Siri Lindley: World Champion Athlete and Coach, Cancer Survivor, and Eternal Optimist
Welcome to another episode of the Endurance Matters podcast. I am so delighted to have an amazing guest on the episode today. Siri Lindley, welcome to the show.
Siri Lindley:Thank you, Justin. I'm so thrilled to be here. I've been looking forward to it, and we're gonna have a great time. So thanks for having me.
Justin Metzler:Absolutely. So I start off the podcast with a hard hitting question. My question for you today is who has mucked more horse poo, you or Beck?
Siri Lindley:That's a great question. Between the two of us and having 32 horses, I'd say we both do our fair share.
Justin Metzler:You're getting the mucking muscles sorted out. Jeanie became a little bit of an expert mucker there for a little bit. She was working on the farm and and working with the horses, getting the muck going. So she actually came up with that icebreaker question.
Siri Lindley:Well, wish she could come here and fly to California every day and help us some more. It was so fun having her around. So both of you need to come out, I'll give you a shovel the minute you show up.
Justin Metzler:I think she was looking at flights yesterday when she came back from yeah, Siri had a documentary that premiered here in Boulder, so Jeanie went to the documentary premiere, and she was looking at flights yesterday, so I think we'll be coming somewhat soon.
Siri Lindley:Training camp.
Justin Metzler:Perfect. %.
Siri Lindley:Training camp. Can't wait.
Justin Metzler:Totally. Alright. Well, I wanna start off today by maybe you just rewinding and talking to me a little bit about your upbringing and how you first got into sports.
Siri Lindley:So, okay, that's a great start. You know, as a child, and I think so many people out there can relate to this, I had a tough childhood. And I had a lot of anxiety. I had a lot of fear. And one thing I knew is that the one place where I felt free of my anxiety and my fear was on the sporting field, whether it was playing field hockey or lacrosse or ice hockey.
Siri Lindley:The only place where I felt free from my anxiety was with sports. And so that was great. I mean, basically anxiety and OCD can lead you to a great career in sports, so I wouldn't change a thing. But I started, you know, my dad was very encouraging with every sport that I did. He'd come to every single game that I played.
Siri Lindley:He was more into the winning, you know, he didn't really care how I performed, he just wanted me to win. Whereas on the other hand, my mom was always wanting me to be enjoying it and and to have fun and to, you know, support my dreams. And so I had a really nice balance, I guess, between the two. But I would say sports for me, and I'm surprised I never took up Ironman, Justin, because, I mean, if I could be free of anxiety at at that time as a teenager for, you know, nine, ten hours, that would have been pretty amazing. But yeah, so for me it was, my escape.
Siri Lindley:And also, I think a lot of us become achievers when we're trying to find our way through challenge. We're trying to, you know, there was a time, and and you'll all see this eventually in my documentary, where my parents were divorced. My mom married a big celebrity who's very famous, they traveled all the time for two, three weeks at a time. And my sister and I were often left alone, we had a nanny, but she was never there. I don't know why, but she was never there.
Siri Lindley:So my sister kind of took the route of partying and, you know, alcohol and stuff like that. Was left alone a lot, it was painful, and and I had a lot of fear. But what I realized was that when I was playing sports, or even in my academics, if I was getting great grades, if I was like scoring goals, I got attention, you know? And I and I got love and people would celebrate me and and because of that the the achiever in me was born. And again, it's it's great that I actually loved sport, but I think oftentimes, you know, our superpowers are born in the pain, and that's exactly what it was for me.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Very cool. And ultimately, you transitioned that into being a collegiate athlete. You were competing in three collegiate sports. Is that correct?
Siri Lindley:Yeah. I played field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse at Brown University. I think I was the first female ever to play three varsity sports. And again, it was because that was my escape and and I loved it. But after I graduated from college, I'll get into this story, I guess.
Siri Lindley:I realized I was gay. And at that time in the world, it wasn't accepted in my family, especially on my dad's side, like that was was not a good thing. And my dad who for a long time had been my hero and my best friend, when he found out I was gay he just cut me out of his life. And for a 21 year old or 22 year old, you know, the story that tells you is that because of who you are, you're not worthy of love. And I know this sounds like a different kind of a start to getting involved in triathlon, but I had a friend, I was working a seventy hour a week job at the YMCA, this is after I graduated from college, and she asked me to come watch her in a triathlon.
Siri Lindley:And I honestly, I had no idea what was. I was like, how do I dress? What do I wear? What what is this all about? But oh my god, I got out there and it was all these people, different ages, different sizes, different ability levels, and I was just in awe.
Siri Lindley:Because every single one of these people, no matter how different they were, seemed to be finding themselves through this challenge of swimming, biking, and running. And at that time, I felt so desperate to prove to myself most importantly that even as a gay woman, I could achieve something that I thought was spectacular. I could inspire others. I could make a difference. I could find a love and respect for myself even though at the time, I mean, I just lost a lifetime of love because of who I was.
Siri Lindley:And triathlon became it. I'm like, here, I didn't know how to swim. I started triathlon at 23 years old, did not know how to swim. I knew how to float, but all I knew was the swan. Know, my mom has this like beautiful blonde hair and she doesn't like getting it wet because it takes her a long time to fix it up.
Siri Lindley:So she'd do the swan, everything happening under the water, and that's all I knew. But I set this insane goal after my first race where I came in dead last. I mean, and Justin, like, everyone listening, like, imagine the worst. Like, I they asked me, you know, what's your hundred meter swim time? Because it was in a pool.
Siri Lindley:It was an 800 meters in a pool. And I'm like, hundred meter? I've never swum a hundred laps. And I'm so confused and the line is building behind me and people are getting irritated. And the lady's like, what's your hundred meter time?
Siri Lindley:Is it 01:15, one twenty, one twenty five, one thirty? I'm like, I don't know one fifteen because I didn't know what she meant. So I get in this lane and I'm so eager. I'm like first in line and oh my god, in the first like thirty seconds I just got kicked and hit and dunked under the water and it was a disaster. But the best part about it was you know by the time everyone else had finished the 800, I had like the whole pool to myself for the whole swim.
Siri Lindley:Got on the bike, I rented a mountain bike, felt like I was climbing the Alps even though it was like I went back ten years later dead flat and I ran the whole five k with my helmet on. I'm wondering like why people were laughing at me. Like, was a disaster. I came in dead last, but on that day it's like I was so desperate to do something epic that that that would help me like find a worthiness from within. And I decided that I will devote my entire life until I'm a hundred years old towards getting to the top of this sport.
Siri Lindley:And that's where it all began. But man, I had, you know, how was I ever going to close that gap from where I was on that day to where I dreamed of being, you know? That was going to be an epic journey, but it's, that's how it all started.
Justin Metzler:Sure. Do you feel like at that point, sort of maybe graduating college, you don't have your varsity athletics anymore, you're trying to figure out the next stage in your life, and seemingly up until that point, sports was always just something you immersed yourself in to find that comfort. And you have this, you know, disagreement with your father, you're maybe more lost than you've been in a while. Like, did you feel as though triathlon and the training that comes with it was a safe space for you?
Siri Lindley:Absolutely. And, you know, when you think about, you know, all of us, when you set a goal, it's like, how am I gonna close this gap? And, you know, I remember asking myself two questions. And I think when you have a great goal, whether it's finishing your first Ironman or finishing your first race, it's like how are you going to get from where you are now to where you dream of being? And one of the first questions I asked was what do I need to let go of?
Siri Lindley:You know, to make this happen, what do I need to let go of? And I needed, is it a belief? Is it a fear? Is it a habit? You know, maybe you drink too much beer and you're gonna have to stop that if you wanna do an Ironman.
Siri Lindley:I needed to let go of this story that was inevitable in my mind that Siri, you're 23, you don't know how swim and you just came in dead last. Like no matter how much you love this sport, it's not for you. Right? And I think that a lot of people here can resonate with that. If I wanted to achieve this huge lofty goal, I needed to let go of that story and tell a different story.
Siri Lindley:And it wasn't based on lies, but it was based on the fact that hey, I've been an athlete my whole life. I know how to work hard. This is my safe space. Like, I love this. I'm passionate about it for all these reasons.
Siri Lindley:Maybe one day I can, you know, make it to the top. And so that's what I needed to let go of, and I needed to live that story. Like future me that's going to be the best in the world one day. What actions would she take today? You know, what would she do?
Siri Lindley:What would she believe? So I kind of thought about it and I thought, well, you know, I immersed myself in the sport as every triathlete I think does, like learning everything about swimming, biking, running, recovery, eating, you know, race strategy. I got a coach. I learned how to swim. You know, I did all these things and then I thought maybe the way I can get to where I wanna be is like model the best in the world.
Siri Lindley:So like there's some young Ironman athletes out there, like find someone that has done what you dream of doing. Right here, Justin Metzler, like what does he do? And so I was like looked the best athletes in the world at that time were in Australia, and I studied them. What were they doing? They were training, you know, five, six hours a day.
Siri Lindley:So even though I'm working the seventy hour a week job and but I was like, okay. I'm gonna train six, seven hours a day. I trained before work. I trained during my lunch hour. I trained after work.
Siri Lindley:I ate a healthy dinner. Went to bed. Did it over and over again every day even though I sucked. Like I sucked at that time. But the thing is as you commit to mastery, you know, after a few months and definitely after a year or two, I didn't suck anymore.
Siri Lindley:So those of you out there, you got your your like Justin Metzler is right here, like study him. What does he do? How did he get to the top? Do what he does even though you're not him yet. Do everything that he does because one day you will find yourself the level that you dream of being.
Siri Lindley:And that's exactly what I did. I just, I modeled the best. I chose to live a story that empowered me versus disempowered me. And I, you know, there were another, like a lot of other things that had to happen. And I think this is useful for all of you listening.
Siri Lindley:The second question after what do I need to let go of to close this gap from where I am to where I dream of being is who do I need to become? You know to achieve that, to finish your first Ironman, who do you need to become? And I knew that I needed to become someone that was willing to fail Because I was going to fail over and over and over again. And so I needed to see failure as a necessary part of one day being successful. And see that that, you know, failure is when we learn.
Siri Lindley:And, you know, when we learn that's when we grow, and that's how we become the person that we need to become to achieve that big goal. Right? So for all of you, and Justin, I'd be interested in like, in how do you define failure, but also how do you define success?
Justin Metzler:Yeah. I mean, that's a great question. I don't often get people asking me questions, but Yeah. I mean, for me, it's really just and I've thought a lot about this over the last couple years, and I've had great success, and I've had a lot of failures, and I realized that for me, it's just about going back to where I started and trying to get the most out of myself and enjoy the process, because I love triathlon. And the moments in which I am not having fun, and I'm not enjoying it, I wanna delete those moments from my life.
Justin Metzler:And the the best version of myself comes out, regardless of where the finish is, if I'm just extracting everything of my potential in the preparation and actually on race day. So I'm not defining things necessarily in wins and losses. I think I'm defining things in like how much of my potential was I able to extract. Was it a %? Okay.
Justin Metzler:Cool. I'm fulfilled. You know?
Siri Lindley:That's so amazing. Guys, listen to this guy. Like, he's probably right. And and you know, when you're you know, how do you not get discouraged, right? When you're starting and it doesn't look like you're getting anywhere even though you are, like, how do you not get discouraged?
Siri Lindley:And like, I mean, I got laughed at all the time. I would get in lanes way too fast for me because I was so desperate to get better. People laughed at me. They thought, why are you training six hours a day when you suck? Like, I don't understand.
Siri Lindley:But the reason why I didn't get discouraged is success to me was progress. I'm making the tiniest bit of progress, whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, maybe someone laughed at me and this time I only cried for a minute instead of five minutes, like that's progress. And every day, every day I sat down in my journal and I loved my progress. I celebrated whatever the wins were no matter how small. And because of that, every day I felt successful.
Siri Lindley:And success builds upon success. So you must, for yourself, you must decide that it's all about the progress. Yeah. Because over time, those 1%, you know, points of progress for you ultimately, suddenly you look back and it's like, woah, look how far I've come. So Justin, I love that and I think, you know, when I really started winning races, it's exactly what you just stated.
Siri Lindley:I would step to the line and I would say, God, I feel so blessed that you have blessed me with this this grit, this resilience, this never give up attitude, and I am going to put everything I have inside of me out on this race course because that's my way of saying thank you. Thank you for these gifts. And that, when I shifted to that perspective, when it wasn't about win or lose or what time I do it in or you know, what place. When it was just this celebration of all the work that I'd done, celebration of of all, you know, all that I have inside of me and laying that out there, it it became an effort of flow versus an effort of force, and that made all the difference.
Justin Metzler:Sponsor of today's episode, Precision Fuel and Hydration. These guys have been an amazing partner for the show and it's really a product that I use every single day of my training to help me go faster, feel better. So in today's day and age, we all know high carb is sort of the thing and so previously, I've spoken about how much I like the chews, and I'm still munching on those pretty much every single day in training, but I've really been getting into the p f ninety gels. That's been a really big value add for me to have three gels in one, and I feel like sometimes I'll just take that entire gel all at once or go half and half. It just allows me to get a little bit more carbohydrate and sort of just bump everything up and feel a little bit better in training.
Justin Metzler:So if you wanna try that for yourself, head on over to pfnh.com and use code big mets twenty twenty five for 15% off. Yeah. I couldn't agree more with that, and I'm really resonating to the progress component. And I feel like, at least for myself, the majority part of the first ten years of my career, I was just able to make those little jumps in progress, and that's why I feel like I've had a long career and I've enjoyed it so much. It's because every year I felt like I got better.
Justin Metzler:But as you know, from coaching and from your career and everything that you've done, like, the higher you get up the tree, the less low hanging fruit there is available. So what would your take be on athletes, maybe like myself, who have been doing this quite a long time, or maybe are pursuing something else for a very long time, and there's less low hanging fruit available, and those progress chunks are harder to come by?
Siri Lindley:Yeah. Then you have to look through a different lens. It's like maybe you're so focused on the progress of your swim times, your bike times, your run times. How about your progress in other areas? You know, for me when I won my first world championship, like the victory actually wasn't about putting the gold medal around my neck.
Siri Lindley:The victory truly and the victory I cherish to this day is who I became on the journey and recognizing how I changed as a human for the better. How I handled, you know, the the worst moments of my career. You know, how I took that and saw that as a gift in some way. I was able to look back at it and say, hey, if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have made the decision to go to my final coach. That was an amazing shift for me.
Siri Lindley:For you and what I admire and respect so much about you is you're not afraid to change things up. You know, you have a tough patch and I feel like you don't sit there. Like we're all gonna sit there. You get injured or something you know happens where you're deeply disappointed. It's okay to love yourself through that moment, but then it's like get up dust yourself off.
Siri Lindley:What must I shift? How must I pivot? And I've seen you do that. And I think that's extraordinary because we all we can get caught up on thinking that this is a way that I've achieved success in the past so I can only achieve success this way. But it's when you actually are brave enough and courageous enough to try something different.
Siri Lindley:Maybe, maybe you've trained so hard, you train, you're epic training, you're known for your epic training, which I think you are. And you think to yourself, you know what, maybe if I do less and I do it kind of with different perspective, that's going to get me what I want. And I'll give you an example actually. Leanda Cave, so I forget the exact year, think it was 2012. She came to me and she wanted to win the Ironman World Championship.
Siri Lindley:When she'd been a decorated athlete, she'd achieved so much already, but she came to me and what I felt was she needed a total shift in how she was training. And what I love and admire and respect so much about her is when I'm changing her swim stroke even though she was leading out all the swims and I didn't know how to swim when I was 23, but she trusts me enough to change her swim stroke, which made her even faster. Completely changed her run, her technique, her cadence changed the way that she trained. She used to train hours and hours on end and I'm like no, we're going short fast, you're gonna feel like you're training for an Olympic distance race. And she trusted me and we made these shifts.
Siri Lindley:And if you think about it everyone, it's like when you train the same way for a long time, think about how your body will respond to a different stimulus that it's not used to and suddenly you're doing this different thing. You're going all speed work and you know short stuff and lots of rest and less, not that we weren't doing any long stuff, we were, But it's way more short sharp stuff. She ended up like we weren't expecting this. We went off to do the 70.3. She won it.
Siri Lindley:We weren't expecting that. Go off three weeks later and she wins the Ironman world championship. But it's you've got to be brave enough and I know that you are Justin because I've seen you do it. To trust that this this journey through triathlon isn't just about swimming, biking and running, it's about who you become. Because of that, nothing moves without pressure and sometimes that pressure has to come from doing something that's so terrifying because it's so different to what you're used to, but you will be rewarded for that bravery every time.
Siri Lindley:So I hope that answers your question, but I guess what I'm saying is that don't keep doing things the same way that you always have. There's growth there. There's personal growth. And I think the biggest thing for athletes is I want you all to understand that it is 80% mental. At least 20% physical.
Siri Lindley:So if you're not working on that mental game, like there's your shift. There's your game changer. Because the mindset is everything.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. That's huge. I definitely want to circle back to some of some mindset specific questions. But while we're on the topic of Leanda, I want to spend some time focusing specifically on like the empire that you built with Team Sirius and that time in your life, because that that was such a impressive thing that you built. So I guess the first question that I have is, when did you desire to retire from racing, and when was it an immediate shift right into the coaching and right into Team Sirius?
Siri Lindley:Yep. First of all, thank you. Like you just gave me goosebumps. You know, thank you. That was an extraordinary compliment.
Siri Lindley:Means the world. When I won my world championship in 02/2001, I was ready to retire. Like, I found what I was looking for and that was worthiness from within. It was me believing that like I'm gonna be okay. Even living life as who I am, like I'm gonna be okay.
Siri Lindley:I can do hard things. I can achieve my dreams. So I was ready to retire, but I also, you know, what is the meaning you give when you achieve your ultimate goal? And I think that it's easy for athletes, they achieve that ultimate goal and it's like, my god, okay, reached my quota. Better play it safe now.
Siri Lindley:And that's not what this life is meant to be. I knew that I needed to give winning a different meaning that would inspire me and empower me to wanna reach for more. And so I thought, okay, maybe this is just a preview of coming attractions. Maybe I've only scratched the surface of what I'm capable of. Maybe that's what this means.
Siri Lindley:So I need to put together one more year. And I vowed to myself even though I was so exhausted that I was going to just pour everything I had into one more year and fortunately I was able to finish my career having won 13 World Cups, I won the world title again that year, and I retired at number one in the world. But all I wanted was to help other athletes like me. You know, the ones the Morinda Carfrey, who was a basketball player and she was, you know, short. Sorry, Rinne, but you are.
Siri Lindley:And, you know, it's like the unlikely one to become this, you know, legendary champion. But I wanted to help athletes that had big dreams like me prove to themselves that they can change the stories basically that they were living and see how far we could go. And I wouldn't say that any of my athletes that came to me were like extraordinary when they came, but they were willing to commit to mastery, they were willing to go all in, they were willing to come together with other athletes and know that we're there to lift each other up and and become better. But there's there's no greater feeling than working together with an athlete and seeing them like win the the Ironman World Championships. Like to me it was like a million times more powerful than doing it myself.
Siri Lindley:I knew that I knew that I wanted to do that, I knew I wanted to do it in the way that worked best for me, know, it was my final two years of racing that I went to Brett Sutton. He had a squad. They were like super passionate and competitive and it was intense and it was you know dramatic I would almost say because it was just it was massive. I knew I wanted to have a squad, but I knew I wanted to do it differently than the way he did. I'm forever grateful to that man.
Siri Lindley:Like he brought out in the documentary, there's actually, I can't share that line, but watch documentary, there's a line that's just like, I I blew my mind. He brought out the champion in me and I'm forever grateful for that. But there are things that I did not wanna do that that which, you know, like I wanted to have a supportive environment where gratitude is the major theme and and encouragement and love. You know, love wasn't in the picture. Like don't have your mom, you know, to training camp because she loves you too much and that love makes you weak, like, and I would always still bring my mom and hide her in my condo and have her support me, but anyways, I wanted a different vibe around it, but I also was gonna take everything that that was so powerful that he gave or provided us with, which was the the the philosophies and the the strategies and all of that I brought.
Siri Lindley:So I just created a squad the day after I retired after the Cancun World Cup. Somebody asked me to coach them and I said awesome, I'll build a squad and let's go. And that's where it all began and you know, that was twenty years of my life, God, I'm old. I don't feel old though, so guys, fifties is like the best time of your life, just so you know. And I started coaching and I've been so blessed, Justin, to have had the privilege and opportunity of working with such extraordinary human beings.
Siri Lindley:And I think, you know, you look at Morinda Carfrey, we worked together I think it was for like eleven years. And it's that trust, it's that one of the things I demanded from my athletes is that I'm gonna be pouring everything I have into making your dream come true and I need that same commitment back. Mhmm. I need to know that you are all in, because I'm going all in here. And that means you need to trust me.
Siri Lindley:We're gonna we'll talk. You always have a voice, but I need you to go all in. And especially with Ironman, like I'd never done an Ironman. I'd never done a half Ironman. And here, I'm making the promise that I'm going to do everything in my power to make you an Ironman world champion.
Siri Lindley:It's kind of like, I mean I even think I'd be like, I don't know if I want to go to you, I think I'll go to Mark Allen, know, who's like one, millions of them. But so the fact that they trusted, that they could trust my beliefs, my philosophies that soon became my own philosophies very different to what anybody else was doing. That was everything. And sometimes you just as an athlete, you have to have blind faith. And just believing 1000000% in the plan that you're on, the coach that you have and 1000000% belief in you, that belief will take you to the moon.
Justin Metzler:Totally.
Siri Lindley:But if there's doubt, if you're doubting anything, if you're second guessing, forget it. You may as well leave because that is not going to take you where you want to go. It'll take you far, but it's not going to it's not going to take you to the top. And so I'm very blessed to have had such extraordinary athletes that went all in with me and and it paid off in different ways. I didn't coach every single one the same way.
Siri Lindley:I coached them all very differently. And that's because of the 80% mindset, you know. And, but I feel super blessed and I miss it, you know. Sometimes I I love my life right now. I've lived an amazing life, but sometimes I'm like, man, I used to love just showing up at the pool at 6AM, having my big squad there, you know.
Siri Lindley:I've had the privilege of working with Jeannie for a while and oh my god, like in that time working with Jeannie, was like, maybe I need to go back to this. Because I felt so passionate, I feel so passionate about her and her future in the sport that there was a moment where I almost went back and I'm like, I can't. I built too much here to go back, but I I, you know, I loved it. I felt I hope I answered your I'm sorry. I'm very long winded, everyone.
Justin Metzler:No. I love it. I love it. This is this is amazing. One follow-up question that I have there is, you said you started over that time starting to develop your own coaching philosophies.
Justin Metzler:I'm curious to hear if you have, like, one or two things that you did from a specific training perspective that were bread and butter backbone elements of the training plan, and then maybe one or two things that you did from a mental perspective or a psychological perspective with the athletes that you felt like broadly applied and took everybody up to a high level.
Siri Lindley:Yeah. Absolutely. So I think, say for swimming for example, you know, there are a lot of people say this is how you swim. This is the swim stroke you need to adopt and this is going to make you a great swimmer. That's not my belief.
Siri Lindley:My belief is I look at the athlete, I look at how they move, I look at how best how when are they swimming their fastest, how can they swim their fastest, and we can all have different strokes. I'll have, you know, Rebecca Key, my wife actually, but we changed her her stroke to like a windmill stroke, and it like she went from being a backpack swimmer to leading out in Kona One Year. Taking Leanda's long stroke and having her go at a much faster stroke rate. Like, so it's I want you all to know that you need to know what's best for your body and how you move. And use that to determine your setup on the bike.
Siri Lindley:I mean, you should have seen my setup on the bike, I looked like a grandma. But in that grandma position, like I came to ride really well. But a lot of people might say, well, I can't look like that on the bike, so I'll just get down low. But if that's not what your body feels comfortable in, you're not going to ride well. I think that's one key thing is just really honor your body and find that swim stroke, that set up on your bike, that run technique that best supports you being able to perform at your greatest potential.
Siri Lindley:I'm a huge fan obviously, having come from short course and seeing, you know, one of the things that I completely shifted in coaching Ironman athletes. And I thank Rinne for this because I came to her and I'm like, this is what I believe is gonna work. And she was kind of like, this is so different to everything else out there. I'm like, I'm gonna train you like a short course athlete and I think they're doing this much more now, but I'm going train you like a short course athlete. We're going to do high speed sessions.
Siri Lindley:We're going to do all of that. We're going to do long weekends, long bikes, know, long runs, long swims, but most of our work is going to be like training for short course. And that transformed everything for my athletes back then. Think, I ask you Justin, like I think that's kind of more the way people are doing things now, is that true or?
Justin Metzler:It's getting very individualized. You mentioned, I think the training's being prescribed to people based off maybe their physiology, and some people need the short and fast stuff, some people need the long stuff, some people need a little bit in between, so it's a bit all over right now.
Siri Lindley:Yeah. Awesome. But I still, you know, even once a week, I would suggest to everyone out there no matter what distance you do, do some, you know, fast stuff. Treadmill for me was always the greatest tool. You gotta leave your mind behind because it's like, oh, well what does this mean on the road?
Siri Lindley:And if I go this speed on the treadmill, does that mean I'm gonna run this? It's like they're totally separate things. You have your treadmill runs that are one thing. You have your outside runs which is another. But treadmill sessions, if I could give you something that will take your run to the next level, like you start doing this over the next few months, one day a week of just turnovers, twenty seconds, you know, at don't start crazy.
Siri Lindley:You've gotta build up to this, but, you know, I would do turnovers at like, twenty twenty one kilometers per hour, twenty seconds on, and then you just stand off rest. Twenty seconds on, stand off rest. You do like ten, fifteen of those once a week, you're gonna you're gonna notice the change. But in that, you don't just do it aimlessly, you're focusing on like perfect technique. You're focusing on that great you know run form.
Siri Lindley:You're focusing on you know not over striding. You're focusing on that quick cadence. That in itself simplest thing in the world which will take your run to the next level. But do it mindfully and know how to pop off the treadmill without falling off the back. That'd be my biggest thing for the run.
Siri Lindley:I don't know if you want me to keep going, but
Justin Metzler:No, that's that's great. Now well, just a quick aside, Julie gave me that all the time, and my running was never better than when I was doing 10 by twenty seconds on, twenty seconds off on the treadmill once a week. And then I'd go run up Chapman, which is a big hill here in Boulder in the afternoon, and I that that was like my gold standard for if I was getting in good run shape, I would just do that every Thursday. So there's definitely some trickle down. Sponsor of today's episode is Lever Movement.
Justin Metzler:This is a really cool product. It allows you to get some body weight support on any treadmill. You pretty much put this device on there, put on a pair of shorts, you use a cord to be able to take off up to 40 pounds of body weight. So many of you know I had Achilles tendon surgery recently, and I've been using the lever over the course of the last 40 runs to work up to the point where I was able to run an hour on land today, so that was a big milestone for me. Additionally, I've realized over the course of that process how important this could be for keeping me healthy and getting in some speed work without that pounding on the road, so I'm definitely gonna be using the lever over the course of the next months and years as I continue to get back fit, healthy, and ready to race.
Justin Metzler:So if you're interested in trying a lever for yourself, head on over to levermovement.com and use code endurancematters20 for 20% off all devices. About from like a a mental training or a mindset perspective? Because, you know, at that time, I think the training groups were getting a little bit more notoriety. Social media was starting to come into play. People were getting a little bit more of an inside look into Team Sirius and what you guys were doing, and I just remember seeing you on deck yelling at them while they're riding in their swimsuits after a hard swim bike break.
Justin Metzler:And were there things that you brought to the table every day in in the in the training group, or things that you did individually with athletes from a one on one mindset perspective? I know you helped Jeannie tremendously with her outlook and her mindset. Is there anything that like, you think broadly applied to most everybody?
Siri Lindley:Yes. And actually, I've gone back and interviewed a lot of my athletes, and it's crazy what kind of the what they believe were the key things to the success of our squad and their own success. And I think you're onto this already, Justin, because you know, I heard you say earlier like, you wanna be happy. Like, if you're not enjoying it, like, then something needs to shift. I always and for a while people were calling me the cheerleader and it's like, oh my god, you have no idea.
Siri Lindley:Like these people are training so hard, but I made it fun. Like in their in their hardest sessions like 40 fifties on 50 as fast as you can go in the pool, like you know, keeping it fun, like do you love it and you're dancing on it like, it's it's you've got to be having fun. If you think about this, think in your mind. If you're thinking about how hard it is, oh my god, I have so many more to go, oh my god, this is so painful, that lowers your energy and thus your ability to crush it. Okay?
Siri Lindley:But if you're doing it and it's like, oh my god, like she's crazy and I'm pushing so hard, I've got You're looking for everything that you can appreciate about what you're doing in that moment. Like, man, I've got these amazing athletes that are pushing me series up there, like dancing because she's happy at how well we're swimming. Like, this is so freaking hard. But what if what if you define hard as if I'm going hard, I'm making progress. I am moving forward.
Siri Lindley:Like for me in a race, the thing that helped me win races, I could go to such deep levels of pain because I used to say to myself going fast hurts. So man, I want to make it hurt. If I'm not hurting, I'm not going fast. So the more I dug deep, the more I hurt. I'm like I must be going fast.
Siri Lindley:And so I made that pain a good thing, a thing that I searched out, a thing that I wanted to feel because I knew that that pain meant success for me. So, but the theme in the interviews that we did, they said that the major things were gratitude, finding an appreciation for the fact that you get to do this. I mean professionals like you get to do this. This is your life. This is extraordinary.
Siri Lindley:You get to move your body. I live my life every day saying I'm alive. Every breath I take is an absolute miracle. I get to like I am so stoked to be here with you Justin. Because I'm alive.
Siri Lindley:What an opportunity. This is so fun. I get to help people. Like, so it's that gratitude and appreciation for everything. Even your losses, what can I learn from that?
Siri Lindley:Man, I had a tough session today in the pool, so you know, what can I learn from that? What can I do different? It's it's so that appreciation and that gratitude, just for every single part of this journey, but for your teammates, for your coach, for yourself. It's reframing every single thing that happens in a way that empowers you and inspires you to move forward rather than looking through the lens of what's wrong, how far I have to go, what's missing. So I was constantly initially with a new athlete reframing everything for them.
Siri Lindley:Reframing a loss, reframing a disappointment, reframing you know how bad they feel. Yes, because you crushed yesterday's track session. This is amazing. And look, yeah, you swam five seconds slower on these 40 fifties fast, but you look at the track session you did yesterday. Imagine what you'll do when you're when you're not fatigued.
Siri Lindley:So by my reframing it for them in the beginning and then the athletes that had been around for a while, they're reframing everything too. Suddenly, we have these empowered athletes that in their worst moments are still empowered and moving forward. And so I think that and I hope that makes sense. But it's it's gratitude, it's appreciation, it's love. It's love for what you do.
Siri Lindley:It's like and and that's why in the middle of the hardest track sessions, I'm like, do you love it? And they'd be like, oh my god, is she What do you mean? Do I love it? And I'm like, yeah. How freaking awesome is this?
Siri Lindley:You're out here crushing it. You're pushing yourself beyond what you think you can. You're on your way to achieving your dreams. Do you love it? And so these are simple things, but you must always be the champion of your own mind.
Siri Lindley:And just know that like, you know, a classic story just to to make an example of this. At the world championships that I won, like, I came out of the water almost at almost in last. Now if you give that the meaning, it's over. There's no way I can catch up. So say you have a bad swim, you hope to have a better swim, oh, that's it.
Siri Lindley:It's over. I'll never catch up at the world championships. Like anything, me getting diagnosed. You know, they're telling me I have like a five percent chance of surviving. If I believe that this is the end, how am I going to show up?
Siri Lindley:Am I going to show up ready to do whatever I can to survive and thrive or am I going to just like throw in the towel? If you think it's the end, you're gonna throw in the towel. So in the world championships that year, coming out and almost dead last out of the swim, but it's like that I'm not gonna give it the meaning this is the end because that's gonna I'll have the worst day ever. Instead, what if this is an opportunity for me to put my head down, go harder than I've ever gone before and just see how close I can get to the front. Now that meaning, you know, put it in that way it's an opportunity like that gave me energy.
Siri Lindley:I got on the bike, I'm going harder than I've ever gone before. I catch the fourth pack, the third pack, the second pack, and on the last lap of the bike, I'm at the front of the race. Imagine the confidence that gives you. And that's the day I won the world championships. I mean, Rinny in oh my god, in I forget what year she won three times in Hawaii, but like there was one year she came off the bike thirteen minutes down and she was in this race to win it.
Siri Lindley:And she comes out and I was always like a mile out from transition and I see the look on her face and she's all like upset thirteen minutes down. And I yell to her and I say, you're in perfect position. And she looks at me like, what race are you watching? But I said that because I knew that in her mind, she's going to be thinking why would she think that I'm in perfect position? So she started thinking about all the reasons why she was in perfect position.
Siri Lindley:Well, she loves coming from behind. You know, she loves hunting people down. And actually, I raced my own race on the bike and my legs feel amazing. So she's thinking of all the reasons why she's in perfect position. She starts, she runs her fastest 10 k in Kona.
Siri Lindley:She goes off. She catches every single person. She wins the world championship. So I want all of you to think of a past race where you gave up before you even started. You said bad swim, that's not what I expected.
Siri Lindley:This is gonna suck today and guess what it will because what you focus on you create. So do yourself a favor, be the champion of your your own mind in every moment and think thoughts that are actually going to inspire you and empower you and give you every chance of achieving that epic dream that you have. But this has to happen all the time. All the time, be your own champion. Bring out the best in yourself.
Siri Lindley:You can't afford to do otherwise. If you're on a path to greatness, which every single person is no matter your level, we all are trying to live the best versions of ourselves. That's up to
Justin Metzler:you. 100%. You mentioned there that training for your athletes was 80% mental, 20% physical. You alluded to being diagnosed with cancer, I believe 2019. Talk me through that process, getting that diagnosis, and maybe applying what you learned as a coach and an athlete to that particular scenario.
Siri Lindley:Yeah, I want all of you to know that this journey that you're on through sport, through endurance, is more valuable than you could ever imagine. You know, I got diagnosed in February. I was going in for a hip replacement because I trained so crazy. So some of you may need new hips and that's okay. I feel like I got a new bionic hip.
Siri Lindley:But on that day, they couldn't operate because there was something really wrong with my blood. And so I did a couple days of further testing and found out I had acute myeloid leukemia with a genetic mutation and it did not look good. At most maybe a ten percent chance of surviving and that was two clinical trials at UC Health Anschutz, the best hospital in the world right there in Colorado. But in that moment of the diagnosis, know, it's the meaning. Whatever challenge is happening to you, you've got to give it an empowering meaning.
Siri Lindley:Whatever it is, maybe you're injured, what is the empowering meaning? I remember I got a foot injury. Running is how I, you know, placed in races. And I got this injury. I wasn't going to be able to run for three months.
Siri Lindley:Well, what else could this mean? I can swim. I suck at swimming. I'm going to spend three months. I'm going to swim 10 k every day.
Siri Lindley:And guess what? Those three months where I did a massive swim block, when I came back to racing, I was now in a position to win. Not just place, but to win. So what else could this mean? So I'm being given this diagnosis and you know, if I believe it's the end, I'm going to die.
Siri Lindley:Like I'm just going to throw in the towel. So I thought to myself, what if what I'm going through now is preparing me for what I asked for? And I say this any time I am faced with a challenge. What if what I'm going through now is preparing me for what I asked for? So what did I ask for?
Siri Lindley:Well, at this point in my life, like I finally had found, you know, the freedom to love myself, the freedom to be with who I love, the freedom to do this life that I love, this mission, this purpose. Like all I wanted at this time was to help guide others to their freedom, to living their best lives because I felt like I knew how. But I felt like didn't have the confidence to really do that. And I thought maybe who I become in conquering this disease will be her, will be the the woman that can help others find their freedom, live their best lives. And that motivated me.
Siri Lindley:But then it comes down to like, hey, you know, in times of great uncertainty, you have to create your own certainty. Right? And a lot of people are like, well how the hell do I do that in an uncertain time? It's like think about those things like Justin and you tell me, what are the things that you do and you know that every time you do them, it fills you with confidence, you feel strong, you feel energized, like just name a couple things that always always make you feel great.
Justin Metzler:Oh, I get out for a bike ride, go swim with my friends, go take Millie for a walk with Jeannie. Okay. Those things.
Siri Lindley:So in times of great uncertainty, do those things that you know every time make you feel good. Then you'll know that whatever challenge, whatever you're working through, you're setting yourself up for for success because you're doing things that are giving you that certainty, that confidence, that strength. So for me, you know, exercise always movement for me has been that thing that always fills me with energy, makes me feel strong, makes me feel confident. So every day, even as I got sicker and sicker and sicker, I moved. You know, in hospital, I was in hospital for like, I don't know, thirty five days.
Siri Lindley:Like I would move from the couch to the bed and log that as exercise. I'd move from the couch to the chair and log that as movement. And just logging it as movement, just acknowledging it as movement gave me energy. And the biggest thing of all, which I mentioned earlier, you know, I'd have moments, you know, where it was touch and go. I didn't know if I was gonna have it tomorrow.
Siri Lindley:Was that sick. And I remember lying in bed, and I'm so sick, and I'm so weak, and I'm so terrified and I'd be like in those emotions and then I would stop myself because I I've become the master of my mindset over many years of working on this. And I said Siri, focusing on how weak you are, how sick you are, how scared you are is not going to help you heal. So I would change the channel and we all have the remote control in our own hands to decide instead of focusing on something that's making you feel like crap, change the channel and focus on something that makes you feel okay. So I would, you know, focus on gratitude.
Siri Lindley:Like my mom every night slept on the couch in my hotel room. This was during COVID. Slept in the hospital And I feel so grateful. And my amazing wife who was giving me so much strength, the doctors like fighting for my life every day. That gratitude was the bridge from despair to hope.
Siri Lindley:That gratitude gave me energy. When we have a higher energy, like we think more resourcefully. We make better decisions. And I've always in my life had vision boards. I remember I had this picture of Karen Smiers, it was in front of Triathlete Magazine, and the title was On Top of the World, World Champion Karen Smiers.
Siri Lindley:But I had put my face on her body, I covered up her name and I put Siri Linley and honest to God, eight years later, it was almost the same exact cover on Triathlete magazine on top of the world Siri Linley world champion. Amazing. So I believe in vision boards. I had vision boards all over my hospital room, know, reminding me of what I was fighting for. So I guess just in that, like why why do you do this everybody?
Siri Lindley:Why do you do what you do? Why do you have the job that you have? Why do you do triathlon? Why does this matter to you? Connect to that deeper reason why.
Siri Lindley:Those vision boards reflected that for me. And then visualization I think is a tool that is incredibly powerful. And every day I would, lying in my hospital bed, close my eyes and I would imagine myself running up my favorite mountain trail out there in Lions, I forget the name, Hole Ranch. And I would bring it to life. So when you visualize, guys, bring it to life by using all your senses.
Siri Lindley:You want to like feel like it's happening right now. So lying in my bed, I would close my eyes, I'd see myself running up Hull Ranch, feel the warmth of the sun on my cheeks. I'd smell the wildflowers. I'd hear my wife like encouraging me from up above, and actually I would like feel in my body the exhilaration of getting to the top and celebrating being cancer free. I'm doing this lying in my bed like hanging on for dear life.
Siri Lindley:But every day I saw that exact visual using all my senses. And I'm telling you all right now, this is the absolute truth. A year after my bone marrow transplant, we went out to Hull Ranch, we ran that trail, I felt the warmth of the sun on my cheeks. I smelled the wildflowers. I heard back and this time I got to the top and I was celebrating being cancer free for real.
Siri Lindley:Your visualizations, everyone, if you can bring them to life every single day in your mind and feel what it's going to feel like to cross that finish line, world champion or whatever it is, like that is not wasted time. You are manifesting this happening And I believe that all these things, and and lastly, one more thing, like stacking your doubts you guys before a race or in life in general, you know, you can stack all your doubts and it's not going to take you anywhere. But if you stack your proof in every moment right before the race, you're about to, you know, maybe the day before the race, like look at all your proof, the evidence of how far you've come, of the progress you've made. That's where I want you to log your progress like go back and stack your proof. Then you are filled with this knowing that anything and everything is possible.
Siri Lindley:Like you all have proof. You all have proof of challenges you were able to overcome, you know, things that you have in your life now that you only dreamed of before. Again, be the champion of your own mind and stack your proof every single day. All these things plus these two extraordinary clinical trials, the doctors and nurses, my hospital and this, my mind, is why I'm living this miracle today. And all these things, guys, are things you do in preparing for sport.
Siri Lindley:And just know that you are not just preparing yourself for your next race, you're preparing yourself for the inevitable challenges that are a part of life. So honor yourself in that and acknowledge that you have everything that you need to overcome anything that comes your way, but just be willing to acknowledge that you have all of this inside you already.
Justin Metzler:Sure. Yeah. I'm curious to hear, because I can resonate so much with everything that you're saying, and I feel like gratitude is a word that's going around a lot, and I feel, at least for myself, I wasn't able to realize how to live a life full of gratitude until I had a major setback, and it wasn't until I went through that process of climbing out from ground zero to the point where I could shift my mindset and reframe it to have the gratitude of, hey, any job that I can have where I have to be out and ride five hours on a Saturday, that's a pretty freaking cool job. For people that are sort of stuck in that gray area, like, maybe their life isn't getting lived the way that they want it to, and they don't have anything that's gonna really put a hard stop, like, oh, I've got a diagnosis, or I've torn my Achilles, or something big has happened that forces you into that sort of headspace, what sort of advice would you give someone who just wants to proceed with more happiness, gratitude, all of that?
Siri Lindley:Such such a great question. You know, first of all know this, that you live the life that you focus on. So if you focus on everything that's missing, everything that's wrong, that's a life you're gonna live. It's it's a life where nothing's the way you want it to be. So it's up to you to choose to, focus on everything that you can appreciate in every moment good or bad because then you will be living a life of gratitude.
Siri Lindley:And when we're grateful, you'll find that there is more and more and more to be grateful for, because it's a higher energy state. And the energy we show up with in the world is the energy we get back. It's the law of attraction, you know. If you've got this low level energy, your results, your relationships, it's going to reflect that. So a way to start shifting into a life of higher energy, which is more great gratefulness and appreciation is, you know, start conditioning yourself to ask yourself in as many moments as possible, where's the gift in this?
Siri Lindley:Or what can I appreciate about this? What's what's the gift in this? What's the gift in this? Pouring down rain here in California. Can't really go outside and run, but oh my god, our grass is going to be green.
Siri Lindley:This is amazing. It's going to be so pretty. What's the gift in this? What can I appreciate in this moment? Maybe you're having a fight with your best friend and it's horrible.
Siri Lindley:But if you say, what can I appreciate about this? Well, know that with every deep argument, no matter how uncomfortable it is, it always deepens a relationship on the other side. So as you train your brain to start finding the gift in everything and it becomes a question you ask yourself multiple times a day, your life begins to transform. And with that higher energy, gratitude is high energy state. Again, you come into the world with this higher energy, you're attracting back like energy.
Siri Lindley:And life starts to change. You experience more joy, you experience more fulfillment, and life becomes this beautiful field of miracles, and that's what it's meant to be. Good times and bad. So that's my recommendation.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. I love that. Well, you're like such a breath of fresh air. I feel like 2025 can be a challenging time to live in, and so I would I can't recommend enough if you're interested in checking out Siri's stuff. Like, she's written two books.
Justin Metzler:Is that correct?
Siri Lindley:Yeah.
Justin Metzler:I do. Two book. Yeah. She's got a she's got a documentary coming out now. Like, yeah, there's so much, untapped with this person.
Justin Metzler:And so, like, yeah, thank you so much for giving us a little bit of insight into your life and your world and your perspectives today. Before we wrap up with the podcast, I've got six rapid fire questions.
Siri Lindley:Let's go.
Justin Metzler:Let's go. If you had to pick one emoji to exclusively use, you have to get rid of all the other ones. Which one are you choosing?
Siri Lindley:Thankfulness. This
Justin Metzler:one. Yeah. Yes. Alright. What is your go to pick me up snack or drink when you need a boost to lock in to like write chapters of a book, or get on stage and speak, what do you go for?
Siri Lindley:A cup of English breakfast tea with a little bit of my sweet cream creamer.
Justin Metzler:Nice. Alright. Number three, what is the hardest training session you've ever given an athlete?
Siri Lindley:There's a lot of those. I would say climbing to Estes Park, finishing the last hour in a hard like, 40 k time trial and running off the bike 10 times one mile with a minute rest, one way kind of slightly uphill, one way slightly downhill. So it ends up being, like, a seven hour day, and it's wicked hard, and it tests your endurance. But at when they finish, it's like they just know they're ready.
Justin Metzler:Yeah. Rinne, I asked I I have asked Rinne a very similar question, and she spoke about the same training day in a little bit more detail. So for those fans out there, this one was documented quite well on YouTube. So if you give it a quick search, you'll be able to find exactly what Siri's talking about. Think she was featured in those videos as well.
Justin Metzler:So, number four, if you had to rescue 15 animals that can't be dogs, cats, or horses, what species are you choosing to integrate onto the ranch?
Siri Lindley:Oh, wow. We just started rescuing many donkeys, but I guess that's still equine. So oh my god. That's such a great question. Koala bears.
Siri Lindley:Do I get more than one choice?
Justin Metzler:No. I think only one. That's
Siri Lindley:my god. Okay.
Justin Metzler:Koala bears would be amazing.
Siri Lindley:Pigs. 1000000% pigs.
Justin Metzler:Oh my god. Totally.
Siri Lindley:Bring them on. Bring the pigs. Yes. Pigs.
Justin Metzler:Alright. Like we said, Jeannie and I are coming. So we're gonna be we're gonna be mucking the pigs. We're gonna be mucking the horses with the donkeys. Jeannie's gonna love the mini donkeys.
Justin Metzler:That's gonna, like, make her life.
Siri Lindley:I like it.
Justin Metzler:Alright. You've given so many awesome words of wisdom here, but if you had to pick one more piece of advice, of racing advice, for athletes listening, what would it be?
Siri Lindley:I think you'll agree with this one. When you get out there, just celebrate all the great work that you've done. Race day should be a day of celebration, not a judgment day. Celebrate all the work that you've done, thank your body, and have fun, because that's what this really should be all about.
Justin Metzler:Great answer. And final one, what's the best piece of life advice for anyone who may be kind of struggling out there?
Siri Lindley:Be you, be all of who you are, you'll be super powered when you can accept and acknowledge all that you are and just show up in the world, you know, firing on all cylinders. But that also means that, and this may be a little foo foo, but like self love is everything. You gotta be your own champion. And I really ask that you all love yourself in the same way you love your most precious person in your life. Speak to yourself like you speak to them.
Siri Lindley:Treat yourself like you treat them. When you start loving yourself, it is extraordinary how empowered you become and there's a freedom and a liberation that I can't even express how important that is. So do Amazing
Justin Metzler:answer. Well Siri, you are the absolute best. Thank you so much for coming on today. This was a pleasure.
Siri Lindley:Thank you, Justin. Thank you everyone for listening. You're amazing, Justin. Thank you for bringing this to all your listeners, and live your best life everyone. What a privilege to be here with you.
Justin Metzler:See you in the next episode. Peace.
Siri Lindley:Thanks, Justin.
