Hiya Fam, Kylie here. You might have seen that our PRO Penny Slater has had a rough start to her 2025 World Championship campaign, so I asked her to give us a debrief on where she's at. In this raw and powerful update, Penny shares the unfiltered truth behind what it really means to chase greatness in triathlon. From battling injury and burnout to redefining what success means beyond the finish line, Pen opens up about the highs, the heartbreaks and the healing. This is a story of true FOHER resilience, reflection and ultimately, reconnection — with the sport she loves, and the person she’s becoming along the way. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did.
x Kylie
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Hey Team, Penny here. You know, sport knocks you down, but life moves on. I can't help thinking that being a professional triathlete is both one of the most rewarding, heart aching and resilience building careers I could have fallen into. I can count on one hand the number of 'near perfect' days I've had on a racecourse in my career, yet seven years later it is still the thing that drives me to get out of bed and train every day. The pursuit of performance yes, but more than that, the pursuit to reach my full potential, test my limits not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. I love triathlon, and I can't let go of my love affair with it no matter what it throws my way.
Pic: Pen being interviewed prior to IM Geelong 70.3 Credit: korupt vision
It's no secret I finished the end of 2024 wrung out which showed very clearly in my performances towards the back end of the year. I started 2025 hopeful that I would start feeling more like myself as I got back into training after a two week break. The truth is I struggled, more days than I care to admit I wasn't excited to get out the door and train, it was a chore. This left me feeling a bit scared and unsure about the year ahead, I've always loved training, the everyday process of it I find meditative and calming. I was terrified that was slipping away. At the same time I had big goals I wanted to achieve this year. After finishing 7th at the IM World Championship and Top 10 in the Pro Series last year, I was staring down a race calendar pursuing the IRONMAN Pro series against the best fields in the world. I also wanted to be able to step on the race course representing FOHER and the community spirit it embodies to the best of my ability and was worried I wouldn’t be able to do that.
Pic: FOHER Co Pro athlete Penny Slater finished in 7th place at the 2024 IRONMAN World Championship, the highest placed Aussie!
At this stage I headed to an altitude camp with my coach for 5 weeks in Falls Creek, my first altitude camp ever. I was excited to get a change of environment and new stimulus to keep me fresh, optimistic I'd fall in love with the process again. The first few weeks were great and went off without a hitch. Amazing riding and running on the mountain made for some epic rides and lots of huffing and puffing.
Pic: Penny tackles the first week of her 2025 high altitude training camp.
However, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren't right with my training and hadn’t been for some time - for me it's more important to love training and train consistently than do any epic crazy sessions. Incidentally I developed a quad niggle as these feelings of unease around my training continued to develop. This led to the eventual decision to leave my coach as I knew that I needed full trust in the process for an athlete and coach relationship to work and I'd lost that.
Leaving the camp early I came home for an MRI which confirmed that I had a grade one stress reaction in my femur. This was a blow as most of you probably know I had a grade 2-3 stress reaction in the same femur after Texas in 2024, where I came second. Twice in one year wasn't good enough and it was the final nail in the coffin that I needed a change. It was especially tough to swallow as I have previously had Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) (and am studying it for my PhD!) and have worked really hard to ensure all my other health markers (such as menstrual cycle, bone health and immunity) were fixed to reduce risk of bone stress injury.
I was staring down the barrel of my first race of the season at Geelong 70.3 in 3 weeks which was a key race for the IM Pro series I couldn't afford to miss. The next weeks were tough trying to navigate what the best options were for me coaching wise and weighing up the risk vs reward of racing and getting some points on the board or potentially making my leg angry again.
Ultimately the decision was made for me as I came down with a slight cold before the race and ended up dnfing. I would usually always say death before dnf - but this time when I stepped off the race course I knew it was the right decision. It’s always tough not being able to finish a race especially when there is always so many of the FOHER crew following and cheering on, thank you to everyone of you who reached out to me after the race, it means more that you know. And thank you to Kylie, owner of FOHER Co who continues to back me 100% despite the ups and downs of the sport.
Pic: Penny Slater ready to tackle IM Geelong 70.3 in March 2025
With this decision to dnf I reassured myself this was the best course of action if I wanted to go back and defend my podium spot at IM Texas in 5 weeks sporting a new matching bike and race kit combo! What followed the next few weeks was interrupted training due to illness which resulted in a visit to ED with a bad respiratory infection and a full week on the couch. I can't remember the last time I had been this crook. The last year of training and pushing the limits had finally got me. I couldn't help thinking was it worth it? Yes two great race results last year at Texas and the World Champs, but the rest of the year awful and now a completely derailed start to the year.
Pic: Pen on her way to 2nd place at IRONMAN Texas in 2024. Buy her podium suit HERE
The pursuit of performance over health is often debated in elite sport with many arguing that elite endurance sport (particularly triathlon) is not healthy if you want to perform at the highest level. Maybe some people believe that. But I have always believed it's possible to love training, train hard (within reason), be healthy and also enjoy life outside of sport and still reach ones full potential. As I get older I realise I have no desire to not do things that are completely true to my values and who I am fundamentally as a person.
So you won't see me on the start list for Texas tomorrow. It's time for me to rekindle my love for training and pour some much needed love into my studies and friends. When you see me step on the racecourse in Cairns hopefully you'll see the Pen whose love affair continues with triathlon and who is back to her old self (Sending it!). Can’t wait to see all the FOHER crew out on course soon <3 Pen
Pic: Penny has unfinished business in Cairns! See you soon!
3 comments
Excellent read Pen, always always a true inspiration. Pleased to read even as a Pro you have those days and feelings of being unsure but also knowing in your heart what you want to achieve.
Keep pushing, keep striving. You got this and we all can’t wait to see you shine in Cairns. :-)
Thank you for sharing this Penny, thinking of you and wishing you all the best for a full recovery, mentally and physically. and do be kind to yourself, doing my Phd had me in tears often and when my son reflected, “mum, if PhDs were easy everyone would have one.” and I think triathlon at your level is much the same, only the select few make it and you are doing incredible things to inspire all the Foher Fam. Congrats to Kylie too for continuing to back you. we are all so very proud of you!
Such a great article – Such an inspiration – Such a legend – Such an honest and true account of life as a pro.
We can all take a little piece of Penny’s advice here – listen, listen, listen to your body and mind. Congrats Penny, always a winner!