Skillr Profile: Pattie Wallner

Pattie Wallner is a fitness coach who specializes in endurance sports. She’s sharing her expertise on the SKILLR App and sat down with us to discuss goal setting, her first marathon and how to create a fitness routine that works for you. 

Alexa Goins: Could you tell me your name and what you do on SKILLR?

Pattie Wallner: Sure. My name is Pattie Wallner, and that's Pattie with an i,e, unusual spelling. So, on SKILLR, I am a fitness coach, my area of expertise is really in endurance sports, specifically marathons and triathlons, dipping into any distance from a 5,000 up to a full Ironman.

Alexa Goins: Awesome. How did you get into your field?

Pattie Wallner: Well, one day when I had been living in San Diego, I decided to run a marathon, and I had no clue what I was doing. I lost six toenails, I started a new job the next day, had to wear sandals because my feet were all messed up. So, since then I said to myself, "Well, I have to do it again and try better." So, since then I've done 68 marathons, 12 full Ironmans, and I decided, after I got laid off, because of COVID, I said, "I've got a lot of miles on this body, but I don't have any certification for it.", so after COVID hit, I went through the national academy, a sports medicine and got my personal trainer certificate as well as the group exercise fitness instructor certificate. So, I kind of put the credentials with my passion. And then in October, SKILLR reached out to me and said, "Hey, we see you're very active and we'd love to have you come onto our program." So, that's how I kind of got into the sport and how I came into SKILLR.

Alexa Goins: Cool. I'm impressed that you lost six toenails and went to work the next day.

Pattie Wallner: Yeah, my shoes were too small, so that's a tip I will... Happy to share on, make sure you're running shoes are bigger than your street shoes.

Alexa Goins: That's a good tip. What's your favorite thing about teaching people about fitness?

Pattie Wallner: The favorite thing is that everybody is unique, so, my approach is that everybody has a different goal in mind. So, I like to sit down with them and get to know them, find out "What is your goal?" And then that goal may be, "I really want to run a marathon in six months." And then sit down with them and go, "Okay, well, what kind of issues or obstacles might you have?" Do you work full time? Do you have a medical condition? Do you have three kids? And so, kind of, listen to them and figure out, okay, based upon your goal and based upon those issues and concerns, what kind of a schedule and program can we put in place? So, I really love the customization of working with people, and everybody is different, and motivating them and getting them step by step to reaching that goal. So, I just love the personalization and the uniqueness that everybody is different. And as... I had a really good coach, Coach James, who said, "Everybody's an experiment of one, everyone's different, what works for you doesn't work for me or what works for her." So, that's what I really like about coaching and fitness.

Alexa Goins: I love that, everyone's an experiment of one. That's such a cool thing.

Pattie Wallner: That was Coach James who said that. Yeah, I love that.

Alexa Goins: What are some common challenges that people run into when creating a fitness routine?

Pattie Wallner: I would say one of the biggest challenges is frequency and consistency of a routine. Life happens, your kids get sick, the car breaks, whatever, life happens. And I think the biggest thing is the consistency in working towards that goal, I mean, life throws those curve balls. But I think what's important for people to know is there's modifications that can happen. I mean, I have gotten injured working my way towards a long distance running event, I've had to do alternative sports in between times. So, there's always detours you can take when life throws you curve balls. But it's the consistency that's the key thing, whether you exercise for five minutes a day or five hours a day, it's just that consistency and frequency that'll allow you to achieve your goal and get across that finish line.

Alexa Goins: That makes so much sense, just in goal setting in general with anything-

Pattie Wallner: Yeah. The stop starting and the stop starting and the stop starting, I do it for two days and then I stop for two weeks and... You're just going to get hurt, you're just going to get injured. That'll set you back.

Alexa Goins: Well, since SKILLR is a platform about learning and growing, what's one thing that you're learning about or interested in learning about right now?

Pattie Wallner: One thing that I'm delving into is, we've got a aging population, I'm not under 20, right? And I've got a lot of experience under my belt as far as training and racing, and so I'd like to encourage the aging population, whatever, to keep fit and keep active. So, there's physiology involved in what we can do to maintain that level of fitness and if we want to continue competing is what I do, I race all the time. So, that's kind of the next area after having all my certification that I kind of want to delve into.

Alexa Goins: I love that because even when you're a professional in something it's so important to just keep learning within your own field too.

Pattie Wallner: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly.

Alexa Goins: Okay. I want to have you complete this phrase, "When I'm not working as a personal trainer, I'm... "

Pattie Wallner: When I'm not working as a personal trainer, I'm actually doing my own training as I have Ironmans and marathons that I continue to do. I also have a creative outlet where I decided to pay it forward, after COVID I had some downtime, I put together something called Tri Pattie's Pointers, which is like a YouTube channel where I just put together in a fun and entertaining way tips and tricks on running, how to tie your shoes, where to carry your fuel, where to put fuel on your bike, what kind of transition bag content you should have. So, I want to kind of continue to do that and pay it forward. And then also the last thing is I'm a big dog lover and so I... Unfortunately, I just lost two dogs in this past year so... I used to do therapy work with my dog so I want, probably in the summertime or so, or in the fall, get another dog and kind of go back into the dog world, so yeah, miss my pups. So, that's my... Always training and, kind of, paying it forward and then loving my dogs.

Alexa Goins: Yeah. I'm sorry to hear about your dogs.

Pattie Wallner: Yeah. It was sad, but they had a good life.

Alexa Goins: Yeah. We lost a cat a couple months ago. But, yeah, they're just... It's such a big loss.

Pattie Wallner: It is, yeah.

Alexa Goins: What would you say to people who want to learn more about fitness but maybe don't know where to get started?

Pattie Wallner: So, what I would suggest to people who want to learn about fitness is, first of all, figure out what sport you're interested in. Could be kayaking, it could be mountain biking, it could be walking, it could be ice skating, it could be anything. So, that's kind of where you want to start, it's what is going to give you joy? Some people think, "Oh, I should run." Well, if you don't like it, don't do it. Right? Figure out what gives you joy and what you are going to be excited about, because just what your spouse does, your partner does, or whatever your kids do, they play soccer doesn't mean you have to play soccer. So, figure out what gives you joy.

 And then figure out, what we were talking about earlier, what your goal is, do you have any goal you want to do with that sport? You want to go run a 5,000, okay, well then, so we need to put a plan in action, and then there's a start and a finish. So you put a plan of action, what kind of concerns or issues are there, and put a program in place and then go off to achieve your goal. And I'd say there's a lot of... SKILLRs a great place to go, of course, to look for fitness coaches, and just from Facebook groups or Instagram, wherever, social media is a great platform to find people, or you find a friend through a local group who's got a coach or something and then go that way.

But the key thing is just get started. This is another phrase I like, "You practice the progress, you don't have to practice for perfection." You're not going to get it right the first time, you're going to stumble, you're going to make mistakes, you're going to get sore, you're going to get hurt, but it's all part of the journey, it's a journey. It's a journey, and just enjoy the ride.

Alexa Goins: Yeah. I really like that phrase. As a recovering perfectionist, that's really important to remember.

Pattie Wallner: Yeah, exactly. Actually I heard that, I listen to a lot of podcasts because a lot of miles to run and stuff, and someone said, "Practice for progress, just step by step each day." Sometimes we think, "Oh, well, I used to be able to run a six minute mile so I should be able to do it again." Well, it's not always going to happen, you get injured, you get older, it's... So, just practice the progress. Yeah.

Alexa Goins: And then, is there any social media that you would like us to share for you?

Pattie Wallner: Oh, well, yeah, so I had put together a YouTube channel called Tri Pattie's Pointers, and that's T-R-I, and then my name P-A-T-T-I-E and then pointers. And there's some videos on there that I had a professional videographer do for me, showing biking and swimming and running tips for anybody, and they're... It's humorous, it's entertaining, it's done with a drone and a GoPro and it's pretty funny and so people might pick up good tips and tricks. But my, really, area of passion is work with people, just kind of get them across that finish line, and if I can help with some efficiencies in their gear setup. You don't have to spend $10,000 on a bike or something like that if it's over-engineered beyond your ability, you don't need, necessarily, the latest and the greatest of everything, there's simple things you can do to get the same result. You don't have to have always the latest and greatest of everything. So-

Alexa Goins: Good advice. That's all I have. Is there anything else you wanted to say?

Pattie Wallner: Let's see. [inaudible 00:13:43] my glasses on see what I wrote down. So, I wrote Q and A, I'm all organized. I just wanted to say that on this Tri Pattie's Pointers, it's basically learned from my successes and my mistakes. Right? So we've all had that. So, learn from others. And that was one thing I wanted to do after COVID, being laid off, is "I need to write down everything that I've you... The knowledge and experience and expertise that I've gained over all these training miles and racing miles and just put it out there, and if somebody gleans one tip, then great."

Alexa Goins: Yeah, I love that. That's so central to what SKILLR is too.

Pattie Wallner: Yeah. Yeah, exactly, and that's what really intrigued me about SKILLR, it was kind of a quick, if you will, in and out, somebody has a question like "It's hot when I go for a bike ride and my fluid always gets warm, what should I do?" It's "Well, put three quarters of the fluid in the freezer the night before, let it freeze, and then just top it off in the morning so as the day goes on the liquid will still stays cold." People are "Oh, well that's a good idea."

Alexa Goins: Yeah. That's a great tip.

Pattie Wallner: Or make sure the baggies are small enough if you're going to put powder in it so when you pour it in the wind doesn't blow the powder everywhere. So, just little practical bits of wisdom, I call it.

Alexa Goins: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. It was so great to talk to you.

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