My guest for today's episode is Emily Infeld, who has been a mainstay on the U.S. women's distance running scene on the track for the past decade. She is a world championship medalist in the 10,000m, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, and now a Brooks sponsored athlete getting ready to navigate an exciting new chapter.

After a challenging 2024 season filled with injury and transition, Emily is poised for a comeback that blends her love of track racing with aspirations for longer distances on the roads. In this episode, we talk about her decision to join Brooks, her reflections on the past 12 years being part of the Nike Bowerman Track Club, Team Boss, being coached by John Green, and why she's chasing one more big track season.

She also opens up about the highs and lows of injury setbacks, the investment by shoe brands into women in their 30s, and why she believes her best days are still ahead, whether it's on the track, the roads, or even the marathon.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Emily Infeld | @emilyinfeld on Instagram

Episode Highlights:

The following excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity. You can listen to the full episode with Emily Infeld on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

Recently signing with Brooks and meeting other Brooks sponsored athletes in San Diego:

“I'm really excited to share the announcement! It's so funny – Aliphine [Tuliamuk] and I were messaging on Instagram and texting a little bit about it like, ‘We can't wait to share our news!’ We missed her since she unfortunately couldn't be [in San Diego] post-surgery. She's doing the best to get herself recovered and whatnot. But outside of that, it was a really fun trip. Everyone is so kind and it's a great group of people. I knew some of the athletes and got to meet a lot of the other [independent Brooks] athletes that aren’t in the Hansons or Beasts [groups]...

It was just fun. We did a cooking class, we did some runs together, and I convinced CJ [Albertson] to do my morning workout on Friday with me… It felt nice to be kind of like a team even though we don't all live and train together.”

Thoughts on turning to the marathon in the future:

“Jess [McClain] and Erika [Kemp] especially were like, ‘You should do a marathon soon. You'll be great.’ I was like, ‘Now I'm nervous!’ Those women are so incredible. All those athletes – they're incredible. I just really respect the marathon. I don't want to act like it's easy, because it's not. It looks really hard! I've done some long runs in the past. Last year, I was doing some 16 and 17 mile runs, but I haven't done much more than that since 2016 or 2017.

Erika gave me a lot of confidence. She was like, ‘You don't have to do that high of mileage.’ I think Jess as well [agrees]. Hearing that makes me feel good because I don't think I'll ever do 130 [mile weeks]. I tried to run 100 to 110 and I just couldn't. I felt awful, I wasn't training well, and I just didn't feel good. I'm like, ‘Maybe that's just my body. I just can't do the high stuff.’ So I'm like, ‘If you guys think in the 80s would work, then maybe I can make this work!’”

How her training has shifted over the past few years:

“It just gives me confidence that I've been in so many different programs, have done lots of different training styles, and just seeing the results that have come from that. For me, it's looking at the long stuff and threshold stuff – doing short rest seems to really benefit me. Some speedwork too, but with lots of speed and long rest I just feel flat. Doing three miles of work, I just feel like I need more than that…

I'm an older athlete now. When I was young in 2015, I could rip 300s with Jerry [Schumacher]. I would do like six 300s and some 150s. I'd be running all the 300s under 45. I'm like, ‘I can't do that anymore…’ But it gives me confidence to look back on last year. I did some fast 600s and [Chris Miltenberg] saw that and was like, ‘All you did going into Millrose was two fast 600s that weren't even that fast. Outside of that, everything you were running was like 78 to 85 pace.’ He was like, ‘How did you run that millrose time? It's because you're good!...’

All that is to say that I think we do evolve as athletes, but I think for me it sometimes helps to see what I've done in the past to remind myself that I'm more than just this last six month block and to be like, ‘That stuff wasn't as far off as I thought it was.”

Her race plans for 2025:

“I'm planning to run a 5K indoors… Then I’m doing The Ten at the end of March. Then I think I'll take a little reset. I want to mix it up on the track and roads. It's nice because USAs is later, so in an ideal world, I would be qualified for USAs and feeling confident after the 5K and 10K to mix up my races and do some shorter road stuff – like 5Ks and 10Ks on the road. Maybe the 5K qualifier for the World [Championships] on the road. If that seems like it fits, I would like to do that. Depending on how USAs goes, I would maybe be geared towards more track stuff or maybe even try to do a half [marathon].

In my head, I'd like to do the Valencia Half or something like that next fall and then maybe do another half or [full] marathon. I want to do the marathon, I want to be running the road stuff, but I have this bad taste in my mouth from the track that I want to get out. I don't want to end on a note of having dropped out of more races than I finished last year… I want to feel like I’m putting together solid performances, feeling healthy, and feeling like myself, whatever that looks like this year on the track.”

What she learned from last year’s season:

“In hindsight, I think it's way better to be 100% healthy and 70% fit than being 100% or 95% fit but only 50% or 70% healthy. [Last year] felt frantic. I’m just kicking myself because I really should’ve taken time. But instead, I was trying to make sure I got a qualifier because the last year hadn't gone well. We moved to L.A. and I ended up not really racing in the summer. I felt like I was running out of time and it felt like chaotic, stressful energy. I think that clouded my judgment and made me not make the best decisions. I wish I would have let myself get healthy. I might not be that fit, but at least I would have been able to race beyond the Trials…

A lot of it was the pressure we put on the Trials and just being like, ‘You’ve got to get there.’ I'm a veteran, I'm an old enough athlete that I shouldn't have let that happen, but I'm also not perfect. I think a lot of people do that, so it's unfortunate – but for anyone younger listening, don't do that. You'll be fine. If you focus on getting healthy, you're going to have a better season than trying to force something.”

Continuing to run professionally in under a new brand:

“I feel like a lot of our sport is, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ unfortunately. It’s hard if you haven't raced recently… If you want to keep doing it and are passionate about it, I think you can still PR and have really good performances. I wish I had better advice outside of it sometimes being, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ or just striking at the right timing.

I'm really passionate and hopefully I relayed that to Brooks that I still have a lot of potential that I see in myself and I have a lot I want to do. I still really care about this. I don't want to fade into the distance. I really want to leave a mark still. I feel like there's still stones left unturned. I feel like, ‘I just want to show you guys!’ Having that energy and excitement, I think brands can really tell and know when people are really authentic and want to keep doing it and pushing themselves. I think that adds a ton of value.”

Listen to the full episode with Emily on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

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