Petra is a dynamic endurance coaching professional, currently certified as a USAT Level Onetriathlon coach as well as Revo2lution Running coach. She also is an experienced indoor cyclinginstructor, Functional Training trainer and LesMills BodyPump classinstructor. An avid OpenWater swimmer, she is a masters swim certified instructor as well and is a RedCross certifiedlife guard, incl. CPR, First Aid and AED.
Petra is a 7-time Ironman. She has competed in countless triathlon races, including the 70.3World championship, She is a multiple Boston marathon runner. She has finished triathlons andrunning events of every distance.
Petra’s endurance coaching style centers on building tight, trustedrelationships with athletesusing charismatic, honest communication and leveraging her vast personal experience as anendurance athlete.
Originally from Germany, Petra is an active member of the tri-and running communities in Madison, and a regular volunteer at local Ironman and marathon events. Petra is also a local and national endurance media personality. She is an experienced commentator at live competition endurance events, and also conducts thought provoking on-air athlete interviews. Petra is currently launching a new on-air program for public radio focused on endurance running, as well as a 12-week podcast called “First Time 5k,” which combines Euro music with daily training for endurance running novices.
Petra loves teaching water aerobics and anything pool related as well as teaches strength classes and cycling and has been teaching fitness classes for over 20 years.
She has a freshman in college son, Nicholas, at University of Colorado, Boulder who’s a Buff sprinting athlete.
Petra also has a dog called Tessy. She’s a Cavapoo! When she’s not swimming, biking or running they both enjoy long walks and hikes
Petra is a dynamic endurance coaching professional, currently certified as a USAT Level Onetriathlon coach as well as Revo2lution Running coach. She also is an experienced indoor cyclinginstructor, Functional Training trainer and LesMills BodyPump classinstructor. An avid OpenWater swimmer, she is a masters swim certified instructor as well and is a RedCross certifiedlife guard, incl. CPR, First Aid and AED.
Petra is a 7-time Ironman. She has competed in countless triathlon races, including the 70.3World championship, She is a multiple Boston marathon runner. She has finished triathlons andrunning events of every distance.
Petra’s endurance coaching style centers on building tight, trustedrelationships with athletesusing charismatic, honest communication and leveraging her vast personal experience as anendurance athlete.
Originally from Germany, Petra is an active member of the tri-and running communities in Madison, and a regular volunteer at local Ironman and marathon events. Petra is also a local and national endurance media personality. She is an experienced commentator at live competition endurance events, and also conducts thought provoking on-air athlete interviews. Petra is currently launching a new on-air program for public radio focused on endurance running, as well as a 12-week podcast called “First Time 5k,” which combines Euro music with daily training for endurance running novices.
Petra loves teaching water aerobics and anything pool related as well as teaches strength classes and cycling and has been teaching fitness classes for over 20 years.
She has a freshman in college son, Nicholas, at University of Colorado, Boulder who’s a Buff sprinting athlete.
Petra also has a dog called Tessy. She’s a Cavapoo! When she’s not swimming, biking or running they both enjoy long walks and hikes
Speaker 1:
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRV rundown, and today I have a dear friend, a complete athlete and someone you are going to want to hear from, miss Petra Killian. Welcome, petra.
Speaker 2:
Thanks, Heather. I'm so excited to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1:
Well, I am so excited to have you here because you have so much great information on mindset through all of the marathons, the ironmans the list goes on and all of the training of athletes that you've done past, current, future that I thought you know we have to get her on. And why don't you share with our audience, give them a little snippet of your background so they get a feel and flavor for you.
Speaker 2:
Well, I live now in the medicine community since 24 years it's going to be next July, so just over 23 years and I got my USAT certification to train triathletes in 2010. So it's been over 10 years 13 years that I'm coaching triathletes runners to complete their competitions. Is it a triathlon or a half marathon marathon? I do specialize in the long course, so I coach people that are doing half marathons and marathons as well as half ironman and the ironman triathlon distance, but then I also coach master swim and I coach cycling classes and strength training classes at a health care fitness center in Fitchburg. And, yeah, and so I've competed in numerous triathlons in all distances, but my favorite is the half iron distance. But I have completed seven ironman and the marathon and the Boston marathon multiple times and I just love people that come to me and have goals and help them to achieve them.
Speaker 1:
Definitely Well, and you've succeeded at that many, many times, so it's always fun to see you coaching your different athletes, and I know I have received such valuable information from you too, which I'm very grateful for.
Speaker 2:
And you just do the Chicago marathon, which is awesome To my heart. I have done it in 2018 and you have done a tremendous job there, so I wanted to congratulate you as well.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, my dear.
Speaker 2:
And now you're going to Boston next year. So yay, exactly, yep. You have achieved a lot in the last few years with your business and you're running. I'm very proud of you.
Speaker 1:
Oh, thank you, I received that fully my dear. So, backing up, what got you inspired in running in marathons, I mean half full ironmans. It's not something that a lot of people do. I'm inspired you.
Speaker 2:
When I had my son in 2004,.
Speaker 2:
It's almost like not true anymore, because he's now a freshman college student in Boulder University of Colorado and I just moved him this summer, so he is like 19 and a half years old.
Speaker 2:
When he was born, I felt like the need to get started, to get back in shape, so they say, and so I started with cycling and I bought my first bike and then I started running and I became a cycling instructor and then I wanted to do my first triathlon and I started with the sprint distance and then the Olympic distance and then I did my first 5K, I remember, and so it trickled over and then, from the course from 2004 to 2010, about when I got my license to coach, I've done a numerous amount of events.
Speaker 2:
My first Ironman was in 2008, which was the Ironman here in Wisconsin, and it was different way back when. Then it is today, but I just, and then every year, I kept doing an Ironman 2008, 9, 10, 11, 7 years in a row and lots of half Ironman triathlons and traveled to do these events and I just got hooked on getting better and traveling, doing these races and meeting all different types of people, and my son was always a big part of it, and he always was part of the athletic community, and so that made him to be a runner now as well. So I'm very proud of him.
Speaker 1:
And a very gifted and skilled runner. I mean, I think there's obviously some natural talent, but you've also cultivated a really strong work ethic within him and he just has that burning passion and desire, just like you. So it's really fun to see him race.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's a different. He's a different athlete as he is a sprinter. No-transcript, you're putting it into words. When you are having this role model in your family and the support, the athletic support, then that can go long ways in use.
Speaker 1:
Oh, definitely, and I see that for my nephew, isaac, with his parents being distance runners and just it's really neat to see, and his aunt being such a good supporter. Yes, well, I love watching. Yeah, he says he hears me yelling, you and me both, right, yes, yes, we're not quiet people, so you? Know, sharing, of which your beautiful accent, my dear Germany. Yes, were sports. You know, in your hometown were they big kind of like Madison, or was it a very different experience in that sense?
Speaker 2:
I grew up in a very sheltered, like little community, little village in a rural area, believe it or not, of 500 people. I went to a little public school. High school we never had sports, organized sports. We didn't have sports in high school, any organized events. We had PE and that was as much as we had in athletics. So if you wanted to become a swimmer or being in any athletic environment, you would have to travel to the next city and you would have to have the resources and the support from your parents to get you there. But there was nothing that was provided to youth in my upbringing.
Speaker 1:
Completely different, right. So you're definitely a trial blazer. You go across the pond, get very deep into the athletics and then training for many years and continuing to do so. What would you say because mindset and physicality is such a strong connection in sports and, I think, business right of people's mindset, what has helped you to break down the Ironman for yourself, right? It's such an extensive workout and competition. What goes through your mind, or what mind would you recommend for people?
Speaker 2:
I think you definitely need breaks after events or after you have competed, but there is 90% goes into showing up. Right, I have my shoes near the door, I have my training partner lined up for me or I have it carved out in my schedule to run or bike or swim. Only working hard will get you the results. So if you skip a workout here and there, it's fine. But only really dedication and consistency and hard work will get you the results that you want. And there's just no way around it, and I always talk to my athletes that I'm coaching, and honesty is it goes a long way.
Speaker 2:
Everything that you put in, you get out maybe. So when you put all the work in and to achieve a goal, that doesn't guarantee you the goal will happen, but it gives you a good shot at it. And that's what I think is very important that some people that are not in the athletic world as hard to grasp like wow, how do you show up every single day and do your workout? And it's not easy. It's not easy for you, it's not easy for me, it's not easy for everybody. You just do it and showing up and starting is 90% of the workout and then you get into the workout and you get it done, and the next day you do it again and it becomes a routine, like brushing your teeth or going to bed early. It's the consistency and the big discipline that is big, and it's the only way to success, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:
I completely agree. It's the consistent incremental changes and I think too Chicago was just my sixth marathon but it really it's interesting you would think the wonder of consistency would wear off, but I swear it's only gaining more momentum with each marathon because you're just. I mean, you know you're adding a few miles each week, you know, and you're pushing and all these different things, and at the end it's the 26.2 and it's a multi-layering, like you're saying, of nutrition, hydration. You know you're refueling all these different little facets and on race day you might perform really well or not. Like there's to your point, there's no guarantee.
Speaker 2:
No guarantee. You can only put in the work that gives you a shot to have a good race. But a good race is never a given and so I don't like the word blessed. I always feel like I'm fortunate when I receive, or when I actually meet, a goal. At the end I'm like, wow, everything that came together at the end. Not only did I work hard, but also I was fortunate enough to be here and to be healthy and to execute and the weather was right and everything came together and I had a very good maybe the perfect race and I qualified for Boston.
Speaker 2:
But other people work as hard and put the same amount of work in, but they might not make the goal because it's very hot that day and they're very struggling with the weather or their mindset is different. Something has happened in their life that really they struggle with mentally. So yeah it's. I can only say the consistency and experimenting more and more with racing will make you a better athlete. But there's a lot of workers also into recovery. You can't go on and on and on and on forever.
Speaker 1:
You need to make sure that you give your mental health and your body a break and to really hold back on training and competing and just do something else and then come refresh into the table and say, okay, now I'm refreshed enough to start over again Now, and that makes perfect sense because I've noticed kind of like a two week post where there really isn't, you know, there really isn't much going on, walking different things, of that you know, some stretching, rolling lots of water, trying to get the water to flow in Lots of water, trying to, you know, get things moving that way. But I agree completely A mental break and physical is definitely an order.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, or sleeping in right as athletes oftentimes, and full-time moms and full-time business owners and we all have jobs and different hats we wear. How nice it is on a Saturday to just sleep in and go to the farmers market for change and not running 15 miles or 10 miles or 20, depending on what cycle you are in your training. It's just so refreshing to totally step away from being an athlete and just enjoying regular weekend or morning things or go to a movie at night instead of going for a six mile run. So it's really important to completely step away.
Speaker 1:
Totally agree. So now we look at it, you've worked with really high-level athletes, and what I love, too, is that you came out with the first time 5K, which I absolutely love, so share with our audience more about that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's called First Time 5K. It's a 12-week series, about 40 minutes each episode, and it's a free training plan that consists of 12 weeks of training from not running at all. So maybe you are a complete newbie to running or you haven't run in a very long time, and so it's a very safe way. 12 weeks is a long time to complete a distance of 3.10 miles, to do your first race or to complete the distance, and you can get it at any podcast platform that is out there and you just type in First Time 5K and you will receive that free podcast and it comes with a downloadable. You can download a 12-week free training plan that goes along with it, and it's a so-called free, like a feel podcast. So it's I am actually talking to you while you're running, so it's meant to be listened to while you're actually doing the training, so it's not like something that you listen to as like an audiobook or something like that or an interview. It is your training and you're listening to it while I am guiding you through each workout.
Speaker 1:
And I love that because I listened to it and I was like that's a great idea, because otherwise, in reality, right, let's say, you listen to it on just a podcast and if you did not have the self-guided, what's the chance that someone is actually going to be able to pull all of those different pieces off? And I also really love that you broke it down of the timing of the time starts now and then you count them down and let them know and you have music in between, which is perfect, because I've noticed, like when I started getting into distance or running, that, like anything, you really need to break it down into the smaller chunks and then you build over time. So I think you did a great job with that and I love that. So, yeah, great work, my dear.
Speaker 2:
And I stayed true to one music genre in that podcast, so it's only European dance music, which is not maybe everybody cup of tea, but if you do love that sort of music, this podcast might be something you want to have a peek at.
Speaker 1:
Definitely, and where can people find us?
Speaker 2:
At any podcast platform there is out there, or you could just go to wwwfirsttime5kcom and it goes right there.
Speaker 1:
Perfect, all right. Well, on that note, thank you so much for joining me. It was a true joy to have you and share more of you with my audience, because I love and adore you. So I was just like more people need to understand what you do, how you do it. And one last question so if people are not located physically in Wisconsin, can they train with you?
Speaker 2:
Yes, of course they can find me on Facebook. I have a coaching page called Speed Cycling Online that's the name of my business and they can like me and send me a message through there. I'm also on LinkedIn, also just under my personal name, petra Killian.
Speaker 1:
Perfect, all right, my dear. Well, thank you so much and I look forward to, of course, I'll see you for a run very soon, but, yeah, connecting our audience here with you, helping them bridge that gap between where they are, where they want to be and, of course, to know you is to love you. So thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, Heather, for having me today. You bet Bye.