Sue Reynolds gained fame for losing 200 pounds after taking up triathlon at age 65. A few years later, she stunned the sport by winning a world championship as a member of Team USA. Across the Line shares the story of Sue Reynolds’ remarkable transformation into a world champion, revealing Olympic-level training methods and elite coaching techniques. In this excerpt from the book, Reynolds shares what world-class triathlon coaching looks like.
I always assumed Olympic-level coaches earned millions—like NFL or NBA coaches—and expected Bobby McGee to arrive in a luxury sedan or maybe a flashy sports car. Instead, he pulled up in a small hatchback that had clearly logged a lot of miles. The back of his car was crowded with plastic bins filled with athletic gear. I loved it. And suspecting that Bobby kept his fee low so Olympic hopefuls who had little income could afford his services, my respect and fondness grew even more.
Training with Bobby was wonderful—and also terrifying. As we walked from the parking lot to the soccer field with the snow-capped Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, I had to force my legs to move forward. As soon as Bobby saw me do anything physical, I was sure he would wonder why on earth he’d agreed to coach me. I commanded myself to step up: If you want to improve, you have to do this.
As we walked, Bobby mentioned that he had jokingly named one of the soccer fields “Jorgensen Field” because that’s where he and Gwen Jorgensen trained whenever she flew in to work with him in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. He’d named the other field after Flora Duffy—the incredible triathlete from Bermuda who worked with Bobby particularly in the lead-up to winning gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Gwen Jorgensen? Flora Duffy? I suddenly felt very small.
Bobby stopped and made note of my ponytail at the base of my neck. He told me to position it higher and pull it through the opening in the back of my run cap. That would keep me cooler. Somehow this simple instruction made everything okay. It was like he was communicating, I am meeting you where you are. It doesn’t matter to me if you are Gwen or Flora or a 70-year-old woman who doesn’t know how to wear her ponytail. I will help you improve. I trusted him to look out for me.
As we approached Jorgensen Field, Bobby told me another athlete wanted to join us. “Is that okay?” he asked. His question was so considerate. I wasn’t sure I wanted someone else watching me make a fool out of myself in front of Bobby, but I said yes.
When the athlete showed up, I recognized him right away as Jason West. I was starstruck. I followed Jason on social media. He was a professional triathlete with an amazing trajectory, known as one of the top runners in triathlon. How was this going to work?
Bobby instructed us to stand on the edge of the field. As I stood side by side with Jason waiting for Bobby to tell us what to do, my mind spiraled. What are you doing here? You don’t know how to run. They are going to roll their eyes when they see you run. But then I grasped for the mantra of the day: Step up!
Bobby told us to do one of his dynamic mobility drills across the width of the soccer field. Jason flew ahead of me. Bobby handled it perfectly. First, he followed Jason across the field telling him how to perfect the drill and then he circled back to instruct me. Once we reached the other side of the field, he had us do another drill in the opposite direction.
There was only one problem—I had virtually no rest as Bobby started the next drill as soon as I finished the previous one. Not yet acclimated to the Boulder altitude, I found myself gasping for breath— which I tried to hide.
Constructive Coaching Cues
I greatly appreciated that Bobby never told me what I was doing wrong. Not once. Instead, he’d say, “Good!” and point out the things I had done well. Then he’d say, “Now, let’s try . . .” and provide suggestions for improvement. I found myself full of energy and hope and eager to work.
Jason also helped build my confidence. Each time I finished a drill he would tell me, “Good job!” Sometimes Bobby asked Jason to demonstrate a drill for me. Jason not only demonstrated, he shared his own tips. For example, when we worked on the groin side shuffles, Jason suggested that I take three shuffles before sinking into the stretch instead of two. To this day, every time I do that drill, I think of Jason.
There came a point in the workout when Bobby asked me to demonstrate for Jason. Evidently, Bobby liked the way I twisted in one of the drills and wanted Jason to see it. I’m sure Bobby was trying to build my confidence—or maybe make a joke, since I was old enough to have done The Twist at dances in my teenage years. Whatever the reason, I shyly demonstrated, and my entire being soared. Ever since, I’ve taken a small amount of credit for each of Jason’s wins and his top-10 world ranking. After all, I taught him how to twist!
Jason left to do a run after we finished the drills. Bobby told me to run across the field toward him. This was the moment I feared—the moment when Bobby would see me run. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so nervous. Pushing my pride aside, I returned to my mantra: Step up. I ran toward Bobby, trying to look like a runner. Next, Bobby had me run past him as he watched from the side. As he had done with the drills, each time I ran, Bobby said, “Good!” and pointed out what I did well before saying, “Now let’s try. . . .” I soaked in every word he said.
Running Form Video
At the end of our time together, Bobby positioned himself on the turf and filmed me running toward him and then past him. A few days later, I received an email with photos of me running. Bobby had drawn lines along my body with various angles measured. During our next Zoom, he explained what those angles meant, made slight adjustments to my strength workout, and emphasized the importance of doing his dynamic mobility drills prior to each run workout.
Two weeks after training in Boulder with Bobby, I raced in a local sprint triathlon. This was my first race in two years because of COVID. It was also my first race with Jim Vance as my coach, and I wanted to show him how well I could execute a race. I was nervous as heck!
Having not raced in so long, I couldn’t remember how it felt to run 5K off the bike, so I couldn’t fully visualize the run or how I would execute my race. I would be winging it—not something I liked to do.
My race fell on the same day as the Yokohama World Triathlon Series in Japan, where Ben Kanute was attempting to qualify for the U.S. Olympic triathlon team. The pressure was high and although Jim couldn’t travel to Yokohama with Ben due to COVID restrictions, he was immersed in coaching him from afar. Even though it was my race week too, I didn’t want to bother Jim. Ben’s race was too important. It was kind of like I was Ben’s teammate in that we shared the same coach. I figured being self-sufficient when Ben was trying to qualify for the Olympics was one small way I could support the team. So, I tried not to bother Jim that week, even though I had plenty of questions—and my nerves were frayed.
Like Jim, Bobby had athletes competing in Yokohama, trying to secure a spot on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team—Morgan Pearson, Kevin McDowell, and Matthew McElroy. Although Bobby had not traveled to Japan, I assumed he was crazy busy helping his Olympic hopefuls prepare for their race.
Bobby’s Pre-Race Coaching Note
The morning of my race, I received an email from Bobby:
Hi, Sue. You are a whole, new freed-up YOU! You are conscious, curious, & crazy good. Just go out there & dance the dance & as the rhythm reaches a crescendo, become quiet in the eye of the storm & marvel at who you are & what you can do. Be the race, be the need—want what is wanted & find your speed, your walls to punch through. You cannot fail; just see the doors, knock on them . . . & charge through when they open. Good luck. Bobby
I thrive on final notes from coaches. There’s always something from the note that floats into my head later when things get tough as I’m racing. Sometimes it’s a technique or mental cue, but often it’s just the sense that my coach is with me on the course—I’m not alone.
Race morning went smoothly with Brian there to keep me on schedule. My swim felt strong, my transitions seemed quick (in fact, the race results would reveal that I had the fastest T1 of all age groups), and my bike segment felt solid. Evidently, training twice a day was paying off.
I did not carry my usual water bottle with a wrist strap on the run, as Bobby thought the extra weight in my right hand might throw off my biomechanics—making my run less efficient and possibly risking injury. At the first aid station, I grabbed a cup of water and squeezed the top of it together to make a pour spout as Bobby had instructed me to do. But within two steps, I spilled the entire glass!
At the turnaround, I saw a woman who appeared to be about my age a little bit behind me. I knew I had a good swim and I was sure no one in my age group had passed me on the bike, so I figured I was in first place with this woman in close second. I remembered my earlier talks with Bobby about racing from the front. Instead of focusing on the woman behind me, I pictured the finish line and raced to beat her to it. I imagined we were two kids racing to see who could get to the tree first.
My Mental Toolbox
The last half mile of rolling hills was brutal. Thankfully, my mental toolbox was up to the task. At first it was a simple acknowledgment: It’s just discomfort. It doesn’t matter. Then I started waltzing down the road with discomfort. From there, my body became a simple machine made out of bones and muscles. My job was to keep the parts moving. But on that day, the most helpful tool came from Bobby’s race-morning email. I pictured a line of doors in front of me as I ran down the road, charging through each of them one by one. I sensed Bobby on the course with me, sharing the burden.
Execution Over Race Results
I ran up the last steep hill, turned left into the finish chute, and then ran under the finish line arch. I finished first in my age group, and while that was nice, it didn’t matter to me. It was my execution that made me feel like a winner. I had survived a coaching change, prepared well, made good decisions during the race, and took advantage of each opportunity the race gave me. I felt deeply satisfied and incredibly grateful for my two coaches.
Had I been working with Brant, I would have immediately started texting him about the race and together we would have extracted lessons learned. I wasn’t sure how the post-race debrief worked with my new coaches—especially when they were in the middle of coaching an Olympic-qualifying race. So, I did not text anyone.
But then my phone chimed, and I found a text from Bobby asking how I did. After I told him about the race and we extracted a few lessons, he followed up by saying, “In the future, please text your coaches after you race.” He explained that he had been eagerly waiting to hear from me. Bobby McGee waiting to hear from me? Unbelievable.
With my first post-COVID race now behind me and nationals five months away, I returned to serious training. There came a day when I mentioned to Bobby that I had three workouts and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Looking puzzled and concerned, Bobby said, “Tell me what they are.” I listed the three workouts: swim, strength, and run.
Bobby helped me reframe my workouts and organize my day so that I had proper recovery throughout the day as well as at night. First, he told me to think of training as two sessions per day. When I saw three workouts on my schedule, I should combine two of them (usually swim and strength) into one session. Then he encouraged me to always put four hours between the two sessions, including a good meal and a nap in that time.
I followed Bobby’s advice, which made it easier to train twice a day without becoming overly fatigued. Triathlon was becoming a job for me—a reality that I welcomed. After all, triathlon is a job for an Olympian. I found myself training in the morning, having lunch and taking a nap, training again in the afternoon, preparing my gear for the next day, having dinner, and then spending some time with Brian before heading to bed. My social life disappeared, and Brian took on more of the housework and shopping. I was deeply grateful for his support.
My 2021 Training Volume
As summer evolved and we continued to prepare for 2021 worlds in Bermuda, everything was going well. My training volume was the highest that it had ever been, but it was balanced with sufficient recovery. At nearly 70 years old, I was doing 9,000 meters in the pool, 70 miles on my bike, and 11 miles of running. Of course, this was a drop in the bucket compared to an actual Olympian, but I never imagined I would rack up volume like that.
I could feel myself evolving—not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. I was stepping up to train like an Olympian, working alongside world-class coaches, and absorbing every lesson they offered.
My curiosity about what I could do as an athlete had taken me far. But it didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It had deep roots that came about long before I ever put on a wetsuit or clipped into a bike.
Explore Across the Line
In Across the Line, Sue Reynolds shares a story-driven case study of her transformation into a world champion triathlete.
Reynolds gained fame for losing 200 pounds after taking up triathlon at age 65. In this sequel to her debut bestseller, Reynolds shares her single-minded pursuit of performance, revealing Olympic-level training methods, elite coaching techniques, Overtraining Syndrome, and the dark side of personal ambition.
How good can you be? How hard can you push? Across the Line reveals truths about human limits and shares lessons on balancing joy and the pursuit of excellence.