017 - Rethinking Toughness with Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro
Feb 29, 2024
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Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro discusses her struggles with OCD, anxiety, and motherhood while training. She shares about setting goals, mantras, and opening up about mental health challenges. The podcast explores vulnerabilities, empowerment of female athletes, and advocacy for maternal rights.
Chelsea's victory in the Ironman World Championships underscored her battle with intense OCD and anxiety, revealing the unseen struggles of high performers in sports.
Chelsea's sports journey from ballet to competitive running was influenced by encounters with talented athletes and shaped her perspectives on competition and performance.
Chelsea's openness about her mental health challenges post-victory highlights the importance of seeking help, using coping strategies, and balancing motherhood with high-performance athletics.
Deep dives
Chelsea's Journey from Triathlete to World Champion
Chelsea Sidero, a triathlete, became the Iron Man World Champion, achieving this feat in Kona on her first attempt at the race. Her victory was against the backdrop of battling intense OCD and anxiety before and after the event, which the podcast explores. The episode delves into the facets of Chelsea's story that underlie the typical narratives of success in sports, shedding light on the struggles high performers endure. Chelsea's vulnerability in discussing mental health issues and the additional challenges faced by women and mothers in sports are highlighted.
Early Athletic Influences and Inspirations
Chelsea reminisces about her early engagements in sports, including ballet from a young age and later transitioning to Summer Soccer League and Swim Team upon moving to California. She recounts how exposure to talented athletes like Magdalena Boulet and Alicia Montano during her time at UC Berkeley shaped her sports journey, providing a foundation for her future pursuits in track and field.
Navigating Challenges in Running and Performance
Chelsea reflects on her running journey, sharing experiences of intense drive and ambition from her early competitive years to challenges faced in college and professional running. She discusses the pressures, setbacks, and breakthroughs that shaped her view on running, highlighting the social aspect initially drawing her to the sport and the evolving perception of competition and performance.
Coping During Tough Times and Mental Health Struggles
Chelsea opens up about her mental health battles post-Iron Man victory, revealing the onset of anxiety and OCD during pregnancy and escalating challenges postpartum. She candidly discusses seeking help, navigating treatment, and the tools she employs, such as naming her intrusive thoughts to create distance and prioritize her well-being and family amidst professional and personal obligations.
Lessons in Parenthood and Prioritizing Well-Being
Chelsea shares insights on balancing motherhood, high-performance athletics, and mental health, emphasizing the importance of creating space for her daughter to explore passions and encouraging intrinsic motivation. She underscores the significance of removing societal barriers for women in sports, advocating for maternal rights, equity, and support systems to foster holistic well-being for athletes and moms alike.
In October 2022, many people witnessed triathlete Chelsea Sodaro, in her first time running the race, become the first American woman to win the Ironman World Championship in Kona. What they didn't see was that, in the months leading up to the race, she was learning how to balance motherhood and training, and struggling with intense OCD and anxiety. Today's episode is about that: the things we don't see. Because, in the world of performance, a lot of the focus goes to success and achievement—and not so much the difficulties high-performers are working through to accomplish those successes and achievements. We celebrate the "toughness" and not so much the vulnerability. But today, Chelsea goes deep not just on the things you might expect to hear from an Ironman World Champion - how she thinks about setting goals, the mantras she writes on her mirror, what her pain cave is like - but on the pains and mental health struggles that an Ironman World Champ might just as easily keep in the dark. By doing so, she shows what real toughness looks like.
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