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#551 Coach Lauren Brown: You Are An IRONMAN
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What does it really take to become an IRONMAN? In this inspiring episode, Coaches Rich Soares and Kristin Overton sit down with Lauren Brown to discuss the months of preparation, the setbacks, the breakthroughs, and the unforgettable moment she crossed the finish line at IRONMAN Lake Placid. This is not a race recap. It is the authentic story of perseverance, consistency, and personal transformation. Whether you're training for your first race or chasing a lifelong endurance dream, Lauren's journey proves that extraordinary achievements are built one disciplined step at a time.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction
00:00:07
Rich
Welcome to episode 551 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We are your hosts, coaches Rich Soares and Kristen Overton, and we are on a mission to help endurance athletes like you train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve
Meet Coach Lauren Brown
00:00:22
Rich
greatness. Today, we are joined by our very own Grit to Greatness Coach Lauren Brown, who is fresh off of her full Ironman finish. She's an Ironman. She's an Ironwoman.
00:00:37
Rich
This is not a race cap filled with a bunch of statistics. This is an authentic story of what it feels like to stand on the start line of a lifetime dream, battle through the highs and the lows and the fears and the insecurity, all those things that are going to hit you.
00:00:53
Rich
and do a 140.6 mile journey. And by the way, do it smiling all the way from wire to wire and hear every word um of you are an Ironman.
00:01:04
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:01:06
Kristin Overton
This is so exciting.
Preparing for the First Ironman
00:01:09
Kristin Overton
So what we're doing tonight is just, you know, giving you an episode that gives you an authentic and unfiltered look at the first time Ironman experience through the eyes of our very own coach, Lauren.
00:01:22
Kristin Overton
so we're going to explore the the months and years of preparation, the emotional roller coaster leading into race day. It's always ah crazy roller coaster. ah lessons learned during training and racing, what surprised Lauren most during the events, how ordinary athletes can achieve extraordinary goals through consistency and grit.
00:01:43
Kristin Overton
So, and also, you know, why that finish line is only part of the transformation. The finish line is just only a very small part of the whole journey. So ah we will walk away inspired and we're going to inspire you to pursue your own endurance goals, regardless of where they are on your athletic journey.
00:02:03
Kristin Overton
So here we go, Lauren. So before we before we dive in, i know you're just like chomping the bit.
00:02:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:02:10
Kristin Overton
I can't wait to hear your story, um particularly because I was there, but I never really got to talk to you post-race. So I'm super excited about this. So we're going to give a few athlete shout outs from last weekend as well as this weekend. Rich, I'll i'll let you shout out for last weekend.
00:02:29
Rich
Yeah, absolutely. And why don't we just go ahead start with our guest of honor here. all right. We had coach Lauren Brown and Lindsay Holmes finish Ironman. Oh, sorry. And Lucy Zate, Ironman.
00:02:41
Lauren Brown
Also first time,
00:02:41
Kristin Overton
Lucy's also first time, yep.
00:02:44
Rich
That's amazing. So three amigos at Lake Placid, California.
00:02:48
Lauren Brown
three Ls.
00:02:49
Kristin Overton
The three Ls, yes.
00:02:51
Rich
Love it. And get this. We had two people, Chris Shothan and Kevin Cole doing Ironman 70.3 Oregon um in Salem.
00:03:02
Rich
And I actually thought we had one other two potentially, didn't we? Hmm.
00:03:06
Kristin Overton
don't know. don't know.
00:03:07
Rich
Okay. Maybe that's it. Plus we had two athletes racing tri-boulder sprint. ah Sorry, tri-boulder one doing the sprint, Alice and Greg doing the, ah the Olympic.
00:03:19
Rich
We had super tri-New Jersey, Baron, Baron or Veron rather did super tri-New Jersey state sprint, Denise Hiller, Vermont, 100 K And Jessica Kress, the Ironman 70.3 Ohio and Kevin Bauer Bar Camp Trail Run.
00:03:39
Rich
Wow.
00:03:39
Kristin Overton
It's busy weekend last weekend.
00:03:41
Lauren Brown
Yeah, lots of representation.
00:03:44
Kristin Overton
That's right. And it's just going to keep rolling because we have a ton of athletes racing next or this coming weekend. ah So ah we have like a million, million G2G athletes racing Calgary 70.3. So I'm going to name them all off. They're all up in Canada getting ready. So there's ah n McKay.
00:04:05
Kristin Overton
There's a mar Marche, right? Yep.
00:04:08
Rich
Yep. Marche. Yep.
00:04:09
Kristin Overton
Marche. Juliet Gavea, Carrie Rose, Alyssa Monk, Haley Harris. I think I hit them all for Calgary.
00:04:20
Kristin Overton
So a couple other, we have we have two racers in ah ah doing 70.3 Maine in Augusta, Karma Lundy and Ann Thompson, one of our our limitless athletes.
00:04:32
Kristin Overton
And then last but not least, we have Aaron Johnson doing Chicago Lakes Olympic Tri. So good luck to all you guys. You're going to have a great day.
00:04:42
Rich
That's awesome. Yeah, all of those ladies doing Calgary are all all of our limit are are all limitless athletes.
00:04:48
Kristin Overton
Oh, they are all limitless. Okay.
00:04:50
Rich
Yep.
00:04:50
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:04:51
Kristin Overton
That's so awesome.
00:04:51
Rich
And they're training together. Some of them are training together. Yeah. yeah So excited. Listen, listen, be a part of this community. It is such a blast. You don't need to be coached to be a part of it either. If you're looking for support, I mean, these ladies are not all these ladies and all of these folks are coach. So if you're looking for support, inspiration, and a group of athletes who truly understand what it takes to balance life, work, endurance sports, and want you want to, you want to you know, have a, you know, have time with other people outside of work.
The Role of Community Support
00:05:25
Rich
We just had an amazing webinar where we, you know, had, you know, the product owner for TriDot, the TriDot application come and, you know, Ken Persuti, come over and do a demo for us to help people know how to, you know, how to use the new app. um There's all sorts of great stuff happening here. Come check us out. There's a link here in the show notes or just come visit us at our at our community page at grit to greatness, endurance.com.
00:05:54
Rich
All right.
00:05:56
Kristin Overton
Awesome.
00:05:56
Rich
Coach Gale, back to you.
00:05:58
Kristin Overton
We ready, Lauren?
00:05:59
Lauren Brown
I'm ready.
00:06:00
Kristin Overton
All right, let's let's let's fire away here. we're but we're just gonna like shoot a bunch of questions at you and and we'll see what comes out, all right?
00:06:11
Lauren Brown
good.
00:06:11
Kristin Overton
All right. ah So, you know, really, you know, what what were you feeling when you crossed that finish line? What does it really feel like to complete your first Ironman And, you know, what what do you take away from that? And you give back to aspiring Ironman athletes.
00:06:30
Kristin Overton
So what should they know before they begin their journey?
00:06:34
Lauren Brown
So, well, crossing the finish line, I mean, you saw me. I was definitely smiling from ear to ear. i probably finished. People probably looked at me like, what the heck?
00:06:44
Lauren Brown
Why is she smiling so hard and running so fast? Because I was like, I just was like dashing down there.
00:06:47
Rich
Yeah.
00:06:51
Lauren Brown
I i honestly thought that I was going to cry when I crossed the finish line. And i think I had about like. a half a second of like that emotion where I felt like I wanted to cry when I heard them say, Lauren Brown, you are an Iron Man. And then right after he followed up with, and look at that smile. And I just was like, damn freaking right. I am like i am so freaking happy. So crossing the finish line, it was as good as I could have hoped for like mentally, physically. And I think the other part of the question was, what would i tell people who were like aspiring to do this?
00:07:28
Kristin Overton
Yeah.
00:07:28
Lauren Brown
just do it. I mean, I think it's one of if you have for, for anything, right.
00:07:30
Rich
Yeah.
00:07:34
Lauren Brown
I would say this, whether it was an iron man or doing your first sprint or doing 5k, I don't care. Like if you have an an itch and a desire to do something, I'm some, I believe wholeheartedly that if if I can do something, anybody can do it because I, there's nothing extra special.
00:07:50
Lauren Brown
We're all special, but you know, that if if you have a desire to do something and you're willing to, say yes to the right things and no to the things that you should be saying no to, I think like go for it.
00:08:03
Kristin Overton
Yeah, it all starts with that decision, right?
00:08:03
Rich
Wow.
00:08:05
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:06
Kristin Overton
Like, hey, I'm going to do this.
00:08:06
Lauren Brown
Even it's scary.
00:08:09
Kristin Overton
let let me Let me sign up.
00:08:11
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:11
Kristin Overton
that's That's all it takes, even though it's scary.
00:08:12
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:14
Kristin Overton
Yeah, yeah.
00:08:14
Lauren Brown
Yep.
00:08:15
Rich
All right. Well, I'm going to press on that a little bit, La. All right. So by the way, we all call her La behind the scenes here just so you didn't know. So Coach Lauren, I'm going to press on that a little bit.
00:08:26
Rich
it's It's an easy thing to say, right? Yeah, just do it, right?
00:08:29
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:30
Rich
go back like go back you know to before you made this decision, really go back. what What triggered it? Like what was like, okay, this is something I am going to say yes to.
00:08:41
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:44
Lauren Brown
So it's funny. I feel like my journey has always been, you know, this from when we first started talking, when I i first came on to G2G where You know, i started with duathlon because i was scared to do triathlon and i only did one year in duathlon and my reason for the quick switch was I'd said I felt like all the fun was on the other side of my fear. And it was like, I am somebody who followed a very,
00:09:11
Lauren Brown
I'm going to say practical journey. Not that, I mean, everyone has their own journey, but I literally, I like did do Athlon and then I was like, all right, I'm gonna do a sprint. And, um, I was pretty okay at it. And then I was like, you know what?
00:09:22
Lauren Brown
going do an Olympic COVID happened. I did an Olympic by myself. Like I just mapped one out. And then that next year I did Olympic. I did that for like another two years. Then I was like, you know what?
00:09:35
Lauren Brown
I think I want to try the 70.3 because i like doing half marathons and I feel like, but I was always, if you asked me when I did a sprint, I was like, oh, I would never do an Olympic. And then when I was doing Olympics, I was like, oh, I would never do a 70.3. And then I was like, there's no way in hell I want to do a full Ironman. And then it was like, I did um probably like ah four seventy point three s and then I did world championships in Marbella and Marbella was really tough. It was a, it was a tough course for a lot of reasons. And I just was like, you know what?
00:10:11
Lauren Brown
I think I'm ready to take that next jump. So I was, i like baby stepped my way where I was always like, I'm a little scared, do it because you're scared. I'm a little scared, do it because you're scared. And I think i just got to that point where I was Definitely not comfortable at a 70.3. I mean, 70.3s are absolutely challenging, like 100%. But where I was getting to the point where I felt like um I still have nerves about me at a 70.3, but I'm ready to feel those like like, oh shit nerves.
00:10:40
Lauren Brown
And so for me, that was the Ironman decision of, I think I'm ready to to scare myself again.
00:10:41
Rich
yeah
00:10:48
Kristin Overton
So you're like thinking all this, like, oh, Ironman is super scary. it's It's so long, whatever. And then you go and choose like Placid, which is like one of the hardest Ironmans out there.
00:10:59
Kristin Overton
Like what what was your thought process for that?
00:11:02
Lauren Brown
So I know it's funny. I was actually, um it was my last ocean swim before going to Marbella. And so it was freezing in New Jersey. and it was, i was talking to one of the guys that I know from the tri club here. and I was saying, I was like, you know, i'm kind of starting to really think that I'm going to do an Ironman next year. And at the time i was like, but thinking about Texas, just because I was like,
00:11:29
Lauren Brown
I knew some people who had done Texas and I was like, well, it's like flat and it's warm and I haven't been there. Definitely not to race at least. And I was talking to myself and then I was I was also thinking about Lake Placid because it's like iconic to me. Like, I feel like when I first started even in triathlon. And some of the first people that I started following who were local athletes would post Lake Placid. And to me, it was like, that was like, uh, obviously other than like on the Kona, it was like in the Northeast, that was like the beast. Right. And he was like, he had got do Lake Placid.
00:12:02
Lauren Brown
And I was like, And I just figured that would be the one. And I, you know, um, After doing Marbella, I don't know if i was a little bit more scared about it because of the the of my inability to descend you know as strong as I can climb. um but ah But yeah, so that was that was my decision.
00:12:24
Kristin Overton
So awesome. and I did the same thing, Lauren, who you know, is it was my
Trusting the Process
00:12:29
Kristin Overton
first and I'm like, you know, why not like glassed, right?
00:12:29
Lauren Brown
And yours was little bit scarier. yeah and K.O.' 's was a little bit scarier back in the day because it was a while back.
00:12:32
Rich
You guys are crazy. yeah
00:12:32
Kristin Overton
It was a
00:12:37
Kristin Overton
a little while back.
00:12:37
Rich
Oh, mass darts.
00:12:37
Kristin Overton
Yeah. Mass start.
00:12:38
Rich
Mass darts.
00:12:39
Kristin Overton
Yeah. That, that swim was ah yeah.
00:12:40
Rich
Yep. I remember the good old days.
00:12:43
Kristin Overton
I, every time I go back up to Lake Placid, I have flashbacks of the the washing machine. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:49
Rich
my My last Ironman was the last one, was the only one that I ever did that was a rolling wave.
00:12:49
Kristin Overton
It's amazing.
00:12:54
Kristin Overton
Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:12:56
Lauren Brown
yeah. Yeah.
00:12:57
Kristin Overton
Yeah. So great.
00:12:59
Lauren Brown
Crazy. Mm-hmm.
00:13:00
Kristin Overton
All right. So you did this thing, you've been building up to it, you signed up for it. And, you know, we all know that nobody gets through an Ironman, you know, on their own.
00:13:15
Kristin Overton
And there's, there's always the people around you that help push you and help get you through that, that training. And and get you to the finish line. um Who are those people that may play the biggest role in supporting your journey? And how did they help you kind of stay committed to to that goal and and getting you there?
00:13:33
Lauren Brown
Yeah. I mean, obviously coach K Kurt Madden is my coach. So he, He dealt with me being a ah head case from time to time because even when I had like little, listen, I had very minor setbacks, but for me, i just wanted to feel as healthy and as strong as possible. So when I was dealing with my knees being cranky on me and not being able to run like I wanted to run, he definitely helped me like,
00:13:57
Lauren Brown
stay off that like downward spiral of you know worrying that this wasn't going to actually happen um you guys definitely played a role having a support system of people that could understand why i may felt like i i definitely maybe beat myself up a little bit feeling like i was behind the mark on other areas of my life because of training so having friends that are in the triathlon community that i can like lean on to know that it's okay that for this little period of time, some other things are going to take a little bit of a backseat. So for me, like you guys were amazing. um Obviously KO welcomed me to the training camp with her athletes, which was hands down, like the best thing I could have done for my entire prep. And I got, I got to say my family too, you know, like for them to, to deal with me and, and
00:14:54
Lauren Brown
for them to actually do all of the planning for our trip to get there was, was huge for me because that took a lot of stress off my plate. Like I didn't have to do anything. I've all had to train.
00:15:05
Lauren Brown
i had to train and show up and, and get there, but like logistically they did a lot of the the planning for the trip.
00:15:05
Kristin Overton
Thank you.
00:15:12
Lauren Brown
So um yeah, I feel like it was, a ah there was a lot of people and I, I feel if I, if anybody played a role and I don't say their name, I mean, but I i had a lot of training partners along the way too that, you know,
00:15:25
Lauren Brown
helped me show up, so.
00:15:27
Rich
we forgot to have the Academy Awards hook music playing, you know, I'm just kidding.
00:15:30
Lauren Brown
Oh, can you hear the music in my background?
00:15:32
Rich
No, no, no, I'm just, I'm kidding.
00:15:33
Lauren Brown
Oh, okay, because I'm like, oh, thank you.
00:15:34
Rich
You're talking, cause you're thanking everybody. know, I want to make sure I don't miss anybody.
00:15:38
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I know.
00:15:39
Rich
um
00:15:39
Lauren Brown
And if you could hear, I live above a bar and there's like a band playing. So if you guys do start to hear some like music and screaming, it's the it's the band downstairs, so.
00:15:47
Rich
More cowbell. We need more cowbell.
00:15:48
Kristin Overton
Awesome. More cowbell. Yeah.
00:15:50
Lauren Brown
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:15:53
Rich
You know, it's, this is a, This is an interesting question for a coach, because like you've coached people through this process. you know there's a there's a bit of a you know If you've never done a distance, there's a you know little bit of a, call it trust fall here, that you know this is the that the process is going to get me there.
00:16:14
Rich
You'd never done an Ironman before. You were going through this process, even though you knew from a coach's perspective that, oh yeah, if I trust the process, this will be fine.
00:16:25
Rich
Talk about like, did the athlete that's never done this before, was there any of that doubt that you had to work through? And if you had conversations with your coach or with Coach K, talk talk about that.
00:16:38
Lauren Brown
I think that the part of the race that I was most concerned about, even though realistically, if you look at the my the three legs of a triathlon, the run has always been my strongest out of the three, like in every race, my dot score, it's always where I am the strongest, but because my knees were so cranky starting like in January,
00:17:00
Lauren Brown
We were very like I probably had almost like a like eight to 10 week period where I barely ran. and so that concerned me at the start of when I was like, oh, shoot, I have an Ironman on the calendar. I better be able to run. And then my longest run. And also, mind you, this was also my first marathon. So I've never run a marathon prior to doing Lake Placid.
00:17:21
Lauren Brown
And so as we were building on my run, my longest run was 16 and a half miles about. And yeah, so and Coach K was like, um you know, like, Kat Matthews, she doesn't run more than like X amount of miles and she's OK to run a marathon. Like you just don't feel like you need to 20, 22 miles to be able to complete the marathon. And so for me going into it,
00:17:50
Lauren Brown
I was like, and I knew going into it from other people's feedback was like, you know, mile 16, mile 18. And I was like, well, shoot, I've only ran 16 and a half. So I've never even got past that part in my training. So I was definitely during the race thinking like, okay, like you have to hold, hold back. Like, and that was one thing that actually Lindsay, one of KTO's athletes said when we were at training camp, she's like,
00:18:14
Lauren Brown
Trust me, like run slower than you think you need to run. And so I would say like I had to really trust the process that my bike training, my run training would also carry me through and that 16 and a half miles of running would be enough that I could still complete the marathon at the end of the Ironman.
00:18:35
Lauren Brown
And I did.
00:18:35
Rich
Yeah. Yeah. That's a tough one. That's 60 mile thing. You're like, there's another 10 miles of the run that I'm like, I'm not covering here folks. Like, is that going to really work?
00:18:42
Kristin Overton
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:44
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, but once I got to that point ah during the race, I was like, dude, if i have to walk 10 miles, I'm doing it.
00:18:45
Rich
But
00:18:51
Lauren Brown
So whatever, we're there.
00:18:52
Rich
dude, you were right. You finished you. You were running down that finish. You like you stole something from the guy behind you. I mean, like, like you were running with a TV or something.
00:19:02
Lauren Brown
The guy behind me was probably like this bitch.
00:19:03
Rich
I don't know.
00:19:06
Kristin Overton
Rich, I got to tell you, like, I, like, I, she was like a blur going down the, the, the finish chute. Like i was there.
00:19:11
Rich
smiling blur the flesh of teeth
00:19:12
Kristin Overton
And then all of sudden, like, she's like, I'm like, holy crap. She's, she's sprinting. And she's like, yeah. And the, and the teeth, right. Exactly. Like the hugest smile on the face. It was just like, but you know, every time I saw her on the run course too, it was, you know, and we're, we're kind of situated in a spot most of the time where she's running up a hill to get to where we were.
00:19:33
Kristin Overton
and every time she just like, motoring up that hill, big smile on the face, giving high fives. Awesome.
00:19:41
Lauren Brown
high-fived everybody. Everybody.
00:19:45
Kristin Overton
As you should, as you should, for sure.
00:19:47
Lauren Brown
Yeah, that's great.
00:19:49
Kristin Overton
So great. um So, you you know, you kind of talk about that run and, and, you know, the, the knee issues and that kind of thing. So, you know, every, i think every athlete going through Ironman training has some sort of setback whether it's illness, injury, um just stress, you know work, all those things.
00:20:05
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:20:11
Kristin Overton
um you know what What were some of the biggest obstacles, you know maybe you know anything other than than your knee? um and And how did you kind of work through all of that?
00:20:23
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I mean, I would say physically my knee was definitely the worst of it in terms of like having to just navigate not injuring myself because I'm the type of person where again, like I wanna feel as good as possible. So I'm not trying to like,
00:20:37
Lauren Brown
push through something and hurt myself more. So I think that, which ended up translating a little bit to mentally, because again, like there were some days where I was like, just crying to coach K, cause I was like, I just want to run. And so I was like upset there. And then, i mean, other obstacles I would say, i think most people face is just the reality that like,
00:20:58
Lauren Brown
if you're saying yes to something you have to say no to other things and so it's like you know do i really how much do i care about going out versus getting up at you know 4 30 so i can meet my biking buddy to go for a bike ride at 5 a.m m on a saturday to beat the traffic by the shore right so um i would say just being okay with with that side of things, being okay with reading a book and calling it a night at like 8.30 on a Friday and a Saturday, and
00:21:32
Lauren Brown
just trying to stay as as as organized as possible. I think that for me was like, so I didn't have obstacles like major travel or anything like that. Not that I can remember anyway, it's a little bit of a blurb, but um But yeah, I think for me, it was the the typical things that you can expect, making sure that the pool schedule is working for me. you know So really, i think i was I was quite fortunate. i I say like out of all the things that could go wrong, i'm I was able to navigate you know minimal running and you know making up for it where I needed to. So as far as prep goes, that would be the the main things.
00:22:15
Rich
There's so many logistics and it's so, it gets to be, it gets to be kind of stressful just with like the time management alone.
00:22:15
Kristin Overton
Awesome. Yeah.
00:22:22
Rich
Right.
00:22:24
Lauren Brown
That's really what it was. I mean, and then just for it being my first time, again, I'm lucky that I have you guys who have done between you both many Ironman races and different types of races.
Learning from Experience
00:22:36
Lauren Brown
Coach K, Lake Placid was his 55th Ironman. So like I, again, I was very fortunate that I had a lot of borrowed knowledge from other people.
00:22:47
Lauren Brown
So I didn't feel like I was on Google trying to be like, hey, Claude, what what do I need to bring with me to my Ironman and hoping that Claude had everything right as opposed to can I talk to coaches who have been doing this for a really long time that I have in my corner and get the right information?
00:22:57
Rich
right.
00:23:04
Lauren Brown
So I definitely had a huge benefit because of the the borrowed experience that I got from other people.
00:23:14
Kristin Overton
So critical. Yeah. It's like take all of those resources and and use them to the best of your ability.
00:23:21
Lauren Brown
Yeah, because you know what the reality is, is like not to like harp on the whole like AI thing is like they, AI didn't actually go through races. So like to talk to my coach or talk to you guys and people who've actually done it and have experienced things that went wrong or went right. And to be like, like that is so invaluable because it's legit things that,
00:23:45
Lauren Brown
you might not anticipate even, i mean, thank God coach K told me to buy, say, I forgot my arm warmers or I like misplaced them in my move. And I was like, Oh, I'm not going need arm warmers anyway. And coach K was like, you should buy some arm warmers. was like, you know what? Let me just buy them. And I was like, thank God I had them on because I've never been more cold in my entire life is what I felt like for that first, like 50 miles on the bike. So like, again, like the, I didn't have to do all the the growing pains.
00:24:11
Rich
Yeah. Well, you know, and you have experience as a coach, you you know, so you don't discount your own experience here, right?
00:24:13
Kristin Overton
So good.
00:24:18
Rich
You brought some, you brought some of that, but yeah, the wisdom of coach k right?
00:24:19
Lauren Brown
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:22
Rich
I mean, 55 Ironman races. i think the guy knows the thing or two and might have a a piece of advice or two.
00:24:28
Kristin Overton
Yeah, you can't you can't beat that knowledge for sure.
00:24:30
Rich
um
00:24:31
Lauren Brown
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:34
Rich
Well, you know, you go through the same, let's call it, you know, the same Ironman making processes. The rest of us do you did the race rehearsals talk about, was there anything that either happened during those race rehearsals that man, you're like, I am so glad I figured that out before the race or something that you drew on in the race that happened in the race rehearsal that you're like, oh my gosh, I'm so glad I did that.
00:25:02
Lauren Brown
So I was very fortunate because of, again, another great reason why I did Lake Placid was because of proximity to where I live, but then also keo Coach KO, and her athletes were going to be up there training. So for my last race rehearsal, two weeks before Lake Placid, i was up there actually doing 100-mile bike ride. a We did an hour and 45-minute run. We did ah two loops in Mirror Lake. So...
00:25:30
Lauren Brown
That was like, I mean, and even this is something that seems like duh, because we talk about this all the time when it comes to hydration. But ah so Lucy, who has also crushed her first Ironman at Lake Placid as well. And I have to give her a shout out for probably she she and I probably were like a close first and second for the most smiles on the course. So I got to shout her out for that, too, because.
00:25:53
Kristin Overton
Absolutely.
00:25:54
Lauren Brown
miss smile I saw her um we were passing each other crossing paths on the run and we stopped and hugged each other. And I was like, this was like the best moment of the run. It was great. um But um when we did the the bike, Lucy was struggling with because she didn't have plain water with her.
00:26:12
Lauren Brown
And I didn't really have plain water either. And it wasn't really impacting me at that moment. But when KO came around like an angel in her in her Jeep, she had just plain water.
00:26:24
Lauren Brown
And I chugged that. like It was like you couldn't take the bottle out of my hand because I was just like, no, no, no, no. no no no no um I need that. And Lindsay and I both like drank But
00:26:34
Kristin Overton
Thank you.
00:26:37
Lauren Brown
pulling on that on race day at every single aid station, i just, which I feel so bad because we waste so much bottled water. It's terrible. But i was like and taking the plane Poland spring water, drinking whatever I can before the top, the end of the trash zone and tossing it. And so, and I, I think that definitely helped my hydration strategy because I had electrolytes and carbs in my front and my rear bottle.
00:27:06
Lauren Brown
And I was just relying on the aid stations for the the plain water, which again, it was one of those things that I was like, I'm happy that came up in the race rehearsal because it just wasn't so front of of my mind.
00:27:20
Kristin Overton
Yeah. You just never know what what's going to.
00:27:21
Rich
Way to lead that camp, KO.
00:27:23
Kristin Overton
Oh, yeah thank you.
00:27:23
Rich
Nice camp.
00:27:25
Kristin Overton
Yeah. I mean, it's a blast. Second year that we've done it. And I'm looking forward to next year already because it was so much fun.
00:27:32
Lauren Brown
I don't know. I'm not even going to do Lake Placid next year, but I think I might just come because it's fun.
00:27:32
Kristin Overton
So
00:27:36
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:27:36
Kristin Overton
you absolutely shoot. i mean, that's what I did. Right. I was there and just like had a blast. So you you can be part at part of the water duty next year.
00:27:41
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:27:44
Lauren Brown
Yeah. yeah
00:27:47
Kristin Overton
But yeah, just just being on on the on the course is invaluable. you know Not everybody can do it, obviously, but if if you get the chance or get something that's that's close, certainly makes makes a big difference. But yeah, so awesome.
00:28:02
Kristin Overton
um So we're going to go dark a little bit.
Facing Challenges During the Race
00:28:07
Kristin Overton
So we're everything thinking about how you know all the the fun, happy things and and the smiles and that sort of thing. But, you know, Did you did you have like a dark moment or, you know, what what was the toughest point in the race that you really just had to draw, you know, mentally and and dig deep to say, you know what, this is going to be okay I'm just going to keep moving forward and and I'm going to finish this thing.
00:28:26
Lauren Brown
Yeah. yeah
00:28:36
Lauren Brown
So I feel like I'm almost not lucky, but my my toughest part was the bike. So i'm I'm kind of happy that that was tough and not the run because i always say it's like how you finish is kind of how you really, really remember the the day. And the bike, like I said, I was um i get cold pretty easily and it was ah probably like upper 40s, low 50s on the bike and going down the keen descent I was like like shaking, shivering and teeth chattering where i felt like I was to bite my tongue off because i was so cold where I was like, I kept trying to be like, breathe, calm down. Like you are you're like you're you're being dramatic, Lauren. You're like, you can't be that cold. But it was like the sun wasn't out yet. And um and then the other thing on the bike that was kind of stressing me out quite a bit was that
00:29:28
Lauren Brown
i um I brought my bike to play try and I'm not, I'm not knocking them. So i just want to say that, but I was having issues with my bike shifting from the, from big to small and small to big front chain ring. So every time, and I noticed this was even happening at um the, like right before I dropped off my bike where it was,
00:29:50
Lauren Brown
it wasn't shifting to it was like the the pedals were stopping and getting stuck and it would take a second and then it would shift and the chain wasn't going from the small to the big chain ring so it was really stressful for me like the second time going to the keen descent it was like I was trying to get into my big gear and it wasn't catching and then I was like downshifting and then trying to upshift and i literally was like, please God, please Uncle Alan, like get this get this chain to shift into the big ring because I do not want to go down keen in my small ring. And so
00:30:26
Lauren Brown
Knowing that it was like, I felt like every time i was having that big shift, my pedals were getting stuck um and having to constantly like shift down, shift up, trying to get it to to catch was was like frustrating and stressful. And for me, if you know me, the descents and the bike, and also...
00:30:45
Lauren Brown
I'm a little I'm a little bit on the smaller side and the wind at one point on the bike, I was just getting blown into the the side that was with oncoming traffic. And I was like off my aero bars, trying to lean into the wind, trying to steer it back. And I like could not get my bike to move over. So um I wouldn't say I was like in a dark place, but I was in a so i was in a scared place. I was definitely um the most stressed on the bike. But I also had moments on the bike where I was like cruising and I felt great and I was talking to people and but that was my hardest for sure.
00:31:23
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:31:23
Kristin Overton
Were you having flashbacks from Marbella?
00:31:25
Lauren Brown
A little bit, a little bit going the first time down the keen descent because I like felt like because it well it was windy and I was so cold that I was shaking my bike.
00:31:31
Kristin Overton
Yeah.
00:31:33
Lauren Brown
So and it was like and yeah, when it catches you for a second, it's unsettling.
00:31:37
Kristin Overton
Yeah.
00:31:37
Lauren Brown
It is unsettling.
00:31:38
Kristin Overton
Yeah, it is for sure. Yeah, yeah.
00:31:42
Rich
Way to keep a cool head in the cool weather.
00:31:44
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:31:45
Rich
um I'm going to ask just one more question. And then, cause you have, you know, keeping an eye on the time here. And my next question was too similar to chaos anyway. So here's my question.
00:31:59
Rich
We just talked about the tough times.
00:32:01
Rich
Tell us about like, we we often like to celebrate our our daily wins. What are the little wins that you encountered along the way? What were the moments that you're like, ah, that's a win.
00:32:10
Lauren Brown
Uh,
00:32:13
Rich
Ah, that was a success. Ah, that felt great.
00:32:16
Lauren Brown
Yeah. um Well, I got to say, the the swim start is freaking awesome. So it's like, you know, 2,600 athletes. And I was like high as a kite. i Again, gri i was smiling the whole freaking time. But like all sudden they have everyone like, dum, dum, dum, dum. And all the athletes are standing there like clapping their hands above their head with the beat of the music. And like that to me, i was like,
00:32:44
Lauren Brown
looking at everyone, i was like, I must look so ridiculous because I have just such a, like a, I'm just cheesing hard right now. And um so I felt like so excited to go into the water. And when I got out of the first lap, so my goal, I was like, race X had me at an hour 17 for the swim. And in my mind, I was like, hour 20, I'll be happy. And I got out of the first loop in thirty five minutes And I was like, oh, dang, that was like five minutes faster than I was expecting. And I was like, we'll see how the second move goes. And I finished the swim in an hour 10. So I finished seven minutes faster than race X and 10 minutes faster than I was projecting. And then I saw my family. i saw KO and the crew there. And i was like,
00:33:25
Lauren Brown
Oh my God, this was a really freaking awesome start to the day. Like I'm feeling great. And then I saw, coach Carrie, she was in the tent, um, at T1. So she was helping me get situated. So that was like a really great start. Um, and then.
00:33:43
Lauren Brown
Again, the bike, I struggled, but I had a lot of fun on the bike. And then finally, like at the last, like coming into T2, I saw my family. so I didn't get to see the whole bike ride. So seeing them and them knowing that I was like safe off the bike, because I know they get worried like about that, um was like an amazing feeling. And really like every time I saw K.O. and and like everyone that she was with, and every time I saw my mom and my sisters and my niece and nephews and everyone that was there, i was like,
00:34:13
Lauren Brown
I felt so, so great. And this is like, I'm so stupid. I forgot that my name was on my name tag. And I was like, at first I was like, know so many people here and I don't even know you
00:34:26
Rich
So many people know me. I'm famous.
00:34:28
Kristin Overton
I'm like, well, they're all cold.
00:34:29
Lauren Brown
And everyone was like, go Lauren. I was like, hey. I was like clapping for myself. i you know and then there was a moment, this is like a little bit, um you can call this a dark moment or not a dark moment, but it was right around mile 20 on the run. And I was coming up to another athlete and you know I was like, good job. like We're almost there. And as a she saw me, she was like I was like a little bit ahead of her. She's like, you were my angel. and so of course I stopped and I was like, slow down and we were like talking. And she was like, um I saw you at the swim start.
00:35:02
Lauren Brown
said, my nephew passed away and your bib number, that's his angel numbers for me. And she said, and and green is his color. And so she was like, I know that he's with me and you're like my angel. And I was like, I'll like, i like if i like if I allow myself, i would cry right now, but um it was one of those moments where you're like, I might have, you might've had moments of like questioning why the hell am I doing this? Or like, this sucks and I'm in pain. And you're like, that's why I'm doing it because that woman,
00:35:32
Lauren Brown
needed to see me on the course. And like, that to me was one of those moments where I'm like, man, this, this sport has so many beautiful moments and you have to just like stop and, and be thankful for the the role that you could play in somebody else's journey as well.
00:35:47
Lauren Brown
So for me, that was like, uh, a ah really good moment. And then obviously finishing crossing the finish line, but yeah.
00:35:50
Rich
It's amazing.
00:35:54
Rich
I wanted to like show my the goosebumps on my arm as you were describing that.
00:35:54
Kristin Overton
Yeah. Yeah. It's. yeah
00:35:58
Rich
um Wow. can you pull off the med Can you show the metal?
00:36:00
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:36:02
Rich
like For the people that are going to be watching our podcast on YouTube, can you show us the metal?
00:36:05
Lauren Brown
I sure can.
00:36:07
Rich
And we'll give it a verbal.
00:36:07
Kristin Overton
yeah
00:36:08
Rich
let's let's ah Actually, let's do this. Wow. Let's get a scale thing. Can you put this in your palm? can you put your palm behind that so we can see? Holy mo- She can't even palm the thing.
00:36:19
Rich
It's that big, folks.
00:36:20
Lauren Brown
I actually have pretty big hands for a small person.
00:36:20
Rich
if
00:36:22
Lauren Brown
Look at the next of my head.
00:36:23
Rich
Let's put that let's put them next to your shoes.
00:36:24
Lauren Brown
Yeah, it's good.
00:36:25
Rich
Can we put that next to a shoe? Yeah.
00:36:27
Lauren Brown
my head
00:36:28
Rich
ah
00:36:30
Kristin Overton
Yeah, it's legit.
00:36:30
Rich
yeah
00:36:30
Lauren Brown
yeah yeah yes it's good
00:36:31
Rich
That's amazing. it's
00:36:32
Kristin Overton
It's a legit medal, that's for sure.
00:36:34
Rich
That's pretty big.
00:36:34
Lauren Brown
My niece was like, yeah, she's like, that's the best medal you've gotten.
00:36:34
Rich
It's dinner plate.
00:36:38
Lauren Brown
I'm like, well, better be. That was the longest time I've ever been on a freaking race course, man. Yeah.
00:36:45
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:36:47
Kristin Overton
so Lauren, when when you got that medal around your neck, And they announced your name and said, you know, Lauren Brown, you are an Ironman. Like, what was that feeling like? you know, what what does that achievement mean to you personally? And, you know, how how is it how is it, you know, changing you
Reflecting on Personal Growth
00:37:07
Kristin Overton
moving forward? Like, how did how did this experience change you?
00:37:12
Lauren Brown
I mean, it really, it's like the power of belief, right? And and gratitude. I mean, I know, and i I guess the gratitude doesn't change, but it like reinforces it because i would say like, I went through so many names in my head of people I was thankful for on that course. Like, I mean, I i did this in Marbella too, because I was like, please God protect me. But um but like, I literally, I'm like, i just,
00:37:35
Lauren Brown
It makes you one and I know it's like so cliche because the saying is anything is possible, but like it really is. And the one thing that kind of came up for me when I was doing a bike ride not too long ago, but then also in this race is like,
00:37:51
Lauren Brown
the good times pass just as quickly as the bad times pass. And so it's like, you you have to know the bad times are going to pass, but you also have to know that the good times are too. So like, enjoy that, right? Like on the course, when you're feeling good, like soak that up. When you're feeling like shit, it's going to pass. And I always say racing and life always mirror each other. And it's like, for me, I'm like, that's a reminder of like,
00:38:16
Lauren Brown
You're going to have shitty times. It is inevitable on race day and in life that you were going have some shitty, shitty moments where you question what the hell you're doing, why you're doing it. What did you do wrong in life to deserve this? Right. But like, but that passes. And again, so, so do the good times, unfortunately, and they slip away too. So you just want to be present. And that was like, again, one of those reminders of like, man, at all the work that went into it. And it was like, it's fricking done.
00:38:44
Lauren Brown
And yeah, so enjoy the journey because that's the longest part of it. The end result is so short.
00:38:50
Kristin Overton
Yeah, for sure.
00:38:51
Lauren Brown
You know?
00:38:52
Rich
it's over It's over in a, it's so, it's like over in a blink.
00:38:55
Kristin Overton
like split second.
00:38:56
Rich
Yeah.
00:38:56
Lauren Brown
It's a memory now.
00:38:57
Rich
Wow.
00:38:57
Lauren Brown
It's insane.
00:38:58
Kristin Overton
Yeah.
00:38:58
Rich
Yeah.
00:39:00
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:02
Rich
That's awesome. All right. Well, listen, why don't we do this? Why don't we do a quick lightning round to wrap things up? I'll start. I'll give you three quick things, Law, and then I'm going kick it to KO. She's going to give you three. All right. You ready? All
00:39:19
Lauren Brown
All right.
00:39:21
Rich
Favorite race sign of the day.
00:39:24
Lauren Brown
Oh my gosh. um Favorite race sign of the day. Oh my God. There was one, I can't even remember what it was, but it was like sexual and I was dying laughing crap.
00:39:31
Kristin Overton
Yeah.
00:39:33
Lauren Brown
So now I wish I really put that in my memory. I'll just say, I always love the power ups. I'm always happy with the power up.
00:39:39
Rich
That's great. Yeah. For some reason, those, yeah you know, sweaty people are sexy or something like, you know, right.
00:39:45
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:45
Rich
or Or, or, or, or they, or, or they're wearing the sign and doesn't look like they have anything up, but you know, anything on.
00:39:45
Kristin Overton
yeah yeah
00:39:51
Rich
Cause like you've got bare feet and,
00:39:51
Lauren Brown
Yeah, yeah. There was like something about like his wife's threesome or something like that, but I don't know.
00:39:56
Rich
Oh yeah. My wife's. so Yeah. um My, my husband approves of my threesome.
00:39:59
Lauren Brown
I fully support my wife's threesomes or something.
00:40:01
Rich
Yeah.
00:40:01
Lauren Brown
thank you
00:40:01
Rich
Yeah. yeah yeah
00:40:02
Kristin Overton
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:03
Rich
Yeah. That's a good one. All right. Favorite aid station or aid station a aid station. If they were themed or favorite aid station item you pick.
00:40:13
Lauren Brown
I'll say my favorite aid station item that came as like a surprise when I needed it was pickle juice, carbonated pickle juice.
00:40:21
Rich
Nice. I like that.
00:40:22
Lauren Brown
Yeah. I was like, it was at the tail end and I was like, i didn't know I needed that.
00:40:23
Rich
Okay.
00:40:26
Lauren Brown
That was amazing. like like
00:40:30
Rich
All right. You ready? Last one. M.Inc or no?
00:40:35
Lauren Brown
No.
00:40:36
Rich
No. Okay. All right. There you have it.
00:40:38
Kristin Overton
okay There we go.
00:40:39
Rich
We're keeping it clean, folks.
00:40:39
Kristin Overton
There we go.
00:40:40
Rich
All right.
00:40:42
Kristin Overton
Okay. This might be hard, but describe your first Ironman in one word.
00:40:47
Lauren Brown
Perfect.
00:40:50
Kristin Overton
Love it. Love it. Drop the mic, right? All right. ah What lesson will stay with you forever?
00:40:59
Lauren Brown
I'm going to go back to the woman that I saw and just know that you're always where you're supposed to be.
00:41:04
Kristin Overton
Love that. Love that. All right. What would you tell the version of yourself standing at the start line that morning?
00:41:11
Lauren Brown
You're freaking crush it.
00:41:15
Kristin Overton
yeah I love it.
00:41:17
Rich
Awesome.
00:41:18
Kristin Overton
I love it.
00:41:19
Rich
All right. My goodness. It has been so amazing to watch you go through this journey.
00:41:24
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:41:26
Rich
We are so proud of you Congratulations. I'm going to put a burden on you here. So are all these people that are listening to the podcast, when we get done with this interview, we always ask, you know we've got a call to action.
00:41:41
Rich
So would you tell athletes that are listening to this right now, what's a reason that they should consider doing something like this and get and be a part of a community to do it?
00:42:13
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:42:14
Lauren Brown
That's it.
00:42:16
Rich
Love it. Thank you.
00:42:19
Kristin Overton
Oh, great. Oh, great. All right. So we're wrapping this thing up. Lauren, thank you so much. Like we said, you know, so proud of you.
00:42:28
Kristin Overton
It was so, I was so happy I was there to cheer you on all day long.
00:42:28
Lauren Brown
and
00:42:32
Kristin Overton
i think I needed a recovery week as well as, as all the athletes racing. um So, you know, for everybody out there, you know, it,
00:42:42
Kristin Overton
that This sport is is amazing. um You know, if you're interested and and you want to do more and you need some help, you know, to choose your path with with grit to greatness, endurance, you know, come come join us, and join join in the fun, join in learning, you know, whether you're preparing for your first sprint or tackling, you know, your first Ironman, um you know, we can help you with personalized roadmap to get you there, whether, you know, you just need a training plan versus personalized coaching.
00:42:48
Lauren Brown
and
00:43:10
Kristin Overton
Um, you know, if you have a coach question, um, send us message, connect through our website or engage with the G2G community. Um, and we may feature your question on a future episode. So, um, you know, we're, we, we love to hear what you, what you want to know and, and happy to help you out.
00:43:30
Kristin Overton
So, uh, if you do have a question for the show, um, submit your ask a coach questions, um, go on to our, uh, the Grit to Greatness website at grittogreatnessendurance.com and shoot us a message.
00:43:45
Rich
Yeah, drop as a contact. We'd love to hear from you.
00:43:46
Kristin Overton
Yeah. Yeah.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:44:03
Rich
This and every episode of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast is brought to you by Vespa Endurance Nutrition. Vespa helps you tap into steady, clean energy so that you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
00:44:17
Rich
Less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery, There is a link here in the show notes that will automatically apply the 15% to anything in your cart anytime, or you can use the code G2GVESPA15. That is G, the number two, G, VESPA, V-E-S-P-A-1-5.
00:44:38
Rich
Thanks for spending time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts or YouTube.
00:44:48
Rich
This helps us reach more athletes like you. Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness.
00:44:52
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:44:55
Rich
There's an Ironman in your future. we will see you next week.