155 | Transforming Trials into Triumphs: US Olympian Sarah Warren's Journey to Becoming Undone

About the Guest

Sarah Warren is a U.S. Olympic speed skater who competed in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games. Before embarking on her skating career, Sarah was a Division 1 soccer player at the University of Illinois. Her journey to the Olympics was marked by resilience and determination, overcoming ten surgeries, including multiple ACL surgeries. Beyond her athletic endeavors, Sarah has aspirations of becoming an orthopedic surgeon, inspired by the impact of her own medical experiences.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Becoming UnDone®, host Toby Brooks delves into the inspiring journey of U.S. Olympian Sarah Warren. Known for her exceptional speed skating prowess, Sarah's path to the pinnacle of Olympic success was set against a backdrop of considerable adversity. From her beginnings as a Division 1 soccer player to overcoming significant physical challenges, including ten surgeries, Sarah's story is a testament to resilience, community support, and finding strength amid setbacks. Sarah articulates how her journey through pain and doubt shaped her identity and spurred her toward her Olympic dreams, painting a vivid picture of personal growth and grit.

Throughout the episode, Toby and Sarah explore the importance of mindset and community in overcoming challenges. As Sarah shares candid moments from her recovery and training, listeners gain insights into the mental fortitude required to navigate high-stakes sports amid injuries. The conversation also highlights Sarah's future aspirations in orthopedic surgery, drawing a parallel between her sports achievements and her professional goals. As Toby unpacks Sarah's narrative, key themes surface around resilience, positivity, and the transformative power of adversity—making this episode a must-listen for anyone seeking motivation or a deeper understanding of what it takes to triumph against the odds.

Key Takeaways

• Resilience in Adversity: Sarah Warren's story underscores the power of mental toughness and persistence in overcoming physical injuries and challenges in sports.
• Community Support: The role of family, friends, and community is crucial in navigating and rising above setbacks, providing a support system that contributes significantly to success.
• Finding Purpose in Adversity: Challenges and setbacks can serve as opportunities for growth, shaping one's identity and future aspirations.
• Mindset is Key: Approaching challenges with a positive, solution-focused mindset can lead to breakthroughs in both performance and personal development.
• Career Transitions: Sarah's transition from competitive sports to her aspirations in orthopedic surgery illustrates the alignment of personal experiences with future professional goals.

Notable Quotes

1. "I got humbled with that first ACL. It was not a typical ACL… And that it was my worst fear."
2. "The Olympic dream was very alive for four and a half years and about for a month and a half, it almost died."
3. "It's hard. It is very tempting to not want to be a bother… But honestly, no matter what, whether you achieve the goals that you initially set out or not."
4. "It's very easy to look at destination. But no matter what, if you're working through that journey and you work through those challenges, you have proven to yourself."
5. "If you don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, it's possible. And if that means one athlete believes in themselves again."

Resources

• Follow Sarah Warren on her journey on Instagram.
• Learn more about the podcast, Becoming UnDone®, at undonepodcast.com.
• Listen to previous episodes featuring other high-achievers in sports and performance.

Embark on this engaging episode as Sarah Warren shares he

Transcript

0:00:03 - (Sarah Warren): This is becoming undone. I got humbled with that first acl. It was not a typical acl. It was high speed collision. We were running down the line, ball underneath foot caught myself with the other foot, and then the rest was history, right? It's pretty gruesome. And that it was my worst fear. And you don't really think about it because if you do, you're doomed. But I knew in that moment, I'm like, something's terribly wrong. And I just remember staring at the wall. I'm in the training room, being like, I'm done.

0:00:41 - (Sarah Warren): Like, who am I? And you go home, and I clearly remember this. And I look down and I'm like, I can't even make a quad. That's when it hit me. I'm like, this is going to be a super, super long journey. But it was the first time that I realized that I'm breakable. I would say the idea of, I don't know if I can do this was the only time that hit pre surgery was my second acl. I clearly remember laying your pre op.

0:01:11 - (Sarah Warren): And I had my little cap on. I was in the gown and I was laying there, knee was signed, like, we were ready to go back. And I looked at my mom. Cause you know what's coming. And I'm like, I don't. I don't think I can do this. And word for word, she said, well, honey, we don't really have a choice. Like, we're here. I went to that line knowing I did everything possible. On the days I saw no light, I found a light by the end of practice. By the end of the day. I stayed an extra session to figure it out.

0:01:42 - (Sarah Warren): I proved to myself that I was strong enough, I was smart enough, and I had the right people around me to be the best version of me. Was I the best in the world? No. Do I think I can get there? Hopefully that's why I'm skating another year. But 31 going into it and crossing that line just reaffirmed that belief. But it was even before that. I am Sarah Warren, and I am Undone.

0:02:14 - (Toby Brooks): Hey, friend. I'm glad you're here. Welcome to yet another episode of Becoming Undone, the podcast for those who dare bravely respondedly and grow relentlessly. I'm Toby Brooks, a speaker, author, professor, and performance scientist. I spent much of the last two decades working as an athletic trainer and strength coach in the professional, collegiate and high school sports settings. And over the years, I've grown more and more fascinated with what sets high achievers apart and how Failures that can suck in the moment can end up being exactly the push we needed to propel us on our paths to success.

0:02:43 - (Toby Brooks): And each week on Becoming Undone, I invite new guests to examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to falling into place. I'd like to emphasize this show is entirely separate from my role at Baylor University, but it's my attempt to apply what I've learned and what I'm learning and to share with others about the mindsets of high achievers. It's great to be back with you for another installment of Becoming Undone. It's been too long since we connected here and I've missed you.

0:03:09 - (Toby Brooks): I've been so excited to bring this episode to you ever since I recorded a few weeks back, and I think you're gonna love it. And speaking of love, I'll start off by saying, as I've said on this show repeatedly before, I absolutely love the Olympics. Summer, Winter, does not matter. As a kid, the first Games I remember watching were the 84 summer games back in Los Angeles, and I was absolutely enraptured by the thought of being able to not just compete, but, but to represent America.

0:03:37 - (Toby Brooks): The Olympics felt like the ultimate stage to show the world that you could be the best. And over the years, I've had more than a few Olympic heroes who inspired me to train a little harder or eat a little better, or dig a little deeper in the search of my own best. As I grew older, I continued to love the Olympics, but in newer and deeper ways as my work in sport, my study of human performance, and my connection for the human interest in the Olympics grew and deepened.

0:04:03 - (Toby Brooks): In the summer of 1996, I was taking an undergrad exercise physiology class. My professor was a former Olympic swimmer himself, and we oftentimes got out of class a little bit early during those two weeks just so that we could do what he called research, which basically meant we were watching the Atlanta Games. Those same Games were past Guest Charles Austin from episode 79 captured a gold medal in a high jump.

0:04:27 - (Toby Brooks): His story of ascending to the top of the Olympic medal stand from not even competing in track until his senior year of high school. That's a great example of the kind of story that motivates me to expect more out of myself. After I graduated from college and got certified as both an athletic trainer and a strength coach, my aspirations were to work at the highest level of sports, which included the Olympics.

0:04:48 - (Toby Brooks): As I started my career, the closest I'd ever get to that dream of wearing the team issued red, white and blue was during the summers of 1999 and 2001 when I worked as an athletic trainer for two different USA Baseball Junior national teams. I still have some of that gear that I got along with a world championship ring to show for my time and I have zero regrets this past winter. It was kind of a circle of life moment for me as the 2026 Milan Cortino Winter Games were held from February 6th through 22nd and I was once again enrolled in another exercise physiology course, this time at the graduate level.

0:05:24 - (Toby Brooks): This time I'm not so much studying and preparing for opportunities in sport that I hope are coming my way, but instead simply trying to grow in wisdom and knowledge about all aspects of human performance that can help me help others and still maybe even myself get a little bit better. It was during those two weeks in February where I wished I could have just canceled work and watched the Games full time like I always wish I could have done.

0:05:47 - (Toby Brooks): But instead I had to balance work and school and the Olympics. And that's when I first encountered the incredible story of Sarah Warren. In a Winter Olympic Games that were literally brimming with 30 for 30 worthy stories all over the place, Sarah's stood out. There was, of course, Lindsey Vonn's tragic injury near the starting gates and what would likely be her final Olympic moments. There was the heartbreak of American skater Ilya Malin, the quad God whose plans for Olympic gold were dashed just moments into his free skate where two falls dropped him from serious contender to an eventual eighth place finish.

0:06:23 - (Toby Brooks): But who could forget the infectious smile, the liberated and free performances and sometimes R rated celebratory outbursts of skating prodigy turned Olympic champion Alyssa Lu. She'd endured a rigorous training regimen to the point of walking away from the sport entirely until she finally reconnected with her love for skating and she found her way back to the ice free from those chains of doubt and expectation and perfectionism.

0:06:48 - (Toby Brooks): She competed with such there's really no other word for it, just joy, and you couldn't help but be moved by watching her skate. There was all this and more at the 26 Winter Games, but the story I came across that I found the most inspirational and the most incredible and the most undone was Sarah Warren. The long track speed skater had made the team through an unconventional path. She'd been a Division 1 soccer player at the University of Illinois.

0:07:15 - (Toby Brooks): That seemed like a curious way to find yourself on Olympic ice. But it wasn't just that unexpected path that most made me search. For more info on Sarah, it was her story 10 surgeries, the first at the age of 13, ACLs in both knees, an ankle injury that nearly derailed her 2026 Olympic dreams. I found a CNN article that moved me nearly to tears where a gritty, tough, resilient collegiate soccer player, Sarah looked at the facts surrounding her athletic dreams and made a vulnerable, gutting, excruciating assessment.

0:07:52 - (Toby Brooks): As the article quotes, she recounted, quote, as she was wheeled back for her second ACL surgery, Warren looked at her mother, Catherine, and said, I don't think I can do this. End quote. I don't think think I can do this. That's the absolute eye of the hurricane. That is a purpose storm. In those moments of gripping, crushing doubt, we can't breathe, we can't see, we can't even imagine how we'll move ahead, let alone be better for it.

0:08:24 - (Toby Brooks): But Sarah did, surrounded by an incredible supporting cast of family, friends, and an orthopedic surgeon who would grow to become the model of who she wants to be when she she's done competing for Big Ten championships and gold medals or anything else. When all that's over, not only did she do it, she came back stronger. I reached out to Sarah, hoping to get a glimpse into her journey and to gain the insights she'd gathered along the way.

0:08:49 - (Toby Brooks): And I was thrilled when she agreed to come on. And her interview was, no pun intended, absolute gold. I hope you'll enjoy my conversation with US Olympian Sarah Warren in episode 155, let's get into It. Greetings and welcome back. Becoming Undone is a podcast for those who dare bravely risk mightily and grow relentlessly. Join me, Toby Brooks, as I invite a new guest each week where we examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to falling into place.

0:09:15 - (Toby Brooks): Y', all, I'm so excited about this guest, I can't even begin to tell you. Today's guest is 2026 Olympic speed skater Sarah Warren. Her path as skaters, speed skaters, it wasn't linear, it was full of twists and turns. She started as a Division 1 soccer player at Illinois, stepped away from, battled through multiple injuries, and then rebuilt herself into a long track speed skater on the Olympic stage. So, Sarah, thanks so much for joining me today.

0:09:41 - (Sarah Warren): Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

0:09:43 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, I always start off with a little bit of a softball. When you were growing up, what did you want to be and what did you believe that that version of you could prove?

0:09:51 - (Sarah Warren): I always wanted to be the best, and that wasn't always the strongest, the fastest. I Did love to win. I will say I was probably the most competitive kid on the playground, but I just wanted to be the best version of my. Knew from a young age what I thought I was capable of. And for me, if I fell short of that, that was not a success because I knew I had what it took to get there. And so even from a young age, I started off in hockey. I be the best hockey player now that was slowly realized. I did not have good enough hook handling skills for that, but it was the goal when I was out on the ice. And even from a young age I we'll discuss it. But I got surgeries at a pretty young age and I knew then that I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. And so I was a pretty young kid with pretty lofty goals.

0:10:39 - (Sarah Warren): My parents definitely knew they had their hands full, but anything I tried, I wanted to reach the highest level I thought I could achieve. And from a young age I knew that was the goal.

0:10:49 - (Toby Brooks): So you end up at Illinois where you are a college soccer player, Big Ten, I mean, obviously at a big stage. How much would you say your identity was tied into being an athlete at that point? And who were you if that were to go away?

0:11:03 - (Sarah Warren): I would say at that point a hundred percent. I don't think I had the mindset I do now that you're more than a soccer player, you're more than the athlete, you're more than you know, this Division 1 person, because that is, that's what you strove for. Like throughout my entire playing career for soccer, I wanted to be a Division 1 soccer player. And so you entangle yourself with this idea of that's who you are, especially when you achieve it because you worked your whole life to become that.

0:11:34 - (Sarah Warren): And it's a dangerous mindset to have to be honest because again, as we'll talk about, you'll get injured. And when you get injured, it completely takes that away. When you can't play, when you can't even run, you can't even make a quad, then who are you? And it was a tough lesson to learn. And I always say my five years at Illinois made me who I am because I came in not facing too much adversity. Right.

0:11:59 - (Sarah Warren): I was able to achieve this dream of running track at high school, being playing Division 1 soccer and being able to speed skate. So not much got thrown to my path. I was kind of riding this high of I was unstoppable. And life threw me a reminder that that is not always the case. So I would say Going into college, it was 100% who I thought I was. I was Sarah, the Division 1 soccer player.

0:12:24 - (Toby Brooks): I've worked with a lot of athletes, not a lot in soccer, but definitely in college sports. Soccer, I think, is unique in that it almost seems like until an athlete gets her first ACL tear, like she's not really trying very hard. It's almost like encultur as part of the sport. Right. So from my background in research, it looks like you've had injuries from early teen years and really that magnified as you got into college. So talk me through maybe that first taste of adversity and what it was like early on in the process and what your thought process was like, those initial few injuries.

0:13:00 - (Sarah Warren): Yeah, when I was younger, I had pretty easy surgeries. My knees, when I was around 10, I think, or 11, I just couldn't. I couldn't do any sports. My knees just kept swelling. We had no idea what was going on. And that's actually where I found Dr. Brian Cole, who did a pretty simple scope. To me, it was the world's greatest surgery. And he found this plica, which is an extra lining, and it fixed me.

0:13:27 - (Toby Brooks): Let's hop right in here and learn some things together, friends. The condition Sarah referred to, plica syndrome, can be very painful, not to mention somewhat difficult to diagnose. If you think of the joint capsule of the knee as a type of wrapper that surrounds and protects and supports and helps the articular surfaces of the bones stay lubricated and nourished with synovial fluid, then the plica are like small folds or pleats of that tissue, and they're present all the way back to our earliest development.

0:13:55 - (Toby Brooks): Even embryonically heavy activity like we see in competitive athletes can result in an irritation where those folds can override one another or the condyles of the femur. But they become inflamed, and it's usually activity mediated, which means the more you do, the worse it gets. But when you rest, it gets better, which is maddening for a competitive athlete. So the problem is, when you resume training, once you start to feel better, it gets aggravated all over again.

0:14:23 - (Toby Brooks): So it makes for this vicious cycle. And making it even more confusing to diagnose is the fact that oftentimes plica will click or pop over the medial aspect of the knee in much the same way a cartilage tear or meniscus injury might. So while the history of a plica syndrome doesn't usually involve a specific one particular movement that led to that injury, like A meniscus mite. Clinically, they can often present very similarly.

0:14:49 - (Toby Brooks): The bad news is that plica syndrome hurts. The good news is, even if conservative measures prove ineffective, the surgical fix is usually fairly quick and the outcomes are usually pretty good. And unlike some of the other surgeries Sarah would eventually face, plica aren't really structural, so there isn't much risk in terms of instability or anything that might threaten her athletic career. Unfortunately for Sarah, a simple plica fix was just the tip of the iceberg of what she would have to face in the pursuit of her athletic dreams.

0:15:19 - (Toby Brooks): The scope.

0:15:19 - (Sarah Warren): A scope is pretty. The grand scheme of things pretty easy now, but it fixed. I was able to do the sports I loved. To me, he was an absolute hero. And so it almost led to the same idea of like, oh, I'm unstoppable. I came back from this injury and look at me now. And I got. I got humbled with that first acl. It was not a typical acl. It was high speed collision. We were running down the line, ball underneath, foot caught myself with the other foot, and then the rest was.

0:15:53 - (Sarah Warren): The rest was history, right? It's pretty gruesome. Leg went back and that. It was my worst fear. I saw my brother go through three ACLs. He actually got a double ACL surgery at the same time. And so that's what I was trying to avoid my entire career. And you don't really think about it because if you do, you're doomed. But I knew in that moment, I'm like, something's terribly wrong. And I just remember staring at the wall, I'm in the training room, being like, I'm done.

0:16:26 - (Sarah Warren): Like, who am I at this point? And you kind of get a false sense, though, because most people don't know when you tear an ACL, either you get surgery 24 hours in or you get surgery three weeks out, because you need to get rid of the swelling, you need to go in. And so you actually go through this three week period where your knee feels great. Like you walk into surgery feeling like Superman. So I kind of had that idea too. And, you know, I luckily did have my brother to see his journey through this. And the fact he did get through this and he had two done it once, so I'm gonna be fine.

0:16:59 - (Sarah Warren): And waking up from that surgery, that was probably the worst pain I've ever been in. It was. Humbling is probably not a good enough word. Just the pain and the fact of you could not prepare yourself and you go home. And I clearly remember this and I Looked down and I'm like, I can't even make a quad. And you're in so much pain, you don't even want to. And that's when it hit me. I'm like, this is going to be a super, super long journey.

0:17:31 - (Sarah Warren): I will say in the same breath, though, my mom and dad and brother who are around me for that, they came to surgery. They were there when I got home. And my brother may have been in school, but he was on the phone and it was nothing but positivity, nothing but like, oh, you got this. Oh, yeah, no, no, this is normal. This is normal. And I'm so thankful I did have John, my brother, who went through this because we did have these milestones to look forward to.

0:17:58 - (Sarah Warren): But it was the first time that I realized that I'm breakable. And the identity crisis that occurred was probably a little bit later because you think you're gonna fly through recovery. Oh, it's. Yeah, I've had this before. And again, humbled. The nasal takes a certain amount of time, but I would say straight out, straight away, I could not anticipate the pain. And then the idea I was going to be at step zero and the fight it was going to take to come back.

0:18:29 - (Toby Brooks): Being at step zero, the fight it was going to take to come back. Those are the words of an Olympian friendship. An Olympian who's been through the heartbreak and physical pain associated with a gruesome, atypical injury. Not to mention the mental toll that it takes each and every time. A serious injury must be addressed and overcome. As I'm listening, I'm taken by three things here. First, Sarah's injury isn't a run of the mill ACL tear that we see in soccer most commonly.

0:18:58 - (Toby Brooks): Not that there really is a standard ACL injury. But we know from three plus decades of research that female athletes are anywhere from three to as much as ten times more likely dep on where you look to rupture their ACL from non contact mechanisms than their male counterparts. Several theories have been investigated over the years, but the one trainable difference is related to neuromuscular strength.

0:19:20 - (Toby Brooks): Through multiple studies published by Dr. Frank Noyes and the Cincinnati Sports Medicine foundation and their sportsmetrics program, it's been somewhat definitively shown that that risk can be equalized between males and females simply through training. But this isn't that. Sarah's injury isn't due to landing or cutting in an open field. It's a high velocity collision involving tremendous force. And in the end, at least in that moment, it leaves her athletic career in doubt.

0:19:51 - (Toby Brooks): And that's the next thing that impresses me. Sarah is proof positive of the power of community and support. Her brother John had endured injuries of his own, including a rare dream double acl, and he'd recovered. He had a credibility and a story that was inspiring to Sarah as she encountered her own entry mountain. We'll hear how her parents, other family and friends were always there to support her as well.

0:20:14 - (Toby Brooks): And truth be told, I'm convinced that Sarah is without question tough enough and gritty enough to have overcome her injuries alone. But you can hear in her voice just how thankful she is today that she didn't have to. Lastly, that quote of hers just resonates the fight it would take to come back. Here's the thing about adversity of any type, injury or otherwise, when we've been through it before, it can form a callus.

0:20:40 - (Toby Brooks): Calluses form to protect us. They're the result of encountering friction. If you're like me, the calluses on your hands are a source of pride. They tell me and anyone willing to look at my hands, I guess that I do the work. But mental calluses are different. They're unseen. But for an athlete like Sarah, they're still there. That lived experience can be hell to endure in the moment, but it's critical data when navigating similar pain again.

0:21:08 - (Toby Brooks): And while she sure didn't choose to end her season with a devastating knee injury in the process, now she realizes that it was forming her for something greater. Right. And I think a lot of people don't really realize that cumulative injuries, like if it's your first, it, it. I mean, obviously it's foreign to you. You don't know how much pain you're going to go through or how long it's going to take.

0:21:31 - (Toby Brooks): But you also don't know. You're a little naive to the fact of how long or how, how am I going to be able to come? And then there's a lot of positivity. Like you said, once you've been down this road three or four or five or 10 times, the cumulative effect really starts to weigh. And I've seen athletes surgery too, with just this grit and deter, like, I'm going to beat this. I'm getting back on the floor or the field by 8 or 9 or 10, there's like, is this it?

0:21:58 - (Toby Brooks): Am I done? Am I ever going to be able to return to the athlete I was? What was that like for you, facing kind of the, you know, the cumulative effect of those Surgeries, I would say

0:22:09 - (Sarah Warren): the idea of, I don't know if I can do this was the only time that hit pre surgery was my second acl. I clearly remember laying your pre op, and I had my little cap on. I was in the gown. I was laying there, knee was signed, like, we were ready to go back. And I looked at my mom, because you know what's coming, And I'm like, I don't. I don't think I can do this. And word for word, she said, well, honey, we don't really have a choice. Like, we're here.

0:22:41 - (Sarah Warren): And it's something that stuck with me. And that phrase from then on going to every surgery was, we don't really have a choice. There was no choice. We went in, I'm like, oh, this is elective. Like, oh, I just would love to get a nice cleanup. Like, they were all necessary. And as I came back to, you know, following the first acl, we had a cartilage pull off of the knee and able to play the season, but we had to get it cleaned up. Well, that's unnecessary, so I can come back to something else.

0:23:12 - (Sarah Warren): And then you tear a second acl, and then you have the crisis there. And then from there on every surgery, you're like, well, we need this to hit this goal. And so going into each surgery, I had the ability to see why we were doing it. And that goal was so sweet to me, that it was worth it. Now, it's a bit naive too, though, because the day in and day out, when you talk about the cumulative and I think that really hit this. Last year, you had four surgeries, and in the pre Olympic season, not how I wrote the. The book.

0:23:48 - (Sarah Warren): You know, the book was, I was good enough with two ACLs. I'm like, this is a. This is great. This is awesome. Look at what I fought through, even the ankle. I was like, okay, cool, we're coming back. Then the double knee. And I'm like, know what? Necessary if we have to do it. This is the year. You have this positivity. And then the meniscus tears walking three months out of the double knee. I think at that point, I honestly called my mom, like, is this a sign?

0:24:15 - (Sarah Warren): Is this, like, a sign? Like, I got injured walking on a running track, like a flat surface. And I. My mom's like, you would think about it any which way, hon, but it is what it is. And dad said the same thing. He's like, it doesn't matter why. It doesn't matter. You know, what caused it. It Happened and we need to go fix it. I flew in immediately and got it done. But it's hard on those days. After that fourth surgery, something was different and I could not balance.

0:24:47 - (Sarah Warren): And it was kind of hard to describe to people because they look at you and you speed skate and you're on one foot most of the time. And I'm like, I can't balance on my right foot. And I remember finally I went and talked to my strength coach and I'm like, you need to teach me as if I've never walked before. And we relearned how to balance on the right. But it's super frustrating, just hard not to look a year down the road, which at that point, the surgery occurred in October.

0:25:15 - (Sarah Warren): So it truly was like a year and a month or so down the road. I would have to be competing for an Olympic team and probably be the top two in the nation. And it's hard not to future plan. You're like, if I can't balance, how am I going to be at one of the top in the world? But everyone around me did a great job of we keep the focus. You can't control a year and a half. We can control today, we can control tomorrow, tomorrow.

0:25:41 - (Sarah Warren): And my dad had a great phrase because obviously you have doubts. I don't think I would not be honest if I sat here. I'm like, every day I knew I could do it and I woke up and I was, that's not, that's, that's just not true. And any athlete listening to this. It is common to have doubts. It is common to wake up and want to quit because it's just so hard. You fought, you fought, you fought and you don't see anything out of it.

0:26:05 - (Sarah Warren): And I, dad would always tell me, doubt's not gonna help.

0:26:11 - (Toby Brooks): I love this wisdom from Papa Warren. Doubt is not gonna help. Literally moments away from her second ACL surgery, drowning in doubts, Sarah's mom shares the truth with her. Honey, we're here. We don't have a choice. And there's so much wisdom in that fact. But if you find yourself in your own we're here moment, and you too realize that you don't have a choice. It can be all you can muster to move ahead, and it can be all but impossible to do it without doubt.

0:26:42 - (Toby Brooks): So that begs the question, what's the purpose of doubt? Why do we doubt in the first place? Psychologists would tell us that doubt is at its core a self protection mechanism. You hoping to make that elite sports team, but you doubt if you'll be picked. That's doubt trying to lower your expectations, protecting your mental health in the event that you do fail. Or maybe you applied to your dream school or your dream job.

0:27:08 - (Toby Brooks): And as much as you want it, you refuse to allow yourself even for a moment to think about what might happen if it worked out in your favor. That's doubt once again stepping in to try to soften the fall and protect you. But for Sarah, she'd had massive dreams from the day she was just a tiny little pee wee hockey player in Chicago. She wasn't just comfortable in chasing down things like a full ride D1 scholarship even, and eventually a place on the Olympic team because she was seeking safety of doubt.

0:27:40 - (Toby Brooks): No way. Her dad shared an incredible truth that helped empower her to continue having huge dreams. Doubt is not gonna help. And honestly, I love it. I respect it. Take big swings if you're willing to put yourself in position to do something impactful or important. Entertaining doubt is not protecting you. In fact, there's a possibility that it's even poisoning you. For Sarah, it meant avoiding the doubts that might try to tell her what might happen if she failed and instead embracing what might happen when she succeeded.

0:28:14 - (Sarah Warren): We'll be back after this quick message.

0:28:17 - (Toby Brooks): Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought what in the hell just happened to my life? When the career shifts, when the relationship ends, when the identity you've built your whole life around disappears overnight, that's not failure. That's what I call a purpose storm. And most high achievers aren't prepared for it because no one ever taught us how to train for a comeback. I'm Dr. Toby Brooks and I built the Science of the Comeback for people who refuse to stay broken.

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0:29:38 - (Sarah Warren): Self doubt. You gotta believe you put it in the air. You gotta Believe. You gotta believe. And it made me realize that you can't let a temporary feeling lead to a permanent decision. How many temporary feelings? That. Oh, like, I'm not gonna get it. You have this doubt. You have this fear. It's at the end of the day, it's fear. We work our entire lives for 38 seconds that we need to qualify for a team that either makes us an Olympian or doesn't make us an Olympian.

0:30:05 - (Sarah Warren): And so it's fear, but that's temporary. Fear is temporary. You wake up the next day and you feel different. And so Dad's saying, of doubt's not going to get you. There was something that really, really pushed me through. And then you know what I thought? Every feeling I feel is temporary. And we're not going to have a permanent decision based on something temporary. And that's every day. That's just what we thought.

0:30:27 - (Toby Brooks): I love it. That's such a powerful mindset, and it puts the control back in your hands. Like you can. You can lament what's happened to you, or you can focus on what you can do today to get better. So I love that mentality. So I have to wonder. You didn't just start speed skating after soccer. It was something you had done early, but obviously it's dormant. I would say maybe that's the term. I mean, you're a college soccer player. Where are Olympic dreams of being a speed skater during this time? Is it completely foreign?

0:30:58 - (Toby Brooks): When did that start to re. Enter the equation?

0:31:01 - (Sarah Warren): So it was on my mind actually, the whole time I went into school. My coaches were great. Illinois, even my freshman year, my offseason, I skated because I was still on a junior world team. So the plan was always, I'm going to go play soccer and I'm going to come back and become an Olympian. Very naive in the sense of, I'm going to come back and immediately become an Olympian. I again, you go into college, this idea.

0:31:24 - (Sarah Warren): I'm unstoppable. I can do absolutely everything. And you have an ACL and then you have a cleanup, and then you have an ACL and then you have a cleanup. So you're four knees at that point. Six knee surgeries in. And I tore my second acl. My final game, it was the last regular season game of our. My fifth year season against Nebraska. Must win. And we won to make it to Big Ten tournament. But it was as late in the season as possible.

0:31:53 - (Sarah Warren): And I knew immediately, like, I cut. I came out for a corner to block it. Cut knee went typical ACL and that I honestly was the first time, like, I don't. I don't know if we're gonna make it back for the, like, this was. This was code red. This was the one thing that could not happen, is happening. And my fifth year after the acl. Acl. Recovery is pretty hard on that one. I don't know why. There's just.

0:32:18 - (Sarah Warren): They differ again. My parents are, like I said, if they could have lined up on the line with me, that would have been more indicative of how this entire career has gone. I called dad and I didn't have the mindset I did now, I have to admit, and I said, like, hey, recovery is not going well. I'm not too sure. I'm thinking just straight med school. I think I'm, you know, research, take the mcat and go to med school.

0:32:45 - (Sarah Warren): And he's like, okay, good plan. But I have to say, I know that feels right now, but how are you going to feel in five years? And again, it's a. It's what led to this idea of temporary feelings, permanent decisions. And I sat there and I was like, wow, like, you're right. Like, I'm scared. I'm scared I'm not going to make it. I know it's going to be hard. I'm going to have to come back. The knee, I couldn't get full flexion. I couldn't full extension.

0:33:13 - (Sarah Warren): I knew it was going to be tough, but, like, why not try? And so the Olympic dream was very alive for four and a half years and about for a month and a half, it almost died. It almost went away. Like I said, like, I am going to be completely transparent here. People see me on the line, see 10 surgeries, like, oh, she always. No, there. There were some lows. But so after that talk, I was like, you're absolutely right. And that's when the eyes back onto the Olympics.

0:33:45 - (Sarah Warren): I knew it was going to be a fight, it was going to be a grind. It was gonna take every single day. Did not anticipate the angle. Again, you hope from that point on it's a straight shot and it wasn't. But all these trials and tribulations that I went through before really set me up to be able to deal with the ones that got thrown at me at age 27, age 28 and age 29 compared to 21 year old.

0:34:08 - (Toby Brooks): Sarah, as you're talking, I'm really impressed by the community that's around you, whether that's your brother who's been through that, your mom, your dad, your Physician who's an inspiration for you professionally now. For so many athletes, there's a temptation to withdraw. And I'm not on the roster. I'm not contributing on the field or the court anymore. So maybe I don't deserve to be this anymore. What would you say to that athlete who's tempted to kind of pull within their shell instead of lean into the community around them?

0:34:38 - (Sarah Warren): It's hard. I would say. I totally understand it, and that's something. Over this last year, I expanded my community just for my family. The Warren family is extremely close. That is something my grandparents, my parents have really instilled in us, like your family is forever. And so I had the. I mean, the privilege and the honor of having the family that I do. But even this last year, I really leaned into my teammates. I really leaned to my friends and realized it is nice to have that community, especially when you're at the rink. And so it is very tempting to not want to be a bother. I think is one, I think two, you point out a great thing. Well, let's say you're on a team sport and you tore an acl. And so, no, you can't go out there and play.

0:35:21 - (Sarah Warren): But instead of thinking of what can't I do, think, what can I do? Right? You're still a member of that team. You still can contribute. No, you can't go and kick a ball down the field. But if a teammate's having a bad day, can you be the person they go to and you pick them up so that then they can go have a good day? You have. You don't have control over what you can't do. You don't have control over the fact that you got hurt. You don't have control over the timeline. I heard an ACL now is a year.

0:35:49 - (Sarah Warren): You know that you're out for a year. And you can either have a year where you. I don't want to say sulk, but you just look at the negatives. You look at what you can't do, and I'm going to tell you that recovery process is going to be rough. Or you can look at the year of like, you know what? As a teammate, I can work on my positivity. As a teammate, I can work on so and so wants to go get extra touches, but no one's available.

0:36:14 - (Sarah Warren): Well, I can't kickball, but I can throw one. You find what you can do. You find what piece of the puzzle you can fill as a teammate, and you do that to the best of your ability. And Then you add, you always can control your attitude. You always can control what you can do. So focus on that rather than the small piece of the puzzle that you can't do.

0:36:38 - (Toby Brooks): Love that. And I would say, as a healthcare provider, I wanted to make that part of the recovery. If I saw an athlete starting to withdraw, I'm concerned about them. Their psychological health could be suffering. But I also want to encourage team leaders. If you've got an injured teammate and they're not part of the day in and day out, it's easy to focus on kind of what I have in front of me. But a good leader recognizes the entire team and maybe can. And you know, that invite from the team captain means a heck of a lot more than it means from the strength coach or the athletic trainer, a hundred percent.

0:37:08 - (Sarah Warren): And I do think that is the benefit, too, of having a close team to really cementing that team culture. And at Illinois, we did a great job with that. My best friends came from my soccer team, actually. Three roommates who I lived with for most of my years at Illinois came to Milan with, like, as soon as I made the team, they. And they know me as an athlete, too. They know I'm not on my phone during competition. They're texting my mom the whole time. I looked at the group chat after I was cracking up, and so they were there with me.

0:37:35 - (Sarah Warren): And as soon as I tore my ACL the first time, I remember we all just sit in the living room. We're like, it's pretty wild, like, but they're there. They're there every step of the way. The second time I came home, two gift baskets. I mean, everyone was. No one left a word unsaid. I would say texts, calls, cards. And you realize the community you have around you, because as a teammate, yes, it is your job if you're injured to help, but also if you're not injured and your teammate got injured, do help them, you know, in that moment, figure out what they need. If it looks like they're down, which is a part of the injury process, be there for them. Figure out a way. Ask if they want to help.

0:38:17 - (Sarah Warren): Make them feel included, make them feel important, because, again, even though they can't contribute on the field, they can contribute in a different way. And if you find that role for them early, it really helps the recovery process because you do feel like part of the process.

0:38:30 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. Great advice. Again, talking with Olympian Sarah Warren, former Division 1 soccer player and just overcomer of all stripes, we'll get into a little bit about what's coming next for you. But I really want to kind of drill down on something you said about, you know, as those injuries mounted and in the moment, we don't have the benefit of perspective. You don't know that it's all going to end well. You get to go to opening ceremonies, you get to skate.

0:38:58 - (Toby Brooks): You don't know that in that moment. So now you do. And you, you can look back on that. And I really try to encourage my listeners to recognize the value of reflection. What we've been through is important, but unless we look back, we really can't understand the gravity of what we've learned. So when you look back at that version of yourself when, when your Olympic dreams were potentially in jeopardy, what do you understand about yourself now that maybe you couldn't see then?

0:39:26 - (Sarah Warren): I think it's a trust that I would figure it out. I'm pretty transparent. As we do talk to sports psychs, I think it is massive part, especially of speed skating. We say a huge part of this is mental. And that's something I talk to with my sports psych. When you can't balance. There's a huge technical component to speed skating. And I'm a studier, I'm a math brain. Some people are feel, they go out there, they feel it. I am iPad watching video like it is honestly my job.

0:39:55 - (Sarah Warren): And you can get wrapped up in that, right? Wrapped up in like it has to be perfect. And you have this fear when you have a practice and it's, you know, it's not looking right or the queue's not queuing and it's hard not to rabbit hole. And I learned through each day, obviously through making a team. But even before that, I have to say I wasn't lying when I said going to that line, I've already won, whether I made the team or not, because I proved to myself I can figure it out.

0:40:25 - (Sarah Warren): As much as it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel that I'm never gonna learn to cross over again. I'm never gonna be able to do this, this and this. If I slow down and I believe that it will figure itself out. You still have to work, you still have to think. But you have what's in, like in here. You have it to figure it out. And each time I was at the base of this mountain and I was like, I gotta figure this out. I got, I did.

0:40:52 - (Sarah Warren): And so you through this evidence, you realize, like, I have the keys and my coach is fantastic, the people around me are fantastic. And they absolutely helped and they of the puzzle that got me there, but I had the pieces to figure it out. And that something when you get injured and you consistently get injured, you kind of lose faith in that. And so hindsight, absolutely right. It all worked out. Everything was worth it.

0:41:17 - (Sarah Warren): But even before that, I went to that line knowing I did everything possible. On the days I saw no light, I found a light by the end of practice. By the end of the day, I stayed an extra session to figure it out. I proved to myself that I was strong enough, I was smart enough, and I had the right people around me to be the best version of me. Was I the best in the world?

0:41:43 - (Toby Brooks): No.

0:41:44 - (Sarah Warren): Do I think I can get there? Hopefully that's why I'm skating another year. But I already won going into it. And crossing that line just reaffirmed that belief. But it was even before that, I have to admit, like, I was. I was very, very proud of the person and the skater I've become over this last year. Extremely gracious and with so much gratitude for those around me. And it affirmed to me the community I have.

0:42:13 - (Sarah Warren): It affirmed to me the belief in the people. I mean, how great people are that surround me and then just in myself, that I was way stronger than I thought I was. And that's a pretty cool feeling.

0:42:27 - (Toby Brooks): I love that. It absolutely is. I think it's so critical for people to recognize that when we turn on our television and we see whether it's a performer or an athlete or an entrepreneur, I mean, high achievers of all stripes, it's easy to think overnight success or, you know, these are the best of the best. And it's harder to recognize the story beneath that. So in looking back over your story, I think it's important to point out that there's more than just Olympic team membership or championships that you've won along the way. What would you say is the accomplishment that you're most proud of?

0:43:06 - (Sarah Warren): I would say this last year, to be honest, and not making the team, I want to clarify like we had. I've won world championships medals with Brittney Bone, Aaron Jackson, I UFCA team sprint. It. It's amazing. That was one of the highlights of my career skating with them. But my process throughout this year and my, as we discussed, my ability to lean on those around me when before I would have retreated, my ability to work through the hard times and believe in myself.

0:43:41 - (Sarah Warren): When you look at the odds and they are all stacked against you, and the ability to take a look a broader view of things not all the time. But I would say in those moments and those reflective moments, my process this year and how I was able to lean on those around me, I think was what I am most proud of. And I have said it, it took a village. People have heard me say stay hungry and humble. And that is 100% what I thought this entire year. And it really hit home this year for my grandfather knew, he knew something was coming. He knew I was going to be facing these trials and tribulations. But that was it. I had to stay hungry. I had to keep wanting it, but remain humble.

0:44:29 - (C): Sarah Warren, 29 year old college soccer

0:44:31 - (Toby Brooks): player at the University of Illinois and one of the best American sprinters on the outside lane ready,

0:44:39 - (C): looking to equal that 107 that we saw from Aaron Jackson on the 100 meter, you have a shot. The time to beat to move into the second place is not unbeatable for either of these women. That 38.8 fast under look at Sarah Warren just a hundredth of a second off the opening split we saw from Aaron Jackson and she is going to get a good draft as she crosses over from the outer lane to the inner lane. Moving into the final home stretch for the 500.

0:45:04 - (C): Four years ago, Sarah Warren just missed out on an Olympic spot. She was fourth in the 500 Olympic trials. Trying to leave nothing for chance here, the 29 year old out of Willowbrook, Illinois has blown away the pair. She comes the line and it's right there. 38, 86 into second.

0:45:23 - (Sarah Warren): I say there's this picture on, of me on the line and both hands are in the air. I would rarely say this, but I was glowing. I mean, I was on the Olympic line. I told myself no matter what, I was going to enjoy the experience. I'm not usually a waiver like I'm usually on the line and I'm like, I'm locked in. And I was like, nope. Sarah, you have worked your entire life for this moment. Allow yourself to enjoy it.

0:45:48 - (Sarah Warren): And so on that line, that was what that was. And so the world sees that picture. The world sees me on that line.

0:45:56 - (Toby Brooks): I absolutely love this glimpse inside the mind of an athlete who not only knows what she's been through the mountains she scaled, the adversity she's overcome, and the people who helped her along the way and the fact that she allowed herself and them, if only for a few seconds, to drink in this moment. To me, it's the mark of someone who's thankful for the journey, appreciative of the growth and willing to seize Even just a moment to drink in the magnitude of what she's accomplished before eventually locking in and doing the real work.

0:46:27 - (Toby Brooks): Sarah had taken a line in races hundreds or maybe even thousands of times in the past. But for this moment, she realized that taking this line was different. And she gave herself room to feel that satisfaction. Now, some might be tempted to criticize someone in the moment like that, that they're being distractible, but I'd say it was beautiful and befitting the incredible path that it took to arrive then and there.

0:46:57 - (Toby Brooks): Not to mention the fact that it was a show of gratitude and respect to the countless people who had helped Sarah along the way. And that's freaking awesome.

0:47:06 - (Sarah Warren): But when I look at that picture, I see a thousand. It's a puzzle. It's a jigsaw puzzle. And you've seen like a thousand piece jigsaw. And especially throughout this last couple weeks, that I've got to go home and, you know, give the flowers to the people. That's hard to mention. Everybody, every moment, every person who has led me to that starting line, to that picture, is a piece of that puzzle. And I think this year I have been able to take a bird's eye view of this journey and really realize that.

0:47:39 - (Sarah Warren): And it's made me love the sport, it's made me love the process, and it's made me really realize who I have around me and what I'm capable of. And for that, I think I am most proud. This has been the best year of skating I've had, and I've said that three months out of the trials. Obviously, now it is cherry on top, greatest thing ever. But even before that, like, I was super proud of the. The fight I had, but also extremely just thankful and have so much gratitude for the community that I had around me. And it makes me smile and almost makes me cry every time I think about it. So this year really made me realize that.

0:48:26 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, that's so beautiful. I love the metaphor of the puzzle. So you're not done skating yet? And we'll get to that in a minute. But I've taught graduate students for a lot of years, and when they get injured, I always say, oh, you're doing research because they're learning about the injury and the recovery process. Well, you have some pretty big goals that you're still working on after skating. So talk to us a little bit about what's cooking for Sarah on the other side of the competitive career.

0:48:52 - (Sarah Warren): Yeah, so like I said, when I was young, I had the surgeries and I couldn't do any sports. Actually, we went to a couple doctors, and they recommended these surgeries that would actually put me out completely. They're like, she won't really be able to do competitive sports. And luckily, my parents were like, that doesn't work. Like, we're gonna figure something else out. And so I went to Dr. Brian Cole, and it was a breath of fresh air. He was unbelievable in his ability to talk through his process, what he was gonna do. And it was a quick fix, which was really nice. It was just plicas.

0:49:25 - (Sarah Warren): But in that quick fix, he saved my career. He made Sarah Warren. Sarah Warren. And no, it's not heart surgery. It's not brain surgery. It's not these emergency surgeries or someone on the table, and you're immediately saving a life, right? But he did save my life that day. He allowed me to do what I love to do, and I was able to shadow him when I was in high school. He's a superhero to me. He is Superman, and he does that not just for me, but for hundreds of patients, and he truly makes a difference. And it was after actually, my surgery that I said, I'm going to be an orthopedic surgeon.

0:50:01 - (Sarah Warren): And that just got reaffirmed when I got to shadow him every day. He was a superhero. There was no day off. And so for me, that was my path. I knew it. Like I said, when I'm young, I pick something, and we're doing it. So plan for me is to become an orthopedic surgeon. I am going to be studying for the MCAT this next year, finalizing everything I need for medical school, and then we're taking skating year by year.

0:50:26 - (Sarah Warren): I am not naive. I understand when you do have 10 surgeries, you're really not sure of your timeline. Every day is a good day that you can skate, but, you know, things are. They're delicate. And so at this point, really want to enjoy skating. Be the best I can be, but also set myself up for hopefully future Dr. Warren. So MCAT's being studied, and then we'll be applying for medical school in the future.

0:50:54 - (Sarah Warren): And then the goal is to be an orthopedic surgeon and hopefully change some lives like Dr. Cole changed mine.

0:51:00 - (Toby Brooks): Fantastic. Well, I will tell you, without a doubt, us Olympian reads pretty well on the Vita as you're submitting those applications for medical schools.

0:51:09 - (Sarah Warren): It explains the break in. I was able to get my master's, which was really nice, at Johns Hopkins, a fantastic program. And just I was a bioengineer in college. And so was able to cement that with a master's in it. I absolutely love it. But there has been a little break in school and so luckily, Olympian kind of helps explain that break a little bit. But I'm definitely itching to get back to studying. Too many Netflix series at this point, right? You're trying to relax, but the binging of Netflix needs to stop. So the MCAT books are opening now.

0:51:42 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. Well, you earned it. I mean, your gap year story is better than most. So I love that. I always ask this question of all my guests. If we were to watch a montage of your life, what song would you pick to play in the background and why?

0:51:54 - (Sarah Warren): Oh, that's a great question. The Climb by Miley Cyrus. There's always gonna be another mountain I'm always gonna wanna make it move Always gonna be in a build battle Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose Ain't about how fast I get there Ain't about was waiting on the other side. It's the climb. I think it was Miley Cyrus. I don't know if it's Hannah Montana, one of the two. I would say the climb because it's true. I always related to your climbing up a mountain, and I don't think you'll ever reach the top.

0:52:46 - (Sarah Warren): And if you have, you gotta reach. There's a new summit you need. If you reach it, then what. What's there to work for? But, you know, you have these. It's been uphill, and I live a very blessed life. I. It's very hard for me to complain. Obviously, you have to come back from knee injuries and there's fear. But in the grand scheme of live pretty blessed life. But you have these goals and you hope you're running on a running track to get there, but for some reason, mine has a pretty steep grade at times.

0:53:13 - (Sarah Warren): And so it was a climb. It was. Every day was a grind. Every day is a step uphill. But the cool thing about climbing a mountain is that you're still going up. It just takes you a little bit longer. So the Climb by Miley Cyrus probably would be the song of choice.

0:53:29 - (Toby Brooks): Love that. I drop all those into a mixtape of sorts, a Spotify playlist, and then it'll also be included in your episode. So I love that one's very fitting. I love it.

0:53:39 - (Sarah Warren): It.

0:53:40 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So one final question here. A lot of times, those who don't overcome adversity, they think about it and they think, you know, why did this happen to me? And the. The athletes, the high performers that I'VE worked with, who have navigated that the most. They would oftentimes say, you know, this happened for me. When you look back over the whole career, all the things you've been through, all the adversity, what would you say those things did informing you how did they work for you?

0:54:11 - (Sarah Warren): I think they completely did. And I like how you phrase that because it's very easy, and I say it's the victim mentality and not in a negative way. It's very easy to go in that, like, you're in pain, you're taking a path that no one else has to take. It just doesn't seem fair. But once you get through it, you realize it's those trials, it's those challenges that form who you are. If you live a life with no obstacles, how do you find out what you're made of?

0:54:40 - (Sarah Warren): If something gets thrown at you, then how do you know you can handle it? I would much rather be 29, turning 30, knowing I have gone through all of these things I have because of it. I realized the community around me. I realized my strength. I have realized how much gratitude I have to be able to do the sport I love. You have all of these realizations because of the things thrown at you. And so it's almost a gift. And it's. I said that before, and I think someone looked at me crazy, but 10 surgeries were. It was a gift.

0:55:17 - (Sarah Warren): It was an absolute gift. Because every time I learned something about myself, and I would not have been on that starting line at the Olympics without it, I truly believe that, you know, you might have gotten complacent. You know, something else might have happened down the line. Everything happens for a reason at the time it happened. And that's how you have to think about things. It might not seem fair, but maybe you went over that road bump, so you missed a bigger road bump down the road.

0:55:45 - (Sarah Warren): You can think about it. Why did it happen to me? Or thank goodness it happened to me because I got through it. And because of that, I got to be where I am, whether you make it or not. Obviously, someone listening to this. Well, yeah, she was at the Olympics. But honestly, if I didn't make it, it was. I was able to get to the Olympic trials. You know, I proved to myself that I could get that far. And at the end of the day, it's 0.2 of a second.

0:56:09 - (Sarah Warren): You can't control that. And so I would. No matter what, whether you achieve the goals that you initially set out or not, you set those goals without knowing the journey to get there. It's really easy to look at destination. But no matter what, if you're, if you're working through that journey and you work through the trials and tribulations and you work through those challenges, you have proven to yourself you are that much stronger and those challenges or make you, you.

0:56:36 - (Sarah Warren): So always be thankful for that.

0:56:39 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, love that mentality. Such a. A victor's mindset, not a victim mindset like you said. Well, Sarah, a lot of people don't know that being on the Olympic team is not guaranteed financial success. It can be tough. So we want to support you in any and every way. So the socials with us. How can we support you and continue to follow the work and the competition that you're doing?

0:57:01 - (Sarah Warren): I really appreciate it. Yeah, it's. We don't do it for the money, that's for sure. We do it because we're competitors. We love to represent our country and so we honestly are mostly sponsored by sponsors. Like sponsorships are really how we fund ourselves. So if anyone does relate to the story you want to, you know, support the journey, I absolutely would love if you reached out to me. Social media is probably the easiest. I can drop my email too.

0:57:26 - (Sarah Warren): That would be awesome. But honestly, eyes on the sport. My biggest thing with everything, obviously we love to be financially supported, but my big thing with the games was I was able to get this platform to show no matter how dim that light seems at the end of the tunnel, it's possible. And if that means one athlete believes in themselves again, when it seems like their back's against the wall and there is no shot and they actually go and not even achieve it, but they try, it will be worth it. So if you want to support, I absolutely would love that. But more importantly, if you are an athlete who's going through something, please believe in yourself. If you don't, please reach out to me.

0:58:10 - (Sarah Warren): Social media. I'll put my email on here. I would love to be an advocate. I would love to be a resource for any athlete going through. Like I said, we have to stick together. It's not a fun group to be in the surgery, especially multiple surgery group or surgeries at the wrong time group. So please reach out. I would absolutely love it. But if you want to follow me on socials, I'll be highlighting my journey throughout the whole next year and I would love to connect.

0:58:35 - (Toby Brooks): Awesome. Well, I'll have a page just for this episode. I'll drop all the socials and links in there so that folks can. Amazing to that when they get a chance.

0:58:43 - (Sarah Warren): I am Sarah Warren and I am undone.

0:58:58 - (Toby Brooks): Sarah's story is a masterclass in what it actually takes to live through a purpose storm and not just survive it, but be shaped by it, to be formed by it, to be better from it. Now let's be clear here. Her story isn't inspiring simply because she made the Olympic Games team, although it is. It's inspiring because of who she became before that moment even arrived. Ten surgeries, setbacks that didn't just threaten her performance, but her own identity.

0:59:24 - (Toby Brooks): And yet, over and over and over again, she chose to keep showing up. Not because it was easy or certain, but because she refused to let a temporary feeling make a permanent decision. And maybe that's the thread that ties this whole conversation together. The realization that the win wasn't always the podium. It's the person you become in the process, the calluses, the community, the courage to believe when doubt feels louder than truth.

0:59:54 - (Toby Brooks): Sarah didn't just chase a dream. She learned how to trust herself in the dark, how to lean on others when it would have been easier to withdraw, and how to find gratitude in the grind. That's the kind of growth that lasts long after the race is over. I'm thankful to Sarah for dropping in, and I hope you enjoyed our conversation. For more info on today's episode, be sure to check it out on the web. Simply go to undonepodcast.com

1:00:31 - (Toby Brooks): ep155 to see the notes, links and images related to today's guest, Sarah Warren. Some quick updates about the show we're currently sitting at number seven in self improvement, number eight in education. We are still out of Apple's top 200 for the time being, but I'm hopeful that as the semester clears out and the time to get some new episodes out like this one will be just what we needed to get back in there.

1:00:53 - (Toby Brooks): If you want to follow along and see our progress for yourself, you can now go to undonepodcast.com rankings and cheer me on. In the last month we had more than 41,000 downloads, but we aren't done yet. If you'd be so kind as to share the show with a friend and leave a comment or a review, it would help a ton and I would sincerely appreciate it. Last few episodes I've continued something new that I've been including in each episode what I'm calling the teal of the Week now. Stay with me. I know it could maybe sound a little weird, but follow along.

1:01:26 - (Toby Brooks): I like to consider myself a performance scientist and I like to let the data do my deciding. And over the years, and my data backs me up on this, I've learned that the environments that we create write down how we decorate our space and what we choose to wear, all of that can influence how we show up. For me, teal has become one of those cues. It's a subconscious signal that represents clarity and energy and focus.

1:01:51 - (Toby Brooks): It's a small but consistent way that I use to signal to myself that it's time to be present. It's time to be intentional. It's time to do this well. So each week on the show, I wear a different teal shirt, usually tied to a team or a program, just as a way to keep that rhythm and that consistency. For this episode, I'm wearing one of my favorite new hoodies. It's a teal and Black Vancouver Grizzlies 2 XL job from Mitchell and Ness.

1:02:16 - (Toby Brooks): I was never much of a Grizzlies fan back in the day, but their retro stuff is insanely cool. Anytime I see grizzly stuff from that late 90s, early 2000s era, I'm taken back to a simpler time. And I've always been a sucker for any kind of expansion team, and that Canadian NBA expansion era of the Grizzlies and the Raptors made it feel like my sport of hoops was taking over the whole world. Now, I'll admit I don't get to wear warm fleece hoodies as often as I'd like living in Central Texas, but I can tell you, when I put this one on, a switch is flipped and I am ready to perform.

1:02:50 - (Toby Brooks): So I want to encourage you, whether it's a favorite color or a curated playlist or some custom lighting or any of a hundred other potential adjustments you could make to your workspace or your gym or your practice area. Give it a try. It doesn't have to be teal. Matter of fact, I'd probably be mad at you if it were, because that's my deal. Get your own. That just happens to be my Spectrum adjacent love.

1:03:15 - (Toby Brooks): But whatever it is, find it, collect data on it, and learn to use it to your advantage. A couple of quick shout outs this week. First, a word of thanks to my youngest fan, my guy, the one and only Cooper McNeely. Cooper's an incredible dude who I met back at my old church back in Lubbock, and his mom sent me a message the other day that he's a regular listener to the show. Cooper's a catcher on his Little League baseball team this season, and I'm pretty stoked to say I'll be heading to Lubbock next week just to watch him play.

1:03:59 - (Toby Brooks): So Coop, if you're listening, thank you. I love you, buddy. I also want to shout out my fellow classmates at Baylor and the Exercise Physiology Graduate Program program Igor, Kwame, Michelle, Yasmine, Ishka, Ryan, Mahima, Blake, others finish strong. We are almost there. In two more weeks, I'll officially be halfway done and I'm thankful to have gotten the chance to learn alongside each of you. Coming up on the show, I've got world renowned traumatic brain injury expert and former student Dr. Shawn Eagle coming on. Hear about how his career as a college athlete was impacted by concussion and how he's turned that experience into a globally impactful research platform that's helping to shape how we care for injured athletes.

1:04:41 - (Toby Brooks): Then I've got former All American gymnast turned entrepreneur and professor Dr. Courtney Beck. Hear how she went from walk on gymnast at the University of Florida to a professor of sports management with a podcast and a platform of her own today. All this and more coming up on Becoming Undone. Becoming Undone is a nitro hype creative production written and produced by me me, Toby Brooks. Tell a friend about the show. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at Toby Brooks, Ph.D.

1:05:08 - (Toby Brooks): on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out my link tree at linktr EE tobybrooksphd. Listen, subscribe and leave me a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Till next time, friends. Remember, doubt's not going to help you keep getting better.