Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 169. Sgt. Samantha Schultz, Modern Pentathlete

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169. Sgt. Samantha Schultz, Modern Pentathlete · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm a wife, I'm a daughter, I'm a friend, I'm
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a modern pentathlete, I'm a student, and I'm a soldier.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: And I'm very proud of all those things that I am,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: all those things that I represent and work really hard
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to be.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, Emily ABOUDI here.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: You are listening to episode one sixty nine of Hurdle,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: a wellness focused podcast where I sit down with inspiring
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: individuals to talk about their big wins, tough moments, and
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: everything in between. On the show, what you can expect, vulnerability, motivation,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: and candidate discussions with everyone from top athletes and CEOs
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: to aspiring entrepreneurs.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: On what it really takes to follow your passions.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: My mission is simple to inspire you to be your
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: best self, move with intention, and have some fun along
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: the way. Today I am talking to Sergeant Samantha Schultz.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: She is a modern pentathlete in the Army's World Class
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Athlete program and headed to Tokyo.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited to bring you this episode because I
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: learned so much recording it.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: This was a collaborative effort that I undertook with the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Army where I headed out to Fort Carson near Colorado, Springs,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Colorado and was able to train alongside Sammy and really
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: get some insight into everything it takes to be a
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: part of the world class athlete program. In today's episode,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Sammy brings us on the journey of how she became
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: a modern pentathlete, which, in full transparency, I knew very
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: little about the spot until she did just that.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: She explains the entire rundown.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: The sport includes a slew of different events, from swimming
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: and running to shooting a laser pistol, riding a horse, fencing,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: a lot of skills required here talk to us about
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: why she chose this sport and what it's been like
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: for her to train for it.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Leading up to the Olympic Games.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: She also gets really vulnerable talking about what it was
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: like for her to fall just short of making the
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: team for Rio, fueling her fire to work harder than
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: ever to make this year's team. She details her upbringing
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Colorado which prept her to be a multi sport athlete,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: and also gets honest about where her weaknesses may lie
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: and how she's had to shift her mindset to better
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: address and then conquer the hurdles that come hand in
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: hand with having to tackle so many modalities as a
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: part of her sport. I had such an amazing time
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: talking with Sammy training with Sammy. A huge, huge thank
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: you to the Army for connecting us and giving me
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: this opportunity.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And I know that you're going.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: To learn a lot listening to this episode, just like
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I did getting together with her. Obviously, Sammy is an
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: extraordinary human, but I get a lot of requests asking
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: me to talk to perhaps lesser known athletes detail their struggles,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: detailing the hurdles that they face along in their journeys.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: So I'm so excited to shine a light on the
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: modern Pentapolon and to give you some insight into what
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: it means to be both a part of the Army
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: and a athlete, you know, trying to compete with the
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: best of the best. As always, I make sure you're
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: following along with Hurdle Over at Hurdle Podcast, I'm over
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: at Emily a Body Last Thing. For more information on
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: the World Class Athlete program, make sure to head on
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: over the show notes and click the.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Link in the description.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: And with that, let's get to hurdling.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with sergent Samantha Schultz. She is training
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: for Tokyo. She's part of the US Army's World Class
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Athlete program and a modern pentathlete.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: How you doing, I'm doing great. How are you? I'm
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: so excited to be here with you.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: We are sitting here at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. Yes,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna say we just went for a run, but
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: what really happened is I followed Sammy for about like
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: eight minutes until I couldn't breathe anymore, and then I
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: just let her.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Let her go.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: To be fair, that was a pretty challenging run. That
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Going to the Gods has some pretty steep, steep terrain,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: so my legs are definitely feeling a little bit shaky
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: after that run.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: But it's absolutely gorgeous up there.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: We have so much to get into, ranging from your
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: backstory to what it's like to be part of the
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: world Class Athlete program. First and foremost, I think what's
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: super interesting to me, at least so far following you
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: here around base and around Colorado Springs has been just
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: the intensity of your training right now. So why don't
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: we kick things off with you talking me through a
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: quote unquote typical week of training.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, how long do you have so modern pentathlon
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: consists of five events. We have fin seeing, swimming, horseback riding, running,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and shooting. So there is a lot of different aspects
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of the sport, a lot of different things to train for.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: So a typical day would be a combined workout in
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the morning which is running and shooting, and then we'll
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: have a short break, go to swim practice, usually, go home,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: have lunch, and then in the afternoon I'll have strength
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and conditioning, some lifting and then going to fencing practice
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and then stay. On a Tuesday, we'll have riding in
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the morning and then we'll go to a run afterwards,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and then swimming in the afternoon and some shooting and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: possibly like recovery. I like to incorporate yoga and pilates
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: into my recovery routine. It helps me work on stretching
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: some breathing. So usually every day we have about two
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: workouts in the morning, two workouts in the afternoon, and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: then I do try to take Sundays off with either
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a yoga or just something walking around and usually my
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: coach is telling me do more rest, like stay off
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: your feet, which is hard for me, which probably was
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: why pentathlon was such a good fit doing so many
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: different sports.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's rewind and talk a little bit about pentathlon,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: because I think for individuals who don't fully know the
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: history of it or much about it, they hear this
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: and they're like, what is that? So you obviously explained
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: the different events that are a part of this, but
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: let's talk a little bit about the history.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So why pentathlon?
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: What made you interested in this specific sport?
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: So pentathlon has a huge history. They a soldier had
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: to deliver a message across enemy lines. He would need
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to know how to ride a horse across any kind
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of train. He would need to know how to shoot
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: a pistol. If you run out of ammunition, pull out
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: your sword, start fencing. If you come to a body
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: of water, you have to swim. Once you're on the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: other side, you have nothing left. You have to run
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: to deliver that message. And originally I had actually never
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: heard about the sport until twenty ten. So I was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: eighteen at the time I learned about the sport of
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: modern pentathlon, And ironically I was running cross country and track,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I was swimming, I was riding horses, and I grew
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: up hunting. So I had four out of the five
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: events that I was doing, and I was like, wow,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: there's a sport that exists that has these four events
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: plus fencing. So it's very a very unique sport. And
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: I learned about it growing up. I like growing up
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: in Colorado. I mean, we were always outdoors. My family
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: was very active. My dad had me on skis a
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: day I was two. We grew up hunting. My mom
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: was a swim coach. We also played tennis, We biked.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I think I did gymnastics for a while. I did
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: ice skating, kind of dappled in a lot of different
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: things and was always a multi sport athlete, so it
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: was never really super great at one thing, but I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: worked hard and I just loved the diversity of being
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: able to do a lot of different things and all
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: these coaches growing up, so you have to specialize in
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: one or do this or do one thing, and my
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: parents were very supportive of me doing a lot of
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: different things. In two thousand and ten, when I found
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: out about the sport, came to the Olympic and Paralympic
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Training Center and called a springs and did a training camp.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I was like, wow, this is actually really cool. Fencing
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: was super hard. That was definitely a learning curve, but
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the coaches that I had potential, and so I was
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: supposed to go to college out in Grand Junction and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: run cross country for them, but like two weeks before
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I did that, the coaches felt I had potential, and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: I moved out to Callada Springs, went to night classes
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: at UCCS and kind of changed course and gave it
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: a shot and it stuck. I fell in love with
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the sport, stuck with it, worked really hard, And that's
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: kind of the long story short of how I got
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: involved in it.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: So when you say the coaches that you had potential,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: are these coaches from the Army's World class Athlete program.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: So at this time I was a civilian. I started
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: out as a civilian in the sport, and this was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: just national team coaches. So I was training with the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: national team at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. And
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: at that time there was actually a lot of athletes
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that were in the UCAP program that were in the Army,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: also some in the Air Force. So I was training
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: alongside a lot of these other athletes, and I got
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: to know the chain of command over the years that
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: was involved in the US Army got to train around
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: these athletes, and I looked up to them so much.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: They were incredible. I saw the way they carried themselves,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the way they worked hard, and not just as athletes,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: but as soldier athletes, and they represented so much more.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And seeing that support team they had behind them with
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the leadership, I fell in love with it. And over
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: time they.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Kept trying to recruit me, kept trying to recruit me.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: But with RIO being right around the corner twenty sixteen,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: that Olympic Games, then I didn't really have time to
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: go off to basic training. And when I misqualifying for
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: RIO twenty seventeen, I finally made the decision. I was like,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I want to go another four years, and I want
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it to be as a soldier athlete.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: It's so interesting to me because as someone who is
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: still learning about obviously the WCAT program and just how
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: this works. I mean from the outside looking in, I
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: feel like there are inevitably so many questions, right, So,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: what were your biggest questions when you first heard about this?
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Did you ever think that you would be joining the army?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I never really thought that it was going to be
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: in my path to join the army. I also kind
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: of figured I was past my prime to join the Army.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: You don't really think.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I always assumed you join right out of high school,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: and that's kind of when you join. And I never
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: learned a whole lot about it, but when I did
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: talk to my coaches, my fellow teammates about the program
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and just the opportunities that not only it provided as
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: an athlete, but your career outside of athletics, and the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: people you get to meet, the people you get to
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: work with, that second team that you get to have
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: behind you as you're fighting as an athlete. It gives
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: me that much more drive and it's been It also
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: just kind of takes a burden off of you. My
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: leadership that I've had, my coaches, they're there to support me.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: And I know I have a nutritionist, I have a
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: sports psychologist. I have everything I need here with the Army,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: with the WCAT program, and so it's also taken a
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: lot off of my plate that I have to worry about.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Talk to me a little bit about your first experiences
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: as a part of the program, because again I said
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: the word a little intimidating before I would imagine it
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: was a little bit intimidating.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is a little intimidating. I mean, especially just
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: joining the military. Joining the army, I was definitely nervous.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I was a little bit scared. Everyone's like, oh, you'll
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: be fine, you're you know, you're strong, you're an athlete.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And I think going through basic training and advanced training,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: which every soldier has to go through when they joined
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the military, I think that was what I was most
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: intimidated about, is being taken out of my element of
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: being forced into lack of sleep, You're on someone else's terms,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: someone else's schedule, and afraid of losing my training. And
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: there was times I'd think I can make it through.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: That, But what's involved in that, Like give us some
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: information as to like what's talk to me about basic training.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: So you're basically when you go off, you go into
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: a place called MEPs, which every town has a place
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: called MEPs, and they will fly you basically to where
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: your basic training station is. So you fly there, whatever
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: flight they get. You have one backpack. That's all you
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: take with you. You have this big book of paperwork that
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: they take and that's like your file, that's your folder,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: that's what you're known by. And when you get there,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: there's a drill sergeant waiting and he is instantly yelling
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: at you to line up with everyone. You're put on
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a bus and you're shipped out to processing. And in
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: processing they basically issue you all your gear everything, And
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I think I was up for probably forty eight hours
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: at that point. I mean I should have slept more
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: on the plane, because that was the last opportunity. I
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: think I had to get some good sleep. And in processing,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: they get your boots and you're basically there for a
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: couple of days just processing. In they're figuring out who's
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: going to go to what units, and what basic training facilities.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And then once you're there for a few days, they'll
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: take you in a white bus. You have your two
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: big bags, and you are shipped off to where you
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: will do basic training for the next eight weeks.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: And it's just grueling. For the first couple of weeks.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: They're really just trying to break you down to build
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: you up and really get that team and camaraderie between
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: you and your fellow soldiers and building you back up
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the way with that resilience, being able to work together
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: as a team and finding those people that if you
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: are going to stay by yourself. You will learn like
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you're all going to suffer together and you all have
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to be able to pick each other up.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: And being able to go through that, I think is made.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize like I thought I was a strong person,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: but getting through that and seeing all these changes of
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: other people. I was twenty five at the time when
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: I went through Basic, and a lot of these people
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: were seventeen eighteen, coming right out of high school, and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: so seeing their transformation too was incredible. And being able
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to be a leader, be a soldier with them and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: see that and now they're following along my journey too,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and seeing just our different milestones that we've accomplished along
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the way.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: It's more than just like running around in formation though, oh.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, you're calling and you're learning how to shoot rifles,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: you're learning how to navigate through the woods.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: I mean basically just learning how to.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Work together to accomplish any kind of mission that is
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: thrown your way.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Right right, and something that we haven't addressed yet. And
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: I think a big misconception about getting involved in military
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: service is that you get into military service and you
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: are like deploying into combat and there are so many
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: different types of roles and jobs and positions within the army.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: So what do you do?
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: So my job in the army is eighty eight mic
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: motor transfer operator. So when I went to AIT, I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: was learning how to drive five ton vehicles basically a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: semi truck and a load handling system, so unloading and
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: loading different types of cargo, ALI docking semi trucks. It
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: was a very crazy experience, but also very fun. I
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: don't think i've ever I would have ever done that
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: if I did not join the military. It was a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: little intimidating, but there is so many different career opportunities
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: that you can do in the military, and recruiters they
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: have so many different options that you can go go
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: down whatever your passion is.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: You're such a petite human, Like, how did you get
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: into being the person that.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Was working with the trucks?
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: Also? Wait, what does AT stand for Advanced Individual Training?
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I feel like Army speak is like there might as
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: well be a separate language, and I need a handbook
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: to like sit here and don't worry.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: I do too. There's still a lot I'm like, what
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: is that stand for? Oh?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: My goodness, show?
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: But how did you get into the position where you
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: were the one that was driving the trucks.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: That kind of fell. It just fell into play.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: It worked out well to where I would go straight
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: from basic training to the advanced individual training AIT, and
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: just timing wise, it was going to get me back
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to training quickly, back to the WCAP unit, and I
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: really wanted to go more of a medical route, but
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: it was a longer schooling and I wanted to make
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: sure I could come back to be able to get
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: strong for Olympic selections that were going to start that
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: next year.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: And you mentioned the hurdle of not making it to Rio.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Talk to me about how that was for you. That
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: was devastating, not making the RIO team. I figured out
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: in twenty twelve that I had a torn labram and
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: a stress fracture in the neck of my femur, and
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: so at the end of that season I had surgery
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: and I came back really strong.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: I was physically ready to go.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I was strong.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I was a very consistent athlete. But mentally in twenty
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: six I crumbled under a lot of the pressure and
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I fell short by one place, and that was really hard.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I poured so much into what I was doing, maybe
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: an unhealthy amount. And I think that's what I learned
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: after was when I actually met my husband, after I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: didn't qualify my husband now, but after I didn't qualify,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I still trained as if I was going I was
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the alternate. I didn't get to go to the games
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: as an alternate, but I went as a spectator, which
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: was still an amazing experience. But it kind of made
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: me figure out that I need to have a better
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: balance with my life. I'm still working on what balance is.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: But I am. I am a wife, i am a daughter,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: I'm a friend, I'm a modern pentathlete, I'm a student,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: and I'm a soldier. And I'm very proud of all
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: those things that I am, all those things that I
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: represent and work really hard to be.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Something you mentioned before was that you knew that maybe
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: you were working too hard. Was there a moment or
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: a situation where that kind of really came to light
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: for you where you realize just how much you were
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: pouring in to being a modern pens athlete.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: I feel that I every time I would have a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: bad workout or anything went wrong in a practice, I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: would just dwell on it all the time and it
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: would just consume me. That was kind of a moment
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: when I realized, it's like, this is not the end
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: all be all. There is so much more to life.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I really need to have a bigger perspective on life.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: And going to basic training was a huge perspective change
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: for me, and joining the military that's been a really
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: big perspective change, going to school and just I think
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: keeping myself busy with other things, also figuring out what
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: that balance is, but being able to see that sometimes
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: doing less is more. As I get older as an athlete,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I can't train the same way I was when I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: was eighteen, and so I have to be smarter about
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the way i'd train my recovery and a lot of
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: those injuries that start coming up that makes you realize, too,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I need to tone it back. I need to focus
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: more on my sleep my recovery. And I'm still doing that.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: It's not perfect and I'm still figuring it out after
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I've done this sport for ten eleven years. And it's
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: challenging because you think you need to work harder and
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: harder and harder to accomplish your goals and just grind
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and hustle. But that's not always the answer.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: Right right, and I would also imagine and please correct
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, but you went from you were
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: the only thing you had to worry about, right like
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: perhaps as a single woman. Then you meet someone and
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden you care about this person and
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: you have to be able to listen to them and
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: hear their perspective. And I'm sure your now husband had
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: some feedback about what you had been doing, which for
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: many of us, I mean, I'm a single woman, me
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: leaning into exercise, me leaning to fitness, me, training is
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: how I cope with almost everything.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. It was definitely during COVID that was a
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: huge coping thing for me. Just I was like, I
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: need to work out, like all day every day, Like
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I need to keep training.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: My husband was.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Like, you, you are coping in a very unhealthy way,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and it helps to have someone in the outside seeing
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that because a lot of times we keep doing the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: same things. And he points out things that I may
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: not see and he helps me realize. He's really opened
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: my eyes to podcast books and he's like, you need
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to listen to this. You need to read this and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: help me get more in touch with God too and
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: find that there is more things to life, and I
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: don't need to just cope with exercise. I think it's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: healthy to cope in some way with exercise. It's a
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: good way for us to get our energy out and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to move our bodies. But there is that fine line
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: of overdoing it and doing too much and just you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: can't keep running away from things that you need to keep.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: You need to face things at some point because they're
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: going to grow into dragons.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: To dragons for sure. The monster.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Well you mentioned also before having access to a really
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: great team being a part of the world class Athlete program.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: That team including sports psychologists question Mark.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, and I had been encouraged to work with a
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: sports psychologist earlier on, but it was just so difficult
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: in starting to work with someone. It takes time to
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: build that relationship. So finally, when COVID hit, I was like,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I really need to pursue this, and it was around
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: May of twenty twenty I started working with someone and
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: she's really helped me change my perspective on the way
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I view myself my training. A lot of times, our
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: self talk is a big part of if we can
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: either motivate ourselves or kind of destroy ourselves, and that's
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: A huge aspect that I've been working on is that confidence.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: It's like I've gotten to where I am now because
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of the hard work and dedication I put in, and
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: just because I have one bad result doesn't mean that
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I need to just trash myself in everything I've done.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: So really, just working with her and having someone to
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: help kind of keep me accountable to things outside of
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: my parents, my husband, someone's like a little unbiased and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: outside of the picture.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that until you start working with
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I mean we're talking about a sports psychologists, Obviously a
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: parallel can be drawn to a therapist. Until you start
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: working with someone who has this outside POV, you or
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: I at least thought for so long it's like, oh,
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: I can just go with my girlfriend to get wine
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: on Wednesdays and it's totally the same thing.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: It's so not totally the same, not at all, not
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: at all.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: I just mentioned wine, and you mentioned also having access
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: to a registered dietitian and to having nutrition coaching. How
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: has I mean, you're training constantly, so how have you
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: learned more about what your body needs, what your nutritional
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: needs are. I'm sure it's completely different the stuff that
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: you're putting into your body now versus before you had
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: all these resources.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Nutrition is a huge aspect of being an athlete, and
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: everyone always assumes, oh, you do five sports, you can
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: probably eat whatever you want. It's like, okay, I probably could,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: but I'm not going to feel very good. I know
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: that they need to put good things into my body.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: And having injuries. When I had surgery in twenty twelve,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I've had stress fractures. Even earlier this year, I had
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: some really bad planifaestiotis issues and how to be in
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: a boot. So because I probably pushed things a little
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: bit too much during COVID overdid things in some areas
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: and I wasn't feeling myself enough. I even have that
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: mistake now. So working with nutritionists and being able to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: have resources such as a dexascan blood work, because things
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: can look good on paper, but actually getting more of
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: that data and sitting down with someone to analyze it
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and make sure am I actually eating the right things?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Because I could be eating healthy, but am I absorbing
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: that stuff correctly? Am I timing my nutrition to be
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: able to get the most out of it? Like is
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: my bone density okay? Is my body fat where it
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: needs to be for what kind of sports I'm doing,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: so learning more about it and I love that kind
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of stuff. I'm so interested in it. And being able
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to talk and utilize someone that has that knowledge and
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that experience has helped me go as an athlete. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I think you're always going to battle those injuries when
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: you're pushing your body to that limit. You're always going
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to have that So you kind of need someone to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: oversee that at times and be like, what did I
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: do wrong? Or where did I go wrong? What can
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I improve? Because I think there's always room for improvement,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Like you can think you're doing something well, but there's
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: like that one percent better every day that adds up.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it definitely adds up.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: And obviously we talked about you going through a point
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: where you were overtraining, whether it be around RIO or
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: during COVID. When you have this much insight into your
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: nutrition and you get into that nitty gritty, is it
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: easy to take the nutrition too far as well?
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, talk to me about that.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I think being a female in sport, there's always like
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: a state and of what you need to look like.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And social media you see a lot of people that
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: look I may look amazing, they look incredible, and you
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: want to look that way and regardless if it's real
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: or not. And so I think that standard of I
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: need to eat healthier so that my body can look
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: this way or that way, and comparing ourselves to other
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: people and we're all different, and especially as a pentathlete,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: we have so many different aspects, like I'm not going
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to look the same as a runner, I'm not going
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to look like a swimmer. And being able to embrace
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: what my body has to offer, like my legs provide
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: me power. I may think my quads are huge, but
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: they provide me power to do the things I need
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: And food is fuel.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: So trying to kind of change things around in my
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: head of a better mantra that providing myself with good
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: nutrients in my body and just monitoring it and sometimes
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the calorie tracking actually it can be detrimental, but knowing too.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: It's like ignorance isn't always bliss, Like you kind of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: want to know to some ass but in a healthy way.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: So finding that balance and even working with my sports
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: psychologists and nutritionists on that kind of stuff to be
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: able to say I don't feel comfortable eating this, they're like, Okay,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: we'll change this around. So being able to know myself
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: too and speak up for things. I'm like, I don't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: think that's going to work. Can we change this? So
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: being able to stand up for yourself, know what you need,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: and just not judge others and what their path is
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: because your path is going to be completely different.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, everyone's path is so different.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: And the fact that, I mean, you are a pro athlete, right,
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: like you're going to the Olympics. So these things that
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: we're talking about, what you're eating, how you're feeling, this
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: is part of your job, which at times, as I've
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: had so many conversations with such excellent professionals, can be
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: inherently very stressful, right because if something goes wrong, if
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: something's off, it's frightening, it shakes your foundation. But as
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: you said before, talking about all the different roles that
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: you have in this life of being a friend, a friend,
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: a daughter, a wife, a soldier, like being an athlete
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: is just one part of who you are.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Right absolutely, And like you said, it's very important what
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: you put into your body. And I also think too,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: that's what you surround yourself with too. Those people you
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: surround yourself with people that support you and family, friends,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the army team that I have, that support system that
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you have around you, they're gonna help you and they're
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: not gonna be around you be like, well, why aren't
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: you drinking this beer? Like why aren't you why aren't
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you eating this? It's like, you shouldn't be judging me
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: for what I'm doing. You should be supporting me and
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: what I do. And so having friends and people around
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you that will support that and not be so judgmental
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: of it. And there's always going to be that, but
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I think to just being able to be more firm
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: on like there's always time to have that cheat meal
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: or to treat yourself. You can't just live life never
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: looking at a piece of cheese or chocolate or wine.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: You need to have times and there's like different season
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: in our life that we can enjoy that. But it's
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: as an athlete you do have to be that much
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: more regimented on what you do and because yeah, my
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: body is my job, essentially training hard and being able
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to perform my duties as a soldier athlete.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: It's interesting you said that there can be seasons for
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: different things, referencing like what we're putting into our bodies. Perhaps,
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: like right now the season is a lot more strict
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: than it would have been a year or two years ago.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: But there's also seasons as we're referencing of relationships, right
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: And I feel like.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: This topic keeps coming up on the show.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: But having the mindset that sometimes you have to be
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: a bigger person and you have to be okay with
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: letting people play a role in your life that you
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: didn't expect for them to play. So I'm sure as
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: your training as ramped up as you've had to kind
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: of reprioritize a little bit, it has been a little
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: bit difficult perhaps for you to take some space from
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: some relationships that at other times had been really prominent
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: for you.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Relationships and it like time is I always just say
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I wish I had more time. I've missed out on
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of friends events or weddings or things because
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of competitions or I just can't travel taking leave for army.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: It can be challenging at times and being able to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: say no and just say like I can't do that,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: It is really hard and.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: It has challenged a lot of friendships in relationships, and
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: I know my husband, He's like I just sometimes you
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: don't have a lot of time and it's hard. And
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: I never saw myself getting married as an athlete, and
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: so I am so grateful that our relationship is the
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: way it is and he has been so understanding. But
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I think after the Olympics, it's like, there is going
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to be that time where we get to spend more
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: time together.
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: In COVID we did. We were living together.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: As our first year of marriage, and so we did
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: get more time together, whether we liked it or not.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: But I think that was also good. It challenged us
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: to grow in different ways. And it's challenge me to
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: go in different ways or find different ways to connect
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: to people because I might not be able to be
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: there in person with them, but being able to just
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: send a quick text, hey, thinking to you, I'm sorry
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I can't be there, being able to still stay connected
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: in that way. And I think they understand and they
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: know and they see that journey and I'm on and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: they support it. And if they don't support it, that
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: relationship may rebuild itself afterwards, I hope.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'm gonna tell you a story about when
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: I learned about opportunity costs. So I mean, as you
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: and I have spoken about a big runner training for
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: lots of marathons and going hand in hand with all
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: this training that I'm doing, all the training that you do,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: is this idea of opportunity costs and that there are
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: going to be things that you have to let go
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: by the wayside a little bit in order to pursue
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: an opportunity, I e.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: For you, the games, for me a marathon.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I'm out to drinks with a girlfriend for her birthday
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: and we're both training for the New York City Marathon.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: I think this is like I want to say, like
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: three years ago, are this beautiful top bar in New
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: York City, but we're having one drink.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: It's our birthday, but like we've got a long run.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: The next day, we're there for one drink and a
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: man walks up to us at the bar and he says,
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: can I buy you a shot? Like the two of
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: us and we're like nah. And he's like, wow, you
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: guys are like real downers. And we're like, well, we're
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: we have a long run tomorrow. We have like we're
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: gearing up for this thing. We're training for the marathon.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: He's like, wow, that's a really big opportunity cost. And
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: I had never heard the term before. So this man
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: like twenty stories above, like over Manhattan. We're like staring
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: at the World Trade Center.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: He starts schooling me and like what this means and
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: how he I must really value like running the marathon.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: And you take a step back and you ask yourself, like,
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: what is it about this that makes this opportunity cost
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: worth it? And I think that sometimes at first, whether
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: it is with like becoming a morning exerciser or maybe
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: eating a little healthier, it's like you have to start,
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: and starting him be the hardest part. But once you
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: start and get a taste of why this thing is
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: so good, why this thing can help you so much,
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: then you fully start to understand the opportunity cost, right,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: and that opportunity cost it isn't something that phases you
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: once you have a full ability to articulate why this
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: thing is so good for you. So so often I
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: mean going back to the idea of like morning workouts,
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: for example, people are like, how do you do that?
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: And in my head, for the most part, maybe not
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: over the last forty eight hours, but in my head,
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: I'm like, how do I not right? Because it makes
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: me feel better right as I'm assuming. I mean, with
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: you having to train so many times in one day,
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: you know that you feel better at the end of
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: the day if you have kind of checked off all
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: the things on your this is going to make me
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: the best version of me.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: To do list.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Also, you have to Sometimes people say, oh, that's selfish,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: but I think for you to serve others, you need
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: to serve yourself and make sure you are the best
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: you can be, whether that's waking up to meditate, do yoga,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: go for a run, eat better. But yeah, taking that
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: first step can be the most challenging. And I think
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: people think they need to like go out and go
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: for a ten mile run. It's like, no, go for
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: a mile run, go for a walk. Just start with
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: that and like work your way up. It doesn't happen overnight.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Like I did not become an Olympian overnight. This has
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: taken years in consistency, hard work, perseverance, a lot of help,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: and so it's like, yeah, things don't just happen overnight,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and it does take say no to someone offering you
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: a shot or a good night staying out with friends.
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: It's like, Nope, I'm going to do one and I'm
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: going to go home. I'm going to get rest.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you can't go out, you can't enjoy
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: time with friends, but knowing when to set your limits
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and yeah, you're gonna miss out have.
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: Those opportunity costs. That's interesting. I've never heard it that way.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: I know, I like always, I'm like, this was like
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: such a New York moment for me and this man
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: who has no idea that I have this profound story
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: about him explaining this to me.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Now, thank you, Sara, wherever you are in the world.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: So for you now gearing up for Tokyo, what would
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: you say, perhaps has been something that is a big
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: opportunity cost for.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: You, especially with COVID just limiting the amount of people
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: I'm around really trying to watch just stay uninjured. So
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: that's going to mean me say no a lot more,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: which is hard. There's a lot of opportunities that come
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: when you say, oh, I'm an Olympian and I'm going
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to the Olympics. A lot of people are so excited,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: which is amazing. There's so many opportunities, But at the
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: same time, I know I need to focus on my
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: training to make sure that I can go and perform
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: at my best and saying no and missing out on
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: some of those opportunities to get my story out, share
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: about my sport, share about the Army World Class Athlete Program,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and all the opportunities I've had With that, it is
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: going to have to kind of go down the wayside,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and a little bit too. Of my relationships, my friendships,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: but I know that they will understand. And staying healthy,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: making sure I do not get sick before I go,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: staying injury free, that's going to be the main part.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: I just came here from the track and field trials.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: It's how someone qualifies to go to the Games. For
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: you in your sport, how do you qualify?
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: So there is a very long selection period for the
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: sport of modern pentathlon, typically the year before the Olympics.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: There is a set amount of competitions that will be
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: put into a world ranking and they'll take your top
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: three scores from that world ranking and those athletes will
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: qualify for the Games. There is only thirty six men
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: and thirty six women total that go to the Olympics,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and up to two per country are allowed slots. There
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: is a second way to qualify, and that's off of
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: continental competitions. So in twenty nineteen they had a Pan
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: American Games, which this is always usually one year before
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, and at Pan American Games they have two
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: slots for North and Central America, two slots for South America,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: and then a wild car, so five total slots for
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: all of North and South America. And so at Pan
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: American Games, I won the silver medal, which qualified my
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: spot for the Olympics. That spot technically was not confirmed
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: until like a few weeks ago, So even though I'm sitting,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm qualified, but it's still you're still kind
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: of riding on that I could be bumped out if
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: someone in the world ranking were to pass me, two
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: US women were to pass me in world ranking. So
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: it's very complicated. But you basically have a year long
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: process that you have to stay solid for and compete
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: strong throughout that whole season versus one trials. So it's
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: kind of like we do have a longer duration. You
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: don't just have that one day you have to show up,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: you have to have multiple days. So it's like, I
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: don't know what I'd rather have because that's a little
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: bit stressful in my head, having one race where you
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: have to qualify. We have a little bit longer. But
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: at the same time too, Pan American Games. I just
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: had a very strong day and being able to have
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: my family there and knowing I've had my spot qualified
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen was a huge relief. How many people
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: compete in that In the Pan American Games, Yeah, I'm
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: trying to there was.
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: Over fifty wow, fifty athletes.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: I want to say, I'd have to look at the
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: number of fifty women. So it was bigger than in
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: most years. Things have developed more in the South and
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Central American countries, which is really great to see. I'd
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: love to see the sport grow. It's definitely a lot
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: bigger in Europe and overseas, but not so much in
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: like North and South America.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: And I was talking to your coach yesterday, and it's interesting,
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: right because obviously so many different disciplines within one quote
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: unquote sport, So so many different sports in one sport,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: which means that it attracts individuals who may have like
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: a little bit of a weakness in one area but
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: a strength in the others.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Per se would you say for you?
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: And I mean, I feel like by the time that
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: this comes out, it'll be safe and no one's going
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: to know this.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: But do you you have like a weaker sport?
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: Yes, I don't want to go your cover.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: I don't know your cover.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: I think it is well known that fencing is definitely
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: my most challenging sport of pentathlon and the combined event,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: the running and shooting is my strength. But I also
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: grew up around horses, which is one of my strengths
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: as well. But in pentathlon, we ride a random horse,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: so you really don't know what you're gonna get that
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: day and how you're really gonna mesh with that animal.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: You have to figure it out that day. So that's
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: always a little bit of a toss up knowing what
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you're gonna.
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: Get, right if you're out of the loop on how
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: horses work, because I'm obviously so in the loop, but
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: I learned about this yesterday. Every horse obviously is different,
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: so individuals who may own one or work with the
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: same horse all the time, you develop such a special
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: relationship with that animal. So then to be thrown on
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: a horse, you get twenty minutes with the horse before
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: you ride.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: It, Yes, twenty minutes warm up, a couple warm up jumps,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: and then you have to go in and do fifteen obstacles.
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: They can be set up to four feet high.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: So it's pretty I mean, you're testing your trust in
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: that animal, and that's a quick time to really adapt
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: and adjust.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: To a horse.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Okay, so something I don't think that we've done just yet.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I know you talked us through all the different disciplines
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: of pentathlon, but just like you did now explaining how
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: that writing component would go, let's talk through kind of
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: the run of show of how a modern pentathlon would
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: play out.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, so modern pentathlon, we will usually start with
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the fencing. You'll have a round robin fencne so thirty
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: six athletes, thirty six women, and you will fence each
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: woman one touch, so you'll have thirty five touches one
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: minute per bout, and you basically have one winner victory
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: or defeat, and whoever has a victory, we'll get more points.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: After that, they will put you into a ranking system
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: first through thirty six, and you will do a bonus
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: round for the fencing. So basically thirty six fences, thirty
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: five whoever wins stays up to fence thirty four and
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: each bout that you win you get plus one point,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: and a point can make a difference. I mean Olympics
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: are definitely it gets really tight for those top three
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: athletes for the metal spots. And then after the fencing
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: is over, we have the swimming event two innimeters freestyle,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: so basically the faster you swim, the more points you get.
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: After that, whoever is.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: In the lead from the fencing and swimming will draw
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: a number and that's what horse they get, and then
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: they'll go down the list of who gets the horse,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and you'll have the fifteen course obstacle obstacles that you
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: have to complete, be under a certain optimum time and
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: not knocked down. If you knock down a rail, you
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: will deduct points. If you have a refusal or a
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: fall or any time penalties, you will lose points. And
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: so a perfect ride is three hundred points, and so
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: as you're going more and more points is better. And
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: when you get to the final event of the running
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and shooting, whoever is in first place will basically start
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: at zero and then say I'm in second place, all
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: start if I am five points behind first. I will
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: start five seconds back and so on and so forth,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and my job is to catch up person in front
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: of me. And in the combined event, we will run
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: into our shooting station. We have to hit five targets,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: run eight hundred meters and we do that four times,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: so a total of twenty hits on the target and
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: two miles of running. Whoever finishes that last lap of
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: running first is the winner.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: And we haven't mentioned this yet, although I'm sure I
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: will mention it in the intro to this episode. But
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: we're not shooting real guns here. We're shooting laser guns,
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: laser pistols.
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: Yes, we are shooting laser pistols.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: And they had switched over to laser that was in
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: I think twenty twelve. They wanted our event to be
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: in a stadium full of people. It made it safer
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: and actually too, it's actually made it better for us
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: to travel. We don't have live ammunition with us. We
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: basically have a glorified laser pointer. But it is not
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: as easy as it looks. I know a lot of
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: people are like, oh, you shoot a laser pistol, like
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: it's like video games.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: It is not easy. I tried it. Yesterday. It's not
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: easy at all.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: It is interesting to me though, thinking about you going
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: through security with all of the gear that you need
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: to travel with. I mean you must have had to
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: explain this like at least a handful of times. Oh, yes,
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: it's it's a pain. Sometimes you can. You go on
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: an airplane with fencing equipment.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: We definitely have checked bags that we send everything through
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: because the ebays that we fence with are so long.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: But all the gear you have, your pistols, your riding gear, running, swimming, fencing,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: there's hardly ever a time like if I can make
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: fifty pounds, which is a good thing I'm military, I
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: get a little extra weight, but it's hard to make
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: that fifty pound mark. I feel like I overpacked for everything,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: but it's a little hard not to With pentathlon.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: I'm like trying to pack to go to like Colorado,
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: Oregon and California for a week, and I'm like, I
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: don't know how I'm gonna do it. Yeah, traveling the
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: world to like do your sport, and it's absolutely, absolutely
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: just so much stuff. Okay, So talk to me out
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: where you were at when you found out that you
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: were confirmed to go to Tokyo.
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: I think, well, I mean, PanAm.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: When I found out that I was going to go
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: to Tokyo, my coach he's like, just in case you
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: guys wanted to see, He like emails us the letter
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: that confirmed we were invited to the Olympics, and I
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: remember calling and sending it to my parents and they were.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: Like, oh my god, it's official.
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: We need to celebrate.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: And it's like we've known that after World Championships, we
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: basically knew that my spot was solidified and I would
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: be going, But actually seeing it in person, seeing that letter,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: you're just like, it's really happening. And then watching the trials,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: seeing all the excitement of athletes being able to callify
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: for the Olympics. It's just been that build up that
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: I think I kind of needed emotionally, because you can
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: feel very isolated sometimes as an athlete and kind of
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: forget what you're aiming towards at times with that grind
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: day in and day out. So being able to see
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: that and just get get more excited, have those little
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: things along the way that I'm grateful for, and I'm
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: just so I'm so grateful that they're still going to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: have the Olympics because that could have.
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: Been taken away from me completely.
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: And I think also as we spoke about just there
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: being both so many few penn athletes so to speak,
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: as well as not a ton of knowledge about the
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: sport and individuals needing that full explanation that we just
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: went through, that in itself. I mean track athletes, so
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: many track athletes, swimmers, gymnasts, like soccer players, like everything.
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: There's so many of them, right, But you are a
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: lesser known sport and you are one of a fewer
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: amount of athletes. So I can totally imagine that that's
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: a little isolating.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: You're like, but I.
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: Matter, I'm here, I'm doing this, and for you in
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: traveling and representing your country, what does that mean to you?
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Representing TIMYSA is incredible? But I also get to represent
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: the US Army too, and soldier athlete that means so
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: much more to me, and having more people behind me,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: a bigger team. I just know how hard a lot
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: of military families, all those soldiers out there, how hard
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: they work, And I get this really unique opportunity and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: I need to go and work hard and fight for
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: my nation. But on a different field of play, which
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: is a really unique experience and not many people. A
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: lot of people say they get to be an Olympian,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: but not a soldier athlete Olympian, and that's a very
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: It adds to that uniqueness and just brings me more pride.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: I don't do it for the title.
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: I don't.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I don't do it for anyone else. But I think
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: just knowing that you have that much more to fight for,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: that one percent like behind you when you're when you're fighting,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: and I know it's going to be hot in Tokyo,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: so it's going to be hard. Knowing that I just
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: have that little extra mph behind me is really going
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: to help.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Oh. I have so many chills. This is so exciting.
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: What do you think about when you think about life
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: after Tokyo, Life after Tokyo.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, I've had this question a lot, and I
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: don't really know. To be honest, I am very grateful.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Like with the Army, I have so many opportunities career
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: wise with that, whether I want to continue in sport,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: whether I want to go down another path, go to school,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: there's things in the medical field. I love health and wellness.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: I actually got certified to teach pilates and I've always
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: practiced it, and I love plates. I love health and
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: wellness and being able to help others kind of achieve
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: dreams or goals that they didn't really think that they
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: could accomplish and just live healthier lifestyles, because like we said,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: it's kind of that first step, and a lot of
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: times people don't know how to do that, and so
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: providing them with the information to do that. I would
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: love to be able to help people do that and
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: give back in that way. I'm not really sure what
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: that looks like yet, and I don't know if that's
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: going to be here with w CAP in the Army
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: as a civilian, I don't really know. I do have
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: a little bit of time, but I know right now
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: that my goal is to go to the Olympics and
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: perform to the best of my ability, hopefully bring home
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a metal. If I don't, that's okay, But I'm going
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: to go out there and fight and then kind of
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: reassess and take some time for myself and much time
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: for my husband and my family too, that I know
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: that they've missed, they've missed kind of sometimes with me.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: Right now, if someone was to come check out your
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: social media, I know you also have some YouTube content
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: that I've been checking out. They'll see a strong woman
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: training to go to Tokyo. When you look in the mirror,
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking back at you.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: When I look in the mirror, I see a very
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: determined person, no matter what happens, how bad the day
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: starts out, especially pentathlon, there's five different events. No matter
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: how bad the day starts out, It's like I can
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: always turn it around. I can keep working hard, I
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: can keep trying. And that perseverance in that determination has
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: really just over time progressed in an upward trend, but
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: there has been times that's gone up and down. But
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I can't say that I'm an overly confident person. But
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: I just see a very determined and driven person, and
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: that has helped me achieve things that I never thought
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: I could.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: Love that.
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: I also am now going back thinking into the sequencing
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: of events and understanding that you can have one event
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: that may.
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: Not go as well as you had hoped.
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: There has to be a lot of mental tenacity and
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: sometimes mental gymnastics. I am sure to get over that
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: hurdle of letting that thing go so that you can
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: move on to the next thing and just show up
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: as your full self. I'm sure through your work with
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: the sports psychologist that is something you've had to work
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: on astronomically.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is, because we can definitely get in our
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: heads and fencing when we're doing the round robin that
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: can be two to three hours. You have a lot
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: of fencing that you're doing, and if you start losing
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: and aren't able to pull yourself out, you can have
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: a really bad day. So being able to pull yourself
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: up and come back not just in one sport, it
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: can be anyone's day. I've seen women run up and
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: I've ran up multiple places in the combined event to
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: win a medal, and I've seen other very strong women
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: come up from very far behind to be on the podium,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: and so I know, it's like it's never over until
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: you cross that finish line. It's just like starting your day.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Just because you started out the day and it started
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: poorly doesn't mean that you can just say, Okay, check
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: that off my list, Like let's try to refocus and
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: get back on track. Just breathe and move on to
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: the next thing I need to do, because every day
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: is not going to be perfect, and I mean, I'm
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: a perfectionist. I want everything to be perfect, and that's
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: also too something I've had to work on is perfection
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: can be very detrimental and it can make me, it
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: can destroy you.
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: I mean the difference between say, running and shooting, Like
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: running and shooting are two things that you have so
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: much more individual control over than fencing an opponent, Like,
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: you don't have control over what that person's going to
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: do to you.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: And they could go left and you could go right.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: And I don't know anything about property fencing terminology here,
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: but they could go left and you go right, and
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: that's not within your control. So I would imagine, as
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: someone who is a self labeled perfectionist, Jesus like getting
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: through that mental.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: Hurdle is enough.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, And I think that has partially been why fencing
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: has been so challenging for me, is because I like
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: to be in control, and as an athlete, that's helped
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: me have success because I can control what I eat,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: how I train, my schedule. But yeah, I can't control
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: that person in front of me. I in some instances,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: I also cannot control that horse. I have some control
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: over it, but learning how to kind of let go
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: of some of that control too, and COVID has Actually
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the pandemic has been very good because I have not
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: had control, so being able to just let go and
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: be like, I can't control that gyms are closed right now,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: I can't control that the Olympics have been possibly canceled
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: or postponed. I have no idea, but I can control
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: the way I focus my energy and what I'm going
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: to do, what I'm going to focus on. In some
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: days it's better than others, but for the most part,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: it's those challenges, and I think people have learned to
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: grow in different ways through this pandemic. So as hard
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: as it has been, I think it's challenged people to
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: grow in different ways too.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: If you had to reflect one of the best pieces
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: of advice that you have received in this training cycle,
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: what would it be.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Best piece of advice I would say leading up to
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: the Olympics and just these past couple of years would
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: be comparison is the thief of joy. If you've heard
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: that quote before, especially not being around so many people
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: were on social media all the time, scrolling through your phone.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I don't look like that. She's an athlete.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: I'm an athlete. Like that is, that's like going to
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: steal all of your joy, everything that you've worked hard for.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: You can totally destroy yourself just by looking at what
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: someone else is accomplishing. And so being able to set
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: goals for yourself and say and have to coach or
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: having someone who's kind of your accountability coach to say, like,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: what are your your goals, what are your aspirations, whether
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: that's in athletics or work or family, and being able
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: to prioritize that to look at yourself and what you're
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: doing to make sure that you're a better person, which
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: is going to make also those people around you better
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: because you're going to be able to serve them better
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: by knowing that you're focused on your goals and not
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: so much of what that outside influence is on other people.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 52:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's exactly the reason you're reflecting on comparison
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: being the thief of joy. That's exactly the reason why
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: I decided to stop touching my phone for the first
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: thirty to forty minutes after I wake up.
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: In the morning.
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: Now my routine, I'm working on getting back to it
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: every single day. I kind of deviated briefly, but I'll
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: wake up and I'll journal. First thing, I'll make an espresso, like,
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: I'll get myself organized. The first time I grab my
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: phone in the morning is usually when I do this
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: thing that I call the lace up, which is where
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: I time my shoes on Instagram. Sounds so dumb when
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: I say that out loud sometimes, but that shot in
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: the morning is the first time that I'm like, Okay,
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: I'm here. But the good thing about that shot for
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: me is on the mornings where maybe I'm not ready
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: to look at myself in the mirror, so to speak.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: Yet maybe I'm not feeling my best.
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: Maybe I've had like a you know, emotional twenty four
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: hours for me looking myself in the eye first thing
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: in the morning and reminding myself that I have the
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: opportunity love that word to show up for me.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: That's like more for me than it is for anybody else.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: But if that moment we're talking about like a mutual
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: love for and hope to help others on their journey
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: of wellness and well being, if my experience and putting
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: my big girl pants on can help somebody else show
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: up and decide that they're also going to get out
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: there for themselves, that day and how special is that?
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: So again on this idea of I can't wake up
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: and compare myself to what anybody else is doing. Your
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: world completely changes when you release just let them do
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: their thing and you focus.
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: On your thing, and letting go can be hard, so hard,
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: but like, yeah, you never know you're lacing up could
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: be someone's motivation to be like I need to get up.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: I need to lace up my shoes and go out
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: for a run. So I think that's really cool. Social
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: media in a way can be great to help motivate
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: and inspire others, but it can also be very detrimental.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: So it's finding that, like I said that balance before,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: which is hard because you want to influence and impact
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: others in a very positive way and so being able
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: to showcase that in the raw feelings of things, which
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I'm it's hard to do at times.
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: But I think if you can be that way.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: And like you said about journaling too, like that can
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: be a really good way to get get out how
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: you're feeling. And I love to journal and almost kind
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: of reflect on things that I'm doing well. And in
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: my journal, I have two lines every day and it says,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: what are you grateful for so being able to have
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: that gratitude too. It's like, no matter what's happened in
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: the day, it's like, Okay, what was some two good
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: things that happened today and being grateful for that because
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: you need to have gratitude. There is something every day
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: that is beautiful that you should be grateful for.
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: You and me both, sister. Okay, final two questions. First question,
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: when things may start to go awry or things feel
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: really tough and you're out there for that eight hundred
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: meter sprint or two hundred meter sprint in the pool,
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: do you have a mantra or something that you continuously
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: go back to to kind of refocus and get yourself
• 55:28
  Speaker 3: into a groove.
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: I would say.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: It does change on a regular basis, kind of some
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: mantras that I do tell myself based on what workouts
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: him in. But I have a tattoo on my wrist
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: that says strength, and it's from the Bible verse Philippians
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: four thirteen. I can do all things through Christ. You
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: gives me strength. There's definitely different ways to say it,
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: but primarily just knowing that I've gotten this far and
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: it's like just telling myself, come on, Sammy, you can
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 55:53
  Speaker 4: You can do it.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: Almost at self talk, you kind of sound a little silly,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: like you're being your own coach, but you need to
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: be in your ear saying like you've gone this far,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: like you only have two hundred meters left, you only
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: have fifty meters left, Like you can do it. You
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: ran how many miles this past like last week, this
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: is nothing. Almost kind of playing like games in my
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: head to make it seem like it's not as hard
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: as it really is. And just remembering like that strength
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: that I have that strength from God, I have that
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: strength from everyone around me, so being able to just
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: tap into that and sometimes it's not there, that kick
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: may not always be there, but those little times when
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: I can have that self talk, it.
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: Just helps give you that little extra boost and to
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: have the grace with yourself in the moments where it
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: doesn't happen. And again, just this idea of there's no
• 56:39
  Speaker 3: such thing as being your hype man, your own hype
• 56:42
  Speaker 3: man too much, especially when you're going out there and
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: you're giving it all you've got, whether you're showing up
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: for a meeting in a conference room or tackling a
• 56:50
  Speaker 3: mile around a track It's like you have to believe
• 56:53
  Speaker 3: in yourself first, because if you don't believe in yourself,
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: then nobody else is going.
• 56:56
  Speaker 4: To do it for you.
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: Right now, you have an opportunity to give yourself a
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: piece of advice reflecting back on not going to Rio,
• 57:07
  Speaker 3: technically hard times, devastating, overtraining, you have an opportunity right
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: now to give yourself one piece of advice looking back
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: on that time.
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: What do you tell yourself.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Looking back on that time, I would tell myself, this
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: is just one piece of your life. This is a
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: short moment in your life, and as devastating as it is,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: you will pick yourself up, and you will pick up
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: the pieces. You will fight hard, you will come back,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: have the faith believe in yourself. I think a lot
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: of times I didn't believe in myself and just knowing
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: like it is, it is.
• 57:52
  Speaker 4: Okay to be upset with what's happened.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: To take that time to grieve and then get back
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: on track and figure out where life takes you from there.
• 58:02
  Speaker 4: Being upset is okay.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: People think you just need to shove it down, and
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: I was upset, and you need to be upset with
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: yourself for a quote unquote failure, but that failure provided
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: me with an opportunity to do more, to join the military,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: to join the US Army, to be a part of
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: the world class athlete program. And if I was on
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: that Olympic team and I did compete in Reo Olympics,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I would have joined or I would
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: have been on the same path.
• 58:30
  Speaker 4: That I am.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that was a long answer to your question.
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: It all happens for a reason. I'm so excited to
• 58:37
  Speaker 3: cheer you on in Tokyo. I'm so amped. I'm excited
• 58:40
  Speaker 3: to follow your journey. How do the hurdlers keep up
• 58:43
  Speaker 3: with you? How do they follow along with you? Give
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: me all the details.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Instagram is definitely where I'm the most active at Samantha
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: A USA, and then also Sammy Schultz is my YouTube channel.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: I'll hopefully be pushing out some more videos and getting
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: some content in Tokyo. And then my website, Samantha Kay
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: USA has Samantha kayusa dot com has all the info,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: a ton of information about pentathlon in my journey. So
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: I'm just really excited. Thank you so much for having me.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: It was wonderful to show you my sport and just
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: be able to spend some time with you.
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: Oh loved it. I'm over at Emily Body and at
• 59:18
  Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.