Episode 229: Line Thams and PTSD - Navigating Adversity and Meeting Stress
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Matt welcomes Purple Patch Pro Athlete, Line Thams, to the Podcast.
Thams is a professional triathlete from Denmark, focusing on short-course ITU racing.
She sits down with Matt to provide insight into dealing with stress and adversity. Thams shares her own story of coping with family tragedy and trauma and how to leverage adversity to emerge stronger in sport and life.
Over the last few years, Thams has had to navigate her mother’s stroke and subsequent coma, her partner's battle with cancer, and the physical and emotional trauma of a major bike crash that crippled her confidence and almost ended her athletic career.
Line frames her approach and the mindset she applies to move beyond the obstacles of the unexpected and provides valuable insight into formulating a plan of actionable steps towards recovery.
It is an inspiring story of resilience for anyone looking to manage, control, and emerge from the sometimes overwhelming weight of stress in their life.
Together, Matt and Line discuss the following themes:
Learning to identify, accept and live with uncontrollables
(19:50) “I've heard it's so unfair..that's probably also a lesson we can take out from this is that life is not always fair. And if we grip - dwell too much on feeling that we are in this unfair situation, at least for too long, then we will be blind on what we can actually do.”
Enacting actionable behavior - adapting to the challenges
Developing an adversity mindset - applying positive and productive energy
(55:12)“There's a 99% likelihood it could be worse. And to quote Gary Vee, 1 billion people don't have access to clean water…I still wake up in a soft bed, I can make myself a triple Espresso from very good coffee machine, if that's what I want. My friends and family are here, I can go out and ride my bike with my teammates…But it could be worse and this too shall pass. c'est la vie and this too shall pass.”
Avoiding stagnant thinking- refocusing perspective toward the positive.
(47:30)“It only feels stressful, if I'm caught up in the future, or the past, because, you know, like either be worried about what we haven't done or being overwhelmed by how on earth, we're going to make it into the future that we aim for. And I think, like happiness is also about letting go of what you thought your life was supposed to be, and just embracing where you are right now. And I think if we're stressed, we're not actually present. And if we're not present, we can also not be, like, truly happy."
The power of community - reaching out and letting others in
Defining success in the face of adversity
"(38:54)The road to success for me comes down to kind of the personal journey...on the journey, you will get tested and you will get challenges...when you meet the challenge...and look it in the eyes, then I also think that you will grow from it and you will better yourself. And to me that is success.
Key lessons from Line’s personal experiences - coming back from catastrophe
More on Line Thams:
- 3x podium at ITU Continental Cups, 2013-2014
- Bronze Grand Prix Embrun, 2015
- Danish Champion 2014-2017, 2021
- Vice World Champion Duathlon 2022Episode Timestamps
0:02 - 03:45 Welcome and Episode Introduction
3:45 - The Meat and Potatoes - Line Thams: Navigating Adversity and Meeting Stress
Purple Patch Video Podcast and More
Purple Patch Coaching Consultation
Training Camp - 2022 St.George Triathlon Camp
The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
This episode is sponsored by our collaboration with INSIDE TRACKER. Inside Tracker and Purple Patch - Receive 20% off their services with code: PURPLEPATCHPRO20
Ask Matt Anything - Leave a voicemail question for Matt
Learn more about Purple Patch Squad High-Performance Training Program
Join Bike Squad - Don’t just exercise and work out; learn to train with our structured online cycling program
Join Run Squad - Increase your running performance through our progressive, multi-sport approach to running
Learn more about Purple Patch Fully Customized 1:1 Coaching
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Purple Patch Upcoming Webinars and Events
Purple Patch Video Podcast and More
More on Precision Fuel & Hydration
Visit Precision Fuel and Hydration's website and enter the code purplepatch_SQ93 for a discount on their products.
Purple Patch Coaching Consultation
Training Camp - 2022 St.George Triathlon Camp
The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
This episode is sponsored by our collaboration with INSIDE TRACKER. Inside Tracker and Purple Patch - Receive 20% off their services with code: PURPLEPATCHPRO20
Ask Matt Anything - Leave a voicemail question for Matt
Learn more about Purple Patch Squad High-Performance Training Program
Join Bike Squad - Don’t just exercise and work out; learn to train with our structured online cycling program
Join Run Squad - Increase your running performance through our progressive, multi-sport approach to running
Learn more about Purple Patch Fully Customized 1:1 Coaching
Learn more about Purple Patch Strength Programming
Stay Up-to-Date with Purple Patch News and Events
Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:02
I'm Matt Dixon, and welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:21
So you've got your strength training, you've got stress levels and inflammation, you've got the myriad of supplements that are available. Foods that you need more of, maybe foods that you need to limit, red flags to course correct in your health and performance. There is a lot to consider. It's almost impossible to keep up. But knowledge is power. And with the assessment of your biomarkers combined with the insights and recommendations from the team at InsideTracker, what you get is focus, you get precision, as well as trackable metrics to ensure success and improvement for sports performance health. And of course, longevity. It's a great tool that I use, and you might consider it too. You don't even need to be a Purple Patch athlete to do so, all you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch. And you can use this code purple patch pro 20 and you get 20% off everything at the store. Alright, let's buckle up and dive in. I hope that you enjoy the show.
Matt Dixon 01:33
And welcome to The Purple Patch Podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon. And we have to start this week with an apology. Apology for the microphone because I am away from the recording studio in San Francisco. And I'm also without my trusty microphone. You see I'm on a family adventure across Europe and we had some technical difficulties. But we didn't want to bypass this opportunity to present to you today's guest. It's Line Thams and Line is a Danish professional triathlete. In fact, she's a Purple Patch, professional triathlete. But we're not going to go through one of those conversations about the athletic journey, and all of the stuff that breaks down her swimming, cycling and running. Instead, we're investigating a subject that can resonate with all of us, overcoming adversity. And the reason that I asked Line on the show is because she is, in my mind, an exceptional human being. But she's also someone that over the last few years has had to navigate a tremendous amount of adversity, both athletically but more importantly, across her life. And coming through it all. She has been a prime example of leveraging that adversity and emerging with lessons so that she can grow and become stronger. It's a fantastic interview. And because I'm away, on a little bit of a vacation, and I'm not with my microphone, we're going to skip all of the word of the week, we're going to skip the Matt's News-ings, and I'm going to just go right to the interview. It's a cracker. And if you are feeling stressed, challenged, had to overcome some obstacles or failure. I highly encourage you to sit down and immerse in the wisdom of Line Tham. She is an exceptional woman and a real inspiration. And I'm very, very glad for her to be on the show. And so, so you don't have to deal with my crackly voice on this. I'm going to hand it right over but I will get to say this. It is the Meat and Potatoes
Matt Dixon 03:45
All right, guys, it is the Meat and Potatoes. We have a very special guest today who has promised to be very well behaved I hear, Line Thams or for the Danish people amongst us. Let's do it correctly. Line Thams welcome, Line.
Line Thams 04:01
Thank you so much Matt, and thank you for having me. Very humbling.
Matt Dixon 04:04
We don't have the Purple Patch pros on this show very often. But you are just that little bit special. We're not going to be talking about your athletics too much today we're going to be talking and orbing our conversation around adversity, managing adversity, and many listeners, many of the audience will not know much about your story. But we're going to dig it apart today. And I think that by the end of this show, you're going to be a source of great inspiration and learning for all of our audience. So thank you so much for being here today -- talk about me putting the pressure on you.
Line Thams 04:41
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Matt Dixon 04:43
Well, let's, let's get going. And as I always do with every guest that we do have on the show, I like to have a little grounding. And this is really important for this topic of conversation of really understanding who you are as a person first. So let's go all the way back to the start. Why don't you introduce yourself to the audience? And, you know, tell me a little bit about where you grew up your family, all of the good stuff like that. So we can have a firm footing to start this conversation from.
Line Thams 05:11
Yeah. Well, as I said, I am Danish, I'm from Denmark. It's a pretty small country of 5 million people. And I was born and raised in the southern part, so very close to Germany. And it was a pretty small beach town. And, and as yeah, the entire Denmark, most of the country is surrounded, surrounded by the beach. And yeah, I was, I'm the youngest of five. I was a pretty big nerd when I was kid. And I really did not like any kinds of sports or physical activity at all. And but yeah, time has changed. And I will probably always be a nerd. But now it is in sports science. And obviously, I've come to enjoy being active quite a lot as well. And so, yeah, I said, I really hated PE classes, and I was super afraid of water, which really wasn't great living in Denmark. Especially when I grew up, and, and we as teenagers started going to the beach and when all my friends went into water, I was too afraid to go with them. So I think that was when I kind of got stubborn enough to take up swimming classes, even though then I would have to start with the toddlers, and (inaudible) with them. And I think probably because I didn't enjoy too much being with the toddlers. I pretty quickly became a better swimmer. And yeah, it just escalated quite quickly from there. And, after a couple of years, I was training more at an elite level. And I think that was probably Yeah, like coming to to the topic of today. That was the first experience I had in leaning into a major challenge and then get rewarded by it. Yeah, yeah. Because it really took some bravery for me to hold my breath and do those first meters of swimming again, and again and again. And, and I think like something, something I heard, I've heard you say so many times is that it's really about those small victories, that they build confidence. And I think in this case, I did get some confidence in being brave, leaning in, over and over again. And when you didn't get rewarded, like in this case, I got less and less afraid of being in the water. It still comes sometimes, but I am fairly okay with swimming now. But then it's just easier to act brave bravery, bravely. In another challenge that will come. Yeah.
Matt Dixon 08:25
So before we dive into some of the stuff you've gone through, so you, you sort of that was that was your first challenge you overcome but you here you are, someone, in a self-declared nerd that hated PE class was, was afraid of water navigated that challenge, but I think you're being humble because now when we fast forward, many years later, you are finally you have finished your Ph.D. So you are Dr. Line Thams - somebody's coming up. So congratulations on that that's very recent is massive, and you're a professional triathlete. So so that's a wonderful journey so far. I'd love to know when you first took up triathlon, and tell me about what led you into the sport?
Line Thams 09:10
A little bit of a coincidence. But yeah, I did my first triathlon 10 years ago. I was, I think it was kind of to finish my swimming career. And then my plan was to go to uni and be a super nerd. And not spent that much time on sport. Then, yeah, did a race to kind of finish my swimming career. And it was the Danish championships. And I was a junior at the time, and I ended up winning the Danish Junior Championship, which was because there were really no, not that many other girls. I think we were maybe three girls that competed in the event. And then like two months later, when I had started university and had not started triathlon (inaudible), one of your former athletes called me and he said that he was starting a National Junior squad. So I was as the national champion on the national squad in a sport that I really didn't yeah, do. So, I think I told him a little lie. And I was like, yeah, I train and then I started training. And, and, yeah, so then I kind of learned how to do triathlon. And a couple of years later, I was racing ITU.
Matt Dixon 10:48
Yeah, short course.
Line Thams 10:49
Short course so French Grand Prix World Cups and races like that. So I did that. Between 2014 and 2016.Yeah.
Matt Dixon 11:01
Perfect. So I'm going to fast forward now. And ITU short course race or, professional, professional triathlete, in that level coming out of it's funny that it was Rasmus. But for the audience that don't know Rasmus is a legendary triathlete, multiple-time Olympian fantastically accomplished. I was very, very lucky to coach him for the last couple of years of his career. But there you are, and here we are today. Now, you're still a professional triathlete. And you are a doctor as well. Great story over here. But no, we were going to talk about some chapters and episodes that you have navigated in your life, hopefully, to paint a picture. And so this, this becomes really important for the fabric of our story today. So I'm gonna get to hand this off to you in a little bit. And we're gonna go through a few chapters, I hope that as, as they sort of, say, ripping the scab off of this, and the memories of this isn't is not too painful. And it's struggling, but 2017 I want to start with this. And, and something that was catastrophic for you with with your mum. And so can you just let the audience know what happened there?
Line Thams 12:22
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, as you said, it was probably the biggest No, it was, it was certainly the biggest channels of, of my life. And I think it will be for forever. But yeah, my mom got a stroke. And then she was in coma for half a year. And then he slowly started waking up again, and he is alive now. But with some fairly big damages in her brain. And I think that was really a multisided challenge. I mean, first of all, losing your mom, and in my case also my best friend, when you're relatively young, and that's probably not easy for anyone but more, more so I also think the what really challenged me in that in that period was become a part of it. That waiting game, the uncertainty. And I guess really, like ultimate loss of control. And being in that place between life and death. Yeah, it still gives me goosebumps right now. It was some really freaky air to breath every day for ya once of the month. Even as a relative of yours, probably more so as a relative because she didn't know she was unconscious. And it's something that I will -- I don't have a lot of enemies. I don't think I have any enemies -- But but I really don't wish that anyone would have to go through that. But I think the Yeah, to fast, fast forward. The biggest takeaway from that period is really learning to identify, accept and live with uncontrollables because that was a period full of uncontrollables.
Matt Dixon 14:28
And your -- because I heard you say that word control in the middle of in the middle of outlining that. And basically he you were in a vortex of uncertainty for many, many months. What were you were you still trying to train for triathlons and continuing with triathlons. While this was navigating, what were you doing in the rest of your life at this time?
Line Thams 14:53
In the beginning, it was just before the race season started so in the beginning, and she was a big supporter of my races and had taken vacation for for my entire race season. So for the races that we had planned together, and while she was still in coma - or planned that I should race - I did compete in, and but yeah, then slowly as I got into traveling and stuff like that I decided to stay home. And yeah be around my family and just be there if she would wake up or when she would wake up. And so I still, I still I trained at the National Training Center, so I still joined the sessions and yeah, kept some sanity from being in my usual setup. So the only difference was that instead of going home after practice, I went to the hospital. And obviously also instead of more focusing on my own goals, trying to yeah, be a part of the team and see how I could contribute as a teammate into some of the other, yeah, performances.
Matt Dixon 16:24
So we could, we could continue to unpack this journey. And, and obviously, it's a massive life event for anyone. And you know, as you said, losing your best friend losing your mum, at least from a functional standpoint. And we could continue talking about this, but she wakes up, she, she emerges, life changed. Life, not back to normal. So so then what happened,
Line Thams 16:56
Then, my partner at the time gets cancer in 18. And the first year was a relatively manageable lymph Cancer. Obviously, still cancer in the middle of his 20s. But then the second year, his condition gets quite bad. And he ends up surviving, but yeah, against all odds, and he gets a bone marrow transplant in 2019.
Matt Dixon 17:33
And that was very unlikely that he would survive that. Yeah?
Line Thams 17:36
Yeah. Especially, especially as it developed Yeah.
Matt Dixon 17:40
Okay. And he managed to navigate through that. So now you're in this situation in life where you've had this, you know, year to year and a half of, of everything that happened with your mom, you emerge, you take a deep breath and your partner gets cancer - navigates. But by the second year of that has real proverbial back against the wall, the odds of him surviving, are highly limited, he manages to emerge on that. You talked about with your mum, identifying uncontrollables and almost being at peace with that saying, like, in America they say shit happens. But that's obviously more than that. But but, you know, ultimately identifying uncontrollables, that is what you talked about, was there anything at the big level picture that came out of the situation with your partner? How do you feel coming out of that as you are on the other side of it?
Line Thams 18:44
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think probably, yeah, to add on that, identifying the controllables and really also act on this. So from a practical point of view, and that we kind of both went wholeheartedly into what could we do in his condition. And so we bought a very expensive alkaline water machine. In the periods that he was hospitalized, I brought him meals, instead of relying on the cafeteria foods, it meant that we dressed up to go for a walk, even though it was sometimes even only 200 meters and stuff like that. And so yeah, just focus in on what we could do, instead of kind of leaning back and complain about how unfair the situation was. It was like this active healthy, really good, light guy in the middle of his 20s get cancer. It's not only once or twice that I've heard it's so unfair. But leaning into that, like I mean, that's that's probably also a lesson taken out - we can take out from this is that life is not always fair. And if we grip - dwell too much on feeling, that we are in this unfair situation, at least for too long, then we will be blind on what we can actually do. And then yeah, to evolve from, from the situation that we're in, I think.
Matt Dixon 20:27
Yeah, that - there's, there's a whole line of thinking, in fact, there's a backbone of, of therapy, which there's a phrase that's borrowed out of cognitive behavioral therapy of "So what now? What?" And it's a great one to use with your kids. It's not fair. And yes, but this is the situation now how are you going to respond? And it's very interesting, you know, you just supplied some really, really practical stuff there that makes absolute sense from a logical standpoint, but many, many people would not actually sort of take that action of goodness me, you're in hospital and the hospital food's terrible,
Line Thams 21:03
It doesn't make any sense. Like they should have the best food available
Matt Dixon 21:08
They absolutely should. And quite, and quite often they don't. And so you took action and said, but I can control that I can change that. And I'm going to absolutely do everything that I can to ensure that the immune system is supported as much as I can, making sure that you're dressed up warm, having the best water, whatever it might be. So it's actually very practical. So sort of re-anchoring around controllables. And, and so you navigate through this, and you know, each of these I'm highly cognizant we could spend hours talking about and we give them five minutes service, but so you go through, let's paint the chronological journey of it, you've gone through everything with your mum, so much of it out of your control, completely destabilizing then your partner navigates through the journey of cancer, emerging against all odds, and it really was against all odds that you came to that part of it. We are now in 2020. In September, and you went on an easy bike ride with a couple of your friends and teammates. Tell the audience what happened there?
Line Thams 22:22
Yeah, we were on a ride. And they were doing a race on the weekend. So they were doing some efforts, I was just supposed to be riding an endurance ride. So they will up the road and then they would turn around to pick me up. And in that meantime, I hit a bump. And in like that shock that came up through the bike in that shock, I lost the grip of the handlebar. And next thing now is just face first into the ground. Which meant I basically only hit my head but also did it very well. And I fractured jaws, two jaws. Both jaws. And I lost five teeth. I lost a quarter of my lips. And then I had yeah, the first 10 weeks, I was completely wired up. So I basically couldn't open my mouth. But then it came in really handy that I had lost the teeth because then I could get like a straw, a thin straw in between. So I could at least get some fluids in. Not eating for 10 weeks. That's also a challenge. Especially when you don't like soups, but you got to - yeah, then you find a way to like soups. But yeah, um, I think the first thing I said when to my boyfriend was that yeah, I'm never gonna ride a bike bike bike again. So I gotta find another spot because I'm also not finished with league sports. So I will take a CrossFit or something like that. And yeah, then also when I got back to and I started walking, I started listening to some podcasts and one of them was Purple Patch Fitness podcast. And it really got me thinking like, could I really, first of all, quit triathlon before I had even completed an Ironman, and maybe more so do I really want to live a life based on fear? And no, I don't. So knowing that I couldn't go back to triathlon half-heartedly I reached out you Matt and here we are. But I think like the true challenge in this period was getting back on that bike. And when we started working together, I had no idea of how difficult it would be for me. And I guess you quite quickly knew. And so, and the big, big learning from this period was to like heading into this major challenge to really break it down into small steps. And it was ridiculous small steps at some point.
Matt Dixon 25:34
Well, when I go back, and I reflect on that, because when we first have our discussion, you know, you have a coach-athlete call, and you paint this picture ITU athletes in the, in the midst of navigating and finishing Ph.D., so going to be time-starved, very busy. And I had a crash. And I've had a little bit of adversity outside of that. And that seems fine. And I don't think I at all appreciated, really the fabric of the journey that ultimately, has been instrumental in building who you are as a person, as a human being, let alone who you are as an athlete. And over the first few weeks that really started to bubble up and become clearer. And the first thing that I thought is, hang on, there's going to be some real post-traumatic stress, at least I assume there has to be coming off of a bike ride like this. And I think when we started, I wasn't even aware that you hadn't really written your bike yet. So I really remember going through a step-by-step process. So I'd love to break, I'd love to break down because you talked about a major challenge into small steps, let's just spend a couple of minutes on one small, tiny part of that challenge, which was getting you back on your bike and doing training. Can you just outline briefly what that process was, we obviously started on the trainer, and then went from there, but I'd love you to outline what that was to start.
Line Thams 27:05
Yeah, so obviously, like the end goal was that I was able to ride fast, an aero, in a race, and probably more so also doing it without spending too much energy on being super tense and super worried about crashing again. But we were so far away from that. I think when we started working together, it was in the Danish winter. And I was really helped by that because that gave me time to have a lot of time on the trainer first. And then I kind of like I made a list of okay, these are the steps I need to go through. And obviously, like the first one was being just out on a city bike, then being out on my TT bike, then then taking a corner. So not like stepping on a corner and turning myself and then right further, but actually riding a corner. Ride an aero, ride fast, ride a speed bump.
Matt Dixon 28:11
Introduce intervals.
Line Thams 28:12
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think yeah, it wasn't until two weeks prior, the first race that at this time, I still hadn't been out on the bike. And then I was just like, you can do it. And there was also a voice in me that said, well, you could also wait to the race because then you got adrenaline and then fine. But I didn't lean that much into hope. So I went out on the bike I remember and yeah, basically didn't breathe for the first few minutes. And then I think luckily, we had had so many bike classes. I joined like the Purple Patch Fitness bike classes, where you over and over and over had repeated soft elbows, Line get that coat hanger out of your shoulders. And that really just became what I told myself for the next hour of that first, ride. I was just okay, soft, elbows, soft shoulders, soft elbows, soft shoulders. And yeah, I got through that one and the next ride and an intensive ride and then the race and yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt Dixon 29:37
What you highlight there is habit creation around posture, which is really important part of the value. And I sort of realized I'm saying this as the leader of the coach that's leading the video bike sessions that we do at Purple Patch, but unlike being on a regular platform where you can just hide in your pain cave and focus on the metrics, really being hounded by me, you in Denmark, me in San Francisco, on the proper posture and making that habitual, I think helped you move outside. And then from my standpoint, I remember your first bike rides, there was no anticipation of output, no anticipation of intervals, it was going play on your bike. So try and learn to interact. And luckily, you had the ingrained habits that then you could implement and, and start to be more focused and, and highly successful. I'll add, as you come out of it. I mean, now as we sit here today, your you are Danish long course, champion. And last year, was that accurate? Goodness, middle -
Matt Dixon 30:48
But yeah, middle distance, that's right middle distance champion, and a new got a medal in the world triathlon championships this year, which wasn't a bad start, either. But this could easily be a discussion as we sort of draw into our big lessons and, and I think the real meat and potatoes of the meat and potatoes. But I want to focus on one thing because it's really easy for us to draw lessons and things in our past. But right now, as we record this, you are in the midst of our fourth chapter of adversity, and something that we never like to talk about, but you're currently injured as well, and a really frustrating injury. That's really, really challenging both for you, obviously, and me as your coach because it's sort of come out of nowhere, but you have a major knee issue right now, right at the point that we managed to - and I'll lead this section a little bit but you finished your Ph.D. - Dr. Line Thams - and you, we did such a good job of navigating training for a professional triathlete within a time-starved life, you achieve your success. Finally, we remove that shackles, the logistical shackles of obviously everything that goes into a Ph.D., and I'm free, let's go and build an athlete and you have a major knee injury. And so you are actually sitting right in the eye of the storm of adversity right now and I think that's a frustrating place to be but it's also a great place to be to have this conversation. And so where are you at emotionally right now when it comes to the knee and more globally you as an athlete?
Line Thams 30:48
Yeah.
Line Thams 32:34
Yeah. I am on different levels I think I am in a way fairly calm in knowing that I'm right now doing what I can and I have accepted this situation I have forgiven myself for what ever have caused it even though we don't really know yet what has caused it or what it is, but at the same time, obviously, it is a stressful situation to be in. As you say, I just finished my Ph.D. and the plan was basically to be out there and train and race my butt off, and like I feel like for yeah, well the last year that we've worked together it's always been like okay, we just standing behind kind of the start fence and now we can release the hounds and get out there and we still standing here like doors are open but we still we standing still right now. And yeah, so so obviously like I think that's something a lot can relate to like just kind of finding my feet here with a new job. That is right now being a professional athlete, but being an inactive injured professional athlete. That wasn't really what we had planned. And but it is the situation and even though it has been some months of yeah, being like back of being cautious and not really moving forward. And I think I am fairly calm in where we are right now and we're doing what we can and luckily I have a coach that is really patient and sees the possibilities. So that's also helped me.
Matt Dixon 34:43
The - it's uh - let me see if I can say this the right way for the first year of working with each other there - I think we can share this - there immediately - we - from a performance standpoint, we were seeking performance within a framework that was very challenging for a professional athlete because you're doing a Ph.D. And yet within that framework, you achieved great success and great progression. And I always talk about performance predictability. And it took us almost no time to find our rhythm as a coach-athlete partnership of performance predictability. And I think that almost in the Wizard of Oz way, you're like, how do you know and I just had as a coach, as I know this athlete, I know exactly what to do. I know what's gonna build up. Great success, I had great confidence, great flow, great connection. Even though geographically dispersed so far, was like, this is really exciting because if we can do this now, think about when we are free of those shackles, and we open the doors, and here we are. Well, guess what, here we are. And now we need to adapt. Now we need to lean into this situation. Now we need to recreate and, and so obviously, for me, it's incredibly frustrating as a coach, particularly as I have great pride of a very, very low incidence of injury. And I don't like - as no coach wants their athletes to be injured. But it happens. It's elite sport, and it's happened and it's something that's come out of the blue, I don't think it's by any stretch your fault. You haven't done anything wrong, but we will manage through this. And it's incredibly frustrating. But I think that with that grounding, we could stop this conversation right now. And I can almost lead the audience in saying, goodness me, that is a crazy journey of adversity. Your mum to your partner's cancer to a catastrophic crash that many, many people will be hearing that and just thinking, I don't know how you could ever get back on a bike again, let alone get back to elite athletics. And then you're injured as a pro athlete. You're a remarkable human being you have a great perspective. And I want to hone in on, I think your superpower, which is your ability to navigate through this, because really what it is for me is, we all have our different buckets of stress and our recipe of stress and what stresses Peter and Robert might be very different than what stresses Jenny and Julian. And yet, we all have to deal with this. And so I want to come up a level. And I want to hear your perspective on stresses and adversity, struggles failure, because I think that if we have that as your grounding if we spend 15 minutes now talk about this, I think it's going to be really insightful. So I want to start in left field a little bit. And Line as an athlete. What does success mean to you as an athlete? You've been doing this for 10 years now, but you've had massive life sort of pull away from it. So why you're doing this? What is success? What - how do you define success as a professional athlete?
Line Thams 38:17
Hmm, yeah, it's a really, really good question. And I think, to me, success is about bettering myself, I really want to see how far I can get. I, I want to like - being able to identify where I can get better than work on it. And then yeah, then obviously, life will take you through a test or you take yourself through a test, like for example, competing, an endurance event. So the road to success for me comes down to kind of the personal journey. And on then, on the journey, you will get tested and you will get challenge challenges. And that's just an evidently - an inevitable but -
Line Thams 39:12
Yeah, exactly. My Dan-glish here - in life, and if you don't turn around and just run back on your couch when you meet the challenge, then but you actually meet the challenge and look it in the eyes, then I also think that you will grow from it and you will better yourself. And to me that is success. And that doesn't mean that I don't like success. That I don't love to win. Like you know, you can get me fired up on a challenge to win the Tuesday bike class, like a virtual ride with no prize money and no fame attached. But I'll always look back and judge whether I did my best to the best of my abilities on the day. And if I did, I will sleep well in the night. Also, if I ended up getting beating, getting beaten by Andy, on this Tuesday bike class.
Matt Dixon 39:12
Inevitable.
Matt Dixon 40:12
What you just said there around the personal journey, and leaning in the growth of, of the highest performers that I have had the privilege to work with, that is the most common trait that you have the most common perspective. And I think that many people think that athletes and high performers are driven by outcomes, they want to be a world champion. But the best and never driven by that. It's fun and it's great and of course, you might have a goal and you say, I want to win a world championship, what do I need to do to get there? But the real driver is, is always personal growth. And I think if - so, I wonder what you're going to say when I asked you that question. And of course, you answer with absolutely no surprise, I do want to with that come back with so I don't want to let the crash go a little bit, because the other stuff was life adversity, and it's easy to segment. But the crash was really directly related to your personal journey and challenging the sport. And it was catastrophic, and obviously very scary for you. So I want - what made you decide, you talked about this about not living a life of fear. Was that the driver of you wanting to come back to the sport after the crash? You said originally, I think to Adam, I'm not going to come back. But then you did. So what made you want to come back?
Line Thams 41:48
Yeah, I think I think it was, that was the major part. And, and, honestly, there's also a major part in what we just talked about that I really don't feel like I've reached my full potential in triathlon yet. And I'm just so eager to see what it is, or just try to explore that. And, and that's what really excites me in life. And I like to act on what excites me. And because that's where I feel like I kind of live to the fullest. And obviously, I know that there are risk involved in that. That I might end up having a crash that where I don't lose, I lose five teeth as the yeah, worst endpoint in a way. But something worse than that. But yeah, I really would like to not die wondering.
Matt Dixon 43:05
I think, you know, that's, that's the saying of one of the great Purple Patch athletes, Laura Siddall.
Line Thams 43:11
Oh yeah, that's right.
Matt Dixon 43:14
You will have it written on her hand. She's one of my - I have the greatest respect for her, obviously got to coach her for many years. And her mantra in her heart is don't die wondering. Yeah, it's, it's a great spirit. So let's come up. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.
Line Thams 43:32
No, I just think like, with everything that has also happened with my mom and with Adam, but I'm also more conscious now than five years ago that our time is limited, and we got to get the most out of the days we have. And right now. I think I feel like I really get a lot out of my days when I dive into this triathlon project or my Ph.D. project. And yeah, so that's a way.
Matt Dixon 44:14
So how would you define your relationship with adversity? Setbacks, failure?
Line Thams 44:23
Yeah, well, it's obviously never nice. It's never really welcome. I think there's never a good timing, or that at least like the yeah, all the adversities. I mean my first thought is, God, this is bad timing. Then my second thought is, okay, what can I do? But I think especially like people like you and me, and I'm sure a lot of the people in the audience are people that likes to move or like to move forward in the world and And, and a challenge almost always means that we are standing still or even moving backwards. Like, the thing we really don't want to do, right? And it's certainly okay to acknowledge that. But if we stay in that emotion for too long, I think we are basically just setting ourselves back. And not the challenge itself. And so I think it's, it's never really a nice as is that when it comes, but I also think, back to the French c'est la vie, it is a part of life. And then I have also learned to quite quickly come into, okay, I really wonder what the lesson of this sorry, shitty situation is. Because there's, there's always a silver lining. That doesn't mean that I say like, what happened to my mom is the best thing that ever happened to me because I learned X, Y, and Zed. Like, I would still prefer it not had happened. But it did. And there have been some really, really great lessons coming out of it. And for the lessons, I'm grateful. Yeah.
Matt Dixon 46:30
It's a great perspective, do you have a process of how you tackle it? When you've gone through so much adversity? This might be a difficult question to answer in a way because you probably haven't spent much time sort of thinking about it, but as best you can, do you think that there's a process to approach these types of situations, situations of catastrophic stress or challenge or insurmountable barriers, or at least things that feel insurmountable?
Line Thams 47:03
So if we say that all these situations have been stressful, well, they obviously have been, but they've been a situation of stress in different ways. And I think what I've kind of learned is that it's, it only feels stressful, if I'm caught up in the future, or the past, because, you know, like either be worried about what we haven't done or being overwhelmed by how on earth, we're going to make it into the future that we aim for. And I think like happiness is also about letting go of what you thought your life was supposed to be, and just embracing where you are right now. And I think if we're stressed, we're not actually present. And if we're not present, we can also not be, like, truly happy. And I like to be happy. So I think I've really learned to be more aware of what it means to be in the present because that really helps in stressful situations like this. So in order to be present, to get me to the answer of your question, we got to first accept the situation we're in. And I don't believe that we can truly move forward if we don't accept if we haven't first accepted what we're in. And then secondly, forgive ourselves or the universe or whoever we blame. I think you should always try blame yourself, right? But forgive ourselves for whatever happened. And then try to turn some focus on what we can do. And then actually, to the present part, act on what we can do. And then for the future or for a better future, then consider okay, what went wrong? And is there anything we can do about it? Then try to change that and you know, learn from that apply it into to our future lives.
Matt Dixon 49:26
What about people around you how important - as you reflect on some of those situations, how important have friends, mentors, coaches at playing a role? Everything you talked about there was actionable around you? Do you feel like people around you have been helpful in the growth through that situations, those situations?
Line Thams 49:55
Definitely, yeah. I'm not sure where I would be if I didn't have my, my family and my teammates and other friends and then meeting one like you to, to kind of have my back and take my hand and go with me through, whatever happens, I really hope that anyone have not everyone have people to, to go through life with both the ups and the downs. When Yeah, like for example, we also talked about, like I stayed in, in the training environment, and that was really, really nice for me are really good for me to have that very normal side of my life. Next to also more chaos, or through the chaotic phases of life. Even though it has also been challenging sometimes to be around them. And it honestly it comes down to comparison, the enemy of mankind, when you start to compare your own life with others, because honestly, and they know we have talked about this, they were living my teammates were living the life I had set myself up to. And I clearly remember some of the sessions where we go grind and have fun doing it. And then they will go home and rest and do another season. But I would be going to the hospital, and I'm really not normally against that jealous person. But I gotta admit, there were a few occasions where I was just like, oh my god, can we please just switch lives just for one day. And I think luckily, we were close enough friends that I was able to say it out loud. And they would still know that I wouldn't take anything away from them. And they absolutely deserved being where they were in their triathlon career or their academic career. And probably like 360 days a year, I was so focused on that I was a part of their journey and so on. But I think something that I think is actually really important that is that when when when in my situation when I got caught up in thinking, oh, please just let's just switch lives. And then I would sometimes move on with an experiment of what, like I would call the complete switch. So let's take an example. To kind of be Yeah, yeah. So you've trained with your best bud, John, and you're racing an Ironman, and then your big goal is to qualify for the World Championships. And then three days before the race, you get hit by a car, and you can't do the race. And John ends up finishing the race going to Kona and all you can think is like God, I wish I could just switch lives and I could go to Kona instead of John. Okay, fair and square - emotions. But let's say then, okay, you get the Kona slot instead of John. But you also got to take his annoying wife and his chubby ankles and his weird running style. And you also got to give up your own kids and your family and your specialized bike and your coffee machine. Do you still then want to switch lives? Like, whenever I did that experience, I was like, No, I'm fine. Like, yeah, I just want my own life. And it's it's obviously not really down to the coffee machine, you know, but yeah.
Matt Dixon 54:04
Well, I was persuaded after just the coffee machine. That was the thing that tipped me off. But that's a great perspective, particularly as I saw your coffee machine, and you have the same one as me. So that's, you are a woman of good taste. So to finish. And we give you, we give you the floor two minutes here. If you - with the audience, your key lessons from all of the experiences. If you had to wrap it up and you said, adversity that happens in life you've given so much already. What are the key one or two lessons that you want to share with the audience around navigating adversity?
Line Thams 54:42
Yeah, I gotta be quick. Yeah. So I think my biggest one is perspective. There's a 99% likelihood it could be worse. And to quote Gary Vee, 1 billion people don't have access to clean water. So have some issues with any, or? Yeah, obviously right now just several races being canceled and not a lot of income and quite a lot of uncertainty. Right now that I'm being a pro like, yeah, it stinks, it really stinks. But still, goddamn, it could be worse, I still wake up in a soft bed, I can make myself a triple Espresso from very good coffee machine if that's what I want. My friends and family are here, I can go out and ride my bike with my teammates. After two years, I still have dentists that are working on making my face look as pretty as possible after the crash. And like then, like I've been paid for 10 years to take a vacation. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would still right now like to not be injured. But it could be worse and this too shall pass. c'est la vie and this too shall pass.
Matt Dixon 56:03
Yeah, what a great way. One of my last things I'll tell you, Line, outside of Thank you. And thank you for being so open and honest. I think you're remarkable as a human being but you mentioned something about going on a journey to find your potential. And you mentioned in the discussion, I don't think I'm there yet. Let me tell you as your coach, you ain't nowhere close. You got a big engine. And we're going places. And so this shall pass and we will emerge. And I'm excited for your journey ahead. But I appreciate you so much. I have so much fun coaching you and I really appreciate you being a part of Purple Patch and the whole community. So let's get you healthy. But for today, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us.
Line Thams 56:54
Yeah, now I'm speechless. Thank you Matt. Thank you so much.
Matt Dixon 57:00
Take care. Cheers.
Matt Dixon 57:03
Guys, thanks so much for joining. And thank you for listening, I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing, head to the Purple Patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe, of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe. Also, share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now any questions that you have, let me know feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show at the Purple Patch page. And we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience. And we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that. I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
triathlon, life, bike, adversity, race, challenge, navigate, coach, athlete, sport, journey, patch, year, people, danish, line, purple, crash, ride, coffee machine