K.        Thanks to everybody for being here as we kick off the official launch event for the new Adidas women's statement collection. If we haven't met before my name is Kat Stefankiewicz. I am an Adidas Canada Women's ambassador and this is Tessa Virtue. I'm going to give you your real intro: Olympic gold medalist, Adidas ambassador, and, and, and . . . she does it all, so one more time make some noise.
K.        It’s awesome to have you here today Tessa.   
T.        Thank you so much, it’s so nice to be here today. I love picturing everyone watching on Instagram also wearing Adidas tights. You look great. It’s such an honor to be here today.
K.        Coming off such an incredibly busy year, you aren't slowing down. You said you just flew in from PEI last night to be with us here today, which is amazing. So I'm going to talk off the top a little bit about how you find that balance between work life, between real life, between maintaining a healthy lifestyle
T.        You know I spent two decades as an athlete pretending like I was well balanced and multifaceted and I don't think there's such a thing when you’re a high performance athlete. To have a real sense of balance or normalcy, but I did my best. I tried not to get too wrapped up in the all-encompassing world of sport or I've tried not to identify myself as only a skater. But I’m a workaholic as probably most of you can relate to. And I’m really good at packing my schedule and so I think it's important for me to just find those outlets and one of those is working out. You know even just having a bath or reading a good book – just taking time for me and making sure that I prioritize self-care. And, especially as women, so often we put that on the back burner when we’re chasing so many other dreams and working on different projects and I think that gets sort of lost in it all. But you know I never want to be that person who brags about being busy, because we all know those people, but we all have busy lives. That's the nature of things and we're all accessible all the time and we're all expected to be all things for all people and sometimes I think it's just making sure we have moments to disconnect and be in tune with ourselves.
K.        That balance is so important. You say you're workaholic and you don't shy away from it and I know a lot of people in this room and I know that we can relate. So that's okay? You think it's okay?   
T.        I think it is. I mean I think I’m ambitious and I’m driven and there are so many things that I want to accomplish. There's just this like internal fire that I can't seem to stifle at all and I don’t want to. I think that's what's gotten me this far and I get excited about new projects and new things and I’m very task-oriented, so I set a goal and I work towards it and then I’m onto the next and onto the next and that's what energizes me. It's what I find inspiring and that's where I find my purpose.   
K.        I’m just looking at these pictures behind you. You’re a huge part of . . . .   
T.        I’m literally huge!
K.        What kind of gravitated you towards this collection? What kind of stands out? What makes you love it so much?   T.        How long do you have? Buckle your seatbelts! I mean what I love about Adidas in general – and I think we all probably do – is that they really bridge the gap between fashion and fitness and I love both and they're both such an intricate part of my life. It's so intertwined. I love how empowering it is. I love that it's designed for women and inspired for creativity. I mean we all have those creative outlets and we can take on any kind of challenge as we're wearing this gear. I don't know. I find I work out better and I feel better about myself when I’m wearing a cute outfit. Right?   
K         No absolutely! And I mean it's not just the workout that you’re in it. It's getting to the workout, I don't know, like I know a lot of people in here – I just have this on all day.   
T.        Right! Well that’s the great thing about this athleisure category right? We're going for coffee, we're meeting our friends. I mean this is sort of – I’m either black tie or workout. There’s no real in between, right? Yeah. No matter what your fitness regime is, you know it can be spinning or yoga, pilates, intense strength, whatever it is, I mean, this statement collection really has you covered and that's what’s so neat. I'm trying all those things now that I'm not just training to be an ice dancer. I’m not training to be the best ice dancer in the world, I'm training to feel good and to sweat and to express myself in new ways and to challenge my body in a different way and you know, I can do any of that in the statement collection.
K.        Was there something that kind of sparked your interest with fashion?   
T.        You know I've been fortunate. In skating that's such a big part of how we present ourselves to the audience and to the judges and packaging and telling a story. You know we really get to be in character for four minutes and the goal is to make people feel something. And as soon as I take the ice I have to make a statement and I have to feel confident and it has to work with my body and has to be easy for Scott to lift. There are so many factors not unlike working here, but I love that you can express yourself in different ways. I love that depending on your mood you can accessorize and then fit in a certain way. I think it can either be your armor to shield you from the world or it can either be the way that you expose yourself and share your vulnerabilities, which often is where we find our strength.   
K.        And I mean a big part of your life is also creating and you know this is a creator’s brand. How has creativity played a part in your professional career.
T.        I mean it's been a huge part of it. It's what I love about skating – it’s that balance between art and athleticism and I feel so fortunate as an athlete that I get to sort of marry the two together and you know one of my favorite parts of the whole process is the choreography and playing with ways to physically tell a story, physically and emotionally portray a character and I love that. But now as I move kind of outside the confines of those arena boards, I'm trying to be creative in new ways and different business ventures and you know sometimes still on the ice, but even off the ice. And I think, you know, just this whole day I'm feeling so inspired to create – and we're gonna have some fun later, I can't wait. People don’t know yet, right? What’s in store? I’ll keep it quiet a little bit. But I think that this whole collection is inspired to create and, you know, sort of also based on the Stella McCartney line, which I'm obsessed with, so.   
K.        I love these patterns.
T.        Right? You know, I’m not a pattern person, Erica can attest to this. I’m not a pattern person, but I love these vibrant hues and the way that they've incorporated them into the garments, I think they’re just perfect.   
K.        How did you begin your partnership with Adidas? I’m curious. I don’t think I know that part – I don’t think maybe anybody in here knows it.   
T.        It actually started after the Sochi Olympics. So Scott and I had decided to stop competing. So Adidas came in at a time when I wasn't maybe even all that relevant. I don't know. I wasn't competing, I wasn't you know an amateur athlete per se and we came together to really talk about the importance of women's fitness and whatever your skillset, whatever your capacity, however you were challenging yourself physically, we wanted to inspire people and empower women to get out there and to be active. And that's really kind of – I remember sitting at that boardroom table and just chatting about all these ideas. And then Adidas supported me through the decision to come back to competition and to be an amateur athlete and that was sort of an organic evolution, but something that I really appreciated because my mindset totally shifted and the goal was just singular focus. Everything was about the Olympics. So I feel like we've been through a lot together in this partnership and now looking forward again as I'm not competing this season, I think there’s lots of room for growth and a lot of exciting opportunities ahead together.   
K.        You mentioned empowering women in that statement. Looking kind of to the people that look up to you, are there some words that you’ve taken with you over the years – maybe from mentors or people you’d looked up to – that you would like to pass on to the next generation or people that are kind of following in your footsteps?   
T.        Well that’s um, it's an interesting thing for me to reconcile and it feels a little bit egotistical to preach or to pretend like I have any of the answers. I think maybe if there's one thing I've learned it’s that there are no secret recipes to success. It just takes a lot of extremely hard work. But I was raised by a really, really strong independent mother who had an amazingly fierce mother of her own and a great sister. I had all these strong females around me and I truly felt this sense of limitlessness, like I could do anything or be anything and I still feel that. It’s this like burning fire inside me and I just realized not that long ago that not everyone has that same sensation inside them. And that kind of breaks my heart so, if there's one thing that I would like to impart to other people it’s just like there really are no boundaries, especially nowadays. I mean we have so many opportunities that we can all take advantage of and I think, especially if we come together as women, and uplift and support one another, there’s just no stopping us.   
K.        Let's change the focus of the conversations to using these amazing outfits that we have on. I know that your sport is so demanding physically and mentally. Do you have any go to work outs? And maybe does your routine change between being at home versus being on the road?  
T.        Yes, now I sort of have to work within the confines of a hotel room or an arena locker room and I have to get a little bit creative or even on a tour bus. We’re kind of figuring out how to do pilates on a tour bus. It’s good core stability as we’re right on the road. Yeah and everything in my life for such a long time was about winning the Olympics. Even, you know, having a piece of gum was “Is this going to help me win the Olympics?” “Is this exercise helping me on the ice in a specific way?” And now I just like to sweat and feel good and challenge my body. We've been touring across Canada and I’ve been trying to stop in all these different cities and do new classes so try boxing. Kirsty introduced me to a little bit of some boxing moves. I’ll do a yoga class or just things that sort of feed my soul and kind of nourish me in a different way. I also have this thing. I do 40 seconds on then 20 seconds off in a hotel room. So it starts kind of like military style and I'll do burpees or you know I’ll kind of circulate between like a cardio, an arm and a leg, but like 15 minutes into it I’ll just dance wildly for 40 seconds and take a break for 20 and I mean, I sweat and I feel good and that's a good little release of expression, I suppose.
K.        It’s the release for sure. A lot of things. Has your approach to fitness maybe changed over the years? You said your mentality, like when you were training for the Olympics and stuff, changed, but . . .
T.        Yeah. I think I mean coming back to the Pyeongchang games, Scott and I were older athletes and we had to really focus on recovery and rest and listening to our bodies. I mean we're taught always to just push through the pain and you know no matter what you just forged ahead and you pick up the pieces later, but I learned to sort of be in tune with my body and vocalize how I was feeling and not feel ashamed to say, you know, “This is my limit today and that’s okay.” And that’s really liberating in a lot of ways, just feeling that connected to myself. And I think, I mean, just little things like hydrating, elevating my legs, and resting. Things like that. You know, my philosophy is (?) I don’t feel like a lousy athlete when I have those rest days.
K.        Do you have any fitness goals for 2019, looking ahead?
T.        I do! So I'm like a four-minute athlete. It's a four-minute sprint. Our longest program is that, so I have fast twitch muscles and I would like to sort of shift into something more endurance related, which is so daunting to me because I don't think I have that, like, mental skillset to get through anything longer. And I don't know in what capacity that will be. I have a chronic injury in my shins and calves so I'm not sure if it will be running, but maybe something with cycling or, I don't know. I have to kind of test the boundaries in that way, but I think just setting a goal physically is obviously important to me.
K.        Looking back at some of your biggest breakthroughs, accomplishments, what was kind of the driving force that pushed you through? Was it something inside, was it somebody in your life?
T.        Well, so I’ve skated with Scott for 21 years now and we balance each other very well. I think he has this fierce competitive spirit and he's a training animal. So I was always accountable to him. I never wanted to let him down and I needed to show up and deliver every single day. And I think there's something really powerful about that, I mean having a partner. But it wasn’t always about winning the Olympics. I mean when we were skating at ten years old, twelve, thirteen, seventeen even, it was just about being the best we could possibly be or in juvenile, in novice, and junior and sort of working our way up the ranks. It was never about standing on top of the podium at the Olympics. In fact I’m not even sure I really realized that was a possibility until one month before the Vancouver games. So I was a little late to that party. There was just this idea that whatever we were doing, every last rep in the gym, any program on the ice, learning a new ballroom routine. Whatever it was, we just wanted to do the very best we possibly could.
K.        Going back to you two dancing together, you were out flying back from PEI because you've been out touring across Canada for the Thank You Canada Tour, which is incredible. You've also been co-producing this, that's what I've learned. How's that been adding that to your plate?
T.        I mean, it’s been so fulfilling and so interesting and Scott and I are just sort of all in people and when we take on a challenge, we want to have, like, complete control. And we've done tours all over the world for so many years and we just sat back and thought oh so I would do this differently and I wish we could do this, I wish we could skate like this or whatever. And then we just looked at each other flying home from the Olympics and we said “okay, now what?” And how do we a. thank all of the people who have supported us for so many years and how do we continue this on and hopefully pass something on to the next generations of skaters, so that they have an outlet to explore. But it's been really interesting. It's been a steep learning curve and I love that I'm not just putting on a costume and trying to entertain people each night. It's about more than that. It's employing a cast and crew of people, it’s understanding the weight distribution on the trucks, and it's goproing the venues, and it's . . .  you know there's so much. It's like this giant case study for my MBA I think. And it just gives greater meaning to everything we do on the ice and that kind of level of involvement I think is what we're realizing is more fulfilling.
K.        Is that the type of personality you have, Tessa, where you're just always looking for that next bigger better challenge? I mean you've accomplished so much already.
T.        I'm a bit of an extremist like that. I mean I'm like all in and I just run to the wall and then I crash, but I think, you know, I've had this ongoing mental dialogue for the last seven or eight months – however long it’s been since February – you know this fear of how will I ever top that feeling of taking the ice on the world stage and having a special moment that we trained for for such a long time and being able to share that with Canadians. And then 2018 has been just a fairytale. So I do worry about that, like what is next? And how will I chase that feeling? A
And you know is that void going to be there for a long time. I hope not. I mean I hope that there's a certain skill set that I've learned as an athlete that I've can apply to life and I think I'll just have to find that outlet and express myself in different avenues and surely I can't think that I've peaked at 29. So . . .
K.        What is next? That was my next question, but now that you say that you’re kind of figuring it out along the way, are you taking a break?
T.        You know, the holiday season of 2018 has been circled in our calendars for a long time because we always trained through Christmas. We always competed early January and I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t, like, sitting through Christmas dinner feeling really anxious about training the next day. So I will take a break over the holidays and maybe even through the New Year and things will be a little quiet, but yeah there's just so much that I want to do I almost – whether it's with schooling, I would like to pursue my MBA. I have a psych degree and I think that's next academically just to set those goals. And Scott and I are already dreaming about bigger and better tours and new projects together both on and off the ice and that's really exciting. When I think I probably need some time to catch my breath because it's been so go go go since February that I’ve not really had time to process what it was that happened in Korea. It still feels a bit surreal. And that people even still care is really special.
K.        Well there’s lots of time to (?) a little. I’m going to send it out to you guys. Does anybody have any questions in the audience for Tessa? . . . No? . . . You want to think about it for a minute? Cause I have some rapid fire questions that might be fun to do here.
T.        Go for it.
K.        Your number one gym essential.
T.        Lacrosse ball. I literally have one in my purse at all times. Whether I’m traveling or whatever, like just roll it, it’s just perfect and it’s easy. And a good playlist, which never comes from my phone, but someone else having good music, that matters to me.
K.        The go-to piece from the Adidas statement collection? There’s like over 20.
T.        Ooooh. I know. Ummmmm, the believe this tight.
K.        A favorite pre and post-workout snack?
T.        Smoothie post-workout, chocolate. Pre? A banana.
K.        Mantra, motto, or words to live by?
T.        Yeah for a couple of years, every time we would go to compete, in my hotel room, I would listen to Diamonds, by Rihanna. And I would skate by the judges and have this sense of like, oh it’s not going to go well or I’m gonna fail or you know I would have these doubts. And then I would just repeat to myself, “Shine bright, shine bright, shine bright.” Because so often your brain just asks a question and it wants an answer. It doesn’t matter what, you just need to quiet it with an answer, so I found that like having that mantra would sort of calm things down. And I also was listening to a lot of Sia before the Pyeongchang games so I was like “I’m unstoppable, I’m unstoppable.” And Scott and I would say that to each other. I didn’t actually know that he was also listening to that because before one of our skates he was like, “We’re unstoppable,” and I just thought like “ahhhh! Yes, we’re having a moment.”
K.        You obviously believe that your mental mindset really contributes to your performance.
T.        Oh, absolutely. I think, I mean, you get to a certain level and that's the difference maker. I mean, everyone has a certain skill set, but that can be the thing that puts you over the edge and we worked really closely with a mental prep coach in the last couple of years and before that a lot of sports psychologists and even marriage counselors for our partnership. But yeah that mental preparation I think is half the battle. I'm sure you guys feel the same when you're heading into the gym. I mean that's it right? You have to get yourself there and then push yourself to the limits once you're there. And, I mean, a lot of that is the mental component.
K.        Morning workout or evening training? You were telling me about your crazy hours.
T.        Yeah, now we’re just all over the map. I have no idea. I don’t know – you could tell me I was in Omaha and it was March right now and I would probably believe you. Well I'm not a morning person, but I liked getting our skating trainings started early in the morning otherwise I would feel really anxious about it all day long. And I would say like afternoon workout. Evening dance party.
K.        Four a.m. dinner.
T.        Exactly.
K.        City or nature? What’s your go to? What’s your favorite? Maybe both drive you in different ways.
T.        Yeah, we’ve said the word balance a thousand times, but city. I think I’m inspired by the city.
K.        Okay! Finish this sentence: after a workout I feel . . .
T.        Unstoppable.
K.        Ooh, I like that.
T.        Right guys? Isn’t that the best feeling when you’re walking out the door and you’re just so proud of yourself.
K.        It’s hard to get there sometimes.
T.        It is and you think about that. It's almost like delayed gratification. Like sometimes I lie in bed and I want to press snooze and it's just thinking like “no how do I want to feel when I walk out the door of the gym today?” or the arena. And it's putting yourself in that position and you’re always so proud. Those are the better days, right?
K.        Yup, yup. They keep you going there. I use creativity to. . .  
T.        To express myself and challenge myself. (to audience) Any questions yet?
K.        We want to talk to you guys. Well, Tessa wants to talk to you guys.
T.        Yeah!
K.        This is your opportunity. Callie.
C.         I was just wondering about how travel affects you physically and how you combat sort of like that side of the sporting life?
T.        Yeah, it's interesting because we're trained to be so in tune with our bodies and I wake up, or I was waking up, every day as an amateur athlete and taking stock you know head to toe. Where is my tension? How am I feeling? How am I moving? And with travel it's almost better to just sort of like free your mind and trust your body, trust your training. It's never easy. It's never easy. There's no kind of routine. Staying hydrated, getting the right fuel, even finding the right equipment or space to work out, it's just I think learning to adapt and just sort of go with the flow, almost give yourself a break, I think. I started, even on this tour, I started and I implemented all of these like rules on myself and partway through I just thought I’m throwing these out the window because I just have to be okay with where I am in this moment, right now, physically and listen to that and give it what it needs as best I possibly can. But part of that is just like the screw it mentality.
K.        Anybody else?
Q.        I have a question. Hi, I’m a big fan. I'm just wondering like every time when you’re going to go on ice, when you competed, or even like on tour, what goes through your mind at that time?
T.        Well right now we're performing on tour actually our Olympic free dance and so that's daunting. It's daunting because we’re not necessarily in Olympic shape, but also people have seen it, that February edition of it, and we want to give people that moment as they’re watching the show. We're nervous every night and Scott and I sort of have a routine of talking through our cues and we'll set a new intention, I think, to keep things fresh and not stale. Set a new intention and I always try and think, you know, there's one person sitting in the stands who hasn't ever seen us before and one person who will never see us again and who knows a Michael Jordan sort of reference. And that's kind of nice in those moments when we’re tired or overwhelmed or whatever, it’s just kind of reminding each other what that purpose is. And sometimes, I mean, that's when I’m most grateful to have a partner because we can look at each other and find reassurance in one another's eyes or you know the squeeze of the hand is just comforting and motivating in a different way. But we still get nervous. I think that's probably something that people wouldn't expect anymore, but even as we progressed in our career we thought we had this recipe figured out to handle the nerves and the pressure, but we found there were more expectations on us or the standard was higher and higher and we had to live up to this. So in fact it was harder to battle.
K.        What do you. . . sorry, no you go ahead (gestures to audience member)
Q.        Sorry if this is like a little personal, but how would you and Scott deal with disagreements or like you were fighting over something and you had to train together like that morning?
T.        When we were young, we worked with coaches who really set the tone and set this foundation of respect. And we watched for years teams around us fight on the ice and blame one another and name-call. We sort of vowed early on that we wouldn't waste time and if we wanted to be the best that we couldn't throw away a training session because we were arguing about something. So the ice is sort of our sacred safe place. We never bicker, we never argue, we never fight. No matter what's happening off the ice, that's sort of where we come together and we know we have a common goal and it's easy to work towards that when we’re both so committed and invested in that. Any of our arguments, even off the ice, I mean, we really don't, we don't fight. We're such different people, so I think we've had to learn how one another processes things and even talking about talking about nerves, like we both handle it so differently and we both come at a challenge with very different solutions. And just respecting that and being able to communicate and talk through that has been special, but we're also pretty sensitive, so I would say like an argument for us is just being very quiet. And then we just count down the moments until we’re on the ice and we can actually get stuff done. That’s a good question.
Q.        What do you do when you’re not feeling motivated? What’s the thing that pumps you up or gets you ready to go?
T.        It’s a good question. Part of that is feeling accountable to someone and sometimes even yourself, right? I write down a lot of things, I write down goals. Having those reminders around and knowing that it's the tough days that actually contribute to your success. Like we used to be so grateful if one of us was sick or even injured or the ice, you know, if the zamboni broke and the ice was really bad and we had to get through our run-through we were so excited, because we knew that that was just extra ammunition and it was extra steps that our competitors weren't doing. Like anything, any extra challenge that was like maybe beyond the call of duty we embraced because we knew that that was going to be a difference maker. So it’s sort of just reframing. “I don’t feel motivated today.” Oh good, this is even more important. I better get to the rink or get to the gym. And again it’s kind of that delayed gratification. I always think about how I want to feel at the end of the day, how I'm going to feel when I go to bed at night, and then I want to be proud of myself and I want to feel like I accomplished something. And not every day is that, but it's also refreshing to know that we all feel that. I mean it's not crazy and it's not abnormal and we're not alone in those feelings. Like everyone feels that. And I think that's important to talk about. You know there’s strength in that vulnerability and we can empower and uplift one another when we communicate and we can have those like group chats, you know, where you help motivate one another.
K.        Anybody else?
Q.        You were talking a little bit about presentation and how your wardrobe affects your sport obviously so much. What about when it comes to hair and makeup? Do you have tips for long-lasting hair and makeup or having to deal with malfunctions?
T.        Well you should ask the two women sitting behind you. For competitions and shows that I was doing my own hair and makeup. I like doing makeup. I’m brutal with my hair, but I’ve found it was almost meditative to sit and do my makeup and I was always like sitting on the floor straddling a mirror or sitting in the sink, you know, just playing good music on and trying to sort of find that calm and peace. And I always thought less was more, I mean we're in a sport that can get so dramatic and theatrical and over-the-top and we always wanted our skating to speak for itself. So whether that's costuming or hair and makeup, I just wanted it to be pretty subdued, partly because I'm not that talented when it comes to that stuff. And I'm always sweating so that's another challenging thing. I don’t know that I really have tips, but I can’t skate with my hair down. That’s for sure.
Q.        Did you have a point where you were like “I’ve made a huge mistake, I’m doing the wrong thing”? How did you change your mindset? How did you just trust the process? You might not have!
T.        No! I feel that all the time. I certainly feel that all the time. And even in our comeback process, I mean I don’t think we doubted the decision to compete, but everyone did around us. And that makes you challenge like yourself or question things. No one was excited about us competing again, even our federation and our competitors and people around us. I think even friends and family thought we were making a big mistake. And with this tour, I mean yes! I think anytime you're taking on something worthwhile there is going to be that inherent sense of fear. And, not to sound like pinterest quote, but I do think that there is something to that. And that like being right on the edge of that is actually what makes it thrilling. And that’s where that adrenaline comes in, the surge of energy. That’s when it’s special. So, I don’t know, we talked a lot in the last couple of years about coming back to our “why.” So we would be really critical and hard on ourselves and we would just look at each other and think “okay but why are we doing this, like what is our purpose?” And even if that was in the context of like “what is my character,” standing in our free dance, or “why are we doing this?” on a bigger scale. There was always comfort in that or some sense of security in realizing the power of that intention.
Q.        Do you feel like you still feel like you fuel and eat like you’re training for the Olympics or now that it’s over you’re like, okay I can have a glass of wine or enjoy the simple pleasures? You were saying, like, a piece of gum, I’d have to think about that. Have you kind of opened up?
T.        You know what’s funny, I feel like I should probably be more careful now because I’m not training nine hours a day. Like I probably really could have had anything I wanted before the Olympics because we were just go go go and training so much. I mean, now I'm trying to find that balance, honestly. Part of me is kind of like “yeah! Treat yo self!” and the other part of me just knows that I’m in a different sphere and I'm still having to perform and maintain a certain level of athleticism and even aesthetically in my world. But – I don’t know – I’m just not good at depriving myself and I think, like everything, I'm about kind of feeding my soul right now. I’m about just having things that feel good and most of – we were talking – my tour schedule now, I'm having like a second dinner at 2:00 in the morning and like you never crave a salad after midnight. I don’t care who you are. You never want something healthy after midnight so I’m trying to just embrace that and be okay with it and find what works for my body now. And I like healthy foods, but I also know that I need to treat myself and that hasn't really changed. I was always sort of like that as an athlete. And I'm sure that will ebb and flow as my tour schedule changes and things like that. Yeah, I think it’s just a balance. I don’t want to say that word any more! You’re going to start a drinking game and it’s going to be all about balance.
Q.        So I have two questions, but also understand for the sake of time, might just do one . . .
T.        No, we can keep going. I’m excited, this is fun.
Q.        So one is – you and Scott both sound so grounded in that mental aspect, that mental space of bringing yourself back to your roots and the why. What is that key switching point for you when you are in that, I don't want to say negative per se, but it’s more of a flustered headspace. How do you find that switch in that moment and say I need to turn this off, I need switch in the other direction?
T.        I mean it takes a lot of self-awareness and a lot of training to get there. Sometimes it takes the other person to sort of snap one of us out of it, but when we stopped competing after the 2014 games we did a little bit of broadcasting and we went to the national championships and we were in the stands for the World Championships and that was incredibly eye-opening for me to sit back in an event where you know the year before I was on the ice thinking it was the most important four minutes of all time. And I sat there in stands and I watched other people going to get popcorn, other people sitting on their phones and, like, sure people might be invested in that one moment with you, but then life goes on. I mean we're not saving lives we're ice dancing and that perspective was just so liberating in a way. Realizing like no one cares the way that you care, you know? Like you're invested in your process and your projects and whatever it is you're taking on. And people want to support you and share in that and celebrate your success, but no one is as invested as you are and so you can't do it for the other people. Like I can't do it for that person sitting in the nosebleeds or the judges that are going to dictate my fate. I can't do it for them because it's not worth it. They're not the ones putting in all that training and they're not the ones you know pushing themselves to the max and, day in day out, kind of grinding away. It needed to be for us and it needed to be for a different but deeper meaning. Something like, something that we’re proud of and, I mean, not to sound like an artiste, but we needed to create art that we thought was powerful and profound and resonated with people. I don’t know, I think sometime just we're all in this world – it’s easy to get wrapped up in your own little sphere and I think just having something that pulls you out of that – zoom out out out and out and you can look at things very very differently.
Q. Do you think that had a component in the comeback then?
T. Definitely, oh definitely. We approached training and competition in an entirely new way. We did everything on our terms and we ran our team. We had a team of maybe 10 to 15 people like physios and trainers and mental prep and nutrition and everything. We were the CEOs of our company. So once a month we sat down with our team and we ran board meetings and we talked about what each and every member of our team was bringing to the table and how we could be better and we expected our team to communicate with each other in the meantime about how we could be better athletes. And that was the goal of every single day and every single moment of every day. Did you have a follow up to that?
Q.        I kind of did.
T.        Yeah, go for it!
Q.        Not as much of a follow-up, but a completely unrelated question. (garbled) So in such a creative sphere from being on the ice and your entire life being involved in things that are creative to now being on the production side of things, What fuels that creativity for you and how do you keep it fresh?
T.        I think I like trying to produce things that haven't been done and Scott and I were always reluctant to say that we were changing the landscape of ice dance, but we wanted to change the way we skated or the way. . . we wanted to reinvent ourselves year after year after year and whatever effect that had on skating, that was one thing, but for our little brand, that was a mission statement. And now in the entertainment realm, we have to sort of take off that like perfectionist competitor hat and put on our entertainment/entertainer roles and that's been really different. And I think skating can be presented in a different way. I think there's a place for it in the market to be unique and more engaging, more interactive, more art focused, you know whatever it may be. I just think there's room for that and I like that and I just want to figure out how we can evolve and grow and try to express ourselves differently. And little things, like transitions in and out of programs, or having a stage fly down from the ceiling, or whatever it is, I just, I think I’m motivated to push things in a new direction. And I don’t mean to sound egotistical because I’m not sure we’re doing that yet, but that’s the goal anyways.
Q.        That is not egotistical.
T.        Okay!
Q.        You keep saying training. I’m curious as to – I assume a lot of that means actually on the ice, but how many days are you in a gym to (?) your programs?
T.        Do you want me to talk pre-Olympics? Because that may be more relevant – I don’t know. We were on the ice five days a week about four hours every day and then in a gym another six days a week two or three hours and then mental prep and nutrition and treatment and things like that, so it was pretty intense. We worked with an organization called B210 in Montreal. They facilitated all of our off ice needs them and that was that structure, that integrated service team, of everyone communicating and sort of working together. So Jamie Livingston in Montreal created my off ice programs. Then our off ice team worked with our coaching staff to ensure what we were doing on the ice was complementing that. We would have different phases, obviously, where it was more intense in the gym and then more intense on the ice, trying to find that balance.
Q.        And then now that you’re on tour are you still in the gym that much, or more now that you’re not training for the Olympics?
T.        Not really. I mean the show is about two hours and it's quite intense, so I'm certainly getting my cardio and stuff there. I think it's more about warm ups and cool downs and mobility and making sure that, just with injury prevention, that we're staying, that we're managing that. We Scott has taken it upon himself to make a gym in every little stop, so we’re traveling with a gym, which is kind of fun, and we have everything we need there, so sometimes we'll do things together. Or Elvis Stojko was like teaching kung fu classes for a while. So you know we're trying. I think it's time for me to sort of build my own team again, now that that infrastructure and safety net is not there. For me it's sort of like February 20th, like everyone’s like “Peace, good luck!” So I have to sort of like develop that again and I'm working with my naturopath and I’m talking to my sports psych again and just getting back into that. But as an extremist, you know, I was like all in and I needed to mentally step away from all that for a couple of months and feel like I was on the other end of the spectrum for a while, where I wasn’t, you know, so consumed by it. And I think I'm at a point now where I just want to move and feel good and help myself. It’s funny. Sometimes I think we self-sabotage and I’m coming back around now where I just want to help myself feel good.
T.        One more? Two more.
Q.        So we talked about this beforehand, but we know that girls drop out of sport over twice the amount that boys do at the age of thirteen and fourteen and I’m wondering if you have any ideas about how we can change that and how we can empower girls to just continue to stay in sport so that they can kind of reap the same benefits that we see.
T.        Those stats just break my heart. It's awful and there, you know, for whatever reason – body image, accessibility, resources, even just having female role models in sport. And you guys are doing a great job of covering that, right? And so I think that will change the landscape and they'll have certain people to look up to. It's just so hard. I mean, I think just the idea of building that self-esteem and self-awareness, self-worth early on so that girls feel empowered to stick with it. I think, you know, oddly in those moments when we're finding girls are dropping out of sport, I think sport also could offer them the lessons they need and could be just the vehicle to offer, you know, the skillset and the confidence and the goal setting and I mean there’s so many things wrapped up in it that, I wish, if they could stick with it they would really reap those benefits. And so maybe it’s just getting that knowledge out there too, to parents and school systems and things like that. Just being educated enough so that we’re there to support them and help them through that. It’s not easy. Even as older women, don't you find like we don't have like beer league yoga. It’s a different social thing where we don’t get to have the teams in the same way that often men do, right? And it's that camaraderie and the social outlet of it all.
K.        And you were asking about the fitness community here and I really feel like that is a place where women are able to find that.
T.        I was so thrilled to hear that it's supportive and, in an industry where I think women could feel threatened or competitive or whatever, I love that. I love your answer that it is a quite a great network of people who are supporting one another. That’s really reassuring. Did you have one?
Q.        I have so many questions, but we can talk later. No, I’m kidding . . .
T.        Did you say we can chat later? Oh absolutely. We’re going to have to do a reunion with this group.
Q.        I was wondering – in the rigidity, sort of, of your training now or in your competitive moments, is there any type of movement that you’re like dying to try, or like a type of workout that you’re excited to get back into once it’s sort of like the pressure is a little bit more off of your skating? Is there anything you’ve just been dying to try and you just don’t have the time for, like movement wise?
T.        Hmmm. I like that. I want to try those aerial silks and I really want to learn how to play tennis, sportwise. Or ski, like I want to ski, but I was never able to do that because it was so dangerous and the time of year and everything like that. So yeah, there are a lot of things like that. Even running. I mentioned that I have a shin and calf injury and I've never been able to run, I mean I’ve never really wanted to. I think I would like to figure out how I can do those kind of endurance sports and I'll have to work on my technique and things like that, but I was so reluctant to even try for fear of risking any kind of injury. You know it was all about just protecting my body so that I could be the best on the ice. But yeah, there's so many things. I feel like at the end of today I'll have so many other ideas too, yeah. I'm obsessed with pilates so I would like to get back on the reformer and do a lot more of that.
K.        We've had actually some people watching through the live stream.
T.        Oh, you’re still there? Hi!
Q.        Yeah, so two questions. One is, what was the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? And the other is what empowers you?
T.        Best piece of advice… It’s a really good question. Do you have one that comes to your mind?
K.        Ohhhh. Well, I don’t want to bring it up because you keep saying the balance, but literally I can relate to that workaholic mentality, kind of the career path I chose as well both physically and mentally draining. It is, like I say, I need to get that word tattooed on my body because it is balance. Like find yours. And everybody’s is different, right?
T.        Yeah.
K.        It grounds you when you step away from what you’re doing as well.
T.        Right. I mean sometimes when you’re . . . (now I’m like direct to this camera, speaking to all of you at home . . . ). You know Winston Churchill quote, he said “history will be kind to me for I intend to write it” or something along those lines and, like, that’s so cool because I think anytime you're attempting to do something different or put yourself out there and be vulnerable and maybe spark controversy or whatever, anytime you’re stepping into new ground or new territory, it's scary. But that you have the capacity to set a new standard or to change things is I think really cool. I don’t know if that’s advice, but . .  . what was the other question?
K.        What empowers you?
T.        Setting goals and working towards them. There's nothing more energizing. I think I was even in a bit of a funk after the Olympics and I sat in front of my fire with a notepad and a pen and probably some wine and I just wrote down a bunch of new goals and instantly I felt invigorated and I was sort of like buzzing because there's so much that I want to accomplish. And so I think, anytime I feel like I have a purpose, and I’m striving towards something, that's when I feel most myself or most competent anyways.
K.        I'm just curious, what do you get most out of creating and performing? And what do you hope to leave with your audience or people in a room like this.
T.        I think being able to connect with people and that's the beauty of creativity and innovation and art is that you can make people feel something or you can share a moment that is unique to, like right now together in this room, or those of you tuning in, I mean, I think just that connectivity and we're all starving for that now even though we feel we're more connected online I think we're all really starving for that human connection and really to share a moment with someone and to walk away feeling differently in any kind of capacity I think is the most meaningful thing nowadays.
K.        Well it's been absolutely wonderful having you sit here. Isn’t she wonderful?
T.        So nice to connect with all of you and I can’t wait to sweat together now!
K.        Yeah, that’s what we’re gonna do next. We're all gonna make our way to the far room. We've got some little activities there for you guys and then we're all gonna pull together and Cassie’s gonna lead us through an amazing work out!