103 - Gwen Jorgensen Gold Medal Mama

Gwen Jorgensen seems to have realized the true value of happiness – and she has set a path in life toward achieving it – happiness not success that is. The reason I say this is not because of what she says in the interview but how she lights up whenever she talks about anything that is bigger than herself, specifically her journey into motherhood. Gwen is an Olympic gold medalist in the sport of triathlon. She won 17 ITU World cup titles and a gold medal all in the span of 6 short years as a professional triathlete. After the Olympics she entered the New York Marathon for fun and finished in 14th place with a time of 2:41. After that she got pregnant and had a baby, right around the time she declared that she was going after another Olympic spot, this time in the marathon! She sets her goals high and then tells the world so she can’t hide behind anything. Even though we covered some incredible topics today, I am having a little interviewer’s remorse because I wanted to cover more. Like the fact that Gwen chose to give up a wildly successful triathlon career, right after she won a gold medal! And that she is now training for the 2020 Olympic marathon with the Bowerman Track Club and women like Shalane Flanagan. But the truth is that this chapter of her life is still being written, and many of you didn’t know what got her to this point in the first place. So I will be happy with what we did cover and look forward to talking to her again in the future – hopefully after the 2020 Olympic Marathon. Today we talk about: Growing up in theMidwest Violin: How she became very successful even though she didn’t like it Swimming vs running: Hard work vs talent Goals: process based & technique based Running form goals Exceeding the demands of competition in training Nontraditional family roles Active pregnancy when you are an elite athlete Stanley’s birth & Gwen's physical recovery My only wish is that we could have talked longer! I want to know if she already has an inkling of which new sport she’ll go after in 2021! But for now, I'll take it! I loved chatting about her background. I can just envision Gwen as a little girl, working so hard and pushing her perfectionist mentality to the edge. Clearly she’s talented but it takes more than talent to be the best in the world. Hard work and mental toughness round it out and Gwen’s got it all. How to find & follow Gwen! All photos by Talbot Cox. Check him out too!