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Speaker 1: It's so much more fulfilling to do something you love

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Speaker 1: without validation than to do something you don't love with validation.

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Speaker 2: What's going on, Emily Abadi?

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Speaker 1: Here?

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Speaker 3: You are listening to episode three hundred and sixty eight

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Speaker 3: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where we talk to

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Speaker 3: inspirational people about everything from their highest ties and toughest

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Speaker 3: moments to essential tips to live a healthier, happier, more

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Speaker 3: motivated life.

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Speaker 2: We all go through our fair share of hurdles.

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Speaker 3: My goal through these discussions is to empower you to

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Speaker 3: better navigate yours and move with intention so that you

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Speaker 3: can stride towards your own big potential and of course

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Speaker 3: have some fun along the way.

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Speaker 2: For today's episode, I am elated.

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Speaker 3: To bring you my conversation with Kristin Faukner, two time

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Speaker 3: Olympic gold medalist, a multi time national road cycling champion,

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Speaker 3: and truly one of the best to ever do it

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Speaker 3: to come out of the United States. That is an awesome,

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Speaker 3: truly special sentence. Considering that Kristin picked up cycling at

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Speaker 3: first as a hobby in twenty sixteen to relieve.

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Speaker 2: Stress from her then job in finance.

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Speaker 3: She started competitive cycling a year later, and while the

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Speaker 3: rest is history. In today's episode, we get into the how,

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Speaker 3: the why, what it was about cycling that really intrigued

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Speaker 3: Kristin from the get go, and how she came to

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Speaker 3: find so much success early on in the sport. We

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Speaker 3: talk about the difficult decision that she made to step

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Speaker 3: away from a more conventional nine to five into the

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Speaker 3: world of competitive cycling and what that required of her,

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Speaker 3: including an international move so far away from the comforts

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Speaker 3: of home. We dive into what it was like for

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Speaker 3: her to compete at the Olympics and how it felt

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Speaker 3: for her to be thrust into the spotlight after winning

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Speaker 3: not just one, but two gold medals. Kristin truly is

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Speaker 3: the embodiment of what determination and grint can do.

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Speaker 2: I am so impressed by her.

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Speaker 3: We first connected when I interviewed her for an article

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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, not all that long before, she

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Speaker 3: had just joined her first professional team. So what a

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Speaker 3: fun and cool, full circle moment, not only for me

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Speaker 3: to have the opportunity to chat with her again, but

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Speaker 3: to see just how far she's come within this sport

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Speaker 3: and honestly, within life. Make sure you're following along with

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Speaker 3: Hurdle over on social it is at Hurdle Podcast. I

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Speaker 3: am over on the socials as well, over at Emily

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Speaker 3: a Body And you know me, I wouldn't be an

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Speaker 3: intro if I wasn't giving some love to the Weekly

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Speaker 3: Hurdle Substack. That's a newsletter that I write. It comes

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Speaker 3: out every single Friday, landing directly in your inbox, providing

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Speaker 3: so much of the same inspiration, motivation, things you love

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Speaker 3: from the show, plus what I'm digging right now, what

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Speaker 3: I'm reading, what I'm listening to, what I'm watching, what

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Speaker 3: I'm wearing, and news from the woman's sports and wellness

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Speaker 3: world that has me hyped.

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Speaker 2: I love writing it. I hope you love reading it.

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Speaker 3: And again, the link to subscribe to that, which is

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Speaker 3: absolutely free, is in the show notes. With that, let's

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Speaker 3: get to it. Let's get to hurdling.

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Speaker 2: Today.

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Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Kristin Faulkner. She's a two

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Speaker 3: time Olympic gold medalist. She's also recently won her second

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Speaker 3: consecutive US National road title earlier this year.

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Speaker 2: Kristin Faukner, Welcome to Hurdle. How are we doing?

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much, really excited to be here.

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Speaker 2: I'm so excited to have you here.

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Speaker 3: It didn't hit me until I was looking back at

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Speaker 3: my notes from the last time you and I talked,

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Speaker 3: which was in twenty twenty one. How much has happened

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Speaker 3: since twenty twenty one. I mean, you had recently just

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Speaker 3: left your full time job in finance, and now you're

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Speaker 3: a two time Olympic gold medalist. When you think of

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Speaker 3: the Kristen from when we first chatted, what comes to mind.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, It's been a fast and furious four years since

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Speaker 1: I started racing in Europe, and in some ways I

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Speaker 1: feel like things have changed and evolved so fast that

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Speaker 1: I sometimes need to like take a step back and say, like, wow,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's been a really fast ride in a

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Speaker 1: really great way, and it's been so exciting. But it's

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Speaker 1: also happened very very quickly. I'd be so proud of myself,

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Speaker 1: you know. If the twenty twenty one year old version

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Speaker 1: of myself was speaking to me now, I think she'd

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Speaker 1: be very surprised, really excited, but also I think in

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Speaker 1: some ways relieved, because it was still quite scary for

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Speaker 1: me at the time. When I was leaving my job,

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Speaker 1: I was leaving a world that I was familiar with

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Speaker 1: and many of my friends and family at the time

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Speaker 1: didn't know what I was doing. And so to go

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Speaker 1: from such a risky place of uncertainty and fear to

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Speaker 1: now where everything's kind of worked out, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: not only like a performance leap, but also I think

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Speaker 1: mentally it's been a big change as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so what I'm hearing you say is that the

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Speaker 3: beginning there was a lot of uncertainty, and so much

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Speaker 3: has evolved. I remember when we first chatted, like there

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Speaker 3: were pennies for women in cycling, and now to be

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Speaker 3: in this place and to have sponsors and to be

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Speaker 3: able to really accrued such a really stellar amount of

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Speaker 3: media attention and everything, like, it's just so different.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, not only my career trajectory has changed rapidly,

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Speaker 1: but women's cycling has changed so much in the last

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Speaker 1: five years. And when I started, I think I've said

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Speaker 1: this publicly, my salary and was seven thousand dollars the

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Speaker 1: first year, and that's not uncommon, you know, that was

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Speaker 1: very typical for a first year writer in Europe, and

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Speaker 1: there were many women who were making no money at all.

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Speaker 1: And so to see that change and now we have

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Speaker 1: writers making you know, up to a million dollars a

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Speaker 1: year and many women making you know, several hundred thous

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Speaker 1: and you know, at least at the very top. I

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Speaker 1: think that just shows how much the sport has grown.

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Speaker 1: And to have witnessed that during my really short career,

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Speaker 1: both kind of the old version and the new version.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I entered the sport at an incredibly

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Speaker 1: interesting time and I've witnessed that change in my career,

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Speaker 1: and I still think we have so many more changes

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Speaker 1: to come. And you know, in addition to the salary,

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Speaker 1: there's the you know, the woman's toward of France. There's

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Speaker 1: maternity leave, there's more media coverage, there's just the first

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Speaker 1: Perry Rebe. There's just been so many changes and it's

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Speaker 1: so exciting and I feel like I'm part of a movement,

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Speaker 1: not just a sport.

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Speaker 2: A movement, not just a sport.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of risk taking, especially when you got

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Speaker 3: in something that you know a lot about, having a

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Speaker 3: background invent your capital. Dial back to so many of

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Speaker 3: the conversations you had before you made the decision to

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Speaker 3: go all in on cycling. Talk to me about some

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Speaker 3: of the conversations that you had before you made that

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Speaker 3: decision and why they were so helpful for you to

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Speaker 3: really make that leap.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a few conversations that were very transformative

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Speaker 1: for me. And the first was with my psychologist who

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Speaker 1: I was seen at the time, and I said, you know, look,

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Speaker 1: I really love cycling. It's I'm happiest on my bike.

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Speaker 1: This is something that you know, going to the Olympics

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Speaker 1: is a big dream of mine and I really want

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Speaker 1: to pursue it, but I'm really scared because A I

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Speaker 1: don't have a ton of savings. You know. I think

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Speaker 1: there's this idea that I worked in finance and so

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Speaker 1: I got really rich, but actually I was a junior

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Speaker 1: analyst for you know, a few years, and so it's

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Speaker 1: not like I was making a lot of money. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, it was like a great job out of college,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't like I had these savings, and so

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Speaker 1: there's this huge financial risk for me as well. And

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Speaker 1: I remember talking to my psychologist and he said, Kristen,

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Speaker 1: you know, you found something that makes you feel so alive,

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Speaker 1: and that is so rare, like so few people ever

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Speaker 1: find that in their entire life. And I really want

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Speaker 1: you to just hold that and realize how special it

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Speaker 1: is and the fact that you have found something that

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Speaker 1: that makes you feel so authentically you when you're doing it,

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Speaker 1: lean into that and just ask yourself, turn off your

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Speaker 1: mind for a little bit, like ask yourself, how do

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Speaker 1: you feel like, how do you feel about yourself? How

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Speaker 1: do you feel about the idea? And I noticed that

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Speaker 1: I would get this, you know, these butterflies in my

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Speaker 1: stomach when I thought about the idea and it was

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Speaker 1: something that wasn't fleeting. It lasted, you know, a year

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Speaker 1: or two years of kind of this foe mending, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so that was a very interesting conversation when you

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Speaker 1: just said, you know, you found something that makes you

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Speaker 1: feel alive, like cherish that and listen to it. The

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Speaker 1: second conversation was with my brother and we were eating

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Speaker 1: pizza one night and I was contemplating leaving my job

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Speaker 1: and I said, you know, I really want to try

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Speaker 1: and go for the Olympics one day, but it would

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Speaker 1: require me to leave my job. And I know that

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Speaker 1: if I try to keep my job and pursue the Olympics,

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Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna end up being media glare both and

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Speaker 1: my brother said, Kristen, is the Olympics like a goal

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Speaker 1: of yours. Is it something you've you know, one of

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Speaker 1: many goals you have, or is it truly like a

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Speaker 1: life dream? And I said, it's my life dream. It's

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Speaker 1: the biggest dream I've had since I was a kid.

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Speaker 1: And he was like, then why are we having this conversation?

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Speaker 1: Like this is so like why would you not go

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Speaker 1: do it? If you have one big life dream, then like,

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Speaker 1: of course you have to pursue it. And I think

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Speaker 1: he just put it in such obvious, simple terms, like

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Speaker 1: why would you even consider not doing something so valuable

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Speaker 1: to you? And I think he made me realize that

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Speaker 1: a lot of my concerns were very petty.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I'm gonna you know, maybe have to

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Speaker 1: not make as much money, you're not have as much savings,

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Speaker 1: or leave this cushy job, like all those things seemed

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Speaker 1: so insignificant compared to the bigger vision of my life,

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Speaker 1: you know, and the things. So I think those were

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Speaker 1: two very important conversations that I had.

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Speaker 3: And totally understandable as well, that you would have so

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Speaker 3: many reservations you're stepping into unknown territory. And I want

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Speaker 3: to double click on a few things. The first thing

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Speaker 3: is cycling feeling so authentically you. What was it from

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Speaker 3: the get go for you when you started cycling in

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Speaker 3: New York City?

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Speaker 2: That made it feel so right.

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Speaker 1: So I'm from Alaska and I love the outdoors. I

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Speaker 1: love the freedom of being in nature. I love the

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Speaker 1: freedom of adventure, and I feel like cycling combines a

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Speaker 1: lot of those things. You know, It's a little different

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Speaker 1: from running because you go on a ride and you

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Speaker 1: see eighty miles worth of terrain, you know, not just

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Speaker 1: eight miles, and so you're seeing so much more, and

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Speaker 1: it feels like this really big adventure compared to running,

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Speaker 1: which you still get the endorphins of the exercise, but

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Speaker 1: I don't feel like you can see and witness as

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Speaker 1: much of the world and of nature as when you're biking.

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Speaker 1: So that was the first thing. I think the second

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Speaker 1: thing was just having the wind on your face and

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Speaker 1: the sun in your hair, like it's such an outdoorsy thing.

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Speaker 1: And for me when I was living in New York City,

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Speaker 1: it's a concrete jungle, and I felt very disconnected from

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Speaker 1: my roots my first year living in New York City,

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Speaker 1: and I, you know, in many ways, I loved the gls,

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Speaker 1: you know, the golodiness of New York City and starting

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Speaker 1: my career and being on this very professional path. But

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Speaker 1: I also felt that being in such a dense urban place,

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Speaker 1: I was not in touch with the childhood version of myself,

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Speaker 1: which was fun and free and playing outside in the

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Speaker 1: grass and in nature. And so I felt that going

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Speaker 1: to Central Park every day was a way for me

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Speaker 1: to reconnect with who I am at my core before

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Speaker 1: going and working you know, eight or ten hours and

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Speaker 1: kind of this newer version of myself which was pursuing

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Speaker 1: a career but different from my childhood. And so I

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Speaker 1: think that's what really attracted me early on, and then

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Speaker 1: when I moved to California, it was even more so

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Speaker 1: because you're you're riding, you know, along the coast, and

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Speaker 1: you're going on these incredible rides, and I just felt

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Speaker 1: every time I was on my bike it was this

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Speaker 1: combination of adventure, freedom, independence, and doorphins from exercise. I've

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Speaker 1: been an athlete my entire life, and I just felt,

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Speaker 1: I guess the best way to describe it is I

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Speaker 1: felt like I was connecting with like the most pure,

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Speaker 1: youthful version of myself, like the Christen that was, you know,

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Speaker 1: ten years old and just felt like completely unencumbered by

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Speaker 1: people's expectations or my career goals or things that had

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Speaker 1: kind of come in the picture in the last fifteen years.

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Speaker 3: Happy at the end of the day, right, like just

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Speaker 3: so good in your body. And that's something that so

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Speaker 3: many of us strive for every single day, day in

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Speaker 3: and day out. Is what can I do just to

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Speaker 3: feel content within my circumstances right now? And you took

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Speaker 3: that into your own hands by getting on your bike.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 3: You mentioned being an athlete your whole life, and you

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Speaker 3: said earlier that you'd wanted to be an Olympian from

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Speaker 3: a young age, but you didn't always anticipate that you'd

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Speaker 3: be an Olympic cyclist. To talk to me about your

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Speaker 3: journey up until you decided that cycling would be your sport.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think as a kid, I remember the

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Speaker 1: first time I watched the Olympics. I think I was

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Speaker 1: eight years old, and I was sitting in living room,

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Speaker 1: you know, with my elbows on the ground and my

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Speaker 1: hand in my chin, and I was a swimmer at

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Speaker 1: the time, and I remember watching Michael Phelps and watching

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Speaker 1: some of these athletes and thinking, wow, I like this

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Speaker 1: is the pinnacle of human performance and it seems so

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Speaker 1: exciting I want to They were just like my first idols.

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Speaker 1: My first role models were the people I saw on

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Speaker 1: TV at the Olympics, and from that moment I was

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Speaker 1: just entranced, like it became this big goal of mine

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Speaker 1: and I kind of kept it in the back of

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Speaker 1: my head my entire life, and I felt that every

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Speaker 1: time I really pushed myself in training as a swimmer,

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Speaker 1: even when I was thirteen years old, it was, oh,

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Speaker 1: but if I pushed myself really hard, maybe I can

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Speaker 1: make the Olympics one day, you know. And it was

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Speaker 1: always kind of this motivator for me. And the same

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Speaker 1: was true when I started growing. It was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: if I push myself really hard, then maybe one day

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Speaker 1: I can go to the Olympics. And so it's interesting though,

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Speaker 1: because I felt that it was this dream in the

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Speaker 1: back of my head, that there was this constant motivator

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Speaker 1: for me in sports. But at the same time, I

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Speaker 1: had so many other things that seemed to be more

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Speaker 1: immediate priorities in my life, like I wanted to get

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Speaker 1: good grades in school, I wanted to find a job,

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Speaker 1: and these things I feel I got in the way

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Speaker 1: and so when I graduated college and I started viking,

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Speaker 1: I was in my twenties, and I think I had

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Speaker 1: this aha moment where it was like, you know, all

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Speaker 1: of these things have kind of gone in the way,

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Speaker 1: and I have this dream, but I've never really prioritized it.

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Speaker 1: And I started asking myself, you know, why have I

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Speaker 1: never prioritized this thing that's so important to me? And

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Speaker 1: it seems silly in retrospect to have something that was

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Speaker 1: so viable, but I think it happens to a lot

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Speaker 1: of us where we kind of get caught up in

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Speaker 1: whatever we're pursuing in the immediate future, and there's kind

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Speaker 1: of this recency bias, you know, or maybe the people

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Speaker 1: around you at work or pursuing something, and so you

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Speaker 1: get caught up in it. And I think that was

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Speaker 1: the reallypotus for me starting this process of leaving my job.

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Speaker 1: It was, you know, am I really pursuing the thing

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Speaker 1: that's most important to me? Or am I just pursuing

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Speaker 1: the thing that has naturally formed around me this path

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Speaker 1: of you know, graduating from school and getting a job

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Speaker 1: and moving up in my career. So yeah, I guess

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Speaker 1: the Olympics had always been there, but it just I

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Speaker 1: also think I had never been in an environment where

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Speaker 1: the Olympics was such a top priority. I mean, at

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Speaker 1: Harvard there are athletes that go to the Olympics, but

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Speaker 1: I think the culture is much more focused on academics,

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Speaker 1: much more focused on getting a job after college. No

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Speaker 1: one in my family had ever been an Olympian, and

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Speaker 1: so I think I just didn't grow up in an

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Speaker 1: environment where it was talked about, where I really knew

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Speaker 1: where to start, where I knew how to go about it.

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Speaker 1: In some ways. You know, it's embarrassing to omit now,

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Speaker 1: but I think this also happens with a lot of people,

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Speaker 1: and especially a lot of women, where it was this

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Speaker 1: really big dream that I was almost intimidated to talk

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Speaker 1: about it because I felt like, oh, would people judge

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Speaker 1: me for having this big dream that might not be feasible.

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Speaker 1: And I think that happens to a lot of us,

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Speaker 1: where we sell ourselves short and we're almost afraid to

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Speaker 1: talk about things that are the most important to us

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Speaker 1: because they feel too big or too grand for us.

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Speaker 1: And I really hope that we can get rid of

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Speaker 1: that phenomenon in our culture.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's so cool to hear you talk about

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Speaker 3: the evolution of that thought process for you, because many

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Speaker 3: people would have that thought process and to your point,

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Speaker 3: there be like it's too much, it's too big, I'm

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Speaker 3: being silly, whatever, and brush it off.

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Speaker 2: But you were tenacious.

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Speaker 3: You were brave enough to say, hey, no, I want

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Speaker 3: to listen to this voiceless in my head that's saying

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Speaker 3: this is something that's really resonating with me.

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Speaker 2: Where do you think that came from?

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Speaker 3: Was that behavior or something I know you said conventionally,

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Speaker 3: especially as women, this isn't something that's often modeled for us,

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Speaker 3: but that tenacity came from somewhere. So do you think

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Speaker 3: that was modeled for you from your family, maybe through

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Speaker 3: your work? Where did you garner that special level of

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Speaker 3: self belief?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a few things. So my parents

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Speaker 1: are both entrepreneurs and they're very much of this mindset

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Speaker 1: of if you want something, you have to make it

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Speaker 1: happen for your like, no one's gonna make your dreams happen.

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Speaker 1: And my dad used to tell me when I was

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Speaker 1: when I was fourteen, I think I said I wanted

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Speaker 1: to get a job, and he's like, you know, don't

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Speaker 1: look for a job, create a job and it was

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Speaker 1: just this mentality of if you want something, you have

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Speaker 1: to be the one to make it happen. You can't

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Speaker 1: wait for the universe to may happen for you. And

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Speaker 1: that's also partially, I think an Alaskan ethos. You know,

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Speaker 1: people are very independent. People build their own houses, people

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Speaker 1: start their own companies, and it's just a very kind

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Speaker 1: of rough at out mentality, you know, you don't have

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Speaker 1: I think in Alaska you have to do so many

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Speaker 1: things on your own because there aren't as many people

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Speaker 1: who can come fix light bulb for you, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: all these things, and so it's like if you have

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Speaker 1: a problem, like you need to be to want to

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Speaker 1: solve it. And so that's something that has always been

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Speaker 1: in my family, I think in Alaska just part of

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Speaker 1: the ethos in which I was raised. And then I

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Speaker 1: had always been a very introspective child and I had

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Speaker 1: always like pondered a lot of deep life things. And

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Speaker 1: one thing that I remember, or especially as I had

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Speaker 1: this piano teacher who was quite old and she actually

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Speaker 1: passed away when I was I think in high school

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Speaker 1: and just seeing you know, grandparents passed away, and it

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Speaker 1: just made me really start thinking about my own life

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Speaker 1: and how I was going to get old one day

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Speaker 1: and thinking about, you know, if I were eighty years

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Speaker 1: old looking back in my life, what are the things

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Speaker 1: that I would be really proud of, what are the

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Speaker 1: things that I might regret? And how would it change

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Speaker 1: how I lived my life today? And so when I

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Speaker 1: was in my twenties and I, you know, was grappling

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Speaker 1: with some of these questions, I think it really hit

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Speaker 1: me that if I was eighty years old looking back,

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Speaker 1: I would completely regret not trying to pursue the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: And that was a big motivator for me as well.

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Speaker 1: And so I think it was a combination of the

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Speaker 1: ethos in which I was raised, kind of having this

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Speaker 1: very introspective personality and then having people my life pass

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Speaker 1: away and trying to put myself in their shoes and

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Speaker 1: think about, you know, the trajectory of my old life

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Speaker 1: and what I was maybe maybe what I would be

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Speaker 1: thinking if I was, you know, eighty years old looking back.

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Speaker 2: Why is beyond your years to say with me the

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Speaker 2: lease here?

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Speaker 3: Kristin Now you mentioned that things in Alaska were a

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Speaker 3: bit different than they were when you moved away to

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Speaker 3: Harvard and then to then move to New York and

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Speaker 3: then San Francisco. Ultimately, aside from the lack of nature,

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Speaker 3: what would you say was the biggest shell shot coming

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Speaker 3: to these bigger cities.

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Speaker 1: The number of people. So there were a lot of things.

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Speaker 1: The first is I grew up in a very small

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Speaker 1: town of five thousand people. And my neighbor was my teacher,

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Speaker 1: my swim coach was my best friend's mom. It was

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Speaker 1: a community that was incredibly integrated, and people played multiple

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Speaker 1: roles in your life, and so community was automatic. I

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Speaker 1: didn't have to build my own sense of community. And

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Speaker 1: then the same was true with my family. I'm one

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Speaker 1: of five kids, so I always had people around me.

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Speaker 1: I never had to really seek out company and community.

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Speaker 1: And then when I went away to boarding school, we

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Speaker 1: had our dorms, we had our classes, I had my

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Speaker 1: sports teams, and same with college. And so when I

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Speaker 1: moved to New York City, it was the first time

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Speaker 1: in my life where I felt like I had to

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Speaker 1: actually build a community, and I realized I didn't really

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Speaker 1: know how to do it because my community had always

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Speaker 1: just been automatically formed around me. And when I moved

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Speaker 1: to New York, I really wanted to, you know, I

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Speaker 1: started going to the gym and being on the elliptical,

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Speaker 1: and that wasn't fulfilling. And I'd never really been a

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Speaker 1: late night person. I didn't drink a lot. I was

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Speaker 1: very into being healthy and going to betterly and a

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Speaker 1: lot of people in the early twenties, you know, they're

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Speaker 1: going to bars or staying out past midnight, they're drinking

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Speaker 1: a lot. And I found that I didn't fit in

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Speaker 1: super well with kind of the New York culture of

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Speaker 1: people in the early twenties, and so I didn't have

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Speaker 1: this community that naturally formed around me. And so I

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Speaker 1: was like, how do I find people who are similar

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Speaker 1: to me, especially in a city where it feels like

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Speaker 1: the predominant culture is very different from me. And so

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Speaker 1: when I started cycling, it really gave me a community

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Speaker 1: that I had been looking for, and people with similar mindedness,

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Speaker 1: who like to wake up early, who like to be healthy,

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Speaker 1: who liked to work out, who you know, were all

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Speaker 1: from all different walks of life, and that resonated with

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Speaker 1: me a lot more than what a lot of my

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Speaker 1: peers were doing. By the way, like, I'm sure they

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Speaker 1: had a ton of fun and I have nothing against it,

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Speaker 1: just like for me, I just I really, I've never

437
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,480
Speaker 1: been a late night. Sleep is so important to me,

438
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,879
Speaker 1: and even in college, I was always in bed by midnight,

439
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,960
Speaker 1: even though I had fun. And so I think moving

440
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 1: to New York it was the first time in my

441
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,320
Speaker 1: life where I realized I had to learn how to

442
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 1: be intentional about making friends, finding community, and finding happiness

443
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 1: that didn't always come naturally in my environment. And that

444
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,560
Speaker 1: also taught me to be proactive. You know, I had

445
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: to if I wanted friends, I had to find them.

446
00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: If I wanted to, you know, find fulfillment and activity,

447
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:43,800
Speaker 1: I had to find it. And so that taught me

448
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 1: to be very proactive. And also I think it helped

449
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,119
Speaker 1: me when I moved to Europe because I didn't know

450
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 1: anyone in Europe. I had no friends, no family, I

451
00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:54,920
Speaker 1: didn't really have any teammates there, and so I think

452
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 1: moving to Europe was a lot easier because of my

453
00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 1: experience in New York.

454
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,919
Speaker 3: So many things talking about here are things that are

455
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,800
Speaker 3: very unsettling for many people, and you've done all of them.

456
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 3: So finding community such a challenge, not only when you

457
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 3: move to a new city, but the older you get,

458
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 3: I would argue it can be even more challenging to

459
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 3: make new friends and find communities. So I love this

460
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,080
Speaker 3: suggestion that you're putting on the table here, which is

461
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 3: I asked myself, what is it that I like to

462
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 3: do or what is it that I'm interested in, and

463
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 3: then seek community there rather than do something that doesn't

464
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,640
Speaker 3: feel right for you, Because if you find community doing

465
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 3: something that doesn't feel right for you, then you're not

466
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 3: going to stick with that community at all, and in fact,

467
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,720
Speaker 3: you might have maybe a little bit of resentment against

468
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 3: yourself that you flexed on your boundaries that otherwise made

469
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:45,400
Speaker 3: you feel good.

470
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: Definitely. And I had friends who were in New York

471
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 1: City with me. We'd been friends from college, and what

472
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 1: I found was a lot of times we just had

473
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 1: very different interests and it was causing this rift between

474
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: our friendship because we would want to do very different

475
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 1: things when we hung out. And I so I had

476
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: to ask myself, like, what are the activities that we

477
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: both share rather than always trying to accommodate the other person.

478
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,320
Speaker 1: And I think that's also a life skill because we

479
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,919
Speaker 1: have friends who like, we have space in our life

480
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,199
Speaker 1: for friends who have different indreests than us, but we

481
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,159
Speaker 1: always have to have something that shared. And similarly, I

482
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: think we're going to find the most happiness and the

483
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 1: greatest sense of community when we find people who share

484
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,640
Speaker 1: our interests. You know, I had friends in New York

485
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,399
Speaker 1: that were I was twenty four years old and some

486
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: of my friends were forty five, sixty five, twenty five,

487
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: you know, in all different ages, and I was totally

488
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,719
Speaker 1: okay with that because we had this common thread between us.

489
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:38,640
Speaker 1: And so I think sometimes community ends up looking different

490
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 1: from how we expect it to, and so we have

491
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,479
Speaker 1: to really go in with this open mind and not

492
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,240
Speaker 1: preconceived notions about a community that we're supposed to be

493
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 1: part of or what are friends supposed to look like?

494
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 1: And it's more about how do I feel when I'm

495
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 1: with these people, And so that was a lesson I

496
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:54,480
Speaker 1: also learned.

497
00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:56,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so beautiful.

498
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 3: And I've always resonated with this like concept that the

499
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 3: community that or after is yours to build. Like you

500
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,280
Speaker 3: get to say in what it is that you will

501
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 3: participate in, what you will be a part of, and

502
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,960
Speaker 3: I think that's so special. And also I love that

503
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,119
Speaker 3: note on you don't need to jive in every single

504
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 3: way to be friends with someone. An example of this

505
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,440
Speaker 3: from my own life, like I have a very good

506
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 3: friend that I wanted to grab dinner with tomorrow night.

507
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 3: And I know also right now that I am personally

508
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 3: training for a marathon, I'm trying to eat healthy.

509
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 2: So the common interest is we want to get dinner

510
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:34,000
Speaker 2: with each other.

511
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,360
Speaker 3: Just because this person proposes going to like a restaurant

512
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 3: that I don't want to go to, doesn't mean that

513
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 3: we still can't get dinner. It just means that it's

514
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 3: then on me to say, actually, like I'm trying to

515
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,040
Speaker 3: eat this way or that way, would you mind if

516
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 3: we go here instead and that way? I don't feel

517
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,359
Speaker 3: like I'm sacrificing my boundaries and I still get to

518
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:51,640
Speaker 3: see the person that I want to see.

519
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: Definitely, I think for me too, I as one of

520
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: five kids, I always grew up trying to be perfectionist,

521
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,719
Speaker 1: as a great student in school. I was a peeper pleaser.

522
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 1: I think that's common about woman. But also as one

523
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 1: of five kids, you didn't always have space to create

524
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 1: boundaries and get what you want. You know, you had

525
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: to be very easy going and go with the flow.

526
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 1: And so I think when I was in my twenties,

527
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,280
Speaker 1: I actually had I was pretty poor at setting boundaries,

528
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: pretty poor speaking out for myself. And I think those

529
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 1: years were really important for my life because I learned

530
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: how to say, you know, A had to communicate my

531
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,480
Speaker 1: needs in a very respectful way. That was also setting

532
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: boundaries for myself, saying, you know, I really want to

533
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 1: hang out with you, but just not between ten and

534
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 1: twelve pm, or not from ten pm onward, you know. So,

535
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:35,160
Speaker 1: And like I could go to brunch with my friends

536
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: and it could be a boozy brunch for them and

537
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,959
Speaker 1: a you know, a dry brunch for me, or you know,

538
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,640
Speaker 1: I could do stuff with my friends that we had

539
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,960
Speaker 1: common interests. And I think that was a skill that

540
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: I didn't really learn until my mid twenties and living

541
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: in New York starting to cycle full time. I really

542
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,400
Speaker 1: had to set certain boundaries because I had to take

543
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 1: care of my health when I started training as an

544
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: ely athlete, you know, so I had to be more

545
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: mindful and strict with myself. My diet, my sleep routine,

546
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: my stress, you know, all these things. I couldn't be

547
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: traveling every weekend with my friends when they went on

548
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,199
Speaker 1: these big trips because I had them train and go

549
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,800
Speaker 1: to racism so over the last you know, five or

550
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,120
Speaker 1: ten years. One of the biggest growth areas for myself

551
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 1: has been how to communicate incredibly respectfully but also hey guys, like,

552
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 1: here's what I need, what do you need? How can

553
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 1: we meet in the middle. And I think that's a

554
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 1: really valuable skill for friendships over any relationship.

555
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 3: You talked about the things that you had to manage

556
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 3: once you started to take cycling very seriously. Firstly, when

557
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 3: did you feel that tipping point, when did you know

558
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 3: that you were ready to go all in? And then

559
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 3: secondly you said sleep and nutrition and not traveling every weekend.

560
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 3: But if we could dial in a little bit on

561
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 3: some of the alterations that you had to make when

562
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 3: you got to that point as well.

563
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: So I'll be honest, I think from the very beginning,

564
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: I was pretty intense about it, and I was very

565
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: much wanting to go all in. So even in New York,

566
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: you know, I would travel the race of them the weekends.

567
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 1: I'd be going to bed really early, waking up early.

568
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 1: I didn't drink a lot, and I was super healthy,

569
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: and so I think from the very beginning I had

570
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: this goal that I wanted to be as good as

571
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,479
Speaker 1: I could be whatever that looked like, and I wanted

572
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: to take it as far as I could. I didn't

573
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 1: know what that meant necessarily, but in the back of

574
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: my mind I definitely was thinking, you know, the best

575
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: of all worlds would be I go to the Olympics

576
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 1: for this, because that was kind of the pinnacle. So

577
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,160
Speaker 1: even as a Cat five racer New York, I think

578
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 1: there was this kind of you know, in the back

579
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,360
Speaker 1: of my head these musings.

580
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 2: I'm going to pause you really quick.

581
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 3: For someone who doesn't know what that means, talk to

582
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,120
Speaker 3: us about what it means to be a Cat five racer.

583
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 1: A Cat five racer is basically the most entry level

584
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: for any amateur local race. And so if you want

585
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:47,880
Speaker 1: to enter, if you want to enter a bike race

586
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: in the US and it's your very first bike race,

587
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: you start it's called Category five, and then as you

588
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 1: start to get results, you move up to category four,

589
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: category three, and the races are often segmented based on

590
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: your level. So often category fours and fives race together,

591
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 1: and then categories ones two threes race together, so you're

592
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,159
Speaker 1: always racing with people that are about your level. And

593
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: once you get to a Category one, that's usually when

594
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: you can jump into a full time professional team.

595
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 3: And who decides when you go or graduate from one

596
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 3: category to the next.

597
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 2: Is this a points system?

598
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's rules within USA Cycling. I believe it's

599
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 1: USA Cycling that manages it. And it depends on your

600
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,199
Speaker 1: race results from that category. So if you start as

601
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,359
Speaker 1: a Cat five and then you get fifth place as

602
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:31,919
Speaker 1: a race, you get certain number of points. If you

603
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,440
Speaker 1: win a race, you get a certain number points, and

604
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 1: then once you've passed a certain number of points, you

605
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 1: graduate into a Category four and then got it.

606
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 3: Okay, so you're already an excited Category five cyclist, but

607
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 3: you know that you want to take it seriously.

608
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think from the very beginning. I mean,

609
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: I also keep in mind, like I had some of

610
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:54,719
Speaker 1: these boundaries in college because I was a rower and

611
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: so even in college we had Saturday morning practice and

612
00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,479
Speaker 1: so I couldn't go out really late on Friday night.

613
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: So I'd established a lot of these routines to help

614
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: prioritize my sports and also my social life. To be honest,

615
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 1: like living in New York was just an extension of that.

616
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 1: I think it was an extension of that and a

617
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: bit of an expansion of it just because New York

618
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 1: was so much bigger, there were more people involved. You know,

619
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 1: cycling was earlier in the morning. We'd practice at four

620
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: thirty am, where it's rowing was at you know, six

621
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 1: thirty seven. So I think everything was just a bit exaggerated.

622
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: And then I think where it really started to impact

623
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: me more maybe was on the weekends because when I

624
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: moved to California, like in New York City, most of

625
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: the races were in Central Park. When I moved to California,

626
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: I would have to drive on the weekend to all

627
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: the races, you know, two hours each way or so.

628
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 2: Wow.

629
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: So suddenly the time I had for my friends was

630
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: you know, a little less than the weekends, and so

631
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,440
Speaker 1: I just had to be mindful of how and when

632
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: I made space for my friends. And you know, I

633
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: have I have a friend and we would like go

634
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: to Trader Joe's every week, or we would go to

635
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: the Farmer's Market, and I had a friend, we'd like

636
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: go to Costco, and like there were all these healthy

637
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 1: activities that we would you know, do to hang out.

638
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 1: And then I had other friends who were I would

639
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 1: see them at a house party at night, you know,

640
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: before my bedtime, so I think it was just for me.

641
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 1: I had to tell my friends like, oh, I can't

642
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: see you at eleven pm, but I can see you,

643
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 1: you know, for lunch at you know, three, And oftentimes

644
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: I would go for these morning rides that were four

645
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: to five hours, so people would want to meet me

646
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: for brunch at ten and I would say, sorry, I

647
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: can't do that. I'm riding till one. So like, yeah,

648
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: let's come up with an activity between one and eight pm.

649
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 2: If it makes you feel any better.

650
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,240
Speaker 3: I'm an early person, do and I'm not trying to

651
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 3: be an olympia, So you're me both.

652
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 1: I just think that I had to be you know

653
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 1: how like like new moms or new parents, they just

654
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 1: have less flexibility, less time in their schedule. They're like, oh,

655
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 1: I or even a working person, you know, They're just like,

656
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: I have these hours. I'm a free and I kind

657
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: of felt that even though I was a young analyst

658
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: and my weekends should have been free, I had these,

659
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 1: you know, very short windows where I was available. But

660
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: I still value my friends just as much and wanted

661
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: to spend time with them. I just had to be

662
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: a little bit more mindful of how I did it

663
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 1: so that I was protecting my goals as well.

664
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 3: Taking a break from Jday's episode to talk to you

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669
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671
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Speaker 2: And if you're like me.

672
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673
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674
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675
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:49,840
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676
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,160
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677
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678
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679
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:02,240
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680
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681
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682
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Speaker 3: want to talk to you about something that's genuinely changed,

694
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 3: how I approach my health data and more importantly, how

695
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 3: I think about optimizing my performance and vitality for the

696
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 3: long run.

697
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:02,760
Speaker 2: That is inside Tracker.

698
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:04,960
Speaker 3: Now, if you're like me, you're probably tired of a

699
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 3: constant onslaught of health advice coming from every single direction.

700
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 3: One day, eggs are bad for you, the next day

701
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 3: there's superfood. Everyone has an opinion about what you should eat,

702
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 3: how you should exercise, and when you should sleep. But

703
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 3: here's what keeps me up at night. Is any of

704
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 3: it proven? Is it actually right? And is it right

705
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 3: for me? The truth is that most health advice isn't

706
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 3: based on what's actually happening in your body. But with

707
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 3: inside Tracker, you can finally trust what you're hearing because

708
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 3: it's based.

709
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 2: On your body and proven science.

710
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 3: Inside Tracker is the only health span analytics program that

711
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712
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Speaker 3: nutrition to give you a comprehensive picture of your health.

713
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Speaker 3: It's not another generic wellness program. It's truly personalized health

714
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Speaker 3: and nutrition. Let me give you an example. I recently

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00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 3: got an inside Tracker blood test. I looked at my

716
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 3: results and saw that I was low in farret in. Now,

717
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 3: if I got data like that from my doctor's office,

718
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 3: I wouldn't really know what to do with it. But

719
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 3: inside Tracker provides action based tips through nutrition and diet

720
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,560
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721
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 3: with my biomarkers. And what's so helpful is that they

722
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,399
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723
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,840
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724
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,799
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725
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726
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Speaker 2: You can learn more.

727
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731
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,240
Speaker 2: Again, that's it Hurdle at inside Tracker dot.

732
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 3: Com for twenty percent off exclusively for my listeners. You

733
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 3: said something that put up a little flag for me,

734
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,800
Speaker 3: which was that you would meet to ride at four thirty.

735
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 3: Did you live near Central Park to do those laps

736
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 3: and did you feel safe doing that?

737
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,279
Speaker 1: Well, we always met up with our team, so we

738
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 1: would do morning practice together, so I always felt safe.

739
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:23,279
Speaker 1: I did live near Central Park my first year, and

740
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 1: then my second year I lived also near Central Park,

741
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,719
Speaker 1: and so my first year I didn't know that I

742
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 1: was my lef cycling. So I was quite lucky that I,

743
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 1: you know, picked up cycling and happened to live near

744
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: Central Work. My second year, I was very intentional about

745
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:39,879
Speaker 1: getting an apartment that was close to work and close

746
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 1: to biking. And it wasn't in the coolest hippus area

747
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 1: of town. It was midtown. My priorities were biking and work,

748
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,359
Speaker 1: so I found some more close to biking and work,

749
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 1: and you know, you had it. It can be dark

750
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: in Central Park, but I think I was always with

751
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 1: my team. We had bike lads, you know. So actually

752
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:59,240
Speaker 1: the most dangerous thing were these little muskrats that would

753
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 1: go across the road and then you didn't see them

754
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 1: and it was dark and you could always potentially hit

755
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,239
Speaker 1: them or beaver. It was something. It was something like,

756
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 1: they are these little animals on.

757
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 2: The road, beaver.

758
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 3: I have a convection that I was walking to the

759
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 3: gym this morning and out of nowhere a rat just

760
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:17,839
Speaker 3: like ran and I kicked it.

761
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 2: And I am not the same I'm not the same person.

762
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: It can it can really rattle you.

763
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 2: It really did. It really did.

764
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,160
Speaker 3: Okay, going and moving to Europe such a big decision

765
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 3: and one that is really motivated by self belief. Talk

766
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 3: to me about how making that decision ultimately ended up

767
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 3: setting the stage for you to make your way to

768
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 3: the Olympics.

769
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: So the first thing is I had to leave my job.

770
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 1: I mean, if I had tried to keep my job

771
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 1: and train full time, I would have ended up just

772
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 1: being mediocre. Both and so and and by the way,

773
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,319
Speaker 1: I think there's a story that I like or I

774
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 1: left this high power, but I actually loved my job,

775
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,319
Speaker 1: like and that that's what made it so hard, is

776
00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: that I had incredible mentors and incredible boss and I like,

777
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 1: to this day, best boss I've ever had, and you know, manager,

778
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,040
Speaker 1: and so that made it extra hard. But I had

779
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 1: to leave my job if I wanted to pursue this.

780
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: So when I got to Europe, I actually my first

781
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: year we lived in team housing for a few months

782
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: and the team had rented this house in Belgium, and

783
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,759
Speaker 1: I think it was eight girls. We all had, you know,

784
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 1: multiple people to a room. Our director and her husband,

785
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: who was the mechanic, lived in the same house with

786
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,560
Speaker 1: their two year old son. So it was like this

787
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,439
Speaker 1: big Brady Bunch feel and there was no escaping the team,

788
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,360
Speaker 1: like you were with them straight NonStop for three months.

789
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: And so just studying that in the context that that's

790
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 1: what it took if you wanted to make it in

791
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,600
Speaker 1: this sport back in two thousand, nineteen dear twenty twenty

792
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,319
Speaker 1: one and so different today. And so I did that,

793
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: and then after that two month race block in twenty

794
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 1: twenty one, I realized that if I really wanted to

795
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: make it in Europe, I had to commit to living

796
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 1: in Europe full time. So I went to Drona and

797
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:00,760
Speaker 1: was planning to just stay there for two weeks between races.

798
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 1: And during those two weeks, I was in an Airbnb

799
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: and I signed it to your lease and I said,

800
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 1: if I'm going to do this, I want to do

801
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 1: it right. I have to go all in. So I

802
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:12,319
Speaker 1: signed it to your lease in Droona. I basically said,

803
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 1: I'm going to go back to the US maybe during

804
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 1: my off season, but I'm committing to this for at

805
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 1: least two years. And then the other thing is I

806
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 1: think a lot of Americans who moved to Europe to

807
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 1: write to race, they still feel like America is their

808
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 1: home base. And so their apartment in Rona it's very basic.

809
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 1: They don't decorate it, they get it, you know, it's

810
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:30,839
Speaker 1: really small. Maybe they don't get Wi Fi, they don't

811
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,279
Speaker 1: get a full cell phone, and they kind of treat

812
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 1: Gerona as this place to kind of stay in between races,

813
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 1: but it's not their home. And I really made a

814
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,959
Speaker 1: concerted decision. I was like, if I'm going to try

815
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,400
Speaker 1: and make the Olympic team and I'm going to go

816
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,279
Speaker 1: all in, I have to commit to this fully. And

817
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 1: so I got a good apartment. I decorated it, I

818
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: got a cell phone plan in Europe. I got you know,

819
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 1: like all the things to really make it feel like

820
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 1: a home. Because I knew that I had to I

821
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: had to commit and I wanted to be happy for

822
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,520
Speaker 1: several years if it was going to be sustainable. And

823
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: so rather than kind of jumping between the US and

824
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: Europe and doing this you know, half committal lifestyle, I

825
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:10,879
Speaker 1: just decided I was going to go all in. I said,

826
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 1: if I'm going to do this, I'm going to leave

827
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: my job. If I'm going to make this, take these risks,

828
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: I'm going to go all in. And that was a

829
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,360
Speaker 1: decision that was a little unconventional at the time for Americans,

830
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: but one hundred percent necessary for me and important for

831
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 1: my success in the long term, especially with the Olympics.

832
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: Was it lonely, Definitely, especially the first year. I didn't

833
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 1: know many people. And I think what made it really

834
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,280
Speaker 1: lonely was not not just the act of going abroad

835
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: and not having a community. I think what made it,

836
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: what hurt the most and was the hardest to overcome,

837
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,880
Speaker 1: was that no one in the US understood what I

838
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,000
Speaker 1: was doing. My friends and family, no one had been

839
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: a professional cyclist. There was no media coverage of the races,

840
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: although knew in their minds I quit this incredible job

841
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,239
Speaker 1: to go be as Kibam. You know, It's like it

842
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:01,840
Speaker 1: was kind of how it fell to the love of

843
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 1: them and even my parents who love me and support me.

844
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 1: Three or four years into racing, they said, we were

845
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:13,279
Speaker 1: talking about competitive you know, my races, and they said, well,

846
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 1: we know how much work and sacrifice goes into it.

847
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 1: Your sister ran a marathon recently, so we totally understand.

848
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:24,000
Speaker 1: It's the exact same thing. And I almost just burst

849
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,360
Speaker 1: into tears. I was like, you really, you really don't understand.

850
00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: And these are people, I mean, they're my parents, like

851
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:31,839
Speaker 1: they love me. They wanted to understand, but there was

852
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,720
Speaker 1: just it was so inaccessible to them. They couldn't watched

853
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:36,960
Speaker 1: me on TV. They didn't know, and no matter how

854
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 1: much I explained to them. I think a lot of

855
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 1: my peers thought that I just would wake up and

856
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:42,600
Speaker 1: go ride for two hours and be a bit of

857
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 1: an influencer and then you know, come home and just

858
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,960
Speaker 1: they don't realize how hard it is and you know,

859
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:52,919
Speaker 1: you're you're crashing, You're away from in races. You're away

860
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:54,799
Speaker 1: from home, you're struggling to keep up, You're getting dropped

861
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 1: off the back, you run over cobbles, You're you know,

862
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,200
Speaker 1: hauling bike bags through a million airports. You're living in

863
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 1: team housing and you don't know anybody. You're trying to

864
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 1: get a visa and a foreign country you're trying to

865
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,000
Speaker 1: get a rental agreement. And the foreign country, you don't

866
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,800
Speaker 1: speak the language all the time because it's catchalow and

867
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: about Spanish, and so there's just all these things. And

868
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 1: so I think that was actually what made it so lonely,

869
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,920
Speaker 1: was it wasn't the physical loneliness. It was the emotional

870
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 1: loneliness of not feeling understood by anyone in my life.

871
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:23,760
Speaker 1: And even the cyclist that I got to know in Europe,

872
00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: they didn't understand how much I'd given up in the

873
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:27,640
Speaker 1: US because a lot of them had just grown up

874
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:30,319
Speaker 1: in cycling. They grew up in the cycling world. They

875
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 1: were from Europe, their family lived an hour away from

876
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 1: where they lived. Their families would come watch their races.

877
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 1: There was a prestige in it because they were professional cyclists,

878
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: which the culture in Europe, you know, idolizes and values

879
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,200
Speaker 1: and so I felt that there was really no one

880
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,240
Speaker 1: who understood where I'd come from or where I'd gone,

881
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: let alone both.

882
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 2: Thanks for sharing that.

883
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 3: It's so beautiful to hear the compassion that you have

884
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,360
Speaker 3: in your voice, because it was such a both situation.

885
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:06,720
Speaker 3: It was I love these people so much. I recognize

886
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,799
Speaker 3: that they also loved me so much, and they're not

887
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:15,720
Speaker 3: trying not to understand your words exactly. It just wasn't accessible,

888
00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:19,000
Speaker 3: and so to have that level of awareness is such

889
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,400
Speaker 3: a beautiful thing and something that although having it didn't

890
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:25,440
Speaker 3: make it easier, it also was able to an extent,

891
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 3: I'm sure to bring you a little bit of peace

892
00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 3: despite feeling so lonely. You bring up another really good

893
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 3: point that it was so inaccessible to so many people

894
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 3: in America. I remember when you and I first connected

895
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,839
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, I interviewed other women that were

896
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 3: on the team you were writing with at the time.

897
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 3: We're talking lawyers, nurses, former doctors. These are all women

898
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 3: who had very prestigious, difficult, diligent education required careers that

899
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 3: made the decision one day to walk away from something

900
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 3: that paid them very well to pursue their passions. So

901
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 3: to now again bring this full circle and hear not

902
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,080
Speaker 3: only how difficult it was for you to step into this,

903
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,280
Speaker 3: but know that you also walked away from something like that.

904
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 2: Wow. It brings me chills thinking back to it.

905
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:19,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, something that's so hard is that most people, when

906
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: they pursue something unknown and risky, it's unknown and risky

907
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 1: partially because it's not part of the culture in which

908
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: they're from. You know, if you grew up in a

909
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 1: family that wants you to be a lawyer and a doctor,

910
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 1: and then you decide to go be an artist or

911
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:36,239
Speaker 1: a musician, there's going to be this feeling of being misunderstood.

912
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,400
Speaker 1: And what can happen is that when you do that

913
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 1: and you kind of get this undercurrent of disapproval from

914
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:46,719
Speaker 1: the people in your community, it can almost isolate you

915
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,239
Speaker 1: more from those people, and that can make you feel

916
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 1: less grounded and already risky endeavor. And so I think

917
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: it's so important to try as hard as possible to

918
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: hold compassion for those people and maintain those relationship knowing

919
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:04,320
Speaker 1: that they might not understand what you're doing for several

920
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,279
Speaker 1: years during this pursuit. And that was the case for

921
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:08,560
Speaker 1: me with a lot of my friends. I feel like

922
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 1: they know at a high level, they trusted me, they

923
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: supported me, but they were also just confused, you know,

924
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 1: And I had to just acknowledge that they might not

925
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:22,839
Speaker 1: understand for several years, and there was only so much

926
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,360
Speaker 1: I could explain to them, and I had to just

927
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,000
Speaker 1: accept that that might be how it's going to be

928
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 1: for a few years, and had to be patient with

929
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:36,720
Speaker 1: that and know that our relationship wasn't going to change

930
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 1: in the long term. It just might look a little

931
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:41,560
Speaker 1: different for a few years.

932
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 3: Would you say that the Olympics was the validation that

933
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 3: you were seeking or were you able to garner some

934
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,280
Speaker 3: of that with things like the Perry Rube.

935
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:55,880
Speaker 1: I think by the time the Olympics came around, I

936
00:44:55,920 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: had long forgotten my desire to be validated, given like

937
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,359
Speaker 1: five years, like I had fully just accepted that I

938
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 1: was never going to get validation. I mean, after the comment,

939
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:10,800
Speaker 1: by the way, I love my parents, after the comment

940
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,239
Speaker 1: about comparing to my sister training for a marathon, by

941
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 1: the way, like no, like this is not a comp

942
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:16,320
Speaker 1: like training for a marathons.

943
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,800
Speaker 3: They love to the family exactly everyone training for a marathon.

944
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 1: Exactly, Like I don't want to be little bet at all,

945
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:28,640
Speaker 1: but it's a different level of reading your life and

946
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,440
Speaker 1: trying to pursue a support that you started in your

947
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: mid twenties. When I did get validation for the Olympics,

948
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,040
Speaker 1: it was really overwhelming and surprising, and I didn't know

949
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: how to handle it because I had gotten so used

950
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: to having to self validate for so long, and I

951
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 1: had completely come to terms with the fact that I

952
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:49,839
Speaker 1: didn't actually care what other people thought. It didn't matter

953
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,000
Speaker 1: to me, It wasn't important to me as long as

954
00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:54,040
Speaker 1: I really loved what I did and I felt purpose

955
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,640
Speaker 1: and passion in it. And so I totally come to

956
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,960
Speaker 1: terms with this for five years racing in Europe and

957
00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 1: come to the terms that I would never get the

958
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: validation from the people that initially I maybe missed. And

959
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,359
Speaker 1: so when the Olympics happened and everyone gave me all

960
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: this validation, I was so confused. I was like, I

961
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,279
Speaker 1: didn't actually know how to process it, and I had

962
00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 1: just gotten so used to not needing validation from other

963
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,839
Speaker 1: people and self validating, and so when I got all

964
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:25,879
Speaker 1: this validation from other people, I was so confused and

965
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,520
Speaker 1: its super overwhelmed, and I actually didn't know how to

966
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:33,200
Speaker 1: handle it. For a while. And it also though, was

967
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 1: very cathartic for me because it made me realize that

968
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,080
Speaker 1: me pursuing the Olympics was entirely for me, Like there

969
00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:45,160
Speaker 1: was no there was no seeking external validation in that goal.

970
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 1: I mean, it had been a goal of mine since

971
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: I was eight or twelve years old, before I even

972
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,400
Speaker 1: really knew what external validation looked like or meant. And

973
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 1: so when I left my job to pursue the Olympics,

974
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: like there was no validation, Like no one thought I

975
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:00,200
Speaker 1: was going to do it. No one even knew what

976
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 1: I was doing for five years. And so then when

977
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:09,080
Speaker 1: you're pursuing something entirely for yourself and you're not looking

978
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:10,840
Speaker 1: for external validation and that setting that you get all

979
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:14,920
Speaker 1: this external validation, you kind of feel like you know where,

980
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:16,399
Speaker 1: Like you guys came out of the woodwork, Like where

981
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:18,160
Speaker 1: did you come from? Like why haven't you been following

982
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:19,879
Speaker 1: my career for five years? And it made me feel

983
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:23,799
Speaker 1: a little uncomfortable actually, because I felt that it was

984
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:27,279
Speaker 1: very bi modal. It was either they didn't support and

985
00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:30,400
Speaker 1: understand and validate me, or they did, like there was

986
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:34,759
Speaker 1: no in between, Like as I was accruing results, in

987
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 1: Europe over five years, my personal sense of accomplishment was

988
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,040
Speaker 1: steadily growing in these micro steps, and yet for everyone

989
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,120
Speaker 1: else it went from black and white it and went

990
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 1: from not knowing anything to knowing everything about my career,

991
00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: and so there wasn't this kind of micro growth in

992
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:57,600
Speaker 1: their recognition of my success. It was just black or white.

993
00:47:57,719 --> 00:47:59,919
Speaker 1: And that was really hard for me in the begin

994
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,000
Speaker 1: because I felt like, where have you guys been for

995
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 1: five years? Like no one thought I was interesting? And

996
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 1: then I win these gold medals and now everyone thinks

997
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 1: I'm interesting, And actually there's five years of history that

998
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,520
Speaker 1: has kind of been erased or overlooked that was there

999
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:16,640
Speaker 1: for five years, but no one noticed it. And so

1000
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:21,279
Speaker 1: I felt in some ways like the only thing that

1001
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: mattered was the Olympics, not the five years of everything

1002
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:29,799
Speaker 1: that led up to it. And it just made me, Yeah,

1003
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:34,080
Speaker 1: it made me question, like do people you know? My story?

1004
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:36,760
Speaker 1: Was all over these headlines and these newspapers, and everyone

1005
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,200
Speaker 1: felt like they knew my story, But then inside I

1006
00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 1: was like, really, no one really knows my story, Like

1007
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,480
Speaker 1: no one really knows how hard it was, how much

1008
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 1: I suffered, how much you sacrificed, And instead the headline was,

1009
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,359
Speaker 1: you know, Kristen Lee's finance job and then wins two

1010
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:53,640
Speaker 1: gold medals, and it's like this this Cinderella story, and

1011
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,840
Speaker 1: not much talk about my you know, accomplishments for five years,

1012
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:01,240
Speaker 1: my growth, the slow changes, the crowd, all these things.

1013
00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 1: And so I felt that my story was not given justice,

1014
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,560
Speaker 1: like my accomplishments were given justice, but my story and

1015
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 1: the journey and the struggle wasn't. And so that was

1016
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:16,720
Speaker 1: actually really hard for me to reconcile because I felt

1017
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 1: that there's a discrepancy between my story and what other

1018
00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:21,600
Speaker 1: people heard about.

1019
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:22,320
Speaker 2: The real story.

1020
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 3: That going at it almost in a sense alone for

1021
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:34,000
Speaker 3: so long requires such a great sense of mental fortitude

1022
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:40,120
Speaker 3: for individuals who feel as though they too are on

1023
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 3: the path to something that does personally excite them. Also alone,

1024
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,200
Speaker 3: what would you say to them? What advice would you

1025
00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:48,799
Speaker 3: offer to them?

1026
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 1: You know, you have to be patient, but also it's

1027
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:56,320
Speaker 1: so much more fulfilling to do something you love without

1028
00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,440
Speaker 1: validation than to do something you don't love with validation.

1029
00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:03,399
Speaker 1: And it's something we hear a lot when we're young,

1030
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:08,919
Speaker 1: but it's so hard to believe, and now having been

1031
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 1: through it, it's so obvious to me, and I just

1032
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:15,440
Speaker 1: wish that I could convey that message to other people

1033
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:19,600
Speaker 1: so much, because the journey can be so hard that

1034
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 1: you have to love what you do. And if you

1035
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 1: really love what you do, then you will find the

1036
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 1: courage and the grit to keep going even when it

1037
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:34,799
Speaker 1: feels lonely and hard. And I think sometimes people set

1038
00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:36,799
Speaker 1: these goals about something they're not passionate about and they

1039
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:39,839
Speaker 1: really struggle to get there. If you're deeply passionate about

1040
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: the process, and you're really doing something you care about,

1041
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,480
Speaker 1: that will get you through the really hard times. And

1042
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:48,960
Speaker 1: I just wish I could tell young people to find

1043
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,799
Speaker 1: something that really resonates with them that they're deeply passionate about.

1044
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:56,359
Speaker 1: And I don't think they understand how important that is

1045
00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 1: to success because we often think that there are certain

1046
00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:02,480
Speaker 1: paths for success, you know, and certain jobs that are

1047
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:05,319
Speaker 1: going to lead to success, but actually it leads to

1048
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:07,680
Speaker 1: success as this ability to continue getting up when you

1049
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 1: fall over and over and over, and that can happen

1050
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 1: in any field, in any job, but it's so much

1051
00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:19,000
Speaker 1: easier when you have this intrinsic passion because getting up

1052
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:22,480
Speaker 1: just feels like natural, you know, it doesn't feel as

1053
00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:24,280
Speaker 1: hard as if you aren't motivated.

1054
00:51:24,680 --> 00:51:29,000
Speaker 3: Also, this concept that you get to define what success

1055
00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:32,240
Speaker 3: looks like for you, Like, your definition of success doesn't

1056
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 3: need to be what may be seen as a little

1057
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:40,359
Speaker 3: bit more acceptable. Right, So if success to you is

1058
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:42,319
Speaker 3: I'm going to wake up every day and feel at

1059
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:45,000
Speaker 3: home and confident and happy in my body, and you

1060
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:47,560
Speaker 3: have a definition of what that feels like and maybe

1061
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:49,440
Speaker 3: what that looks like, then good on you, Like, don't

1062
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:53,040
Speaker 3: let someone else decide what that will be for you.

1063
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,680
Speaker 3: I know that when you first got into your career

1064
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:58,319
Speaker 3: there were people that had an opinion on what the

1065
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 3: best writing weight was for you, and you had the

1066
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:04,320
Speaker 3: opportunity to say, I can feel that out for myself.

1067
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:07,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's actually even more pronounced now, you know.

1068
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,880
Speaker 1: And the Pelton like still rider weight is a big issue,

1069
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:11,520
Speaker 1: so many things, how much you should eat on the bike,

1070
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:14,239
Speaker 1: how much you should drink. And for me, you know,

1071
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:18,120
Speaker 1: I've knock on wood, never broken a bone biking. I

1072
00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:21,760
Speaker 1: feel like I recover super fast, I have incredible fatigue

1073
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:24,040
Speaker 1: resistance and all these things are because I feel really well.

1074
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:26,319
Speaker 1: And you if you throw me on a climb at

1075
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:27,719
Speaker 1: the beginning of a race, I'm not going to have

1076
00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:30,120
Speaker 1: the power to whatt ratio of other people, but I

1077
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:34,560
Speaker 1: have the sustainability and durability that is because I trust

1078
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:36,799
Speaker 1: my body and I listen to it. And that's just

1079
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 1: one example, but I think it's true in so many

1080
00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:43,040
Speaker 1: areas of life and on the bike off the bike,

1081
00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:45,760
Speaker 1: that if you really trust and listen to your body,

1082
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:48,439
Speaker 1: I think it knows best. And that's true with rider weight,

1083
00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:51,359
Speaker 1: but it's also true with pursuing your goals and defining success.

1084
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:55,960
Speaker 3: I really appreciate you sharing how all of that attention

1085
00:52:56,680 --> 00:52:59,880
Speaker 3: after the Olympics made you feel. I also know that

1086
00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 3: oftentimes the best way to not process emotions is to

1087
00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:07,360
Speaker 3: jump right into something else, which is something that you,

1088
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:10,279
Speaker 3: maybe for better or for worse, had the opportunity to

1089
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:14,400
Speaker 3: do immediately following the Olympics. When do you think that

1090
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:17,759
Speaker 3: you were able to process those feelings? Are you still

1091
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:19,000
Speaker 3: processing them where we at?

1092
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:21,520
Speaker 1: I think sometimes I am still processing them, to be honest.

1093
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:25,400
Speaker 1: So after the Olympics, you know, the day after I had,

1094
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 1: you know, twelve hours of media, next day, twelve hours

1095
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:29,400
Speaker 1: of media. The next day I flew to the Tour

1096
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 1: de France. The next two weeks we're done doing sponsor

1097
00:53:32,239 --> 00:53:34,080
Speaker 1: events and the next three months we're doing speaking events,

1098
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:38,720
Speaker 1: podcast interviews. And so I feel like I never owned

1099
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:41,799
Speaker 1: my time after the Olympics, and I never really had

1100
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:43,920
Speaker 1: the time to process in the way I needed to,

1101
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:46,600
Speaker 1: And looking back, I think that was unhealthy, Like I

1102
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:50,200
Speaker 1: wish that I had owned my time, and you'd think,

1103
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:52,239
Speaker 1: you want a gold medal, you've deserved the right to have,

1104
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit of time. But it's actually

1105
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:57,359
Speaker 1: we still have sponsors and this was the biggest thing

1106
00:53:57,360 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 1: for them too, and they're paying my salary, so I

1107
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:02,400
Speaker 1: also to get back to them what they've basically invested

1108
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 1: in me. And so I really was struggling with that balance.

1109
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:10,760
Speaker 1: And I don't know if I'll ever fully process what happened,

1110
00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:14,319
Speaker 1: because it was the biggest dream I'd ever had and

1111
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:18,120
Speaker 1: it came true and that's something that you can pinch

1112
00:54:18,160 --> 00:54:20,800
Speaker 1: yourself for for the rest of your life. And even

1113
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:24,080
Speaker 1: though I still sometimes think about it and I'm like,

1114
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:26,880
Speaker 1: what the f like, like it happened like that, you know,

1115
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:30,680
Speaker 1: and you know, excuse my language, but I just I'm

1116
00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:33,919
Speaker 1: so proud of the journey that I continued on even

1117
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:37,200
Speaker 1: when it was hard and sometimes I hear these stories

1118
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:39,480
Speaker 1: of Olympians and they're like, oh, I want to medal,

1119
00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: and my life didn't change. It went back to normal.

1120
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,719
Speaker 1: And I realized that actually, you know, metals and accolades

1121
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,200
Speaker 1: like don't change your life. And it didn't bring me

1122
00:54:47,239 --> 00:54:49,439
Speaker 1: as much fulfillment as I wanted. And I don't really

1123
00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:53,360
Speaker 1: understand those people. My goal, like my medals changed my

1124
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:55,640
Speaker 1: life and they really did. And and I don't just

1125
00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:58,440
Speaker 1: mean that in terms of getting a higher salary, you're

1126
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:01,640
Speaker 1: getting more speaking, like, my personal fulfillment was so high,

1127
00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:04,920
Speaker 1: and I think the reason is because I stuck. I

1128
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:06,759
Speaker 1: love the process, and it was a goal that I

1129
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 1: was doing for myself. It was never a goal that

1130
00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:12,280
Speaker 1: I was doing for validation from anyone. I never pursued

1131
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:14,640
Speaker 1: the Olympics because it was prestigious. I pursued the Olympics

1132
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:16,439
Speaker 1: as I was an eight year old girl who thought,

1133
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:18,320
Speaker 1: this is the pinnacle of whatever I want to be

1134
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:21,480
Speaker 1: when I'm older. And so when you achieve something that

1135
00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:25,880
Speaker 1: is so intrinsically motivated, it really changed it. It does change

1136
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:30,239
Speaker 1: how you view yourself. I think before I knew I

1137
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:35,160
Speaker 1: was capable of these things, but when you actually do it,

1138
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:40,520
Speaker 1: it can bring so much self validation to yourself, and

1139
00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:42,719
Speaker 1: I think for me, it's not the validation of winning

1140
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:47,439
Speaker 1: gold medals, it's the validation of Wow, I really had

1141
00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:51,720
Speaker 1: the courage to trust my gut. I followed through and

1142
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:53,960
Speaker 1: I did something that no one thought I would do

1143
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:57,680
Speaker 1: because I trusted myself. And that is the validation that

1144
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,160
Speaker 1: I am most proud of. Was like the courage and

1145
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:03,520
Speaker 1: grit to stay on the journey. And that's something that

1146
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 1: absolutely changed my life when I won those cool medals.

1147
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:11,640
Speaker 1: Was the perception and pride I have for my courage,

1148
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:14,920
Speaker 1: my character of sticking through. And so when, yeah, when

1149
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:17,640
Speaker 1: people talk about how an accomplishment doesn't change your life,

1150
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:20,840
Speaker 1: I actually just I mean, in my experience, it did,

1151
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:24,680
Speaker 1: and I think it's because the motivation was so intrinsic

1152
00:56:24,719 --> 00:56:28,000
Speaker 1: and it was something I truly only did for myself.

1153
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:34,000
Speaker 3: You're like, I respectfully disagree. The pinnacle of everything I

1154
00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:36,600
Speaker 3: wanted to be when you were an eight year old girl,

1155
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,480
Speaker 3: that's what you thought. Someone comes to your Instagram page

1156
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:46,640
Speaker 3: right now, they see this gold medalist, Olympic cyclist, National champion.

1157
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:51,040
Speaker 3: When you look in the mirror, now, though, what is

1158
00:56:51,080 --> 00:56:52,719
Speaker 3: it that you see looking back?

1159
00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:59,480
Speaker 1: At you, Kristen, I see someone who is very courageous

1160
00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:04,760
Speaker 1: and has a lot of grit and really trust herself

1161
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:10,920
Speaker 1: and believes in herself, and someone who really knows what

1162
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:13,200
Speaker 1: she wants in life and has the courage to go

1163
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:14,399
Speaker 1: do it.

1164
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:19,560
Speaker 3: I would be remiss before we wrap up here if

1165
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:23,680
Speaker 3: I didn't bring up what you just went through at

1166
00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:27,240
Speaker 3: the Tour de France Fem so recently making a difficult

1167
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:30,880
Speaker 3: decision to withdraw from the Tour de France fem on

1168
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:34,840
Speaker 3: January thirtieth, you wrote on Instagram after making this decision.

1169
00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 3: Most people get to choose what moments they share on

1170
00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:40,240
Speaker 3: social media. For us research, it's just our raw selves,

1171
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:42,240
Speaker 3: and we don't get to choose what the camera zoom

1172
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,840
Speaker 3: in on or what people see. It's beautiful, it's messy,

1173
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,720
Speaker 3: it's real, and I hope it's relatable and reminds people

1174
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:52,120
Speaker 3: that even the strongest struggle, whether you're an Olympic medalist

1175
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:55,720
Speaker 3: or not. It's interesting now to read that after our

1176
00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 3: conversation and think that there were so many times where

1177
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:01,560
Speaker 3: cameras weren't around, and now they are there and they're

1178
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:05,680
Speaker 3: capturing this for you, the good, the bad, the difficult,

1179
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:07,000
Speaker 3: the highs the lows.

1180
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,280
Speaker 2: Is it a good thing? Is a bad thing? What

1181
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:10,920
Speaker 2: do you think?

1182
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 1: I think it's both. You know, when there's no cameras,

1183
00:58:14,320 --> 00:58:16,880
Speaker 1: you want people to see the good moments, and when

1184
00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:18,760
Speaker 1: there are cameras, you don't want people to see the

1185
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:22,560
Speaker 1: bad moments. And I think it's true. It's not good

1186
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:25,280
Speaker 1: or bad. It's messy. It's just real. And it's the

1187
00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:27,880
Speaker 1: same way we view people. I don't think people are

1188
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:30,280
Speaker 1: good or bad. I think people are everything in between.

1189
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:33,160
Speaker 1: And when the camera's on you, people go from not

1190
00:58:33,200 --> 00:58:36,200
Speaker 1: seeing you at all to seeing all of you, and

1191
00:58:36,600 --> 00:58:38,920
Speaker 1: that is good. It is bad, it is messy, it

1192
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,000
Speaker 1: is everything in between. And I think one of the

1193
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,560
Speaker 1: biggest changes in my life since the Olympics is having

1194
00:58:44,720 --> 00:58:50,600
Speaker 1: to come to terms with the fact that I don't

1195
00:58:50,640 --> 00:58:53,520
Speaker 1: always have a say now on when the cameras are

1196
00:58:53,560 --> 00:58:56,040
Speaker 1: on me and my life that was so private and

1197
00:58:56,080 --> 00:59:00,680
Speaker 1: so personal for so long no longer is, And knowing

1198
00:59:00,720 --> 00:59:05,560
Speaker 1: that the authenticity that I always wanted to be seen

1199
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:09,040
Speaker 1: for I'm now seen for. But it includes the good

1200
00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:12,760
Speaker 1: and the bad, and so yeah, I think it's not good,

1201
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:14,480
Speaker 1: it's not bad, it's everything in between.

1202
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:18,080
Speaker 3: How's the pressure now after winning that Olympic goal. Do

1203
00:59:18,160 --> 00:59:20,160
Speaker 3: you feel like it's different when you show up to

1204
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:21,800
Speaker 3: a competition.

1205
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:25,680
Speaker 1: Yes, But I think the biggest thing is that there's

1206
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:31,720
Speaker 1: just more media on me, but people don't always that

1207
00:59:31,720 --> 00:59:34,480
Speaker 1: doesn't cerrely mean they know me any better. And so,

1208
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,080
Speaker 1: you know, one example, going into the Tour de France,

1209
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:41,520
Speaker 1: I was really sick, and I think people had all

1210
00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:43,920
Speaker 1: these cameras on me, and they saw me struggling, and

1211
00:59:43,920 --> 00:59:45,959
Speaker 1: they saw me crying, they saw me not feeling well.

1212
00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:49,440
Speaker 1: And yet you know, there's things that cameras see and

1213
00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:53,360
Speaker 1: the things that cameras don't see. And the week before

1214
00:59:53,400 --> 00:59:55,280
Speaker 1: the tour when I was really struggling and I was

1215
00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:57,040
Speaker 1: sick and I wasn't sure if I should race, and

1216
00:59:57,080 --> 00:59:59,800
Speaker 1: the contemplating, and there's just more scrutiny on me, but

1217
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,520
Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily mean people understand me better. And so

1218
01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:06,560
Speaker 1: it's been difficult for me to go from being unknown

1219
01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:10,240
Speaker 1: to widely known, and yet the ability to share my

1220
01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:14,040
Speaker 1: story and myself hasn't fully caught up with that media attention,

1221
01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:17,400
Speaker 1: you know, so I still feel like there's a lot

1222
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:20,760
Speaker 1: of parts in me that people don't know. And how

1223
01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:24,040
Speaker 1: can I build And I think building my brand sounds

1224
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:26,360
Speaker 1: like a very political thing to say, like a very

1225
01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:28,880
Speaker 1: social media influencer, but it's like, how do I share

1226
01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:34,320
Speaker 1: myself with the world? And because that takes time, right,

1227
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:37,120
Speaker 1: and yet I haven't had much time since the Olympics,

1228
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 1: and so there's cameras on me without I haven't I

1229
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:42,560
Speaker 1: want to publish a book. I haven't published a book

1230
01:00:42,560 --> 01:00:44,120
Speaker 1: about my story. I haven't. You know, There's only so

1231
01:00:44,200 --> 01:00:46,520
Speaker 1: much I can share in this short time frame. The

1232
01:00:47,080 --> 01:00:52,200
Speaker 1: biggest hurdle is just sometimes you can feel widely known

1233
01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:53,640
Speaker 1: but misunderstood at the same time.

1234
01:00:54,640 --> 01:00:55,680
Speaker 2: What do you want them to know?

1235
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:58,480
Speaker 3: I know that there's a lot and we could talk

1236
01:00:58,520 --> 01:01:02,320
Speaker 3: about it forever, but if you had to really pinpoint

1237
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,680
Speaker 3: what it is that you want people to know about you,

1238
01:01:05,680 --> 01:01:08,240
Speaker 3: your heart, your character, what would you say that is?

1239
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:09,880
Speaker 1: I think I want people to know who I am

1240
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:12,000
Speaker 1: off the bike, you know, and not just what my

1241
01:01:12,040 --> 01:01:14,200
Speaker 1: resume says, like, yes, I'm this Harvard grad who worked

1242
01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:17,640
Speaker 1: in finance and won Togle Medals, but like the things

1243
01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:21,040
Speaker 1: that that's part of what I see when I look

1244
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:23,680
Speaker 1: in the mirror. But I also see someone who's very

1245
01:01:23,720 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 1: compassionate and who's very fun loving, and who likes to

1246
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:31,120
Speaker 1: crack jokes, and I'm very sweet and playful with my friends.

1247
01:01:31,160 --> 01:01:34,160
Speaker 1: And I love the outdoors and I have a sarcastic

1248
01:01:34,200 --> 01:01:39,320
Speaker 1: sense of humor, and I love to grow my own vegetables,

1249
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:41,760
Speaker 1: and like, I want to be a farmer one day,

1250
01:01:41,880 --> 01:01:45,280
Speaker 1: and like, those are the kinds of things that I

1251
01:01:45,320 --> 01:01:49,360
Speaker 1: sometimes feel. I don't feel offended that people only know

1252
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:53,640
Speaker 1: me for my accomplishments, but sometimes the hard part about

1253
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:55,640
Speaker 1: being in the public eye is that you're known for

1254
01:01:55,680 --> 01:01:58,760
Speaker 1: the things that don't necessarily make you you to the

1255
01:01:58,800 --> 01:01:59,880
Speaker 1: people who love you most.

1256
01:02:00,320 --> 01:02:04,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I'm down to garden at some point if

1257
01:02:04,040 --> 01:02:07,680
Speaker 3: you want to do that together. Although I'll admit, being

1258
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:11,120
Speaker 3: a fourteen year resident of New York, I don't necessarily

1259
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:14,680
Speaker 3: have a green thumb myself. But your Alaska background should

1260
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:17,040
Speaker 3: help us both because.

1261
01:02:16,840 --> 01:02:18,640
Speaker 1: Sar with tomatoes, they're pretty low maintenance.

1262
01:02:18,720 --> 01:02:19,680
Speaker 2: Perfect, perfect.

1263
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:22,200
Speaker 3: Well, I'm so glad that we have the opportunity to

1264
01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:23,680
Speaker 3: sit down together today.

1265
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:25,520
Speaker 2: It's been such a long time coming.

1266
01:02:25,880 --> 01:02:29,160
Speaker 3: Right now, Kristin, you have an opportunity to offer yourself

1267
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:31,600
Speaker 3: a piece of advice. I want to go back to

1268
01:02:31,920 --> 01:02:36,200
Speaker 3: when you made that difficult decision to walk away from

1269
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:37,160
Speaker 3: your full.

1270
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:41,560
Speaker 2: Time job in finance and uproot to Europe.

1271
01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:44,800
Speaker 3: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give

1272
01:02:44,840 --> 01:02:46,640
Speaker 3: yourself during that hurdle moment?

1273
01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:50,680
Speaker 1: Trust your gut. I think we all really deeply know

1274
01:02:50,720 --> 01:02:52,840
Speaker 1: what we want in life and what we need, and

1275
01:02:53,360 --> 01:02:56,200
Speaker 1: it's really really hard to turn off the noise around us,

1276
01:02:56,240 --> 01:03:00,880
Speaker 1: the expectations around us, and sometimes we need to really

1277
01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:04,280
Speaker 1: ask ourselves how we feel about something like how does

1278
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:07,959
Speaker 1: this idea make me feel? And I wish we spent

1279
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: more time sitting with our feelings Like this sounds sounds

1280
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:14,960
Speaker 1: the lame, but like I wish we spent more time

1281
01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:17,800
Speaker 1: learning how to listen to our bodies and to our

1282
01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:21,560
Speaker 1: feelings and use that to guide us. And I think

1283
01:03:21,600 --> 01:03:23,560
Speaker 1: for me, I always knew what I wanted, but I

1284
01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:25,680
Speaker 1: struggled to come to terms with it and accept it.

1285
01:03:26,360 --> 01:03:28,560
Speaker 1: And you know, in in terms of leaving my job,

1286
01:03:28,600 --> 01:03:31,960
Speaker 1: it took me years to fully come to that acceptance

1287
01:03:32,120 --> 01:03:32,880
Speaker 1: of what I wanted.

1288
01:03:33,360 --> 01:03:35,080
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more.

1289
01:03:35,640 --> 01:03:37,840
Speaker 3: I could have definitely used a class on thinking about

1290
01:03:37,840 --> 01:03:39,680
Speaker 3: my feelings a lot more than I could have used

1291
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:44,720
Speaker 3: a class on statistics at Yukon. And again, I'm just

1292
01:03:44,760 --> 01:03:46,360
Speaker 3: so happy that we have this chance to sit down

1293
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:47,880
Speaker 3: and yeah for a bit, Kristin.

1294
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:48,479
Speaker 2: For those that.

1295
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:51,320
Speaker 3: Aren't following along with you just yet, where do they

1296
01:03:51,400 --> 01:03:54,040
Speaker 3: get to know more about you on the internets?

1297
01:03:54,040 --> 01:03:54,960
Speaker 2: Give me the details.

1298
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Speaker 1: You can find me on Instagram. I'm Arctic Fox A

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Speaker 1: R C T C F A U O K S.

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Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast. Another

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Speaker 3: Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.