Emma Weiss - Swim Your Heart Out

Andrew Harley: Hey everyone, welcome to the TriDot Podcast. We're gonna start doing something a little bit different with our show some of the time. When we set out, at the launch of the TriDot Podcast, our mission was to educate, inspire, and entertain all triathletes. And so our whole MO is bringing coaches on the show to educate us on how to be better triathletes, and to hopefully be a little entertaining and engaging and tell some good stories along the way. But we want to do a little bit more of the inspiring part. There are some inspiring stories that come out of what our coaches say on our normal Monday episodes, but there also are so many athletes all around the world using TriDot for their training, and their stories are incredibly inspiring. And so we want to have episodes that hit the podcast feed that are just that — where I invite an athlete on and we just kind of hear what's happening with their training and racing. These aren't going to replace the Monday coaching episodes — those are still gonna be there every single Monday. But when we have a good athlete story, we're gonna drop it into the podcast feed and just let you guys be inspired by it — let you guys hear something from a fellow TriDot athlete. So I hope you guys start enjoying these episodes. This very first one that we're going to put out there comes to us from Denmark. Coach Katrine Trolle has a wonderful group of athletes based in Denmark that trains and races with her, and one of them is named Emma. Emma just had a breakthrough performance at Ironman 70.3 Elsinore up there in Denmark, and I invited them on to hear about it. So without further ado, here is Emma and Katrine, to tell us how TriDot is working for them in their coach-to-athlete relationship. Hope you enjoy it. So I'm here with Emma and her coach Katrine. And first of all, Emma, huge congrats on your recent finish at Ironman 70.3 Elsinore. Tell us about your race — how did it go?

Emma: Thank you, Andrew. Well, it went pretty well — yeah, it was a great day. I had a lot of fun and I raced with my heart, and I had a really, really great day, and somehow I PR'd in all disciplines and ran my fastest half marathon ever. So overall it was a very, very good day.

Andrew: At the time we're talking, it was four days ago. So do you still remember what your splits were, what your times were? Has that already left your brain?

Emma: Well, I've been looking at them many times, so maybe —

Andrew: There you go.

Emma: I think I did the swim in 33 minutes and 47 seconds.

Andrew: Yeah.

Emma: And then my bike split was two hours and 26 minutes, and one hour and 58 on the run.

Andrew: That is faster than my PRs on the swim and the bike. I've got you on the run though, Emma — that's the only place I've got you. So yeah, really great result, really happy for you. Katrine, you were on site, right, and you were waiting at the finish line for Emma to cross. What were your feelings watching her have such a great race?

Katrine: Well, now I tend to get a lot into the athlete's journey. I've obviously been coaching Emma for quite some time now — what has it been, a year and a half or a little more than that. So Emma's had some bumps on the road, especially with an ongoing injury that's been there from the beginning, that we've been really struggling with, and she's been just a huge fighter. So we were a little bit — the run was a bit of a joker. She'd been running 12 kilometers before — that was the longest run she'd had in this long period of training up towards Elsinore. But she's been just so dedicated in doing what I've told her, in terms of being on the cross trainer and doing other things, so she could still finish the run.

Yeah, it was absolute joy to see her on the run, especially where I was standing, because — it was like, Emma even told me, it was like we were looking at each other and we knew what each other were thinking, we didn't even have to share any words. I just knew she was gonna pull off that run, in a much better way than she did last year, and maybe in a better way than we had hoped — or maybe the way we had hoped, but not what we might have expected. And to be fair, it was just a really hot day in Elsinore — Denmark is really cold in general, but it was a really warm day, so extra hot to run in that kind of weather. But she was just consistent and pulled it from start to finish.

Andrew: As an athlete from Texas in the United States, I'm curious what really warm in Denmark is for a race.

Katrine: I would tell you, Andrew, but I don't do your degrees — I can't do your degrees.

Andrew: Sure, me either, it's okay.

Katrine: It was warm for Danish people — we are Vikings, we're not used to the warm weather.

Andrew: I believe you, yeah. And we freak out when it's cold, so it's all good. Now, Emma, you said that you PR'd all three disciplines, right, which is so cool to hear. It's one thing to PR your overall finish time, but to walk away knowing — that's the fastest I've swam, the fastest I've biked, the fastest I've run, I strung all three of them together — what an incredible feeling. What was your previous PR?

Emma: So last year, when I did it the first time — I can't remember the split, but I did it in five hours and almost 41 minutes last year. And this year, the total time was five hours and six minutes. So an overall 35-minute PB on the distance.

Andrew: Yeah. And just one year apart, right?

Emma: Yeah, exactly one year apart. So that's an amazing accomplishment, and I feel really, really proud of myself. I feel proud of the performance I put out on Sunday, but most of all I feel proud of not giving up when times were rough, and when it would have just been much easier to say, no, my body won't do this. So that's the part I'm mostly proud of — all the work that I put in.

Andrew: Yeah, now in the United States we call it a PR, and I know in Europe it's a PB, right? So my PR at a 70.3 is 5:02. So we're not far apart on our PBs. I say that to say — I know that feeling of being in the final miles, the final kilometers, seeing the time on the clock and thinking, man, I'm so close to going under five hours, can I get there, can I get there? And I couldn't, and you couldn't. But either way, you were in those final kilometers, surely looking at the watch, saying, what a huge PB, this is going so great, I'm almost there. What were you thinking in those final couple kilometers? Where was your brain at?

Emma: Actually, I wasn't paying that much attention to my watch on the run. And also, on the bike, I told Katrine before the race, I was like, I'm going to do it naked — I'm not gonna watch my numbers, I'm not gonna watch my watts or my pace, because I need to just look at the route and stay and do it by my feeling. And I had it the same with the run — of course I looked at my pace and saw somewhat where I was at, but for me on Sunday — compared to last year I had such a hard time on the run, it was not joyful at all — so to just be able to enjoy the spectators, enjoy my friends and family standing on the road cheering me on, it was such an amazing feeling. And of course the last kilometers were all about just getting my mind together, thinking about what I had done, and feeling proud. I had no idea what my time would be, but I had somewhat an idea that it was a huge PB.

I think if you watch the video of me running down the red carpet to finish —

Andrew: I did watch that on your Instagram, I saw it.

Emma: You can see that I'm pretty excited and pretty happy and pretty proud. So I think those emotions show how I felt about my performance.

Andrew: Yeah, well we're happy for you and proud of you. And you did your training with TriDot, right, under the guidance of Coach Katrine. We always say that the best scenario for an athlete is TriDot training plus a coach — so you're in great hands. How did you feel going into the race? Did you feel like the training had you ready to rock and roll?

Emma: So, of course, as Katrine told about my injury, it has been a lot of ups and downs, mostly down with the running. I had a stress fracture in December, so I hadn't actually been able to run until April this year. I just checked my statistics this morning — in 2026 I have a total of 122 kilometers of running. That means I only had done a hundred kilometers of running before going into the race. I think this is a really good example of when it's a good thing to have a coach while you also have TriDot as a platform, because Katrine can be there for me and say, we do it on the cross trainer. I think Katrine, in December or January when I had this injury, you were very fast at saying, okay, then we put up your swim time and we do a little more biking, and then we put down your running and you do it on the cross trainer. And I think that was also a way of keeping me able to stay consistent, because if I had to do three runs on the cross trainer during the week, that would obviously be very boring, and that's not why you're doing triathlon — you're not doing triathlon to be on a cross trainer or elliptical, whatever you call it.

You do it because you like biking, you like swimming, and you like running. So it was amazing to have her, to be agile in the way we do the training. With that being said, in the swim part and the bike part I felt very comfortable going in, having done the training — I'd been doing it on the turbo during the winter for my bike training, and then outside during the warmer months. Also, I improved my swimming a lot — if you look at my CSS tests, they have just been going up. And that's obviously a part of me following the training and also putting in the work and staying focused when I do the swimming.

Andrew: Yeah, it's almost addicting as an athlete, right, to see that CSS score, to see that Swim Dot score, Bike Dot score, Run Dot score get a little bit better each month as you clock the training.

Emma: Yeah, yes.

Andrew: So you've been working with Katrine for a year and a half, you said, and TriDot that whole time. Coach Katrine, what did you see as her coach in the training leading up to this particular event? Were you optimistic? Did you think she was capable of such a PB, even with the lack of running going in?

Katrine: I think I'm the one that has the highest — not expectations, but I did know that she was gonna excel, especially on her bike. She kind of knew that, but then she didn't really believe it. What was it, Emma, number eight altogether of all female fastest bike splits of the age groupers?

Andrew: Wow.

Katrine: And just to be fair, there's a lot of women racing Elsinore — they've done an incredible job getting more women into that race. So being eighth on the bike split was a huge achievement.

Andrew: At any Ironman event that'd be a huge achievement.

Emma: Yeah.

Katrine: I know, I know. So she did really, really well in the biking, and also what I found to see there was kind of a shift in her swimming — you know, Andrew, you're a triathlete as well, that sometimes swimming is just a thing you have to get over and done with. But it was like there came a time where that shifted to something that Emma really enjoyed doing as well. And that was great, and it obviously also comes with — when you get better at something, then it also gets more motivating that you can actually see that you're progressing. But I think in general it's hard for athletes to see, well, how good am I progressing in my swim? And that's what we're talking about, the CSS tests that they have to do pretty often.

Emma: Yeah.

Katrine: It helps them understand what kind of progress they're actually making — which I think really motivates most of the athletes, though some find it a little — because it's like test week — but I think the more they do them, the more it also just becomes a natural part of it. I always say it's nice — disagreeing?

Emma: Yeah.

Andrew: It's like, no, it never feels natural, yeah.

Emma: No.

Katrine: I was always nervous before the testing too. But it's more of a cool thing that they then achieve something they can see they're actually getting better at. And then I always say, if you then have a month where you don't get better, let's look at it and see — what is this, what has happened, what have we done differently, what's been different, what has been going on? So I always find it very valuable to do the tests with the athletes. The athletes don't always love me for it.

Andrew: Yeah. Now, I'm curious, working with a coach, right — working with Coach Katrine, and you're out there on course. I know you have conversations with Katrine, I know she's prepping you for the race, I know that coach-athlete relationship over a year and a half is strong. So what was one thing, while you were on the race course, that somewhere along the way you heard Coach Katrine in your head, something she taught you or told you that clicked on race day? Do you have an example of that?

Emma: So, right before I left for the swim, Katrine and I had a moment — we had a hug, and she looked me in the eye and said, remember who you're racing for. And then I started tearing up, and I knew what the answer was, of course, because we've had this conversation many times. I think that was one of my favorite moments from the day. And then going out on course, standing ready to jump in the water, I also remembered her saying a sentence she's been saying a few times over the last few months — be brave. And that's how I jumped in the water — I was brave, and I swam my heart away, and I was brave on the bike and also on the run. So I think that was something that stuck with me the entire race.

Andrew: Yeah, I absolutely love it. My race day mantra — anybody who listens to the TriDot podcast will have heard me say this before — my personal race day mindset is: swim smooth (I'm not a strong swimmer, so I'm not gonna win anything in the swim, but just don't overextend yourself, just be smooth), bike steady (get out there, get in a rhythm, and just knock out mile after mile until you're done), and then run brave — that's literally what I tell myself, 'cause for me, that's my strongest discipline. So it's like, okay, you're in your strong discipline, whatever energy you have left, you have left — run brave, use it, burn it to the ground. Pace yourself right, but — anyway, I love that, especially for you, who's strong in the swim and strong in the bike, to be brave in all three. Absolutely love that mindset for you. Now, just to rewind — from Elsinore to just your experience as a triathlete — what kind of inspired you to begin working with a coach in the first place, and what led you to Coach Katrine?

Emma: So, Katrine had a collaboration with a young woman last year, and they established a community for female athletes who were doing their first 70.3 or full distance Ironman. So they set up this community for us, and Katrine was our coach. And I think pretty fast, Katrine and I developed a special athlete-coach relationship. So it felt very natural to continue with Katrine, also because — after being in the game for one and a half years, I've come to realize what I need in a coach, and that's exactly what Katrine can give me. Because I don't need a coach who forces me to do the training — I can do the training myself, I'm pretty strict with that. But I need a coach who can catch me when life hits you in the face, and when work is overloading, and you know — you are being dumped by a guy or whatever is happening in your life.

Andrew: Did that happen, Emma? Did that happen?

Emma: I need someone who can catch me, because triathlon is such a huge part of your life, and if you're someone who wants to do it for many, many years, then you need to find a way to have it in your everyday life, and to have someone to spar with, and to tell you what to do sometimes, or give you perspective on how to do it. That's the most important part for me in a coach. And now, Katrine and I know each other so well that when I walk in a room, she can feel my energy and knows exactly what mood I'm in.

Katrine: Not always a good thing, but yeah.

Andrew: Ha ha.

Emma: Yeah, so I think it's very beautiful to build on that relationship and see where it can go.

Andrew: Yeah, and I love that the thing you value most, aside from your personal relationship with Katrine, is just the way she helps you flex, right, when just doing the training session automatically isn't in the cards. And I've always appreciated that TriDot as a training system meets us in that same place — you can click out week after week after week if everything is going smooth and you've got the time, and then if you hit a week or two, or a patch where it's just life getting a little more complicated, TriDot can flex with you and move the workouts and adapt to what you're needing. When you started training with TriDot and knocking out the training sessions — actually going out there and doing your swim workouts, bike workouts, run workouts — what did you think of the training sessions themselves?

Emma: So it obviously took some time to just get used to all of the data and how to use it — there's a lot going on, but I've really come to love TriDot, also because I love the data part of it, and I think it's really cool how you can analyze it. And now we talked about the test and the TriDot score, where you are compared to other athletes in your own age and gender — I think that's really valuable. And I think one place I really love the TriDot training is in the swim, because then you just have it on your watch, you just clock it and lap it, and then you don't have to think when you're in the pool. That's really, really cool.

Andrew: Yeah, what have you noticed just in your fitness since training with TriDot? Has it just skyrocketed? Has it steadily improved? Do you feel stronger across all three, or how do you feel as an athlete since starting with the training?

Emma: Well, last year, at the 70.3 in Elsinore, I had done — I think we started like half a year before. So now I've been doing proper triathlon training with TriDot for one and a half years. I think I had two months where I was not following the program strictly, but it's basically one and a half years consistently putting in training, and that obviously paid off in the race on Sunday. So my fitness has improved, and I think that's also the good thing about TriDot — that when you don't notice your own progress, you can look at the numbers and see, okay, I am progressing. I think that's also a very cool part of TriDot.

Andrew: Now, Katrine, you were coaching before TriDot, and you moved all your athletes over to TriDot. How long were you coaching just on your own without it before you made the move?

Katrine: Well, it's been back and forth actually — just before starting with athletes again, I was working for Ironman for four years, so it's been a while since I did my coaching before that, but I did do coaching for, I think, five or six years, and then had that break for four years, and then came back into it because I really wanted to start this women's community and inspire more women to do triathlon.

So that was why I started it again, and then I knew of TriDot via the partnership they used to have with Ironman, so I contacted TriDot and I was like, hey, I'm doing this, can you support me on a platform? And then I was just sold straight away — it's like, yes, this is exactly what I need for my girls. And it has worked out really, really well for every single one of them. And the more you learn how to use the platform as a coach, the better you also get as a coach using the platform. So obviously I was learning in the beginning, which I was very open about telling the athletes — that I was also learning the system. But once you get it under your skin, then you can't believe you've ever done anything else, to be completely honest. I was telling TriDot, why is everyone not using — why is every coach not using this? And I was told, well, we haven't gotten to Denmark yet, and I was like, okay, I'll help out, because this is something coaches need to know about.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. And so what have you noticed, just as a coach — when you were writing training plans presumably on your own, working with the athletes on your own, versus now — what do you get to do with the athletes differently than before you were using TriDot for your athletes?

Katrine: Well, I think for me — because I also do a lot of other things other than coaching, I've set a maximum of twenty athletes. But I think what is really important to me is that I have a relationship with every single one of the athletes, like I have with Emma. So it's important to me that I get to talk to them and get to know who they are, and get to know when their boyfriend dumped them — 'cause this is not the first time, Emma is not the only example of that happening. So I want to know all these things. I want to know if their dad got to the hospital, or if their animal died, or — I want to know all of these things about the athletes. That's really important to me, because as Emma says, it takes over quite a lot of your life, because it's such an intense sport where you not only train running, but you need to fit into three disciplines, and then coaches say you also have to do strength training. So it's a lot —

Andrew: Ugh, yeah.

Katrine: It's really a lot of training that you need to do, and it does take over a good part of your life. And having a partner in crime, I wanna say, as a coach, then that makes that journey a little bit easier, I would say, and also that you don't feel you're alone. It's not — Emma's not the only one who cares about her training, I care about her training, maybe just as much as Emma does.

So that gives me more time to build that relationship that is, for me as a coach, the most important thing. We're all different as coaches — some really like to just look at numbers, I don't like just looking at numbers, I like building the relationship. So it's giving me the option to do more of that, because I don't have to spend I-don't-know-how-many hours writing the program.

Andrew: And I'm sure it makes race day that much more rewarding for the both of you, right, because of how invested you are in the athlete as a person, and not just their training plan, what workouts they did.

I'm curious to hear from both of you — we'll go Emma first, as our athlete who's fresh off her race, and then Katrine, same question over to you — but for anybody listening to this who is maybe considering stepping up to the 70.3 distance, taking on their first 70.3 triathlon, Emma, what would you say to them?

Emma: I would say — well, first of all, get a coach, that's always my first thing I tell people. But if they don't want to get a coach, then put in the training and come prepared and have a lot of fun. And also, maybe — sometimes I think there's a trend of doing triathlons and Ironmans, and it's — I think sometimes, which I also did last year, I got very humbled on that course. And I think it's important to say that it's a tough sport, and it's tough racing, and you should know that it's not just all fun and games all the time, and it's not just something you do for social media. It's tough. So be prepared for that, and then have a lot of fun and enjoy the training.

Katrine: Yeah, I just wanna comment on what Emma says about starting by saying, get a coach.

Andrew: Absolutely.

Katrine: I just wanna say that Emma is really a person who dives into everything herself. So other athletes have a tendency to also ask her all sorts of questions about their training. So I get why you say that, Emma — get a coach — because otherwise you become kinda like —

Andrew: Don't make your training partner your coach, get a proper coach.

Katrine: Yeah, exactly. So I understand why you also say that to athletes.

Andrew: Don't bother Emma with your questions, bother Coach Katrine.

Katrine: That's also something I wanna tell the world — please don't bother Emma with too many questions.

Andrew: Ha ha ha.

Katrine: Get a coach.

Emma: Thank you for saying that, Katrine.

Katrine: Yeah, I know that's very important to you. I know she was a bit overwhelmed the days before, so — I hope it's okay that I'm saying that — but she was like, coach, everybody's asking me all these kinds of questions, I just want to do my own race, I can't be in everybody else's race.

Andrew: So Emma, become a coach and charge them — yeah, send them an invoice.

Emma: Yeah, yeah.

Katrine: I have told her that — she'll become my coach at one point for sure. But yeah, to do the first one, I think triathlon is so much about getting the training into structure, getting a structured plan, which TriDot obviously will help you with, with or without a coach. And then I can't emphasize this enough — be consistent. Put in the work. Sometimes I have athletes who are like, I don't see any progress, and I'm like, but you're not following the plan, so I don't know what you expected. But once you get into it — be consistent, and know that the first four weeks are not gonna be easy and fun, and it's gonna be hard to get into that rhythm or structure that you have in your plan. But once you get into it, it just becomes part of your everyday life. I don't think Emma can imagine not doing triathlon at the moment, because it's just such a big part of her life. So once you're there and it becomes this natural part of your life, it's really an awesome lifestyle. And that's kind of how you gotta see it — like Emma said, it's not gonna be a walk in the park. You gotta get it under your skin, you gotta get it into a rhythm so that you can enjoy the training —

Emma: Yeah.

Katrine: — and that you can perform on race day, because otherwise you're gonna say a lot — I always did this too, probably everybody does — why am I doing this during the race? But that's the only sentence you're gonna hear if you haven't done your preparation, right?

Andrew: Hmm, yeah.

Katrine: So but then also love the sport — you gotta love it, you gotta love the lifestyle. Otherwise —

Andrew: It's supposed to be fun.

Katrine: It's really supposed to be fun. Yeah.

Emma: I would also just like to add — get some great people to train with, get some training buddies, do it with someone, because that makes the training so much easier. Especially when you live in a country like Denmark, where it's dark all winter and you need to get out in the darkness in the morning, and it feels like it's the middle of the night. So get someone you can meet up with, and be consistent with your training buddies. That's — yeah.

Andrew: Yep, I love that. Well, thanks to the both of you for taking the time to come on and share your experience with triathlon, with TriDot, with your coach. Final question, Emma — what's next for you? Fresh off of a PB, do you have another race on the calendar yet, or no?

Emma: We're doing Copenhagen Ironman in August, so that's less than two months away now.

Andrew: So this fall?

Katrine: Yes, that's —

Andrew: Is that your first full distance?

Emma: Yeah, it is the first full distance.

Andrew: How are you feeling about that?

Emma: Excited and nervous, but I did not lose any love for the sport on Sunday, so I'm very excited.

Katrine: Emma sent me a voice message the day after saying, yesterday was one of the best days of my life. And I'm not done with this world yet.

Emma: Mm-hmm.

Katrine: And I was like, great — that's what I like to hear.

Andrew: Emma, what made Elsinore one of the best days of your life? That PB?

Emma: It was just, honestly, Andrew, I felt like I was just flying the entire day. And I don't know how to explain it, but it was just like everything came together, and it was the feeling of — you've put in a lot of work, and that paid off. And it just felt — now I say easy — it felt easy. Of course it was hard, but it felt super easy to just do it, because I was so well prepared.

Andrew: Well, we wish you all the best on Ironman Copenhagen. We'll track you, we'll have to talk again and see how your experience went with your first full — and hopefully it's as easy and as fun and rewarding as Elsinore was.