"Bleed and sweat now so you don't have to in the fight." That's what I tell myself whenever it gets tough. I want to be dead-dog tired during my training session and I want to push myself because, when it comes to fight day, you want to push through all those mental blocks.

I picked up my first pair of boxing gloves just five or six years ago. When I started training to be a triathlete, people would stop me and ask if I was a fighter. One day some guy asked, "What gym do you fight out of? Because you have the build of a fighter." So I met him at a gym the next day, he showed me some punches and some basic combinations, and it was a very humbling experience. I said that day, right when I put those gloves on, "This is the sport I'm going all the way in on."

Boxing is like a blank canvas for me. I see it very much like my artwork. With a painting, it's what you put into it -- throwing all the paint on the canvas was eating healthy, strength training, cardio and going to all the tournaments. So when you're done, you get to stand back and look at your masterpiece and say, "Wow, I did that."