#OurAthletes: Triathlete Paula Findlay prepares for Pan Am Games

Although she's now one of the world's most recognized female triathletes, it took Paula Findlay years of training as a swimmer and runner, competing in triathlons on the side, before she decided to make it official.

Findlay first jumped in the pool with Edmonton's Keyano Swim Club when she was 11. A few years later, she started running but kept the two sports separate.

Then, at 16, she bought a bike and added triathlon to the mix, competing in the summers but focusing on her varsity swimming, cross country and track teams at the University of Alberta during the rest of the year.

Then things started to change.

"As the years went by and I started getting more successful in triathlon, I kind of put school on the back burner and track, and got more full on into triathlon."

And it's that variety that keeps her in the sport, driving her to excel, today.

"It's different than going to the pool every day as a swimmer and doing 10 kilometres a day in the water or running twice a day," she says.

"It's really nice to mix things up and be able to ride every day and run and swim and do gym. You never get bored of it, there's always different sessions to do, if you're injured you can always do two other sports so I love that part of it."

• Follow #OurAthletes: Paula Findlay and Ben Hayward prepare for Pan Am

Home base up high 

Findlay currently spends about six months of the year in Boulder, Colo. where she trains with coach Siri Lindley.

"Boulder's just a nice, fresh environment for me and a lot of triathletes come here," Findlay says of her adopted home.

"Great riding, great running, kind of the perfect package."

When she's not in Boulder, she's likely on the road, chasing competitions and training opportunities. She spent the first four months of 2015 in Australia.

In between jet-setting, she takes much-needed breaks in Edmonton, where her family and many of her friends still live.

"Edmonton is home for me so I spend a lot of time there."

Prepping for Pan Am

Findlay's last major event — the ITU World Triathlon Series in London, England, where she placed eighth in the elite women's category — was at the end of May. Her next major event, the Pan Am Games, is not until July 11 — leaving Findlay with a decent-sized training block she intends to make full use of.

Coming up, she's got several Olympic qualifier races as well as the ITU World Championship Grand Finals happening in Chicago in September.

"It's a pretty important summer and I'm trying to manage it carefully — but also train really hard because I need to be in my best form ever for the next couple months," she said.

Training life

These days, Findlay says she's "training pretty hard, pretty tired every day."

She describes the day's workout like this:

"Today, I woke up, swam about 4.5 kilometres at 8 o'clock. By 11 o'clock, we were on the bikes for a three-hour ride, just pretty aerobic with some hills. It wasn't too strenuous, but three hours is still a long ride for me. Then jumped off the bike and went to a physio appointment which is almost an hour long, just kind of maintenance and making sure my body's moving properly, came home, ate lunch ... and then I have a 45 minute run to do later today … and also after my run I usually do my core and some stretching … then dinner."

In the evenings, she often "relaxes" by booking flights, arranging visas and replying to emails ("there's a lot of emailing that goes on [to manage] my career," she says).

But it's not all business.

"I do have a really good group of friends here, and most of them are athletes, so it's not like we're going crazy late every night," she says with a laugh, "but it's nice to have a social outlet to take our minds off of training and training and training all the time."

Powering through

Winning aside, Findlay says her main priority is to ensure that she keeps her body in competing shape and doesn't get injured. In the past, she's battled hip problems and anemia.

"That's kind of one of the most important parts of this sport is making sure your body can handle the heavy training loads," she says.

And her history of triumphant highs and apology-inducing lows means she's not taking her health, her training, or the travel, competitions and friendships that come with the job for granted.

"I'm so appreciative of the life I get to live and I recognize it's not a full life sport — you can't do this forever, it's pretty hard on your body — so I'm kind of living it out while I can and I'm trying to do the best I can every day to get back to the top where I was."