JEN STURM – IRON WOMAN
I do not come from an elite sporting background. I was far from an athlete at high school; not particularly good at any sport, played music and was reasonably academic. Ok, let’s face it…In reality, I was a nerd! It was at Uni, somewhere in the early 2000’s that I finished my first triathlon as an experiment – just to see if I could do it…and that got me hooked. I have been competing “socially” for years on and off (around overseas travel). Since 2011 I have taken the sport more seriously and have ventured into iron-distance triathlon, with my best finish so far being 2012 3rd age group placing at Ironman WA in Busselton, and my worst being a DNF this year at Pt Macquarie. Currently I am working towards this upcoming season after recovering from knee surgery, indulgent consumption of unnecessary calories, and a hip injury in the off-season.
MY JOURNEY TO BE THE IRON WOMAN
As a physiotherapist, movement analysis, movement correction, and maximising physical function are my passions. I have 13 years of physiotherapy experience, involving teaching people in group and individual treatments about how to move (or not move), techniques and problem solving around injuries and dysfunction.
As an athlete, I have been heavily involved in my swimming club on the committee and as a coach. I am now more involved in my triathlon club taking on some swim squad coaching duties and undertaking the level 1 triathlon coaching course. I love to have fun with my sports and absolutely try not to take myself too seriously, even if I take what I do seriously.
As a triathlete I have had good success recently stepping up to race in the Open Category for local triathlon events, and injury and rehab permitting, I hope to continue this in the upcoming season. I am working towards another Ironman event and the ultimate goal of competing at Kona.
In general I’m rather digestively-incompetent! This has resulted in years of experimenting with foods and working out what works and what most certainly does not work with my diet and what I can tolerate during training and competitions. I’ve been using UCAN for just over 12 months now and have completely stopped using any other energy drinks or gels – the difference to my stomach is amazing. I’m not getting that mid race/training bloating or other even less pleasant effects of maltodextrin and fructose.
I follow a low FODMAP diet and UCAN is the only product out there that I’ve found that works to give me energy for competing, fuel for recovery and no nasty guts. There’s nothing worse than spending hours suffering through a miserable marathon at the end of an ironman heaving up sports gels and making emergency porta-potty stops… UCAN has saved me from that reality!
See me in action below!
Jen Sturm
Team Inspire
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