Athletic Fortitude Show
Athletes all over the world endure countless mental physical and psychological adversities over the course of their careers. We are here to bring you the solutions to those adversities with some of the top professional athletes, coaches, and sport and performance psychologists around the world!
Athletic Fortitude Show
SECRETS TO OLYMPIC GOLD MOST PEOPLE IGNORE BMX Champion - Connor Fields- How to Win Under Pressure
Ever wondered how an Olympic gold medalist handles the pressure of high-stakes competition? Join us for an extraordinary conversation with Connor Fields, who opens up about his emotional journey to winning gold in BMX. Connor sheds light on how he managed self-doubt and self-sabotage, and reveals the unique mental strategies that propelled him to the top. Learn how daily pressure scenarios in training were key to his success and how he likens the Olympic pressure to that of a Super Bowl kicker.
Explore the intense dedication and sacrifices required to reach the pinnacle of sports with insights from Connor’s career. We discuss the black-and-white mindset necessary for winning, the relentless pursuit of excellence, and the importance of balancing immediate desires with long-term aspirations. Connor also shares valuable lessons on maintaining relationships outside the sport, handling failures, and finding fulfillment through education amidst a grueling training schedule.
Witness the emotional conflict and complexities of a high-risk sports career as Connor recounts his traumatic brain injury at the Tokyo Olympics, the year-long rehabilitation process, and his decision to retire. He also opens up about navigating career transitions, working with various coaches, and sustaining a supportive environment. This episode offers a powerful glimpse into the life of an elite athlete, emphasizing total commitment, mental preparation, and the relentless quest for recovery and wellness.
Welcome back to the show, everybody. Before I introduce my special guest here, I want to give a shout out to All Black Everything Performance Energy Drink, the official energy drink of the Athletic Fortitude podcast, available in Walmart, meijer and select GNC franchise locations. Uh, would not be able to do it without it. Uh, that being said, I want to introduce connor fields. He's a bmx athlete. He's been to three olympics, he has two world titles and he was the first american to win olympic gold and bmx. How you doing today, my friend, I'm doing well, happy to be here. Good, I appreciate you coming on now. As I said in your intro, you are an olympic gold winner. Was winning gold, everything that you thought it would be.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, without a doubt. I uh. When people ask me about what that feels like to win a gold medal, I say take every emotion you've ever had and turn it up to volume 10. You know, there's the excitement, the shock, right, cause you've dreamed about this for however long that it's been a goal of yours, right? For me, it was eight years between when I watched the first BMX event at the Olympics and then when I won was eight years later. So I literally thought about that moment pretty much every single day for eight years, right. And as an athlete you can understand like you're in training and you're pushing and you're you're not feeling great and training all the time and you're thinking about that. So when it happens, it's that shock, but it's the excitement, and then it's also a little bit of like relief because all that work was worth it. And then you're thankful for all the people that got you there. You just all the emotions turned up to 10.
Speaker 1:So, leading up to it, when, when you're in those moments right, you're feeling those nerves, what's the communication process in your head when you get that self-doubt, the self-sabotaging behavior that comes to you? How do you communicate through that, particularly when it's a sport that's inherently extremely dangerous?
Speaker 2:So I mean I guess we'd have to go big picture and not just the Olympics, because the Olympics is the biggest event. But the format of the race is the same as all the events, right? Whether it's a national race, a regional race, a world championship, whatever, it's the same kind of process. And I guess you know some days are easier than others. Some days are natural and you don't have the self-doubt and you kind of believe in yourself and you're locked in your process. Some days are harder and then for me, as I think back on my career, what I did when I was 18 was very different than what I did when I was 28.
Speaker 2:So a lot of it was trial and error and getting to know yourself, the same way that you want to get to know you know a friend or get better at your craft, like you're getting to know yourself and learning what works for you when you're going down a negative pathway or what doesn't work for you. How do I fix this mistake, that mistake, things like that? How do I fix this mistake, that mistake, things like that? But when it comes down to the Olympics, you know I try to explain to people. It's like this one race that happens every four years can make or break your career and it will define whether the last four years were successful or not. And you know there's hundreds of millions of people watching you and you can change the course of your life by executing at your best on this moment and it's yeah, it's one day, it's one race, but in reality it's a singular moment that it comes down to sitting in that starting line in the Olympic final. Um, you know, I've experienced a massive failure in my first Olympic experience and I learned from that and I tried to correct it for the next one.
Speaker 2:Um, but there was no way to practice that. You could practice the physical aspects of it, but you can't practice the actual event right. It'd be like I guess the equivalent for you in football would be like a kicker for the game winning field goal at Superbowl. You can't mimic that pressure. You know you can go kick that field goal and practice a hundred times. You can kick it in a regular season game a hundred times, but there's nothing quite like that Super Bowl moment.
Speaker 2:So it was just trying to figure out how to not let that moment be so big and just allow it to just be any other moment and just do what I always do, which is the magic trick. How'd you do that? Can't give away all the secrets. No, I think what it was for me was, um, creating pressure on a daily basis. Uh, every day, in practice or at other events, I tried to treat everything the same and and create pressure. So, with my training partners, we would talk smack, we would say you know, loser buys lunch, right, and yeah, it was a $20 bet for who's going to buy Chipotle, but it added a little bit of pressure. Um, you know, going into an event and focusing more on executing at my best versus what place I got um, and being mad when I won but I didn't execute at my best because that was a failure and just really putting as much emphasis on the mental game as the physical game.
Speaker 1:So when you're talking about kind of simulating that pressure, so even though you can add all these pressure tricks or not tricks but elements to your training, your preparation, when you actually get in that moment, do you feel it? Or has all that preparation of trying to incorporate pressure kind of alleviate some of the moment of you know in that that stride going for the Olympic gold?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess two things come to mind. First off, you know when you're prepared. Truly, you go into autopilot. You know it's. It happens naturally when you're when you've done your homework. You know it happens naturally when you've done your homework.
Speaker 2:But with the Olympics, right, I had three experiences. The first one was my very first time. I was 19 years old, I was a kid, and there's nothing that can prepare you for the Olympics. It's such a different experience than you know anything else and, having done it the second time around, which is the time that I won it was a lot easier because I knew what I was getting into. Right. It was like all right, cool, I'm not going to be blindsided by anything now.
Speaker 2:I was actually part of a study with the Olympic team where they interviewed me after my second one and were trying to figure out ways that they could provide resources to first-time athletes, because what I experienced was a very common experience People going to their first games and being overwhelmed and not handling the pressure, coming back the second time when they know what to expect and executing just fine. So they're trying to figure out resources and ways that they could help athletes not have to go through that, depending on what sport you are and how good you are. Some athletes only get one shot so they don't get that second time to fix the mistakes. That they could help athletes not have to go through that, depending on what sport you are and how good you are. Some athletes only get one shot so they don't get that second time to fix the mistakes, and four years is a long time to wait. So for me it was more about having the experience and knowing what to expect. That really helped me.
Speaker 1:So did anything come from those studies that got passed on to help simulate that experience for the athletes who just get one chance? I hope?
Speaker 2:so I don't know. Um, I didn't. You know, I was never going to be a first time Olympian again, so I didn't get the final product of that, but I hope, I hope so, and you know, I'm actually coming up. I'm going to be on a panel for first time, cycling athletes that are going to the Olympics coming up to do a Q and a just to try to help them. Um, myself and a couple of other multiple time Olympians to try to help them be more prepared.
Speaker 1:What would your advice be to give them the best preparedness that they can?
Speaker 2:I guess it would be individualized based on the athlete and um, what is what their concerns are, what they're worried about? Some athletes really care and are bothered by the fact that this is going to be the biggest crowd you've ever competed against. Some athletes don't care about that. Some athletes are there and you know. Okay, I'm going to back up and then I'll come back to answering that question. There's two types of athletes at the Olympics. There's the athletes that making the Olympics was their goal and there's the athletes that it's medal or bust. In every sport, some athletes or some teams have to get fourth place through 25th place, right. And if it's a sport like swimming or track and field, where it's timed, people know exactly how fast they are and they're like, if I have my best day, I might get 12th.
Speaker 1:Yeah fast.
Speaker 2:They are and they're like, if I have my best day, I might get 12th. Yeah, so for them, just making it to the games was their goal. And so they're behind the scenes in the village, they're having a blast, they're taking selfies, they're trading pins, they're loving life. Then in every sport there's four to six, seven athletes and teams that know that if they have their day they can go home with a trophy and those athletes do not have any fun. Those athletes are there, it's a business trip, and fourth place is an epic failure.
Speaker 2:Um, so I think a little bit, as it would depend on if the athlete, which category that athlete falls into, if that athlete has no shot at getting a medal and they're just going to go, try to do their best. You know, maybe they'll get 15th, which is respectable, right, like getting 15th place at the Olympics is no joke. But that's a different kind of pressure of hey, if I get fourth place, this has been a failure. And then, from there, just talking about, I guess the best thing I would say, and how I explain it is the old adage in sports psychology is treat it the same way you treat every other race, go through your process, do everything the same. Try not to let the moment be bigger than what it has to be, and what I say is yes, but with that being said, also understand that it is different and that it is the Olympics, and meet somewhere in the middle where you're doing what you normally do, you're trusting your preparation. You treat it the same way, with the acknowledgement that it's not the same, because it's like the the pink elephant.
Speaker 2:Right? Don't think about a pink elephant. What are you thinking about? Pink elephant, pink elephant. You don't think that it's a special or a big event. What are you thinking about? Oh, it's a special, it's a big event. So it's kind of that meat in the middle.
Speaker 1:How do you channel your energy with that then? So, like, how do you find that actual middle ground? Cause that's really, really tough, you know, I think about like even my own experiences in like a mini camp. Like, yes, technically you could say I should just be happy to be there, but for me it was. I wanted to make the NFL, I wanted to play 10 years in NFL, I wanted to win multiple Super Bowls. For me, that was on my mind the whole time, but I actually played better with that. So how do you know what type of athlete you are? How do you channel that energy properly to not be the person thinking about the pink elephant but to not be the person that's kind of just blowing it off?
Speaker 2:I think that's where it becomes really important that you know yourself. And it's easier as an older athlete because you do know yourself better. Some athletes aren't phased by the big moment. Some athletes love the big moment. Some athletes don't like the big moment and have to learn how to work with themselves in that moment, and so it's just figuring out who you are and what is going to bring out the best in you.
Speaker 2:And for me it was a lot of trial and error. You know there'd be times where I'd be too ramped up and then I was like, okay, I need to go calm it down, and then the next time I might be too calm and too mellow. And it was finding that like kind of sweet spot in the middle that worked best for me as far as how revved up I want it to be, or finding that sweet spot of acknowledging that this is a bigger event but not putting too much thought into it. Right, the acknowledgement versus the focus. But again, I think getting to know yourself, learning from your mistakes and talking with an expert are things that can really help you accelerate that process and not make as many mistakes along the way.
Speaker 1:So you're an outlier. You are an outlier of an outlier First American to ever win BMX gold medalist in the Olympics. What would you say makes you different from most athletes in your space and just the way that you operate day to day?
Speaker 2:I guess, compared to the most athletes in my space, I was a lot more intellectual. My sport is one where you actually almost you shouldn't think too much because it's dangerous and it's just throw caution to the wind, just go. I was very analytical, very thoughtful about everything that I was doing, while at the same time also throwing caution into the wind. Right, like. Having that balance, I think, is what helped me. I also think and this was a blessing and a curse it was a double edged sword. I was an emotional athlete. I rode with my heart on my sleeve.
Speaker 2:You could tell how I was feeling by how I rode. Some days that was great. Feeling by how I rode, um, some days that was great, other days it would have been, you know better for me just to be a methodical, boring, you know, focus on the process athlete versus the emotions, um, those would be the things that I would say make me different. And then, on top of that right, I think every athlete like, if you get to the Olympics or the pinnacle of your sport, of that right, I think every athlete like, if you get to the olympics or the pinnacle of your sport, you've made sacrifices, you've done everything in your power, but I think, just having the, there's very few athletes that have the willingness to do what it takes every day.
Speaker 2:For decades I mean the tom brady of you if he's the extreme example right of every decision that he made was focused on winning the next game, winning the next Super Bowl. A lot of athletes think that they're doing that, but until they're around an athlete that's actually doing that and the level of commitment that it takes to get to that level. And so for me, knowing that my entire career in four years comes down to this day and putting everything into that and there was a lot of other events throughout those four years I won hundreds of races, I competed in thousands, but people want to talk about three, they want to talk about the Olympics, they don't want to talk about all those other ones and putting all your eggs in that basket and going for it.
Speaker 1:Truly, why do you think you were like that? Where does it come from?
Speaker 2:Um, I am, you know any sort of personality test that you could take, or anybody who knows me. Uh, I am very result oriented, uh to an extreme. So if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it to win. Um, I've always been. I don't know why. That's just how I am. If I do it, I want to be best. So it's that simple. I guess it's that simple I. My thought process was if I'm, if I'm going to give up a regular childhood, if I'm going to give up a regular college experience, if I'm going to give up my physical feeling good all the time, if I'm going to travel, you know, and spend hundreds of nights a year in a hotel room, if I'm going to travel, you know, and spend hundreds of nights a year in a hotel room, uh, if I'm going to break bones, if I'm going to do all of these things, I'm not doing it to get fifth, I'm going to do it to win or I'm not going to do it. Uh, it was very black and white. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:There's this saying I love and it's why I love talking with Olympic athletes. I forget what timeframe this was, but he was the director of the Olympic team for the Chinese team and someone asked him what separates the gold medal winners from everybody else, and his response was the ones who win gold are the athletes who can show up every single day without getting bored, and I want you to tell me what of that statement is true and what isn't, and where does that resonate with you?
Speaker 2:I think that it's true in practice but not in theory. It's true in theory but not in practice. I was backwards. It's true in that you have to practice every day as if you're not bored. It's true as if you have to work every single day with the intensity that it is the Olympics, even if it's a Tuesday in the middle of winter and it's the day before Christmas and you're thinking about other stuff. With that being said, you're going to get bored, but it's figuring out how you can push through that boredom to not train like you're bored. What worked?
Speaker 1:for you.
Speaker 2:I always thought about what I want in the long, long run. I want that more than what I want right in this moment. There's plenty of days where I just wanted to stay home, plenty of days where I was tired or sore, or my friends invited me to something, or I just woke up and I was on day number 47 in a row of training and I just didn't want to do it. But I always thought about okay, what do I want more, to win the Olympics or to not train today? The answer is always to win the Olympics, so I would go do what needs to be done. Do you get?
Speaker 1:lonely during this 100%.
Speaker 2:Especially I'm in an individual sport and my teammates are my biggest competitors. If I'm going to get beat by somebody, the last person I want to lose to is my teammate, the other Americans, or my trade team, my sponsor. You don't want to get beat by the guy who's riding the same equipment as you, in the same tent as you, getting the same paycheck as you right, because you're even and then he goes and beats you. That's bad. Or with the other Americans. There's only two or three spots on the Olympic team. So if I'm no longer the top American, if somebody else beats me, if I'm number two, I'm on the bubble. Now somebody else beats me, I'm out. And so it's this weird dynamic of the guys that I'm training with, traveling around the world, with rooming, with, eating dinner with. I've known them most since I was a kid. I'm their friend, but I don't want you to be successful. You can be successful just behind me. You know it's totally weird dynamic.
Speaker 1:So how'd you handle that loneliness? Where did you find an outlet to find some type of relationships? I just made sure.
Speaker 2:I kept my friendships and my relationships with my non-BMX friends. They're very important to me and I made sure I maintained those, even when I was traveling. I'd pick up the phone and call friends or stay connected with my friends here at home. Guys I grew up with, went to high school with, went to college with. We would talk and the extent of the conversation about BMX would be hey man, how's racing? Going, I'm like ah, pretty good, what's new in your world?
Speaker 1:And then we would talk about completely unrelated stuff and completely unrelated stuff, and so that works for you to be able to completely separate and talk about other things.
Speaker 2:I prefer it is. 90% of my day revolves around BMX, so I would. I would enjoy times where I could talk about normal stuff, right Like I'm 24 years old and I'm training and preparing for the Olympics and this constant state of pressure and I want to hear the story about my single friend going on a bad date. You know what I mean. Just it's a break.
Speaker 1:Were you able to find any type of balance? I think balance is an interesting conversation, because the higher athlete or higher successful athlete you talk to, balance seems to not exist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's individualized based on who the athlete is. Some athletes can be very simple, one-track minded. For me I could not. I tried that. It did not work for me. It actually made me worse. So my balance was I went to school, I took two classes a semester for eight years, nine years, nine years. It took me nine years to graduate but I actually, for the first time in my life, I enjoyed school. I enjoyed going to campus and sitting there and just being normal for a couple of hours and I was at practice that morning, or I was at meetings with sponsors or whatever it may be, but for a couple of hours I was just learning about the subject and you get out your number two pencils.
Speaker 2:I mean, I had this one time. I vividly remember it. We had the biggest event in America, the USA BMX Grand Nationals, and it was the first time I ever won it. I think it was like 22, 23. I won it. I made you know 40, 50 grand. On Saturday night I'm, you know, king of the world and on Monday morning I'm back in class. Get out your number two pencils. You have a test and I realized I hadn't studied for this test because I was so focused on this race and I just bombed this test. I remember sitting there like straight back to earth.
Speaker 1:Did uh, the failures of that test is that? How did you cope with that? Similar to how you coped with your failures in BMX.
Speaker 2:I failed one class in college and it was more of an annoyance than anything. I had a much, I guess, more relaxed approach to my studies. I was like this is something I'm doing on the side for fun. It was also something that was going to help me long term and something I knew BMX wasn't going to last forever. I wasn't going to be able to do it until I was 60 or retire from it, so it was always something I needed to do. But I just enjoyed it. I tried to be lighthearted about it because I was so heavy and intense about my racing that this was kind of fun for me. But that test experience, I just found it really funny because it was just straight back to reality.
Speaker 1:Because you talk about how important it is to not come in second or third. So how do you deal with failures, with losing? I think we talk about acceptance, not that you have to like it, but how'd you learn to accept and move on and learn?
Speaker 2:I think for me, you know, the older I got, the more I was able to separate what place I got on paper versus how I performed. And there were times where I rode unbelievably and I might have had some challenges on the preparation or maybe a nagging injury or something was going wrong, and I scraped out a third place and I was stoked. I was happier with that third than there was times that I won and I was more proud of that third one and I was more proud of that third. I got better into separating my personal how I viewed my performance and rating that versus rating what place I came across the finish line. With that being said, you know it is about what place you cross the finish line in. That's why we're doing it so trying to match up.
Speaker 2:I always felt I could match up if I did everything in my power, if I trained as hard as I could, if I executed to the best of my abilities. Very rarely would I be beat. And there were plenty of times where, you know, one of those two things didn't happen. I didn't prepare to the best of my abilities, I didn't execute to the best of my abilities and I got beat. And when that happened, I was like, okay, I didn't do everything I could do to set myself up for success. I can't really be too mad at myself. Um, then it would be like looking at what could I do better next time. Um, but in the on the occasions where I did everything in my power and I got beat, then that's where you shake the guy's hand, you say good job, and I go home work harder, try to get you next time.
Speaker 1:How did you get to that mindset? Because I think about my own career and it's how can you actually know if you've done enough? How can you know if you've prepared enough? How do you know if you're doing not enough or too much? Because that's something I still struggle with to this day is am I doing enough? Am I doing enough? And I don't know if that's healthy or not. But it's like how do you, can you reflect on I fully prepared, I've done everything in my power without doing too much, I think that's where you have to have a good team of people around you who are able to look at it unemotionally.
Speaker 2:Why I don't think that you could be a good coach for yourself. I mean, if I could clone myself and then have my clone coach me, that's different. I mean if I could clone myself and then have my clone coach me, that's different. But I'm emotional about what place I get and my preparation Coaches. They care, they're emotional, they care, but they're able to completely separate it and say hey, you're over-trained, I'm looking at your data, you need to take a day off, Whereas when it's you, you're like I'm not taking a day off. Right, that as well. As I think again, trial and error experience the older you got, the better you get at it.
Speaker 1:But just really trusting the people around you for that. How do you take your feedback and how do you get someone that you can trust to give you hard feedback Like, hey, maybe you didn't train enough, or hey, maybe you didn't do enough, or hey, you need to put more focus in this part of your life? How do you find those people? Because getting feedback, truthful feedback, is really, really hard. Maybe it's different at that level, but I think of college, my short, my cup of coffee with the bills. I think of when I was in high school. It's very hard to get people who will give you truthful feedback.
Speaker 2:For sure. Um, I think also, as you get better and gain more knowledge, the list of people that you will accept feedback from become shorter. I mean, I think back to the back, back half of my career. I mean I could name on one hand the amount of people that I would listen to their feedback. There's lots of people I would listen to them and I'd give them the uh-huh, uh-huh but I'm not actually going to take it. But there was a very short list of people where, like I trust you, I believe in you, you have more knowledge than me, I want your feedback, but I think it's where you have to have the relationship. And it's a relationship just like you're dating and you've got to work through problems and you've got to be a good match. And there's coaches that are are great coaches but they wouldn't be a great coach for me because our personalities wouldn't mesh well. And there's coaches that while me and them might work great together, other athletes might not work well with them.
Speaker 2:Um, and I think for me it was like I have made the choice to trust you and your feedback. I have sought your feedback out. I'm going to take it, no matter what you say. It might hurt. I might not like it, but I know that we have the same goal in mind, which is make me successful, and you are incentivized uh, both with reputation. You know you're putting work on the line and hours and time in this as well. You don't want to do this for me to go get seventh place, as well as financially, you're incentivized, you know, to make me successful. Right, it's not. The Olympics is not much different than football. If you, if your team goes, you know, three win seasons, three seasons in a row, coaches out. If your team underperforms for multiple years or for two Olympics, coach is out. So it's high level sport, same sort of thing. So we all have the same goal, we all want the same thing, and if I've made the choice that I'm going to listen to you, I'm going to listen to you.
Speaker 1:Something you alluded to earlier that I think plays a role into this is awareness building that self-awareness of who you're compatible with, who you want to take information from. Was there anything you did in your own process or reflective process that helped you create the self-awareness that allowed you to move forward?
Speaker 2:each stage. You know, I guess I never thought about that, but I guess what it was was just I'm going to bring back the comparison to dating. How do you know what you are looking for when you're dating looking for a partner If you haven't dated multiple people and figured out I like this, I don't like this, I like this, I don't like that. I worked with a number of different coaches both, you know, in the weight room, strength and conditioning technical. You know we had different managers of our team throughout the years. We had different employees with the Olympic team that I worked with, and so just having that experience of figuring out what I do and don't like and who I do and don't mesh well with helped and as I got older and progressed through my career, I can identify very quickly this is somebody that I'm going to work well with or this is somebody that we just don't work well together with.
Speaker 1:So when you did you go through transitions of switching from like strength and conditioning and uh, psychological coaches Like did you? How did you have?
Speaker 2:sometimes it wasn't my choice. A lot of, a lot of uh, a lot of employees of the Olympic team will work for the Olympics for four, eight, 12 years. They'll work for a couple of cycles and then they'll move on and do something else. And so every single time after one of my Olympics, it would be this massive turnover and I would be oh, you have a new sports like now, or your sports like is now going to go go work in the NFL, so they're not here anymore. Strength and conditioning coach got hired by the Yankees or you know, whatever it may be. So sometimes it wasn't on purpose. Other times there were times where I fired a coach because not because I didn't like them as a human, but the results weren't what I felt they should be so I was going to be my question, but another question popped up.
Speaker 1:But one is like how do you handle those difficult conversations? Because there's athletes that don't handle difficult conversations well and I know a few that are at that olympic level that struggle with the difficult conversations of. I need a change up. But like this is someone who I care about but don't know how to move on. Then the other part, the parts that you can't control, is how do you stay adaptable with like hey, this person is put here. I don't have that choice. How do you stay adaptable and train through that?
Speaker 2:so on the first one, I I'm avoidant. I hate confrontation, that's not my thing, um, but when it came to this, it would just be something where I would just be honest but hey look, you're a great person, I really like you. We didn't reach the success that I I feel we should have. I am going to try something different, and we're all professionals here. We've all been on both sides of it. Where it's been successful, it's been not successful. People have gotten fired. People have fired athletes. It's people were professionals. And just reiterate, it's nothing personal. I still want to be your friend, but this is not working for us.
Speaker 2:Um had to do it a few times. It was tough, but especially there's one time in particular where I really liked the person. That was tough, but everybody always handled it well on their end too, which made it easier. I think it'd be harder if somebody didn't handle it well on their end. And then, as far as the adaptability I mean, I can think back.
Speaker 2:There was a time where I had no choice but to work with a strength and conditioning coach who I did not agree with their philosophies. It was very different than what I had had success with. And you're an athlete, you get it. If you do something that works, you don't want to change it and I had no choice. I did it for a little while and it didn't work and at that point I basically said I'm not doing this. And I was always lucky. I'm sure in some ways it's like this in the NFL in the locker rooms If you're Tom Brady, you can work with Alex Guerrero, you don't have to work with the guy who the Patriots provide. I was always very lucky that for over a decade, I was the top American and so if I said, hey, I don't want to work with this guy American.
Speaker 2:And so if I said, hey, I don't want to work with this guy they kind of had to say, okay, Now taking a step back, at what point in your career did you know like hey, I'm, I'm like, different, like I'm built for this, I would say the first world cup I ever competed in, um, I was it was about a week after my 17th birthday, um, and that's, the minimum age to compete at world cup is 17. And uh, I just went for experience, no expectation of any results. My goal was to make the top 64 and even be able to compete. So there, the way it worked back then was you had to qualify via times, just by yourself times to even enter the race. My goal was to just enter the race. I think I qualified like 30 something.
Speaker 2:I was stoked, I was on cloud nine I get to race my heroes and I advanced. I kept advancing throughout the day. I got third, set a record that still stands today for the youngest rider to ever podium a bmx world cup. And uh, it was in that moment, you know, when the race organizers refused to give me the celebratory champagne cause I was 17. And uh, I had literally was in school, high school that week. Um, I realized, like, all right, I think there's something here that was, that was the moment.
Speaker 1:How did it change for you moving forward then? Like it just made me hungry, okay, it made me want more. Um give them a taste.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, it was, that was the moment. How did it change for you moving forward then? Like, it just made me hungry, okay, it made me want to more, um, give them a taste. And then, uh, it was, it was off to the races.
Speaker 1:at that point Did you start changing your environment? Who was around you? Who you communicated with?
Speaker 2:Not really. I mean, like I said, at this time I was a senior in high school, you know. So it was September, it was like the very beginning of my senior year of high school, and I was just I couldn't believe it. I just made a few thousand bucks on the weekend, you know, like just a kid. And I did the rest of my senior year of high school and I trained after school and I went to world cups. I podiumed more world cups while I was still in high school, and then it was kind of after that where I made some bigger changes. It was starting to get closer to the London Olympics in 2012. I graduated high school in 2010. So it's kind of a two-year window and I had to decide, like am I going to try for this Olympics or am I going to go to school? What am I going to do? Do I turn pro? Do I put all my eggs in this basket?
Speaker 1:And it was around that time where I really like leaned into it and went for it. How did you do with the dangers of the sport? Because I guess I told you off here I can't ride a bike. Part of that.
Speaker 2:I know a guy who can teach you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, but like, all kidding aside, like even at you know geez, I hate saying my age 28 now, um, I still would like have that fear of flipping over the handlebars, like I did when I was five years old, cause I'm not trying to scuff up my face, my hands and everything, but you're facing let's be real death. How did you cope with that? Or learn to kind of put that aside? I would say it got harder as I got older and I started to recognize the dangers more.
Speaker 2:When you're a kid, when you're 12, 13, 14 years old you're just out there riding having a blast. You fall down. You're a kid when you're 12, 13, 14 years old. You're just out there riding having a blast. You fall down, you break an arm, you're in a cast for a few weeks. The first thing you want to do is jump back on the bike and go. You know it's uh, you don't think about it. You're invincible. You're a kid.
Speaker 2:As I got older and um, the injuries I got faster, the injuries got worse and I started to have more to lose. I wasn't just a kid living at mom and dad's house in you know, in ninth grade anymore. I I owned a home, you know. I had bills, I had a girlfriend, I had a dog. You know different things like that and like the more things that you start having that you wouldn't want to lose if something goes wrong. Um, that starts to weigh on you.
Speaker 2:And then you get a little older and you start seeing people around you having serious accidents. I mean, I can't tell you the number of hospital rooms I've been in, not for me, I've been in plenty of myself but just visiting friends and competitors after an injury. Um, you know, one of my biggest competitors is a paraplegic. It was my biggest rival for years. He's a paraplegic and so that really was hard on me because I felt like we were kind of interchangeable, like that could have been me.
Speaker 2:Um, I watched the Olympic silver medalist in my my Olympic win. The guy who got silver had a brain injury with lasting damage. Um, and so every time that one of those would happen, it would get harder and harder, and harder. And then every time I would get injured it would be like I really want to do this anymore and I would say, like mid twenties is when that started kicking in. Up until then didn't care. But 25, 26, starting to see that around you, you know you break, break a leg, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, I really want to jump back up there, like it started to slow down for sure.
Speaker 2:How'd you override it? I guess for me, the way I overrode it was by using logic and by saying that I'm going to do everything in my power and my control to minimize the chance of risk. I will not take an unnecessary risk. I might not jump a jump that I used to jump. I might back out of a situation that younger me wouldn't back out of. Things like that, well, also, I kind of, in a way, was guilted into it where I was the best in the world at something that I had worked for 20 years to get to this point. I can't just stop now, cause I'm a little scared and that that was a weird one.
Speaker 2:The obligation, uh, the feeling of obligation, don't get me wrong. I loved it and I wanted to do it. But whenever I would toy with the idea of do I really want to do this anymore? Like, how do you walk away? You know I, I, I'm doing what young childhood Connor dreamed of. I'm a pro, I'm sponsored, you know I get boxes of free stuff showing up in my house. I get checks in the mail. You know I'm going to the Olympics, and how do I just walk away from that. You know that the guilt almost.
Speaker 1:What was the final straw for you when you're like I need to hang it up, I'm done?
Speaker 2:Well, a traumatic brain injury and going in a coma for a few days. We'll do that for you. Let's talk about that. What so like? How'd that? How'd that happen? What came of it?
Speaker 2:So in, uh, the tokyo olympics, um, it was in the third semi-final. So the semi-final was run over a best of three series, um, and in the third semi-final I collided with a French rider and I went face first into asphalt at 35 miles an hour, instantly knocked unconscious. Um, as I laid there on the track I stopped breathing, needed to be intubated, and then I was taken to a hospital and uh, on awake for a few days. And you know it was very touch and go. They weren't sure initially if I was going to survive. And then, from there it was. Are we going to have to remove part of his skull to kind of release the pressure of the brain swelling? Everything kind of calmed down. And then it was like, all right, well, when he wakes up, let's see, let's see who he is, let's see if he remembers his name, um, and so when I woke up from that, you know, I had a year long rehabilitation process for both the brain injury as well as.
Speaker 2:I broke ribs, collapsed, my lung tore, ligaments in my shoulder tore my biceps. So full shoulder reconstruction. You know, brain rehab that I had to go to for three months in person and another six months virtually, and from there, about a year later I had my one year checkup. Uh, I was cleared and they were like all right. But if you hit your head again, you know you can't take a hit the way you used to, and what would have been a mild concussion is now going to be a potentially significant one. What would have been a mild concussion is now going to be a potentially significant one.
Speaker 2:Um, and so it was really hard for me was at this point. Now we're two years away from the upcoming Paris Olympics. You know, one year after Tokyo, which was delayed, I still made the final because I performed so well in the first two of the semifinals. Um, you know, I was 15 minutes away from potentially defending and winning another gold medal and just the unknowns, that was the hardest part. Like, had I made it and got fifth. You know it'd be disappointing and sad, but at least you knew I had no idea I didn't get to finish. I worked for five years and didn't get to finish it. So now we're two years away.
Speaker 2:I'm still young enough, clearly. I still got it Like I had last race I did. I almost won. It was the Olympics, what do you do? And so I kind of had to wrestle with that. And that was where kind of that guilt shame came in of like, well, how do I walk away now? And then what I ultimately decided was if somebody could guarantee me, like if the universe could say you will never be injured again, I would have came back, I would have done another two years and I would have tried to win the Olympics this summer. But if there was a 1% chance that I was going to hit my head, I was not willing to take that risk. There's more to life than trying to go to my fourth Olympics.
Speaker 1:Do you feel at peace with that decision?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. The minute I made that decision I was like, okay, I'm good, like I don't ever have to bomb down that eight meter starting hill again, like it was very, very relaxing, like there's always that competitive piece of me that I still got these guys covered. Um, you know, and I think as long as there's still the athletes that I competed against, that'll always be there. And you know, once we get to the next generation and it's riders I never competed against, then that'll hopefully die down. You know, realistically I can't say I got these guys covered, but I'm very at peace, very happy I made the decision and very excited because I get to. I get to live the rest of my life and do whatever I want, because my brain works.
Speaker 1:Did you struggle at all with your transition away from it at first or still to this day? Are you pretty smooth being done?
Speaker 2:No, no, I absolutely. Uh, it was not easy, right, you know, you identify, I always identified. I'm Connor Fields, bmx racer. Right Now I'm Connor Fields, ex BMX racer. I who am? I Right?
Speaker 2:And, uh, I tell people I got to delay what I wanted to be when I grew up till I was 30. I still had to figure it out at some point. Most people have to do it at 20. You know, if you're in college, you can wait till you're 22, but I still have to figure it out. But any time that I would get nervous or anxious or stressed out about the future. It's so easy for me to come back and just be thankful that I made a full recovery, just be thankful that I'm here. My brain works. You know I'm healthy, because there was months where it didn't and they couldn't tell me that you're going to be okay, because we don't know. I had to repass my driver's test, I had to regain balance, I had to relearn how to enunciate words properly, because I wasn't. And so when you go through something like that, the idea of being like oh, what am I going to be when I grow up is actually really exciting, because you just get to make the choice.
Speaker 1:I want to talk a little bit about your experience through that timeframe. What were your emotions? Not knowing if you're going to be okay. How did you deal with that day-to-day? How did you set goalposts? How did you move goalposts to keep chasing, making that recovery with so much unknown?
Speaker 2:You also have to remember that my brain wasn't working properly, so that even complicates things further, because my emotions were not balanced. I was not the me that's sitting here talking to you today when I was going through that experience. But what ended up happening was, the further along that I got in the process, the more that, I guess, my personality started to come back and my tendencies took over, and so I just did what I do, which is I went all in. I did everything in my power. I changed my diet. I started doing research. I changed all in. I did everything in my power. Uh, I changed my diet. I started doing research. I changed my diet.
Speaker 2:I found a hyperbaric chamber in Las Vegas and I went every single day for an hour a day. Um, if the therapist told me to do these exercises three times a day, I did them every hour. On the hour, you know, I, I went nuts. Um, I, I did literally anything that I could find that may help with recovery. I did it. Um, I spent tons of money on it and I was like there's nothing better to invest it in your own brain health. Right, like you get one shot at this recovery. I didn't drink for a year. I mean, I was eating handfuls of pepita seeds and walnuts and beets every morning just because they're good for brain health, things like that. And I like to believe that part of why I made full recovery is because I did everything I possibly could. And then I also think I was too stubborn. I just wasn't going to accept not making a full recovery, so I just kept going.
Speaker 1:Are you still meticulous in all those things diet, exercise, spending on recovery or is it not? Not, as I was at that time.
Speaker 2:Right, I don't go to a hyperbaric chamber every day today. Um, I still and I think it's just you know something again you can relate to as an athlete. We know what it feels like to feel good, yes, and I think a lot of the population has no idea just how good you can feel if you eat well, sleep well, rest well, hydrate well, do all of those things. Um, so I just I like to feel good, and so you know, yeah, of course, I eat dessert now and I have, you know, have a beer. I'm, I'm, I'm enjoying, you know, getting to do some of the things I didn't get a chance to do when I was competing, but for the most part, I still take care of my body.
Speaker 1:Just out of curiosity, what was the diet that you implemented?
Speaker 2:I eliminated all processed sugars, zero alcohol, high in lean meats, and then all sorts of vitamin-rich foods. So nuts, seeds, vegetables, not a ton of fruit. I had some fruit, but that wasn't something that I like added into, but I was just eating plates of vegetables, lean meats, um, nothing processed, and then just some random things that like just off the top of my head. I can remember like beets, walnuts and pepita seeds were like high ones.
Speaker 1:Now, did you get that from someone who's done all your own research?
Speaker 2:um, I got some stuff from the nutritionists at the Olympics Olympic Committee and then some research on my own too.
Speaker 1:How did you determine in your own research what's good research, what's bad research? That's a tough thing.
Speaker 2:As far as the diet goes, that one was pretty easy, because, of course, processed foods aren't good for you, of course sugar is not going to be great for you. Oh, no, more lean meats that are high in protein and vegetables, like I'm sure. Like there's probably other you know people that might not agree with that, but to me that just made sense. So it wasn't something that I like questioned too much. Um on some of the other stuff, my view on it was, if it's not going to hurt me, I might as well try it. So, like the hyperbaric chamber, there is no research that says that it, like a hundred percent for sure, is going to aid with traumatic brain injury recovery, but there's also some research that says it can. So I was like, why not? It's not going to hurt me, I can go sit there for an hour, you know, listen to a podcast or whatever.
Speaker 1:It's not going me, so I'll do it okay, and that's how, like you made your decision, because I think about it to give you a little perspective. My listeners know multiple knee surgeries. Last few years I've had four of my playing career broken, so many bones separated, shoulder, wrist surgery, yada yada, multiple concussions. In my own practice I try and figure out what can I do to make some of those old injuries and current injuries feel better. What can I control from a diet, from a supplement, from a liquid perspective that I can put into my body, and so one thing I struggle with is information overload. Right, there's so much out there, there's so much research out there. Now, what the heck is good research? What isn't? How do I implement this into my own process? And I know there's a lot of athletes and former athletes in my own circle where we try and navigate this path gracefully and it's very difficult. So that's where that question came from.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It is hard, and that was where you know my defining line was if it's, if there's no chance it's going to hurt me, I might as well try it.
Speaker 1:Awesome. There's something you talk about. It's everyone goes for the 1%, but you focus on being great at the 99%. Can you tell me a little bit about what that means?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, when I was training, a lot of my teammates and a lot of people around me were always looking for 1%. Maybe it was something that was mechanical, or they were trying this new fancy training technique or whatever it may be, while simultaneously like their technique of a start was off and I'm like in my mind, I'm like just why don't you fix the technique on your start before you start worrying about those little one percenters? Like you're not losing the race because your bike is a couple grams too heavy, you're losing the race because your technique's off.
Speaker 2:okay you know what I mean and so for me, um, I'm not saying that it's bad to chase the one percenters, but don't do it at the expense of the 99, right. For me, it was like I want to get the basics done perfectly, the fundamentals sleep well, eat well, train hard, be consistent, have your technique down, like the things that are actually the biggest pieces of the pie. That's what I'm going to put my energy into and when I feel like I've got all that covered.
Speaker 2:I'll go find those 1%, but I never felt like I had all that covered.
Speaker 1:Did you have an accountability partner or a coach or a group of coaches that helped you be consistent, or were you pretty self-disciplined in that matter?
Speaker 2:I was pretty self-disciplined. I mean, we're an individual sport and your accountability partner is the race that you do. You know you get exposed. We raced, you know, I guess, probably between 15 and 20 times a year, so, you know, a couple of times a month we were competing and is pretty obvious, when you were slacking, I mean, I had the. I remember the first half of 2014 was the worst six months of my career because I was partying, I just turned 21, you know, and my accountability partner was the racist. I was getting smoked, you know, and sometimes that's the result is all you needed for the accountability.
Speaker 1:Why do you think some athletes can't respond that way? Is it purely just natural for you some athletes will do that, they'll lose and they just don't care?
Speaker 2:well, you just said it, they don't care. They think they they don't care enough to do it from within. They need something. They need somebody to hold their hand while they do it. And any athlete that is an outlier, like you had mentioned mentioned earlier a Tom Brady, a Michael Jordan, a LeBron James, you know any Olympic gold medalist doesn't need their hand held. There's times, certainly, when you go through a rut, maybe you're dealing with some stuff in your personal life, somebody in your family passed your girlfriend, your boyfriend broke up with you, whatever it may be, where you do need a little bit of help and support, but I firmly believe that, like the, the one of one type athletes, they don't need somebody to hold their hand every day.
Speaker 1:I'm so fascinated by people, by you, cause I want to know what makes you tick. I want to be able to take it. I want to be able to show athletes. You think you want to be a gold medalist? Well, this is what it takes.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of discontent in athletics and in life comes from not being able to recognize or make the conscious decision I wasn't willing to put in the work and that person didn't just get lucky, or they weren't just gifted and never had to try. It was hey, this is what it takes. Are you willing to do this, yes or no? And I think people would have a lot more satisfaction in life knowing that, yeah, I'm just not willing to do that, as opposed to looking at athletes and saying, oh, they're lucky. One thing I think is unique with individual sports is, I feel like it's almost impossible to ignore comparison. And you hear and again, this is the good and bad of social media you hear people say, like ignore comparison. I was probably one of those people, but how did you deal with like comparing yourself to everyone that you're associated with in the race?
Speaker 2:I guess I tried to find the balance between you don't want to completely not not look at them, not acknowledge them. You know you could take bits and pieces from their game If you see, oh, they're doing this really good technique over this particular job, or oh, wow, he made some changes to his bike setup. Maybe that would work for me, right, but there's a fine line of doing, of going too far and trying to like copy or think too much about them. Um, but I guess for me it always just came back to what can I control? I can control me, I can control my preparation, I can control my bike setup, I can control my attitude.
Speaker 2:I can control my technique, my breathing points, my race lines. I can't control anything else. I can't control the weather, I can't control what my gate draw is. I can't control what the other athletes do. I can't control what form they show up in, and just kind of the acceptance of. I can only control me. And then you use that same thing where you look at them, you say, all right, they beat me, they beat me at this event. This is where this rider killed me. Wow, what did they do? Okay, I'm going to analyze their, their race and see where they were beating me. Okay, they're beating me here, here and here. I'm going to really focus on those pieces in training where it's still. It's still circles back to what I can control.
Speaker 1:Did you have like a routine, like a mental routine or a physical routine, that you would do before you compete?
Speaker 2:And that again, over time, honed it, got better at it. What I did at the end of my career was very different than what I did in the beginning. The beginning I just kind of got in the gate and went. I didn't have that. When I got older I had a very set routine that I would do every time, whether it was practice, a small event or the Olympics. Can you tell me what some of those are? Is?
Speaker 1:that a secret?
Speaker 2:No, no, it's not a secret. So I was a very extroverted kind of bubbly fun. I like people, uh kind of guy. But on race day I was like full opposite, didn't talk to anybody, just you know, biggest stink face, just look pissed off, type of thing. But that was where I had to go to be at my best, and once I entered that zone I had to stay there throughout the race day. So for me I use music as like my shift. When the headphones were on, I was there. When the headphones came off at the end of the day and they went back in the bag, I can go back to being normal.
Speaker 2:And then, um, when I would get about five minutes before my May, my major event or whatever competition it was, I would get into a specific position. I would take three deep breaths with my eyes closed. Uh, I would hold them for three seconds. When they were in, I would think to myself that every time I exhaled, I was exhaling negative thoughts, whatever thoughts uh, had potentially popped up. Once I did the three breaths, I would visualize how I wanted that race to go. Um, and if I, you know, something popped into my head that I didn't like, or a negative outcome. I would physically like take my hand and throw it away and then, after I visualize how I wanted it to go, I would open my eyes and that would almost be again like another shift, like okay, now it's time for this particular lap that I just visualized.
Speaker 1:In your visualization practice. Did you just visualize the race or did you visualize, like the winning as well, or was it just the actual execution, execution. Did you ever visualize any of the other stuff, or just, anytime you were in a state of visualization, just execution.
Speaker 2:On the race day, that particular thing, it was just the execution. It was all the steps where I was going to pedal, where I was going to breathe, what lines I was going to take, where my passing point was if I needed it, that kind of thing. In the gym, though, or when I'm training, I'm visualizing how good it's going to feel to hold the trophy, or pull the medal around my neck, or the after party, like. That's some, some of those things you just have to do to get through the dog days of training, cause that's what you're training for.
Speaker 1:Have you always been visual? Did you have to learn that from someone?
Speaker 2:Um, I think I always was. I mean, I'm extremely visual. Yeah, I think I always was. I think back to being a kid. If there was a big jump up for the first time, I would visualize myself jumping it and being safe before I would do it, without even being trained to do that. So that was always something that was pretty natural to me, do you?
Speaker 1:know of like cause I've seen different studies so I'm curious if there's like a, a number that you put on it, but like when you visualize a rep, like what percentage of a fiscal rep? That is like when you do it to actually develop that skill.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I've heard that before and I guess the way that I tried to it was explained to me was you are programming your mind to think you've already done it. So when I would visualize the lap, I would be almost like programming. I would just think of it from the point of view of I'm programming myself, my brain, I'm tricking my brain, my brain's done it.
Speaker 1:So now it's just gonna go press play on it again. Yeah, I love that because visualization to me. Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to actually visualize until, of course, was done playing, but when I tried to make a comeback in playing I would visualize my vertical jump, my sprint speed, my, you know. I actually switched positions when I started to make a comeback, my route running, and everything got better once I started to visualize and I could never put a number on it. Obviously, you see different studies again not knowing what's a good study, what's not. But I was just curious, like when you visualize, did you actually see a distinct improvement in what you did?
Speaker 2:Impossible to know because I would visualize before my races, so like if I won, you could be like, yeah, it's because you visualized, but like I also lost after visualizing, so it would be impossible to tell.
Speaker 1:Fair enough. What is the coolest thing about visiting the White House after winning?
Speaker 2:I guess it was. The history was really, really cool. You could just tell you were on a special building, a special place. You know seeing antiques and paintings and things from the 17 and 18 hundreds, and it was definitely a bit of a pinch yourself moment. You know, being in the white house walking through the front doors, I mean I, I was chosen. I was very blessed. I was chosen alongside four other amazing athletes it was Alison Felix, katie Ledecky, brad Snyder, uh, and myself, um, who got to address the media from the steps of the white house and that was definitely a literal once in a lifetime moment Like you see it on TV, you see it on the news, you see the white house. This is where the car pulls up and the president gets out and goes home. You know what? I'm standing right there and knowing the people who have also stood there before, whether it's the presidents or the other influential world leaders or celebrities or inventors or whoever that has stood exactly where you're standing, is kind of a kind of a cool feeling.
Speaker 1:Other than celebrating your gold medal when that moment happens? Where does that rank on your cool moments list?
Speaker 2:The White House. That's definitely top five. Yeah, I mean, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You're just sitting there, you know, and I've shaken the hands of three different presidents, which is something not very many people can say, which is pretty cool. Yeah, who was the coolest? At the risk of getting political, uh, I'm just going to tell you the story of meeting all three, and then people can make up their own mind. I'll go in the order that I met them, uh, chronologically.
Speaker 2:So I met Trump in 2012, before he was a politician. Okay, we were at a hundred days out event, uh, a hundred days out before the Olympics in New York city, and he just made an appearance, and so this is when he was the apprentice and everybody loved him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so he rolls up and starts meeting a couple of the athletes and doing photos and kind of a PR op Um, and so that was, you know, just kind of a cool.
Speaker 2:I met a celebrity turned out later he became the president, yeah and then I met Biden and Obama at the same time in the white house this is when Biden was the vice president and they line all the athletes up, uh, to go and meet. You got to meet those two and then the first lady in the Oval Office that's pretty sweet and they lined you up by sport. So I was with the other cyclists and so then, when it was your sports turn, they took you in front of the door and then, like the handler, whoever said, up next, we've got the cycling team. They won four medals, two gold, two silver, you know whatever it was. And then we walked in, we lined up, we shook their hands one by one, um, and I, I remember Obama said to me I bet you crush it at spin class. So that was, you know, just, uh, again a surreal moment, sitting in the oval office shaking their hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. Um, I was going to ask a question about, uh. When you met Biden the second time, did he remember you? I didn't meet him a second time, you didn't, so there, uh sorry, trump went, trump, I didn't.
Speaker 2:I only met him in 2012 and then I only did one white house visit because in 2021 after Tokyo, when I could have gone, I was uh. 2021 after Tokyo, when I could have gone, I was in brain rehab thing.
Speaker 1:It would have been the president at that time.
Speaker 2:Not that it matters.
Speaker 1:Okay, very cool.
Speaker 2:But I doubt he would remember me because he, you gotta remember like between the all the Olympic athletes and then the Paralympic athletes, he would have met hundreds of athletes that day. And then you know, you also are going to meet the NFL champions, the NBA champions, the MLS champions, you know all of it, so I'm sure they add up.
Speaker 1:How are you challenging yourself today? How do you keep growing?
Speaker 2:I don't sit still very well, so I'm doing a lot of different stuff. I am hosting a TV show for PBS on outdoor Nevada. Uh, I'll be commentating two events for NBC this summer at the Olympics uh BMX racing and BMX freestyle. So potentially gonna see if I can turn this into a TV career uh, which will, I think will be. You know, it's been a fun new challenge and I'm enjoying it. I'm still active in the BMX community. I'm an ambassador for USA BMX and I help them with a whole host of different things, trying to progress the sport and push it forward. I still enjoy coaching and I coach everything from first-timer beginners all the way up to some Olympic hopefuls Keynote speaking, sharing my story and what I've learned at businesses all over the country, and then, yeah, just kind of never sitting, still doing all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 1:Are you one of those people that tries to push into discomfort? Are you just simply chasing things that interest you? Chasing things that interest me?
Speaker 2:I don't. I, uh. The way I view my career is I did all the things then the traveling, the grinding, the, you know, spending hundreds of nights a year in motel sixes, so that I don't ever have to do anything that I don't want to do again. That's the way I view it.
Speaker 1:For anyone who wants to aspire to be an outlier. What is one as a million pieces of advice that you could give? What's one?
Speaker 2:Most people think they want it, but they just kind of want it. You've got to be obsessed, You've got to truly commit to it with your entire heart and soul if you want to do it. And I have an anecdote that I talk about in my speeches that I think is perfectly sums that up when you're a professional athlete, you're on the clock 24, 7, 365. You are never off the clock. You know it's not like if you have a nine to five job at 6 PM, you can go home, do whatever you want, and it doesn't affect your ability to do your work the next day. When you're an athlete, every meal, every minute that you are are or are not asleep, Everything that you do all adds up and matters. And if you want to achieve greatness, you have to understand that everything you do matters Incredible.
Speaker 1:What a wonderful place to wrap it up. Can't thank you enough for coming on. I've certainly enjoyed the conversation. I know my listeners will as well. If people want to reach out to you, they want to find you. If you have anything that you want to promote, you know, please take the amount of time to do so.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, my social media. It's all the same across every platform. At ConnorFields11. I have a website, ConnorFieldscom, and, as far as promote, if anybody's looking for a keynote speaker for an upcoming event, feel free to reach out.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Thank you so much. Man Can't thank you enough for coming on. Listeners, tune in next week. Like rate, subscribe. Check us out at athleticfortitudecom.