WHOOP Podcast - Pro Runner Colleen Quigley on Finding Your Path, Managing Injury, and Understanding Your Values

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

Colleen Quigley says she never dreamed of being an Olympian, but when she started running in high school, she found herself on a path that would make her one of America’s top track and field athletes. Colleen joins the WHOOP Podcast to share her journey to the top of her sport, and what she’s learned about herself along the way. She also details her struggles with injuries and how mindset is an important tool in overcoming physical setbacks. She discusses getting into running late (2:50), overtraining (9:39), how her parents set her on a path to success (13:48), dealing with setbacks (17:43), injuries (20:20), meditation (25:33), tracking habits (34:17), using WHOOP (36:18), sleep consistency (39:09), body image in running (44:37), weight and nutrition (46:14), who inspires her (48:25).Support the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the WOOP podcast where we sit down with top athletes, scientists, experts, and more to learn what the best in the world are doing to perform at their peak. And of course, what you can do to unlock your own best performance. I'm your host, Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of Woop, where we are on a mission to unlock human performance. That's right. Okay, this week's guest is American Middle Distance. runner and Olympic athlete Colleen Quigley. Colleen is one of the top runners in the United States. She earned nine NCAA All-American honors while running for Florida State University.

She won the NCAA steeplechase in 2015. A year later, she represented the U.S. at the Olympics in Rio. Colleen was on a track to go to the Olympics again this year, but injuries derailed her hopes right before the trials. She talks about how injuries have taught her how important running is to her and how mindset is a critical tool in overcoming physical setbacks. Mindset is a big theme of this discussion, and Colleen shares how her meditation practice has made her a better runner. I know you'll find Colleen to be an inspiration, and there's a lot to take away from her story and her approach. A reminder, you can get 15% off A-W-W-M-M-E-M-E-D. By using the code Will Ahmed, that's W-I-L-L-L-A-H-M-E-D. Okay, without further ado, here is Colleen.

Colleen, welcome to the Woof Podcast. Thanks for having me, a fan of the pod. Happy to be here. Well, thank you for listening to the podcast. I think that's how we met over Instagram. You said you had listened to it, so I appreciate that. Yeah, you've had a lot of athletes on here that I look up to and enjoy following. So, yeah, happy to be here.

So you've had an amazing career as a competitive runner. And I guess I'll start by asking you if you, if you always knew that you were going to go on to be such a successful runner. Was that something from a very young age? You said, this is what I'm going to do. I'm a runner. I'm off for the races. No.

And I feel like you've had a lot of athletes on here that you've talked to who did know that from a young age and have been like on this single-minded, you know, just track of success. But I was a dancer when I was growing up. I danced, tap, jazz, ballet, point, and I played soccer both for like nine years until I was a freshman in high school. But actually, my family come from like a family of runners, running runs in my family. And both my parents ran marathons back in the day and my older brother ran in college and actually ran professionally for a couple years.

So finally, freshman year of high school, I succumbed to the running in my jeans. went out for cross-country the fall of my freshman year of high school because I wanted to stay in shape for soccer, which was going to be in the spring. But then actually when soccer tryouts came around in the spring, I wussied out. I was too nervous to try out for the soccer team as a freshman. And track was no cut. And I really liked the girls that I had become friends with in the fall. The cross-country girls were all just super nice. And I really enjoyed being on that team. So I was like, oh, I'll just keep like keep doing this. It was kind of like an extension of cross country on the track.

And so I never tried out for soccer and I quit I quit dance that year too. And I just, I don't know, just focused on running. That seems amazing. The freshman year of high school, so what, you're 14 years old or so? Yeah. Is it, I mean, that feels like a somewhat late stage to start formally running. But I guess if you're doing all these other sports, and running some part core to them?

I mean, you do a lot of running in soccer, obviously. So, like, I was doing that. And then I think with dance, a lot of strength and, like, body, spatial awareness, which ended up, because I specialize in an event on the track called the steeple chase. So it's a hurtling, a long-distance hurtling event. And so you're doing more than just running. There's also a water obstacle. You have to launch yourself over.

And so it takes a little bit more, like, athleticism. and coordination than like running like say a 10k where you're just you know run straight turn left for 25 laps so I think that ended up some of that athleticism and like coordination from running or from dancing and playing soccer ended up being to my benefit when I started to try the steeplechase when I got to college now at what point in high school did you realize you were pretty good at this um so my dad has been coaching track and field and cross country for 30 plus years at this point. And he still coaches my old high school team. They want to state title the year after I left. Not better about it at all that I missed out on that. But he was coaching on an all-boys school. I'm from St. Louis, Missouri. And we

have lots of all-boys schools and all-girls schools there for some reason. Good Catholic, Irish-Catholic city um so i went to all girls catholic high school and when i finished my freshman year uh i got a little bit injured that fall like not having ever really run before and then starting to kind of run a decent amount i think i got like shin splints and stuff my freshman year um but my dad i don't know i think he was like huh like i think my daughter is there going to be a pretty good runner and so he ended up he ended up quitting coaching at the all boys school where he teaches and still teaches today and got started coaching me at my school um and i just you or your whole team so at first it was just me um and then i started doing pretty well and then i think other kids and their parents

were like we want that chick's dad to coach our daughter um and so then by the time i left he was the head coach of the program, uh, because, yeah, I think he's a really good coach. And, um, but I, I still, I didn't win like, I wasn't winning like nationals my senior year of high school or anything. Like, I was only running 30, 35 miles a week. There was definitely girls who were running 60, 65, 70 miles a week and, you know, um, running much faster than me in high school. And they looked, you know, they looked older. They, um, had been, out more like I still had baby fat when I went to college and I definitely had a smart trajectory and I credit my dad for that where I was not like peaking in high school by any means.

I find that a really interesting phenomenon in running this idea of when you peak because I've read a lot too about some runners actually peaking even in their early 30s. I mean look at Allison Felix. She just competed in your fifth Olympic games and she's a 400 meter sprinter and she has a baby and she's like 30. I don't even know. She might be like 35 now. And she just ran her second fast time ever in the 400 in Tokyo. Isn't that amazing? She's, I mean, she's a freak of nature. That's incredible. You definitely see that more like the longer distance athletes, um, like athletes who are going to compete in like the marathon. It's very common to see peak when you get older. But then you see someone like Molly Seidel who just got a bronze medal in Tokyo. And that was her third

marathon ever and she's only 27 years old so there's rules but there's always exceptions to the rules and so when you say that you didn't peak in high school and you're still kind of getting you know better are you thinking that about that from a training standpoint in terms of your mileage you kind of kept your mileage at the right level and certain people who peaked too early maybe they were going too hard too early and they burned out i think so i mean so actually speaking of molly molly is the first ever athlete to have one foot locker cross-country national championships in high school and then gone on to win an Olympic medal. That's never happened before.

Oh, interesting. Yeah. So it's kind of like, oh, you're the national champion. You would have the best chance of reaching the heights of our sport. But then for some reason, up until this year, that's never actually happened. So I don't know. I think other, you know, lots of things. mileage is definitely a big one but also like I only ran six days a week in high school I always took one day off and I never did so when I went to college I started doing some workouts in like flats like lighter weight shoes and definitely more workouts and spikes but in high school I did all of my workouts easy runs and workouts in just like a regular old trainer like a you know just like an A6 gel cumulus or whatever it

was in high school. And then I would race in spikes. But now I couldn't imagine doing the workouts that I do now in my training shoes. Like I have like four different pairs of shoes that I use now because I'm trying to hit certain pieces and get my legs to turn over. But all that like is, I mean, it's extra like wear and tear in your body, but you're, you're like able to push your body harder than you would if like if you were just wearing training shoes. So it's almost like making sure that you don't go too hard when you're younger, like kind of you need to like pull back a little bit. And that's in the coaching too. Like the coach, their biggest job, I believe in high school is to hold back the kids more than it is to push them. Because they'll

want to go hard, hard, hard every day. Like they'll usually, you know, it's more typical for them to just want to do more and more and more. And the coach, I think the coach's job is to like rein them back more than anything. What's it been like having your dad as a coach or your dad was your coach? What was that? Yeah. It was amazing. I think we, so I was actually homeschooled until high school. Both my parents are in education. So they decided to homeschool my brother and sister and I. And my mom was the one who was mainly doing that. And so I spent a lot of time before high school with my mom. And there's a big homeschool network in St. Louis as well with a book. bunch of families in St. Louis at homeschool. But my dad was teaching at a high school during the

day during that time. And then when I got to high school every day from 3 p.m. till 6 p.m. It would be like that was my time to be with my dad. And then obviously on the weekends and have meets and he would, if I needed to run outside of practice or like, you know, spring break or whatever, like he was my coach and my dad. And we just got to spend a lot more time. together than we ever had. And so, yeah, I think that time was really important for us to grow in our relationship together. And we, to this day, I have just a super strong relationship.

And I call him about, and my mom about just about anything that's going on with, like, running or personally, because they really, they kind of know me the best out of anyone. So, yeah, that was really important. That's cool. I find these families that are super professional. athlete heavy or really interesting families. Obviously, yours being one of them. I was talking to Nellie Corda this morning. And like her sister is a top professional golfer. She's number one in the world. Her brother is like a Wimbledon star or tennis star, I should say. Oh, wow. And, you know,

it's interesting just hearing from different people about how the role that the parents play in cultivating and cultivating young athletes. In their case, both of their parents were professional athletes. And it's interesting listening to you talk about it. I mean, there's a level of credibility that comes with it, right? Because your dad's obviously done this for so long and knows what is good. Well, it's interesting. And he does, but he almost, and it could have gone, I think, like really poorly because actually my, both my parents and my older brother all had the goal of qualifying for the Olympic trials in their own careers. Because you have to, like, it's kind of a weird thing to think about, but you have to qualify just to go to the trials in order to qualify for the Olympics.

You have to have, like, a certain time just to go to the trials. And so for both my parents, like, didn't quite reach it in the marathon. They were trying to go in the marathon. And then for my brother, he would have gotten there except for he got injured right before and wasn't able to financially make it work to wait another four years for another chance. So I ended up having to start just, you know, real, like real life, I say with air quotes and working. He's a mechanical engineer. So he just had to, you know, get a job that paid real money and, you know, had to move on. So he never got there either.

So in 2016, I graduated from Florida State in 2015. And then in 2016, qualified for the trials and then qualified for the Olympics. And they were all there at the track when I, like, did that. And I remember that just being like such a big moment for our family to be like, I finally got one. Yeah, way to go. But I feel like as a parent, like it would have been pretty easy, I think, to feel like, I'm kind of surprised looking back that I didn't feel more pressure as a kid to like live out

my parents' goals. Like I never thought about it that way and I never felt that pressure from them. And in fact, I thought I was going to graduate high school and I was doing some modeling in high school and I thought I was going to graduate high school and moved to New York and like become the next Carly Clause. But then I decided to do this running thing instead. And I never felt like I always felt like that that option to go do that and not pursue running was always an option. It was something that they would support me and if that was what I chose. And it's just yeah, it's interesting seeing I don't know families like Venus and Serena. It seems like their parents like their dad was very like

this is what you're going to do and like this is your path. And even though my parents were athletic and they were runners and my dad was my coach, I never felt that. Like I always felt like it was my choice and that the minute I told him I hate running, I'm done. Then I'd be like, okay, like then we'll find something else. Or do you like dance? Like we'll do dance.

Like I never felt pressure to become a professional runner. It's interesting that you were choosing between being a professional athlete and a model because those are two of the only careers where you have a kind of a short window to be at your peak. Yeah. Like most careers, you're getting better in your 40s and 50s and 60s or whatever. Like you're kind of at the top of the game. Models and pro athletes are at the top of the game in their 20s or early 30s.

Yeah. They're both a career where people will constantly ask you while you're in the peak of your career. What are you going to do after this? Yeah. You're like, oh my God. Like I'm, yeah, I'm in. the middle of it. I don't know. It's just a weird thing, but people ask that to professional

athletes all the time. And I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure professional models get that all the time, too, because there's this like expiration date that, you know, is coming. So the decision for you to be a pro athlete seems like it was a logical progression after graduating from school and obviously your success with the Olympics or Olympic trials in 2016. Is that fair to say or was there a little bit of a go-no-go moment. I, even when I went to Florida State, I never went there with the dreams of going to the Olympics. I studied dietetics in school and thought that I found dietetics my sophomore year.

I was an exploratory major, my freshman year of college. They don't call it undecided at Florida State. They call it exploratory. Smart. For optics, I guess. But so I was exploratory for a year and I chose dietetic. And then I really thought, like, I put myself, you know, like this is, I was serious about my studies because I thought I was going to become a dietitian when I graduated. Um, becoming a professional runner was not on my mind at all. Um, and, and not until really my junior year.

So sophomore year of college, I was second at NCAAs in the steeple chase. And that's when I think I really was like, huh, like, second as a sophomore is like pretty good. And so I went into my junior year, thinking, well, the chick who beat me went to the Olympics last year and she graduated at McCoburn. So it's my, like, that's the only chick who beat me last year. So now she's gone. It's my turn. But a couple of weeks before regionals, I ended up, I started feeling some pain in my foot and my left foot and when I was running and especially when I was wearing spikes. And I remember doing one workout where I tried to work out.

And I just, like, I started crying in the middle of the workout because I was like, oh, no, like, this foot is really not good. And I just knew something was wrong. It was my first time with a major injury. And I got an MRI and I had a stress reaction in my foot. And I was my, this end of the season, I had to call the whole season. I didn't even get to go to regionals and qualify for nationals. So that whole, like, foregone conclusion that I felt of like being a national champion that year, all of a sudden got ripped away.

And I think that was the first time where I was like, I really care about this. And I'm devastated that I can't do it right now. And I remember that summer being really, really hard. But that summer, I think, was when I first started considering running post-collegiately, like really seriously. Because before that, people would ask me, like, are you going to go to the Olympics in 2016? and I remember being like, no.

Like, I would answer them like, you're stupid. Like, no. And then all of a sudden, after that year, I started answering being like, I don't know, like, maybe. But it definitely, I just say that to say that it was definitely not like, you know, something that I dreamed of as a little kid and I always knew what I was going to do. And then I just went out and did it. Like, it was not like that at all. There was definitely lots of ups and downs and, like, trying to figure out what the heck it was that I wanted to do.

and then having setbacks along the way that almost like helped solidify that in my head. You don't even know what you have until it gets taken away. And then you realize, oh, wait, no, I really care about this. And I don't want to stop doing this in a year. You know, I want to keep doing this at least for another year. And even then, I went to the Olympics thinking, I went pro in 2015 thinking, I'll do this for a year. And if I make the Olympics great. And if I don't, well, I only wasted a year of my life.

So then I'll just go, you know, be a dietitian. But it wasn't until I left Rio in 2016 being like, oh, damn, I want to do this again in four years. And I, you know, I think I can do it better. And so I'm a professional runner now. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. You know, I've heard from other professional athletes that getting injured also introduced some, you know, benefits in a way. like it made them more grateful for their sport it made them more focused it made them realize

they're not invincible it made them fill in the blank um for you what what have you learned from injuries in your career well i've been injured so much at this point that i'm like i'm i think i'm done learning about myself i think if we can just be done with that part now so you're over injuries like i'm super grateful and i'm too you know like i promise you don't need to teach me that lesson anymore i've learned it um yeah look injuries are very tough it's like pretty much the worst you know thing that can happen to an athlete is like take away what you love to do most um but you can learn obviously you can learn so much about yourself and and your body and like what your body needs but you can also learn so much about your mind and what your strengths are and kind of strengths

and power that you didn't even know that you had until you were challenged to be able to use it. Like there were certain times where I would, for example, this summer, I got injured about a month before the Olympic trials. So after waiting four years from Rio and after waiting an extra year because of COVID, literally, you know, six weeks before the trials, my body just gave out. And I was like, okay, like, this is not what I had planned for. But I remember even like writing in my journal that what I had done that day to like try and get better and it was like all the cross training that I was doing and the exercises the PT exercises and seeing the like doctor and like you know making sure I didn't fall off my nutrition I was like writing down all the things that I was doing that I was like in

control up to try and fix my situation and I was like you know what I have to kind of like be proud of myself for this because this is a shitty situation and for some reason I wake up every day and I'm still in pain but I'm like still trying to do all the right things and yeah I like break down sometimes but I do it anyway and I'm like I mean that's kind of amazing that I'm like still here doing this and I think it's only until you really get tested in that way that you like figure out what it is that you can overcome and just like how much you care about what you're doing because I think sometimes it's easy to just like be like oh yeah like I I like this or I like running and then someone all of a sudden tells you you can't do it.

And then you realize like how much it actually means to you. And yeah, I have found out many, many times that running means a lot to me. Well, you've built up a resilience that's going to serve you very well in decades to come, I'm sure. I hope so. I feel like I've earned a lot of resilience. I feel like, can I just like use it now? That'd be great. So six weeks before you get injured, six weeks before the, six weeks before,

the Olympic trials, you get injured. How did you know that, hey, I've got no shot? This is like, this is not going to. Oh, yeah, I didn't. I did not let myself believe I have no shot until the prelim and Eugene was on a Sunday. It was like the 24th, I think, of July, or of June. and I did not admit to myself or my support system until Thursday, three days before that I wasn't going to be able to get on the starting line. I think I probably knew like a month before that, but we were just like, I wouldn't even let myself, I was like, if I can just get to the starting line, I can make the team. Like, I don't have to be at 100. I don't even have to be at 80%. If I just get myself to the starting line, like those don't have a chance. I'm going to, you know,

like it's going to happen but then Thursday I had kind of one last like freak thing it was a few different things that kept popping up and the last thing that took me out was like a nerve issue in my calf where I just couldn't run for like four days I could like barely walk and then by that Thursday I tried to put on my spikes and go over some hurdles and I just couldn't do it and so then I had to kind of have that come to Jesus moment where I was like, yeah, this is not, there's no way that this is going to happen. But I was in Eugene, Oregon when I decided that. Like, there was no way that I was going to have that moment where I was at home on Saturday before the race being like, I actually feel okay. Maybe I could have done it. And I wish I would have just tried.

Like, there was no way I was going to have any regret about not, you know, not taking it to the to the maximum almost end. So there's no doubt in my mind. Yeah. Now, in 2019, you started working with a mental coach. Talk a little bit about that. I find mental coach is very interesting, especially for professional athletes.

Yeah, so I had started meditating in the summer of 2017. That was like my first step was I started using an app to meditate because I was just dressed out all the time and like not hand-hand. the stress of like workouts and stuff and feeling like not handling the pressure very well. And so I just started meditating and that was like actually a really big unlock for me. I remember telling my coach like, I found this secret weapon. And he was like, whatever. It is a little more.

He is a little more old school. And he was just kind of like, you're weird, but do what you got to do. You're running better. So let's focus on that for a second. So you start meditating. and then all of a sudden you start running better. Yeah, I think just like being able to be more calm and like the whole principle of meditation

about like being exactly where you are and not thinking about the past and not thinking about the future is so beneficial for running. Like when you're in the middle of a workout or race and if you're thinking about how you felt two laps ago or how you think you're going to feel on the next lap based on how you feel right now, then it's useless.

It's wasted energy and you create the stress for yourself that doesn't even about a scenario that doesn't even exist. And I think that's especially true in an event like the steeplechase where you have four of these big wooden barriers placed around the track. Every 100 meters, you're jumping over a wooden stationary object that if you hit it because you weren't paying attention, the hurdle is not falling onto the track. You are falling onto the track. And so you have to just be aware in every second of that race. There's no zoning out. There's no, oh, I just clipped that last hurdle and I'm stressing out about it for the next even 50 meters. You just have to like, oh, that was a crappy hurdle done onto the next one.

You cannot be thinking about the past or the future in an event like that. But I think it's also applicable for, I mean, it's applicable for anything in life. But even if you're not jumping over things, just being like, I'm going to take this race 100 meters at a time or one lap at a time. And if you're in the fifth lap, you can't be thinking about the 24th lap. It's just, yeah, it's a waste of mental energy. And that's what meditation is all about. And so I think it just made a lot of sense to me. Like, it just clicked for me. And I was able to pretty quickly, like, see some major benefits to that in my training and in racing. Well, I'm a big believer in meditation. I started meditating in 2014 and

Woop was was kind of struggling as a company, but more so I was struggling as a founder and a CEO. And I don't know, I've been doing it every day since. It changed my life. I really when do you like, how do you work it into your day? I wake up in the morning. I take a cold shower. I get ready for work. And then I'm the cold shower person. Yeah. Yeah, I do that too. And then I do 22 minutes of meditation. And it's kind of technically transit and all meditation, although I've incorporated a lot of other things along the way. Okay.

And why 22 minutes? Well, technically transit old meditation is 22 minutes. So you do about two minutes where you're just breathing and getting into it. Or rather, it's about 30 seconds. And then you do this mantra for about 20 minutes, and then you do it about two minutes to exit from it. and so and you do it every day every day in fact for for years i would do it twice a day every day and now you know for the most part i meditate once a day except for days where i feel like i don't

have any time and those days i meditate twice a day yeah i was going to say that's when you need it the most yeah you see what i did that yeah so that's really impressive yeah so i'm a big i'm a big big believer in it. And by the way, an enormous number of athletes I've interviewed or gotten to know, have talked about meditation, but also I think how meditation bleeds into visualization because you can't help often if you're a driven person to be thinking about that certain outcome that you want while you're meditating. I remember hearing a great Kobe Bryant interview. They asked him how he knew that it was time for him to retire. And he said that it was the first time in his life when he was meditating that he wouldn't think about basketball anymore.

And I thought that was a really cool point. Like, it's true. For the most part, whenever I meditate, I'm thinking about work or family or just like things that are really important to me. And that's a cool, that was a cool answer from him. And, you know. Yeah. Now, do you meditate every day?

Oh, I wish I could say that because now you said you're so good about it. And I'm like feeling bad that I'm not as good about it. Hey, you said it yourself. You said that you meditate. I do meditate, but I wish I could say that it's every single day. And I, I, this is a horrible excuse. I was better about it before COVID. So my boyfriend and I have been dating since 2009 since high school.

Wow. So we're coming up on 12 years this November. And before COVID, I would have said, we've been dating for like 10 and a half years. And nine and a half of those years had been. remotely so like when i was in florida he was in new york and then when i moved to port to portland he moved to san francisco so we've always been on the same coast but in different cities until and then he moved to l a and then when covid hit he they all like locked shut down and so he packed up the car with himself and a few things and the dog and drove to portland um for what we thought was going to be

like four to six weeks so he moved in with me and my 550s square foot studio condo in Portland, Oregon for a short quarantine that turns out to be a year and a half. Still going. Still going, actually. Yeah. But anyway, I feel like I had a better routine when it was when I lived alone because I really like to do it first thing in the morning. So I would just wake up first thing in the morning, 10 minutes. I would just knock it out. Like, great way to start the day. But now I wake up, the dog's wanting to go out, you know, she wants breakfast and I don't like meditating when anyone else is like in the room. And so I'm in studio condo and then no other rent, like unless I go to the bathroom, like there's nowhere else to like be

alone. So I have definitely slipped. One hack that I have found though is the car. So if I like drive somewhere and I come home, I'll sit sometimes I'll just sit in the parking lot in my car for 10 minutes and do it then so just like you said like figuring out when you're going to like when you're going to do it can be like that's the hardest part so i think for right now while i'm in studio condo with roommates dog and boyfriend um the car kind of is is my little hack um i think the car is a great hack by the way i used to i used to meditate in the car actually almost every day uh when i and I drive to work. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah. So a big labor in the car. Yeah. Now, you also journal, it sounds like. Mm-hmm. Is this more, you know, personal, what's going on in my life journaling? Is this a gratitude journal?

Is this detailed notes on your training regimen and how you felt? Like all of the above. So I have a bullet journal. I don't know if you're familiar with bullet journaling. But for listeners who are not, at least. It is dot page paper bound into a journal. And so when you get it, it's just like blank pages, but it's dot paper. So at least you have like some structure to the page. And you literally just like create it however you want. And this is going to be totally unapplicable for those

who are listening, but I'm just going to show Will what my journal looks like. And it's a little bit of everything like sometimes i just write in it um like lists lots of like lists this is a new one but i wonder if i have i see some running stats in there some running things are like um calendars like you can make a calendar page and i have what is this color coded uh manuscript a lot of colors i like colors um and then there's this thing called um a habit tracker and i actually have a link to it on my website um shameless plug for calling quickly.org and there is a link for a like a blank um template for the habit tracker on there but it's basically you put all your days of the week on a column on the left

hand side and then you have all your habits that you want to track on the top and I wrote each of them in a different color and so then on the day that I do that habit um I like get to color in that little bubble yeah and it's in its respective color um so what are some of your habits fun so like during the season i don't really drink alcohol or eat like eat many desserts so i'll have like alcohol um no alcohol no desserts meditating um reading i try and read like at like put my phone away you know 30 minutes for a bed or whatever and like read um yoga which i don't do every day but I try and do like three times a week, maybe. And then sometimes I write down a daily gratitude.

So like this month I was keeping track of a daily gratitude. So every time I did that, I got to fill in like my little marker, my little gratitude bubble. Sometimes it's like doing my rehab exercises if I'm trying to do those every day. And some of them, I always preface this by being like some of them you don't actually want to do every day. Like for example, alcohol. I don't necessarily need to go 30 days with filling the no alcohol bubble. I just want to make sure that I'm not getting into a bad pattern while I'm having it multiple times throughout the week. And maybe I made the goal of having it once a week.

But then all of a sudden, I'm feeling, you know, oops, like I had it three times last week. And I said I was going to have wine once a week. So it's not even that you have to be perfect about all of your, you know, type A, perfect about all your habits. but looking at trends and being like, okay, I said I was going to be good about my rehab exercises and now it's been four days since I've done them and, you know, maybe my foot pain is coming back or something like, hmm, like wonder what happened. So I actually really love the journal feature and whoop because it keeps track of that and it's, it like prompts you to do it in the morning. So with this I have to like go and like, you know, get my pens out and like, but

With it prompting you, it makes it much easier. Just be like, boom, boom, boom, yes, no, yes, no. And be done with it in like 30 seconds, which is really cool. So how long have you been on a whoop now? I started using a whoop since, it's been since last September. In my offseason last year, I picked it up. And from a friend of mine, actually, Kate Courtney, who was one of your athletes. She's a good friend of mine.

And she had been posting about it. And I was like, I think I need this because I think I've, been overtraining and I think I need for me it's been like actual real metrics to show me when I'm not recovering because I think I have this problem I've talked to Kate about this multiple times like it's not for lack of trying I think we're both are like I think we both maybe try too hard um we just like do less trying um and it's like more just like yeah you're tired I feel, I've been feeling tired, but I'm just being a baby. Like, I just need to push through, you know, I do like suck it up.

But when something's actually there to tell you, like, no, you've been 20% recovered for three days in a row, like, need to give yourself a break. It's much easier to do that when you have, like, something that's giving you real data and it's not just, like, in your head. A lot of the origins of whoop were around this idea of preventing over training. I realize this personally, but hard driving athletes, even hard. driving individuals who, you know, they're often capable of pushing their bodies past where they necessarily should be pushed. And that's an amazing asset to have a mind that can do that, but it also can take you to a dark place or not a good place at least. Absolutely. Often your best features can be also your worst detriment. That's common. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of strengths and weaknesses

are on the same side of the coin for sure. Yeah. So what have you noticed that has helped your recovery that you otherwise, you know, may not have known about. So a few things that I keep track of in my journal are CBD. I work with a CBD company called Beam. So I do like capsules as well as like the dropper. And so I keep track of whenever I've done that. And you'll take those before bed? Yeah.

And throughout the day, like they have a recovery one that has like turmeric in it and stuff, like an anti-inflammatory one. So I actually use that also like instead of ibuprofen. I really don't, don't use ibuprofen. It like messes up my stomach. So if I have a headache or, you know, like really any kind of like aches and pains, I take CBD instead of ibuprofen. And then I definitely do before bed to help me wind down before, yeah, before sleep.

Okay. So CBD, that seems like maybe it's been helpful. Yeah. Um, I think also, I mean, it's just the things that everyone already knows, but like going to bed and waking up at the same time. And actually, the thing that's been great for that, uh, with COVID is having the dog with me because she wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning to get breakfast. And so it's one of, we always joke at like 9.30. She's passed out. And we can't, you know, she's immobile. And, um, we're always joked like if we're up and like being loud or something that pie, my dog is. like can you guys keep it down i gotta get up at six like i'm trying to get my beauty rest you know my i'm i gotta get up at six so we're like oh shoot we know pot is going to be up as six like we got to go to bed or else you know we're going to not get enough sleep and end up in the yellow or in the red or whatever but waking up and going to bed at the same time every night really does help even though

massively it's massively important yeah yeah i mean we've looked at people who sleep consistently versus people who don't but get a lot of time in bed. So they have a longer sleep duration. And the people who sleep consistently, which means they go to bed and wake up at the same time as you're describing, they have like meaningfully better recovery, meaningfully better HRV, meaningfully lower resting heart rates. It's actually a real, real life hack.

And often when you meet people who say they don't need, you know, six hours of sleep or seven hours of sleep, they're fine on five or six or whatever, That's probably not true, but they often are people who sleep very consistently, which in turn gives them this higher efficiency of sleep, which is fascinating. That's amazing. And I honestly, I have no excuse not to do that. I know people who work like night shifts at hospitals and stuff. And you just, I mean, you're screwed. I don't know how you're supposed to like deal with that. That is brutal. But I legitimately have no excuse not to do that. being a professional athlete is my full-time job. So I do try and be pretty good about, I go to bed before 10 a.m.

Or 10 p.m. And I try and wake up between 6 and 7 in the morning. So that's pretty good. That's like, you know, eight or nine hours of time in bed, probably pretty efficient sleep, too, if you're spending that much time training and also going to bed consistently.

Now, you're a dietitian. So what? Well, I study dietetics. You have to do a four-year undergrad and then you do a one-year internship and then you take an exam to become an RD. So I'm not an RD, but I did my undergrad. You were well on your way. So what what's going on with your diet and how have you seen that affect your body? Yeah, I think I was very lucky to grow up in a family that we cooked a lot of food and we had healthy kind of values around food and food preparation and eating as a family.

family and like not doing a lot of pre-prepared meals, not a lot of like, I don't know, like frozen stuff. My dad actually is the main cook in our family and just did a great job of like buying real foods and like chopping and sauteing and baking. And I was always like kind of part of that and being like in the kitchen and stuff. So then I remember getting to college and like kind of doing that for myself and And remember my college roommates being like, how do you know how to do that or like, you know, like simple things that I would like make pancakes from scratch and they would be like, where's the box? You know, and I'm like, it's just like flower and water and, you know, it's like it's not that hard.

So I don't know, I've like always had a good like baseline of like how to cook and prepare food for myself. And I think that was hugely influential to me as an athlete that I just know how to whip up like a healthy meal. And it doesn't feel like a lot of mental or physical energy to do that. I don't have to think about it that much. And I really enjoy eating that way. And I know that when I eat that way, I just feel better. Like I can recover faster from workouts. I feel better the next day.

When I fuel between workouts, if I'm working out twice in the same day, I can get more out of myself, like, that second workout. And I know that it's more sustainable for, like, being an athlete for a long period of time. And you can kind of feel like you can get away with it, especially when you're younger. You do whatever the heck you want, and your body just bounces back and you do great. But now I'm, you know, 28 years old and you just can't get away with, like, eating crap like that because you just feel, you feel the inflammation more. you feel the effects of it more and it's i just hate that like i hate having a bad workout or having a bad run that i feel like was avoidable um if i had just you know fueled better seems like such a

simple fix so it's definitely something i enjoy doing but it also is yeah hugely important for my performance now how much do you pay attention to uh your weight because i imagine that running you burn so many calories like it might be very easy to all of a sudden get get kind of thin if you're not sort of thinking about it yeah i think it's it's a tricky subject in our sport because there is a lot of eating disorder issues and distance running yeah i read that a lot of yeah just like a lot of you know you're racing in like a sports bra and like almost like a swimsuit bottoms and so there's you know as you're on display on tv and in person you know people kind of can easily judge the way that you look and then, you know, make connections between how skinny

you look and how well you perform and commentators have been known to even make comments about that, like saying, oh, it looks like so-and-so has lost weight or put on weight or, you know, she looks a certain way or whatever. And so it can be kind of toxic. And I think it's something that people have been talking about even more and more in the last couple years, which is really helpful because younger girls who are coming up in the sport like need to have that be an open conversation that they can be aware of and feel like they're not the only ones who might struggle with that and figure out advice from older athletes in the sport about how to deal with it and how to kind of best cope with it and hear from older athletes that have been in it

for a while that tell them it's not worth it to try and get a certain you know like achieve a certain weight and that does not mean that you're going to run faster or it might for a very short period of time, but then you will end up with stress fractures and, you know, stress bone injuries that are going to take you out of the sport at a much younger age than it should. And, you know, you just won't be able to last and it's not worth it. But they need to be able to hear that. And I think that message is for me, at least as far as I can tell, has been stronger than ever, which is amazing. So for myself, I don't count calories. I don't want. weigh myself regularly. I might weigh myself when, if I have a really good race, I might check in

and weigh myself and see, you know, how I'm doing. But I, for myself, I never try to achieve a number on the scale in order to tell me if I'm going to run fast or not. I'm more look at workout times and how I've been running, how I've been working out, and using those as indicators for how well I'm going to race and how fit I am at that time. And that's really what I recommend kind of for younger athletes who ask me about that too. And then in terms of like counting calories or your diet, I just say, you know, eat really good foods that are nutritious and filled with nutrients that your body needs to recover and repair and do what you ask it to do every day because you're asking a lot

of your body every single day. So give it what it needs and eat until you're full. and then you don't ever have to count calories or anything like that. And not only, I think, is it toxic, but it's also just so exhausting to, like, be counting everything that you're putting in your body and measuring every little tiny thing. And I just think it ends up being, yeah, super exhausting and ends up draining your mental energy more than it really does you any good. Yeah, it's really interesting.

I mean, I've certainly talked to athletes who have a similar mindset to you, but I've also heard, you know, the exact opposite, which is like, they feel like if they're not measuring everything about what they put in their body, they're losing like an input system on on their performance. Yeah, totally. I could see that too, especially if the goal there is to make sure that you're getting enough. I think usually when you see that in track and distance running,

the measuring is happening in order with the goal of like to limit instead of to increase. Oh, interesting, right. Which is yeah, not not super healthy. So definitely, if you're doing it in a way that's like, oh, I'm not eating enough. I need to count in order to add more, then for sure. I think that is a more, you know, useful scenario to count or to measure. Who are influences for you or people that you look to to better understand training or performance or success as you define it? Oh, gosh, so many people.

and I think people in and outside of my own sport too. So like an example of someone who I've looked up to for many years in my own sport is Allison Felix, five-time Olympian mom. She ended up, her and I both ended up, she did before I did, leaving Nike to go pursue another sponsor that we both felt like celebrated really our values and held the same values as we do. And so to see her do that before I did was really inspiring to me and gave me a lot of kind of like,

okay, if Allison couldn't do it, so can I. And I just really, yeah, looked up to what she did with the maternity stuff where she was going to have a baby and she was going to be reduced by Nike for not performing for that year while she was pregnant and having Cammy. But then this year,

year, you know, she performed better than ever at the Olympics, got another bronze and another gold in Tokyo at like age 35, like I said earlier. So, and actually she forced Nike to add a clause in all their contracts with their professional female athletes, giving them 18 months of wiggle room around having a child that they can't be reduced. They will not serve any financial repercussions for having a kid. And that was all her, that they had refused to give that to her. And so she stepped away from the sport, or stepped away from, not from the sport, but away from her sponsor.

And then I'm going to find someone who's going to support me in that area. And then so then it made Nike look horrible. So then they had to come back and offer that to all of their female athletes, which wouldn't have happened if she hadn't stood up for herself. So I think for me it's people who in track and field and other sports like Naomi Osaka is a good example in tenants who stand up for stuff that they believe in and you really use sport as a platform to, you know, show what they care about and like use their voice. And I think for me that's more inspiring than any kind of middle or record or, you know, amazing thing that they do athletically, which is always so cool to see too. then it's the extra it's the more for me it's whatever they do um with that that always ends up really impressing and like inspiring me yeah well it's there's a really nice movement happening

in in uh women's sports a lot of a lot of fascinating ambassadors of women's athletics and and very inspiring stories to your point so what what is next for you what where do you take your Your site's next. Yeah, so a couple of exciting things happening in the next few years. First on the schedule is a world championships next summer for track and field. It will be the first time ever in history that the United States is hosting world championships. And it's actually going to be in Eugene, Oregon, where we just had Olympic trials this summer at a brand new stadium, a Hayward Field at University of Oregon.

no jet lag the race there many times and so it feels like home and yeah just to have it actually in the states I know I'll be training in Flagstaff Arizona at high altitude and it's just like a two and a half hour flight to get to Eugene from there and no time change

like it'll just be boop like you know all the athletes who went to Tokyo we're saying how like the night and day situation is tough and so I think it'll give the Americans a nice little advantage there and just yeah like the pride of like hosting it in your home country is really fun so definitely

looking forward to that and then with the whole um COVID wait a year delay Olympics we only have three years until the next one now will be in 2024 in Paris which is one of my favorite cities in the world so I'm very excited about the opportunity to compete there and then if you know looking really far out on the schedule if I were to keep competing through 2028, the Olympos are coming back to the United States and they're going to be in L.A. in 2028, which would be very cool. Well, I like that you're penciling that in. Yeah, yeah, totally. I think that's important. You know, I think it's important, especially, I mean, I have a lot of admiration for you Olympians because you have to have such a maniacal focus.

You have to work so hard. And then it really all comes down to one or two events every four years. I mean, it's, it's an amazing dedication. Do you feel like, do you feel like Olympians are properly rewarded for that level of commitment? I think I looked up what you get for a gold medal at the Olympics and it was like $30,000 or something. And I was just like, oh, I was so pathetic. I mean, properly rewarded just depends on like what, you know, what your standards are, I guess, for that or how you determine rewards. But look, there are plenty of Olympians in plenty of different sports that are hosted at the Olympics who they cannot make a living just doing what they do, you know, the way that

I do. Like, I feel super grateful. They don't have to have a second job or, you know, try and make ends meet. Like, I can do my job full on, spend all my time and energy, you know, towards my goals. But there are plenty of athletes who are scraping it. together to be able to go to the Olympics and represent their country and then, you know, like having another job or two other job along the way. It's just like it's not an easy, you know, an easy thing, but it's a labor of love and something they're super passionate about and feel is really important and makes them very happy. And I think a lot of them would say that, you know, it's worth it. Well, Colleen, this has been a real pleasure getting to spend time with you.

and I think you've still got the best is yet to come for your career. I've got a very good feeling about that. I hope so. Yeah, well, thanks for joining me on the W-W-P podcast. And thanks also for being on W-W-P. Yeah, thanks, well, it's great chatting with you. Thanks to Colleen for coming on the W-W-P podcast. A reminder, you can use the code Will Ahmed, W-I-L-H-M-E-D, to get 15% off a W-W-M-M-R-M-Ship.

You can find us on social at, Whoop at Will Ahmed. And if you like The Whoop Podcast, be sure to leave us a review or comment. It helps anyone looking to unlock their own best performance, find this podcast. And if you have thoughts on the Whoop Podcast, feel free to head to our show notes for a link to a podcast survey where you can tell us everything on your mind. Okay, folks, stay healthy and stay in the green. Thank you.