Mia Keller was standing in the swim corral at her very first Kona in 2022, heart pounding. Race nerves, yes. But also, the results of the Colorado Bar Exam she’d taken nine weeks earlier were about to be posted any minute. She couldn’t put it out of her mind. The moment the results came out, she had to know whether she’d passed.
Just before she entered the water, she got the news: She’d nailed it. She could practice law. An elated Mia went on to finish Kona—a tough race, but easily her most memorable triathlon.
“It felt like the culmination of all these big things I’d been working toward,” says Mia, 27. “It was super cool.”
Now an Assistant City Attorney for the city of Boulder, Colorado, Mia’s kicked off her career handling violations of civil code—and, just last year, helping to house 32 people. And when she’s not serving her city, she’s crushing triathlons.
Since coming from a swim background to race her first tri at 19, she’s qualified for and competed in the IRONMAN World Championships twice, 70.3 Worlds once, and set a 70.3 PR of 4:58.
This would all be ridiculously impressive on its own. But there’s another layer to her story: She’s done it all while living with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with symptoms including severe abdominal cramps, weight loss, and deep fatigue. It’s a disease without much visibility among athletes. Mia wants to change that.
“I want to be someone people can look to, to realize it’s possible to keep doing athletic things,” says Mia, who was diagnosed at 22. “I had a lot of tough years when I was diagnosed. I wanted to keep doing tri, I just wasn’t sure what it would look like. Slowly, I figured it out.”
Below, the superstar ROKA STNDRD Racing team member shares her hard-earned knowledge about tri, swimming—and how to keep going when things get tough.
NO NEGATIVE THOUGHTS (while racing)
I can. I want. I will.
That’s Mia’s race mantra, activated along with her race-day rule: No negative thoughts.
In action, it looks like this: At IRONMAN 70.3 Texas, the swim was—sadly—cancelled, and the winds that nixed the swim were terrifying on the bike. “I was crossing a bridge and I was so scared I’d get blown into the ocean!” Mia says. “Then I said to myself, ‘OK, let’s take this 5 miles at a time,’ and I was able to stay in a decent mood. Instead of things falling apart, I thought about getting to explore a new place and to see the ocean.”
DIAL YOUR DIET
For Mia, it’s not optional. It’s part of the way she keeps ulcerative colitis under control. She works with sports dietitian, Dana Sowards, and cut dairy and gluten for a huge improvement in symptoms.
Mia’s go-tos for race day fuel: Gluten-free pancakes for breakfast, Maurten gels and Untapped gels (pure maple syrup), and Skratch Labs drink mix and chews.
JOIN A TEAM
Mia swam the 500 on her high school swim team. But, in a quintessential Colorado kid move, she skipped school one day to ski—and tore her ACL. She couldn’t swim in the state meet and was devastated.
But biking was part of physical therapy, and when she got strong enough, her mom suggested she race a Tri for the Cure event. Eventually, she joined the CU Boulder tri team, and never looked back.
“The closest bonds I’ve formed are from sports teams,” Mia says. “My best memories aren’t the races—it’s being with my friends before and high-fiving on course. I like the vibes—I’m here for vibes.”
Now, she’s vibing as one of the youngest members of the ROKA STNDRD Racing Team.
SHARE YOUR JOURNEY
“When I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, I thought I had food poisoning,” Mia says. “I lost 11 pounds in a week and was in the hospital, anemic.” For the first few years, she felt exhausted, and would have to nap nearly every day. But with medicine, her gluten and dairy-free diet—and some self-compassion—she’s been able to reach the top echelon of the sport.
She wishes there’d been someone to look up to as she navigated athletic life post-diagnosis. Now she’s happy to be that person for others.
“I had no idea what I was doing, and it can be very scary,” she says. “I want people to know that, with some self-grace, it’s possible to race well with UC—and to race happy. A happy athlete is a fast athlete.”
Follow Mia on Insta @kiameller
MIA’S FAVE WORKOUTS
SWIM
Rotating Fast 50s
The masters group I swim with will often do 4 x 200 with a rotating fast 50 (so for the first one, it's 50 fast, 150 smooth, then 50 smooth, 50 fast, 100 smooth, etc.) It really helps keeps things interesting and be prepared for mid-race speed changes that can sometimes happen in open water.
Top Hat Drill
I've been doing a lot of this to start my sessions. You put one paddle on the crown of your head while swimming, and you have to keep your head straight or the paddle will fall off. It's a great one when I get lazy about my breathing.
BIKE
30/30s
After a warmup, I’ll do 30 seconds hard (~130% of functional threshold power), 30 seconds easy recovery. I usually do: 3x [10 x 30/30]. It’s fun, and short enough I can go hard, but long enough to average a high power output.
RUN
Pre-Race Track Workout
4 x (800, 400, 2x 200)
The 800 is done around half marathon race pace, the 400 is at 5k pace, and then the 200s are closer to 3k pace.
Over Unders
If I'm doing a tempo, I love doing over unders to make the time go by faster. Especially in the winter if I'm inside, it makes it much more enjoyable. My favorite one over the winter was:
3 x (2.5 min 7:05 pace, 2.5 min 7:25 pace, 2.5 min 7:05 pace, 2.5 min 7:25 pace) with 3 minutes easy in between.
We’re proud to support Mia, the RSR Team, and all of the athletes putting in the work, showing up day after day, and chasing their dreams. Let’s go.
