Kat Matthews: Being mentally sound to be physically healthy

Kat Matthews doesn’t need a massive introduction these days. The British Army Physio made the podium on her Ironman World Championship debut. It’s pretty mad and easy to forget that Kat’s first full professional season was 2019, after taking up triathlon in 2015. She is the 3rd fastest ever British female over the Ironman distance. At the World Championships in St George Kat posted a time of 8.43, to finish second to now 5 x World Champion Daniela Ryf who crossed the line in 8.34, and ahead of 2019 World Champion Anne Haug who was 3rd in 8.47.   
You'll hear:
07:35 Kat's initial reflections on the 2021 Ironman World Championships in St George. "it's been pretty overwhelming. I hit the target I wanted to achieve that was to show I'm competitive on the World Stage. Coming 2nd to Daniela when she was on top form was a dream.
10:00 Kat talks about how the race went for her. "I didn't have the best build and I was just hoping and I thought I would just roll with it.
17:45 How do you get through an Ironman marathon when you feel so bad? "I just kept thinking I've done this before, I can do it again." I just broke it down into stages, and I just thought keep going until you can't.
24:00 Kat explains what happened at the finish line and the 'great' chat she had with Daniela. I think I shouted at her first like 'oh my god, you were incredible'!' She was very complimentary and we had so many great chats afterwards.
29:45 Kat's thoughts on the second World Championships of the year in Kona, Hawaii. I qualified in November 2020 and I want to race there so badly! It's going to be mental.
32:00 Kat talks about being coached by Björn Geesmann and how she started to be coached by the German. It came about after a chat with Patrik Lange while she was training in Lanzarote. Kat says Patrik has become a real mentor to her in the sport.
37: 15 Kat talks about how she tries to stay happy and some of the days when she isn't feeling quite as motivated. 'I always remind myself when I am healthy and I can do the training, I have to take the opportunity to do it."
43:30 Kat on the Pheonix Sub8 project and how the opportunity came up. I'm hooked on this idea that if I can practise running a really good marathon off an easy bike, I don't need to think about the 2'50 mark, I'm thinking about the 2'40 mark, and that's cool for me.
55:30 Kat talks about sports psychology and some of the things she has learnt and done, including developing a confidence profile. "It was so useful! But I'm a massive worrier and I worry about things all of the time. But I think constant self-doubt drives me to be better. I have learnt quickly that I have to be mentally sound in order to be physically healthy."
59:45 I want to make others realise that you can control how you feel about things. You are in control of your own emotion.
Find out more about this week's guests
Kat Matthews Instagram
Like what you heard?
Let me know! Connect with Inside Tri Show across Social Media, just search Inside Tri Show or click on the icons below
Sponsors of the show
Resilient Nutrition provide formulated products to improve your cognitive and physical performance. From phenomenally tasty Long Range Fuel nut butters, to delicious dark chocolate drink Switch On. Get 10% off by using the code insidetri10 or go direct via this link.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices