The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Allyson Felix - How To Motivate Yourself, Manage Lows, & Capture Highs The Olympian Way

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

669: Today, we're sitting down with the most decorated female track and field athlete in Olympic history, Allyson Felix. Allyson joins us for a conversation about the Olympic mindset, how to take charge of your own motivation, and how to avoid letting brands take advantage of you. She dives into her experience of starting a family while being sponsored by Nike, which led to her creating her famous sneaker brand, Saysh. She also discusses overcoming fear, the arrival fallacy, and how to determine which sacrifices are worth making when striving to be the best in your game. To connect with Allyson Felix click HERE To connect with Saysh click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by Armra ARMRA Colostrum strengthens immunity, ignites metabolism, fortifies gut health, activates hair growth and skin radiance, and powers fitness performance and recovery. Visit www.tryamra.com and use code SKINNY at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. This episode is brought to you by Ritual Start a daily ritual that you can feel good about. Visit ritual.com/SKINNY to receive 25% off your first month of Ritual. This episode is brought to you by Kerastase Visit Kerastase-USA.com and use code SKINNY15 to receive 15% off your purchase. Offer valid through 5/31/2024. This episode is brought to you by Primally Pure If you're tired of discomfort during your menstrual cycle, try the Cycle Soothing Spray from Primally Pure at primallypure.com/SKINNY and use code SKINNY for 15% off your order. This episode is brought to you by The Squeezed Juice Use code SKINNY for 20% off any order at shop.squeezedjuice.com This episode is brought to you by Saie Saie: Award winning Clean and Planet Positive makeup brand sold exclusively at Sephora. Shop now at sephora.com Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to The Skinny Confidential, him and her.

Just because you have the accomplishment, it doesn't mean that it's going to fulfill you. And I think for me, for a long time, it was like just about the medals and like, OK, this is I have to try to do get the most and all these things. And then it was like, well, what is my actual purpose? Like, what am I trying to accomplish here? And I think when I shifted that, that's when I started to feel fulfilled. And my definition of success really shifted as well. And it was like, I can still have that feeling of fulfillment, even if I don't reach the highest goal. Today, we're sitting down with one of the most decorated female track and field athletes in Olympic history, Allison Felix. Allison joins us for a conversation about the

Olympic mindset. We ask her all the questions, how to take charge of your own motivation and how to avoid letting brands take advantage of you. She talks about making sacrifices to be different, what to watch out for in partnerships, how to regain motivation during low moments, and life after retirement. She dives into her experience of starting a family while being sponsored by Nike, which led to her creating her famous sneaker brand. We also really talk about overcoming fear in this episode, which I think is a really great takeaway. With that, let's welcome Allison Felix to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her.

How do you become an Olympian? Like, I want you to go way, way back to your childhood and tell me the first moment that you can remember and pinpoint when you even saw that quality in you. I think the first thing is like, there's no plan, at least for me. There was no structure to it. That was not the intention. I think I first remember being fast in school in PE. We would like run around the perimeter of the school and I'm super competitive. And I would always like it would be me and these two other boys, Jared and Blake, and we would be like leading the pack. And so that was the first time I was like, oh, like I'm like I can be up with the guys and I like this, but no idea like of any future of professional

sports. So when you know you can run fast, what's the next step after that? Do you go home and tell your parents I'm good at this? I like it. You just start racing everybody in the neighborhood and you keep crushing everyone. But then I started playing basketball like I didn't find it until high school. So I just it was normal. Like, you know, I'm cool. But then I still had school. I did everything normal. And eventually, yeah, years and years later, then I found like the organized part of it.

And that really came from like being at a new school, going out for the team. And yeah, again, like no intention of taking it anywhere. It's just like, oh, let me make some friends. Is that late for an Olympian to find it? Maybe it's a misconception, but my conception of when I think about this is like people are training since they're children.

I imagine the gymnast. That's why I think it's yeah when you say finding in high school that's why I'm like that's not my experience at all but that is the experience for a lot of Olympians where they go to some type of training camp and there is this plan since they were three years old and they've always known they wanted to be an Olympian for me it was I've absolutely like stumbled and fell into it. And I think because I was active and I was, you know, competitive and it's running. So it's not something that you have to be doing from a super young age. I was able to excel really quickly. Did your parents help you water it or were they like just to go do what you want to do? They were like parents who just never let me and my brother quit in anything. So it didn't matter what it was like, you're going to see the thing through. They didn't know anything

about the sport on a high level. My dad ran in high school and that was like the extent of it. But they just they showed up for me like small meets, big meets, like whatever the thing was, they just supported me. And I think that would have been the same, like, no matter what I did. When you look back, when you did decide to become an Olympian, what was the epiphany there? Was there an epiphany? Like, were you like, I'm going to actually take this seriously and try to get to the top? Does somebody approach you or do you say, I'm going to pursue this? Yeah, it first became like, maybe I can get a scholarship to college. So that was the first thing. It was like, this is my way, you know, to be able to go to a good school.

And then my senior year, I started doing really well. My coach like put me in these races with professionals. And that's when it was like I had ran like the fastest time in the world. And yeah, then they started to approach me. Shoe companies started to like offer contracts. And that was like, OK, well, now I had committed to USC and I had this big decision, like, do I go to USC or do I go pro? The Olympics were going to be the next year and really focus on that dream. So yeah. This is always so interesting to me because

you have to have a business mind to do all these deals. So were you also really good at looking at all these partnerships and deals and being able to weed through them? Or is it something you've had to learn? Yeah, no, because at this point, I was like 17 years old. I had no idea of any of that. I was just like, oh, cool. They're going to give me like gear and like pay for school and all that stuff. Thankfully, I had parents who were like very, they just did their due diligence. And so they had a friend who was the GM of the Dodgers. And so they just used their resources to like help navigate and figure it out. But very much so, we just kind of did it as we went. And we made mistakes, like we totally didn't get it right, you know, right away. But

they did the best they could. Are the big companies fair with someone who's 17 years old looking back? Like if you're, if you're maybe teaching someone who's, who's in it at 17 years old, were they fair at the time? Or are there things that you should watch out for? I think there are definitely things you should watch out for. I think they knew that we didn't know what we were doing. It helped when we brought in, you know, other people who obviously did, but it took time to like learn who those people were and how they could help us. When you reach this pinnacle of wellness and expertise and performance, what did that training look like? What were, what, when you decided to take it seriously, what were, what were your routines like?

Very regimented. So I was training six days a week, right around five hours a day. Three was spent on the track. Everything from warming up, the bulk of the workout, cooling down, stretching, all of that stuff. I would take a break and then I would go to the gym for a couple of hours and then have a very regimented system there. Olympic lifts and body weight and all those things. And then taking care of my body, you know, chiropractor, massage therapist. The recovery was huge.

And so, yeah, it was the bulk of my life. How many hours a day do you think you were training or practicing this kind of stuff? Yeah, right around five. But is five with the chiropractor? No, just like five of the actual training. And is five with the gym? Yeah. Or is the gym an extra three?

Is that what you're saying? No, no. So, yeah, three on the track, two in the gym or is the gym an extra three is that what you're no no so yeah three on the track two in the gym come home do recovery and then like the sleep is is huge you know like yeah there will be like a nap built in and then getting you know adequate rest at night and all of it is there drugs alcohol friendships? Like, how do you like, I mean, at that age for me, I'm like out at the bar showing my tits. Like, is there any of that? I was underneath the bar. You were underneath the bar looking at my skirt. It was a very different experience.

So there's none of that. It's all eliminated. I think you're figuring out your way. So for me, I was so I'm trying to like navigate like I still want to be like a regular college student, but I'm I'm definitely not. I'm traveling the world. I'm competing everywhere. So I think I had some like growing pains of like, oh, I want to go out. But like that's not going to work with this. And so, yeah, for the most part, that's not a part of it. Boyfriends, girlfriends, friends. How do you deal with that?

Yeah. Boyfriends. You have to figure out like they have to know the lifestyle get like what you're doing because it is different like it's it's so different than anything else so yeah I kind of found my way obviously you've had so many accomplishments do you regret in any way or miss that you didn't get to have some of those experiences I think that's the one thing like I'm so grateful for the way that it turned out like it's you know it was it was great for me it worked for me but I do like there's the the part of me that like I went pro so I didn't get to be on the college team like I didn't get those relationships or I didn't have the traditional college experience so I think part of me does feel like oh like that would have been so much fun but I do feel like when you're trying to do something different, like you have to make those sacrifices. What's the pressure like being an Olympian competing against other nations, other countries for your. Are you able to compartmentalize that and kind of block it out or does that pressure get to you?

I mean, obviously, yeah, you were able to overcome the pressure. I just wonder, like, what's going through your mind? I figured it out, but I think it definitely got to me. It's huge. I mean, it's funny looking back now because it felt like the most important thing in the world. Like it was everything. And so I had moments where like my second Olympics, I was the favorite. It didn't come together. I lost. It was my second silver medal. And I was just like devastated, like in a very dark place, devastated. And looking back now, it's like it wasn't like that.

It shouldn't have been like have that magnitude. But I think when you do feel the pressure, like you have your sponsors, you have responsibilities like and also just the weight of feeling like you don't want to let your country down. It's pretty heavy. So I felt like I figured it out. But at the beginning, it was it felt overwhelming. Well, I mean, it was your whole. So I felt like I figured it out. But at the beginning, it was, it felt overwhelming. Well, I mean, it was your whole world. Also like your opportunities.

Like, you know, for Olympians, a lot of times, there's two weeks that the world pays attention to you. And so it's like, you have to be ready to go at that time or else it feels like you're not going to be able to make it. This is something I've always thought. I, my mom was huge into the winter and summer Olympics when I was growing up and we watched all the time and I always would,

I would think to myself like, man, it's a four year window, right? Yeah. And so if you're taking your shot, let's say, I don't even know the exact,

was it 2009 to that 12, no 2012. And then so the year before that was 2008. Okay. So if you feel like you miss your one shot in the four years, you know you're going to age four more years. Like how do you deal with that? I feel like you deal with life in like these four-year blocks. And it's crazy.

But you talk to other Olympians, like that's how it kind of works. It's like everything is in these cycles. And it's hard, especially I feel like in track and field. It's not like the team is named early. You find out about a month before the Olympics, and that's when you have trials. And you have to make sure you're healthy. Like if you have a cold during the trials, like it doesn't matter. Like it's the top three on that day. And so it is just, there's so much of it that you're just hoping that like everything aligns to be perfectly ready when it's time to go. Any other kind of athlete, I mean, professional sports team player, like they go these seasons and they're just, it's consistent. We're talking

about if you, you know, you have this small window of two weeks and then you have a gap of four years, what are you doing during that? You're just training and. Yeah. So your season, it's interesting because it is every four years is the Olympics, but you have a season every year. And so you have world championships, you know, you, we have the diamond league, so our professional circuit, but the world doesn't really know about that. So to capitalize, you have really just the Olympics. So yeah, you continue to train and build and all of those things and you continue to compete. But the biggest stage is the Olympic stage. Okay, last question in this vein. For people that are trying to develop the right mindset to perform, you've obviously had to do this in your career.

When you have those down moments, how are you able to overcome that? What are you telling yourself? Are you reading anything? Are you listening? What are the things you're doing to get yourself motivated to get back on top? I would get in these moments where I felt like I couldn't see it. After that second Olympics, it was just like, is it ever going to work for me? I'm not sure.

So it was having family. It was having my coach. It was having people who could see the vision and encourage me when I was like too in my feelings to like get out of my own way. So that was the biggest thing. And then also like just taking time away. Like every season, I would try to take like a month just off where I'm not training. I'm not eating right. I'm just out of it so that I can come back like passionate and refreshed and ready to go again. What do you cut? Like meaning, are you cutting anyone who's toxic? Like you have to be laser focused and cut all the shit. What are you cutting? I feel like anyone who's like not speaking into like any negativity. Anyone who doesn't believe that you're going to get there, you have to be around people who are on your team. So anyone who's not on board,

it's just you can't give your energy to that. Let's talk about what has quickly become a staple in Lauren and I's life. Candidly, a staple in our entire family's life. We give this product to our children. We give it to our dogs. We both take it. And that is Armra Colostrum. Lauren and I did an episode with the founder of Armra on this podcast. Just search Armra Colostrum Skinny Confidential and you will hear it. And it was mind blowing. We did not realize all of the incredible benefits Armra Colostrum provides. Things like gut health, immunity, improving fitness, metabolism, enhancing our skin, hair radiance. My hair is on fire right now. Not literally, but it's just going really well. This is not only going to seal the gut barrier, it's going to seal any of the body's

barriers. What we do every single day is it comes in this little tiny scooper. We take it, Lauren and I actually just scoop the entire scoop in our mouth. It has this kind of like milk dud flavor. Our kids, we just dump it right in their mouth. If you're scared to do that and you're just trying it, you can also just dump it in water and stir it around. Armor has a proprietary concentrate of bovine colostrum that harnesses over 400 living bioactive nutrients that rebuild the barriers of your body and fuel cellular health. Armor also goes through extensive auditing and third-party testing and analysis to ensure that Armor colostrum meets the highest bar of purity and efficacy, which includes being certified

glyphosate-free. Of course, we've worked out a special offer for our audience. Receive 15% off your first order. Go to tryarmor.com slash skinny or enter skinny to get 15% off your first order. That's T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A.com slash skinny. Triarmor.com slash skinny to save 15%. The multivitamin that I have taken through both of my pregnancies that I took before my pregnancy and after is Ritual. Ritual is just the creme de la creme when it comes to a multivitamin. It's clinically backed and it's made for women 18 plus. Everything is made from high quality traceable key ingredients and it's made in a bioavailable form. I had the opportunity to interview the founder Kat and the research that Ritual does on their multivitamin

is wild. Personally, why I like this vitamin for me is that a lot of women are low in vitamin D and I am one of them. And they really, really zone in on increasing your vitamin D levels. There was even a study where they studied how much they increased the vitamin D in women, and it was like 43%. They really think of everything. Nine key nutrients in a delayed release capsule. And there's like this minty essence in every bottle. So you're not like choking or burping on your vitamin. I take mine in the morning. It's right on my vanity as a reminder when I wake up next to my ice roller. It's vegan, non-GMO, gluten, and major allergen free. No more shady business. Ritual is

essential for women. 18 plus is a multivitamin you can actually trust. You get 25% off your first month for a limited time at ritual.com slash skinny. Start Ritual or add essential for women 18 plus to your subscription today. That's ritual.com slash skinny for 25% off. Did you know water is good for you, but it's actually not so great for your hair? The calcium in our shower water is amplifying the damage that we all have in our hair from coloring and other salon services. And when I decided to change my hair from blonde to brunette, I obviously picked everyone's favorite, Kerastase. Kerastase is absolutely amazing. So it's this luxury professional hair care line. You all probably recognize it from the nicest, most luxurious salons. And Kerastase has finally come out with the solution for damaged

hair, the new Premier Repairing Pre-Shampoo Treatment. Basically what this did for my hair is it took my hair from like a brittle blonde to a more thicker, more luscious, more shinier brunette. And I noticed it immediately. It's one of those products that you literally will put on your hair, take a shower, get out, blow dry your hair and notice it right away. So the collection features six different products and an insulin treatment. They all really hit the basis to remove the calcium buildup accumulating in our hair while also repairing it. So we're multitasking over here. If you've tried everything to repair your damaged hair, trust me and try Premier. You can visit kerastase-usa.com and use code SKINNY15. You get 15% off your purchase. Standard exclusions apply. Offer valid through 5-31-2024. That's Skinny 15 for 15% off your purchase at www.k-e-r-a-s-t-a-s-e-dash-usa.com.

If someone wants to take any area of their life to the next level, what would you tell them? And I mean, like they want to go know, but whether that's, you know, a life coach or someone who can kind of look at that plan and say, like, I'm in it with you. You're not alone. For me, that was always helpful because you could have like this big, ambitious plan. But until you kind of break it down into little parts and having people to like encourage you along the way, it's hard to do it just by yourself. I want to know what it was like the day after the Olympics are over, because this is really weird. But the day that I got married was like it was like so fun and it feels like you're on cocaine. You're on like this high. But the next day you feel really low.

It's really weird. And I've talked to a lot of people about this because it's like you do this thing that's that you're looking forward to your whole life. Yeah. And then the next day you almost drop. Yeah. And even like we talk about this all the time, astronauts who go to the moon, who come back, they almost like have this like depression.

Did you feel like that the next day, the next week, the next month after it's over? It's interesting. I feel like in my most successful Olympics, my third Olympics, like everything came together. It went really well. And I remember like, I thought everything was going to be different. It was like, if I win gold, like nothing is going to be the same. And I remember coming home and it was like, everything was the same. And it was, it was this feeling of like, I've been striving for this thing like for so long. Now I have it, but it doesn't

like it doesn't reach the hype of what I built it up to be. And it took time to like, you know, unpack and therapy and all the things. But I think it's just like it's about the journey and like the magic along the way. And I think sometimes you can be so fixated on that end goal that you miss like all the moments. So for me me that's what it was it was like you know it just it wasn't what I thought it was going to be like you have to tell Allison the pearl theory because that literally that people keep coming on the podcast that are really accomplished and saying that they thought that this accomplishment was going to like just fix everything Tony Robbins always talks about that the science of achievement and

the art of fulfillment like you have to have both like you can achieve like you you achieved so much and it's so interesting that you say that that afterwards it's it's like everything's still the same. Yeah. I think that's important for people to hear because they think oh like a Selena Gomez I'll just take like she's made it but people don't realize there's there's a lot that comes with that. There's a lot of pressure and there's drops. Yeah, I think it's what you said. It's the fulfillment. Like just because you have the accomplishment, it doesn't mean that it's going to fulfill you. And I think for me, for a long time, it was like just about the medals and like, OK, this is I have to try to do get the most and all these things. And then it was like, well, what is my actual purpose? Like what, I have to try to do, get the most and all these things. And then it was like,

well, what is my actual purpose? Like, what am I trying to accomplish here? And I think when I shifted that, that's when I started to feel fulfilled. And my definition of success really shifted as well. And it was like, I can still have that feeling of fulfillment, even if I don't reach the highest goal. So what does your life look like the year after the Olympics? Still training. You might have world championships. You still have another season of competing. So it kind of just keeps going. There's a lot more work and opportunity like away from the competition, but it just keeps going. And then when does it stop? Like now you're pregnant. Like when does it when does all of the training stop or do you still do training all the time? I retired last year. And so, yeah, it stops whenever you choose for it to stop.

When I had my daughter, I was in the midst of, you know, still competing and everything. And so I trained all the way through my pregnancy and then came right back to it. And so it never really stopped. So why did you decide to retire? What did that conversation with yourself look like? Yeah, it was, I felt like it was time. I had done a lot of the things that I wanted to do. You have a garage full of medals. What's going on? My parents keep them all. But yeah, it had been a really long career and I felt really blessed. And I knew I wanted another child. And that was something that I, you know, didn't really feel like I wanted to come back to the sport after doing it once. And it just, it felt like a good time. But retirement is really different. It's really hard and transition is tough. And so that's

been a whole new world. But I felt really confident in my decision of like, it's time to walk away. Why is retirement tough? I think change is so hard. It's been a real, it's been to walk away. Why is retirement tough? I think change is so hard. It's been a real, it's been an interesting journey. I've been learning a lot. I think for me, you know, I had a 20 year career and I absolutely loved what I did. And sports is weird because you don't really, you know, no one escapes father time. And so that's a long career though. Yeah. It's a very long career for athletics. Yeah. Yeah. It's super long. So that's why I felt super grateful. But at the same time, it's still been challenging just to I think so much of my identity has been

wrapped up in being an athlete and competing in the Olympics and all those things. And so one day when it's just you're not doing that anymore, it's really interesting to just kind of sit with yourself and kind of break down like, well, who are you actually away from those things and explore. Looking back 20 years, all the people you competed with, when you think about the mindset or the frame of mind that the best people were, do you see common denominators against the best yeah i i mean just the like the zone in the focus i do i feel like it's a kind of a a different level the passion you could have looked at and been like that's somebody i gotta watch and that's not like just

based on their or that person's gonna be so. There's like just traits. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, there's a competitor that I really enjoyed competing against. Her name is Veronica Campbell-Brown. She's from Jamaica. And I just knew that I always had to bring my A game. Like she was fierce and always ready to go and just extremely talented as well. And I think there's an ease about it. So, yeah, there's definitely the similarities. When you talk to athletes who have retired now, is it sort of the same across the board with how

people feel about retiring? I would think that, like you said, it's so much a part of their identity that there's, that it's hard. Yeah. A lot of the conversations have been similar. You know, there's been a lot of, you know, people who have helped me. I think there's been a lot of the conversations have been similar. You know, there's been a lot of, you know, people who have helped me. I think there's been a lot of people who have like warned me like it's going to be tough. I think it hits everyone in different ways. Like there's people who I've talked to and, you know, they haven't come back to their sport and they don't, you know, they don't really miss it on the day to day. For me, I do. I miss the structure of training and all of those things that I've really has just been like second nature. But I think it's always really challenging when you move into the next thing. And so as I've

moved into the next step, it is like finding my footing and remembering, you know, that I can still have like my best days ahead of me and there's still so much more to go after. What does your life look like now on a day-to-day basis? We're obsessed with routines over here. What does it look like? I think that's what I miss most is that there's not a really set routine. I'm doing so many different things. My day-to-day is, you know, running Seish, my footwear company. And so, you know, a lot of, you know, meetings and team things for that, a ton of travel, a lot different travel than I was used to. I did a lot of international travel. This is a lot of domestic travel, being mom, like, and on top of all the

other things. So, you know, I try to have like some time to like work out and then go into the office and do all that stuff. But usually it's a fair amount of travel. And then, yeah. I have plantar fasciitis. That's not fun. Shoes are not my favorite thing. Like, tell me, do these shoes help with my plantar fasciitis? I feel like you're the person to ask because I'm sure you know all about the feet. I think they would be great for you because they are extremely comfortable. It's very cloud-like. It's, you know, for women especially, we've been wearing shoes that have been made for men. And so I think that's a huge part of why we see like these different

issues arise. So I would love to, yeah, hear how, you know, you feel in them. I feel like women have been wearing those shoes like in Cinderella when the stepsisters shoes, their feet pop out. You know what I'm talking about? It's like too tight it's too big like that's how I feel like every single time it is wearing heels yeah it's I mean it's crazy I mean even just I had no idea in wearing like sneakers that I've been wearing men's sneakers and you know I've been told that they're for women and there are a lot of differences between men and women's feet. And so, you know, we shouldn't be wearing men's shoes. And yeah, I think that is where a lot of issues come from.

Why did you decide to create your own shoe line? So it came about really organically. I was competing still. And I had been with Nike for almost a decade at the time. And what does that mean? You've been with Nike like they were sponsoring. Yeah, they were sponsoring me. And what and just if you just could go off on a tangent real quick and tell us what that looks like and then how you parlayed into your shoe brand. Yeah. So in track and field, your major sponsor is usually a footwear deal. And so they sponsor you. You represent them, you're an ambassador for the

brand, you wear their gear, all of those things. So I had been doing that for a really long time, but I was ready to start a family. And in my sport, it was really interesting because so many women and friends of mine, I saw them struggle through that and they weren't supported. And what was happening is that their contracts were either being paused when they became pregnant or they weren't under contract and they hid their pregnancies to secure new contracts. And it was a whole thing. So I kind of felt like for me, like at this point, I had been to four Olympics. I had six gold medals. Like I was like, maybe I have done enough and like I won't fall into that category. But I found myself in the exact same position. I was redoing a contract that I was already on, renegotiating it. And the renegotiation

started off at a horrible place. It was 70 percent less than what I had already been making. And so that just amplified my fear because they didn't know I was pregnant yet. And so I did what so many women in my sport have done. I hid my pregnancy. I started to train at like four o'clock in the morning when it was dark so that nobody would know. And my plan was just like, you know, to come back. And I was doing that because even the 70 percent less, they hadn't put it on paper yet. And so we're waiting, trying to get something back. And it just kept going in a bad direction. And then I changed my fight from one around financials to asking for maternal protections. And basically what that means is in the contract, it's performance based. So you go to the Olympics,

you go to world championships, you get a bonus. But if you don't, or if you have a baby during that time, you get a reduction. And so there was nothing in place to say, after I give birth, I have this amount of time to get back. You would just be reduced. So that's what was happening to women. They'll be reduced and reduced and pushed out of the sport. And so I asked for time to be able to recover and they said that I could have it, but they were not willing to give it to everyone. They weren't willing to set that precedent for all female athletes. And so that was something I felt like I couldn't stand for. And so I walked away from the company. I wrote this New York Times op-ed talking all about it, which was terrifying. I'm sure they loved that. And two weeks after the op-ed came out, they changed their policy. And today they offer 18

months of maternal protection for their female athletes. But that's basically how the company came around because I left Nike and I was training for my fifth Olympics. I knew I still wanted to run. I knew I wanted to come back and I was looking for another sponsor. And I think whatever the reason I had been so heavily Nike branded, like just no one was interested or it was just too long you were like just known for yeah or I caused they saw me as like causing trouble there you know whatever the thing was we don't need another op-ed here exactly and so you know I was I was talking to my brother who's my manager and really just like venting to

him talking to him as a big brother and I like, I'm just I'm disheartened that like I'm at this place in my career and I don't have shoes to wear in the Olympics. And he was like, I think we should just do it ourselves. And I was like, that seems very big. But yeah, but the more that I kind of sat with it, it was like, no, this is a huge opportunity. And so we thought we were creating shoes that I could wear in the Olympics and maybe other women would want to support that as well. But as we did a deep dive into that industry, we learned that the majority of shoes are made off of a last, which is a mold of a foot. And it's the mold of a man's foot to make women's sneakers. And it's been marketed to women that this is specific for you. You know, you go into the shoe store.

Designing a tampon for a penis hole oh i mean what why are we getting shoes that are designed for your gross big lumbering toes that's some bullshit i just think it's bullshit the closest thing i know about the shoe industry is i read shoe dog like four years ago that's about it because all i know so yeah yeah they're not made for us yeah so that's what we get to do our shoes are made specifically to fit the form of the female foot it was really cool because I did make it back to olympics and I got to do it in shoes that my company made what color are all different colors what color I ran in a very pretty white. Cute. It was like, almost looked like lace, but very strong.

They were see-through and yeah, a very beautiful, just beautifully crafted shoe. Did everyone want them when you wore them? They did. Yeah. No one knew what they were. And then it was, I kind of like stepped out in them and it was a moment. And for me, it was just like, it was just the coolest because it had been so hard to get back to the Olympics. And I felt like, you know, leaving Nike like everyone was telling me, like, I'm too old. You're a mom now. Like, this is not going to happen for you.

So to do all those things and to do it like as the first athlete in running in a company that I own was just like cherry on top. Well, it's full circle for you. And also, I think it's so smart what you did because you like content marketed it kind of like you wore it and then everyone wanted it. I think it's a really, really smart marketing play, too. It worked out that way where, you know, we were able to launch at the Olympic trials. And yeah, so it was it. It was hard, you know, timing wise to put everything together. And but yeah, that was the idea to really have that moment. Primally Pure offers a complete line of clean products from skin, body, hair, and home.

They have a cult following natural deodorant, which is absolutely amazing. My latest obsession and always my obsession with this brand is their body butter. I love using it when I get out of the shower. It's non-toxic and amazing. They just launched a cycle soothing spray though. And this is this spray that has magnesium in it. It's a miracle mineral, which is known to ease discomfort and soothe period symptoms. So I had the opportunity to try the cycle soothing spray when I was on my period. And boy, oh boy, is it amazing. I sprayed mine on my stomach and like my neck and it smells delicious, especially when you're just like having a hard time on your period. This magnesium really works and it like seeps into your skin. Again, a great thing with this brand is that it's

non-toxic. It's all natural, which we love. If you're going to pick up anything from their line, get the body butter. The one that I like the best is the almond and vanilla, and then get this magnesium spray. You cannot go wrong. If you're tired of discomfort during your monthly menstrual cycle, try the cycle soothingay from Primally Pure. Go to PrimallyPure.com slash skinny. That's W-W-W dot P-R-I-M-A-L-L-Y-P-U-R-E dot com slash skinny. Use code skinny at checkout for 15% off your order. Visit PrimallyPure.com slash skinny and enter code skinny at checkout.

You get 15% off your order. I have been on the hunt for a juice for my kids. My kids love juice. What kids don't love juice? I wanted one that was all natural, 100% juice, no water added. I wanted fresh press, non-GMO, something that had all the vitamins and nutrients. Because if I'm going to give my kids juice, I don't want it to be in a juice box that's fake artificial juice. So inner squeezed juice. This juice is so good. My kids harass me for it. They have this pomegranate juice that is absolutely delicious. They also have a mandarin juice and a green juice. I like to get the sampler so my kids can try everything, but they really do flock towards the pomegranate juice. And the other night I did like a wine glass with sparkling water and poured some pomegranate juice on top and put a little sprig of rosemary and it was delicious. I don't

think I'll have any other juice in my home besides squeeze juice. It's family owned, 100% juice, all natural, not from concentrate, all the things that check my boxes and my family's box. And my kids don't act crazy on it because it's not a bunch of added sugar like most juices. Check out the pomegranate, the mandarin, the green juice. We have a code for you. And definitely, definitely get their sampler. You will not be sorry. Use code SKINNY for 20% off any order when you visit shop.squeezedjuice.com. That's shop.squeezedjuice.com. Code SKINNY for 20% off. Say. Say has this product. It's a glowy super gel. It gives you that effortless, no makeup, glass skin,

glowy product. It's this multi-illuminator that hydrates and brightens the skin for a fresh, dewy look. Everything that Say designs too gives you that look. I love it when I'm podcasting, when I pick my kids up from school or I drop them off. It's just pretty and it doesn't feel like too try hard. I am obsessed with applying their makeup too over my skincare. It doesn't pile. They just like know how to do the perfect tinted moisturizer. The two products that I would recommend by them are the Glowy Super Gel, like I said, that's going to be the Illuminator, and then the Slip Tint SPF 35 Tinted Moisturizer. Both of these are so great for a mom or a girl on the go, and they're not like an overwhelming, like heavy, cakey makeup product, like I said. Say, award-winning, clean, and planet-positive makeup brand is sold exclusively at Sephora,

and this is one of those products that I feel like I can recommend to everyone. Everyone is always talking about their slip tint that I told you about earlier, the tinted moisturizer. It even won the best of allure. All the makeup that they have is meticulously crafted with sustainability in mind and it's packed with good for you ingredients. So it shouldn't surprise you that it makes your skin so glowy. I think you guys will love Say. Shop now at Sephora.

As a parent now, if your children come to you at some point and say, hey, I want to follow similar footsteps, would you, how are you going to handle that? Would you encourage or would you? I mean, I'm always going to support my child, but I wouldn't be mad if they choose something else. It's such a tough route. I feel like especially track, it's like an isolating, like lonely sport.

It's not a lot of payoff for the amount of work that it is. So I'm trying to get my daughter to play tennis. Like what happens to, I mean, you've had so much success and you've done so well and you're so accomplished, but what happens, I I mean, you've had so much success and you've done so well and you're so accomplished, but what happens, I guess, to maybe some of the athletes that don't have the success you have like financially, professionally, like what, what, what are those stories like? Oh, I mean, there's, there's a million of them. Um, there's such a huge disparity in track and field where there's only a small amount of athletes who are really successful and, you

know, making a living and all of those things. I think for the others, they're working, they're, you know, they have this dream and they're trying to make it happen. They're not supported. It's just, it's really a kind of a difficult lifestyle. Yeah, that's got to be tough to be like, I'm an Olympic athlete, top 1.01% in the world, but maybe you have to support yourself. Well, we just got a bronze medal for our podcast and someone gave it to me and I said, no, it's bronze. And if I'm in the

Olympics, I don't want the bronze. I can understand. I empathize. You get it. I'm like, I don't want the bronze. I want the gold. We always want the gold. This is a paperweight now somewhere. You mentioned that you wrote an article for the New York Times. What did that look like to get there?

And why did you decide to pull the trigger on it? Yeah. So there were two teammates of mine who were already writing about the same issue with the New York Times. And my brother as a manager, he was contributing to the article. But we weren't really putting our name to it. And so there was all this stuff that was in the works. And my teammate Alicia, she came out with this with her piece. And I was I was going through all the things at that time. I was going through the renegotiation. I was pregnant. I was like dealing with it all. And I remember seeing it. I was like, I have to be a part of this. She was a former Nike athlete and she was talking about her experiences and I was current. And I was like, this is still happening. This is going on.

And so I just, I felt like compelled that I had to do it. And I was scared because I was like, I know I want to keep competing. And obviously this is going to be an issue. But it was just something that I think also I had my daughter during that time. She came two months early and spent time in the NICU. And I think something about seeing her fight and just thinking about like her growing up and her generation, I think that was like the push that I needed to say, like, I've got to be a part of this. And when it came out, what was that like? It was so scary. I remember like got published and I just didn't know what the reaction was going to be.

And I think at that time, I really cared a lot about what people thought and what it would mean, what the consequences were. And so I just remember feeling just really nervous about it. I was really overwhelmed with a lot of support. Now, do you feel like so happy you wrote it? Yeah, I do. I mean, so much. I feel like I'm absolutely where I'm supposed to be. Like, this is what was meant for me at the time. It didn't feel like it. And I think it was the lesson of that was like, you know, you can be fearful about something, but you can still move forward with it because I never got to this place where it's like, OK, this is comfortable. Like,

let's press send. Like, no, it was terrifying the whole way through. But like change came from it. And now I found my voice and I'm where I'm supposed to be. What are some of your favorite things right now? Meaning favorite books, favorite beauty products, favorite things that you use with your daughter, like just some things that you're like using all the time some things I'm using all the time um audience loves like beauty makeup hacks wellness hair wellness yeah wellness productivity I'm such a simple any little hacks any little hacks I've just recently like just started meditating which has been really nice like waking up like before the house and like having some time to myself. So that's been really nice. I do gratitude journal. That's like been starting my days off well. My beauty routine is like super simple. I use like Cetaphil and Kiehl's and like

very basic things with my daughter. Let's see. What are we doing right now we're all about like the bath time hacks and like the all the things that I hate but she's into like bath paint and that there's like bath confetti I know like pop rocks I thought that would be so fun and then I'm like oh my god I have to clean up all this every single time they get out of the bath and then their hands and they're underneath their fingernails it's a whole thing but i mean it is fun for them they like it yeah she she's into it i'm not so much i feel as parents maybe our generation is just much nicer but i think about when i was a child there was no bath confetti or paint you just took a bath yeah i mean maybe like i just got thrown in like a body of water it was like, scrub your ears and get out.

That is true. But I think about even how delicate all the parents are now. I mean, it's... I have a strobe light that goes in the bath. And all these toys that... It's called a bluey bath. Every time I turn around, there's some new light and some new water spraying from somewhere. I'm like, what is happening? I think about that a lot when I'm like, if I'm having a rough time, like with my daughter's like sleep schedule.

And I'm like, I don't think this used to be a thing. Like, I don't think there was like sleep training and all this. I'm like, they just got through it. I just let Daza go to sleep when she's tired. That's my sleep schedule. My dad would literally charge. It's a lot. It's too much pressure. You should see the way she wakes up. It's like this soft. My dad would literally charge. It's a lot. It's too much pressure.

You should see the way she wakes up. It's like soft. There's meditation. Michael's being so crazy because he literally puts on 528 frequencies. No, no, no. Now I get the same thing. That's what I'm saying. But when I was a kid, I remember my dad would just come in.

The lights would slap on full blast. Like, get up. Get out of here. You're going to be in school in 15 minutes. The bus is down the street. I'm like, oh my God. Well, we like to do bath paint and strobe lights in the bathtub. Where can everyone find everything you're working on? Shop your shoes. What shoes should they start with?

Tell us everywhere to find you. A website is seich.com. It's S-A-Y-S-H.com. I would start with the Felix Runner. I think it's the best running shoe made specifically for a woman. And we're just really proud of what we're doing. We have maternity returns policy where for women, if your foot changes sizes due to pregnancy, we'll give you your new size. No questions asked. Yeah, we're trying to do things differently. That's a really cool policy. I never even thought of that.

Yeah, we're really trying to push the industry to go and just like another way to like see women. Really cool. Yeah. For plantar fasciitis, which one? The Felix Runner? The Felix Runner. Yeah, it's going to be that comfort. Hopefully it'll be very cloud like. I think you'll enjoy it. Nothing hotter than a little plantar fasciitis on a Thursday morning. I think you got to get your running stride

down a little bit. I don't know that I'm a great runner. Get some ice on it. Get like a golf ball. Yeah. Yeah. Like roll it. Yeah. You're supposed to hit with the heel first, right?

Is that when you run? Is that what? I mean, I don't even think about it. She just runs. But I do think that's the technical. I don't think she... I would love to see you guys

do a race. I mean, I think in this state this would be the time. I still think you'd beat us out. I think you could be in any state and still just destroy. Yeah, I think so too. I think you could be in any state and still just destroyed. Yeah, I think so too. I think you could be in a wheelchair and still be there.

Allison, thank you so much for coming on. You're very inspiring and I can't wait to shop your shoes. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you.