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  • Push Past Impossible with Ryan Stramrood

    Push Past Impossible with Ryan Stramrood
    2026/02/06
    In the first-ever guest episode of Be Undaunted, Tara Collingwood and George Dom sit down with extreme open-water swimmer Ryan Stramrood to unpack how an “average guy” went from couch potato in his late 20s to tackling some of the coldest, most dangerous waters on Earth, always in nothing but a Speedo. Ryan shares the mindset tools he’s developed through brutal endurance challenges like Robben Island, the English Channel, and even a mile swim in Antarctica (for a Guinness World Record). The conversation dives into discomfort, fear, pain, failure, and the power of training your mind to keep going when everything inside you says “quit.”Key Topics & Takeaways1) From “fat and lazy” to the first brave stepRyan didn’t wake up wanting to be an ice swimmer. He started by joining a client’s swim squad, tried to keep up in a fast lane, and ended up so wrecked he had to stop and vomit. But the real turning point? He showed up again the next day.Takeaway: The comeback after embarrassment is often the true beginning.2) The moment a “pedestal” goal becomes possibleRyan met someone who had swum from Robben Island to Blouberg Beach (South Africa) about 4.5 miles, averaging ~2.5 hours for many swimmers and you have to do it without a wetsuit (to make it “count”). Being in the same lane as “someone who did that” made the impossible feel… reachable.Takeaway: Proximity to people doing hard things expands your belief in what’s possible.3) Cold water as a classroomRyan didn’t choose cold water. Cape Town’s waters are cold. Over time he learned the cold isn’t just physical; it triggers a powerful mental alarm system.Core idea: Humans evolved to avoid cold, not endure it. Your brain will scream “danger—get out” long before you’re truly at your limit.4) What he thinks about for hours in trainingRyan describes long pool sessions (7–10 km workouts/hundreds of laps) and how his mind stays anchored to purpose: the “why,” the goal ahead, and small motivators (yes, even Strava accountability).Takeaway: Long endurance is built in boring places, day after day.5) Fueling an ultra swim (and why marshmallows matter)Feeding while swimming is a logistical puzzle: you’re treading water, trying not to sink, keeping feeds short, and fighting cold. Ryan explains why marshmallows are a favorite:easy to eat fastdon’t turn into rock-hard toffee like chocolate can in cold conditionsa “treat” that helps mentally bridge to the next feedTakeaway: Perfect nutrition matters, but something you like can be the difference between finishing and quitting.6) Panic, breathing, and the mind under stressTara relates to open-water anxiety where breathing control changes when your face is in the water. Ryan explains how early cold and fatigue can trigger mental spirals and why it helps to expect those thoughts and not treat them as truth.7) The “pain cave” and staying when it’s awfulGeorge brings up endurance runner Courtney Dauwalter’s “pain cave.” Ryan agrees: the goal isn’t to love pain but rather it’s to recognize it, train around it, and learn its patterns.Takeaway: Experience teaches you the difference between “this is hard” and “this is dangerous.”8) The mind’s “end point” vs the real end pointOne of the biggest episode mic drops:Your brain has an “end point” where it insists you must stop.But that point is often far earlier than the body’s true limit.Takeaway: Growth lives in the gap between what your mind claims is the limit and what’s actually possible.9) Failure isn’t automatically valuableRyan shares a life-changing failure: during a North Channel attempt, he experienced SIPE (swimming-induced pulmonary edema) and nearly died. But the bigger lesson came later in how he initially mismanaged that failure by blaming everything and not processing it.He introduces two types of failure:Good failure: you get introspective, learn, adjustBad failure: you bury it, blame, quit, or repeat patternsTakeaway: Failure only becomes fuel when you extract the lesson.10) His final challenge to listenersRyan’s closing advice:Don’t only set goals you know how to achieve.Pick the goal one notch beyond certainty—where there’s no roadmap.Find your own “classroom” (doesn’t have to be cold water).Understand your mind is overprotective, and we can learn to manage it.Take Home Messages:“It’s very commonly known it’s 30% body and 70% mind.”“Your mind is designed to keep you safe… and it’s a little overzealous.”“Not all failure is good… growth comes from introspection.”Ryan Stramrood reminds us that being undaunted isn’t about being fearless. Rather it’s about understanding your brain’s protective instincts, choosing a hard goal anyway, and learning to keep moving when discomfort shows up.Be Undaunted.Ryan Stramrood is an ultra open-water and ice swimmer, internationally sought-after speaker...
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    53 分
  • What Does It Mean to Be Undaunted?

    What Does It Mean to Be Undaunted?
    2026/01/15

    In our first episode of Be Undaunted, we lay the foundation for what this podcast is all about: helping each other lead stronger, elevate impact, and live with more energy — even in the chaos of modern life. We kick off by introducing ourselves. I’m Tara Collingwood, a performance dietitian to Olympians, executives, and high achievers under pressure. My co-host George Dom brings decades of leadership experience as a former Navy fighter pilot and Blue Angels flight leader. Together, we explore what it truly means to be undaunted.

    Being undaunted doesn’t mean being fearless or reckless. Instead, it’s about acting with intention despite fear, leaning into our values, managing our energy, and showing up even when it’s easier not to. We emphasize that undaunted people — and leaders — are not perfect, but they are intentional and resilient.

    George shares a framework of three core traits he’s seen in undaunted leaders across high-performing military and corporate teams: clarity, trust, and energy. Clarity means knowing the mission — or, in civilian terms, your purpose. Trust is the foundation of high-functioning teams, and without it, teams become fragile and ineffective. Energy is the third pillar, and it’s not just about managing time — it’s about managing personal energy across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.

    I expand on energy from a performance nutrition perspective, focusing on four key areas: nutrition (what and when we eat), movement (how inactivity affects our brain and body), recovery (both sleep and true rest), and how our physical state affects our leadership and relationships. Without energy, we simply can’t show up as our best selves.

    We also discuss the importance of mindset. Without a compelling why, real change doesn’t happen. Values, we agree, must be more than words — they must be lived and reinforced through culture. George shares how his company created alignment between core values and daily behavior by recognizing team members who exemplified those values each month, turning ideas into action.

    We wrap by setting expectations for what’s to come in the podcast: honest conversations between the two of us, practical tools, powerful guest stories, and strategies to help all of us lead more intentionally, recover more deeply, and build trust at every level — in work and in life.

    (00:00) – Intro
    (00:34) – What Does “Be Undaunted” Mean?
    (03:12) – Clarity, Trust, and Energy in Leadership
    (06:03) – Defining Mission and Purpose
    (08:09) – Why Trust Is the Foundation of Great Teams
    (10:21) – Physical Energy and Performance Nutrition
    (14:00) – Training Energy Across All Dimensions
    (15:26) – The Role of Mindset and Values in Leadership
    (17:33) – Bringing Company Values to Life
    (18:44) – Creating a Positive Work Culture
    (20:34) – Why We Launched This Podcast
    (21:13) – Final Thoughts: Be Undaunted

    High Trust Leadership by George Dom

    https://www.georgedom.com/book

    More about George Dom:

    https://www.georgedom.com/

    More about Tara Collingwood:

    https://www.dietdiva.net/

    Follow the show: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube

    Be Undaunted is produced by JAG Podcast Productions: www.jagpodcastproductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    22 分
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    2025/12/16

    Welcome to Be Undaunted - the podcast that helps you lead strong, elevate your impact, and live with more energy, especially in a world that has definitely not hit the pause button.

    George Dom is a former Navy figher pilot, Blue Angels flight leader, and corporate executive.

    Tara Collingwood has been a performance dietitian to Olympians, CEOs, and everyday people who are under pressure.

    We specialize in high-performance leadership and people who want to lead their lives more intentionally. Instead of trying to get by, we want to help you build the types of energy systems that make life feel doable and exciting again.

    In the Be Undaunted podcast, you'll hear stories from the cockpit to the sidelines to the boardroom, and people living every day life at full speed.

    We'll talk about resilience, clarity, mistakes, and lessons that make us both better leaders - and better humans.

    We aren't just talking about physical energy, but mental and emotional energy too.

    In each episode, we'll give you something that you can put into action right away - a mindset shift, skill, strategy, or simply a better way to think about the day ahead.

    If you're ready to grow, strengthen your leadership, and reclaim your energy; if you're ready to feel more intentional, and more capable, you're in the right place.

    Welcome to Be Undaunted.

    High Trust Leadership by George Dom

    https://www.georgedom.com/book

    More about George Dom:

    https://www.georgedom.com/

    More about Tara Collingwood:

    https://www.dietdiva.net/

    Follow the show: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube

    Be Undaunted is produced by JAG Podcast Productions: www.jagpodcastproductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    4 分