Chelsea Sodaro - IRONMAN World Champion

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"The Greg Bennett Show"

 

In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg is joined by the current Ironman World Champion - Chelsea Sodaro. Eight days ago Chelsea took the world by storm. She was 'under the radar', but as the race progressed Chelsea started to come to the forefront. And by the time the marathon started her name started rising to the top.

 

But no one wins on debut, right? Wrong!

On her 2nd ever Ironman, she came to Kona and demonstrated a performance with no weaknesses and showed weapons across the board, especially her run. To win in a time of 8.33 (2nd fastest of all time) and a 2.51 marathon off a 4.42 bike and 54 min swim, is incredible. Add to this the fact she gave birth to her daughter 18 months ago and it makes this story even more remarkable.

 

She’s one of our favorite experts on the AnyQuestion app and in her short career, Chelsea Sodaro has quickly ascended to the top of levels of elite triathlon.

 

Chelsea Sodaro grew up in Davis, California — Bike City, USA. She swam, biked, danced, and played competitive soccer as a young kid. In high school, Chelsea discovered an affinity for running and began competing in cross country and track.

After a successful high school track campaign, she was recruited by several top Division 1 programs and decided to take her talents to UC Berkeley. During her senior year she became a Four Time All-American. She was the captain of the cross country team and helped lead the Golden Bears to their first appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in thirty years.

 

In only her 4th 70.3, Chelsea placed 4th and as the top American at the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice, France and is considered one of the biggest up-and-comers in the sport.

 

Links

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Find Chelsea Sodaro on social media

Instagram: instagram.com/chelseasodaro/

twitter: https://twitter.com/chelseasodaro

website: chelseasodaro.com

 

Timestamps

3:06 - Interview with Chelsea Sodaro begins

8:34 - Chelsea and Greg discuss her decison behind changing coaches only 2 years ago and working with Dan Plews (previous guest) and how they plotted and planned her journey to Kona.

18:52 - The path to Kona not only included a coach change, Chelsea & Steve (her husband) became parents 18 months ago. Skye was born in March of 2021. Chelsea opens up and discusses her tough journey through the pregnancy and return to training.

I wasn't handing the training that well

26:08 - Chelsea came second in her debut Ironman in Hamburg and she explains how that helped pave her confidence pathway into Kona. After a swim session with Paul Newsome, Chelsea made some changes to her technique and was able to apply it to her swim in Hamburg. She breaks down the race and how she was measuring her times throughout the race.

30:35 - It was after Hamburg that Dan and Chelsea realised she had something special going on. However the up's and downs post childbirth were well and truly still challenging. Chelsea explains how she was questioning herself, but was pulled back into focus on Kona.

I was a hot disaster

34:32 - After Hamburg, and after the Collins Club Chelsea got sick and was hitting a low point. She discusses how she was feeling prior to her committment to get to a training camp in Hawaii. "The only reason I got on the plane was because Steve told me if my training didn't come around, I could at least have a Hawaiian vacation on my own."

37:46 - Steve (Chelsea's husband) is a firefighter in Reno, so they have a challenging rhythm of life between Chelsea's pro career and Steve's career. Chelsea discusses how her schedule looks day to day while also managing her motherhood duties for Skye.

It's been really really hard and I have wanted to quit so many times

40:37 - Moving onto the pre-race week in Kona, Chelsea explains how 'flying under the radar' was a real help to her preparation. Having no media committments will change for next years event though!

43:18 - Chelsea breaksdown her race morning feelings and how things didn't work out to the plan. However as soon as she got in the water, she was at peace and ready.

47:23 - Breaking down the race, Chelsea and Greg discuss her Swim - Bike - Run. From her transitions to her mantra's, to her stats and nutrition. "I'm just sticking to my plan, riding my power, taking care of myself - I didn't play anyone elses game."

It's just about putting the pieces together at the right time

54:15 - Jumping off the bike, Chelsea explains how she didn't stick to the plan at the start of her run, and how she settled into her 10k pace. "You know you're having a good day when you're telling yourself to slow down." Chelsea explains her technique for staying cool and how the media was critisizing her performance.

57:52 - Chelsea explains her mantra's to keep her mind focussed during the run and the moment when she finally allowed herself to feel that she might have it in her to finish on the podium.

1:00:37 - Having spent so much of the race not alowing herself get emotional, Chelsea explains the last few moments of her race prior to crossing the finish line - how she took it all in ... then received the "best hug of her life".

1:07:24 - Interview ends.