Latest / Trackside with Maddie Mooney / Bianca Stubler - Episode 5 - Trackside with Maddie Mooney
Transcript
- TS STUBLER: Welcome to Track Side with Maddie Mooney. I'm Maddie Mooney and today's conversation is with Bianca Stubler. Stubler is a 54.85 second 400 meter hurdler and she just recently finished fourth in the 400 meter hurdles at the USA Championships in 2026. Bianca trains in Austin, Texas with the TBBTC group. And while she does all that training with all of those really fast women, she also works as a realtor. Her life is go, go, go nonstop, and that is what she thinks is her key to success. So tune in to hear Bianca talk about how she balances this hectic life and her goals for a very exciting 2027 year. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy this episode. Right, and we are here with Bianca. How are you, Bianca? I'm good, how are you? I'm doing well. I'm excited to talk to you today 'cause it's kinda like a reunion episode for people who don't know. Yeah, this is full circle. Yeah, both Bianca and I ran at the University of Wisconsin at the same time. I think you're one year older than me, right? Are you I think so, yeah. Yeah. I'm a 99 baby. Yep, and I'm a two thousand. Perfect. Yeah. we ran on some four by fours together over the years on like some of those the early season four by fours and whatnot. So we have we go we go back to the early college days. but I'm excited to have you on today to talk about your life now, training as a professional athlete and working as a real estate agent at the same time and kind of how you make that all work and yet are so successful finishing what you just finished fourth at USA's this past year? Yes. Yeah, fourth is awesome. So in the in the four hunter turtles. So yeah, so I kinda wanna start with you're based in Austin. Tell me a a little bit about how le after leaving Wisconsin, how did you Find yourself moving to Austin and getting involved with this group that you're in there. Yeah, so Coach Jackson, who you know, he somehow was connected with Coach Bailey, my current coach. I think all the coaches are kind of connected in some way, but he knew her. And so that was kind of my like into at least talking to her. and I just knew she ran a really good group down here in Austin. She was a like all-time best 400 hurdler, went to the Olympics. did all of that. So training under someone not only that's a woman that achieved the goals I want to achieve, but doing it at like the best level. that was kind of a no brainer for me. But yeah, basically just kind of chatted with her and ended up taking a risk and moving down here knowing nobody, but it's worked out pretty well. That's good accolades to have from your coach that you're trusting. Right, right. She's done it. So she Exactly exactly And so you joined this team your second year as a professional runner. What was what was your first year like? Was that a challenge? Were you coaching yourself during that year? I know you were back you did the the tracksmith deal that kind of helped some some fresh professionals, but what was that year like? Yeah, my first year I moved on to Chicago and I was also helping coach at Loyola. I was like the assistant coach. For a year. so it was just kind of a transition out of college. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do yet and I didn't think I really knew what the pro world would look like. We didn't chat about it much in college. So I was thinking that I could still, you know, kinda test the waters and see how it would go. So I did run under Tracksmith for that year. but then I realized that training in Chicago is just as bad as training outside in Wisconsin and we kinda need to go somewhere warm to be able to sprint and do it at a high level. So I like I'm either gonna do this all in and move somewhere warm and join a group or just not do it at all. So I made that decision to come down here. Which that's I forgot that you coached at Loyola for a year. The track and field world is so every like 'cause obviously Gavin coaches at Loyola who before was coaching at Wisconsin, so everything's so so interconnected in the track and field world. Yeah. Definitely an interesting year. Yeah. I bet I bet training outside there was terrible because does Loyola even have an indoor track? No. No, they would go to the Gately once a week, which is nowhere near the campus. And we would drive like little vans down there. It was terrible. man, yeah, that's like south side of Chicago, so Gately. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, yeah, moving from there to Austin was probably a good training move for your athletic career. Yeah, for sure. how is it on On that team, I see like a lot of your training partners, you guys post so many fun like reels and TikToks and stuff on social media. how was it meshing into that team that had so many high caliber athletes on it already? Yeah, it's a really fun group. I was definitely nervous coming in because I mean, a group of all women, you don't really know what you're gonna get into. I was a little bit nervous about how that dynamic would be, but everyone was super welcoming and everyone is so nice, and you get just a bunch of fun personalities, so it was awesome. Honestly, a easier transition than I thought. I mean, it's definitely difficult to train next to people who, you know, you come out of college and you're one of the best, and then you're training with people who all came out of college and they're the best, and now they're the best on the elite level. So it's quite challenging in that sense, but in terms of like personalities and you know, find my best friends, that was pretty easy. That's awesome. Do you feel you I actually saw that reminds me of saying these are your best friends? one of the girls who's currently still on. the team at Wisconsin po had posted on their Snapchat story like Gabby Thomas at the W like in Wisconsin after your I think it was after your wedding. And I was like, that's so funny. That's so funny. Yeah. We were all at the rooftop with a W in August. That's so funny. It's such perfect like throwback to the college days. Yeah. my gosh. That's like funny. Fan fangirl moment for people who are still in college seeing all these professional runners out at the college I know, it was so funny just seeing people that I obviously didn't expect to run into realizing they're still at school at Wisconsin. It was like my gosh, all my worlds are colliding. that's funny. I mean yeah, you can do like eight years still. Or I guess maybe this is the last year that you can come back for all those years in college before they start the five year role. But yeah, that's funny. Did you have a chance to see the new facilities that they built at Wisconsin? I did, yeah. Are they pretty nice? Yeah, I mean, I feel like there is so much talk about the track facility and what was gonna happen with that. So my expectations were pretty low 'cause I knew kind of what it was gonna look like. I think they tried to make an effort to, you know, still make it nice. And I mean it is like you know they have this straightaway and it's better than the shell, but it is, you know, like in the rafters. So Right. Up in the air. It's the trade-offs. But I mean, yeah, I think they had completely torn out McLean, where which is kind of crazy to see because I didn't know they were gonna do that. So I think once they like rebuild that, like the whole underground, everything that we knew is just not there anymore. really? wow. Yeah, yeah. I thought they were gonna leave some of that, but I think they're gonna re like put the locker rooms and the training the athletic training center or whatever where McLean was. So I think it'll look really good when it's done, but they still little ways to go. Crazy how fast things change after I know you know, like the college system just cycles through things so quickly. I know. I'm like, I feel like I have no real like you go back to your college and you think that you kinda like just fit back in and there's no one there that I even know. So it's just kinda weird. And you too, your coach is gone. It's sad. I know. It is crazy. So speaking about college, you finished your NCA NCAA career with a sixth place finish in The four interview hurdles at NCAAs. And now most recently recently you're finishing fourth at USA's. So along this, how many years has it been? It's been three years that you've been out of college? Three seasons? Or two? Four. Four seasons. Okay. These four four years since since those NCAA days. Do you feel like there was a turning point along that timeline that you went from being like a very competitive runner, you know, finishing finishing? All American is no easy feat in the NCAA. But now I feel like you're you're a name to be scared of on the starting line in the hurdles. Like do you feel like there was a year or a season or like a block of training or something or even just like a specific race that was a turning point to hitting that that next level of hurdling or was it just like a gradual build more so? Yeah, I feel like each season has brought something different, maybe like a different challenge or mindset or goal. as you know, like the transition from college to pro is quite difficult, more than you probably could imagine coming out of college, when you were kind of painted everything on a silver platter and now you have to figure out everything on your own. so I think the fur I mean I don't really count sh Chicago as a year of professional. I was kinda like an in between, but my first year in Austin was definitely just like getting used to the new training and being in a new place and then you had to figure out, you know, where you're living, where you're getting recovery, what you're gonna how meets you're gonna go to, all that kind of stuff. So I think year one was just kind of sorting that out and figuring out, you know, how to adjust to that training. And then last year and this year I kind of feel like I finally hit my groove in a sense. Last year I ran fifty five for the first time a couple of times. I was like, okay, like I know I can run faster and it's just good to be able to kinda run those times and then finally running fifty-four this year, I was like, Okay, you know, the training's working, I'm settling in, I'm able to compete against the best. And once you can really like step on the line and be like, I can beat these girls and I belong here, and that's like a different set of confidence, I think that goes a long way. So I would say it was that physical and mental mindset adjustment of really feeling like you belong and being able to compete against the best people in the world. Did the mind s mindset shift come just come from the confidence that you had from practice and racing and stuff or were you actively doing, you know, like sports psych work or something like that to to shift your mindset? Yeah, I think it's on and off the track, for sure. I mean, track is so mental, as you know, you can talk yourself in or out of something so fast. so I think it's I mean, off the track it's just like Being confident in the training that you've done and knowing, you know, why you're here and why you're competing and kind of seeing how far you've come, because it's really easy to just constantly compare yourself and be like, Well, I want to be here, and not realizing how far you've gone to be where you are, and this is probably where you wanted to be a year ago. So it's definitely a lot of that. I've had a really good support system and teammates and coaches and everything, which has been really helpful. But then on the track, it's like stepping on the line. And I mean, once you start racing against like in the pro circuit, you're kind of racing. Racing at the same people for the most part over and over. So knowing who your competitors are, knowing kind of what you're confident in in the race, and just kind of executing, you only get a certain amount of oppos opportunities, but I don't know, stepping on that line and being like, Okay, I've been here, I've done this, I feel more comfortable, I think kind of takes you to the next level. Yeah. Did you have I know you did a lot of Europe racing this summer, but did you have a race from this past season that was like what was the most fun experience for you of this last race this last season yeah I feel like it's hard because I base fun off of how well I do at the race. Don't we all yeah guilty so it could be like the best right it could be the best like location in the most beautiful I don't know city and you race bad and you're like that meat was terrible I'm never going back. so I mean my most fun race I guess of the season was finishing fourth at USA's 'Cause that was like a big breakthrough moment for me, and then my parents were there, so it was really fun just kind of having everyone there and I don't know, it was it was my like best finish as well doing USAs. So that was really fun. I think going to Europe is its own challenge, as you know, like you're on a totally different time zone and the food is different and you're kinda getting your bearings of the city and everything, so I don't know if I have like a particular Europe race that I loved. I feel like Europe is kinda like all right, you gotta go there and just run fast and do your job and come back. but it is fun, you know, just seeing new cities and experiencing different cultures and what they do over there. So that's something that I enjoy doing as well. That's funny. I'm the same way about and I I tr it's I try not to be, but it's impossible to not associate like a race and a location with how yeah, how you did. But that's how I feel about that meet and belt. Belgium that we both raced at. And I didn't even run bad there, but I just r like was expecting so much like for some reason I was like at this meet, it's a perfect setup to run a big PB. Like I'm gonna run so well. And then I just kinda ran the same thing I'd been running. And my immediate thought was like they put too many people on the line here, like it's they should have raced us later in the day when it was cooler out, like all these things. And really, if I'd run if I'd run well, I would have loved it. So I totally get that. That's so funny because I actually was thinking that Belgium was such a beautiful place and Our hotels are by the water and there's all those cute little shops. And I was like, that meat was just so meh that it's just cut out. Right. It's done. So I'm also curious, because USA's went so well for you this year, or this past year, do you have a preference between and like no bias from my side being a Eugene resident, but do you have a bias between USA's being in New York versus in hosted in Eugene at Hayward First? Yeah, that's funny you ask. it was such a different experience. You know, at Eugene, Hayward Field is this whole show, you know, like the whole city is ready for the big meet and they make it a big deal and everything. I think it brings way more nerves. just because obviously obviously, you know, Hayward is historical and everything, but also the Zane of itself, like you know you go into that little tunnel and you're sitting next to your competitors for forty-five minutes and it's It's it brings way more nerves and I guess like the anxiety of about to race versus in New York, it was just way more chill in a sense. You know, you just kinda like walked up to the call room and then they took you to the track, but it was all in the same area. There was no tunnel. You're just under a tent. I don't know. And everyone there was a lot lower stakes because there's no team to make. So it just seemed like everyone was kinda gone out there and just racing. And so and that since I enjoyed it more, I think if it was an Olympic year it would probably feel just about the same. But Yeah, I I wouldn't say I love New York as a city, so Eugene is probably better there, but honestly either place is not great. Eugene is really hard to get to. And putting all of your competitors in the same small city is like very overwhelming. You're guaranteed to run into your competitors just out of the in Eugene. Absolutely. You can't go get a coffee in peace in Eugene without people in the track and field world. You're on edge for the whole week you're there. That's funny. Well, I mean they'll have their pros and cons. Right. That's funny you mentioned the tunnel because in Hayward, because and I've never done a big meet at Hayward, or raced in a big meet at Hayward, just their local, like the Oregon Twilight, like some of their early season low-key meets. But the green walls that are in the whole tunnel, like, make me so extra nervous for some reason. Like the Oregon green just like everywhere in the call like when you're doing your hips your hip number. and stuff, I like hate that. I don't know why they can do neutral track colors. Right? They need to know what calms us before a race. Right. Okay, so With this amazing season you've had, this progression in your career, running PBs throughout the years, you've been also working as a real estate agent. Can you take us through like what a typical day looks like when you're working and training? Like how how chaotic is that day for you? Yeah, it's definitely a lot. I'm kind of a person that likes to be doing something at all times, so it doesn't really bother me. But from an outsider perspective, a lot of my teammates are like, my gosh, you don't sit down. but as you know, like in this sport you kinda need to make it work and especially at this level. So I mean every day I'll get up and we train kind of in the middle of the day. So luckily I can be flexible and schedule stuff around that and And most people work a regular like nine to five anyways, so they're not typically wanting to see stuff in the middle of day. But I'll get up and either show something or do meetings and then go to practice. Sometimes go straight to lift and then quick train shower or whatever and then do some evening showings and do it all again the next day. It kinda depends on the day. It's not like the same type of work every day. and then weekends I'm either traveling and competing in Europe or doing work here. So So it's definitely go go go. but I do enjoy it, so I think that makes it a lot more exciting, I guess. It's doesn't feel like something that I'm dreading to wake up and do every day. I enjoy like the people part of it and yeah, I just enjoy the job in general. So yeah, I guess it is like twenty four seven, seven days a week, but yeah, at the end of the day it works and I enjoy doing it. It is as somebody who also works a job and tries to train full time. It is insane how challenging it is to find a job that has flexibility to it where you can work out 'cause like my when I first moved out here my team was practicing at ten AM doing our workouts at ten A. on Tuesdays and Fridays and that was the only thing I was trying to make it to was just like work out days in the middle of the day and to like get that block of time like most jobs don't let you get that block of time off in the middle of the day. So that is nice that it's flexible and you can kind of schedule things where you want. Yeah, exactly. I went to I got my master's in architecture, so I was originally planning on going that route and I was like, There's no way that that would work. You know, I'm just leaving for five hours every single day. That would be like, Forget it. So it's it is nice to have a more flexible job and being able to make both work, which obviously you do as well. You really just have to figure it out. Right. Do you see yourself going back to an architecture job post your running career being done, or are you like real estate is what you like to do when you're looking to just build in that career? Yeah, I've really enjoyed doing real estate. going into it, I was just thinking 'cause architecture originally I was like, I'll stay in the sports world and I'll do stadiums and all that. and I worked in the field for a little bit, and just realized I'm more of like an interactive people person. So I'm hoping that eventually I'll kind of mesh the architecture and real estate together and build and sell. I think that'd be a fun opportunity to kind of combine both aspects. but no, I don't think I'll ever go back to just doing architectures. that's really cool. Well that kind of works out best then that you're finding your way through thanks to running a little bit. how do you how do you manage like eating after practice and like getting in your if you're always going from one thing to the next to the next to the next, like that's what immediately comes to my mind is how do you fuel between all of that in in those kind of things? Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm a big lunch girl. That's kinda out the window. I'll eat like a big breakfast, go to training, and then I mean you have to be on top of it, like bringing snacks or something to fuel after your workout, because otherwise it's just a waste. but it's not like some big, you know, hefty lunch. I'll bring whatever fuel I need to kind of refuel after my workout and then just kind of wait till dinner. So it's nothing fancy or crazy, it's just kind of doing the job. Do you guys ever have t like double? Pra like, is your do you ever do your workout in the morning then have to lift later in the afternoon or some kind of double practice in the afternoon? Mm-hmm. We'll lift twice a week and it'll be like right after practice. So which is interesting. Sometimes we get to the weight room, we're like, my gosh. There's no way. But yeah, we'll typically go do our training in the late morning and then just drive to like to the weight room and lift, and then we're kind of done. Which is nice, so you're like leaving coming back. But I know it's a little bit different for you guys. Right. Is there is the weight room like does the team have a its own lifting space or are you guys just at a gym nearby? We were the past couple of years it's been just a gym that we all go to, but they're building a new track up in Round Rock which will have its own weightlifting facility. I think they're gonna start actually hosting meets there as quickly as they can. but that'll be really nice to have the track in the weight room right there and just be able to knock it out. That is gonna be so nice, but that's also like I'm kinda laughing at the idea of all of these extremely strong, powerful women going to Like a a community gym or like a you know a normal a normal gym where just normal people and how intimidating you guys probably look. We've gotten kicked out of gyms. What? I mean, like it's so true. You bring it's like twelve women coming in there, throwing around, like we're doing Olympic lifts, like throwing around the bar, and people are like, my gosh, this is extremely disruptive, which kind of defeats the purpose of a weight room. But yeah, it is it's funny. People don't Like what sport do you guys do? 'Cause they're obviously not lifting like that. You would think that gyms want like would use you guys to be like, Look look how great our our equipment is, like all these high caliber athletes come and lift in our gym. That's crazy kicked out of places. I know, I know. So it'll be really nice to have our own gym and like private time to just go in there and do that and just leave everyone else alone. When is that supposed to be done? Do you do you know? I think this fall. They've been working on it for a while. but I think the goal is sometime in the fall winter time. So hopefully before it gets cold here for one week, we'll be able to use it. The one week I feel like you're probably are you soft now after living in Austin and the heat all the time when you go back to the Midwest. Like one weekness is so funny. Yeah. I don't think I ever was like used to the cold. I just don't think you can get used to it being, you know, negative twenty degrees and wind within your face. But yeah, I I complain for sure. Do you Do you feel like your competitive mindset in running plays into your job as a realtor at all? for sure. I would say I think the biggest part of this job is in my head, it is like a competitive aspect. I mean, you're just constantly trying to get the best situation for the people you're working with and you're working against other people, so it is kind of like a thrill for someone like me who loves being competitive and winning. that's kind of how I view it. But even just like in the sense of grinding, you know, like something like track where we're literally like constantly grinding, pushing ourselves and you kinda have to be a little bit crazy to be in the track world. I think you thrive in a sales job like real estate where there's no cap or limit. You can be the harder you work, the better you're gonna be. So if you're willing to put in the work and just kind of grind it out, you'll probably be pretty successful. so it definitely it's exciting. It kind of plays into that competitive aspect for sure. I really like following you on on Instagram. Obviously I already followed you, but from the perspective of like a fan of you as an athlete and like watching you do the real estate stuff too because it's fun like y it's fun seeing the dual sides to you, but you can tell that you are very serious about both of them. So it's fun being a fan and following you on Instagram as you post your house showings and then the next video will be you like crushing a trag workout. Thank you. I know my I have a really great real estate team, and it's so funny because they're constantly like, okay, you know, you're obviously a competitive person, that's great, but you know, you you look really serious, and sometimes it's off putting the people. Like, okay, I know, I just I put on this serious face and I like I promise you I'm so nice, but it's hard sometimes to like snap out of that. You know, when you get in the track, everything's so serious and you just wanna win, but you know, you gotta you gotta keep little bit longer. Like your game face on. Yeah. so I want to take the last few minutes of this to talk about what 2027 looks f looks like for you and what your goals are going into that year. So I guess yeah, w what are your overall goals for 2027? Yeah, I think this year kind of put gave me a new perspective on that. this past year they did the ultimate world championships, which is a little bit different. and I was really close to making that and I like was just outside of that top sixteen group that they took. So going into this year that more and more became like a achievable goal and that was so fun to chase. obviously falling short was crushing. But I think that kind of frames twenty twenty seven is like okay I can be in that top group and And compete. Obviously, everyone wants to run in the world championships. so that's definitely the top priority, but just kind of not as much focusing on time and you know, a lot of things that can really stress you out during the season, but just kind of focus on the little things and then have your big goal kind of as something you're just like slowly trying to achieve throughout the year. Will you run any any indoors or do you because obviously there's not long hurdles in the indoor season. so will you do any indoor races or will you not start actually racing until the outdoor 2027 season? Yeah, we've kind of stepped away from indoors, which I love. I'm not the biggest indoor fan. so yeah, we actually don't last year we didn't start training until December, and we won't again until this year, which is kind of nice 'cause the season is so long. Long So just using that indoor season to train and get ready for outdoors is it worked really well last year, so we'll do the same thing this year. But yeah, no foreign hurdles inside, so it's not a huge priority to race indoors. Right. Could you imagine? That would be so chaotic. That would be just I've seen it happen. I've seen them do it a couple of races and I'm like, that is the worst decision ever. Why would they do that? Like injury central. Like that just seems like recipe for disaster. Yeah, exactly. So what is your training like? Like all through the fall while you're getting ready for until December when you guys start training as a group. Yeah, so I mean I just wrapped up beginning of September, so we obviously take some time off to kind of reset the body since you're training so hard for so long. and then it's just kind of our fall training is a lot of volume. we kind of get into some speed endurance, but we don't really start like hitting speed, speed until close to the season. We'll hurt a little bit, but so I think like this the next couple months is just kinda easing into getting back into that volume stuff. We do the have you seen the videos we do the mile on Mondays? yeah, I've seen those. Yeah, so we do that in fall training. So it's just kind of getting the body prepared for a different type of running and we just set the base in fall season for the speed work that we'll do closer to racing again. So we're of just starting all over. Right. Makes sense? Those mile videos are so funny just coming from like a distant you know, I ran cross country college, like a distance background. I love watching that. Everybody anyone anyone listening, go go find Bianca on Instagram and hit give her a follow because those are so funny. it's so funny because like I know to you guys one mile is like the e like a walk in the park, but when people in my Europe here running a mile, they like everything just the world is crashing down. It is hilarious. And then we all get in the line and it's like you can hear you know we can hear people struggling. It is so I can't even explain. It's so funny. But yeah, we should probably document that some more this year. It's hilarious. Yeah, you guys need to. You kinda have an advantage because I remember Coach Jackson had you out on the cross country course every now and then, had you guys doing some workouts in the grass. So that's at least sets you up like a little bit better for having to run a mile with all the spring now. My current coach and Coach Jackson definitely have a similar philosophy of those type of gut runs and just going out there and running hard for We definitely run it like sprinters though. We'll go out as fast as we can and then just see how long we can hold it for, which is probably not the best. That's funny. Okay, so one last question here. What advice do you have for anyone who what advice do you have for anyone who's doing the working and training gig at the same time like you are? Mm-hmm. I would say I've thought about this a lot. You know, you can never go back and run track again at any point in your life. Like this is we're in our prime. So if you have the ability and opportunities to run at this level and compete on the world stage and race all around and kind of chase your dreams. You need to be able to support yourself financially as well. So at this time I just feel like you grind it out in your twenties and you'll never regret doing it. You know? I sometimes it's exhausting and it's like, okay, there are lots of quitting days, but I think all the good days are really worth it. so I guess advice would be if this is your dream and you wanna chase those dreams, now is the time and I mean if you have a good support system, I think it's all worth it. Preach. Louder for the people in the back. Yeah, seriously. Cliche, but it's true. I'm with ya. Okay, well thank you for joining me on the show today. It was so fun talking with you again. Of course. I know. This is awesome. Thanks for having me. Yeah, enjoy your time off before training ramps up again. This later this year. Yeah, thank you. You'll see some some mile videos in the near future. Thank you so much. For tuning into this episode. If you want to watch more of Track Side with Maddie Mooney, tune into Runner Space or Athletic online, or check us out on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you or somebody you know would be a good fit for this show, email me at maddie.moone at athletic.net.