From Kmart Bike to Tour De France Patty has had an amazing journey to her athletic career. Patty has been competing for over 40 years and in her own words, “I eat, sleep, breathe, health and fitness”. Listen to her amazing story, guaranteed it will get you wanting to push your own limits. Patty is truly inspiring!

Career Highlights

East Coast Triathlon Champion, 1983

Kona Ironman top 25 women, 1983

Olympic Cycling Trials 1984/1988

Tour de France Feminine, Championship Team, 1984

Olympic Cycling Trial Qualifier Champion, 1984

Goodwill Games (Moscow), 1986

Tour of Japan Champion, 1989

6-time USAT Athlete of the Year (2011/13/15/17/21/22) 

2-time USAT Sprint Duathlon Nat’l Champ (2012/14) 

3-time ITU AG Sprint Duathlon World Champ (2011/13/17)

9-time USAT AG Duathlon National Champion (Undefeated, 2011-15, 2017/21/22)

10-time USAT #1 Nationally Ranked AG Duathlete (2009-13 & 2015-17/21/22)

11-time USAT All-American Duathlete (2009-17/21/22)

Host Jacalyn Gross

Amazing Guest Patty Peoples

Producer Jeremy Canaria

Editor Jacalyn Gross

In this episode, we talk to Irene Yee pronouns she/her. Irene started being active as a young person, playing school-organized sports, cross country, and basketball. Irene went to such a small school, students almost had to join a sport in order to have enough athletes to compete. For Irene it wasn’t that she loved these sports, she just participated in them.

Irene made a big move after college from Boston to Las Vegas to look for a better-paying job and a lower cost of living. After settling in, she was looking for an inexpensive gym in her area and joined a climbing gym. Irene sort of stumbled into a great group of people who took her outside to climb and she was hooked. Irene is also a really crafty person and enjoys creating things from sewing to woodworking. Irene’s exceptional technical skills and design background made climbing photography her ideal creative outlet.

Climbing photography has changed how she thinks about her goals with climbing. She is more interested in being with friends and maintaining fitness than not pushing further and further. She also loves sharing her climbing photography skills and strives to create a safe space for others to learn.

Guest: Irene Yee, ladylockoff.com

Host: Jacalyn Gross

Producer: Jeremy Canaria

Sponsor: ursportswear.com

Kriste was very active as a child and that continued throughout her adulthood. After moving to CO she realized that she was having trouble breathing just walking upstairs and as an active person Kriste didn’t accept that. After acclimating to her new surroundings and seeking help from a running coach, Kriste went from being winded on the stairs to doing what she loved, running. Kriste also really enjoyed hiking and wanted to see more of the trail faster, which led her to trail running.

Trail running, like many outdoor activities, noticeably lacks diversity and can often pose quite an obstacle for many people. A feeling she has experienced firsthand, Kriste advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion and strives to make space for those who may not feel like trail running is for them. Kriste leverages her experience and knowledge as a trail running coach and meditation instructor. She likes to sprinkle in meditation mindsets into her coaching to highlight awareness while running.

Kriste is part of so many amazing organizations; she is on the board of Running Start, a self-defense and personal safety trainer at Impact Personal Safety of CO, the program director at Women’s Wilderness, and a Coach for Life’s Too Short Fitness. Most of these organizations have a common thread of empowerment and facilitating outdoor adventure activities for women and nonbinary folks.

Check her out at, KristePeoples.com or on Instagram @KristePeoples.

Hosted by Jacalyn Gross

Produced by Jeremy Canaria

Edited by Jacalyn Gross

In this episode, we talk to Sarah Histand she/they about how Sarah began her journey into being active and what she loves to do now Skiing, Skate skiing, Nordic skating, Backpacking, and Pack rafting. We also go into this really interesting competition, which is more of an experience, called the Wilderness Classic in Alaska. Then Sarah talks us all into really wanting to try wild ice skating or Nordic Skating. They are also a trainer and a therapist and have a company called Mind and Mountain, so we talk a bit about training philosophy and the power of positive thinking. If you are thinking of starting something new, you won't want to miss Sarah's words of empowerment.

Guest Sarah Histand @sarahmhistand https://www.mindandmountain.co/

Host Jacalyn Gross @jacalyngross

Producer Jeremy Canaria @jeremycana & Jacalyn Gross

Editor Jacalyn Gross

It was an absolute pleasure putting together words of Empowerment for 2022 so I decided to go back to the archives and do a clip show for 2021 as well. Some of the interviews might have taken place in 2020, but who is counting? The past few years have been a blur anyway. I am so grateful for all these individuals' stories. Enjoy this power-packed episode!

00:37 Kara Graci

02:10 Nicole Bush

06:25 Tiffany Chenault

11:12 Sarah McCormack

11:48 Jennifer Gross

14:34 Elizabeth Duclos-Oresello

19:01 Sam Caligiuri

20:43 Najah Floyd

21:01 Emily Johnson

Produced by Jeremy Canaria

Edited by Jacalyn Gross

Host Jacalyn Gross & Guest Host Erica Mann

This episode features all of the amazing people we interviewed in 2022! We have edited together clips of each guest (and some from the host) sharing their words of empowerment to create one power-packed show! We hope you enjoy! See you in 2023!

00:39 Audrey Voelker

01:15 Kim Holstine

03:20 Cobi Harris Seslar

08:07 CamE Tasker

09:04 Elizabeth Gross

12:27 Sarah Fowler

14:04 Jacalyn Gross (Race Report)

14:59 Rachel Cundy

15:48 Tiffany Chenault

18:44 Helen Thayer

21:05 Mercedes Pollmeier

23:42 Jacalyn Gross (Placing value where you need it most)

Produced by Jeremy Canaria

Edited by Jacalyn Gross

In this episode I talk about the learnings from the last interview I did with Mercedes Pollmeier. Mercedes finds the most value in a workout with both strength and flexibility. One of her favorite examples of this is lifting and stretching together. That really was an amazing concept not just because it is an added benefit to your lift, but because it let me do something I value alongside something I don’t prioritize and often procrastinate doing. I thought how can I prioritize other activities and I came up with a few concepts of my own; adding mobility into my core, knee-specific strength, and being proactive about weaknesses.

In the second part of the episode, I go into racing and setting goals that will promote improvement in specific techniques you personally need to work on. Ultimately making you a better racer and also hopefully enjoying the race more too. My examples are all running-based here but I am hoping you can apply these ideas to whatever activities you’re working on.

The guest today, Mercedes Pollmeier, has experience training at a high level and training high-level people. I was drawn into her story, because of the controlled movement videos on her Instagram account @Modusathletica. Mercedes breaks down movement to a comical level at certain points. As someone finding climbing later in life, it was helpful to learn proper warmups. As a runner with very poor balance and a tendency to just push through things. She gave me a different perspective and I found her training videos helpful for the body awareness, I was ignoring. 

Just simplify running to taking a single step. Now, remove momentum. Do you think you could make every movement? Finding those weaknesses really redefines strength and that’s what Mercedes focuses on. 

Website: https://www.modusathletica.com/

Books

I have also found a few apps and great sources along the way. I am not being sponsored by any of these apps or people I am going to discuss. Just speaking merely from personal experience.

Amazing Guest: Mercedes Pollmeier

Host: Jacalyn Gross

Producer: Jeremy Canaria & Jacalyn Gross

Editor: Jacalyn Gross & Jeremy Canaria

www.ursportswear.com

Helen Thayer competed in the Commonwealth Games as a discus thrower in 1962 after marriage. She also represented Guatemala as a thrower in the Caribbean games. 

The Thayers moved to Washington State in 1965. She was the fourth-best thrower in the country at that time, PB was 204 ft. Her athletic endeavors did not stop with Track and Field. She also became a National Champion in luge in 1975. The Thayers also made an intentional decision not to have children because of her husband’s risky occupation (helicopter pilot who sprayed crops for a living) and the couple’s lifestyle. 

To get ready to fulfill her attempt to ski the magnetic North Pole prompted her to ten mile-a-day runs, an hour-long gym workout, and pulling concrete-laden sleds up a grassy hill for an hour.  In 1988 she went to Resolute Bay in Northern Canada to live with the Inuit and learn how to live in the polar regions. Skills included skiing on pack ice and pitching a tent in a storm as well as how to avoid/discourage polar bear meetings. She credits the Inuit as helping her better survive and helping her gain an understanding of survival in this area.

Equipment included:

7 ft fiberglass sled

160 lbs. food, gear, and fuel

Included in the gear were a flare gun and rifle to discourage polar bears

Dog Charlie

Host: Jacalyn Gross

Guest Host: Erica Mann

Producer: Jeremy Canaria & Jacalyn Gross

Editor: Jacalyn Gross & Jeremy Canaria

Copy Writer: Elizabeth Gross

Originally we interviewed Tiffany in January of 2021, and if you haven’t yet go back to the links below and listen to part 1. In this episode, we catch up with Tiffany about what has happened since we last spoke specifically how the pandemic impacted her goal of 50 races in 50 states. She also discusses her recent races and the races left to run. During this period Tiffany also faced a diagnosis of breast cancer, after losing her Mom to cancer. We talk about that and dig into how bodies process emotional pain. We of course touch on her book and how that’s coming along. It’s a great conversation and you won’t want to miss it.

Check out the original episode https://ursportswear.com/blogs/news/women-empower-active-tiffany-chenault-part-1