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Tiffany and Caitlin Saunders (known collectively as Team Saunders) met through triathlon, and fell in love with the sport and each other.
The full transcript of this episode of KUT News Now is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
This Is My Thing: Triathlon!
Show theme and intro
Michael Lee [00:00:10] I’m Michael Lee and you’re listening to This Is My Thing. There’s a pretty good chance that this show came to you as part of the KUT News Now podcast feed. But despite that fact, this show is not about the news at all. So please enjoy a short break from the 24-hour news cycle. on This Is My Thing we talk to people about the things they do just for themselves. It is not their job and it is not a responsibility. It’s just a thing that brings them joy or feeds their souls.
This week, swimming! Also, biking! And running!
That’s right, we’re talking about the triathlon. My guests today are Caitlin and Tiffany Saunders, known collectively as Team Saunders, who have been training and competing together in triathlons for several years.
Tiffany Saunders [00:00:56] I’m Tiffany Saunders.
Caitlin Saunders [00:00:57] And I’m Caitlin Saunders.
Tiffany and Caitlin Saunders [00:00:58] And triathlon is our thing.
Michael Lee [00:01:01] Y’all have the same last name.
Tiffany Saunders Yes.
Michael Lee And that’s because you are wife and wife.
Tiffany Saunders We are.
Michael Lee And you became wife and wife because of triathlons.
Tiffany Saunders [00:01:09] Yeah, that’s exactly how we met. I was in triathlon since 2009. This is actually my 15th year in the sport, and I’ve been doing it for a little while. I had signed up one summer to do a triathlon relay with a friend of mine and another friend. And the runner friend, she had to bail out within a week of the race. And she was like, but don’t worry. I have a friend that will fill in for me. And then a few days later, I met Caitlin for the first time, and this was two days before the race. And I was like, yeah, yeah. She looks like she would be a fun person to hang around with. And we got to chatting over the course of the next few days and of course before and after the race and found out we had a lot of common and yeah, the triathlon relay went well, we finished second and then we were looking for the very next relay that we could sign up for and do again. And then then it just became a habit.
Caitlin Saunders [00:02:04] I was training for my very first triathlon and I was like, Well, maybe I could pick up some tips. And I picked up more than just tips.
Michael Lee [00:02:12] Did any part of you think, my first race, I’ll come in second and find my wife?
Caitlin Saunders [00:02:17] No. It never crossed my mind. No. Never in a million years.
Michael Lee [00:02:22] Something that we should probably do, just for people who are listening, who maybe have heard of a triathlon and don’t know for sure what that is. Do you want to just give like a real quick explanation? Obviously, it’s three things in one.
Caitlin Saunders [00:02:34] So a triathlon is a swim bike run. There are several different distances. The main one that you probably have heard of are Sprint Olympic half Ironman and then full Ironman distance. The sprint distances can range around a 300 yard swim, maybe a ten mile bike ride, and then A5K run 3.1 miles. And then that ranges all the way up to a full Ironman, which is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and then a full marathon.
Tiffany Saunders [00:03:03] And it’s all back to back.
Caitlin Saunders [00:03:04] Yeah.
Tiffany Saunders [00:03:05] In one day.
Caitlin Saunders [00:03:06] Back to back to back.
Michael Lee [00:03:07] So that’s that’s not to be taken lightly.
Caitlin Saunders [00:03:10] It is not. No, it’s quite the feat. It’s it’s a little bit of craziness to take it on. But once you have and you’ve crossed that finish line of a full Ironman, that feeling is unlike anything you can describe. And Tiffany and I, we don’t have kids, but some some that do have kids and have also crossed that line say it’s right up there with the birth of their child. It’s that spectacular.
Michael Lee [00:03:37] Let’s go back a little bit. We started talking about your story, where your stories combined into one. But before that, you got started a little bit earlier. Tell me how that came to be. What got you interested?
Tiffany Saunders [00:03:49] So it was 2009. Actually, it was 2008. December of 2008. I was out of shape looking for things to kind of spark my fire, to get out the door and do things and be more active again. I was a I was an athlete growing up. I did all the sports. I was very fit and in shape. But then you kind of get, you know, into young adulthood and you get complacent. You get settled into the career and you know, things happen. You pack on the pounds. So I, I decided, well, I want to do something different. I went out and I bought a road bike. And after maybe the second time that I rode that road bike, I’m like, okay, I’m too competitive of a person. I need something more than just riding around the county on my road bike. So I one night was just doing a Google search. Like what? You know, what can I do with a road bike and whatever. And I actually came across some websites about triathlon like, yeah, I’ve, I’ve heard of this, I’ve seen the Ironman montages on TV before. I think I’d be interested in trying this. And so I never really considered myself a runner. I was a swimmer in my youth, so I started searching for races in the area. And what I was looking for was a race with the shortest run. And I found a run that was only two miles. And I was like, this is great. It’s a 300 yard swim. I think it was a 12 mile bike in a two mile run. I’m like, I can do that. Well, even though it was just a two mile run, it was a hilly run. And I didn’t find that out until I showed up right before race day. But I crossed that finish line and thought was the hardest thing I had done. But then I was like, I want to do more of this. And it’s it’s addictive. The bug bit me, and here I am 15 years later.
Michael Lee [00:05:39] Caitlin, how did you get started?
Caitlin Saunders [00:05:41] So in 2011, I had a friend that her and I, we would go the gym all the time and we would do gym classes, but we were kind of looking for something more and I would not have called myself a swimmer, a biker or a runner who was not any of these things. But she had the great idea, Hey, let’s do this triathlon. I’m like, Well, I don’t know what it is. I searched it a little bit and read a little bit about it and said, Well, okay, well, it’ll be a challenge, but I’m up for it, so let’s go. Shortly after signing up for it, in came Tiffany with the relay that we did. So it was actually amazing timing because she was able to help with not just the swimming portion, but, you know, tips on how exactly to go through your triathlon because it’s not just swim, bike, run. There’s also transitions in between each leg. And so that takes some practice as well. And just kind of wrapping here a whole head around this new sport and triathlon, it’s not very mainstream. You don’t really hear or read a whole lot about triathlon. So having Tiffany with all her knowledge at the time was was bonus.
Michael Lee [00:06:52] I find that interesting that you said you weren’t really interested in any of the three components, but just go ahead and do a triathlon.
Caitlin Saunders [00:07:00] Yeah, And a funny side note, the runner that wasn’t able to run that relay, she told me that it was A5K. I was like, okay, I can I can run A5K. But while we were on her way to packet pick up for that relay, Tiffany had mentioned about how long would it take you to run five miles. I’m like, five miles. I thought this was A5K So there’s, there’s a two mile difference in there, which at the time was a big difference for me. So I had a little bit of a, no thought, but made it out alive and. Made it out to race another day.
Michael Lee [00:07:34] So for you, was it was it a similar thing once you had done one? Did you feel like this is my thing now?
Caitlin Saunders [00:07:39] It yes, it’s one and hooked. And we tell a lot of people that we here are training for their first one. We’re like, it’s there’s a bug. It’s going to bite you to just get ready. You know, it’s hard when you’re in the middle of these triathlons because it takes a lot of effort and it’s, you know, sometimes painful and you kind of go through the emotions as you’re going through the triathlon of highs and lows. But I’m telling you, once you hit that finish line, it it’s it’s an immediate high and you want more of it.
Tiffany Saunders [00:08:11] I think one thing it’s interesting that we do that a lot of people probably don’t is we do all of our bike training at home. I built out a a pain cave, they call it. Right now we are in our pain cave, which has two triathlon bikes mounted to smart trainers and two virtual television screens that allow us to ride and do our workouts in a virtual world called Zwift. So we can basically roll out of bed and we do and get right on the bike first thing in the morning and knock out an hour, hour and a half on the bike in the comfort of our own home. So the longest bike rides we’ve ever done were Ironman distance triathlons, and that’s 112 miles. So you’re looking at upwards of six and a half, seven hours, maybe more. I think one year we had a lot of headwind. So it took longer. On the trainer, we’ve done six to 6.5 hours.
Caitlin Saunders [00:09:10] You got to take a step out of your comfort zone for sure because it is hard and there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it and you got to find the time to put in exercise for a swim bike run on top of your day job. And if you’re going to school or if you have a family or so many other things that take up our time during the day. But once you get into it and you find that you love it, you find a way to make it work.
Tiffany Saunders [00:09:37] And another thing like a message I like to share is that you can do it at your own pace. Like you don’t have to go out to try to win. You don’t have to go out and try to finish in the top. But what is you know, what is your goal? What is your what is good for you? And, you know, I always say that we get to do this. This is a privilege to be able to see what our bodies can do and over the years, you know, push it further and further. But at the same time, if you like being active and like being out there, you don’t have to be going for gas the whole way. You can still swim, bike and run at your own pace and you can do the training and then you can go do the race and celebrate the reward of crossing a finish line. But you don’t have to go out with the mindset that you have to be the greatest. You can just go out with the mindset that this is something I enjoy and I want to do this.
Michael Lee [00:10:35] And it’s perfectly okay to come in last in a triathlon.
Tiffany Saunders [00:10:38] It certainly is. Sometimes the people that are finishing last get the loudest cheers. Like people will go to the finish line and cheer men and bring them on in. And and that’s, you know, that that’s touching. You see that and you’re just it. You can’t help but be emotional when you see the back of the Packers finishing these races. And you’re proud of them and they’re proud and to them, they finish a triathlon. And that’s a huge accomplishment regardless what position you finish.
Michael Lee [00:11:09] Y’all are doing the same thing. You’re training together. Do you ever get competitive with each other?
Caitlin Saunders [00:11:14] No. We honestly want the best for each other. Whether I have a faster race or Tiffani has a faster race, that really doesn’t matter who’s faster, It’s how they performed and how they felt. And were they able to put a complete triathlon together. That’s what we’re really rooting for is the other to have their best day.
Tiffany Saunders [00:11:36] Yeah, we are very supportive of each other and there’s also an age difference. So that also helps because we’re in different age groups, so we are not racing each other. I still don’t think we would be competitive with each other. I don’t know. Maybe we would. But I want to get to the finish line to hear her story and she wants the same to hear how our days transpired. But we’re just cheering for one another.
Michael Lee [00:12:02] And since you’re not in the same age class, there’s always the possibility you could both come in first.
Tiffany Saunders [00:12:06] Yeah, and we actually did. We both want to race in Florida back in 20 early 2021. Like the 2021 was a really good year for both of us. And we went to a smaller.
Caitlin Saunders [00:12:17] Right when the world started opening back up.
Tiffany Saunders [00:12:20] And yeah, Caitlin finished first in her age group and I finished first in mind. And that was the time that they were still kind of hesitant of doing post-race award ceremonies and everything. So you had to go check your times and ask, you know, Hi, I’m Tiffany. I’m number two, three, four. And then like, you finish first. And I’m like, I finished first. And then like, the lady saw Caitlin’s number. She’s like, You did too. And that was just there was a really cool feeling to be able to do that. It was a small, smaller race. So again, we’re not up there at the level of finishing these big races in first place. But yeah, it’s it’s cool that we can both we can both have a great day and not step on one another’s toes at all.
Caitlin Saunders [00:13:04] Yeah. Another good thing about doing triathlons outside of Texas or outside of Austin is that. We call them race nations, and we use that time to explore wherever it is. This race may be like Florida. We’ve been to Florida, California, Tennessee, Ohio, and then that has also led us to other countries. We’ve been to South Africa, Finland, now we’re going to New Zealand. This sport is incredible to really see the world and meet new people. And we’ve met incredible people along the way that have become some of our closest friends.
Michael Lee [00:13:44] Have you taken any non-triathlon vacations in the past ten years or so?
Caitlin Saunders [00:13:47] No, I think I think all of my vacation time is used towards race relations.
Michael Lee [00:13:53] Do you have any any big goals left that you want to accomplish or that you’re hoping to accomplish in order to.
Caitlin Saunders [00:13:59] Absolutely. As soon as you hit one goal, you just take it up another level and set a new goal. And I think that’s, you know, another drive of the sport that keeps you coming back for more is because you can always grow. There’s you never going to top out. I mean, you can continuously grow and learn about the sport because it’s ever changing.
Tiffany Saunders [00:14:18] I want to keep getting faster. I. My personal best time came in June of 2021. And at some point very soon, I would like to break my personal best.
Caitlin Saunders [00:14:31] Yeah, a mantra that we have is race mighty. And that’s something that we tell ourselves throughout the race is race mighty be mighty, be the best that you can. And there’s times that it gets hard. But once you reinforce positivity in yourself, that really goes a long ways and that helps get you through the painful bits or when it’s getting hard and you want to throw in the towel, you just constantly reminding yourself of to be mighty be, be strong, be positive. And it really pushes you forward.
Michael Lee [00:15:01] On how long can you keep doing this? How long do you want to keep doing.
Caitlin Saunders [00:15:06] Into our 80s? Come on.
Tiffany Saunders [00:15:08] I say I want to just keep crossing the finish line. 67 years old. Yeah.
Caitlin Saunders [00:15:12] When? When they do age group awards. There are ladies and gentlemen in their 80s still doing the sport and they look incredible and it just mind blowing and it’s like, do I want to be that someday?
Tiffany Saunders [00:15:25] That’s the bar right there. Like, I hope I can still be that.
Caitlin Saunders [00:15:29] I hope sometimes there’s some out there twice our age passing us. I’m just like, Yeah, jaw dropped and just in on just like, I want to do that someday. I want to be as good as you are when I’m that age.
Tiffany Saunders [00:15:42] And some of them I want to be as good as they are at this age.
Caitlin Saunders True.
Michael Lee [00:15:57] Thanks for listening to This Is My Thing. I’m Michael Lee and I produce the show. Thanks to Jack Anderson for doing some field recording with Team Saunders in their pain cave. And special thanks, of course, to Tiffany and Caitlin Saunders for sharing their love of triathlon with us. If you haven’t seen them already, you can check out photos of Tiffany and Caitlin in their pain cave on our show page at KUT.org. We’ve got more This Is My Thing coming soon. We recently met a guy who plays bike polo, a metal detectorist who uses his powers for good, and a woman who found a creative spark with fingernail art. And we’ve been talking to a bunch more interesting people that we haven’t interviewed yet, but we will! Keep listening for those stories and more.
If you’d like to tell us about your thing and maybe be a part of a future episode of the show, that’s pretty easy. You just go to the This Is My Thing show page at KUT.org. You’ll find a form on that page that will let you tell us about your thing. And if filling out online forms is really fun for you, there are other forms on KUT’s website as well. Specifically, I’m talking about the form you can fill out to become a member of the station. Our members make this and everything we do possible.
Laurie Gallardo [00:17:27] Support for This Is My Thing comes from locally owned Eckert Insurance. Worry less. Live more.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
