Episode 86 – Racing Through Adversity: Annie Brooks & David Whelan on Resilience, Inclusion & Triathlon Community

🎙 Episode 86 – Racing Through Adversity: Annie Brooks & David Whelan on Resilience, Inclusion & Triathlon Community
Presented by @maunaapparel

In this heartfelt and eye-opening episode, @joshmvernon and @fredrikson.12 sit down with two remarkable age-group triathletes: @heyanniebrooks and @dave_unbreakable. With no major pro racing on the calendar, we use the moment to go deeper—into stories of resilience, invisible and visible challenges, and how triathlon has become a powerful vehicle for healing, growth, and representation.

Annie shares how she manages epilepsy while training and racing at the highest level—including her Kona finish and the unseen obstacles she faces. David opens up about life after a workplace injury led to amputation, his return to sport, and his mission to make triathlon more inclusive for athletes with physical challenges.

We also cover: 

✔️ Inclusion in endurance sports & why performance-based slots for challenged athletes matter
✔️ Advocacy for invisible conditions & race-day accommodations
✔️ Mental health, identity, and the healing power of sport
✔️ The importance of owning your story—and how it inspires others
✔️ Racecation strategies, nutrition stories (oysters before a 70.3!?), and wild fourth sport ideas 🤘

Whether you're chasing a podium or just the finish line, this episode is for anyone who's ever faced a barrier and kept going.

🎧 Stream it now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube
📲 Full show notes + links in bio!

📍 Chapters

00:00 – Intro & Guest Introductions
03:00 – Annie’s Journey with Epilepsy & First Sprint Tri
06:00 – David’s Accident & Path to Amputation
11:00 – Advocacy, Communication & Race-Day Accommodations
17:00 – Foundations, Support & Building Access
24:00 – Performance vs. Participation: The Kona Conversation
32:00 – What Kona Meant to Annie
38:00 – Transitions, Practice & Adaptive Equipment
46:00 – Why We Race: Therapy, Identity & Impact
54:00 – Fueling, Funny Nutrition Stories & Ketones
01:00:00 – Adding a Fourth Sport to Triathlon?
01:05:00 – What’s Next: Race Plans & Final Thoughts

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Challenged Athletes Foundation
• Dare2Tri
• Epilepsy Foundation
• Women for Tri
• Fisi Triathlon

🎧 Another Triathlon Podcast – real conversations, real athletes, all the grit.
Follow us @anothertriathlonpodcast and stay tuned for next week’s episode with @jennacaer on her Ironman Taiwan podium and Kona qualification.

Transcript

Josh (00:01.274)
Welcome back to another episode of another triathlon podcast brought to you by Mauna apparel. Today, we're going to switch things up a little bit. are very lucky to have two amazing guests and we've got hardly any racing going on right now in the pro world. And I know we had a little bit of racing in Brazil this past weekend, but, we wanted to take this opportunity with this little break, before Texas to bring on two special guests. I've been.

blessed to get to meet both of them through social media and racing together. Just most recently in Oceanside, the two guests were both at the course and had some great days themselves. But I want you to both to have everyone hear about them and their journeys because it's pretty amazing what they've overcome to get to where they are and continue to do and raise awareness. So we're lucky to have David Whalen with us and Annie Brooks as well.

Both triathletes both have different stories, but Annie why don't you kind of give us an idea of where you're at now where you just were and and and we can go into your story a little bit later, but how are you doing today?

Annie (01:09.482)
I'm doing really well. I've just hopped from West Coast to East Coast. So just getting a bit adjusted at the moment. I'm now in Chattanooga and I'm going to be checking out a bit of the bike course here with the hope to race next year. Yeah, so I am a look pro go slow triathlete as I call myself. And yeah, I got into triathlon in 2014 and I've kind of been hooked ever since I started doing it.

Fed (01:39.662)
nice.

Josh (01:40.348)
That's amazing. And you're battling epilepsy, correct? And that was something before you got into triathlon, you had already kind of figured out in, think, what, 2012 or so, and then triathlon really helped you get through some of the early years.

David Whelan (01:49.381)
Thank

Annie (01:54.269)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm unfortunately, I still, as I call it, have active epilepsy, so it isn't controlled. Unfortunately, I've moved around different medication, unfortunately, and I still have seizures. So training for triathlon keeps me keeps my mind occupied, as everyone knows, you know, when you're training and when especially when you're out racing, you literally can't let anything in your mind because all you're thinking about is

what's next on the agenda and like, yeah, I find it amazing and regardless, it makes me very happy, which is part of it. I don't feel stressed from it, which has been great.

Josh (02:38.46)
I just realized both of your lives changed in 2012. And Annie with her diagnosis and David, your accident was in 2012, correct, right?

Annie (02:44.467)
Yeah.

David Whelan (02:48.167)
It was, yeah, March of 2012.

Annie (02:50.492)
That's crazy. Yeah, I didn't know I was having seizures because I have focal impaired awareness seizures and focal awareness seizures. So most people know as epilepsy being tonic clonics, the ground mouths, know, where you physically see something happening. And unfortunately, because I don't really remember, it's very vague, it wasn't picked up. that's it took, I was having them quite a while before 2012. But 2012 was the actual diagnosis and then

Josh (02:51.034)
Wow. Yeah.

Josh (03:18.49)
Wow.

Annie (03:20.131)
my husband was into triathlon and was like, why don't we try this sprint? then, yeah, that definitely really helped.

Fed (03:29.891)
Hmm.

Josh (03:30.396)
So when you first did that sprint, there, I mean, obviously a lot of nerves. There's nerves in any triathlon anyways, but was there any time during that event where you had some concerns or issues or did it go pretty smoothly? And it was like, wow, maybe this can be something I can do more.

Annie (03:47.494)
I think probably the latter actually. And you just said that, was like, no, I don't think I actually thought anything about my epilepsy. just thought, I'll get on with it. And then if I have to pull over, sometimes I'm quite lucky and I get an aura, which is almost like a warning sign and I have to take that seriously. So I'm always like, well, if I have to stop, I have to stop. But yeah, no, it didn't. And that's when I realized maybe I'm onto something here. Maybe this is what I need to be doing to keep myself.

Fed (04:02.475)
yeah.

Fed (04:12.451)
Hmm.

Annie (04:17.685)
My mind occupied.

David Whelan (04:19.847)
Thank

Josh (04:20.518)
That's crazy. That's, I mean, it's amazing what sports can do in general, but obviously the challenge athletes foundation and other organizations that have brought some of this to light and all the work that you're doing, for the PCIP world is really amazing to see out there. It's inspiring to us as athletes. And for me, whenever I'm on the course and come across another athlete who is going through way more than I'm going through, just the...

Fed (04:23.769)
Yeah.

Fed (04:46.573)
Yeah.

Josh (04:48.036)
I'm going through lactate and that's about it.

Fed (04:49.711)
You're going through lactate and a high heart rate.

Josh (04:54.99)
Yeah, exactly. then David, so 2012 was when you had your accident at work, kind of walk us through what's happened since then. And were you into sports before then? Were you doing triathlon before then or any of the stuff that you're doing now?

David Whelan (05:10.585)
Yeah, yeah, before I was injured, I was going to school to be a paramedic firefighter. So I was going to the gym, working out, training, you know, trying to get ready for for that whole world. And but as far as like 5Ks, 10Ks, triathlons, all that, like all of this is brand new to me. Like I knew how to get in a pool and not drown. But, you know, it's only been, you know, since the last three years that I've been able to make it back and forth in a pool without having like a massive anxiety attack.

Fed (05:21.201)
you

Yeah.

David Whelan (05:39.569)
So all of this is really, really completely new to me. But yeah, just, you know, I think kind of like a lot of people, I caught the bug pretty quickly and it spun wildly out of control from there.

Annie (05:53.186)
is amazing.

Josh (05:53.405)
And obviously for you, for you, it, it, there's a lot of other aspects to this in order for you to race because there there's a lot of monetary aspects to it outside of just swim, bike, run and the bike and everything you need. You've got to have prosthetics that are capable of doing these things as well. So you didn't lose your leg right away either. Did you?

Fed (05:54.73)
As it does.

David Whelan (05:56.07)
Right?

David Whelan (06:15.911)
No, no, yeah. I was injured in 2012 and I had my original amputation done in 2019. So I was trying to save my foot. I was injured in a work accident in California, had my foot crushed by a piece of equipment. And then from there I was subsequently diagnosed with the worst chronic pain condition known to medical science called complex regional pain syndrome or CRPS for short. And it constantly felt like I was being lit on fire and stabbed repeatedly and just felt like I was being crushed in a vice.

And I had to go through like the whole kind of like limb salvage type stuff and then also navigating, know, insurance and workers comp and all of that. I had to jump through all the hoops in terms of, you know, all the different treatment options that I had to explore. And then it came down to the point where I had, shoot, probably like six different surgeries that didn't work. My nerve condition was spreading higher and higher up my leg. And I was presented with the option to amputate.

in hopes of hitting the reset button. I was given a 99 % chance of being completely pain free if I amputated. So I decided to move forward with that thinking we would all go to Vegas if we had a 99 % chance, right? So I decided to do that and it was like gasoline on a wildfire and it was the absolute worst possible thing for me. So yeah, again, that spun wildly out of control. But yeah, now, Abel, to your point.

Fed (07:23.919)
Yeah.

Josh (07:24.528)
Ha ha ha.

Annie (07:25.149)
Thanks.

David Whelan (07:40.367)
Josh, I have a bunch of different prosthetics. I often feel like the bone collector of fake body parts. But yeah, I go to each race with about three different legs. And there's a very, very strong monetary factor that comes into consideration with that. And especially if you look at it through the lens of like what insurance doesn't cover. Running as an amputee is considered a luxury and not a medical necessity.

Fed (07:51.918)
Hmm.

David Whelan (08:10.055)
So the insurance companies don't pay for that. So anything more than this walking leg that I just showed you comes from the user's pocket or, you know, challenged athletes foundation does a great job as well. And there's other foundations too, but it's, typically the user that has to find a way to acquire an insurance company is not going to.

Fed (08:10.574)
Mmm.

Annie (08:30.683)
Okay.

Josh (08:31.184)
Wow. And Annie, in your world, what have you had to overcome with epilepsy in order to get to races, to be involved in races? Are there any things that you've had to overcome other than just your physical ailments and going through that? But is it hard to work with race organizers or get set up and get the things that you need at events?

Annie (08:52.955)
It's been a bit of a learning thing for me because I don't ever want to cause any issues or if I'm honest, not with triathlon, but other, say like I was going to go to a fitness class, for example, or something. I've had a very mixed reaction if I've been honest about having epilepsy. So I previously used to keep it quite quiet if I'm like, I wouldn't tell people, which is not the best thing to do.

Fed (09:16.621)
Mm.

Annie (09:20.125)
just because I get such a reaction of, I don't know if you should do this. I think one of them was like a hot yoga class and they didn't want me to go in. They were worried about me. And I was like, I'm gonna be fine. I promise you I'm gonna be fine. And so I kind of bottled it up for a little while. And then I realized I need my own safety because my seizures were getting a bit out of hand. I need to talk to people. So now what I do is I...

Fed (09:29.539)
you

Annie (09:46.27)
I feel more confident with it. And I email the race directors beforehand and I'll say, this is the condition I have, this is what I've put into place, this is where I've raced previously, this is what I've achieved. And then say, is it possible to meet with your medical team? Can I meet with someone beforehand? It varies from race organizer to race organizer, but a lot of it has been about me being a bit more confident and owning.

David Whelan (09:58.873)
you

Annie (10:15.965)
this than bottling it up. And, you know, by bottling up as well, that puts a lot of stress on me and stress is such a huge trigger for my seizures. So it's like, what's going to be best here? Do I just, if they tell me I can't race, I can't race and it's a risk I have to take really. But yeah, race organizers have become far more open minded and they're very, I mean, I've had, I mean, Oceanside, for example, was probably

Fed (10:26.701)
now

Annie (10:45.006)
one of the best experiences. They were so accommodating. You know, I got to swim early. You know, they had a stand-up paddleboard person with me to, you know, just by the side, you know, it just relieves a lot of stress and anxiety. And that in itself helps my epilepsy. Do you know what I mean? I don't know if that makes sense, but like that really does take some of the pressure off. And so I race happy really, which is, which is good.

Fed (11:00.43)
Yeah.

Josh (11:06.32)
Yeah.

Fed (11:06.583)
Yeah, totally.

Fed (11:13.839)
Yeah. I have a question for both of you. First with Annie, this is very interesting to me because my partner who Josh met last year, she has epilepsy as well. And it's controlled right now with medications and all of that. And I wanted to ask you, like, I'm sure there are a lot of athletes in your position that don't take the risk or well, quote unquote risk of

doing an Iron Man or entering a triathlon or being more active, what advice would you give them? Like what, if there's a checklist, like what would you tell them they need to ask race organizers or what they need to be aware of their bodies? I know each body is different, like, like what are the cues that you look for to yourself and

David also like same question. I'm sure there are a lot of athletes in your position position that want to jump into triathlon like what because there's not a lot of information for athletes in your position like where do they go like if they want to get a bike fit I'm sure there's a lot of different aspects that needs to take into consideration Yeah, that that question for both of you guys

David Whelan (12:33.033)
Go ahead, Henny.

Annie (12:34.158)
Thank you. It is a tricky one, as you say, like everyone's epilepsy, if you're looking at epilepsy, it's very different for everybody. think, really, I think one of the main things I will always say is if you were wanting to do like triathlon or enter a race of some sort and you have got something similar to me, just know when to...

to say no, do you know what I mean? If you're not feeling right, you have to just put your hands up and go, today is not that day, there'll be another day I can do it. You have to be quite honest with yourself. I also have to know when to put the brakes on or just have a day of smiling and high-fiving because you just have to know your body and just listen to your body as much as possible.

But yeah, I would always say, you know, the things that I would do is I would contact race organizers, see what they suggest, if they're happy with it, you know, put the protections in place. That's why I always, I think it's so important for you and for people on the race course. Do you know what I mean? People out there, you know, if they don't know what's happening or how to help you, fill in the back of your bib. I wear a medical bracelet. I, you know, I think that's...

They're the main things I would say, but I would definitely listen to yourself. You're the one who knows what your condition is more than anybody else. And you just have to be honest with yourself. Yeah.

Fed (14:12.537)
Perfect. Thank you.

David Whelan (14:14.351)
Yeah, are there any foundations that you use any that that people could get more information on on? Epilepsy or like managing that or?

Annie (14:26.671)
It's tricky because I've not really met many people who do try out with epilepsy. We're quite rare, apparently. So there's not any kind of like challenge athletes. I love Challenge Athlete Foundation. I went to visit them a few years ago. I absolutely love what they do. They're fantastic. There's a lot of sort of, you've got the Epilepsy Foundation in the States and Epilepsy Society in the UK. There are a lot of charities that can give you information on it.

Fed (14:33.922)
Yeah.

Annie (14:55.414)
The condition's very complex with different types of seizures, different types of triggers. There's not a one size fits all, unfortunately. So like I said, they'll give you information generalizing about how to exercise and stay fit, but it definitely is, it depends on your seizures, depends what you experience. But yeah, it's listening to yourself, essentially.

David Whelan (15:21.788)
Yeah, that's a great point. You know, it's everybody's body is different, right? And especially when you start removing parts and adding parts and, you know, being an amputee and stuff like that, you know, to Annie's point, one of the biggest things that I do when I get to a race is I contact the race directors. I'm always at transition early. I'm trying to, you know, when athlete village opens up, I'm trying to meet with the refs. I'm trying to meet with the people that are in charge of track or in a part of

transition and just trying to make sure all my I's are dotted and T's are crossed. Like I was saying, I have a separate running leg, I have a separate cycling leg. I'm now fortunate to have like a leg that's able to help me get through transition quickly too, which is pretty rad. But with that, have a lot of literal, I mean, no, pun intended, but moving parts, right? I'm always in, and one of the things is, is when I get out of the water,

Fed (16:05.113)
Hmm.

Fed (16:12.335)
Right.

Annie (16:12.852)
.

David Whelan (16:18.343)
coordinating, okay, well, need to have people grab me underneath my shoulders and then put me into a pre-transition area where my transition leg is waiting for me. So there's again, a lot of moving parts to try and coordinate with that, but it's having those conversations and just, I guess, being vulnerable with that and just really being upfront with what it is that I need. In terms of if somebody is wanting to get started,

Josh (16:30.224)
No.

David Whelan (16:47.207)
in this process and you're an amputee or somebody with some sort of, you know, physical disability or, you know, maybe even an intellectual disability or, you know, a wide range challenge athletes foundation is absolutely great. There's another foundation as well that's doing an incredible job with triathlon specifically. It's Dare to Try. I believe they're based out of Illinois. Great resource. But yeah, you know, a lot of it's listening to your body and, you know, really

Fed (17:07.939)
Mmm.

David Whelan (17:18.156)
asking questions, reaching out. I think Annie's World may be a little bit more niche with epilepsy, but with being in amputee, there's a little bit more of us that are in the endurance space. I am always more than willing and happy and love to have any conversation I can or be a source of like, hey, here's some people that you could reach out to, here's some considerations, and just try and be a resource as much as I can.

But yeah, there's a lot of great information that's out there. I think ultimately the race directors want us to be out there too. Not only is it like creating the equality within sports, but we're all battling something on that race course, right? And fortunately for me, like mine just happens to be a little bit more visible, but it gives me a really unique opportunity while I'm on the course to be able to connect with people.

Fed (17:56.143)
Yeah.

David Whelan (18:14.073)
and like try and share the mindset that I use when I'm struggling or when other people are struggling. And it gives me a beautiful and just really, really awesome opportunity to connect with people and try and be a source of encouragement. And I think race directors appreciate that.

Fed (18:30.669)
Absolutely. Yeah, I triathlon is an amazing sport because it's a great equalizer for everybody. It doesn't matter who you are, how your physical composition or whatever. Everybody's going through the same journey. Nobody is doing a mile for each other. We all cover the same distance. We all have our demons. We all have our battles. And it's great to see how on race day...

Annie (18:45.976)
Yeah.

Fed (18:58.403)
people come together, no matter their background. And I think it's that one moment where there's no disabilities or everybody's in the same pod doing the same thing. So I just love it because of that.

David Whelan (19:14.599)
Yeah. Yeah, on the run. On the run, we're all physically challenged somewhere by that part of their midst. We're all hurting pretty good, right?

Annie (19:16.332)
Yeah, we're all in this mad to see. Sorry.

Fed (19:19.086)
Right.

Fed (19:22.799)
Yes. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.

Josh (19:23.07)
Hahaha

Josh (19:27.448)
Especially going up and down those ramps and oceanside.

Annie (19:30.038)
Yeah. I was just about saying we're all as daft as each other. Like, we're all just looking at each other. We didn't just want to do one sport. We wanted to do three. And like, we're all here together. I absolutely love it to everyone else's point. Like, the community is just fantastic. And I mean, like I say, I'm on the course for quite a while. And by that point, you know, people have got people walking past with the medals just cheering you on, giving me high fives. And I'm like...

Fed (19:31.459)
My God.

David Whelan (19:31.463)
It's back.

Fed (19:47.321)
Yeah.

Annie (19:58.219)
This is just the best and it's such a positive sport to be involved with.

Fed (20:00.355)
No. Right. Absolutely.

Josh (20:06.616)
And you both have had some really good and really great experiences with Ironman, but David and I have had some recent conversations where there's some challenges that you have working within the Ironman brand specifically and getting to the next level. And you've had the chance to race in Kona. David, for you, it's a little more difficult for you to get to a race like Kona or a world championship, right?

David Whelan (20:32.743)
It is yeah, you know, and I was just having these conversations yesterday. You know, trying to create an equitable place for physically challenged athletes. You know people that have an amputation or hand cycle or intellectually challenged category. We don't have the ability to earn a spot based off performance to get to the World Championships or even be World Champions.

Fed (20:56.613)
Wow.

David Whelan (21:01.785)
So yeah, again, trying to create those equitable resources for me to go to a world championship race 70.3 or full. I have to either be gifted a spot through a foundation or I have to enter a lottery with Ironman, which again is not performance based.

Fed (21:21.675)
Wow.

Josh (21:23.832)
And Annie, you've had the opportunity to be one of those gifted athletes and you were given that opportunity. But do you also feel like what David's experiencing would be a huge boost for the challenged athletes and the other community people that you're racing with and could help grow the sport even more?

Annie (21:27.21)
Yes.

Annie (21:46.332)
Yeah, I I think everyone's learning as more conversations are happening. I think it's ever evolving. And I think especially with like races where there's PCI'd athletes, you know, I think they are becoming more and more inclusive and understanding. But I do think that would be amazing. I do think that that would be such a positive thing to do. I am extremely lucky about having a spot.

given to me for Kona, which I debated back and forth because I hadn't qualified like everybody else. But I felt that it was an opportunity to be able to talk more about epilepsy. That was it really. to try something that I don't think many people have been able to do with the condition. But I think it would be amazing if there was like a qualifying for PC athletes. Definitely. I think it'd be great.

David Whelan (22:42.542)
Yeah, you know, I believe that we're communal beings and that we thrive in a sense of community, right? And if you open the door and create that opportunity for that community to have the opportunity to, you know, be a world champion rather than just a participant, I think that you would grow the numbers at the start lines. I think that, you know, you would create a healthy and thriving community that way. You would create a competitive community that way.

Fed (23:02.605)
Yes.

David Whelan (23:10.078)
And it just, you know, it kind of raises all boats in my opinion. I think that it would be massively powerful, you know, in a lot of different ways, not just for, you know, the athlete, but for, you know, the race organizers themselves, whether it's Ironman, whether it's T100, you know, whether it is, you know, anything, it just, it makes sense to be able to have those and just really show that.

Fed (23:15.02)
Absolutely.

David Whelan (23:38.21)
anything is truly possible, right?

Annie (23:40.113)
Yeah. Can I ask a question? Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but is this this over most most kind of races? Do you find that David is that most races don't have something in place where I don't know that you can't qualify for different things or win?

Fed (23:40.398)
Mm.

Josh (23:59.429)
or even win, right? Yeah.

David Whelan (24:02.138)
Yeah, so I mean the inclusiveness is definitely there, right? Like if if I was to get first place at an Ironman race, I would get on the podium, right? But in all reality, it doesn't really count for anything. It doesn't account for points moving forward to anything in other races such as UTMB. Ironman owns UTMB, right? So that's also kind of the same fight there that we're also trying to, you know, push things forward.

I do think that Spartan, you know, I raced in the World Paraspartan event in 2019 when I, right after I had my first amputation, I did it on one foot. And I believe that we got in like fourth place for that, but first place was able to get celebrated and, you know, was able to get a check for that and so on. But yeah, I mean, most races and different racing platforms

Fed (24:50.735)
you

David Whelan (25:01.248)
will let you, like they're not gonna tell you no, right? But you know, it's definitely not anything more than creating an accessible environment. There's not necessarily racing towards anything greater of being a world champion and so on.

Josh (25:21.622)
I know, but something like the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, there are absolutely categories that are set aside for athletes like yourself, one leg, two leg, and I believe they're even broken out even further than that, that I've seen. I've talked to a few of them. It's being done elsewhere in endurance sports.

Fed (25:38.925)
Yeah.

Josh (25:48.174)
I hope the conversations continue forward for your sake and for others and for the future that we can get there because other industries are doing it for sure.

David Whelan (25:57.818)
Yeah, you know, I've talked to Dave over at, you know, Boston Marathon, you know, the race organizer over there, fantastic guy, what he's done with the Boston Marathon and creating the categories. You know, it's been really, really incredible. I understand that it's also a very challenging process logistically in a lot of ways to be able to make that happen. If you look at, you know, the classification process that athletes have to go through.

for marathon in general, it's the track and field classification process. And shoot, I don't even know off the top of my head how many different classifications there are for track and field. But if you look at, know, like the Paralympics kind of thing, how big is that team and how many different variable, you know, disabilities, you know, individuals have, it covers a very, very wide range. I think with paratriathlon,

I am classified as a PTS4. So PTS stands for pair try standing. Then my level of impairment is number four. And that's typically judged off of like where it is that I have my limb loss at and how strong my muscles are and my level of flexibility and this, that, and the other, and a few different things. But I want to say that there's probably about six or seven different classifications right now that are acknowledged through roll triathlon.

Fed (27:20.111)
Mm-hmm.

David Whelan (27:21.348)
So yeah, again, it's a big process to try and navigate, but it's not impossible to navigate. you know, it's just, it takes, you it's going to be a process. And, you know, I think that it would benefit us to start that process rather than say, there's no opportunity, right?

Fed (27:42.575)
you

Josh (27:43.581)
Yeah. And I appreciate you being open about that because it does sound like obviously the USA triathlon, the world triathlon, the Olympics, all of that stuff is there in place. to get it across the board with other age group opportunities, I think is something that we're all kind of advocating for. And I think hopefully we'll get there one day because it is, mean, everything kind of runs off of this. This started with an Olympic sport and then it became bigger.

And Dave, Dave knows, cause Dave is one of the original like Kona guys. he goes back in the day with, with Bob Abbott and, and Dave McGovern is now running like his 50 something Boston is the race director, but he's also one of the OG Ironmans as well. so hopefully that can, can be some cross pollination.

David Whelan (28:32.685)
100%. And you know, you'll often hear people like Bob Abbott talk about, you know, the power of Kona, right? And that experience in the island and how magical that experience is for everybody. Like how powerful of an experience could that be for somebody that has a disability of some sort or any? Like I'd even love to know your experience with that, like just the magic and the power of that experience. And for somebody that doesn't even, you know,

Annie (28:58.05)
and

David Whelan (29:02.628)
that doesn't fit the physical scheme of what, you know, a quote unquote, able-bodied athlete looks like. Like how powerful of an experience is that for them and also everybody that's there, that's seeing that they're using what it is that is their reason why to possibly not be there, but they're using it to be there. And they're using it to push forward and conquer this amazing feat of just, you know, athletic endurance. And it's just a powerful and beautiful experience that I think, you know, people

Fed (29:21.006)
Yeah.

David Whelan (29:32.322)
should definitely have the opportunity of being able to do and just having that equitable place is that's huge.

Josh (29:40.806)
I think that's a good segue for you, to talk about 2020, 2023 and how and what Kona meant to you and kind of like, how did you get there? What was kind of like the progress of your triathlon career to get you to a point to be ready to tackle Kona and everything that it is and then how it all went.

Annie (29:45.101)
Yeah.

Annie (29:58.272)
Well, it's obviously, it's so hard. mean, obviously doing an Iron Man is ridiculously hard to train for, I will say. And I think I'm probably a one and done. I think probably that distance, I'm perhaps a one and done because it was so hard on my epilepsy and my body training for it. And I had to divert and pivot with my training because I'd be absolutely exhausted and maybe have a nocturnal seizure or...

Fed (30:09.879)
Annie (30:26.911)
So I it would happen. So I'd have to just pivot as much as possible. My main goal in all of that was just to reach the finish line, which tends to be my theme, I think, is just going to get to the finish line. But it was definitely like a core moment. Crossing that finish line was so epic. Yeah, was because I'd obviously trained so hard for it as well and had to kind of...

adapt things quite a lot, I'd done 70.3, I'd done different ones. I'd done a skate from Alcatraz and I'd done a few different kind of races as well, like some small, local ones in the run-up. I'd done the, which is now not a race, the Ironman 70.3 Stafford, that one, which is nice and hilly.

And it just so happened to be one of the hottest days of the year in the UK. So I think that set me up quite well. So I'd done that and then Ironman invited me to take part and I read like, I don't know if I can do this, but let's give it a go and see how far we can push my body and my mind to deal with it. I had to deal with a lot of resilience on the day. I...

Fed (31:41.039)
Yeah.

Annie (31:47.197)
Had a bit of an issue at the start of the swim, managed to get off okay. Wasn't happy with my time because swimming is actually something I adore. I absolutely love swimming more than anything else, which most people with epilepsy try and avoid, but I absolutely love swimming. And then got off on the bike and then got two flats. So I got two flats that I had to deal with and I'd never actually had a flat at practice, but I'd never actually had one before. So I was like,

Fed (31:57.006)
Mmm.

Fed (32:08.335)
Go!

Annie (32:17.191)
just getting it sorted and I was so behind. So I was very delayed and everything. It was a bit stressful. And I thought as I was coming down Harvey, I thought to myself, do you know what? I'm gonna get to that finish line. I'm gonna get it. I'm just gonna do this and it's gonna feel absolutely amazing. And the fact that people still waited out for people like me who had such a massive setback.

and they were still just as excited when the first people came through. It was so amazing. One thing I will say about my condition is because it's invisible, I actually sometimes feel like I want to put a big sticker on my back that says, by the way, I do have epilepsy and I'm still managing to get to the finish line. So, because I always see people don't necessarily understand all that you have to go through with it, but.

Fed (33:02.807)
Yeah

Annie (33:12.742)
Kona was one of the best experiences in my life. And I still can't believe I managed to complete it with everything that I went through on the day and also, you know, with all the mishap with my training. But yeah, I mean, David, if you can go to Kona, I think you'll absolutely love it. It's just such a great atmosphere.

David Whelan (33:36.848)
That's the dream.

Annie (33:38.114)
Yes.

Fed (33:38.255)
Yeah. I actually have a really, I have a funny Kona story. I raced Kona in 2022 and I had probably my worst Ironman run. I was low on potassium and my arms were cramping. They went like this. So I had like little T-Rex arms and I was like shuffling my way into the, to the finish line. And this, this guy, this athlete was running by me.

And he happened to be an amputee and he handed me a soul stick too. And he was like, here, take this helps with cramps. I never cramp on my legs with this, just take this. And I just thought it was the best experience ever because that's what it's all about, helping each other out. We're just athletes at the end of the day. And yeah, I think.

David Whelan (34:10.534)
Hmm.

Fed (34:35.939)
that that was like a moment that marked my triathlon journey because it just showed me that we're all suffering, we're all helping each other out. And I wanted to ask you, Ani, do you think specific race conditions trigger your epilepsy a bit more, like say hot and humid condition, like...

raise atmosphere adds a bit more stress to your body and then it may affect you more than like cooler conditions.

Annie (35:10.107)
Yeah, so I would say that one thing I always have to be very aware of, if I was going to ever have a seizure, it would probably be on the run because of my heart rate and my body can't decide what's stress and what's not. So obviously heat, yes, that can obviously elevate my heart rate. So I didn't say this at the time, but...

Fed (35:24.654)
Okay.

Annie (35:30.401)
For Kona, I knew that I, as a Brit who can't deal with the heat, I had to find a way of training in the heat. So I went to Lanzarote to train there because I knew that the wind was going to be quite similar to Kona. So I thought that was a huge stress for me. So I went to do it there and obviously got climatised heat wise, went to Tenerife to do the same. And I really tried to get my body ready for that.

Fed (35:34.991)
Yeah.

Annie (35:59.739)
heat if it was going to hit because I'd actually had quite a bad time at staffs. I got a bit heat exhausted and really struggled and I'd actually had a seizure post race because of it. But yeah, definitely conditions and it's one thing I was going to say, it's controlling the controllables. What is in my power? What do I need to do to accommodate myself as much as possible? And yeah, I knew that was going to happen.

Fed (36:01.409)
Fed (36:21.741)
Yeah.

Annie (36:28.985)
at the heat training and wind were the things that I needed to deal with. So I thought, right, let's get that done. but yeah, it would do normally. Yeah, definitely.

Fed (36:31.437)
Right.

Fed (36:38.871)
Yeah, right. And speaking about controlling the controllables, David, do you practice like transitions? know transitions are very specific to you that most athletes, how do you do you practice that? When you go to a race, do you get annoyed with people that are trying to help you and maybe are a bit in your way that you're just let me do it myself? Or how do you deal with that?

David Whelan (37:04.678)
Yeah, fortunately there's I don't want to say that there's not people helping me, but you know there is out of the water kind of thing, which I definitely need. You know people just grab me under the shoulders as I'm you know exiting the water and going to a pre transition area. But after that you know I'm like everybody else out on the course. I don't necessarily get a whole lot of assistance, which is great. I don't have you know a whole lot of people you know trying to. Trying to.

give me a lot, which is fantastic. You know, it's we're all out there. You know, I pay for, you know, all of the hard times, all the punishment, all of that, just like everybody else is. you know, I want to experience that in the hardships of the race, just like everybody else does.

Fed (37:36.335)
No, I was, was, my question was more in the lens on the day to day, the training wise, like the race simulations and all of that type stuff.

David Whelan (38:00.258)
gotcha. Yeah. So, I definitely do not practice transitions nearly as much as I should. I would probably. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I think a lot of people could probably, unfortunately say the same thing. I definitely need to practice transitions more. It's, been something that I've tried to be more intentional with, you know, I live in Cincinnati and the weather hasn't been fantastic. So, you know, call that a terrible excuse, but yeah, I haven't practiced as much of it, as I need to.

Fed (38:06.467)
Yeah.

Josh (38:07.31)
You and everyone else.

David Whelan (38:30.278)
But you know, it's, I'm trying to be more intentional with it. It's, you know, it's working good so far, but yeah.

Annie (38:40.736)
Yeah, practicing transitions is the best thing I ever did. My husband's actually a coach as well. And that's still time, which is what we always say. That's still free time. I actually got a podium, not in Ironman, another triathlon based on the fact I was 20 seconds quicker getting my wetsuit off in T1 than the other lady in my category. And I got podium not from my swim on my bike or my run, but how quick I could get my wetsuit off.

Fed (39:10.403)
There we go.

Annie (39:10.74)
So it's worth it.

Josh (39:14.054)
think we can all look back at most of our races and be like, wow, if I had cut 30 seconds or a minute and 30 seconds, like, well, that time looks a lot better in your head.

Annie (39:18.496)
Jeff. Jeff. Jeff. Jeff.

Fed (39:24.195)
Yeah.

David Whelan (39:24.25)
Yeah, but that's also one of the things that I love about 70.3 and longer is, you know, it's a little bit more forgiving in the transitions, you know, coming from the sprint world. I was racing with Team USA's paratriathlon team and in a sprint you have such little margin for air, right? Like it's, you know, the transition length is the transition length. There's not a whole lot you can do about that. But in terms of

Fed (39:41.761)
Hmm.

David Whelan (39:52.026)
you know, expediting the process with taking off your wetsuit and being versed in that, like, you know, that world is, it's so much more quick paced, especially, you know, super tried to, right. So, but yeah, 70.3, it's, it's a little bit more forgiving. and you know, trying to get better at it, of course, to get that free time.

Fed (40:02.087)
Yeah.

Fed (40:09.965)
Yeah.

Annie (40:11.795)
But yeah, don't get me wrong, I definitely faff when I'm in a longer distance. This was a sprint, so you know, as you say, it's just, it's totally different. yeah.

Josh (40:25.104)
So do you still do sprints in shorter distances as well? Any? like, is that something that you pick up throughout the year or try and stay in touch with?

Annie (40:33.519)
Sometimes it depends. I'm kind of a, I don't know what the, what the, why is this sort of say, I'm more like an experienced triathlete, if you like, sometimes. Sometimes I'll book races that I can tack on to a holiday on a vacation or something. There's one in San Diego. There's a San Diego sprint triathlon in September that, I think it's on my birthday. So I was like, well, why don't we do that while I'm over here? So.

I do them now and again, just to kind of break up the longer distance and, you know, recovery times a lot quicker as well. But I also, David, when you were talking about the swim and, you know, needing help getting out, actually, when I can, I try and volunteer at races I'm not doing. So, and I always, always go on the swim exit because I just want to help.

David Whelan (41:05.685)
Thank

Annie (41:27.611)
people do the bit that they normally hate the most, which is the swim, and say that they've done it. Now they've got the best part to come and help them out of the water. So I'll do that as well as doing a few sprints as well.

Fed (41:28.277)
Mm. Yeah.

Fed (41:35.129)
Yeah.

Fed (41:41.177)
Yeah. It's, it's funny you say that. no, I was just going to say that it's funny that you say that any, because for me, and I'm sure for Josh as well, during the race in my mind, I'm like, get through the swim and then the race starts. So I'm just like, get the swim over with. I just want to get to my bike and then the race can start. It's, so, I totally get what you're saying.

David Whelan (41:41.446)
That's awesome.

Josh (41:43.61)
I think my, my, go ahead.

Annie (42:03.793)
You

Josh (42:09.136)
Yeah, this Oceanside was the first time where I had the least amount of that feeling, which felt good. I put a lot of time into my swim in the winter and it paid off in Oceanside. Still not the fastest time I wanted, but I was actually able to enjoy, know that I was going to get through the swim no matter what and didn't mind the sea lions barking at us and whatever traffic that we had to deal with.

Fed (42:16.239)
Yeah

Annie (42:17.275)
Bye.

Fed (42:33.507)
Right.

Josh (42:35.632)
But Oceanside, will always be a memory I'll always have is one of those first finisher picks that I got from Oceanside two years ago. I was on the ramp wobbling for the first time ever doing a 70.3 coming out. Didn't know I had to kick and swim faster coming in. I didn't, I immediately stopped feeling bad for myself as the background of the picture was one of the challenged athletes on the ground with a team of volunteers around them putting on the prosthetic leg. And I was like,

Fed (42:46.063)
My God.

Josh (43:05.584)
That's exactly what this whole community is all about. And I have nothing to complain about. And, and, what was me getting to my bike and I had a long transition. No, I mean, it's unbelievable what, what David, what your whole community goes through and, Annie, for you to bring to light, or, or even give an opportunity to somebody going through what you're going through, because it is silent, right? Like anyone can pass you on Kona and they, they really don't know what you're going through and David, it's quite obvious. So I, I do get the differences there.

Fed (43:14.511)
Yeah.

Annie (43:14.543)
But.

Josh (43:34.748)
And you talk about something like Chris Nickich, it's apparent what Chris is battling, but for Annie, it's quite different. So I would imagine that's been something like you've mentioned before that is a little harder for you to overcome at a race specifically.

Annie (43:50.595)
Yeah, yeah, it is quite tricky.

can you just get on with it? I wanna have fun. And I kind of think like what you were saying, there are people perhaps in like having harder than I am. but yeah, it's just about getting to the finish line for me and enjoying it. And because I'm normally back at the pack, I tend to talk to people on the run. Like we have a, wow, this is a spicy hill, isn't it? And just, I think I said that a few times on the bike actually when people were flying past me.

Fed (44:20.985)
Hahaha

Yeah.

Annie (44:26.752)
But yeah, just, it is hard. It is difficult, but hopefully by me being more confident in owning what I'm dealing with is helping. I've had a few people actually get into triathlon who are epileptics like me. They're starting the first ones out. I've obviously always say to them, make sure you're safe. Go get checked up by a doctor first before you start doing this.

But yeah, there's been other people who've come forward and have said that because I'm being quite open and honest about it, it's made them feel less alone and less isolated and they want to get into sport now. So, you know, that's what it's all about.

Fed (45:04.985)
Mm. Yeah.

Yeah, which like I'm sure you guys started doing this because like why we all started doing this. Like I want to see if I'm physically able to complete this. And then came the competing element and then came the awareness element. Was that how it happened with you guys or was it different?

Annie (45:31.371)
David, you.

David Whelan (45:32.87)
For me, honestly, like I amputated my foot for the dream of running again, right? And, you know, I started doing that and then I found triathlon and I fell in love with it. But honestly, what I found for me is that it was and is just an incredibly beautiful place to put my trauma. It's medicine, it's therapy, it's community, you know, it's I get to revisit like

Fed (45:55.662)
Okay.

David Whelan (46:03.002)
the broken version of me, or the version of me that thought that I was broken and show myself how strong I am. And I lean into that in my training and in my races. And again, it's just, I feel like a lot of medicine and therapy is here. it's, know, whether, whatever challenge you're battling, X, Y, or Z, like it's just, it's such a beautiful place to use all of that.

So for me, like it came into just, you know, starting with wanting to show myself how strong I am and how powerful I am. And that, you know, I'm not that broken version of myself that I thought that I was. And I'm, I'm giving myself every opportunity to, you know, bank all of those experiences and, know, what you took me into Norsemen and all that good stuff. But also now like I'm, really wanting to be kind of

An example, and maybe the same with you, Annie, it's, you know, showing others what is possible, you know, even with battling these challenges and just, my hope is that I can just be a great example and show, you know, what is possible and what you can do and, you know, kind of the strength of the human spirit, despite all the things that are, you know, telling you not to. Well, that's the reason why I go into the storm.

you know what I mean? And I just, fall in love with it every time and just want to encourage other people to do the same.

Fed (47:33.749)
Absolutely.

Annie (47:33.903)
That's amazing. David, you're very inspiring. You are amazing. think what you do is just incredible. So you are making that impact. I think you're amazing. Yeah, kind of I went in to see how far I could push myself to give myself a bit of focus. I got quite depressed after being diagnosed with epilepsy. I lost my driving license. It completely changed everything for me.

lifestyle wise and I kind of got into a little bit of a rut, should we say. And so when I entered that first triathlon, I had to learn how to do front crawl. I couldn't swim properly. And I found that it diverted the attention, as I say, when I said previously. And then as I started racing, I started realizing, like, I'm quite resilient. Let's see how far we can push myself. And I think that's been

The thing that I keep chasing every time across the finish line, I'm like, what else can I do? And then after, like during that journey of still feeling like that, do definitely, you know, hopefully me talking about this is kind of a nice open, like gives a bit of communication between people having an invisible disability. So people who struggle with things that you can't.

Fed (48:33.991)
Hmm.

Fed (48:43.471)
Yeah. Yeah.

Annie (48:57.414)
you can't see and knowing that you can still achieve amazing things and it doesn't matter how quick you go. That's quite a big thing for me is that I am quite like, I am a bit back at the pack sometimes. Sometimes I'm feeling great and I'm feeling good and I can speed on a little bit more, but sometimes I'm not. And it's just about reaching the finish line. So I hope also by me talking about...

what I'm doing. I'm not saying that you need to be the fastest or the quickest. Everyone can get involved as well. Even if you do have an invisible disability. hoping that's what I'm showing with it and so that's what kind of keeps driving me.

Fed (49:40.239)
Josh (49:40.369)
That's amazing. It's, talk about the community and the sport and what it does for, for so many people. I I've got my story. Fed's got his story. You both clearly have your, your stories and inspirations and you never know who's listening and who's going to take inspiration from that. And to me, that's the power of everything that we're, all doing and you, you too, especially. So it's been awesome having you guys on and I'm glad that

We've all connected and done this collaboratively as well too. think it's really cool to have both perspectives. I do want to bring it back to some of our normal questions that we do ask some of our pro athletes that we have on, but one of our favorite ones, and you guys can each answer these separately and we'll start with Annie first, but you've got the same training programs that we've got and you're still doing all the hours and all the swim bike run and recovery and all that.

David Whelan (50:13.179)
Bye.

Josh (50:36.598)
on those long training sessions, and maybe an outdoor bike is where this one follows in the most, but what is the craziest thing you've ever eaten during one of your training sessions? Because you ran out of your normal fuel or stopped somewhere on the side of the road.

Fed (50:45.551)
You

Yeah.

Annie (50:50.118)
I mean, mean, craziest things have eaten.

I haven't got anything crazy, but I can tell you what I like to eat when I am on the bike sometimes, which is a bit weird. I guess I don't think you even have it in the States. So I used to make, if I hadn't got anything with, I'd always get a, it's like cheese and bovril. Have you heard of bovril? It's like Marmite, Marmite. But it's like a meat based one rather than a veggie one and I eat those.

Josh (51:03.27)
There you go.

Josh (51:15.057)
Okay.

Fed (51:16.143)
yeah.

Annie (51:21.828)
But this, I'll be honest, there hasn't been anything really crazy, unfortunately. I haven't got a great story there. But yeah, it's a bit random what I do tend to eat. I do tend to eat proper food on the bike rather than anything else. And there can be some whatever I've smushed up in the kitchen beforehand. Yeah, that's not very interesting, sorry.

Fed (51:32.963)
Yeah.

Josh (51:41.277)
No, no, no, no, that's actually very interesting. That actually leads me to another follow-up question real quickly is what do you do on the bike for races? Like how does that work for you? Is there anything you have to do differently to overcome something or make sure that you don't have an episode?

Annie (51:59.492)
I obviously always have to make sure I'm really hydrated. So I basically have like a proper regimen to plan of how I have to just basically keep grazing constantly through the entire bike, like small bits all the time. have to keep eating and I need to, it's either a combination of like a gel, a cliff block. And then I often have, if I'm racing the UK, I'll have like

Fed (52:09.369)
Yeah.

Annie (52:24.482)
the cheese things I've told you about, but then also like those, you get these and they're amazing. They're the little pretzel bites that have peanut butter in. Do you know which ones I mean? Yeah. So I normally have that. Yeah. It's something like that and they work really well, but yeah, I have to keep on top of hydration because if I start to wobble or I get like, you know, it can, it can trigger some things. So I have to be, I have to be really hot on it. I used to use like a glucose.

Fed (52:26.755)
Yeah.

Josh (52:34.33)
Yeah, like the combos or something,

Annie (52:51.585)
I'm a super sapiens. I used to use that to really help me, because that would keep me really on top of it. But I learned a lot from that, that I can do it without it now, which has been really, really good. But yeah, just keeping on top of hydration is the biggest one for me.

Fed (52:53.219)
Yeah, yeah.

Fed (53:09.647)
Yeah, I think that's why super sapiens didn't pick up as much as it should have because it taught you what you needed to learn about yourself. And then you're like, why am I paying for this anymore? I know exactly what I need to eat, what I need to drink. And I think that's what was big of a problem for a super sapiens. speaking about that, do you do like a sodium load, like carb load, sodium load to prevent dehydration as well? Okay.

Annie (53:20.843)
Yes. Yes.

Annie (53:36.371)
Yeah, yes, yes, yes. And then I also I forgot to mention it, I obviously have to take my medication. So that's in there as well. So I have to be, can, if I'm not on time, it's not awful, but it's not great, because it might not happen during the race, but it might impact after the race. So I have to be quite careful. So sometimes depending on the length of the race, what time it starts, I might have to have a special needs bag.

Fed (53:52.143)
you

Yeah. Yeah.

Annie (54:04.68)
It varies, it depends on what time things are. Kona, I had to put it in various bags just in case I dropped it. I was so panicked. I think I went a bit over the top and had it in all different areas just to be safe. But I just couldn't risk it.

David Whelan (54:14.214)
Thank

Fed (54:15.674)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome.

Annie (54:26.815)
So that's that.

Josh (54:28.57)
Your own little scavenger hunt.

Annie (54:30.031)
Yes, basically, yes. I always think, I always go over the top and extra with the nutrition and medication and everything because I just think if I drop something or something, I don't know, I've got to be careful but that's it really.

Fed (54:37.15)
Yeah.

Josh (54:46.428)
Did you drop anything at Oceanside like everyone else in some of those bottles?

Annie (54:48.831)
No, no, I don't know how they dropped everything. I'm like, there's a bump coming up. Just take it easy. No, no, no, I've got a really good system. I've got a really good system. But I did I did have a bottle go flying at a previous 70.3. I hit a pothole and it just shot off. So I think that taught me a lot. And again, all the controllables. So I got a different bottle holder. So a cage, bottle cage. So yeah, I learned from that one.

Fed (55:06.389)
Yeah.

Fed (55:13.995)
Hmm.

Josh (55:15.1)
So David, how about you? Any crazy foods that you've eaten during training or in a race?

David Whelan (55:20.326)
No, try and, you know, to Annie's point, control the controllables, right? So with that being said, have had, so last year when I was in Oceanside leading up to the race, I commonly have low ferritin levels, you know, which lowers my iron level. So I always try to like replenish my ferritin. And I was told to eat oysters. Oysters have

Fed (55:36.244)
Yeah, yeah.

David Whelan (55:47.234)
a high amount of iron in them. So I went and had raw oysters literally the day before 70.3 thinking that I was going to, you know, I was going to need iron and so on. And that ended up putting me in the hospital the day before Oceanside hooked up to an IV and the doctor was like, you probably shouldn't do this. I'm like, I'm definitely still going to do it.

Fed (56:04.141)
no.

Josh (56:11.868)
laughter

Annie (56:12.99)
Thanks

David Whelan (56:14.372)
So the crazy thing was, I put my face in the water for the swim and the first thing I tasted was those damn shellfish. I'm like, just don't throw up, just don't throw up. in terms of controlling the controllables, it's like everything is as bland and as straight to the point as I need it. And yeah, I use the jazz.

Josh (56:23.58)
God.

Fed (56:24.534)
my god.

Annie (56:26.212)
No. my gosh.

Fed (56:27.784)
my god.

David Whelan (56:44.218)
Sorry, I use the gels and just try and keep things as bland and as predictable as possible.

Annie (56:51.261)
Now I didn't actually say this, I don't know, so I have more recently been trying a keto diet just from an epilepsy perspective because it's meant to be better and I've actually found that works so much better for me and I'll eat a lot of that kind of stuff now which I changed this time on the bike so I didn't eat the same things but it seems to work quite well for me for that so a lot of cheese, a lot of cheese on me.

Fed (56:51.298)
Mmm, yeah.

Fed (57:00.289)
Hmm. Interesting.

Yeah.

Fed (57:19.119)
Yeah, you know.

Josh (57:21.702)
Will you use then like the ketones that have become popular now during race and like to supplement at during the race?

Annie (57:25.841)
Bye-bye.

Annie (57:29.329)
haven't I'm doing a bit of this is quite new if I'm honest so I'm trying and seeing what I'm finding okay and what works you know so I mean that I'll keep you updated though like you know how it goes but so far it's been a good transition

Fed (57:39.439)
Yeah.

Josh (57:41.627)
Yeah

Fed (57:45.903)
Yeah, they know that they work like the exogenous ketones work really well. And I used them when I did a transition from spring distance, a little bit distance to 70.3 some poles. My coach wanted me to tap more into my fat burning metabolism. So I switched into a more keto slash paleo diet. And on race day, I use ketones to spare the glycogen for when I need it. And it definitely helps.

Annie (58:00.551)
Yeah.

Annie (58:09.255)
Okay.

Fed (58:14.189)
with inflammation wise and cognitive stuff, helps quite a lot. So definitely, definitely a big advocate of using ketones. taste, those are, they're not the best tasting supplement, but they do work.

Annie (58:26.045)
you

Annie (58:29.469)
Yeah, sounds it. was like, maybe not. It always does.

Josh (58:31.526)
They're probably better than the oysters that David doesn't want to taste anymore.

Fed (58:33.91)
You

David Whelan (58:34.662)
Yeah.

Fed (58:37.135)
Maybe David can do one challenge, oyster with ketones. See how that works.

Annie (58:43.42)
Could you imagine?

David Whelan (58:44.006)
Yeah, like an oyster shooter with some key phone IQ or something.

Fed (58:47.631)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. There we go.

Josh (58:51.364)
We don't need Joe Skipper's beer mile. We got David Whalen's oyster mile. So the last question we'll ask is, this actually would be quite interesting for the two of you. What, if any, would you add as a fourth sport to triathlon to help you up a notch and actually compete better than other people because you're so good at it?

David Whelan (58:55.258)
Thank you.

Fed (59:19.887)
you

Annie (59:20.596)
I definitely can't answer that one. I need to have a think. There isn't anything that springs to mind.

Josh (59:25.212)
What's a talent that you have David that we could add to triathlon? And it can be at the beginning or the end of the race.

David Whelan (59:27.298)
Yeah, what would I?

David Whelan (59:31.397)
I mean.

I have turned into a pogo stick. I could balance on one foot and I could hop from one spot to the other so quickly that if we did some sort of one-footed hopping challenge, I'm destroying everybody. Yeah, so you have to do transition on one foot. You're all done.

Fed (59:41.743)
Fed (59:55.363)
Annie (59:55.74)
That's fabulous.

Annie (01:00:02.524)
Mine would totally not work for triathlon, but I'm going to throw it in there. Snowboarding would probably be the one that I would have to do. I have thought about winter tri, but the idea of cross-country skiing, I'm not quite sure I'm there. Probably if we could suddenly snowboard, that'd be fine.

Fed (01:00:08.898)
Okay.

Fed (01:00:20.961)
Yeah. There we go.

Josh (01:00:21.402)
You're actually not the first one to say skiing or snowboarding either. Yeah. So it's, it's wide open to anything like winter sports are fair game for sure.

Annie (01:00:22.965)
really? Alright, fast. Okay.

Annie (01:00:28.794)
Yeah, okay, great. Yeah, we'll go with snowboarding. I could do a few box jumps, yeah, do a few things in the perfect psychon skills. I could do some of that, some jumps and stuff.

Josh (01:00:33.624)
Awesome.

Fed (01:00:40.813)
Would it be swim, bike, run, snowboard? Would it be snowboard, swim, bike, run? What would the order be?

Annie (01:00:46.012)
yeah, hang on, you'd have quite a lot of outfit transition if it were like we'd have to probably snowboard at the end best of last.

Fed (01:00:53.464)
Okay. Okay.

Josh (01:00:56.455)
go stick, where are we putting it?

Fed (01:00:58.425)
Transitions.

David Whelan (01:00:58.47)
Thank

Annie (01:00:59.516)
Oh yeah, I mean, can I join in with that one?

Josh (01:01:00.444)
It's his new T1 and GT.

Fed (01:01:04.367)
Thank you.

David Whelan (01:01:04.762)
Yeah, I can see that at like the end of Norseman or something like that.

Fed (01:01:09.105)
Yeah.

Josh (01:01:12.944)
Being like Patagon Man too, you were mentioning earlier and it made me think there's a lot of trail running and things like that. How hard, how hard is that compared to, mean, I would imagine most of your training you do on roads or, or do you do a lot of trail running and how difficult does that get with the uneven surface?

David Whelan (01:01:29.414)
You know, I don't do a lot of trail running. I need to be more intentional with it. There are some decent trails around here. But yeah, I mean, the technicality of it and trying to navigate that with a prosthetic, it's a little challenging. I don't have my other, I just got a new running leg made.

Fed (01:01:41.583)
Okay.

David Whelan (01:01:48.262)
That's really, really cool. wore it for the first time in Oceanside in that race and it worked out great. But being able to... So a traditional running blade looks like an upside down question mark and you run on a very small surface of it. It's probably like maybe a three inch by three inch, a little pad of that. But now I'm able to wear a shoe with the running blade. So I'd be able to navigate uneven surfaces pretty easy with that. But that's not a...

Fed (01:02:10.135)
Right.

David Whelan (01:02:15.758)
It's a very, very customized running prosthetic.

Josh (01:02:20.828)
All right. All right. Well, I don't want to keep you guys too much longer. Why don't you guys take these last few minutes here just to kind of give us an idea of where people can go for more awareness. Where can they follow you and, and most importantly, what's the next race?

David Whelan (01:02:35.942)
Go ahead.

Annie (01:02:36.47)
That's a good question because I haven't actually entered the next race yet. But I have ideas of which one I want to do. So I want to volunteer at the Chattanooga 70.3 like I've done previously. So that's just to keep me in the bubble. And then I'll enter a couple of local ones before I would like to do the new Lakita course. I've done Indian Wells twice, but I really want to do the new course. So that one's the one I'm aiming for the end of the year, but hopefully a different one in between.

I guess for more awareness I would always suggest the epilepsy charities and I'd actually also like to highlight actually women in triathlon while I'm here about it because obviously that's a huge thing and if other women are interested in triathlon there's like FISI triathlon, fantastic, women for tri etc really good and can kind of help you in the first steps to getting involved in it.

You can find me on social media at HeyAnnieBrooks where a lot of the time my dog features in various things. She comes running with me. She's a support dog as well. So yeah, you'll find lots of adventures with us on there.

Josh (01:03:50.3)
Awesome. How about you, David?

David Whelan (01:03:52.326)
Yeah, you can find a lot of great information on like challenged athletes foundation dare to try is another great one. Also reach out to me. You could find me on social media at Dave underscore unbreakable on Instagram. I'm most active on there. Yeah.

Josh (01:04:13.786)
What's your next race? I know you've got quite the calendar. Your calendar looks like mine, just a little bit more extreme.

David Whelan (01:04:15.246)
outside.

Fed (01:04:16.868)
me.

David Whelan (01:04:19.106)
Yeah, yeah, all my calendar. So next up is St. George 70.3 and then I go to Eagleman 70.3 and then Muncie in July. I'm getting married August 16th so I told my fiance I'm going to take a couple months off of that. What's after that? I go to Shanghai, China and do a 70.3 and I'm also speaking there to their triathlon federation which is cool. Yeah, yeah, so that's gonna be cool.

Fed (01:04:19.503)
Thank

Fed (01:04:32.164)
Hmm.

Fed (01:04:42.979)
Wow, amazing. Wait, wait, David, you gonna do like, are you gonna trick your fiance into doing a honeymoon and then there's a triathlon there and then you're like, babe, I'm sorry, I just happened to do this race.

Annie (01:04:43.602)
Wow. I need to fill my calendar.

David Whelan (01:05:01.382)
I have already tried trying to work that in. She's like, you're not bringing your bike. Cause we're going to Italy for our honeymoon. yeah. And I'm like, we can stop by Nice. But yeah. So after China, I go to Patagonia, Chile for Patagon Man in December and then challenge Israel in January.

Fed (01:05:06.675)
right, okay.

Annie (01:05:09.552)
I'm tired of one.

Fed (01:05:14.966)
Yeah, there we go.

Fed (01:05:28.912)
nice.

Annie (01:05:29.572)
That was a lot. I might need to get some advice from all of you about which ones I should do.

David Whelan (01:05:35.591)
Thank

Josh (01:05:37.137)
We got to get your calendar on when you're in the States and when you're over there and, yeah, we fill it out. I just feel like I have, I've always coming out of Oceanside for me was that was, I put a lot into that and training. If I didn't have that next race ready to go, I probably would have taken a week, two, three weeks off. And then, then it's like, okay, back to almost ground zero again. And training, whereas I was lucky to have the Boston marathon where I took a couple of days off body fully recovered. And then it was right back.

Annie (01:05:40.132)
Yeah. Yeah.

Fed (01:05:44.111)
Yeah.

Josh (01:06:05.634)
added in something to look forward to. I'm a big proponent of for all my athletes I coach and for anyone I talk to have something on the calendar to line up to maybe not as crazy as David and I, but to have something on the calendar.

Fed (01:06:14.04)
Yeah.

Annie (01:06:15.16)
Yes.

David Whelan (01:06:15.59)
100%.

Annie (01:06:19.222)
But you guys are great triathletes that do very good times. This is a little bit different. And I like to tie it into a racecation, as I call them. know, do a race and have vacation. That's normally how I do it.

Josh (01:06:31.824)
Yeah, yeah.

David Whelan (01:06:35.718)
I gotta have you talk to my fiance about that because I love that term, racecation.

Annie (01:06:40.834)
Yeah, there's the best.

Fed (01:06:41.263)
Yeah.

Josh (01:06:42.072)
it's a great way to see a place. got into the New York city marathon this year by running 26.2 virtual miles in Paris last year when I was there on vacation, got to see parts of Paris. I'd never seen. It was really cool.

David Whelan (01:06:51.654)
Mm.

Fed (01:06:52.335)
There we go.

Annie (01:06:54.168)
Yeah, I took a tour around Oceanside afterwards, did loads of stuff in Oceanside after we'd, and you've got to experience the wonderful California sunshine. So yeah, I'll help you David, we'll figure it out.

David Whelan (01:06:56.326)
That's awesome.

David Whelan (01:07:09.542)
Thank

Josh (01:07:10.616)
Awesome. Well, thank you both for joining us and we'll be back with another one of our regular episodes next week. other co-host Jenna just completed Ironman Taiwan and qualified for Kona this year as well. So we had a whole team of seven mana athletes over there. All of them finished on the podium in Taiwan. It was quite an epic race for them and can't wait to hear all about it with her, but thank you guys for joining us this week.

David Whelan (01:07:22.96)
Thank you.

Annie (01:07:23.459)
Thank you.

David Whelan (01:07:36.944)
Thank you, appreciate you guys.