July 9, 2024 • 40 mins
Take a listen as we talk with Brenna Detra’s story from multi-sport athlete to Professional Runner. Brenna shares her incredible journey from excelling in 300 hurdles, volleyball, and softball in high school to competing in 400 hurdles at the University of Wisconsin. Go Badgers! Now a pro in the 800m, Brenna credits her multi-sport background for helping her avoid burnout and strengthen her body.
Brenna opens up about the challenges she faced transitioning from high school to college, especially the pressure of being a scholarship athlete. She discusses the financial importance of her scholarship in easing the burden on her single mom. Brenna also reflects on a difficult conversation with three male coaches after a rocky freshman year, highlighting the need for more female representation in coaching staff and a shift towards seeing athletes as people, not commodities.
Proudly graduating from Wisconsin, Brenna talks about the mental shift that helped her succeed and expresses gratitude for the resources available at the university. She also delves into the challenges of transitioning to professional running while working full-time at Oracle and self-funding her career until she secured sponsorship with Oiselle, A BY WOMEN FOR WOMEN BRAND!
Tune in to Episode 1 of this two-part series to hear Brenna’s inspiring story of perseverance, growth, and triumph.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:09):
Welcome to Peak, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by girls in sport for girls and coaches in sport.
We're here to amplify your voice. It deserves to be heard.
At Peak, we are a safe place for girls to hang out, learn, grow, and build community.
We empower girls in sport and coaches with knowledge, resources,
(00:32):
and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
Join us for bold conversation about experiences of girls in sport.
Our discussions will make you laugh, cry, cheer, get frustrated,
and hopefully rethink the future of girls in sport for generations to come.
So whether you're walking, commuting, or cleaning your bedroom, take us with you.
(00:57):
Follow us, check out our website, consider making a donation and make sure you
share with a girl in sport and coach you love.
Now, a little bit about our next guest.
I am super excited to have Brenna Detra on as our first professional athlete as a girl in sport.
(01:18):
She has had an amazing and accomplished career.
She ran starting at Peoria Victoria Richwood's high school. I think that is correct.
I know she participated in a variety of sports, including basketball.
She was a state hurdler. And what's really interesting when she transitioned
(01:39):
to University of Wisconsin, she went from the 300 hurdles to the 400 hurdles.
But now as a professional runner, she has migrated to the 800.
So I can't wait to hear about that transition with her.
But I will tell you, the thing that impresses me most about Brenna is I've sat
(02:00):
back and watched her for quite a while now.
I've really appreciated her drive, her ambition, her candidness.
She's really opened with people that follow her on social media.
I also am connected to her just a little through her grandmother and her mother.
And I just love the vulnerable the vulnerability that they
(02:23):
have with each other so i want her to share all of that and what has made her
tick and survive and what is kind of a card profession and talk a little bit
about that so i don't want to spend any more time talking i want to go ahead
and get warmed up Brenna,
are you ready? Yes, I'm ready.
(02:44):
Awesome. Okay. Cat or dog? Dog.
Beach or mountain? I'm a beach girl for sure.
Nice. Four-star hotel or camping? Four-star hotel.
Podcast or Netflix?
Ooh, probably Netflix. Love it. Is there anything you're currently watching on Netflix?
(03:11):
I think a new movie just came out called Family Matters with Zac Efron and Nicole
Kidman. So that is what I'm currently watching.
Nice. And we watched it last night. I loved it.
Not sure my husband was all in, but I was all in. Okay.
This is one I haven't asked yet, but I'm really excited to ask you track workout
(03:35):
or long run track workout.
It's kind of what I figured, but I thought I would ask.
So first of all, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time
out of your very, very full schedule to give back to our community.
(03:56):
So from the bottom of my heart, I really want to thank you.
Oh, no problem. I appreciate you asking me to do this. I'm very excited to be
on and share a little bit of my story.
And I always appreciate fans and people that have followed me through my whole
journey because it has not been easy.
So thank you very much for letting me tell my story. Yeah, it has not been easy.
(04:19):
And we're going to get back to it. You just might finish it,
Eugene, but I don't want to start there.
I do want to kind of start at the beginning or what would be the middle school athletics.
Tell us a little bit about what sport meant to you in middle school and high school.
Yeah. So I guess in middle school, I just feel like anytime I touched a ball
(04:41):
or I played a sport, I was just naturally really good at it.
And it came very easy to me as a kid.
And I also loved the competitiveness of being able to go out there and win a
game or perform to the best of my ability and really excel at it.
And as I got older and moved into high school, obviously, every level that you
(05:04):
move to, it gets harder and harder.
But when I got to high school, and I realized, oh, you know,
just as good or I might have a future in one of these sports and I can go to college,
it really started to become real for me and really started to become a goal
of mine to be the best that I could be in whatever sport I did.
And I actually had to cut one of my sports going from middle school to college.
(05:27):
They wanted me to play softball in high school.
But as many know, high school softball is the same time as high school track.
So ultimately, he chose track and did basketball and volleyball in the other seasons. So yeah.
Oh my gosh. So let, I want to sit here for just a little bit because something
that's been really consistent, we've talked to several D1 athletes at this point.
(05:51):
And interestingly enough, something they talked about that allowed them to have
longevity and not burn out was participating in a variety of sports.
Do you think that's something that helped you also? so? I actually do.
When I was in high school, I thought about doing cross country as well and then
(06:12):
not doing volleyball for one year.
And I went to a practice and they made us run, I'll never forget,
from Richwoods to this golf course. And it was about like two and a half miles.
And I got back and I was like, I'm not going to do that again.
And my coaches were completely fine with it. They saw the value in doing volleyball
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and there's obviously different benefits to playing, playing different sports
like plyometrics, just getting, working different muscle groups.
And I had also spoken to my college coach and he was, he said,
I think it's important that you do different sports and track will be there when it's there.
So yeah, it was actually, I, I do think it's contributed to being able now I'm
(06:54):
28 to be in the sport for so long and not peak so early,
I guess you should say, and being able to still have a higher ceiling every
year that I'm running track and field. So I definitely think it helped. Yes.
Yeah, I love that. So 300 hurdles, which by the way, I think is the hardest
event in track and three and you were the state champ, correct?
(07:17):
Yes, twice, actually, my sophomore year, my senior year in high school.
Nice. And were you, at that point, when you were going through being recruited,
I'm assuming schools were starting to come to you, right? What did that process look like?
Yes. So my first two years, I really was just getting a bunch of letters because
(07:39):
they couldn't contact me yet.
So I was getting a bunch of letters from big schools and I wonder if my mom
still has them, I should ask her.
And then my junior year, I started
to take what they're called unofficial visits to different schools.
And then obviously senior year, I had already committed to the University of Wisconsin.
(07:59):
So my junior year, they, I think there was a push to recruit early and get athletes
locked in early to start building a strong team, especially around the sprints at Wisconsin.
So they had offered me a full ride at the beginning of my junior year.
And I felt like it was just something that I couldn't pass up.
(08:20):
And I knew track and field, they offered partial scholarships and I didn't want
my mom to have to worry about paying a a penny of my education.
And obviously, Wisconsin's a great school. So I locked in my decision pretty
early in my high school career.
That's incredible. And then the switch then from high school to college is you
(08:40):
go from the 300 hurdles to the 400 hurdles.
Is that correct? Yes, that's correct.
There's like two states that do the 400 hurdles in high school,
but Illinois is not one of them.
Yeah, I didn't think so. Yeah. So and was that a big transition for you or not really?
I would say not really just because I pretty much did every event from the 400
(09:02):
down when I was in high school.
So I think my junior year, I did the 400 flat because I was actually hurt the whole season.
I had a stress fracture in my shin and we just kind of felt like running over
hurdles was just putting more pressure on it.
So I elected to do the 400 flat at to get some experience there.
(09:22):
So I actually think in hindsight, it all kind of worked out and wasn't that
big of a transition for me in college.
Yeah. So, and stress fracture from, I mean, was it like a one-time thing?
Because I don't recall you being injured a ton in high school. Is that correct?
That is correct. I think it was definitely a one-time thing my junior year,
(09:43):
just a stress fracture in my shin.
I don't think it had anything to do with, I guess, eating or not not feeling
well, or probably a little bit of overtraining or my body not being used to
the volume that I was doing.
Because I was doing four different events, long jump hurdles,
sprints, and then I was doing basketball in the winter and then volleyball in the fall, obviously.
(10:05):
So I think it was an accumulation of all of that. And then being a high school
student, you don't really know how to recover or take it seriously.
So my doctor was It was like, you're going to be fine. You just take your four
weeks off. And it was never an issue after that. So, yeah.
Yeah. And thanks for circling back and talking about the nutrition piece, because obviously in.
(10:26):
Track and field and running, you know, body image, you know,
issues with eating, loss of period.
I mean, it is an epidemic in our sport.
You know, I coach high school cross country, work with track and field athletes,
and I see it up close and personal.
Why do you think you weren't plagued with that?
Well, I would say I just always loved to eat. And I never saw food as kind of an enemy.
(10:56):
And being around people with eating disorders in college, I just saw how it
became kind of an enemy to them.
And if they put something in their bodies that they felt wasn't helping them,
it was sort of a loss of control with their performance. And I never saw it as that.
I was very adamant that food is fuel.
And the more you feel yourself and the more healthy you are in your body,
(11:21):
that your performance will eventually get to the place that you want it to be.
And I also think nutrition or being under fueled can lead to a quick fix on the track.
So you see a lot of athletes who start eating less or they lose a lot of weight
and they have success for a short period of time and then you never hear from them again.
(11:43):
And I never wanted that to be me. I wanted to always be able to control how
healthy I was throughout the season and every single year just being able to
run. Because at the end of the day, if you're not able to run,
then what's the point of all of this?
So just being, priding myself on being healthy and knowing that fuel and nutrition
is a big part of performance, I think really helped me.
(12:04):
So yeah I agree and
that's you know good for you and to you know
not to know that intuitively I'm assuming
you had to had a pretty good support system also with people who were also encouraging
you to fuel and to eat what about the other things what about like rest and
(12:24):
sleep and social life I mean was there help in those arenas too or were those
things that came also naturally to you.
Yeah. And I guess I want to add to coming from a sprinter's background,
you don't see as many eating disorders, I guess, in sprinters.
So maybe that also kind of contributed to my mindset, especially moving towards the 800.
(12:48):
But definitely my mom and my family, we've never had any issues eating.
We eat whatever we want to eat. And body image, I've had abs since I was a kid.
So it's never been like, I need to eat less or I need to eat super healthy to get abs.
So that probably helped a little bit of physiological benefit as well.
(13:10):
But yeah, rest. And I forgot what the other thing you said was.
Yeah, sleep, recovery, and then just also just enrichment things outside of
sport that keep you fueled.
Yeah. So rest is very, very important And I wasn't always super focused on that.
But now I have to get eight to 10 hours of sleep or, you know,
(13:32):
my workout is just trash the next day.
And then outside of sport, I really try to keep it lighthearted and kind of
disconnect from running just because it does take up a lot of your time while you're doing it.
And if you're always focused on running or like what you can do more the next
day, then I think it takes a lot of your mental energy.
(13:53):
So I really try to focus on like other things that give me a lot of life,
like my family time or vacations.
I really enjoy going out to like new restaurants and trying new things and meeting
new people, indulging in different sports and, you know, gaining a lot of confidence
from people who are doing really hard things outside of running.
(14:16):
And I think all of those things contribute to having a healthy relationship with running.
And I also work a full-time job for Oracle.
And then I did a year of law school in 2021 during the pandemic.
And I think just always having an outlet.
And the flip side of that, people kind of see those things as having a plan B and C.
And if you have other plans, then your plan A will never work.
(14:38):
But I actually disagree.
I think running, you need those outlets because if something isn't going as
well or you don't have the year that you imagined,
it becomes a very hard, I guess, toxic circle and you can't get out of it because
running is your whole life.
So I think it's very important to have other outlets and things going on in your life.
(15:00):
Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, that is one of the things that we've done
at peak as we were putting our content together.
We've done a ton of research And we're relying on, you know,
meta-analysis and people who are in the trenches looking at,
the data. And the data supports exactly what you said is that enrichment or
(15:21):
fueling yourself outside of sport is beneficial.
And interestingly enough, and I don't want to skip through to where you're at
now, because I still have things I want to talk about.
But the interesting piece is, is that we know that if we can keep girls in sport,
and one of the things that keeps girls in sport is having outside interests,
(15:44):
that they perform better in the workplace,
they're more collaborative, they have more leadership skills.
So it's just interesting, because it does become this full circle thing.
So all those things that you're talking about, actually support the fact that
you are successful, both in sport and in, you know, corporate America,
(16:05):
which is, you know, interesting, right? Right.
Yeah. So, okay. So is your, is you moved from high school to college?
Was college an easy transition for you? Did it feel natural?
You were there for four years. So obviously you never transferred.
The school had to have been a good fit. Did you find your tribe,
(16:25):
that type of thing? Talk to us about that.
Yeah, I actually did five years. Right. Yeah, it does get kind of lost.
And the sauce is confusing now with COVID years and people staying a lot longer
than I could imagine in college.
But yeah, my transition from high school to college was not easy by any means.
(16:45):
My freshman year was really, really, really hard for me. And I don't know...
If that was because it was just another level and everybody was so much better
than you, probably a little bit of everything.
But I came in as a freshman. Our coach had just left. So we had a new coach.
So that was the first thing that was different and new, something I wasn't expecting.
(17:08):
But then you have all of these obligations. You have to go to class.
You have to go to lift. You have to go to practice. You have to recover.
You have to do all these things as an 18-year-old. and you're kind of like,
oh, but I want to be in college.
I want to have fun. I want to go out or I want to enjoy other sports.
And it was just hard. It was hard being away from family. It was hard adjusting.
(17:32):
And when I first started competing my freshman year, my times obviously weren't
where they were supposed to be. I was feeling very homesick.
And after my freshman year, you know, and obviously I had the added pressure
of being on a full ride scholarship and keeping my scholarship because back
in the day, they don't have the rules that they do now.
(17:53):
You could get your scholarship taken for not performing well.
That would be it. You would just leave. And that was it.
And at the end of my freshman year, they sat me down and they were like, you need to perform.
You need to get fifth place at big tens or higher. You're not going to come back next year.
And that really just scared me, honestly. And you have like,
(18:16):
the coaches at the time, there's four grown men, you know, in a room talking
to you and you're just like, okay, well, thanks.
I guess I'll just go out and run and try. You know, I had a decision to make. Like I either,
get my bootstraps on and perform, or I could just leave and come back home.
And I knew coming back home wasn't an option for me and wasn't going to work.
(18:39):
And so that's what happened. I basically just got it together.
I started focusing on me and my performance. I started recovering,
taking my recovery seriously, getting a routine down with classes.
And eventually, I figured it out.
And sophomore year to junior year, I would say is when I started to realize,
(19:01):
okay, this is, I can do this.
Like freshman year, everybody adjusts, everybody has an adjustment period.
And eventually I was able to get fifth place or higher at big tens or whatever
he had said to me. So it did work out.
I don't think I would have done it any different. I'm very much a person that
the grass isn't always greener.
(19:21):
I felt like I was at, I was in a great position at Wisconsin and I didn't think
that there was a better situation out there.
I mean, who knows hindsight's 2020, but I decided to stick it out and very proud
of being a Badger and graduating from Wisconsin. So yeah.
Yeah. So there was a lot there.
(19:42):
So yes, I know. So I, you, you talk and I just, I'm curious and the interesting
piece about when we do these podcasts, there's no like pre-prep.
I do not know the answer to what you're going to say here.
When you talked about four men talking to you, is it hard to be a girl in sport coached by only men?
(20:04):
Oh, 100%. I mean, it's intimidating.
I was in a room with, you know, four older men who didn't really know me as a person, I felt like.
And they were just kind of, I guess, money hungry. And, you know,
they want to get an investment out of me.
So I felt very much like an investment to them and not that they cared about me as a person.
(20:27):
And I'm not saying that to say that women would be any different because across
the board, college coaching is a very hard business.
But I just think that it was very hard for an 18-year-old to hear and kind of respond to.
And eventually, he did say that it was just to scare me.
But it's like, why should I have to hear this?
(20:49):
And, you know, there's a way to deliver this or maybe just how would you check on me?
Or you, I don't know, there was just ways to handle it. And I think,
I think now that has actually changed as well, like the mental health at the
collegiate level for athletes and the pressure on athletes.
And so, yeah, I mean, unfortunately I had to be a guinea pig,
I guess, or I had to go through that at the time that I did,
(21:10):
but it's encouraging to see that things have changed and there's more focus
on mental health and the pressure that.
Athletes go through in college. So. Yeah.
I agree. I do think especially female athletes and especially in sports like
track and field or tennis or swimming that are less notable sports,
(21:34):
for lack of a better word, not that every college athlete isn't undergoing pressure.
I don't I don't want to minimize that it is a tremendous amount of effort at every single level.
But I do think that some of the sports that don't get as much,
you know, eyes on them, you know, it is a little different.
And there are not as many it's interesting that you said, would it have been
(21:58):
different with a woman, I do think women communicate differently with each other.
And because it is so new, there is a power dynamic with four men talking to an 18-year-old girl.
I mean, there is a power dynamic there. So I think you're right.
I think we're doing a better job. I think we have a long way to go.
(22:20):
Yeah, I agree 100%.
Yeah. So in the mental health, I don't want to skate over that.
I agree. I think we're doing a better job at both the high school and the collegiate
level talking to athletes about both mental and physical health.
But some of what I'm afraid is happening with mental health is that we're talking
(22:45):
about it, but we're not really doing anything about it, meaning we're not pointing
people towards resources.
Do you feel that also or do you think I'm off there?
Like you feel you feel like it's being kind of swept under the rug and like
we talk about it but nothing's being nothing's being put in action.
(23:07):
I think we're talking about it and there's a lack of resources still.
Right, right. I mean, I don't think you're off base at all. I think you're spot on.
I mean, Wisconsin, obviously, in any big major conference school,
they probably have a little more resources than other schools.
And in college, what's the good thing about that is everything is at your fingertips.
(23:31):
You have your PT, your athletic trainers, your counselors, they're all right there.
And then I think post-collegiately, when you're out in the real world,
that's when the resources are absolute.
How can you do that? How do you support yourself? How do you find a counselor?
There's just certain things that aren't at your fingertips or at your disposal post-collegiately.
(23:56):
And I agree with you on that. I mean, there are counselors out there,
but if you don't have medical insurance or you you don't have the funds to be
able to talk to someone or see someone, it can be very, very limiting.
And what are your options?
I agree with you.
(24:16):
The lack of resources is definitely an issue and it can just become overwhelming
because you want to get help.
You want to talk to somebody, but there's just no way for you to be able to.
So I'm not sure how we change that or how we can make that better for athletes.
Yeah. Let's talk about that. You had the professional piece.
So you went from college and you turned pro, you know, and again,
(24:39):
not easy because you are working a full-time job.
I know that you, Wazelle, you're sponsored by them now, which is super cool.
Yeah. You know, transitioned to the 800, which was a big transition from hurdles.
You just got through with the Olympic trials last week, which I know is your second Olympic trials.
So talk a little bit about just the transition to the pros and what that has looked like.
(25:05):
Oh, man. So it's been hard.
I mean, it's very similar to college. Like the first year in your pro world is just difficult.
And I decided I was very naive to professional running.
I had no clue that this could be a job for me.
And my first year I moved out to Boston and I got away and ran for BAA my first
(25:31):
four years and I felt like the 800 made more sense with resources.
I felt like the hurdles I would have to... I would need a coach there every
single day and I was working a full-time job. So I'm like, there's probably...
No way I could do this. But the 800, if I have to go for a run,
I can go for a run. If I have to do a workout, I can do a workout on my own.
(25:52):
So that kind of made the transition a little bit easier.
But I went to a professional race indoors my first year and I saw what women
were running and I was like, oh my goodness, like this is a full-time job.
Like I can do this if I want to, like if I have the option to,
this is, this is really cool.
(26:13):
I feel like I wasn't even close to my ceiling in college. And obviously I had
like my knee injury I was coming back from.
So I would say my first like two or three years, it was really hard because I didn't have a sponsor.
I was doing, I was paying for everything out of pocket. I was paying for travel,
physio, obviously all of the
horror stories you hear about unsponsored athletes. It's very, very true.
(26:35):
It's very, very hard, but I, I wanted it bad enough that I felt like all of
that monetary expense that I was spending was worth it.
And for like a minute of glory, right? Like we train all year long for like
this one meet, this one championship race.
And it can be so, so devastating or it can be like the most fulfilling thing ever.
(26:58):
And I think that's what I crave the most is just if I put my head down and work
as hard as I can, then good things will happen.
So eventually when I started to kind of figure out the pro thing and I wasn't
as intimidated by competition and all of that, it got a lot better for me.
But I think everybody has to pay their dues at the professional level.
(27:18):
You have to be in the C or D heats. You have to run in these no-named local meets or whatever it is.
And then eventually you get your name out there and people start noticing you
and then you have your breakthrough, your big moment, I guess.
I am still waiting for that, but I have faith it'll happen.
So yeah. You're running a sub two in the 800, right? Yes.
(27:43):
Which is super impressive and have obviously been to some big meets.
And you do have how many sponsors now?
At least one I know of. Yeah, just Wazelle. Yeah. And how's that going?
What's that relationship with? An all women's company.
Super cool. It is. Super, super cool.
(28:03):
Shout out Wazelle. Yes. Wazelle.com. You guys can see my favorite items of clothing
on their website if you just search my name.
Yeah, so when they came to me last year and we began discussing potential sponsorship,
I was super, super excited because I felt like it really matched the story that
(28:24):
I wanted to tell being raised by a single mom and obviously being very women
in power focused and supportive. I was thrilled.
And it's just been amazing since then, just not having to worry about where
the money was going to come from to get to my next race or the money for physio and medical.
(28:45):
It's just been amazing. And it definitely takes your performance from one level
to the next because all of these athletes that are making teams have support
and have around the clock physio, around the clock care.
And it's just nice not having to worry about that. I mean, it's a big deal in
track and field, unfortunately.
We're the one sport, I always say, that takes everything into consideration. Everything matters.
(29:10):
You can't rely on other people. It's It's just yourself.
So it's been great. It's been great with Wazelle.
Nice. I'm so glad. I was so thrilled to see that. I am a huge fan, obviously.
You know, I believe in the power of women.
I believe that we need more women in sport at every level, not just athletes,
(29:33):
but coaches and physios and trainers and brands, you know, women brands that
are making sports bras and shoes.
And the fact that particularly in running, you're seeing much more of that because,
you know, running is a sport that literally anybody can go out and do.
So it's so important, I think, for girls to be able to see that anything is possible.
(29:57):
And I love that there's companies out there supporting athletes like you,
that, you know, they're putting their, you know, they're, they're,
they're putting their brand, you know, in first and they're,
they're supporting athletes that make an impact.
And so I think that that's absolutely incredible.
Oh my gosh, excuse me. I love that you talked about your mom being raised by a single mom.
(30:23):
And I know you have a brother and a sister. Has your brother been to the Olympics, Special Olympics?
No, he hasn't, but he does run locally. I know it's so cute.
So cute. So I know I've seen him out there performing too. So,
and what about your little sister? Does she participate in sport?
(30:44):
Yes. So she's the polar opposite of me and she is so focused on cheerleading and dance.
Yeah. So it's kind of interesting. My mom's like, it's so different.
I'm not going to go to like another basketball game, but I'll go watch her cheer.
So that's awesome. Well, good. And that's so cool.
But you can tell though, too, shout out to your mom, you know,
(31:06):
raising kids that are allowed to explore their own passions and values.
That says a lot about her.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. My mind lets us do whatever we want. I was always supportive.
And yeah, has been like that since I obviously was born. So super cool.
Well, I could talk to you absolutely forever.
(31:28):
But I want to be super respectful of your time. I know you're going to your
second workout of the day.
And I know we want to make sure that we're being respectful to our audience
and keeping the content super digestible.
So I I hope you come back on because we didn't even talk about your ACL injury
or what you're doing in corporate America.
I have so much more I want to talk to you about, but this was absolutely filled
(31:51):
with so many incredible nuggets.
So are you ready to cool down a little bit? I am. Thank you.
Nice. Okay. So how about, what's your favorite pump me up song?
Oh man. I, someone else asked me this the other day.
I, I don't really have a pump-me-up song necessarily that's a super fast song.
(32:15):
I like to listen to a lot of R&B or a lot of mellow music because I read somewhere
a long time ago, if you listen to slow beats, it actually calms your heart rate down before a race.
So I guess if I had to pick, I've been really into Made For Me by Mooney Long.
(32:35):
I don't know if you guys know it, but But it can have me singing from the rooftops,
even though I may not be able to sing.
I love it. Sing like nobody's listening. I love it. Right. I mean,
you have to look that one up.
As a yoga instructor, I'm a big fan of that. Slow the heart rate down.
Don't speed it up. So I actually believe in that philosophy.
(32:56):
Okay. Who do you wish was portable enough to eat on a bus after competition?
Definitely Chipotle. lay. I, or like Mexican food, maybe tacos.
Like I love a good taco. That is just my favorite food ever.
So, and I feel like you can't really eat that on a bus. I'm not sure.
(33:20):
Yeah. Too messy. I agree. Um, best or worst advice a coach has ever given you. Oh, wow.
Best advice. Let me think. things. Sorry.
I know. I want to do both, actually. Do both. Okay.
Do both. Okay. Oh, man. Let me see.
(33:45):
Oh, I would say the best advice, and I kind of think about this daily,
is for the 800, you get out really hard the first 200.
And then you jog. She said, you jog for the next 400.
And then you only have 200 left. And I was like, yeah, OK. So maybe that's the
(34:06):
worst. We'll tag that as the worst advice.
Because I was like, thank you. But yeah, she told me this.
Now that that I said it, I was like, okay, that sounds ridiculous.
But she told me this a while ago and I was, and she was basically saying the
800 isn't as long as you think it is. And I'm like, oh man, that's long.
But so maybe the word that was the worst advice and the best advice I would say is, oh gosh, I know.
(34:31):
I don't really like running is so simple, but people make it so complicated.
So I'm just trying to think like, that's really good advice by the way. Yeah.
Maybe that's a, yeah, that, you know, you helped me out here.
My college coach always says you're running in circles. Like this is literally just running.
(34:51):
And I, that's good advice. That's good
enough for me because people try to overcomplicate it. So we'll use that.
I'm with you. We always say in our house, we joke, our oldest son is actually
a basketball coach, but he ran cross country just interestingly enough.
And he always said that runners are
are the people that don't have enough coordination to do anything else.
(35:12):
That's not you, but his advice is the same thing. Keep it simple.
All right. What do you want to leave our audience with?
I want you to have a minute just to summarize just because you've had so much
to say, but what would you tell your 15 year old self right now?
Oh yeah. That's such a good question.
(35:34):
I would probably tell my 15 year old self
to never let anybody tell you you
can't do something and never let anybody dictate your path to success I guess
because when you're growing up and going through all of these levels of running
there's going to be people that are going to try to say you know you're not
(35:55):
good enough or you should be doing this or you're doing this wrong or you need to do this.
And I just think flat out, they don't know. They don't know you as a person,
you as an athlete. And it can be really easy to get.
Internalize things that other people are saying when they really have no bearing
and no weight on what you can do and what you're what you are doing.
(36:16):
You're the one that has to go out there and run ultimately.
And I think as a young girl, I used to internalize a lot and what people would
tell me and it really took it to heart.
And I learned over the years that everything that they had said to me was either
wrong or ended up not being the case.
Like my injury, you know, they told me, you're going to be done running.
This is very serious. And I was like, what? No, whatever.
(36:40):
And I've been told, you need to go back to the hurdles or you're never going
to run faster than whatever time in the 800.
And I never could have imagined I would have broken two, but I always stuck
to my guns. And I always felt like if I worked hard enough, I could do it.
So definitely, that would be my advice is to just never let anybody tell you
that you're not good enough or you can't do it because you can.
(37:04):
And we can end with that. That was so, that was the perfect ending.
And before I kind of, you know, slow us all down, I really want to reiterate
how appreciative I am of your time. I know how valuable your time is.
And I am forever, ever grateful and will continue to be your biggest cheerleader. there.
(37:26):
So thanks again, everyone for checking in.
Don't forget to follow us, share our episodes, join us on our Instagram page
at peak train like a girl, take a minute to explore our website.
And we're going to make sure we drop the links to everything we talked about
today was L will drop you Brenna's Instagram link so you can follow her.
(37:49):
And if you're feeling inspired, consider Consider making a donation to PEAK.
We are driven by passion, not by sponsors.
Thanks so much for tuning in and we'll see you on the next podcast.
Music.
Music.
(00:09):
Welcome to Peak, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by girls in sport for girls and coaches in sport.
We're here to amplify your voice. It deserves to be heard.
At Peak, we are a safe place for girls to hang out, learn, grow, and build community.
We empower girls in sport and coaches with knowledge, resources,
(00:32):
and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
Join us for bold conversation about experiences of girls in sport.
Our discussions will make you laugh, cry, cheer, get frustrated,
and hopefully rethink the future of girls in sport for generations to come.
So whether you're walking, commuting, or cleaning your bedroom, take us with you.
(00:57):
Follow us, check out our website, consider making a donation and make sure you
share with a girl in sport and coach you love.
Now, a little bit about our next guest.
I am super excited to have Brenna Detra on as our first professional athlete as a girl in sport.
(01:18):
She has had an amazing and accomplished career.
She ran starting at Peoria Victoria Richwood's high school. I think that is correct.
I know she participated in a variety of sports, including basketball.
She was a state hurdler. And what's really interesting when she transitioned
(01:39):
to University of Wisconsin, she went from the 300 hurdles to the 400 hurdles.
But now as a professional runner, she has migrated to the 800.
So I can't wait to hear about that transition with her.
But I will tell you, the thing that impresses me most about Brenna is I've sat
(02:00):
back and watched her for quite a while now.
I've really appreciated her drive, her ambition, her candidness.
She's really opened with people that follow her on social media.
I also am connected to her just a little through her grandmother and her mother.
And I just love the vulnerable the vulnerability that they
(02:23):
have with each other so i want her to share all of that and what has made her
tick and survive and what is kind of a card profession and talk a little bit
about that so i don't want to spend any more time talking i want to go ahead
and get warmed up Brenna,
are you ready? Yes, I'm ready.
(02:44):
Awesome. Okay. Cat or dog? Dog.
Beach or mountain? I'm a beach girl for sure.
Nice. Four-star hotel or camping? Four-star hotel.
Podcast or Netflix?
Ooh, probably Netflix. Love it. Is there anything you're currently watching on Netflix?
(03:11):
I think a new movie just came out called Family Matters with Zac Efron and Nicole
Kidman. So that is what I'm currently watching.
Nice. And we watched it last night. I loved it.
Not sure my husband was all in, but I was all in. Okay.
This is one I haven't asked yet, but I'm really excited to ask you track workout
(03:35):
or long run track workout.
It's kind of what I figured, but I thought I would ask.
So first of all, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time
out of your very, very full schedule to give back to our community.
(03:56):
So from the bottom of my heart, I really want to thank you.
Oh, no problem. I appreciate you asking me to do this. I'm very excited to be
on and share a little bit of my story.
And I always appreciate fans and people that have followed me through my whole
journey because it has not been easy.
So thank you very much for letting me tell my story. Yeah, it has not been easy.
(04:19):
And we're going to get back to it. You just might finish it,
Eugene, but I don't want to start there.
I do want to kind of start at the beginning or what would be the middle school athletics.
Tell us a little bit about what sport meant to you in middle school and high school.
Yeah. So I guess in middle school, I just feel like anytime I touched a ball
(04:41):
or I played a sport, I was just naturally really good at it.
And it came very easy to me as a kid.
And I also loved the competitiveness of being able to go out there and win a
game or perform to the best of my ability and really excel at it.
And as I got older and moved into high school, obviously, every level that you
(05:04):
move to, it gets harder and harder.
But when I got to high school, and I realized, oh, you know,
just as good or I might have a future in one of these sports and I can go to college,
it really started to become real for me and really started to become a goal
of mine to be the best that I could be in whatever sport I did.
And I actually had to cut one of my sports going from middle school to college.
(05:27):
They wanted me to play softball in high school.
But as many know, high school softball is the same time as high school track.
So ultimately, he chose track and did basketball and volleyball in the other seasons. So yeah.
Oh my gosh. So let, I want to sit here for just a little bit because something
that's been really consistent, we've talked to several D1 athletes at this point.
(05:51):
And interestingly enough, something they talked about that allowed them to have
longevity and not burn out was participating in a variety of sports.
Do you think that's something that helped you also? so? I actually do.
When I was in high school, I thought about doing cross country as well and then
(06:12):
not doing volleyball for one year.
And I went to a practice and they made us run, I'll never forget,
from Richwoods to this golf course. And it was about like two and a half miles.
And I got back and I was like, I'm not going to do that again.
And my coaches were completely fine with it. They saw the value in doing volleyball
(06:33):
and there's obviously different benefits to playing, playing different sports
like plyometrics, just getting, working different muscle groups.
And I had also spoken to my college coach and he was, he said,
I think it's important that you do different sports and track will be there when it's there.
So yeah, it was actually, I, I do think it's contributed to being able now I'm
(06:54):
28 to be in the sport for so long and not peak so early,
I guess you should say, and being able to still have a higher ceiling every
year that I'm running track and field. So I definitely think it helped. Yes.
Yeah, I love that. So 300 hurdles, which by the way, I think is the hardest
event in track and three and you were the state champ, correct?
(07:17):
Yes, twice, actually, my sophomore year, my senior year in high school.
Nice. And were you, at that point, when you were going through being recruited,
I'm assuming schools were starting to come to you, right? What did that process look like?
Yes. So my first two years, I really was just getting a bunch of letters because
(07:39):
they couldn't contact me yet.
So I was getting a bunch of letters from big schools and I wonder if my mom
still has them, I should ask her.
And then my junior year, I started
to take what they're called unofficial visits to different schools.
And then obviously senior year, I had already committed to the University of Wisconsin.
(07:59):
So my junior year, they, I think there was a push to recruit early and get athletes
locked in early to start building a strong team, especially around the sprints at Wisconsin.
So they had offered me a full ride at the beginning of my junior year.
And I felt like it was just something that I couldn't pass up.
(08:20):
And I knew track and field, they offered partial scholarships and I didn't want
my mom to have to worry about paying a a penny of my education.
And obviously, Wisconsin's a great school. So I locked in my decision pretty
early in my high school career.
That's incredible. And then the switch then from high school to college is you
(08:40):
go from the 300 hurdles to the 400 hurdles.
Is that correct? Yes, that's correct.
There's like two states that do the 400 hurdles in high school,
but Illinois is not one of them.
Yeah, I didn't think so. Yeah. So and was that a big transition for you or not really?
I would say not really just because I pretty much did every event from the 400
(09:02):
down when I was in high school.
So I think my junior year, I did the 400 flat because I was actually hurt the whole season.
I had a stress fracture in my shin and we just kind of felt like running over
hurdles was just putting more pressure on it.
So I elected to do the 400 flat at to get some experience there.
(09:22):
So I actually think in hindsight, it all kind of worked out and wasn't that
big of a transition for me in college.
Yeah. So, and stress fracture from, I mean, was it like a one-time thing?
Because I don't recall you being injured a ton in high school. Is that correct?
That is correct. I think it was definitely a one-time thing my junior year,
(09:43):
just a stress fracture in my shin.
I don't think it had anything to do with, I guess, eating or not not feeling
well, or probably a little bit of overtraining or my body not being used to
the volume that I was doing.
Because I was doing four different events, long jump hurdles,
sprints, and then I was doing basketball in the winter and then volleyball in the fall, obviously.
(10:05):
So I think it was an accumulation of all of that. And then being a high school
student, you don't really know how to recover or take it seriously.
So my doctor was It was like, you're going to be fine. You just take your four
weeks off. And it was never an issue after that. So, yeah.
Yeah. And thanks for circling back and talking about the nutrition piece, because obviously in.
(10:26):
Track and field and running, you know, body image, you know,
issues with eating, loss of period.
I mean, it is an epidemic in our sport.
You know, I coach high school cross country, work with track and field athletes,
and I see it up close and personal.
Why do you think you weren't plagued with that?
Well, I would say I just always loved to eat. And I never saw food as kind of an enemy.
(10:56):
And being around people with eating disorders in college, I just saw how it
became kind of an enemy to them.
And if they put something in their bodies that they felt wasn't helping them,
it was sort of a loss of control with their performance. And I never saw it as that.
I was very adamant that food is fuel.
And the more you feel yourself and the more healthy you are in your body,
(11:21):
that your performance will eventually get to the place that you want it to be.
And I also think nutrition or being under fueled can lead to a quick fix on the track.
So you see a lot of athletes who start eating less or they lose a lot of weight
and they have success for a short period of time and then you never hear from them again.
(11:43):
And I never wanted that to be me. I wanted to always be able to control how
healthy I was throughout the season and every single year just being able to
run. Because at the end of the day, if you're not able to run,
then what's the point of all of this?
So just being, priding myself on being healthy and knowing that fuel and nutrition
is a big part of performance, I think really helped me.
(12:04):
So yeah I agree and
that's you know good for you and to you know
not to know that intuitively I'm assuming
you had to had a pretty good support system also with people who were also encouraging
you to fuel and to eat what about the other things what about like rest and
(12:24):
sleep and social life I mean was there help in those arenas too or were those
things that came also naturally to you.
Yeah. And I guess I want to add to coming from a sprinter's background,
you don't see as many eating disorders, I guess, in sprinters.
So maybe that also kind of contributed to my mindset, especially moving towards the 800.
(12:48):
But definitely my mom and my family, we've never had any issues eating.
We eat whatever we want to eat. And body image, I've had abs since I was a kid.
So it's never been like, I need to eat less or I need to eat super healthy to get abs.
So that probably helped a little bit of physiological benefit as well.
(13:10):
But yeah, rest. And I forgot what the other thing you said was.
Yeah, sleep, recovery, and then just also just enrichment things outside of
sport that keep you fueled.
Yeah. So rest is very, very important And I wasn't always super focused on that.
But now I have to get eight to 10 hours of sleep or, you know,
(13:32):
my workout is just trash the next day.
And then outside of sport, I really try to keep it lighthearted and kind of
disconnect from running just because it does take up a lot of your time while you're doing it.
And if you're always focused on running or like what you can do more the next
day, then I think it takes a lot of your mental energy.
(13:53):
So I really try to focus on like other things that give me a lot of life,
like my family time or vacations.
I really enjoy going out to like new restaurants and trying new things and meeting
new people, indulging in different sports and, you know, gaining a lot of confidence
from people who are doing really hard things outside of running.
(14:16):
And I think all of those things contribute to having a healthy relationship with running.
And I also work a full-time job for Oracle.
And then I did a year of law school in 2021 during the pandemic.
And I think just always having an outlet.
And the flip side of that, people kind of see those things as having a plan B and C.
And if you have other plans, then your plan A will never work.
(14:38):
But I actually disagree.
I think running, you need those outlets because if something isn't going as
well or you don't have the year that you imagined,
it becomes a very hard, I guess, toxic circle and you can't get out of it because
running is your whole life.
So I think it's very important to have other outlets and things going on in your life.
(15:00):
Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, that is one of the things that we've done
at peak as we were putting our content together.
We've done a ton of research And we're relying on, you know,
meta-analysis and people who are in the trenches looking at,
the data. And the data supports exactly what you said is that enrichment or
(15:21):
fueling yourself outside of sport is beneficial.
And interestingly enough, and I don't want to skip through to where you're at
now, because I still have things I want to talk about.
But the interesting piece is, is that we know that if we can keep girls in sport,
and one of the things that keeps girls in sport is having outside interests,
(15:44):
that they perform better in the workplace,
they're more collaborative, they have more leadership skills.
So it's just interesting, because it does become this full circle thing.
So all those things that you're talking about, actually support the fact that
you are successful, both in sport and in, you know, corporate America,
(16:05):
which is, you know, interesting, right? Right.
Yeah. So, okay. So is your, is you moved from high school to college?
Was college an easy transition for you? Did it feel natural?
You were there for four years. So obviously you never transferred.
The school had to have been a good fit. Did you find your tribe,
(16:25):
that type of thing? Talk to us about that.
Yeah, I actually did five years. Right. Yeah, it does get kind of lost.
And the sauce is confusing now with COVID years and people staying a lot longer
than I could imagine in college.
But yeah, my transition from high school to college was not easy by any means.
(16:45):
My freshman year was really, really, really hard for me. And I don't know...
If that was because it was just another level and everybody was so much better
than you, probably a little bit of everything.
But I came in as a freshman. Our coach had just left. So we had a new coach.
So that was the first thing that was different and new, something I wasn't expecting.
(17:08):
But then you have all of these obligations. You have to go to class.
You have to go to lift. You have to go to practice. You have to recover.
You have to do all these things as an 18-year-old. and you're kind of like,
oh, but I want to be in college.
I want to have fun. I want to go out or I want to enjoy other sports.
And it was just hard. It was hard being away from family. It was hard adjusting.
(17:32):
And when I first started competing my freshman year, my times obviously weren't
where they were supposed to be. I was feeling very homesick.
And after my freshman year, you know, and obviously I had the added pressure
of being on a full ride scholarship and keeping my scholarship because back
in the day, they don't have the rules that they do now.
(17:53):
You could get your scholarship taken for not performing well.
That would be it. You would just leave. And that was it.
And at the end of my freshman year, they sat me down and they were like, you need to perform.
You need to get fifth place at big tens or higher. You're not going to come back next year.
And that really just scared me, honestly. And you have like,
(18:16):
the coaches at the time, there's four grown men, you know, in a room talking
to you and you're just like, okay, well, thanks.
I guess I'll just go out and run and try. You know, I had a decision to make. Like I either,
get my bootstraps on and perform, or I could just leave and come back home.
And I knew coming back home wasn't an option for me and wasn't going to work.
(18:39):
And so that's what happened. I basically just got it together.
I started focusing on me and my performance. I started recovering,
taking my recovery seriously, getting a routine down with classes.
And eventually, I figured it out.
And sophomore year to junior year, I would say is when I started to realize,
(19:01):
okay, this is, I can do this.
Like freshman year, everybody adjusts, everybody has an adjustment period.
And eventually I was able to get fifth place or higher at big tens or whatever
he had said to me. So it did work out.
I don't think I would have done it any different. I'm very much a person that
the grass isn't always greener.
(19:21):
I felt like I was at, I was in a great position at Wisconsin and I didn't think
that there was a better situation out there.
I mean, who knows hindsight's 2020, but I decided to stick it out and very proud
of being a Badger and graduating from Wisconsin. So yeah.
Yeah. So there was a lot there.
(19:42):
So yes, I know. So I, you, you talk and I just, I'm curious and the interesting
piece about when we do these podcasts, there's no like pre-prep.
I do not know the answer to what you're going to say here.
When you talked about four men talking to you, is it hard to be a girl in sport coached by only men?
(20:04):
Oh, 100%. I mean, it's intimidating.
I was in a room with, you know, four older men who didn't really know me as a person, I felt like.
And they were just kind of, I guess, money hungry. And, you know,
they want to get an investment out of me.
So I felt very much like an investment to them and not that they cared about me as a person.
(20:27):
And I'm not saying that to say that women would be any different because across
the board, college coaching is a very hard business.
But I just think that it was very hard for an 18-year-old to hear and kind of respond to.
And eventually, he did say that it was just to scare me.
But it's like, why should I have to hear this?
(20:49):
And, you know, there's a way to deliver this or maybe just how would you check on me?
Or you, I don't know, there was just ways to handle it. And I think,
I think now that has actually changed as well, like the mental health at the
collegiate level for athletes and the pressure on athletes.
And so, yeah, I mean, unfortunately I had to be a guinea pig,
I guess, or I had to go through that at the time that I did,
(21:10):
but it's encouraging to see that things have changed and there's more focus
on mental health and the pressure that.
Athletes go through in college. So. Yeah.
I agree. I do think especially female athletes and especially in sports like
track and field or tennis or swimming that are less notable sports,
(21:34):
for lack of a better word, not that every college athlete isn't undergoing pressure.
I don't I don't want to minimize that it is a tremendous amount of effort at every single level.
But I do think that some of the sports that don't get as much,
you know, eyes on them, you know, it is a little different.
And there are not as many it's interesting that you said, would it have been
(21:58):
different with a woman, I do think women communicate differently with each other.
And because it is so new, there is a power dynamic with four men talking to an 18-year-old girl.
I mean, there is a power dynamic there. So I think you're right.
I think we're doing a better job. I think we have a long way to go.
(22:20):
Yeah, I agree 100%.
Yeah. So in the mental health, I don't want to skate over that.
I agree. I think we're doing a better job at both the high school and the collegiate
level talking to athletes about both mental and physical health.
But some of what I'm afraid is happening with mental health is that we're talking
(22:45):
about it, but we're not really doing anything about it, meaning we're not pointing
people towards resources.
Do you feel that also or do you think I'm off there?
Like you feel you feel like it's being kind of swept under the rug and like
we talk about it but nothing's being nothing's being put in action.
(23:07):
I think we're talking about it and there's a lack of resources still.
Right, right. I mean, I don't think you're off base at all. I think you're spot on.
I mean, Wisconsin, obviously, in any big major conference school,
they probably have a little more resources than other schools.
And in college, what's the good thing about that is everything is at your fingertips.
(23:31):
You have your PT, your athletic trainers, your counselors, they're all right there.
And then I think post-collegiately, when you're out in the real world,
that's when the resources are absolute.
How can you do that? How do you support yourself? How do you find a counselor?
There's just certain things that aren't at your fingertips or at your disposal post-collegiately.
(23:56):
And I agree with you on that. I mean, there are counselors out there,
but if you don't have medical insurance or you you don't have the funds to be
able to talk to someone or see someone, it can be very, very limiting.
And what are your options?
I agree with you.
(24:16):
The lack of resources is definitely an issue and it can just become overwhelming
because you want to get help.
You want to talk to somebody, but there's just no way for you to be able to.
So I'm not sure how we change that or how we can make that better for athletes.
Yeah. Let's talk about that. You had the professional piece.
So you went from college and you turned pro, you know, and again,
(24:39):
not easy because you are working a full-time job.
I know that you, Wazelle, you're sponsored by them now, which is super cool.
Yeah. You know, transitioned to the 800, which was a big transition from hurdles.
You just got through with the Olympic trials last week, which I know is your second Olympic trials.
So talk a little bit about just the transition to the pros and what that has looked like.
(25:05):
Oh, man. So it's been hard.
I mean, it's very similar to college. Like the first year in your pro world is just difficult.
And I decided I was very naive to professional running.
I had no clue that this could be a job for me.
And my first year I moved out to Boston and I got away and ran for BAA my first
(25:31):
four years and I felt like the 800 made more sense with resources.
I felt like the hurdles I would have to... I would need a coach there every
single day and I was working a full-time job. So I'm like, there's probably...
No way I could do this. But the 800, if I have to go for a run,
I can go for a run. If I have to do a workout, I can do a workout on my own.
(25:52):
So that kind of made the transition a little bit easier.
But I went to a professional race indoors my first year and I saw what women
were running and I was like, oh my goodness, like this is a full-time job.
Like I can do this if I want to, like if I have the option to,
this is, this is really cool.
(26:13):
I feel like I wasn't even close to my ceiling in college. And obviously I had
like my knee injury I was coming back from.
So I would say my first like two or three years, it was really hard because I didn't have a sponsor.
I was doing, I was paying for everything out of pocket. I was paying for travel,
physio, obviously all of the
horror stories you hear about unsponsored athletes. It's very, very true.
(26:35):
It's very, very hard, but I, I wanted it bad enough that I felt like all of
that monetary expense that I was spending was worth it.
And for like a minute of glory, right? Like we train all year long for like
this one meet, this one championship race.
And it can be so, so devastating or it can be like the most fulfilling thing ever.
(26:58):
And I think that's what I crave the most is just if I put my head down and work
as hard as I can, then good things will happen.
So eventually when I started to kind of figure out the pro thing and I wasn't
as intimidated by competition and all of that, it got a lot better for me.
But I think everybody has to pay their dues at the professional level.
(27:18):
You have to be in the C or D heats. You have to run in these no-named local meets or whatever it is.
And then eventually you get your name out there and people start noticing you
and then you have your breakthrough, your big moment, I guess.
I am still waiting for that, but I have faith it'll happen.
So yeah. You're running a sub two in the 800, right? Yes.
(27:43):
Which is super impressive and have obviously been to some big meets.
And you do have how many sponsors now?
At least one I know of. Yeah, just Wazelle. Yeah. And how's that going?
What's that relationship with? An all women's company.
Super cool. It is. Super, super cool.
(28:03):
Shout out Wazelle. Yes. Wazelle.com. You guys can see my favorite items of clothing
on their website if you just search my name.
Yeah, so when they came to me last year and we began discussing potential sponsorship,
I was super, super excited because I felt like it really matched the story that
(28:24):
I wanted to tell being raised by a single mom and obviously being very women
in power focused and supportive. I was thrilled.
And it's just been amazing since then, just not having to worry about where
the money was going to come from to get to my next race or the money for physio and medical.
(28:45):
It's just been amazing. And it definitely takes your performance from one level
to the next because all of these athletes that are making teams have support
and have around the clock physio, around the clock care.
And it's just nice not having to worry about that. I mean, it's a big deal in
track and field, unfortunately.
We're the one sport, I always say, that takes everything into consideration. Everything matters.
(29:10):
You can't rely on other people. It's It's just yourself.
So it's been great. It's been great with Wazelle.
Nice. I'm so glad. I was so thrilled to see that. I am a huge fan, obviously.
You know, I believe in the power of women.
I believe that we need more women in sport at every level, not just athletes,
(29:33):
but coaches and physios and trainers and brands, you know, women brands that
are making sports bras and shoes.
And the fact that particularly in running, you're seeing much more of that because,
you know, running is a sport that literally anybody can go out and do.
So it's so important, I think, for girls to be able to see that anything is possible.
(29:57):
And I love that there's companies out there supporting athletes like you,
that, you know, they're putting their, you know, they're, they're,
they're putting their brand, you know, in first and they're,
they're supporting athletes that make an impact.
And so I think that that's absolutely incredible.
Oh my gosh, excuse me. I love that you talked about your mom being raised by a single mom.
(30:23):
And I know you have a brother and a sister. Has your brother been to the Olympics, Special Olympics?
No, he hasn't, but he does run locally. I know it's so cute.
So cute. So I know I've seen him out there performing too. So,
and what about your little sister? Does she participate in sport?
(30:44):
Yes. So she's the polar opposite of me and she is so focused on cheerleading and dance.
Yeah. So it's kind of interesting. My mom's like, it's so different.
I'm not going to go to like another basketball game, but I'll go watch her cheer.
So that's awesome. Well, good. And that's so cool.
But you can tell though, too, shout out to your mom, you know,
(31:06):
raising kids that are allowed to explore their own passions and values.
That says a lot about her.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. My mind lets us do whatever we want. I was always supportive.
And yeah, has been like that since I obviously was born. So super cool.
Well, I could talk to you absolutely forever.
(31:28):
But I want to be super respectful of your time. I know you're going to your
second workout of the day.
And I know we want to make sure that we're being respectful to our audience
and keeping the content super digestible.
So I I hope you come back on because we didn't even talk about your ACL injury
or what you're doing in corporate America.
I have so much more I want to talk to you about, but this was absolutely filled
(31:51):
with so many incredible nuggets.
So are you ready to cool down a little bit? I am. Thank you.
Nice. Okay. So how about, what's your favorite pump me up song?
Oh man. I, someone else asked me this the other day.
I, I don't really have a pump-me-up song necessarily that's a super fast song.
(32:15):
I like to listen to a lot of R&B or a lot of mellow music because I read somewhere
a long time ago, if you listen to slow beats, it actually calms your heart rate down before a race.
So I guess if I had to pick, I've been really into Made For Me by Mooney Long.
(32:35):
I don't know if you guys know it, but But it can have me singing from the rooftops,
even though I may not be able to sing.
I love it. Sing like nobody's listening. I love it. Right. I mean,
you have to look that one up.
As a yoga instructor, I'm a big fan of that. Slow the heart rate down.
Don't speed it up. So I actually believe in that philosophy.
(32:56):
Okay. Who do you wish was portable enough to eat on a bus after competition?
Definitely Chipotle. lay. I, or like Mexican food, maybe tacos.
Like I love a good taco. That is just my favorite food ever.
So, and I feel like you can't really eat that on a bus. I'm not sure.
(33:20):
Yeah. Too messy. I agree. Um, best or worst advice a coach has ever given you. Oh, wow.
Best advice. Let me think. things. Sorry.
I know. I want to do both, actually. Do both. Okay.
Do both. Okay. Oh, man. Let me see.
(33:45):
Oh, I would say the best advice, and I kind of think about this daily,
is for the 800, you get out really hard the first 200.
And then you jog. She said, you jog for the next 400.
And then you only have 200 left. And I was like, yeah, OK. So maybe that's the
(34:06):
worst. We'll tag that as the worst advice.
Because I was like, thank you. But yeah, she told me this.
Now that that I said it, I was like, okay, that sounds ridiculous.
But she told me this a while ago and I was, and she was basically saying the
800 isn't as long as you think it is. And I'm like, oh man, that's long.
But so maybe the word that was the worst advice and the best advice I would say is, oh gosh, I know.
(34:31):
I don't really like running is so simple, but people make it so complicated.
So I'm just trying to think like, that's really good advice by the way. Yeah.
Maybe that's a, yeah, that, you know, you helped me out here.
My college coach always says you're running in circles. Like this is literally just running.
(34:51):
And I, that's good advice. That's good
enough for me because people try to overcomplicate it. So we'll use that.
I'm with you. We always say in our house, we joke, our oldest son is actually
a basketball coach, but he ran cross country just interestingly enough.
And he always said that runners are
are the people that don't have enough coordination to do anything else.
(35:12):
That's not you, but his advice is the same thing. Keep it simple.
All right. What do you want to leave our audience with?
I want you to have a minute just to summarize just because you've had so much
to say, but what would you tell your 15 year old self right now?
Oh yeah. That's such a good question.
(35:34):
I would probably tell my 15 year old self
to never let anybody tell you you
can't do something and never let anybody dictate your path to success I guess
because when you're growing up and going through all of these levels of running
there's going to be people that are going to try to say you know you're not
(35:55):
good enough or you should be doing this or you're doing this wrong or you need to do this.
And I just think flat out, they don't know. They don't know you as a person,
you as an athlete. And it can be really easy to get.
Internalize things that other people are saying when they really have no bearing
and no weight on what you can do and what you're what you are doing.
(36:16):
You're the one that has to go out there and run ultimately.
And I think as a young girl, I used to internalize a lot and what people would
tell me and it really took it to heart.
And I learned over the years that everything that they had said to me was either
wrong or ended up not being the case.
Like my injury, you know, they told me, you're going to be done running.
This is very serious. And I was like, what? No, whatever.
(36:40):
And I've been told, you need to go back to the hurdles or you're never going
to run faster than whatever time in the 800.
And I never could have imagined I would have broken two, but I always stuck
to my guns. And I always felt like if I worked hard enough, I could do it.
So definitely, that would be my advice is to just never let anybody tell you
that you're not good enough or you can't do it because you can.
(37:04):
And we can end with that. That was so, that was the perfect ending.
And before I kind of, you know, slow us all down, I really want to reiterate
how appreciative I am of your time. I know how valuable your time is.
And I am forever, ever grateful and will continue to be your biggest cheerleader. there.
(37:26):
So thanks again, everyone for checking in.
Don't forget to follow us, share our episodes, join us on our Instagram page
at peak train like a girl, take a minute to explore our website.
And we're going to make sure we drop the links to everything we talked about
today was L will drop you Brenna's Instagram link so you can follow her.
(37:49):
And if you're feeling inspired, consider Consider making a donation to PEAK.
We are driven by passion, not by sponsors.
Thanks so much for tuning in and we'll see you on the next podcast.
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