Olympian Colleen Quigley -3000m Steeplechase Athlete

Today we speak with Nike athlete, Bowerman Track Club member, and 2016 OLYMPIAN, Colleen Quigley.  Colleen has an impressive story that you can find at https://www.colleenquigley.org and a very promising Track career ahead of her with plans of making the 2020 Olympics with Team USA!  In 2016 she placed 8th in the 3000m steeplechase with a PR of 9:21.10.  In question 5 she states that she sees food as FUEL, this is a view that all our athletes need to start believing.  You can not reach your full potential when you don’t feed your body correctly.

Big thanks to Colleen and good luck this track season.

1: How did you get started in your Sport?
My parents and older brother are runners, so I just got into it because they were doing it. I danced for 9 years growing up and played soccer all throughout gradeschool/middle school. I didn't start running track and cross country until I got to high school.

2: What was a major struggle for your training and/or success
The biggest obstacle for me has been setting goals for myself and not reaching them right away or at all and seeing that as failure. The truth is that we all fail at some point, but it matters more how you react to that failure. I have tried to take those as opportunities to get better, to hone my craft, and be better the next time.

3: What is your current goal
My next big goal is to make the 2020 Olympic team for USA!

4:  What advice would you give a young athlete
When I was growing up I played soccer and danced and just had fun being active and using my body. I think that was so important as I developed. I didn't really get serious about running until later in high school. My running gradually improved over my career- I didn't find crazy success right away. I just kept plugging away at it, kept setting new and bigger goals for myself as I achieved them, and eventually it seemed reasonable to say my goal was to make the Olympic team. That took many many years and I loved every minute of the process. The minute you lose the joy in the sport, that's when it is over.

5:   How big of a role is nutrition when it comes to your training?
HUGE! I cannot say enough about how important my diet is to my performance. I have to make sure I refuel my body with the nutrients it needs to perform at a high level. It sounds silly, but the saying "garbage in, garbage out" is so true. I see food as fuel, but I also believe that healthy and nutritious food can also be delicious and enjoyable!