PowerUp Tri Podcast Episode 21: Skye Moench

The PowerUp Tri Podcast is hosted by former pro triathletes Matt Lieto and Jordan Rapp, who lend their in-depth knowledge of the multisport to the Zwift Tri audience.

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In 2019 Skye Moench was having a year she’d been working hard towards as a new professional. She had a huge win at Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt, a win in Boulder, four big second places, and she was qualified for her first Ironman World Championship in Kona. Just 10 days out from traveling to the islands she had a nasty bike wreck and was in the hospital, and clearly out of the race. Skye is currently building back to have another strong season after a few surgeries to repair the damage done from the accident. We thought there’s no better time and no better guest to have on to talk about goal setting than Skye!

Skye went from having big goals on the triathlon stage at its most prestigious race to not being able to think about triathlon at all. As she said, “All triathlon related goals were off the table… I can’t think of these things; I have 1,000 goals before that because I can’t brush my teeth.” With this new baseline and a lot of hurdles to overcome before she could think about her career aspirations, she began to set goals that allowed her to take “baby steps” on her way back from recovery. “One foot in front of the other… I had to focus on what I could do.” At that time it was just walks with her dog strapped to her waist.

This is an extreme example of a goal reset, but I think some great things can be learned from Skye’s experience. People make mistakes often in setting their goals. You have to be realistic, or you’re going to get negative feedback when you miss your mark, or you might actually train improperly, trying to force your body into doing something it’s not ready for. I explain how I remind my new pro triathlete coaching clients that expectations can affect the outcome and remind them that they’re likely not going to win Kona their first year as a pro. I tell them what my first goal was when I turned pro: I wrote on a piece of paper, “Get your ass kicked,” and you know what? I achieved that goal pretty easily. Success!

In this episode, we go much deeper into goal setting as well as hit all of our normal segments. There is lots of good news to talk about including PTO (Pro Triathlon Organization) news, Challenge Roth getting all sorts of big names signed up, and random banter about what Jan Frodeno’s racing schedule will be. All this, plus we find out how to pronounce Skye’s last name (rhymes with launch), and if Eric Min is truly omnipresent.

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