During our weekly Nike Training Club class, we received a visit from track and field superstar, Brianne Theisen-Eaton. She’s a London 2012 Olympian and is the only Canadian woman to win medals in multiple events at the World Championships. Yes, I worked out with an Olympian! The Saskatchewan athlete married American decathlete, Ashton Eaton, last year (talk about power couple!). She took some time to answer a few of my burning questions. See what I've learned about being a famous athlete from Brianne:
Q: What's your training schedule like?
A: My training schedule is about 40 hours a week. We do two practices a day; we wake up, eat breakfast, train for a couple hours, come home, and eat lunch. It's basically an eat, sleep, train cycle. We do a couple of technical events every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They're considered our hard days because we're running a lot. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are throwing and lifting, so it's usually hard day, easy day, etc., so we have that balance.
Q: Is it true you have to bring eight different pairs of running shoes to practice?
A: Yes, we have different pairs for each event, and then I have my Nike Pegasus [running shoes] that I do my work out in. So yeah it's roughly, 8 to 9 pairs of shoes.
Q: What has been your motivation throughout your career?
A: My motivation honestly has changed since I got older. I've seen a lot of things in the world because of travelling. I believe that people are put on this earth to do great things, and the older I get and the more accomplished I get, it's become motivation for me. I can now give back and do great things for other people. And of course, loving what I do!
Q: Do you think it's easier being married to an athlete?
A: Yes, definitely (laughs). My husband was here the last two days, and we're not apart that often, so I don't think I could have this lifestyle if I couldn’t be with my husband a lot. Not only that, him having the same schedule as me, same nutrition and same values is an advantage.
Q: When your family and friends ask you for fitness advice what do you tell them?
A: They do that all the time! My mom and my sister go to boot camp and they're always like “I can't walk!” (laughs). To be honest they more so ask me nutrition advice, and I do think the nutrition part is really easy and one piece of advice I always give them is that you have to eat more protein. You should be eating five times a day and the first thing you put in your mouth for meals and snacks should be protein, instead of carbohydrates all the time.
Nike Training Club is a Nike Certified training program at the Academy of Lions gym on Ossington Avenue in Toronto. It is created by world-class trainers and designed for women. For more information about the classes, visit academyoflions.com/niketrainingclub-2. If you don't live in the Toronto area, you can download the Nike Training Club app and access over 100 full body workouts inspired by top Nike athletes and designed by NTC Master Trainers, N+TC will help you track progress, stay motivated and train better.
