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Two first-time racers finished at She Tries Huntersville in September. One of them is 6 years old, and the other had been carrying an unfinished swim goal for 13 years. Zuri lined up for her first youth triathlon without ever having taken a formal swim lesson. She learned in her neighborhood pool, argued her way out of the life vest, and finished first in her division. She also has a run route to the stop sign and back, a weights routine, and a very good reason for choosing the helmet every time. Her grandmother, Tonya Gainey, is a run coordinator with Black Girls Run and co-leads the UNCC Greenway Running Group. She raced her first triathlon in 2013, stepped away from multisport, and came back this year with five friends and one goal, to freestyle all 10 pool laps. She made eight. Next year, three generations of the family are racing a relay together. The conversation moves through representation, exposure, and why approachable beginner triathlon formats reach past the person who actually registers. If you are standing at the edge of a sport wondering whether there is room for you in it, this episode is a reminder that the first step is the whole thing. Whenever you try, you always win. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

Two years of nearly nonstop racing ended with a Guinness World Record. Then the racing stopped, and everything he had been carrying finally caught up with him. For the first time in the show’s history, the guest who closed one season returns to open the next. Thomas “Tom” Scheer, a Guinness World Record holder, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Clydesdale triathlete, comes back as the show begins its fifth anniversary year. He is honest about an off-season that looks more like a honey-do list. He talks about a shoulder that still needs repair, a body asking for care and the weight of grief when the endorphins of training are out of reach. Tom also shares the new record he is chasing in 2027 and the simple 30-day pool habit he recommends to every triathlon beginner. That habit turns into a challenge accepted live on air. He explains why long walks built his durability as a bigger-bodied athlete and how Anvil, his ultra triathlon race company, lets athletes choose their own adventure. Twenty years in, Tom is still learning, still adjusting and still willing to begin again. If you have been away for a while, consider this your invitation to start again with us. Join the Tri Beginner’s Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner’s Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let’s tri this!

He registered for 47 races, blew out his knee, got disqualified for a GoPro, got married, went on a honeymoon, and still came home with the record. Thomas "Tom" Scheer is a Naval Academy graduate, Navy Commendation Medal recipient, Ironman Kona finisher, and Boys and Girls Club board member who is now the official Guinness World Record holder for the most Ironman 70.3 distance triathlons completed in a single year. Tom has spent 20 years in triathlon as a Clydesdale athlete and the kind of person who stops mid-race to help a stranger fix their bike even when it risks his own cutoff. In this conversation, we get into what the chase actually cost: the injuries, the disqualifications, the 3.9 million Hilton points, and the harder truth of being a newlywed while racing nearly every weekend for 11 months. We also go back to where it started. A panic swim in Tallahassee in 2006 in a scuba diving wetsuit, imposter syndrome on the bike, and a Dairy Queen peanut buster parfait to celebrate. Twenty years later, he drove back to that same Dairy Queen and ordered the same thing. This is the last episode before the season break, and it ends exactly where this show has always aimed: with proof that this sport belongs to everyone willing to try. Want to race? We are giving away a free entry to the Alpha Wins Big Apple Triathlon in New York on October 10. Head to @TriBeginnersLuck on Instagram for details. And through July 19, use code TRIBEGINNERPOD26 for 10% off your registration. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

What if the person behind your race experience has been living inside this sport since before they could drive? This episode brings you inside the world of a man who didn't just grow up loving triathlon but grew up building it, race by race, cone by cone. Tommy Struzzieri, USAT certified race director and founder of Alpha Win Racing, has worn nearly every hat in this sport: athlete, volunteer, age group All-American, Division I runner at Syracuse University, coach, and now the person making it all happen for thousands of participants across the country. His guiding belief, that there is a distance for everyone, shapes every decision he makes, from offering an open entry-level distance designed to welcome true first-timers to keeping race-day logistics as convenient and stress-free as possible. This season, Tommy is bringing triathlon back to New York City with the Big Apple Triathlon on October 10, 2026. Hear what it took, what it means, and what he hopes every athlete feels when they cross that finish line. Whether you're lining up for your first sprint or your first time standing at a starting line, this one is for you. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them in a future episode.  Let's tri this!

Some people don't find triathlon. Triathlon finds them. It calls quietly for years until the timing, the spirit, and the courage finally align at once. Brandon Woolfolk is a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, music artist, and founder of No Plateau Zone. This year, he said yes to a challenge that had been waiting for him since 2023. After years of distance running and obstacle course races, Brandon joined the Y Tri community in February and completed not one but two sprint triathlons in his first season. But the road to that starting line ran through three years living in Shanghai, a painful return home during the pandemic, a battle with depression, and a radio ad that quietly changed everything. In this Father's Day episode, Brandon shares what it means to pursue big goals in full view of your daughter, why community sharpens us when we go it alone, and what he learned about himself when his swim cap came off mid-race, and he had to keep going anyway. The only plateau is in your mind. This one proves it. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode.   Let's tri this!

For over 20 years, Betty Collins led troops, mentored communities, and built others up from the inside out. So what happens when the person who is always pouring into others has to finally let others pour into her? Betty Collins is a retired Army master sergeant, cybersecurity professional, and founder of Fit for the King, a faith-based fitness initiative she started in her church over a decade ago. She grew up in the historic Snowden community of South Carolina with a lifelong fear of the water. This year, after being invited by a friend she met at a church retreat, she said yes to something she never imagined she would do a triathlon. What followed was four months of cold January pool sessions, private swim lessons, and a community of women who refused to let her quit. On May 15, at 63 years old, Betty Collins completed her first triathlon at She Tries Ion, swimming eight laps, biking nine miles, and running two more. She crossed that finish line not because she had conquered her fear, but because she discovered she was more capable than she believed. This conversation covers courage, community, faith, and what it looks like to start from the very beginning, again, at any age. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

What does it take to come out of the water nearly last and choose to come back? Not once, but race after race, distance after distance, through graduate school, a pandemic, and the arrival of three children in 17 months. Mike Nyman's triathlon story doesn't begin with a perfect swim or a podium finish. It begins with a graduation gift, a best friend, and a pool race in Lynchburg, Virginia. From that sprint in 2013, Mike has grown into a five-time Ironman finisher, Team Varlo Virginia Region captain, and an athlete who still gets nervous every single time he enters the water. That honesty is exactly what makes his story so worth hearing. In this episode, Mike talks through the self-supported iron-distance he completed during the pandemic, the power of community and diversity in endurance sports, what fatherhood has taught him about sacrifice and partnership, and the advice he gives to beginners and veterans alike. This is a story about discipline, resilience, and what happens when you refuse to let a race define you. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

What if the most decorated athlete you've ever seen race was doing it on stolen hours, powered by discipline she didn't know she had until the military turned it on? That's exactly the kind of story that stops you mid-scroll and reminds you why this sport is for everyone. Michelle Christine is a competitive age-group triathlete, a Team USA athlete, and a USAT high school ambassador who balances two kids, a husband with an equally demanding career, and a role protecting the airspace of the nation's leaders as a Secret Service airspace security specialist. She came to this episode fresh off a clean sweep at Multisport Nationals, where she won all four individual events and the mixed team relay. Five starts. Five wins. And she still had notes on what she could do better. In this conversation, she walks us through what nervous system fatigue actually feels like after back-to-back racing, how coaching changed everything for her, and why she believes problem-solvers thrive in triathlon. She also shares the moment a world podium in Hamburg made everything click, and the quiet magic of a family that runs on logistics, love, and the occasional burger. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to build a full life and still chase excellence, this one is for you. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

Some people count down the days to their birthday. Beatriz Sampaio counted down the laps. For her first triathlon, she chose the most meaningful finish line she could think of: race day on her birthday, surrounded by the people who showed up every step of the way. What makes Beatriz's story so refreshing is her intention. Having gone from zero to marathon in four months years ago, she made a deliberate choice to do triathlon differently. No skipping steps. No sprinting to the big race. Just building with joy, learning with her family, and letting the process be the point. She trained in the pool with her mom, rode matching road bikes with her dad, and leaned on a local tri club to make community part of the journey from day one. She also swam the entire open water leg with one eye shut, forgot she had to pee, and placed second in her age group without mentioning it until the very end of the interview. Classic beginner's luck. Whether you're still on the fence or about to toe your first start line, Beatriz's story is a reminder that the messy, imperfect, exhilarating first time is a gift you can never get back. Cherish it. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

Three weeks after writing a half-Ironman goal on his bathroom mirror, Scott Stanley got a cancer diagnosis. Forty-six days after colon surgery, he was at the starting line of a 10K. What do you do when life hits hardest at the exact moment you decide to go bigger? For Scott Stanley, the answer was simple, if not easy: you keep showing up. A retired Air Force veteran, endurance athlete, and now a master's student in biblical studies, Scott's triathlon journey is inseparable from the losses that shaped it. He lost his late wife at 27 to a rare form of leukemia and his mother to cancer just three years later. When his own diagnosis came in 2014, he did not spiral. He channeled. And in July 2015, just two weeks before his 45th birthday, he crossed the finish line of his first Ironman 70.3 in Muncie, Indiana. Scott also opens up about nearly four years of sobriety, the ministry school it made possible, and why he believes bringing a race mentality to your personal life might be the most important finish line of all. His advice for triathlon beginners is refreshingly unfiltered: sign up for something that scares you and trust that getting to the starting line is already the win. This is not a polished story about someone who had it all figured out. It is an honest one about a man who kept going because the alternative was not living. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck. Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page. Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

A first triathlon. A breakup. A lifelong love story with endurance sports that nobody saw coming. Before triathlon became one of the biggest endurance sports in the world, Leslie Knibb was standing on a start line in Chicago in 1990 just trying something new. She ended up finishing near the top of the race, beating the boyfriend who introduced her to the sport, and unknowingly starting a triathlon journey that would stretch across more than three decades. In this special Mother's Day episode of Tri Beginner's Luck, Leslie reflects on the many versions of herself she has been through in triathlon: beginner, competitor, mother, coach, mentor, Ironman finisher and community builder. From racing through the Northeast triathlon scene to stepping away during motherhood and later returning to complete Ironman Lake Placid, Leslie shares what it looks like to evolve with the sport instead of walking away from it. The conversation also explores the heart of triathlon culture and why so many people stay connected to it for life. Leslie opens up about coaching beginners, helping grow youth participation through USA Triathlon, supporting first-time athletes with the DC Tri Club, and watching her daughter Taylor Knibb rise to the highest levels of the sport. Whether you are a triathlon beginner, training for your first sprint, or chasing your next Ironman 70.3, this episode is a reminder that the beginner mindset never leaves us. Sometimes the biggest win is simply staying connected to what lights you up.   Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck. Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page. Questions or feedback? Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

Hilary Topper didn't run until she was 48. She didn't know how to turn on a treadmill. Five years later, she signed up for her first triathlon in Florida without realizing there were races in her home state of New York. Hilary is the voice behind The Triathlete's Diary, a certified USA Triathlon coach, and author of Unlocking the Triathlon: The Beginner's Guide to Competing in a Triathlon. She proudly calls herself a non-athletic triathlete and has built her coaching philosophy around meeting athletes exactly where they are. Her mantra is simple: consistency over intensity, community over competition, and showing up over being the fastest. We talk about starting triathlon after 50, the power of finding your people when family doesn't understand, and why DNFs and DNSs don't define you. Hilary shares what it was like to train for a half Ironman five times and get injured every single time, why she keeps proving things to herself, and how the triathlon community became her family after losing her sister. This conversation is for anyone who's ever felt like they don't look the part, started late, or wondered if they belong in this sport. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Learn more about Hilary: Website: https://www.atriathletesdiary.com/  and Book: Unlocking the Triathlon: The Beginner's Guide to Competing in a Triathlon Let's Tri this!

What does it mean to be a triathlete? For Liz Kollar, Director of Constituent Engagement at USA Triathlon, the answer is simple: you're a triathlete the moment you cross any finish line, whether it takes you an hour or sixteen.   Liz didn't start small. Her first race was a 70.3 at Buffalo Springs Lake, unprepared and miserable in the Texas heat. She crossed the finish line swearing she'd never do it again. Then she accidentally qualified for Ironman Florida at Panama City, thinking she'd won a trip to Central America. Three months later, she stood on a cold beach in November 2001, just weeks after 9/11, sobbing through the national anthem before completing her first full distance race. She was hooked.   Over 13 Ironman races and countless shorter distances, Liz became a two-time Kona qualifier, LA Tri Club community builder, and now a grassroots race director in the mountains of Colorado. But her proudest work might be the least flashy: answering the phone at USA Triathlon, walking nervous first-timers through their fears, and reminding them that the sport isn't about going long. It's about showing up, finding your people, and maybe grabbing brunch afterward.   This conversation is for anyone who thinks they need to do an Ironman to belong, anyone intimidated by the governing body acronyms, and anyone who just wants to understand what USA Triathlon actually does besides collect membership fees. Spoiler: it's a lot more than insurance.   Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's Tri this!

What happens when you’re ready to quit the sport you once loved? And what if the answer isn’t more training, but more community? Juan Pablo, known as "the People's Principal" in Plainfield, New Jersey, brings raw honesty to this conversation. He talks about the letter his family sent confronting him about buying bikes with rent money. He shares how cycling became his medicine after serving in the Navy and dealing with PTSD. And he explains the difference between a superhero and a villain in a way that will stop you in your tracks. This episode covers the cost of triathlon, the balance between sport and family, why most endurance athletes are processing trauma, and what it means to train so others don't have to suffer the way you did. Juan Pablo completed sprint triathlons, XTERRA races, and two half Ironmans before injuries and financial realities brought him back to cycling full time. Now he races criteriums, hosts a Memorial Day weekend race around his school, and works with Coach David Lipscomb's CIS Collective to rebuild his foundation from the ground up. Whether you're a beginner wondering if you can afford this sport or a veteran athlete struggling to find balance, this conversation will meet you where you are. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Join the Tri Beginner's Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner's Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let's tri this!

What happens when someone tells you your idea will never work, and you build it anyway? What does it look like to create a space where trying matters more than finishing first?   Angi Klick didn't just start a triathlon event. She built a movement. After years of trying to convince other race directors that women needed their own welcoming space in the sport, she decided to do it herself. In 2016, while nine months pregnant, she directed the first She Tris Triathlon in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. A local timer told her it would never work. The event sold out before race day.   Now, 10 years later, She Tris has become a haven for first-timers, a celebration for returners, and proof that when you lead with community over competition, something powerful happens. Angi talks about surviving those early moments, managing rheumatoid arthritis while training for an Ironman, and why she never calls her events "races." She shares what it means to champion confidence in women who aren't sure they belong yet, and why the finish line is really just the starting line for what comes next.   This conversation is for anyone who's ever been told no and decided to build it anyway. It's for the beginner who thinks they need permission to start. And it's a reminder that belonging doesn't come before you try. It comes because you start.   Join the Tri Beginner’s Luck Community: Enjoyed this episode? The best way to support the show is to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Follow us on Instagram: @TriBeginnersLuck Connect on Facebook: Tri Beginner’s Luck Page Questions or Feedback? We want to hear your story! Send your questions to [email protected], and we may feature them on a future episode. Let’s tri this!