Sue Stockdale talks to Caitríona Jennings, an Olympic athlete and current Irish 50km and 100km record holder, about the preparation, training and mindset required to perform at the highest level of athletics. Caitríona has been able to balance her professional life and sports career simultaneously and describes how she is able to do so.

Having studied Law and Accounting in University, Caitríona joined the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2001 and was promoted to the position of Tax Director before joining Goshawk Aviation as Head of Tax in 2016. Currently living in Hong Kong, Caitríona took on a new role as VP Risk in CDB Aviation in 2019 when she relocated here with her husband. Caitríona is a member of the board of directors of the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and leads the Aviation working group. Caitríona is also a founding member of Propel, an industry networking group for aircraft leasing professionals based in Hong Kong.

Caitríona’s achievements in her professional career were recognised in 2016 when she was selected as a finalist for the Consulting and Advisory Professional of the Year Award, in the Irish Early Career Awards Ceremony.

This series is kindly supported by Squadcast –the remote recording platform which empowers podcasters by capturing high-quality audio and video conversations. Find out more at squadcast.fm

Find out more about Caitriona Jennings:

Website https://www.caitrionajennings.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/caitriona.jennings
Twitter https://twitter.com/cjennings1x
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jenningscaitriona/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitriona-jennings-56385352/

Key Quotes:

“Typically I do try to run early in the morning if I can because I find that once I have my exercise done, I'm more relaxed for the day.”

“I’m humbled to think that I currently hold the Irish record in both 50K and 100K distances.”

“Running. It's a very easy sport to do.”

“I think running has instilled a really strong sense of discipline into me, my timekeeping and how I structure my day.”

“The most important learning that I got from running was how to be resilient.”

“There's always a positive to everything and I try to just constantly focus on that positive.”

“I’m going to be running for as long as I spend a day in work in the office.”

“I have those moments of doubt all the time, the little voice in my head, but I just constantly try and reinforce positivity.”

“What I've learned in the past, If you try and burn someone off too fast, you're actually only destroying your own race.”

“The amount of research that's been done and evidence is overwhelming to show the connection between gut health and mental health.”

“I am motivated to reduce the records for both the 50 K and the 100 K.”

Read the transcription for this episode on www.accesstoinspiration.org and connect with us:
Twitter www.twitter.com/accessinspirat1
Facebook www.facebook.com/accesstoinspiration
Instagram www.instagram.com/accesstoinspiration
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/access-to-inspiration/
Sign up for our newsletter http://eepurl.com/hguX2b
Read our Impact Report https://bit.ly/3hElalv

Sound Editor: Matias de Ezcurra (he/him)
Series Producer: Sue Stockdale (she/her)