This week’s guest is a returning favorite, Helen Schlachtenhaufen of Freedom Track Club, who came on the podcast to talk about her breakthrough summer of racing. After finishing a bittersweet 5th in the 1500m at the Olympic Trials in June, Helen ran a big personal best of 4:01.09 in her first-ever Diamond League meet in Sweden in July and put in big showings in Gateshead and at the Pre Classic. We unpacked her reflections on Trials and her mentality going into big European races this summer, as well as our favorite donuts, how she’d fare in a beer mile, and what it’s really like to date and live with her teammate slash boyfriend, Brian.

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Photo by Justin Britton

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NOTABLE QUOTES

On finishing 5th at Olympic Trials:

“It’s bittersweet. I definitely wanted more, but I’m relatively proud of how I finished, and it made me still want more, but it was still cool just to be there – it was not something growing up that I ever thought I’d be doing, even in college it wasn’t a level I thought I’d be competing at.”

On Freedom Track Club’s new coach Kurt Benninger:

“One of my favorite things about Kurt is that he puts a ton of thought into everything that we do. It makes me feel super prepared going into races. He’s also a very calming person and I tend to get very stressed out before races, so it’s really nice to have somebody there to bring you back down to Earth before a race.”

On feeling like you belong in the world of elite running:

“Making the final of Trials this year was a moment of change for me. Walking out to the starting line, I realized: I qualified; I made it through the rounds; I literally earned my spot on the starting line. You can’t really have imposter syndrome there. Those are the moments when I feel most confident in my place in professional running.”

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This episode is brought to you by the Under Armour All Out Mile. During the month of September, UA encourages you to train for your fastest mile ever in only 30 days. It’s free to sign up and you can win cash prizes, gear, and raise money for charity by joining our CITIUS MAG team and making Citius the biggest team in the competition. To sign up and learn more, visit UAAllOutMile.com.