Intro Q & A

Name? 

Jackie Cruickshank Cohen

Place of Birth?

Torrington, Wyoming

Age?

59

Specific Sport?  

Multi-sport athlete, Triathlon

Why did you get started doing it and why do you continue doing it in a few sentences?

I played a number of different sports growing up and throughout high school. My favorites were volleyball, softball, and track. After leaving high school, I focused exclusively on running. And after graduating from college, I started working for New Balance. Marathon running culture was entrenched in the corporate culture there and I got completely caught up in it. I loved having a new challenge and found distance running to be a calming, meditative influence in my life after years of competing in middle distance events (primary the 400 and 800 meters). But I eventually became injured with the increased mileage. It was at this point that I discovered cross training, using swimming and cycling as a supplement to and replacement for my running.

Athlete Q & A

What are the biggest moments of your career or some top accomplishments?

Most of my memorable moments are short snippets and small wins. But there are a few things that stand out in my more recent memory–setting a women’s sprint course record at a triathlon in Washington State at the age of 55. Running a sub 20:00 5K at the age of 57. Winning the 50+ age division of an aquathon that involved a swim from Alcatraz Island and a run back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge. A “blast from the past” would be setting a high school 400 meter dash record which still remains after 41 years.

You've had quite a lot of knee surgeries, what's your key to coming back each time? 

Patience, persistence, and taking things one, small step at a time. Staying positive by reframing setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning. For me, the way forward has always been to focus on what I COULD and not what I COULDN’T do at any given moment in time in the comeback process.

Any advice you'd give to your younger self, especially when it comes to maximizing athletic performance and potential? 

I would encourage myself to explore alternatives to finding a “quick fix” for injuries. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with the fact that biomechanical and muscular imbalances are usually a root cause. Surgery should be the last possible alternative to consider. Knowledge about self-care has grown exponentially in the past few years. Looking back in time, it looks a little bit like the dark ages. Foam rolling? What the heck is that?

How do you view training and racing differently now that you are older? And how are you still able to beat people half your age? 

I see competition in pretty much the same way–a race or event is really just an opportunity to go hard and to put my training to the test. I don’t waste any energy worrying about my results; it all goes into racing. Having said that, I am in it to win it. I set my expectations pretty high. 

With each passing year, I am realizing just how important it is to train efficiently. I see a lot of endurance athletes–both young and old–who have bought into the “more is better” mentality. My strategy is based on doing as little instead of as much as possible to accomplish my goals. Overtraining runs rampant in endurance sports. It’s a performance drain and I have learned–possibly the hard way–not to let myself get sucked into it.

I think the years have also taught me to acknowledge just how important the mental side of athletic performance is. I am constantly talking myself into–and not out of–what I am capable of doing–how fast I can go, how hard I can push. I honestly have never thought about my age when I get to the starting line. On the outside, I am a fifty-something master’s athlete. But on the inside, I still feel like a 12-year-old when I’m out riding my bike. 

What is one of the biggest challenges you have overcome and how did you do it? 

I’ve experienced a lot of loss in my life. My mother died of complications from an autoimmune disease when she was 56. My father died of a stroke at the age of 68. I have lost all three of my brothers in the past five years–two of them in the past year along–under tragic circumstances. My sister and I are the only remaining members of the family of seven I grew up in. I’m not sure I will really be able to overcome this. But the “silver lining” in the cloud of sadness may be that I have been given the opportunity to come to terms with what I personally believe are the fundamental building blocks of a meaningful life. In the aftermath of loss, it has become increasingly important for me to leave something useful behind. I think this was subconsciously one of the reasons I decided to write a book on women’s health and fitness a few years back. If it can help just one woman overcome a health or performance obstacle, I will have made a difference. And that means a lot to me.

The most simple and easy thing you've done or tips you have to maximize performance in all three sports of the triathlon? 

The first tip I have is to be consistent and just keep showing up. Doing the occasional big-picture analysis of how things are going (this is what races are for) is necessary, but don’t waste any time and energy striving for perfection during each and every workout. Just do the best you can with what you have on any given day. And then just keep doing it.

The second tip would be to prioritize rest and recovery. Strength and fitness gains don’t happen during a workout–no matter how good it is. The real magic happens when the body is allowed to rest. Getting enough sleep is a completely under-appreciated piece of the performance puzzle. I hear a lot of athletes talking about how few hours they sleep at night as if it’s a badge of honor. It’s not. 

Mystery Questions

Worst and best piece of advice you've heard or been given? 

I was coached by Bart Bowen when I lived in Bend, Oregon during 2008-2009. At the time, I was relatively new to competitive cycling and focused on earning USAC road upgrade grade points. Bart was a two-time national road racing champion and he competed on six different occasions with the American World Championship Road team. The point being that he was no stranger to success. The golden piece of advice he gave me was pretty simple: ignore what other riders are doing and stay focused on your own needs, your own goals, your own plan. Now that social media has become such a pervasive and sometimes distracting influence, the advice rings true for me now more than ever.

3 bike handling tips everyone should know?

1. Learn how to glance backward as a safety check while you're riding. Briefly balancing your chin on the top of my shoulder can make things feel more stable. If you ride in a group, this is an essential skill to master. You should never move sideways without taking a quick peek behind you to ensure that your wheels are clear. 

2. Think about steering from the hips rather than the hands. Your bike is going to end up going where your body points.

3. Develop a feel for when and how much to feather the brakes going into a corner and when to accelerate out of it. Good cornering skills can be used as a huge competitive advantage on both the road and trail.

    

Is it true Lance Armstrong helped you change a flat during a race? Tell us more! 

During the 2021 Hincapie Fondo in Greenville, SC I started experiencing some brake rub on my front rim just after the start of the first timed climb on the Saluda Grade. I stopped a few times, making some short and somewhat frantic attempts to adjust it, but finally decided to just power through the climb and deal with the issue once I was through the timing zone at the top. As I was in the process of attempting a more rational but still very rushed fix, I heard someone off to my left saying, “I do not like what I am seeing.” The next thing I know there are hands expertly loosening the skewer, repositioning and retightening the wheel. I was completely focused on the process but when I looked up, I instantly recognized who those helping hands belonged to–none other than Lance Armstrong. It was a one in a million chance meeting. To this day, I am still grateful for his help. 

The best thing you’ve bought in the past year to help improve your health, fitness, and/or performance?

I have been dialing in my food and fueling with the use of a continuous glucose monitor. I had no idea what a poor job I was doing at supporting my body’s energy demands–especially during race efforts. The what, when, and how much of health and performance fueling is guesswork without this device.

Better gear, better fitness, better health. Which order should these be in for the biggest improvements in athletic success? 

For me, it starts with health as the underlying foundation. It might be possible to let things slide for a while, especially if you’re younger. But it will come back to bite you. I have seen it happen countless times over the years. Prioritizing improved fitness over new gear is the choice I have personally made. I race on four different bikes and it’s difficult to invest in having each one updated with the “latest and greatest.” Having said that, I think having a strong, fast, and light wheelset–on any bike–is the best bang for the buck when it comes to making an upgrade.

Your biggest idea for a better life (in 1 or 2 sentences)?

There is an unwritten but all-important rule in mountain biking: focus on where you WANT to go, not on where you DON’T. If you keep looking at the steep exposure off the side of the trail, you'll end up going over the edge. Life is a lot like mountain biking–you can navigate the trail with a lot more competence and confidence if you keep your head up and eyes focused forward.

Outro Questions

You also do private coaching, right? Please tell us a little bit more about that.

I’m an NBHWC Board Certified Health coach who specializes in women’s sports performance, but I enjoy working with men, too. I hold health coaching certifications from Precision Nutrition, The Primal Health Coach Institute, The Bioregulatory Medical Institute, and PH360–an Australian organization that offers a structured approach to unlocking the hidden health and performance benefits of identifying and working with your innate Health Type.

Where can our readers follow you and stay updated on the latest? 

I occasionally post things that I find insightful, meaningful, and/or relevant (which isn’t all that often) on my business Facebook page–Performance Prescription. And I enjoy posting inspirational  thoughts on my Instagram account. 

Anyone who is interested in learning more about my health coaching philosophy can visit my website at www.performanceprescription.com. My book, Get Back in the Game: Overcoming the Eight Obstacles to Female Health and Performance, is available in three different formats on Amazon.com.

Any last words of wisdom? 

Keep those feet spinning!

Are you an athlete? Have an awesome story or accomplishment? Or just interested in just sharing your wisdom with the world?

Well, then we'd love to have you (or someone you want to nominate) be featured on our next installment of The Heart of An Athlete!

Please contact ethan@purecleanperformance.com to be featured!