From Failing on the World Stage to Winning on It

Trey Hardee1:11

I think people don't understand that energy tank. I think everyone understands the physical one or the sleep one or like the I need food one.

Yeah. But the energy tank that is like being you and like the best version of yourself and that like presence and excitedness and I call it like the TV tank like when you're on TV you got to be really in

That is a very import that's more important than all the other ones cuz that's the one that you draw from when we are you're presenting you're like trying to put your best foot forward and it is

When that's empty

It nothing else matters like you're just staring at the corner like

Trey Hardee2:01

It it's hard to describe like it really is hard to describe but it just yeah it emotional energy and and you're not like you're not fake but there is this you're sharp the whole time.

Trey Hardee2:55

Yeah.

Trey Hardee3:19

6'5 now.

Trey Hardee3:25

That

Trey Hardee3:33

Well, at the time, I mean, I that was my sport growing up. like from the time you could dribble, you know, like you know, first and second grade you're playing, we're playing, you're doing allstars, doing all that stuff. Played for the school, started all, you know, seventh, 8th, 9th, um, JV, and then, um, I wasn't big and I wasn't tall and I could kind of jump, but like you could only jump so high as a, you know, 15-year-old kid who's 5' n and and, you know,

Yeah. Uh like I was I played one sometimes would float out to two um when we had a good point card but was not what you see here today and not if you if you know if you Google me that wasn't what I looked like. I was a pretty scrawny um but was always fast.

But you're also an athlete too. I I could pick things up and I I never I take full ownership of everything and like the path that I let like could I have done more to stay on the team? Could I have done you know the Michael Jordan and just worked my butt off and made the team next year? Probably. Um but I never really had anyone sit me down until I was in in track and field that and said, "Look, you you have got talent. Just stay the course.

Keep your head down. do what your coaches sake, that kind of thing. Put in the extra work and you're going to be great. Um, and so yeah, the being cut from the basketball team was way out of left field. Like I was I wanted to play I didn't know the path, but I wanted to play like small, you know, NIA ball uh back when Birmingham Southern was a a school. That was like it, like go play D3, go play somewhere and just continue this this love that I had for the game, you know.

Um, and it being asked not to come back and and literally being told to go be a pole vaulter, it was the it was looking back the best thing that could have ever happened to me. But at the time, I'm a I'm a junior in high school and sports are important and that was kind of who I was and it was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. And didn't want to go to school the next day. Parents made me go to school.

Didn't want to go to the games. Other parents encouraged me to come to the games. Um, and it just kind of became a not a joke on the other on the coach, but very much like this, okay, m maybe he doesn't know really what the like how can he not see, you know, what are we doing here? Like how is this in the best interest of the team?

Um, and so get cut and then immediately start growing and putting on muscle and getting bigger and stuff. And so like during in between quarters and halftimes and stuff, I would just go out and dunk and do all kinds of stuff. It was kind of fun. But immediately went out to pull vault like immediately, okay, you want me to be the best pole vaulter, go be a pole vaulter. I'm like, I'm going to be the best pole vaulter you've ever seen. And you know, little over a year later set the Alabama state record, which wasn't that high, but went out and was a pole vaulter, you know, and actually got looked at from some colleges.

And then um the one that was offering me a book scholarship, I I took I was like, "Let's go." Like I'm a D1 SEC big- time athlete, you know, and took it and ran with it.

Trey Hardee7:20

Well, mine weren't even they weren't crazy and athletic. They were just I could I could get up there and that was all that like the school I went to where I was that's all he really needed to do

Like to be like oh wow Trey wow

Trey Hardee7:36

Nope funny enough so he ended up he coached at the school for I man 30 40 years like a long long time tenure coach just never left yeah

Coached

I think he ended up winning two state titles in that long 40ear span And um but we were inducted into our our uh city's sports hall of fame in the same class.

Trey Hardee8:02

Yeah. So that's kind of cool. Um it was cool. It was like full circle thing and I think he in his head he takes credit for a lot of my success because he's the one that kind of kicked me out of the van, you know, and he's like you're walking that way, we're going this way. But I know I was very I would stubborn is the wrong word, but I was very much God, what are you what are you showing me here? I'm not supposed to be playing basketball.

I did love pole vaulting. This wasn't like a punishment. It was like I get to go play.

Trey Hardee8:36

Like and now I get to go play this other thing and do the funnest sport in track and field. like this funnest thing I had ever done in terms of like it's freaking awesome. Like you watch track and field and you're like, "Okay, one of these things is not like the others.

There's worse things to go do." I I wasn't going and being an accountant or

Like, you know, restocking produce or anything like that. I tasted a little bit of success that that that initial season that spring of my junior year and then it really it was like, "Yeah, I I think I can do this." And I remember coming home. Uh so now we're in the fall of my senior year. I go to a pole vault camp, which those exist. Like you go, it's a bunch of dorks pole vaulting. And uh I come back and I go, "Mom, I'm going to be a professional pole vaulter." And she's like, "What?" I'm like, "I'm going to be a professional pole vaulter." And this is before I had ever jumped 146, which is nothing.

Hadn't jumped 15 feet. Hadn't done anything. I'm not nationally ranked. I'm maybe I'm in the top 300. in high school like this isn't anything to no one would have believed it, right? And so mom's just like you need to get a good education

And make sure you get a degree and have something that you can do, you know, when this doesn't work out, right? But never was negative about it. Never was anything but but supportive. Didn't understand the event at all like most don't. And they're like, "Why are you doing I saw you change polls. Why are you changing poll?" like all of that stuff and then ended up having a really good indoor state championship meet. Coaches were there recruiting other people, not recruiting me, saw me and were like, "Hey, would you want to come on a hey, so and so is going to come on a visit.

Would you want to come that same weekend?" Sure.

You know, we'll save some money. We're already going to dinner. Like all that, you know, [snorts]

And ended up just really enjoying my time in Starkville, Mississippi. Really liked the coaches, like the team. it just felt right and was, "Yeah, that's what we're going to do. I'm going to go there." And I just kind of put my head down and never I never really looked back on that time and really don't I don't have any regrets of maybe, man, should I have, you know, worked put my head down, worked hard, got in the gym, and and tried to make the team again, it was gone.

The way it ended, it was gone.

Trey Hardee11:05

You know, he wasn't going to have me back on the team. Yeah,

Trey Hardee12:14

Of course they are dude

Trey Hardee12:23

So are they just all right hey today everyone wake up run 10 miles and then we're hit the track in the afternoon.

Trey Hardee12:41

As mentally tough as you can find in a lot of them, if you're running cross from like, you know, middle school all the way to your senior year, you know more about yourself than most team sports people cuz you you've been alone and you've been

Trey Hardee13:34

Absolutely.

Trey Hardee13:35

Absolutely. [clears throat] I love talking to that age group because high school's tough, too, where you get a lot of too cool for school and a lot of of trepidation trying

Cuz putting yourself out there and trying is scary.

Trey Hardee13:51

And we lose a lot of talent with kids that could be amazing, but they're also they've got a reputation to uphold. and looking like a fool or losing early while you're learning, while you're building up your fitness or endurance or skill or whatever it is, it keeps a lot of people from like becoming something.

Trey Hardee14:34

Never thought of that, sir. Thank you, sir."

Trey Hardee14:45

I Well, I wanted to quit a bunch of times. Like, so I go from being a pole vaulter. It's fun. I All I did was pull vault every day.

Trey Hardee14:58

I I mean I I couldn't. I I really couldn't. And um I had a natural like the hurdles kind of clicked for me. So that was never this super frustrating thing, but everything else was unbelievably frustrating. And just training in and of itself, like the the discipline and the tenacity and just the the the focused mindset you have to have to be good at the decathlon. I didn't think that I had it until all of a sudden I I had done my first decathlon and go, "Okay, now I know why what all this [ __ ] was for.

I know why it sucks and I think it's worth it. Here we go.

Trey Hardee15:44

Right. When I got on campus,

Trey Hardee15:48

Because I I'm I don't want to say I messed up, but so I signed this huge book scholarship, right? So, I'm I'm getting my 200 bucks a month um stipen for books and I like, "Hey, coach, like we have this King of the Mountain meet." Um and I was like, "Hey, I want to run the hundred." And really just to shut the guy up that who's on the on the team who I know I'm faster than

Trey Hardee16:13

Yeah. In the 100.

Trey Hardee16:16

No, no. This is in in high school. So I've already signed the scholarship. We're in the outdoor season and I'm just like I want to try the hund. I want to do this. I want to try these things.

Uh and I did 300 hurdles once. I ran a really slow 400 meter dash. I was just like let me see what it is.

Ended up being pretty fast. and um then get to school and they're like, "Hey, those

And you're you're growing and clearly still growing. You we're gonna do the decathlon. We think we can score some points at the conference meet." P your pole vault technique sucks basic. I mean, it wasn't great. And so the indoor se I train all fall. It sucks. When I say it sucks, like I'm I've never jogged more than a lap. And if I had to jog more than a lap, I'm walking part of it and I'm walking straight to the pole vault pit. I had never really lifted weights that like with any intention.

It was just like once a month in my attic garage or something. I'd done pull-ups. I was good at pull-ups and that was about it. Could walk my hands. That was about it.

Um, and so then I got thrown into this thing and it just sucked kind of every day and I was sore every day and I was frustrated every day.

Trey Hardee17:37

Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, from August of 2002 to maybe March of 2003, I put on 30 lbs.

Not joking. 30 I put on 30 lbs. I was 6'3, 155, and then was about close to 6'4 uh 185 when I did my first decathlon. And it um I did the first one and and also this is coming off I we have the in indoor in sorry indoor SEC championships and they back then they did the pentathlon so they didn't do the the hep for the guys yet.

Uh they do the pent so I I run the thousand a long jump shot put do all that stuff and I am like 18th place in the SEC. 18th

I beat a couple guys that didn't finish. Yeah. and one guy like no marked and almost beat me. It I I was not good. Okay.

Like objectively like I wasn't there wasn't any promise.

Trey Hardee18:55

I mean, yeah,

Trey Hardee18:57

I'm not even the best on the team. Like, I'm not I'm not there yet, but I know I'm still I'm fast. Like, I'm still I'm getting faster. Um, you know, I ran 105 my freshman year. Um,

Trey Hardee19:09

In the 100.

Trey Hardee19:11

For a skinny little white kid. It felt pretty good.

Trey Hardee19:21

The well it so half a second 100 is a it's a chasm right so I'm barely faster than like the fastest woman in the world right now like barely

Trey Hardee19:36

They're everybody they're all fast but at that at that level you're a thousandth of a second looks like that right so I the day after this horrible event, the pentathlon is the open pole vault and I got to compete in it. Got all SEC. I got top eight. I scored some points for my team. It was the first time Mississippi State pole vaulter had scored in a really long time and I'm like,

"Yes,

Trey Hardee20:02

I don't have to do this decathlon thing anymore. I'm clearly terrible at it. I'm just going to pull vault." And I remember having that brief conversation. They're like, "Well, no, you're going to do one." And I was like, "Oh, why am I doing one?" And they're like, "Well, the Texas Relays is in like a month. You've put in all this training. Just do one and we'll we'll go from there." I did the one that score from the Texas Relays me qualified me for the NCAA championships.

And I'm like, "Oh, okay.

Trey Hardee20:38

Okay.

Yeah. Everybody. Um, and that meet was like, "Oh, this is way more fun." Like, I I can get into this and I know that that guy, that guy, that guy, that like the five or six guys that beat me, I'm I'm better than they are. Like, I know that I'm a better athlete than they are. I just need they're all seniors and juniors or or like foreign guys. And I was just that meat was one of the top three most important meats of my life just to be able to put stick my nose in it and I fought hard.

And the feeling that you get when you I know you know the feeling it is indescribable crossing the line um or finishing something hard where you're like stuff just starts clicking and you're like oh man I could get addicted to this. I I like competing and but this is different. This feeling of finishing this thing even though I finished in sixth or seventh place was like cannot wait to get back and train so I can so I can finish higher.

Trey Hardee22:22

Yeah. defining what that win is. And there's a there's a universal one and I think there's there's technical ones, there's like I think uh quantitative ones that are this time, that time, this place, that place, but then there's qualitative ones. And I think the qualitative one is the the real that that feeling that lasts more than a a brief second. And that is looking back knowing I did my best.

And doing your best surprises you every time. That's right.

Knowing knowing that like I could not have run any harder. I could not have concentrated anymore. I could not have like been like more present. I could not have been in a better mood. I couldn't have been happier. I couldn't All of those like qualitative ones are the ones that stick with you. I mean, I'm happy right now thinking about a lot of the stuff that I did knowing that was it. Like that was

Could I have scored higher? Could the quantitative stuff have been better?

Absolutely. But the but the stuff that really matters and like who I was as a competitor and the training and the getting up every day, all that stuff was Yeah, that was that's what sticks with you.

Trey Hardee24:49

That's an interesting way to pose.

Trey Hardee25:19

Yeah. Every everyone listening to this show just learned that I was those things, you know.

But you touched on something too that a lot of times I feel people are on their own timetable, right? in life, in sport, in business, in in family, in whatever it is that the key is not like a magic workout. We're not talking about like this magic thing that like, oh, and then I did this one time and it unlocked all these things. It was the grind and the consistency and the routine and the regimen of doing stuff over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

And I I tell athletes this all the time is the magic is in showing up and being consistent and having the right intentions. It's an eventuality. It's not like, oh, maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. No, no, no. It's either going to happen soon in a little while or later, but it's an eventuality that happens. And that is you find a version of success that is fulfilling and like that that qualitative thing that keeps you into this. I don't know. It It's hard to describe. You've felt it.

You've experienced it. I I feel like you embody it more than anyone that I've ever met. Um but I invite everybody just to get out and do do the thing. Like do the thing consistently.

Make it harder than it needs to be sometimes. And it what's on the other side of that is just ridiculous self-confidence and happiness and fulfillment and all the things, right?

Trey Hardee27:57

Yeah. It's not this huge lifestyle change that you got to figure out

Trey Hardee29:13

I'm still waiting for that day where like someone says that. But the um I I end up going through my freshman year. I'm I'm an all-American. I get fifth at the NCAA championships. I'm third at SEC's. Like it I'm like, "Here we go."

Trey Hardee29:28

Half slow till it happens fast. Then that that summer they cut the men's indoor track program. And so half my season's gone, so I'm just going to do outdoors. Uh show up the next outdoor season. I win the SEC title. I finished second in the NCAA. I score 8,000 points. It's like only my fifth decathlon ever. Like it's an ear. Like the ascension is is really hard and fast. And then people are like, "This this Mississippi State character looks pretty good. He's tall. He's fast. He's just going to figure out everything else and he's going to be a force." And uh I end up at the Olympic trials again, my sixth sixth sixth one.

And I'm in a race with the eventual uh Olympic gold medalist, the current world champion, and then a bunch of dudes. I have no idea who they are because I I wasn't a student of the game. I I was so new to it. And we race and I'm like, "Okay, I just beat these guys. Okay, another light bulb goes off." Like, I've got I can do this. Maybe

Trey Hardee30:34

Didn't finish.

Trey Hardee30:36

It not It hit me in the teeth. So, end of a long season. Don't have years of training under me. I When I thin I when I say the word thin, I'm not like physically thin, but like I was brittle. I was broken down. I had not been really training for it because I just went home for a month and I'm a 19-year-old slap dick. Yeah. And

But I show up, I compete. Um, end up I'm there and I'm like, "Okay, now I get what the next step is. I can do the NCAA thing. Here's the next step." And while we're there, my coach says, "Hey, I'm not coming back next year." And this is like the middle of July.

He's like, "Not coming back next year?" I'm like, "What's going?" Yeah. Okay. So, I'm like, "Okay, well, what? Okay, good. Good luck. Thanks." Like, you know, thanks for telling me. And he and his wife were taking I think they're in Nashville right now. They got a job at like Brentwood Academy or somewhere.

Trey Hardee31:32

He might be the What's his name? Keith Powell.

Trey Hardee31:40

And then they've got a son named Dalon.

Trey Hardee31:47

I think he just got into somewhere.

Trey Hardee32:16

Good." Yeah. I need to reach out.

Trey Hardee32:20

So, he and his wife say they're leaving.

Trey Hardee32:22

I think they were there. They got their masters or were doing like a master's program there. Got their masters. Got a really great job. Set up shop.

Trey Hardee32:58

We need you to sign this document." Yeah. Um, so they they're they're going to leave. Um, the interim is like, "Okay, who's going to coach me? I'm I am now looking forward to this thing. I need I need help. I'm I want to run for Mississippi State. Never.

Trey Hardee33:20

I think there was a 200 meter runner. That was

Trey Hardee33:29

There were a couple guys like from the islands that were good uh like 100 200 people which

One of them got busted for illegal peeds. So I don't want to count him. So, I I don't know really like stuff's starting to like feel a little unstable and I I basically am not comfortable with what they're doing to replace my coach who has developed me really quickly into this thing who I trusted and

Um I I'm like I just want to look around like I just want to see what else is out there. And this is before the portal before all that stuff. So, I got released just to look take take visits and talk, right? And so I get really

Trey Hardee34:12

Yeah. Yeah. I forget what the initial release is called, but it it's like you're open. You can talk to people. Okay. And so I have a couple visits lined up. Florida, Tennessee, which at the time was like decathlete like Mecca and Texas. And the only reason Texas was on the radar was because the coach at Texas and my coach who was leaving were teammates at LSU. same coaching philosophy, kind of same everything. And I just had competed here and was like, "Oh, it seems like a nice place to train." So I take my visit, talk to everybody, and I'm like, "This is what am I I'm not going to waste my time with these other visits." Even like, so I grew up a Florida Gator.

Florida was my was a dream school. I went I went on an unofficial visit to Florida in high school cuz I was like, "Please, let me come and check it out." You know, would have been a great place for me to go. Tennessee, I would have developed just the same. But something again about about the city and about the the coach, the team, everything just felt like it. And again, I'm on book scholarship at Mississippi State. I'm a two-time all-American, finished second in the country. I'm an SEC champion.

I'm still on book.

Trey Hardee35:24

I'm still on book scholarship at Mississippi State. And I'm basically like asking for what was promised, which was you if you score at nationals, you're on a full ride. This again, this Mississippi State.

And they didn't have the money. And they were like, we're building something here. We need you to we we really need you to, you know, sacrifice to build the team. And I'm like, I I get it cuz I did it the year before. I scored in C's and I was still on books. I was like, I get it.

I want I want to win SEC's as a team. Like, I want to be great. And I'm asking them like, "All right, so hey, I want to stay, but what's going on here?" And they're like, "Yeah, we just we need you to still help us build this thing." I'm like, "Okay." And then the next question is, "Hey, what did Texas offer you?" And I'm like, "Full." Like,

Trey Hardee36:12

What are you talking about? What do you think they offered?" [snorts] And they're like, "All right, let me call you back." Hour later calls me back. Hey, we got a full. I was like, "Oh, you had it the whole time. Cool." you know,

Trey Hardee36:25

Or you just took it from someone.

Trey Hardee36:27

Right. So instantly was like this gross feeling and I'm like, "Uh, okay. Thanks, coach. Talk to you later."

Next day call. I'm like, "Hey, I'm I can't come back." He wanted a bunch of reasons. I didn't really say anything, but it was just all the things. Oh, and in between there, I go to an under 23 US meet, knack, like a North American under 23 meet, represent the United States for the first time, meet my now wife, mother of my three children. It was like the coolest experience. And then all of a sudden, I have like seven days to figure out where I'm going to go to college.

Trey Hardee37:03

In the middle of August.

Trey Hardee37:06

She was at UCLA. And so she had already won a national title, set the collegiate record, she's best palter. Yeah. She's on like the all pack 10 century team. Like she's better athlete than I am.

And all this is happening.

And then all of a sudden I'm I'm like

I'm talking to her and I'm like I think I'm going to go to Texas. And she's like, "Oh, my roommate right now is from Austin. I go there all the time." And I'm like, "I'm going to Texas. Like we're doing this. This is it. What a great reason

Trey Hardee38:34

Yeah. Well, and it also was a call that I didn't want to make. It was one that I wanted my parents to be on and they said no. Y

And it was one of those moments where and there's I've actually thought about this in just recent days of like I wish I could go back and just pep talk young younger version of me, high school me to have that conversation just and frame it a little differently and not be scared to and know that I'm a you're a person like you're a you're a person that they respect that they have to speak to with respect and have to like

Like approach it that way and teach them how to He honestly how to like be socratic and how to just ask questions and and kind of use that as the shield a little bit. But yeah,

That's the se that if you're a kid Yeah. If you're listening out there as a kid, you the secret weapon is everyone's afraid of you.

Trey Hardee39:26

You know, like everyone, especially teenagers, like just okay, how do I I don't even know how to how do I guard this guy? How do I get how do I have this conversation? you have just as much power in any any negotiation as as an adult unless they're your coach and you got you respect leadership. But I wish there was a way like youth is wasted on the young. You know,

Trey Hardee40:20

Yeah.

Trey Hardee40:28

Yeah. You're at a different level than I am. I'm still in I'm 579. And like we're we're still we're still in a good spot. We're in the sweet spot is what I think cuz they're we're buddies. We play. I can still give life lessons.

Trey Hardee40:42

But they're not like real life lessons like hey

That that guy's just he's after your body. You don't need like no I'm like hey just play kickball instead of soccer you know. Um so I'm there.

So you go to Texas. Texas. I'm here and

Trey Hardee41:04

I mean as man as much hype as there is in the decathlon world of collegiate athletics, but there it was just exciting because they also they had a really good decathlete who had gotten hurt the year before. So wasn't at you know the NCAA's, wasn't doing all that stuff, but he was the best high school athlete ever. Like he was a 7 foot high jumper, 17 foot pole vaulter. He was awesome and he was a pro. Like he was very it was a really big part of my development was how professional he was and what he brought to training cuz it

Trey Hardee41:42

Hugging and kissing.

Trey Hardee42:07

Yeah,

Trey Hardee42:23

It was let's go like in in that event. Yeah. The rising tide's going to float all the boats here.

And because it is such an individual thing

I had it doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't affect me at all. But if you're out here and we're competing in practice, I'm getting better. Yep.

Right. And if and if we don't,

I'm not getting better. like I'm not getting as good as I could be or whatever you want to call it.

So that literal when you do good I do good thing applies across the board really in track. You don't really see it in the sprints as much and you see it somewhat in distance groups but then they always end up like oh he trains at this time and they train at this time and she's here and they're there. It's an interesting thing. Decathlon is not that same. And pole vault too like pole vault is typically like hey we're doing this together. Another set of eyes, some support. If I die, you can see like you can you can be a witness in court.

Like

Trey Hardee43:24

Exactly. And helmets actually make uh make it unsafer. Your false sense of security. Yeah. Yeah.

Trey Hardee43:40

Like subconussive hits. Yeah.

Trey Hardee43:56

I want all the parents to hear that too. No safety gear.

Trey Hardee44:01

No safety gear. Then they use they exercise caution.

Trey Hardee44:04

So, yeah, it was game on. I remember it was a week before practice was even supposed to start and and he reached out and I'll just use his Yeah, I'll use his name. His name Donovan Kil Martin. He was awesome. Anybody that knows track and is of, you know, the age of like 30 to 60 knows that kid's name. He was awesome. And he's like, "Hey, we're going to be at I'm going to be at the track at 1. What are you doing tomorrow?" I'm like, "I'm at the track at one." And then we we started right from there.

And he won the indoor national title that year. I won the national outdoor title outdoors that year and we just kind of batted that that title back and forth. Uh I set the collegiate record the next season. Um and then he about it like late in his junior year just kind of made a decision that was all right, I'm going to be a petroleum engineer. I love track but I've kind of had my my day. I I don't have the time to work as hard as I need to work to get to the next level.

And I'm going to get a great degree from a great university and get a great job and get out of here and go start life with my girlfriend and then future fiance and wife and just made a professional life decision and finished up. He was like an eight-time all-American. He was awesome, great teammate, but did not continue to like rise and and

Trey Hardee45:37

Basically he's been he's I think he's been at Chevron for 20 something years like he's he's doing okay

Trey Hardee45:43

Doing okay

Trey Hardee47:12

In a couple like I felt like I could have taken a few months and like dialed it in and been competitive openly. Yeah.

Um but the so the events or the the it's five events over uh 10 events over two days, five events each day. So you've got the 100, the long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 on the first day. Then you've got the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and you end with the 1500. So you've got really nine events that are explosive, speed, power. The 400's got some speed, endurance in there, but it's you got to be fast. you, you know, you got to be a

Trey Hardee47:49

But you got to be kind of a one rep like stick of dynamite explosive and you have to be able to repeat all of that over and over and over. And the 1500 is just not that. And I learned really early aerobically, I just didn't have like when I weighed 160 lbs, I could run four I think I ran 447 in a 15.

Stephanie, that's crazy. That's fast. And by the end of my career, I weighed 212 and could run 440.

And that's in a decathlon. And like I've run can run faster, but just in the event itself,

It just I just don't don't have the stroke volume. Don't have it like

If I think if I trained right now, give me six months and I would run faster than that. Honestly,

Trey Hardee48:34

sacrificing all of the other events for the sake of one. And so we consciously made the decision like, look, anything low 440s is serviceable. Let's get great in nine.

Trey Hardee48:53

And and then if it ever comes down to it,

We'll, you know, whip nuts on the table and and see what you got. Yeah. And that's really what it is is that suffer. And so you've got jumping events, uh, throwing events, and sprinting events. And so we trained like commonalities and so there wasn't like a day like a typical day.

Trey Hardee49:13

There was always 6:30 in the morning was I'm in the weight room and that takes between you know really 2 and 4 hours depending on the time of day. Lots of rest and recovery. So I'm not just in there like huffing and puffing though. These are like very high quality moving the bar fast uh repetitions with a lot of rest in between. And then uh outside Mondays was shot put, high jump and acceleration development. And every other week I would hurdle. So you know weeks one and three were just straight up I'm accelerating on the flat.

Weeks two and four I'm doing hurdles and so I only got to train hurdles twice a month really. Uh

Trey Hardee49:56

Yeah. And that's the one event I think I could have like laced them up and and and worked hard at and done pretty well.

Trey Hardee50:12

In slow-mo it looks like none of it should happen. Yes. But everything's just moving around this one

Like head and shoulders that's just not moving and it just look Yeah. It's

Trey Hardee50:34

And it's like most athletes, too, where every it's all relative. Everyone's down on the track and they're like, "Oh, they're all the same height. I don't know. Those hurdles can't be that tall." Hurdles are tall. Hurles are 42 in off the ground. That is that's really really high.

Hurlers are big. Like they're big dudes.

Trey Hardee51:36

That's what's hard. And looking back, I couldn't have been a onevener, like a single for all of the the time and effort and dedication to go into the one thing.

If I messed up in the hundred, I had nine events to come back and like, "Okay, let's write the ship here." Like, we'll get it back, right? Um, and so you've got all these energy systems. You've got this like single explosive just boom, like the creatine kynise just boom go. And then you've got like little anorobic power. You've got to be able to recover. And then the last system was just aerob aerobic power like that middle distance like how much can you hurt, you know? And really for me it was about how quickly can I recover in between reps, in between events, in between days.

And I don't think anyone in the world recovered as good as I did in between like the overnight deals at those major meets. Like all my best hurdle races are in decathlons. And those are like 7 hours after I ran a 400 with like a little bit of sleep, two meals, and a little massage. So we we would train those energy systems on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays were technical day, like we're doing technical events like the pole vault, long jump, discus.

Um, and then Sunday was active rest and recovery. And same with whatever Thursday or Friday was like picking up something that we needed to do. Typically it was just doing work. Like it was in the weight room and like you're doing work and that's the lever that we would pull up or down if we wanted to feel better.

Trey Hardee53:13

Want to feel better? Do less work on Friday. Yeah,

You want to feel like you feel good. All right, we're going to turn the knob up and you're going to do a a [ __ ] ton of work today.

Trey Hardee53:34

Trials are we're two years away from trials. So, this is 2006,

Trey Hardee53:39

It's an off off year. completely off year which was a great ended up I kind of wish it was the other way around but yeah so I at indoor NCAA's that year my senior year I'm on American record pace which could have been world record pace if a couple things go my way in the middle of just at the start of day two and I run the hurdles it's the world record for the heptathlon hurdles fastest anyone's ever run in that event and it's not fast but it was fast um and I turn around to kind of look at the score And my spike catches.

I roll my ankle. My tibia hits the ground. Like it I thought I broke my tibia. It was gross. It blew up like a grapefruit. Huge. Like it was couldn't could not go on and just had the pity party for a little bit, right? Uh cost my team a whole bunch of points. Cost us a national championship. It it was it was really difficult to deal with for a day and then literally woke up the next day and was like, "All right, how many days till my first decathlon?" Like, I'm about to like hurt somebody in this decathlon cuz I had set the collegiate record in the heptathon a month or two before that meet.

I was about to do it again. I was like establishing this kind of international presence of like who is this Trey guy? Um, I was going to sign a big contract. Like, I was like really, really upset that this was trying to be taken away from me. So, the Texas Releaser 3 weeks later, I do nothing but rehab and I do some strides like four or five days out from this decathlon and it hurts, but I'm like, "All right, we'll just tape it up and let's do let's be measured and do a little bit here and there." Uh, and I set the collegiate record in the decathlon at that meet and then kind of honestly float through the rest of that season where I do a bunch of individual events.

I just do individual events at conference cuz I can and there was no one close to me on the collegiate level anymore and I kind of let my guard down and I know hided at the NCAA championship cost team some points didn't cost us a championship but cost us you know we went I think we finished third and could have been second and it was like all right I'm done I think I'm done I don't have it in me to compete with younger guys anymore I I'm ready to move on and start training for to the Olympics and coaches were like, "Hey, you you've got one more indoor season cuz Mississippi State cut it." And I'm like, "Okay, I mean, I don't know.

Let me get a free masters program out of this. Let me see if I can get a masters and then I'll come out with a a contract." Like, we're just

It it, you know, six in one hand, half dozen in the other. And the last session in December before the indoor season's going to start, uh, I'm power cleaning 160 kilograms and it knocks me down, lands on my hand, my hand goes all the way back and end up having surgery on my right wrist. And so now I can't throw. So now I can't do the thing that I was going to do. And I'm just again like, why is what is going on? Like why is this being taken away?

What can I do? Well, I could I couldn't put my hand down to get in the blocks and I couldn't jostle it and I'm wearing this um I asked not to be not to wear a cast. So, I had this like splint that just clamps down. And we end up all I did was jump with rubber bands around my waist. That was my training. And then I would show up on the weekends and long jump without like guard like guarding my wrist.

We get to the conference meet. I get second at the conference meet a long jump. Uh I win the hurdles and but the times aren't that good but the times are good enough to get to this last chance meet to qualify for NC's. I win the last chance meets, qualify for NCAA's, and end up being all-American in both of those things because again, like we were talking about this quantitatively sucked

Sucked. Like I'm I don't like the numbers next to my name, but that qualitative part of looking back and going, you know, I could have just signed a proc contract and been done and been like, I can't do it. Sorry, guys. I like found a something to do, right? Okay, I can't I can't do a push-up. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna run as hard as I can. I can't do this. I can't do that. I'm going to jump. I'm going to do whatever I can to fi figure out a way to kind of not even accomplish the mission, but just I think very young.

No one told me this, but I started to do it later is looking back and having no regret and being proud of that younger version of myself. And so I think about that a lot like even as I sit here right now, okay, the 50-year-old version of me is going to look back and either go, "God, what are you h what was I doing?" or man. All right, here we go. Proud of that guy.

Trey Hardee58:33

Well, that's an like the sport of track and field's tough cuz you got a bunch of pro people with no contracts and stuff. Well, I got I signed with Nike. Y

Um they gave me a deal to get me all the way through 2010.

Trey Hardee58:48

This is winter of07.

Trey Hardee58:51

Yeah. And so it's going to get me to 10, which gives me a chance to make an Olympic team, gives me a chance to make a world championship team. Um, and I sign the deal and three practices later, like separate my adductor off my pubic bone, throwing javelin. And again, it's just

Another thing. And it I'm like, h, this is just a part of my life. This is just what I'm going to be doing is rehab. I got real good at rehab. Done a bunch of different kinds of uh methodologies and stuff. and have to take the rest of the year off. Can't sit up, can't get out of bed, can't do a bunch of stuff. Um, so take the rest of the year off, take a pay cut. My first professional year, like I'm a I'm a pro, I made $22,500.

As

Trey Hardee1:00:11

It always bugs me when people call some NFL people like injuryprone or oh, they're soft or they're fragile. No, he's a Ferrari.

Trey Hardee1:00:19

He's not even a Ferrari. He's a Formula 1 race car.

He's competing against Corvettes and Ferraris. He's an F1 race car.

Pick another sport, he blows you out of the water. Like, you know, so it's not that fragility. It's

He's playing with a much diceier like has to be dialed in like version and he's playing. Yeah, there's some Mac trucks in there, you know, like there's stuff that can operate

Trey Hardee1:01:02

They're doing the uh

Trey Hardee1:01:03

They're doing the grape lady thing that like

You can't breathe. Y

Yeah. And it that's just my soap box there for a second. It like really bugs me. I'm like, "No, the dude, he's got Olympic lineage. Like, he is a

He's a Ferrari. Like, he's an F1 guy, you know. Um, I don't even remember what we were talking about."

Trey Hardee1:01:26

Yeah. And so then I honestly can't run for like a year. Can't do anything for like a year and it's just rehab, rehab.

Trey Hardee1:01:34

Hadn't made any team other than the one that where I met my wife in 2004. And we're I'm I'm now it's kind of like like is this ever going to like what am I doing?

Trey Hardee1:01:50

Oh, it's not odd. Like I'm doing everything I can do. Like I'm still fit cuz I swim and I row and I can jog but I can't sprint. I'm trying to just figure this thing out. [snorts] And about a year later fin I just get in a decathlon and I'm like I need to I need to score some points to get to the Olympic trials. So again, I don't get more money taken away from me. Let's figure this out. And just get through one score pretty well.

And then I end up seeing a physiootherapist who's in uh DFW area and he just unlocks my body. My body was just so like clamped down and like scar tissued over and he just unlocks my body. three sessions and it is I'm I'm I look like I've been in a car wreck and I'm bruised and I'm gross, but I'm like I sprinted today.

Trey Hardee1:02:39

Like I can do, okay, let's go. I can do this. Set a huge personal best at the Olympic trials, make the team, finish second, beat one of those guys who I lined up against in ' 04, who was the current world champion, who I'm like, I can beat this guy. Actually beat him. It was huge, huge for me. and then uh head out to Beijing on my first Olympic team.

Trey Hardee1:03:04

That's a that's a big regret of my career. It was great. Like I made the Olympic team. Like it's cool. No one takes that away. But then I get there and I had made it a bigger deal.

Trey Hardee1:03:16

And actually I the inverse of that I made it a big deal and I made it not a big deal. It was the first time I had left the country. It's China. It's it's the Olympics. I'm wearing the USA uniform alongside the best athletes in the world. Like there's Kobe, there's LeBron. Like it it it's a big deal. And I tried to make it not I tried to be like this is just not track me. Like this is the same. It's the same 400 meters. It's the same shot weighs the same.

It's all the same.

Trey Hardee1:03:50

No. But the difference is it's cool. It's awesome. I should have been looking around go, isn't this great? Instead, I was trying to be this like, okay, I got the second best scoreer in the world. I'm gonna go out there. I'm g all these guys better respect me. Like, I that doesn't work for me. It really doesn't.

And I as soon as it got hard, I was like, it shouldn't be this hard. This is the hardest thing I'd ever done. The schedule's really spread out. So instead of you showing up to the track one time, hey, we're going to do event then event then event then event then event. You're done in like six, seven hours. No, this was all right, you got five hours this morning, then you're going to take a three-hour break and then you got another 5 hours tonight.

Trey Hardee1:04:32

And I'm smoked by the middle of the second day. I'm like zombie. I've never felt like this. I'm I'm so unprepared. My body doesn't feel right. This is so foreign. this is harder than I've ever

Trey Hardee1:05:18

Yeah, that would have helped.

Trey Hardee1:05:22

Try. I try to remind guys now, like I don't I'm not like in anybody's business, but you know, send a DM or send a send a text that just is like, "Hey, you're you're in a great spot. Let me know if you need anything. What you're about to do, yeah, it's a big deal, but it's also really fun. Remember to have fun. And remember, this is going to be harder. Not because the events are harder, but because of the schedule, because of the the pressure. And you might tell yourself there's no pressure.

There's pressure, man. Like,

Trey Hardee1:05:55

Yeah. There's there's a few that I have good relationships with that are very much like, you know, hey, am I going to see you there? Are you there? And and you it's not like, you know, the weeks before big meets. It's it's always long before like hey I'm really struggling with this part of it and this and this and I'm I'm never like here's how I did it. It's just hey here's what you're going to experience and sounds like you got all the right people in your corner.

Trust your coach. Trust trust yourself. That's all you really can do. And then again I try to re very gently just say look you're going to wake up a year from now and 5 years from now and 10 years from now looking back on this and do stuff you'll be proud of you know like do the do the work

Trey Hardee1:06:38

Every athlete has their own coach and then they're basic there's like

Team USA coach and they're they're there to help. They're there to assist your coach like hey can you catch this mid or can you what do you see? Um but really it's managerial. It is very much like hey we need to be here for the bus at this time. Hey I got you a sandwich. Hey I got this. What else do you need me to do? And and it's it's more like that and not like all right now I have this whole new coach who has a different philosophy or anything.

Trey Hardee1:07:19

Yeah. Yeah.

Trey Hardee1:07:24

No I I Yeah. I'm in metal position. I'm ready to rock and roll. I'm throwing the javelin. Best I've ever thrown in my life. I'm running a really fast I know I'm about to run a really fast 1500.

Trey Hardee1:07:34

And I know height in the pole vault.

My bread and butter means you three times in a row at the lowest height. zero points. So go from Yeah. top four to last.

Trey Hardee1:07:48

Like 480. So like 15 uh8 159. But I think the pole vault's one of those events where people see that like with like what Dan O'Brien did with the Dan and Dave thing in '92 like why didn't he come in lower?

It's really binary. And if I'm not clearing 4 m 80 or 158, I'm not clearing 8 foot8. Like I'm just not clearing anything in the first three jumps. It's just not there. Right.

So there were there were decathons that I came in at 5 m at 164 like much much higher because I was on it didn't matter. I could have come in wherever that day and it just it wasn't going to happen. It

Trey Hardee1:08:38

I think that Yeah. I I never felt defeated because no one beat me. I beat myself, right? I felt really embarrassed and really ashamed for all the people that had helped me get through that $22,500 year um through college. all my coach was all the way across the world away from his family and the team and everyone that had put their eggs in my basket. It was that was it. That was the first real public shame thing I had experienced that was like

I want like that was all over the world. Yeah.

Like I had done the elementary school thing back home. I had done the like they had done the send off like it it was a big everyone saw it and I it that was it let a lot of people down.

Trey Hardee1:09:30

That's what it felt like.

Trey Hardee1:10:59

Next time you're not going to stick your arm there." Yep. That's what I I think I wish someone had told me when I was young is just the this idea and it's universally true throughout nature. It's universally true with with us and and growth and learning and like stress and called losing a stress is the direction of of growth in our bones and our muscles.

They become stronger in the direction in which they're stressed. And so running into the thing, running and facing the the the challenge is where growth is. And I I said this, you know, a few weeks ago about like the cows and buffaloos.

Trey Hardee1:11:49

Cows turn and and walk away from the storm and then the storm's cows going this way, but the storm's just going to stay over it longer. And the buffalo's turn. That's why they only got the hair and the crap in front. turn, face it, and they're only gonna have to go through it, but like a third of the time that the cow does. Yep.

And that I wish somebody like literally just Billy Madison like shook me shook me into realizing that and not avoiding it to feel cool and not avoiding it to to not not feel bad, right?

Trey Hardee1:12:35

Shout out past Robels.

Trey Hardee1:12:45

I was I was gonna ask you that question before I answered, but um I I got home again, still full of shame, embarrassed, knowing I could have done better, [clears throat] and uh the head coach of of the Texas track team, who was actually the head coach of the US men's Olympic team that year, and and my coach, um sat me down and just kind of it was the first real I would call it the first real like grownup meeting I had.

So this was my job. They I was, you know, paying them pennies and it was, "Hey, what are we doing here?" You're like, "What do you mean?" Like, "Hey, do you really want to do this? Is this is this what we're doing? Is it going to look like this the whole time? How what are we going to do? What are you going to do? If this isn't something that you want to buy in all in, then we can't help you." And I was like, "Can't help me?

What are you talking like? What?" And I was like, "Oh, yeah. I'm not on a team. Like, they don't have to do anything for me." I go, "Oh, well, yeah, I want." And they goes, "No, no, no, no. I want you to take a week off and really think about this." And I was like, "A week?" And they're like, "That's how long we would like for you to think about this." And I'm like, "Okay, okay. I think I know what you I think I understand. Thank you." Walked out, came back a week later, started training, and I would call it I like that mindset that I have now of like looking back and being proud of the work started right there and I professionalized every single thing that I did.

I from the way I slept to what I ate to I I grew up in that week. I grew the hell up and went into it as a professional and probably doubled the amount of time I spent at the track, in the training room, in the weight room to make sure no stone was was unturned and that I was taking care of like the mental part of my game and knowing, okay, I know what this is like out there now. I know what I'm going to feel.

I got to figure out a way. We've got to train that way. And I took more ownership in my training, um, a more collaborative approach. I reached out to other coaches. Hey, what do you see? How do how can I fix this part? How can I do this? And I I wouldn't say that like I sacrifice is a silly word when you're talking about sports and training and stuff. It's either worth it or it's not. Like it's it it was all of it was very much worth it.

All the stuff that I gave up and all the things that I did that I didn't want to do that I made myself do because the the juice at the end was worth worth that squeeze. It was so easy to say I'm not doing that. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go home. I'm going to do this and then I'm going to wake up tomorrow and I'm going to do this, this, and this and I'm going to stay a little bit extra and I'm going to do this one extra little thing that adds up over time and it becomes over time that there were 90,000 extra reps of doing some pronation stuff so that I could throw the javelin one meter farther so that I could win by that much more.

And there's a again 11 months later I'm a world champion.

Trey Hardee1:16:22

Berlin, Germany.

Trey Hardee1:16:27

Same thing

Trey Hardee1:16:54

11 months later.

Trey Hardee1:17:40

I think talent is very much overrated. It's special. You need some of it,

But it is so overrated. Absolutely overrated. Like preparation and all that stuff. It's just an eventuality. But the real like the real win, like we're talking about winning stuff and world champion and stuff, but the real win I think a lot of people resonate with is the peace of mind and fulfillment you get out of trying hard [ __ ]

Trey Hardee1:18:07

And doing it to the best of your ability. That doesn't mean doing it the best. Just doing it to the best of your ability. Whether that's

I was just I was just solo with my three young kids for uh three and a half days.

Trey Hardee1:18:21

I did it to the best of my ability and it was awesome. It was so hard and frustrating and good, but man, I got to spend so much time with my kids

The the year that I I put in all the work and won the world title, all that stuff. Like the fulfillment that you get out of that is priceless. Like we were just talking about different levels of of income and stuff and how dude I thought a lot of people think money solves your problem. Nope. No it doesn't. Being fulfilled solves all your problems. Being happy to walk inside your front door with your family that solves all your problems. Like your relationship with your higher power or however you define it,

That solves all the problems. And doing things to the best of your ability. Winning and and having success is the byproduct down the line. Maybe it happens early or a week or a month or a year or 10 years or whenever. That's just icing on the cake. That is like living a a you know higher life, right?

Trey Hardee1:20:49

There's a there's a a down year in between where there's like a world indoor championships. Didn't take it seriously. I went after my now wife aggressively that entire season.

Trey Hardee1:21:01

She is still jumping professionally at this point. The same meet just a few days before I win my world title, she wins a silver in the pole vault. Like just super stoked.

Trey Hardee1:21:12

She was awesome. But it seemed like every Olympic year something would happen like she was in a cast both times. So

Should have should have been a two-time Olympian. Just cards fell where they fell. Just a tough tough circumstance. But yeah, pursue my now wife very aggressively. uh in that down year and then the next year comes up there's a world championships it's in uh deu South Korea and this is

Trey Hardee1:21:39

It's only been in America once and it was in 2022 but go going back to what you said like the the win in Berlin was a was an impressive win you look at it you look at the numbers you're like shoot that that was a big score

Um and then the one in Korea was one of the worst and lowest scores ever. But you know what? No one ever talks about

The score. Twotime world champion. They're both they're both the same things because everything is like as you know in in marathoning unbeliev it's so relative.

You could get Dez Lindon weather and the toughest mfers are going to win or you can have the perfect conditions like Chicago was awesome last week. like there can

Trey Hardee1:22:38

Heat is the we were talking earlier about qualitative versus quantitative expectations and results and like thinking that's winning.

Trey Hardee1:22:46

You're gonna lose sometimes if you only do that quantitative version like what the number says. But if you give your best, you're going to win eventually. Like, it's just going to happen, you know?

Trey Hardee1:23:03

Yeah, 12's coming up. And just my last throw in Korea, I shred my elbow, too. So, I was It was a closer closer than I wanted. Um, going into the javelin, my first throw, uh, I throw a personal best. Second throw personal best. But I'm still there's some technical stuff that's off. Last throw. I'm like I'm gonna hit this thing. Like this is gonna be perfect. I still it goes really far and but I shred my UCL tear my triceps. Like

Trey Hardee1:23:37

It was done. And it was really I hadn't trained in a manner that would support the way I was throwing that day. I was I figured it out that day. I was running hard. I was hitting positions and I was like whipping the jab out better than I ever had and my elbow wasn't going to stand for it. So, it exploded. I get home uh within 3 weeks of getting home, I'm doc at Dr. James Andrews clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, where my mom actually worked five floors above his surgery center.

So, we were it was like divine how I got in and when I got in. He sewed me up and three months later I could do a push-up without

Trey Hardee1:24:17

It and it it took a couple of months just to straighten my arm out. Three months later I was doing a push-up like a full Tommy John plus some other stuff like with the the strains and and tears in my triceps and my pronator mass was was flipped out. So lot going on and was again it felt a lot like after the '08 Olympics where all right I can do one of two things. I can just wo is me learn nothing try to keep doing the same old same old and maybe I'm ready for the Olympics in 2012.

Maybe I'm not. And I'm the two-time world champion in the decathlon. It's a highly marketed event. It's I'm not you know 100 meter dash guy. I'm not a distance runner, but it's it's right up there in that echelon of like, oh yeah, we know those guy, you know, and I had a bunch of deals in place,

Like not generational wealth, but like set me up, you know, you win Olympic gold medal Kathon, you're kind of set. Um, doing it in an English-speaking country kind of set. And now it's about to, you know, it's getting taken away um by my own my own doing, but like it what am I going to do in a year? look back and go,

I'm going to be frustrated about this my whole life. Or am I going to go I'm going to do I did everything I possibly could do and what better story could there be than this?

Trey Hardee1:25:39

Like here we go. So

8 months after surgery, I'm at the Olympic trials. I have yet to throw a javelin. I've like tossed baseballs and stuff. So I do everything I can possibly do. talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of repetitions of rehabilitation and all that kind of stuff. Every ice, red light therapy, everything you can think of to get this thing ready. And I'm back there about to throw the javelin going, "All right, I just need to throw." And I threw 69 m when I shredded it and I was like, "I just need to throw 46 m.

That's like nothing. It's it's it's laughable."

Yeah. And I get out and I trot and it's taped up like

Trey Hardee1:26:24

Like the table and I throw it I think 50 something like 51 52. So you get a good mark.

I get a mark and you would have thought I won the Olympic championship right there. Like

Oh my god eight months later I eat, sleep, breathe. Getting to this moment. I throw it. It lands in the ground. It's not good. But I'm I'm freaking out because I just made an Olympic team.

Yeah. And then all the while, what's going on in the background is my buddy and uh USA teammate Ashton Eaton set the world record.

Trey Hardee1:26:58

Put it all together, nailed it, right? Scores 9,000 points. Bruce Jenner's there. Like they're filming the Kardashian show there. Like it was like this huge thing, right?

He sets the record. But all the while I I wish I could have celebrated more with him. I was so invested in what I what I had done and made the team. And so now I'm getting to go to London, second Olympic team, and playing with house money. Yep. Like, oh man, this is just going to be so much more fun than the last time. I know. I've learned my lessons. Like,

No expectations cuz now this world record holder's got to go win. I don't have to I'm not there to do anything.

Trey Hardee1:27:36

Yeah. Just the two of us. And I'm My score at the Olympic trials is not great. I'm like maybe 15th in the world. Like it's not it's not a Oh, watch out for Trey.

Trey Hardee1:27:45

It's like ah Trey, that stinks. That happened to Trey. He's not going to be there this year. So, I get to London, start putting some stuff together, and all of a sudden in the middle of day two, I'm like, I'm almost in first place, right? Throw the throw the discus. And I'm like almost in first place. And I'm thinking, all right, if I can like pull vault my ass off, Javelin's going to javelin, you know, maybe I can push and run the heck out of this 1500 and maybe I can beat Ashton.

Ashton ends up scoring like 8,800 low. I scored 8689 8690 8790 was my highest but like jog I jog in the 1500 cuz I victory lap that day.

Trey Hardee1:28:31

Um

But I I score within 100 points of my all-time best with a busted elbow. I throw within a meter

Of my all-time personal best in the javelin.

Trey Hardee1:28:42

It made no sense. it. None of it made any sense, but it was this thing. It's the It's the happiest I've ever been in the sport. It's the happiest I've ever been. I love talking about it. Like it just brings me to this. I'm so proud of that young idiot who didn't know much but knew I'm going to do the best I can and that's all I can do and not worry about how far the javelin's going, not worry about how many throws I've taken, not worry about any of that stuff, but get to look back on it and go,

Shoot. Yeah, it worked. Like all of it worked, right?

Trey Hardee1:29:20

Yep. first ever one-two finish for the United States since uh 52. So it it had been Yeah. 60 years since that had happened. It was Yeah, it was awesome.

Trey Hardee1:29:43

Yeah.

Trey Hardee1:29:54

Only one place to go from here. That's

Trey Hardee1:30:06

But that's like what you're saying, too. No one takes away no one takes that name off of the off the record books.

Trey Hardee1:30:13

Yeah.

Trey Hardee1:30:19

I put in I put in another four really I would call them frustrating years where I'm like my elbow's fine, I'm super fit, I'm really powerful, I'm fast, everything is like feels like coming together and then in some of the biggest moments like my hamstring starts cramping or my back starts to spasm or something and I think just the training catches up. Like I trained really hard for a really long time. And again, it was frustrating, but only frustrating in the moment. Like I'm not frustrated here talking to you about it now because I know I did everything I could have done, you know?

Like could I have been wise? Could I have been more wise?

Yeah, but I worked hard.

Trey Hardee1:31:16

Yeah. And so I had started before my teammate Ashton and he had already he had retired before I finished. So really Oh, yeah. He not that

Trey Hardee1:31:29

I mean, did pretty well. Set Yeah. Set a couple world records, two Olympic golds, and two world titles. Yeah.

Trey Hardee1:31:36

Heck yeah.

Trey Hardee1:31:40

Yeah. out actually moved a little bit west. So, Dripping Springs, so like 25 miles west of Austin and had just little tiny space kind of attached to a kind of elite volleyball club training facility. Uh, still get to commentate and still get to be involved with the sport, working with NBC Sports, traveling all over the world doing that.

Trey Hardee1:32:13

Um,

Trey Hardee1:32:26

Dude. It's they'll they'll get into it. It just takes time. Um, and then I doing like the regular season of Track and Field, uh, pitched a show to Flow Track and I get I'm like the the main host of the Diamond League show called the Athletes Lounge and we get to have it's it's like the Manning cast and the Pat McAfee show but while the track meets going on. So we have we bring guys in, we we're talking like sometimes we're talking about the track meet, but it it's on you can you can watch it while we talk track kind of thing.

Love that. And it's B it's for track nerds like

Trey Hardee1:32:59

Absolutely 100%.

Trey Hardee1:33:01

Heck yeah dude. Um and so trying to get all that done and again it very decathlete of me that I'm doing a bunch of different stuff and so yeah get guys home for summer, get them ready for all their fall stuff, all the collegiate guys. um have a good group of high school kids that that float around in offseason and then now doing some long-term athletic development which I really

Didn't think I would like as much as I do where you know that 10 to 14year-old going through puberty they got new levers they don't know the the long-term athletic development and skill development and really just teaching of like concept and and this is what training is this is how to train this is what how you should think about things I've really started to enjoy that. And then there's the kind of oneoff here and there, like kind of moms and parents of like, hey, I just need to get in shape for next year.

And like, all right, we can do that. Like, I can blow a whistle just as good as anybody.

Um, but and then honestly, I'm looking for the next challenge really. I had a conversation the other day just about like I can feel it that okay, I not that I figured anything out on the coaching and training thing, but like

I have an NBA. I feel like I have like the desire and the time now that my all my kids are in school. We're ready to go. Like I I want the next challenge, like the next really hard thing to go and and and struggle with and have to learn because we talked about like I I want stress to be able to continue to grow and not that I've figured anything out, but things are

Things for the at least for this month things are good.

Trey Hardee1:34:46

That'd be awesome. Yeah. I like I literally have no like uh

Other than elementary PE can't I can't do elementary PE.

Trey Hardee1:35:36

That's killer, dude. Anytime. Anytime.

Trey Hardee1:35:56

Thanks for having me, man. Always good to see you.