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The new Jessi Stensland

It had been quiet around Jessi Stensland for a while now, and a new Jessi Stensland has appeared. The new Jessi had a few words with slowtwitch to talk about mountain biking, rock climbing, XTERRA and the foundation she is involved in.

Slowtwitch: We have not seen that much of you recently. Where have you been?

Jessi: Here, there and everywhere it seems, only in a different way than it used to be when I was training and racing full time. San Diego is still my home base. My time now is split pretty evenly between training, racing, writing, video production and appearances for sponsors.

ST: How much time did you take off, and did you really take time off?

Jessi: I took about 18 months completely off in 2006-07. And yes, completely off! No one believes me though.

ST: Would you recommend a sabbatical time like that to others?

Jessi: I can tell you the benefits I got out of it, like having the time and free spirit to try new things, pursue different paths and spend more quality time with friends and family. I saw the world from a whole new perspective and it was awesomely enlightening. Highly recommended.

ST: You said that you saw the world from a whole new perspective and it was awesomely enlightening. What exactly have you learned?

Jessi: As a pro-athlete everything in your world has to, one-way or another, be related, and hopefully be beneficial to your performance, practically minute to minute. Even downtime has its specific slot in the overall plan. When I took away that backbone and structure, I found myself naturally start seeing so many new things to learn, do and see. My mind was just curious and open to it all, especially since I didn’t have another immediate goal. I was able to relax, be in the moment and truly take it all in: colors, sights, sounds and feelings. Whether it was global and environmental issues, more quality one-on-one time with family and friends, experimenting with video production, adventures like sky diving, sleeping in, and even (especially!) getting WAY out of shape, gave me a greater understanding of how the world and the people in it go round.

ST: You had an incident a couple months ago while snowshoeing at Big Bear. What happened?

Jessi: It was an epic day that started with snowshoeing and downhill skiing, but we finished the day up with some backcountry skiing to get home from the slopes. At some point my foot got caught during a step and I fell face first on rock down the slope. Few stitches and hairline fractures around my right eye, but I survived!

ST: Are rock climbing, snowshoeing, mountain biking and XTERRA racing more recently found loves for you?

Jessi: I’ve ventured off the road and onto the trails this year, and yes, I absolutely love it. Not sure how I went 32 years without being inspired to do so!

ST: What events do you have coming up?

Jessi: I’m doing the California Multisport Off-Road Duathlon in Big Bear this weekend and the Pacific Coast Triathlon next weekend. I’ll race more weekends than not, now through the fall, though I don’t have a set race schedule yet. 24 Hours of Moab is an epic event that’s on my schedule, and other than that I’ll be hitting up all types of endurance events, on and off-road triathlon, running (road and trail,) mountain biking and possibly adventure racing!

ST: Sounds like you are having a good time.

Jessi: Always.

ST: You came from a swimming background into the sport of triathlon. What exactly pushed you in the sport?

Jessi: I needed a new challenge after swimming. I knew I hadn’t reached my potential as an athlete in the sport of swimming. That, combined with my first few experiences in the sport with a local race and a Multisports.com camp in San Diego, sold me.

ST: Training wise how do you fill your week right now?

Jessi: A large part of my week (4+ times/wk) is always my functional training: strength, stability, elasticity, etc. Along with drills to work on mechanics and technique. Other than that I’m mixing up my workouts between pool swims, ocean swims, road riding, mountain biking, trail running, running intervals on the track or grass, and any local short endurance races that work well as a training session.

ST: How different is your training today from what you did 6-7 years ago?

Jessi: Immensely different. It was around that time that I started working with Athletes’ Performance and gained an understanding of the body and movement efficiency. Now my training involves quality over quantity with the priority being on first creating a body that is injury resistant and capable of doing work. Strength, stability, elasticity, mobility and efficient movement of my body is the priority. I incorporate form drills regularly for the swim, bike and run and top it all off with hard interval work to increase my cardio strength and endurance.

ST: Are you very diligent about your diet?

Jessi: I’m definitely diligent about eating, a lot! Haha. I keep things pretty simple with my diet, which makes it easy to stay on top of. I eat clean, colorful, balanced and often. Supplement calories as necessary for my workouts and races. Enjoy great wine from time to time and cheat a little here and there too, of course.

ST: Talk about the foundation you are involved with.

ST: The ITP Foundation was started by friend of mine, a triathlete, who’s daughter has ITP. It is a blood disease similar to hemophilia. Since then my grandfather also been diagnosed with a form of it, and just this week I visited a friend here in San Diego undergoing chemotherapy for his ITP. The foundation is focused on funding research for treatment options and being an information resource for those with it. Our largest fundraiser is the ITPMan Triathlon in Darien, CT every year. Join us!! itpfoundation.org

ST: When you encounter people with diseases like ITP or cancer, I guess that really brings you back to reality too.

Jessi: I’ve been so blessed to have my health and I appreciate, as best as I can, every moment with it. It’s can be easy to forget how much others are being challenged by these diseases. I’m more driven than ever to stay involved with those impacted, lend a hand and feed off of their fighting spirit!

ST: You have been involved with some of your sponsors / supporters for a long time. Tell us about some of these relationships?

Jessi: Yes, I’ve made it a point to surround myself with great people that I really jive with on many levels. In the big picture there is hardly a line between my personal and my business relationships. I’m great friends with all of my major sponsors, Active.com, Under Armour, Fitness Anywhere (TRX Suspension Trainer) as well as my local bike shop B + L Bike and Sports and my other product sponsor. Over the years, the relationships continue to evolve since they are truly more about spreading the bigger message of getting active and performing your best day to day, than about simply winning races.

ST: Do you follow other sports?

Jessi: I probably follow individual athletes or teams that I’ve come to know personally more than whole sports. Cycling of course. Getting behind the scenes with the teams at the Tours over the past few years with my video work has been a blast. Gotta say Go Garmin! I have friends who race off-road motor sports (Dakar Rally), play and coach pro soccer (FC Bayern-Munich and Chivas USA!) and fight in the UFC. So I keep tabs on them. And since I’ve gotten more into the off-road myself, I’m digging keeping up with mountain biking and adventure racing.

ST: What music do you like?

Jessi: Good music! Acoustic, indie, great lyrics, top the list. But I’ll mix it up with anything else depending on my mood.

ST: What was the last book you read?

Jessi: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson.

ST: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Jessi: The only time I’ve ever done a 5 year plan was in college in 1997. Just 2 months later life completely changed direction. I decided to never try to figure it out again. You’ll just have to stay tuned!

ST: Is there anything else we ought to know about you?

Jessi: I am currently working to bring my movement efficiency workshops around the US and internationally. The information will focus on how the body is meant to move, how to create change in your body to achieve efficient movement within each sport, how to be offensive in keeping the body injury resistant and ultimately performing to its potential. Info will be available at gojessi.com soon!

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