#OurAthletes: Triathlete Paula Findlay takes your questions

CBC News has paired up with triathlete Paula Findlay for #OurAthletes, bringing you the inside scoop as Canadian athletes prepare for the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.

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This week, Findlay checked in with the CBC team in her hometown of Edmonton to give an update on her training and life in Colorado:

• On mobile? Listen to the full interview here

She also answered five questions from CBC fans:

What is your favourite competition?

My favourite competition is probably the Edmonton World Triathlon Series race, for a lot of reasons. It's my hometown, so that's always really fun. To race with a big crowd, and when you're running and you can't even hear yourself breathing because everyone's cheering so loud, that's really an exciting thing and makes me race faster.

I know the course really well 'cause I've trained on it my whole life basically — bike riding as a kid. It's really cool and lucky that one of the major triathlon stops in the world is in my own hometown, in my backyard, basically.  

What's your favourite song to work out to?

Aww man, I don't like these questions. I usually just have my ipod on shuffle or Pandora.

I like listening to music but I try not to listen to music all the time because sometimes it's good to be able listen to your own effort and breathing. That's how we race, so if you're always listening to music, you're kind of drowning out your breathing and not aware of what's happening around you. It's good to be able to make your own cadence and be able to feel what it's like to be going on a race-paced cadence rather than just the beat.

What type of bike seat do you use?

I'm riding a Specialized Power saddle. It's actually brand new, it just came out. I just put it on my bike two weeks ago and I love it — the seat is just perfect for the kind of racing I do on a road bike because you can sit up in the bars comfortably in a racing position and then you can down in the drop for a racing position and when your pelvis tilts forward a bit it's still comfortable.

With all that you have gone through since the Olympics, do you feel stronger mentally?

Yes, I suppose I do feel stronger mentally, just because I've had to overcome so many setbacks and difficult things. I've learned a lot. I feel like I know my body better and I know how to handle stress and setbacks better. I've become OK with taking a little bit of time off if I feel like an injury's coming as opposed to waiting 'til it's really bad and having to take months and months off. Those are things you really have to experience to learn, because older, experienced athletes will always tell younger athletes this, but it's really hard to listen unless you experience it for yourself.

I've become mentally stronger and also physically just smarter about my body — when to push, when to hold back. You're on a fine line all the time with the amount of training and how hard we train so I've becoming really good at being in tune with my own body.

Who is your favourite Canadian athlete/biggest inspiration?

I'm quite good friends with Simon Whitfield and Adam van Koeverden, and I think having them as experienced Olympians who have won lots of medals themselves, as people that I can go to for advice or to not talk about sports. They helped me a lot leading into the London Olympics, just because they had been there before. They're super inspiring. They're hard workers. We kind of live the same life, so it's cool to be friends with both of them.

Then, as far as worldwide athletes, I really like Kara Goucher — I've never met her but I think that she's incredibly inspiring, especially in the recent events that have come up with the doping scandals. Also Paula Radcliffe. She's another of my favourite athletes ever — not just because we have the same name. It's funny, I worked with her physiotherapist for a couple of weeks in 2013 and he gave me one of her race shoes. It says "Paula" on the top of it. I keep it right beside my bed because I think it's so cool, cause we have the same name and she's really fast — it's inspiring.

Have a question we haven't asked her yet? Put it in the comments below

Want to know what it takes to make it as an Olympic triathlete? Findlay's coach Siri Lindley posted this short video to Instagram earlier this week:

• On mobile? See the video here