What does it take to train for the Olympics while studying for your chartered accountancy exams and then go on to break a world record? If you’re Catriona Jennings, the answer involves meticulous planning, hard-won resilience, and a willingness to take calculated risks, both on the track and in the boardroom.
In the second episode of Season 4 of Difference Makers Discuss, host Sinead Donovan sits down with Catriona, a Chartered Accountants Ireland member, former PwC tax advisor, aircraft leasing professional, Olympian, and world record holder, for a conversation that is equal parts inspiring and genuinely practical.
A World Record in 12 Hours, 37 Minutes and 4 Seconds
Let’s start with the headline. In November of last year, Catriona set a world record for running 100 miles – finishing in 12 hours, 37 minutes, and 4 seconds at a pace of 4:42 per kilometre. That followed a bronze medal at the 100K World Championships in 2022 and an Olympic appearance at London 2012, where she competed as a marathon runner after transitioning from triathlon.
It’s an extraordinary sporting CV. But what makes this episode so compelling for a professional audience is how much of Catriona’s athletic mindset maps directly onto career development, leadership, and resilience in the workplace.
Key Takeaways
1. Time management is a skill you can build and it compounds
During her PwC years, Catriona was simultaneously studying for her chartered accountancy exams, training at elite level, and working full-time. Her approach? ruthless weekend preparation.
“I would make all my food for the week, prepare all my outfits and drop them into the office. I was regimental about what I prepared for at the weekend to make sure I was allowing myself the time to train, but also to work.”
She’d also run to and from the office as part of her training. The discipline she built as an athlete fed directly into her professional effectiveness and vice versa. If you’ve ever wondered how high performers seem to fit so much in, the answer is usually structure, not superhuman capacity.
2. Resilience isn’t something you have, it’s something you build
The 2012 London Olympics didn’t go to plan. Catriona developed plantar fasciitis in the lead-up to the race, which progressed to a stress fracture during the marathon itself. She finished anyway.
“I can really see the huge amount of resilience I showed and just being able to adapt and pivot when something wasn’t going right. I knew what my ultimate goal was, and that was to finish the race.”
She’s candid that it took a long time to process the experience. But looking back, she credits that race (and the decision to finish it) with giving her the mental foundations for everything that came after, including the move into ultra-running and the world record attempt. The lesson for professionals? How you handle your setbacks often matters more than the setbacks themselves.
3. Mental preparation is a professional skill, not just an athletic one
One of the most thought-provoking moments in the episode comes when Catriona describes how she prepared for 13 hours alone on a course, managing her own thoughts in real time.
“Anytime my thoughts drifted, I intercepted them and made sure I was being positive. I kept reminding myself: this feels good, I feel great, I’m on pace.”
Crucially, she believes mental strength is not innate, it’s trainable. Her recommendation: visualisation. By rehearsing scenarios mentally, whether a high-stakes client meeting or a race, your brain has, in a sense, already been there. The experience feels less novel, and you’re better equipped to execute under pressure.
4. Your Chartered Accountancy qualification is a broader tool than you think
After years in tax at PwC, Catriona made a significant career pivot into aviation leasing — specifically, the trading desk, where she buys and sells aircraft on lease to commercial airlines.
That transition didn’t happen overnight, but she’s clear about what made it possible.
“I can honestly say I wouldn’t be sitting where I am today without the Chartered Accountants qualification. I don’t think I’d have been able to transition out of the tax role without it. It was much broader — it enabled me to move into a risk role, to analyse financial statements, to meet airlines and understand their business.”
For any Chartered Accountant looking at a career change and wondering whether their qualification travels beyond practice or traditional finance, Catriona’s journey is a useful proof point. The credential opened the door; her confidence to walk through it came from sport.
5. Sport and leadership are more connected than you might expect
Sinead raises a striking statistic during the conversation: over 90% of female CEOs have been involved in competitive sport. Catriona isn’t surprised.
“Sport teaches you about hard work, about the importance of teamwork regardless of whether it’s an individual or team sport, and it teaches you resilience — because in most sports, you probably lose more than you win. But it teaches you how to pick yourself up, analyse where you fell down, and invoke ways to change that.”
She also draws a direct line between calculated risk-taking in athletics and in professional life. Having experienced failure in sport (and survived it) made it easier to take career risks, knowing that a less-than-perfect outcome wasn’t the end of the road.
6. Goals are useful… but practices matter more
In a refreshingly mature take on the annual goal-setting ritual, Catriona shares that she’s moved away from rigid targets and towards changing her day-to-day practices instead.
“It’s easier maybe to focus on the day-to-day than the bigger goal down the line. I don’t have to sit down on the 1st of January and set them.”
For professionals who’ve felt the pressure of goals that become millstones rather than motivators, this reframe is worth sitting with.
Listen to the podcast
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