Episode 8: Susan Sotir - Ironman Certified Coach at Breakthrough Performance Coaching

Today’s guest is Sue Sotir. Sue is currently a coach at Breakthrough Performance Coaching, where she coaches athletes from complete endurance/triathlon beginners to those that cross the finish line at the Ironman World Championships. Before Breakthrough, Sue was a D3 swimmer at Tufts University and raced her first triathlon in 1989. Since then, she has raced triathlons from sprint to Ironman distances. In this episode, I discuss with Sue the training and coaching aspects of swimming, the art and science of coaching an athlete for an endurance event, as well as performance nutrition and post-race recovery. As someone new to endurance sports, some of her thoughts around stretching, nutrition, and recovery were eye-opening for me and may also be for a lot of you listening. Hope this episode provides some new and valuable insight for all you athletes out there!

Timestamps

00:01:40 Her expertise as a coach, swimming background

00:09:35 Swimming's impact on the body vs. running and cycling

00:13:15 Importance of technique in swimming

00:19:15 When did she start coaching

00:24:21 Her coaching philosophy

00:26:04 Why do people want to do Ironman triathlons?

00:29:33 The art of coaching

00:33:23 Journaling/tracking training, good-better-how

00:38:10 Yoga for endurance training, is stretching beneficial?

00:44:35 Importance of body self awareness during training

00:48:35 How long should you train before doing your first Ironman?

00:51:00 How did she get into competing in triathlons

00:53:58 Effects of stress on training*

00:59:22 Nutrition pre-race and during the race

01:14:45 Recovery and rest after and Ironman

01:20:00 What's kept her driven as a competitor and coach

01:23:14 Words of motivation for someone looking to compete in their first endurance event

*Stress is the best predictor of injury, but past injury is also another good predictor of future injury