Keeping Track

Latest Episodes:

Michelle Wheeler: Wheelchair Racer, Mother, and Mental Health Counselor Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

In this episode we talk to Michelle wheeler. She is a wheelchair racer in the marathon on the roads and Paralympic hopeful on the track. We talked to her about her life as Mom, as an athlete and as a professional mental health counselor. She tells us how she has been doing over this Pandemic year, and we discuss how Paralympic athletes could be better represented and supported as well as how she has been a role model for other kids to enter the sport.
See our website (https://keeping-track.com) for show notes with links and a full transcript.

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Joanna Harper On Sporting Gender Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

We spoke to scientist, distance runner and trans woman Joanna Harper about her book Sporting Gender. In it she covers the history and science of DSD and transatheltes in an interesting read that gives deeper information on the discussions about women’s sport you likely have seen in recent news as well as an inside view of some of the IAAF rulings on DSD and Trans athletes. We also hear from 800m runner Kate Grace (as well as Alysia) on their perspectives in an event that has seen dominance by women with DSD and how they’re both honestly still figuring out how to talk about this complex topic and all it’s intersections in a way that’s fair and supportive for all involved.

(full transcript and show notes with links at our site)

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Weini Kelati Showing What's Possible Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

The gals catch up for a bit then we talk to newly professional runner, NCAA XC and 10,000m champ Weini Kelati. We talk about her recent year during Covid times at school in New Mexico, her decisions to go pro and where to go and who to sign with, and then we delve into part of Weini’s backstory . She tells us about how she found running in her rural Eritrean village, and how she hopes to inspire a wider view of what’s possible for women back home.

Catch up:

0-6 Alysia’s Diastasis Recti surgery recovery- prioritize your body’s peak functioning!

8-Ro’s post baby life update. Resource yourself!

14-Molly: Alexi Papas Op Ed on clinical depression and Aliphine Tuliamuk baby announcement!

17-athlete mental health risks

19-having something outside of sport as an athlete can help you keep perspective and joy

25-Weini’s introduction and our takeaways from the conversation

33: intro Weini @kelatiweini twitter and @weini_kelati instagram and Weini Kelati facebook

Her life this year during covid: school, class online, training, no racing

34-On going pro!

Importance of seeking and making your own support group as an athlete (like a family away from your family)

How she made her decision to go to Flagstaff (Dark Sky Distance with Steven Haas and Under Armor)

42- Weini’s journey into the sport as a girl from rural Eritrea and how she got to USA and stayed at 17 years old

45-she walked to meet 5 hours away!

53 “(in my village in Eritrea) Your family has no vision for you as a girl. All they know is you can get married in a few years, and you have to learn what your Mom does. I didn’t see a lot of runners, I hadn’t heard of runners or anything.’

“I want to be the best example I can be-I want to through running inspire the women and young adults (back home)....I want to show that they can be independent and do things bigger than what’s expected”

55-misguided beliefs about women’s health and sport back home, disapproval of letting kids go away overnight to meets

57-courage to go against the norm

Ro wants to share this video , explaining barriers to access to physical exercise, (such as Weini describes back home and we see in the USA as well!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgClXqDxtZg&t=1s&fbclid=IwAR1piTvXrsTWAHGfRyPPo70vDg8Qvfljv_jZvqKJ1dVF3cSsSJAl-hWaVYU

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Brittney Reese: Decade of Long Jump Gold Nov 21, 2020

Show notes

Today Alysia, Ro and I catch up then Alysia and I talk to USA Long Jump Legend Brittney Reese. She is a 7 time World Champ gold medalist , 2012 Olympic champion and 2016 silver medalist, and indoor American record holder. We talk to her about her pandemic year, training at the Olympic Training Center, life with her son, how she is giving back to the kids in her Mississippi home town and what she has planned for the future.

0-4: Ro and Alysia catch up-juggling kids during Covid and working for yourself: saying yes to too much

5- post election emotions

10-Hour Track record

14-Intro Brittney Reese (alysia is pumping -Mom at work!)
2012 gold

Brittney is legendary athlete, and opening herself up more as a shy but impactful presence in the community.

17: Brittney Reese Interview

Based at Oly Training center in Chula Vista-what changes w Covid:

Brittneys Fam: son Alex is 13

Balancing training and him/distance learning/his sports schedule etc

21-Future plans: Just got her Masters in entrepreneurship

22- we need more meet opportunities in USA

“I don’t think we have enough meets to meet those needs for everybody outside sprinting and distance”

26: she gives back to the sport and her community In many ways-

“The end goal for me is to be a track coach. I want to give back to the sport that’s allowed me to be successful .. but I also want to take that knowledge and go home (to Mississippi) and start my own track club”

30: Making the big push for these last 2 years of her career

31- wants to support her son as he gets more seriously into sports

32- what things are like right now in training

35-Being seasoned and marinated!

36- does her son ever come to practice?

37: Background on how she came to adopt him

43: doping: robs athletes of money, exposure and when it’s good people that miss out it hurts (link her op Ed)- side note, the Rodchenkov Anti Doping Act recently passed in Senate

46: life at the Olympic Training Center

(Drug tests once a month)- what’s practice like

48: can she dunk though?

WNBA plans?

(Link to league pass!)we got ours!

52: On trying to put herself out there more to affect change and reach the kids, engage in community

56“I could care less about the spotlight...but now I’m trying to open up a little bit more and give back a little bit more and I know that the youth is where it starts, which is why I have camps back home, which is why I want my own track club- I invest in the youth that’s my thing, they’re who is going to carry the sport”

57: why be closed off as an athlete? Protect your zone and mental focus

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Mary Wittenberg :Leading and Learning in the Endurance World Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

We talk to Mary Wittenberg, lifelong runner, current president of EF cycling, former CEO of Virgin Sport’s Virgin Group, and for 17 years she was CEO of NYRR. We talk about Mary’s start in the sport and how she went from a law career to leading the NYRR, her visions for the sport, how she intentionally marketec the pro athlete and advocated for the female athletes, and what her goals and visions are in the cycling space.

0-10-Molly And Ro discuss some recent world records: Letesnebet Gidey’s 14:06! And Peres Jepchirchir’s women’s only 1:05:15 to win the recent World Half Marathon Champs

11-14: what about cycling and running draws Mary in as a fan and participant (although she is a runner for life)

14-18: Notre Dame connections: Mary somewhat of a trailblazer for ND women’s XC team

How her early experiences racing behind Joan and the best lead to realizing the inspiring power of promoting and relating the pros to the other participants

19-first marathon experience was trial by fire of sorts in stacked field

“I think my whole why in life has been to help other people unlock their potential”

“It was a big advantage playing sports with men, because in my career i didnt think twice about saying it straight,and expecting that I should be in the room and at the board room table too because that was the case with sports. It helped me unlock my best, and so in wanting that for others I’ve always appreciated that professional athletes who rise and fall every day and don’t have these straight trajectories, they can be really really inspiring to regular people so I’ve always liked to establish that connection whenever I can”

22-How Mary got to NYRR

30- As an industry we have to keep learning and striving for equality

“Athletes are never going to have leverage, they have it late in career but, that’s where leadership comes in at all these companies...it’s hard for young athletes and young people to have leverage”

33-she’s focusing on safety for all riders

Why not well covered womens’s fields? Less financial support etc. “It’s overdue”

36: what we can learn from pro cycling in covering endurance events well

44“I don’t think women’s sports are a charity-I think women’s sports are good because they’re great athletic performances and I think these leagues and the like can be great businesses over time-maybe that’s something we learn- don’t treat it like a charity treat it like an entertainment prospect treat it like a business treat it like a movement’

45-expanding the diversity in cycling

48- what’s it take to be a great cyclist? Part endurance part dare devil (link BelieveIAm worrier vs warrior blog and quiz)

51-Mary’s story: “ We get to keep going and learning. …”

@Marywitt

@marywruns

Great article here on Mary via Thrive

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The Unstoppable Chaunte Lowe Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

Our guest is the inspiring Chaune Lowe, Olympic medlalist and AR in the High Jump, who shares with us some of the many layers of her journey in life and sport including her recent battle with brest cancer, how doping in sport has affected her career, the business side of field events, having a family as a female athlete and on how things are going in the build up to her 5th Olympic Trials.
Check out our site for more detailed show notes and clips of Chaunte's jumps!
And don't forget to check out gatoradeendurance for your 20% off with "Track20" !

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Mackenzie Wartenberger's Journey From Cal Athlete to Wisconsin Women's XC Coach Sep 20, 2020

Show notes

We talk to The University of Wisconsin Women's XC coach Mackenzie Wartenberger about her time as a talented prep athlete (2:04 800m) coming into Cal Berkley with Alysia, how her track career was highly affected by pressure and race anxiety, how she has carried these lessons into her 11 year coaching career so far, what it's like to coach through a pandemic and how she keeps the women engaged and motivated as well as her thoughts on navigating any plans for motherhood and climbing the ranks of her career.
"In sport, if you have torn hamstring you rehab the hamstring and you don't hide the fact that you have a torn hamstring. Thats something that you work on. If you struggle mentally with anxiety or expectation or depression or any of those things, that’s really internalized still . That's not something thats spoken about or shared. I think there is still a lot of shame applied to that struggle, instead of treating it like a muscle-when you strain a muscle you’ve got to rehab the muscle and then you’ve got to strengthen the muscle and then sometimes that muscle still hurts and you’ve got to back off. From a mental perspective I think a similar approach can be really helpful - to treat it like a normal process, it isn’t linear it’s not flipping a light switch ….. that’s a perspective that I try to bring to coaching as much as possible”
for in depth show notes head to our site Keeping-Track.com
And don't forget to get your 20% off Gatorade Endurance products as you "Dial It In" with your training details this month! Use our code "track20"

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Valarie Allman : We Discuss the Discus American Record Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

Alysia and Molly talk to Team USA Discus thrower Valarie Allman about setting and AR during a pandemic, life as a thrower, what her other interests are and how to better spotlight and market field events.
Special thanks to Gatorade Endurance for sponsoring September's theme of "Inspiring Sports women of the Pandemic"
Get 20% off DE products with the code "Track20" here!
https://endurance.gatorade.com/endurance-products/endurance/?utm_source=KeeingTrack&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=TrainingForLife
And Thank you to Saucony for our season 2 support! #runforgood
Workout Wed with Val:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxuuG9z4cJU

The AR throw:

https://twitter.com/CoachSion/status/1289721823026753536

Doha World Championships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0YHQ1MC4gk

Catchup: Molly and Alysia talk as Ro takes maternity leave, welcome baby Ruari!

Alysia’s August-did it happen if it’s not on IG?

She’s doing analyst work for NBC Diamond League-yay for races coming back!

Molly’s micro meet and upcoming 5000m

Intro to Val!

-Val’s start in Discus

She began in other sports-soccer, full time dance , track and field other events

Lured to throws by spaghetti

Wanted to compete on a college team and that’s why she narrowed focused on discus

-Stanford years-everyone is good on that team, new pressures

6-How dance helps disc

-mental side of being an athlete during this pandemic time: from wanting to give up and go home to having the biggest throw of her life

Did she see it coming? 70 meters is a big barrier

Pandemic meet:

Happy to even be competing, had been focusing on getting stronger in weight room

-Volunteering at University of Texas, whats her day look like , training during covid shutdowns

Coach is Zeb Sion

- nugget of insight during pandemic: “It forced me to figure out what I truly need-pretty much all medical things closed in terms of getting physio and getting adjusted, and it forced me to shrink my priorities. That was actually great because I didn’t realize all the things I was trying to factor into my training that had become a distraction a little bit, that I think maybe that was one of the silver linings that came out of it.”

- business and finances of track and field, how throwers support themselves, her sponsors (Oiselle and NYAC), and the importance of prize money, USATF funding and grants especially for field events

- why the field events aren’t marketed as well and how it could be better connected to the audience

Discus is athletic-training includes partial movement,full throws,olympic lifts, cross training sprints/biking/swimming

Fun facts may help (ex. javelin weighs as much as guinea pig)

28:30-what the competition is like-do you chat, interact? Stay in the zone?

- Val’s story:

“Sports is such an empowering thing-I feel so lucky that I found a community and a sport and a sense of purpose with my body, especially as a female, and in an event that I didn’t know was possible."

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Dalilah Muhammad : Journey to the Top Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

Intro:

0-18 We rehash our season one memories, talk about our interview with Dalilah, and discuss the topic of athlete mental health highlighted in the documentary the Weight of Gold, something we want to touch on in season 2!

Watch Dalilah’s 1st world record and win at 2019 USA champs:https://youtu.be/QhE9yDzD07k

Stats

20-started running at 7, with distance running (xc, 1500!)

Ran 100/200 at junior Olympics as 12 or 13

From Queens, Novas Track Club

24-training and racing during pandemic

25-mindset during these changing goals and timelines

Mentality of world champ

30-who’s in her training group, coached by Boogie

31- link sports illustrated article https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/olympics/2019/08/07/dalilah-muhammad-400-meter-hurdles-world-record-lawrence-johnson-analysis

Dalilah’s strength work, ran a 2:11 800 at the end of practice
50.6 400 pr
35-link sports illustrated article “Black off the Track”: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/olympics/2020/06/10/black-track-and-field-athletes-racism-experiences-america

40- how she was told “she had to win” because she can’t do anything less as a black athlete-validated her thoughts and anxieties around that but was also stressful

“You feel like you have to be the best or you get forgotten about”

47- Asking why attention flows to the lighter skinned, younger, non-Muslim ahtlete in her event

48-realizing it’s not “playing the black card” -story of only getting noticed by a major track publication after her WR despite winning olympic gold 2 years earlier

49-Alysia on the imbalance of marketing and income vs merits of performance in track

50-on being Muslim and not feeling she looks it/ breaking stereotypes of Muslim women

52-The idea that there’s not enough room for everyone’s success-how Dalilah’s learned that as her career went on

56: track geek q’s! Was the WR win at Doha a “perfect race”? How to build off that?

The race: https://youtu.be/8ICw5ah7gPk

Dalilah: 51 sec is possible, had to reach for 8th hurdle

58: Her word for the year 2019 was “compete”-rivalry with Sydney, does it drive her?

60: Her power word in 2016- she attacked every hurdle. Her word was “yes”. If it worked for track, the answer ws ye (re. Moving groups etc)

Link to that race: https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/video/detail/women-s-400m-hurdles-final-rio-2016-replays/

63: Dalilahs other plans-put her voice out there more, making change, also her side gig is modeling

65- Dalilah’s into fashion check out her instagram for outfit inspo

66- Dalilah's story: “how much i’ve struggled on this crazy journey-i never won an NCAA title, in 2012 I did a commercial about the Olympics and had to sign a waiver saying i wouldn’t make the team. It launched me to realize I wasn’t doing everything to chase my goals. It also gave me change in the pocket to move to california to train”

From 15th (50th?) at trials in 2012 to gold in 2016!

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Saucony President Anne Cavassa Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

We talk to Saucony President Anne Cavassa about her start in the sportswear and shoe industry, her journey through the business ranks, how sports, motherhood and being a woman informed her leadership style and the issues she faced along the way. She also talks about her goals and what she feels are her duties as a leader and a woman in this space.
(see show notes at www.keeping-track.com for complete recap)
0-23 mins Catch up:

Recap of ep 22: 40% of USA being BIPOC, or 27% of USA consider selves BIPOC?

Virtual race shoutouts! Good job Nikki Hiltz for Trevor Project

And Boss crew for Sachs Foundation (and state mile record!)

Say Their Names 5k and mile here , proceeds to Embrace Race Foundation and Nation Foundation for Human and Civil Rights Foundation

Donate to BraveLikeGabe in Gabe’s Memory to support rare cancer research

“Flowers come out of dirt and I will. They don’t want us to win but we going to win anyway”-Alysia

19-(link to earnest young- women at high level leadership roles playing sport stat)

Annes start:

Psychology to design school to apparel design, to manager, director, leading design and out of frustration to merchandising to have more control of the business, and onward and upward.

28:30-Being a woman in a leadership position:

Gender split in the industry is somewhat even UNTIL VP level

Much of career it was dealing with internal battles: personal confidence, taking risks, putting self out there

At director level-started to feel held back by being a woman

31;30 Ex:Conversation w boss “didn’t think I could lead a sport brand because I’m a woman and don’t know what competition means”

34:30- Anne is scrappy and likes competitive energy, being told she can’t was used as motivation/tried to keep it productive

36-Motherhood- had trouble becoming a mother at first, walked away from job at Nike to try to focus on health

“Motherhood has added a layer of complexity that has made it really really challenging” but has some extra flexibility due to becoming a mother later , having more of an established career and schedule

39:00- prioritized running in mid 30’s

How Covid has made it harder to be a working Mom

“ I try from a leadership perspective ....realizing that I can lead the way that I think people want and need and that is to be more empathetic of everyone's entire life and what they have going on and give space for that and grace for things that arent perfect and just recognize that. That’s the environment myself and our leadership team are trying to create at Saucony ; one that embraces the whole person and allows you to live your life-there has to be room for that”

44-“If I can be a leader who can create space and design our programs to support you guys in your whole life and becoming moms and help use through that to the other side, I mean that's my responsibility...thats what i can do as a leader to make change in our industry”

47-”There was a point in time in my leadership journey where I just felt more comfortable being myself, and I realized that I can’t really compete with the male leadership around me trying to be a dude and a guy and my strengths-some of them

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