After a lightning-fast 2:40:05 marathon at Ironman Lake Placid, Canadian long-course star Tamara Jewett sat down with Triathlon Magazine Canada – not just to talk race numbers, but to share something deeper. Because for Jewett, the 2025 season isn’t just about performance. It’s about alignment.
At the end of the 2024 season, Jewett knew something had to shift. Yes, she still wanted to chase world-class results, but not at the cost of connection, joy, or self. And so she chose a new mantra to guide her: Full Heart, Ahead.
“It’s about bringing your full self as you really are, not some idealized version of an athlete, to your sport,” Jewett explained. “There are so many narratives that bombard athletes all the time about what they should care about, who they should be, and what it looks like to succeed at sport. My work this year is to double down on what I care about, what works for me, and how to make that excellent.”
It’s a shift that hasn’t just changed how Jewett feels in the sport – it appears to also be changing how she performs.
Starting the Ironman Lake Placid marathon in 14th place, Jewett ran herself all the way up to fourth, just shy of the podium. Her final time of 2:40:05 wasn’t just fast. It was transcendent. Seventeen minutes faster than her debut Ironman run in Texas just months earlier, it was a performance that turned heads across the sport.
Yes, run fitness matters. Jewett is, after all, a former national-level track athlete with a deadly closing kick. But as anyone who’s raced long over 42.2km knows – especially after 180km on the bike – numbers alone don’t get you home.
Heart does. So does meaning. And this year, Jewett is racing with more of both.
A Confident Step Up
The move to full-distance racing in 2025 marked a bold new chapter. Jewett has already proven herself as one of the sport’s fastest runners at the 70.3 distance – but the full distance marked uncharted terrain. And it came amidst a cascade of change. In early 2025, she left the Toronto area, her home for over three decades, and relocated across the continent to a new training base and rhythm of life in the Bay Area near San Francisco, California.
“I geared up for my first Ironman while scrambling to move to a different country on the far side of the continent,” she said. “I’ve lived in the Greater Toronto Area for three decades and never ever wanted to move, so it was hard!”
Though she’s no stranger to endurance sport, the Ironman distance introduces its own unique learning curve – from pacing and fueling to the mental marathon that begins long before T2.
Surprisingly, what intimidated Jewett most was not the swim or bike, but the marathon.
“I never raced anything longer than 10km when I was a runner, and that’s very rarely,” she said with a laugh. “So marathons are completely new to me, let alone doing your first one off a 3.8km swim and 180km bike. I had never in my life run more than 30km in one go ever.”
In Texas, that uncertainty translated into caution. The plan was to pace conservatively, get the experience, and learn.
By Lake Placid, Jewett felt ready to push. And with her Kona slot already secured, she had nothing to lose – and everything to gain – by trusting her instincts.
“The only change [in Lake Placid] was not being conservative. Being more aggressive built more momentum into my run. In a way, it was a lot more fun.”
This shift in mindset – from restraint to trust – produced one of the fastest Ironman marathons of the year, and is one of the most promising signs yet of what’s possible for her over the full distance.
“The run felt wonderful in the sense of feeling really engaged and motivated. It is my first run since 70.3 Tremblant last June where I’ve really felt like myself as a runner. I didn’t have a time goal in mind other than wanting to push harder than Texas, but the feel was exactly right, and that made my day.”
Why Competitors Should Pay Attention
To say Jewett’s marathon in Placid raised eyebrows is an understatement. It wasn’t just the fastest 42.2km of the day – it was among the fastest in Ironman history. And it came not from a seasoned Ironman veteran, but from an athlete still finding her rhythm over the distance.
And that is what makes it dangerous.
Jewett’s run pedigree has always been known, but seeing it extend this far, and this fiercely, into full distance racing? That’s a development the women’s field can’t afford to ignore.
“Obviously, given the strength of my run, we always want to bring my swim and bike up to a stronger level,” she said. “That continues to be a big desired area of growth. We are chipping away at it. [But I try to also] fully appreciate where I am now versus where I started with those pieces of the sport.”
From the Track to Triathlon
Jewett’s journey into triathlon was born from a pivot. Midway through 2017, after a long series of severe injuries derailed her Olympic track aspirations, she made the switch to multisport. From 2018 to 2022, she often juggled high-performance triathlon training with demanding legal work in Toronto, a dual path few could manage.
Jewett is more than just an elite endurance athlete. She’s a trained lawyer, a writer, a partner to Chris, and someone who views triathlon not just as a job, but a place for values, identity, and curiosity to thrive.
“I’m not interested in doing sport if I’m not enjoying it or finding meaning in it,” she said simply.
That clarity is shaping how she races and how she lives. It’s why she stepped back from the T100 tour this year, instead choosing the communal energy and legacy of full Ironman events.
“Coming back to the Ironman race and event style felt like coming home… When I started triathlon, the community and event atmosphere was such a breath of fresh air. The common experience of the AG and pro athletes racing the same course builds a community and event atmosphere in a way that I really appreciate and enjoy.”
“It was so easy to strike up conversation with all levels of participants in the village in Lake Placid after the race because we had all just done a version of the same thing,” she continued. “The energy of the AG athletes, their hard work and enthusiasm for the sport, [their] varied goals on race day…[it’s] all invaluable.”
But her return to connection hasn’t meant a softening of ambition. If anything, it’s sharpened it.
Kona on the Horizon
Kona, the most iconic stage in triathlon, presents more than just an opportunity for Jewett to prove she belongs. It’s a chance to put her Full Heart approach to the ultimate test.
“I want a really excellent race and a really excellent result,” she said. “But throughout my career, my best results have come when I hold my goals lightly and focus on feel. I want to feel at Kona like I felt during my run at Lake Placid. That is the zone where I am putting out the best of me.”
She’s not heading to the Big Island just to take part. She’s going to see what her fullest, most aligned self can do when the lights are brightest.
There’s something powerful about an athlete choosing to step fully into herself before stepping onto the sport’s biggest stage.
That’s why Full Heart, Ahead isn’t just a mantra. It’s a mission. And if Lake Placid is any sign of what’s to come, it’s working.
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