind me. And so, I was kind of out there all by myself day and night, really cold, very windy, scary moose. And because of the weather, it was hard to bike the whole time, so there was lot of walking and you're just walking and you're walking and you're walking. And you look at the mileage and it takes you an hour to go less than one mile or an hour to go a mile and after six hours of that, you feel like you've gotten nowhere. It is really hard to stay on track. You're super cold. You're super hungry. You're really thirsty. Can't see because your face is all puffy. You can't see because you're trying to shield yourself from the wind. And I shared this story with someone and what it felt like trying to manage the mental strength during all that. Because oftentimes I am, I was like, "I get to be here. This is so exciting. That is so beautiful. I can't believe it." Plus, I was in race mode. I was trying to win. I was like, "don't look behind. Just go as hard as you can. I don't sleep. Keep going." I mean, I didn't sleep for three days. And then I finally crashed for like a couple hours. And then another day goes by. And I had this 24-hour push and I finally slept for six hours and then it finished. So, it was a really brutal week. I can do that. I can go without sleeping. But it was hard where it's just "when am I going to get there?" And I lost my G.P.S. at mile hundred. And so, I also had this fear of, oh my God, I'm out here in the middle of nowhere and I can't call anybody. And you see maybe one snowmobiler in a 24-hour period who is either a cargo carrier or a hunter. And there weren't, there were only sometimes only three cyclists in front of me. And the wind, there was so much wind that I couldn't really see their tracks even if I wanted to. So, I was just hoping I was on the right track. And, but I had this, I explain this as like I kept sort of getting into maybe like, you know, negative that negative space. And I'd just have to, like, rein it in. And it was like blocking and tackling like, oh, you're gonna be negative. Like, boom, boom, bam. You know, just kind of like fighting with myself. But in a positive way, like slapping myself back. And just like, it was almost like I was, I kept telling myself, just stay positive, you know, stay strong, because there were many times I wanted to cry. And you'll find, you talk to people and a lot of people do cry out there. They just sit down. And I just thought, you know Kate, you can cry when you finish. Just keep going. And so, it was an interesting, I don't know if I had like a way, I could draw a cartoon of, like, the image I have of what I was mentally doing. And it was just reigning it in and talking myself through it in slow motion, almost. And it was, it was fun. It was fun and very necessary to survive that. 

 

Madeline [00:29:33] It's incredible to me that given the conditions and the weather and the duration and the lack of sleep and the animals and everything, you can stay positive in those circumstances. Do you think that exercising, it's almost like a, the way I'm hearing you describe, it's almost like a muscle, like it's part of like you're exercising a muscle and you're building a muscle almost, you know, with your positivity muscle over time. 

 

Kate [00:29:58] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, your brain is a muscle. And, you know, there's a reason people practice meditation and mindfulness techniques and seek, you know, habits, mindful habits, not just self-help, but things you can do to manage your emotions and your mentality on a daily basis. And I am not perfect, and I have to work at it. But if you have those intentions and you put them to work, it's pretty incredible how powerful they can be. And that's not just for sports, but that's for anything in your life, whether it's relationships with other people. It's your, you know sitting in your office job. I say office job, like your office job because I don't have that anymore. 

 

Madeline [00:30:46] You're free from that now. 

 

Kate [00:30:49] Yeah. But whatever you do, it's very powerful. I mean, and it's hard to create the space for that because you don't necessarily see the results that you do when, you know, when you eat a salad versus eating French fries, you feel good right away. When you, when you exercise, you know, you probably lose a pound or two of sweat and you, you feel good. And after a week you look in the mirror and you're like, all right, yeah, I'm feeling good. This is great. But with the mind, you don't necessarily see those results in front of you. And so, it's hard to have the patience to invest the time in creating the space to work on it. And it's, it's also a little tougher to measure if you're not being mindful about it. 

 

Madeline [00:31:39] I want to ask about setting goals, because do you set goals year over year about what races you want to accomplish? Or is it, you know, within a race you're saying, all right. The next mile I want to do X or, you know, little goals, big goals. How do you, how do you set those goals? 

 

Kate [00:31:55] Both, so I do, I do set goals on races, and so, you know, this year, the first race I did, it's called the Tuscobia 160, and I said, I want to break the course record. And I did! By two hours. So, I was very happy about that. And then going out into Arrowhead, Arrowhead 135, I wanted to set the course record with the bike, but it became, it was really warm, so it just wasn't going to be a fast bike year. So, I decided to skate ski it instead. And, and I did, and I broke the course record by 18 hours, and then I guess I signed up for the waitlist for Iditarod. So, it was not on my radar. And they called me up because typically a handful of people drop out the week before due to injury or just change of plans or whatever reason. And I went out there intending to win. And so, yeah, I do set those goals. But, the goals during the race are also very important. And sometimes those goals just turn into putting one foot in front of the other, because if you start to focus on the end game in these long-haul races, it'll crush you because it will end up taking forever, your mental strength will crumble. It just will. It's too hard because it's going to take too long to get there. And so, getting into sort of a steady flow and being in the moment is a really great place to be. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm not in the moment thinking like, OK, I want to get to this checkpoint by this time. Right. This is my goal. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get this time, and this time, and this time. And now that I'm racing these more competitively, I'll write those down on a piece of paper or print them and laminate them and then take safety pins and tape them to my handlebars so that I can see them. Because the other thing that happens in these races is you get really like looney. You just, you kind of lose your mind because you're really, you're a little dehydrated all the time. You're low on glycogen, your brain, your tired, your brain isn't working, and you hallucinate. I mean, I once had, I once thought my breath was a ghost coming at me. It was the middle of the night. And I breathed and I started swatting the breath and screaming, because I know this sounds crazy, but like you do not need to buy drugs to get high. You can just go do one of these races, if you can start hallucinating, it can be pretty fun. It's fatiguing. But you do have to write those things, literally write them down sometimes to remember what they are and even things like when you get to a checkpoint, what your list is. OK. Take this off. Bring this inside. Do this. Do that. Because you'll forget what it was you intended to do just because you're completely out of it. 

 

Madeline [00:35:23] Yeah, so for our listeners who are thinking about getting involved in endurance sports. Do you have any advice for them on how to take the first steps? Because I think, you know, hearing some of the numbers that you put out today, it can be rather intimidating to think, making a leap just even from leap from a marathon to an ultra-marathon. I mean, that just seems like a lot of miles. So, what advice would you give to our listeners about taking the first steps? 

 

Kate [00:35:50] I think one is you need to talk to somebody. So, if you can, and you can talk to me, I'm happy to talk to you. But if you can talk to somebody who can show you the ropes. My first hundred mile ultra, I called a friend. We went for a walk and I just peppered her with questions and she just pulled me along and helped me. So, I felt really confident going in that the only thing left undone was really my abilities and whether I could you know, finish and my feet weren't going to break by the end. So, call someone and get some input and advice. Two, is I would say, don't, don't be afraid to make a leap. I mean, I signed up for an Ironman before I'd even done a triathlon, because and a lot of people, some people, their very first triathlon is an Ironman distance. So, for those who don't know an Ironman, it's 140.6 miles swim, bike, run, and you run a marathon at the end of this. And some people, that's their first triathlon. And that, I'm just. I'm amazed by. But, talk to somebody and get some input and advice. You don't need fancy gear. There are ways to do this with minimum or used gear. My first, that first bike race, I did buy the bike, but I borrowed all the equipment from my friends. They gave me a bag and I had all the, you know, the packs that you put on the bike and even gloves and mountain feed bags, whatever you need on there. I borrowed from people and then it was something I wanted to get into, so I started accumulating my own equipment. But you don't, you don't necessarily need to go spend a bunch of money if you want to do things like that, especially ultra-running, because oftentimes you just need your shoes and the hydration pack so that can be not as an expensive of sport. But just try it, like you don't, you don't know unless you try. And I would say ultra-sports people tend to be really welcoming. It's just a very, I've found it personally to be the most inclusive group I've ever found because it's you know, we're all kind of weirdos out there. And we understand one another. We go through these things together. And I think it'll be worth your while. You also don't need as much time as you might think you need. I mean, if your goal is to go and finish something that's going to take a very different commitment than if your goal is to go out there and win something. And so, ask some questions, figure out if you don't have a lot of time, a minimalist lifestyle. And then also importantly is you need to make sure that you have a plan with your partner and your family. So, if, you know, if I, if I'm gonna go out there and do a race and I talk to my husband and say, OK, this is the race I'm intending on doing, and are we in agreement? Can you support that? Because we both race, he in a different way than I. But it takes time and so you have to have that support. And, I know that's a, that can be hard for people. And then the last thing is just being creative. So, again, if you don't have time, be creative with it. Like, I just did this challenge in May, where I ran a mile for the date of the month. So, May 1st I ran a mile. May 2nd, I ran two, May 21st I ran twenty-one. And so, the last six days of the month, I ran 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. And, you know, it was hard, but I got up early. I got up at 4:30, walked the dogs. And then went for a run, came back at eight, grabbed my son and we would go, you know, for two hours and just explore with the stroller and I'd get a few miles in. Now, I do realize I work for myself, so I had the luxury of being able to kind of like finish the workout at 10, 10a.m. But we got creative around the weekends. I'd go do my run. My husband had a race. I'd grab my son. We ran to the race and then we'd run to intersections to see him crossing, you know coming out of trails and running onto another trail. And, you know, that's just, that's what we did. So, I think where there's a will, there's a way I know it sounds cliché, but it's true. And like I said, the listeners can talk to me about that. I'm happy to share more thoughts. 

 

Madeline [00:40:35] And I'm interested. I know especially for women who are becoming new moms. Like I know you've recently had a child. And how has that changed your training or how have you been able to you know, besides what you've talked about here, you know, balance sort of the family life and the training?

 

Kate [00:40:58] It you know, it didn't change too much, so, when I went back to work, so my son now is 20 months and I went back to work in January of 2019. And so, I was, I went back after four months postpartum and I started training for an Ironman. And we got a puppy. That was maybe like the most challenging time of our lives. But, you know, if I had a run, sometimes it would just be with him. Take him in a stroller and then have to wake up really early. And then the commitment with my husband on that time. But the more I can take my son with me, the better just because I enjoy that time and I'm fine waking up early. My son wakes up around seven-thirty, eight. We did sleep training with him really early. So, he'll sometimes wake up and like sing and play in his crib for an hour. You just giggle and watch him on the monitor thinking, it's like the best show to watch in his crib in the morning. But yeah, I, I don't know, I've, I've never, I haven't been like, "oh this is so hard" I've always faced it as, "aren't I lucky?" And I don't know if that, I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I have a super involved husband and I also have family support down the road. And we have a nanny and every chance I get; I am grabbing my son. Now he runs around the house saying, "run, run, run." This morning he woke up and he started yelling, "run, run, run." And he was running in a circle in the living room. And he was like crying and whining because he wanted to go run. We said, "no it's time, you know, why don't we eat breakfast first?" And he went, "no, run, run, run, run." So, there have been times where he's yelling, run, run. I'm like, yep. All right let's go. Put on the shoes, we head out the door. And I mean it's not much of a run for me, but he, it's awesome. Like, he's seen that from us. And so, we do it. And, you know, but getting back to your question, like I said, I just, I think about it as I am, I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky I have this human being I created. I'm so lucky I get to be his mom. I'm lucky that I am healthy and can do this. And I also can take on a lot of stress, which is one of my superpowers. And so, I try to do it all, which some people might say is insane. But I do because I just I still want to live life and I have things that I love to do and I find a way, I figured it out, I just figure it out and find a way to make it work. [Music transition]

 

Madeline [00:44:18] So, in closing we always like to ask all of our guests, if you had if you have one piece of advice to give to our listeners that they can apply to their own careers, specifically with respect to developing professional self-confidence. 

 

Kate [00:44:34] One thing is, the best secret that I discovered a few years ago was really nobody knows what they're doing. You're sitting in a conference table and I sat around, I sat at many, many with 10, 20 men. And I was the only woman there. I looked around and I thought, no, they do not know what they're doing either. Or, you know, they're all, they all have imposter syndrome too, and they just don't realize it. I found that more people are actually not what you make them out to be when, you know, having that imposter syndrome. And, and getting over it. It's something that I think men and women, you know women more than men. But men have it too. And, so anybody out there, just everybody, everybody else feels the same way. So, if you can just put one foot in front of the other and fake it. A lot of people are drawn to that, meaning they don't realize you're faking it and you can just gain confidence through that. I very self admittedly faked a lot of confidence and it becomes real and tangible. So, I would say that's a good way to start. The second, is I would say find somebody, a mentor. And when I say a mentor, I mean somebody actually in your office or in your field, somebody that can really pull you along. And it's hard to say, "well find that person," but because they might find you or you might find each other at just the right time. So, if you look around the table right now and you don't see anybody, it's just not in your line of work or at your office or in your company. Like, just have the patience. It'll come and happen. And when it does, work with that person, because that can help instill a lot of confidence in you. If you just have somebody that's encouraging you and believing in you, it goes a long way, and everybody deserves to have that. And so, if you don't have it right now, then be that for somebody else. But it's a really important thing to have others believing in you. 

 

Becca [00:46:54] If you enjoyed listening to our podcast hit, subscribe now and leave us a review. Thank you to Nico Vettese for composing our original music. And thank you always to our home team of friends and family for supporting us in our mission. This episode was produced and edited by Madeline and Becca. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, you are somebody. 

 you along. And it's hard to say, "well find that person," but because they might find you or you might find each other at just the right time. So, if you look around the table right now and you don't see anybody, it's just not in your line of work or at your office or in your company. Like, just have the patience. It'll come and happen. And when it does, work with that person, because that can help instill a lot of confidence in you. If you just have somebody that's encouraging you and believing in you, it goes a long way, and everybody deserves to have that. And so, if you don't have it right now, then be that for somebody else. But it's a really important thing to have others believing in you. 

 

Becca [00:46:54] If you enjoyed listening to our podcast hit, subscribe now and leave us a review. Thank you to Nico Vettese for composing our original music. And thank you always to our home team of friends and family for supporting us in our mission. This episode was produced and edited by Madeline and Becca. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, you are somebody.