Two-Time Gold Medalist on Rowing, Recovery, and Renewal in her 40’s | Episode 41

*This Transcript is Autogenerated*

Meghan Musnicki  0:01  
physically, it's very different because I'm old. And so it's it's a different ballgame when you know, I'm 40. And I don't recover like a 25 year old, I don't recover like a 30 year old and I don't recover like a 35 year old. You know, I do the training program. And it's just there's a bit more thought it has to go into it. You know, in terms of why recovery, that's the biggest issue is like I don't recover as fast.

Kristi Wagner  0:23  
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years podcast this week on the podcast I've 10 Time us rowing national team member and two time Olympic gold medalist in the women's aid from 2012 and 2016. Megan was Nikki moose, as she has called them, most of her teammates is a pretty incredible woman and athlete. She's currently training to try to qualify for a fourth Olympic team. And honestly, she's just such a boss. It's so cool to me and all of our teammates, to get to train alongside her. And really motivational and inspirational. I think I had a great time sitting down with Maggie and chatting about her comeback for Paris and what has changed over her years on the team. And what continues to motivate her. We've talked about how her other three years has changed over the past Olympic cycles, and especially this cycle, it was just a really great conversation, I think everyone will really enjoy it. But before we get into that, here's an update on what's currently going on in my training. So we are in the third week of altitude camp the last week and definitely feeling it, but the end is in sight. So feeling that as well. Feeling like I can complete the camp, which is really exciting. And yesterday, we had a no earning day. So it was kind of an off day, if you wanted it to be off. I went and hiked the Manitou incline which was like 2700 stairs. It's pretty cool. It's a famous Colorado thing. And it was really fun. I went with a bunch of the other scholars and we had a really great time. And then you don't have to go down the stairs, you can go down a different trail. So we did that. watch some football this weekend. Some exciting games, although as weird as it is, I do like the bills, even though I'm a Patriots fan, I was a little sad that they lost. That was a close game, and I was really rooting for them. But you know, that'll happen. And now like, I think a lot of the country, I am on the Detroit bandwagon because who doesn't love an underdog and it's just so cool that they're in the playoffs and made it so far. And I hope they just keep winning, but also just kind of hope for some good games. I think that's what you'd like to see when your team isn't in it. So, yeah, this week, we just have some more workouts. We do have lactate testing at the end of the week. And yeah, we just have few more workouts, a few more hard things. And then on Sunday, we're all flying to Sarasota and we'll start our Sarasota camp. So I'm excited to finish Colorado off strong, but also excited to get to Sarasota and get back on the water and do the sport that you know we all liked doing this week is also exciting because it's my birthday. So that's fun. But my birthday will have already happened by the time this podcast comes out. So the fun will be over. And now it is time for my conversation with Megan was Nikki. My like first question, how did you decide to row again in this squad because I feel like you were pretty much like new life in San Francisco? That's

Meghan Musnicki  3:57  
a great question. So this quad I like how you specified how did you decide to grow again, this quad. That's, that's great. It kind of happened a bit organically I would say this. Let's see I got married right after Tokyo in September of 2021. And then moved across the country and didn't grow worked out still because this anyone who knows me they know that I love love to work out, but started working out and actually met up with Jess Morrison the Australian pair ballsy to the Australian pier who the time was dating and they're now engaged to Austin heck, and we started training, non rowing together. She knew she was gonna go back to Australia and row and I knew that I just enjoyed working out. So we would work out together. I actually blame or credit depends on who you ask Mike TT for my. My first race back, Justin, I would occasionally go out in a pair just to roll around and Mike was like once you guys raise it Henley They were like royal Henley. He's like, Yeah, well, you know, and so, you know, CRC set us up and paid for us to go over there and found his housing. And we got to race the, the women's pair over there. And it was a ton of fun. We're both very competitive. So we wanted to do well, but we both went into it like, this is just going to be fun. This is just for fun. And it was a ton of fun. And I loved it. And I loved racing and being able to race with one of your close friends is, is a really cool experience. We got back from that. And, again, she always knew she was gonna go back to Australia and in train, but I still I thought, Okay, that's it, and continue to work out. And then I got the itch. And I was like, it was in December of it had to have been last December was about a year, just over a year ago, all of the guys were doing the national team testing that December. And they got the date for when the 6k was. And I was like, Well, why don't I just see, see what kind of shape I'm in. So I trained for like three or four weeks on the erg. And granted, I've been working out right, like it wasn't like off the couch or anything like that. And I was like, see where I see how I stack up. And so you know, rip to 6k and didn't do too poorly compared to everyone else. And so I thought to myself, all right, well, I guess I could, I could continue to try and do this. But I the my mentality was very short term, I didn't think very long term out, down the line about it versus in my other quads, you know, you always had the end, the end goal of the performing of the Olympics and what you wanted to get at the Olympics, this was very much like, do it to the next kind of checkpoint for me to make sure I was still enjoying it to make sure my body could handle it to make sure I wanted to be doing it. And long story short, Ally Russia came out. And we got an A pair together, which is a story in and of itself that we can get into if you want. And I ended up racing with Ally at the speed order last year. And that kind of solidified rowing for that year. There wasn't one specific moment where I was like, Okay, I'm back. It was very one step at a time. And then obviously, the the whole ally coming out, made it possible. And the system made it possible for me to do that. So like there's a whole lot of other things that I could go into. But you might have another question. So obviously,

Kristi Wagner  7:25  
like working out is like one thing, but like training is another so like, I assume it was like less pressure?

Meghan Musnicki  7:33  
Initially? Yes. That's an interesting question. Initially, yes, it was less pressure. Because I guess I would say I was kind of doing it off the cuff. Yeah, you know, it was this bonus opportunity. I had a job a full time job, I still have a full time job with this company Equinix. In, it's based in Redwood City. And I, they're incredibly supportive of what I'm doing. And when I told them, you know, this is what I'm going to try to do. They were, they were great about it, which you know, like a lot of things fell in line is the best way to put it. And there's a lot of reasons that I was able to do it. But yeah, training is different than working out. And it's different this time around,

Kristi Wagner  8:12  
I would say, How's that, physically, it's

Meghan Musnicki  8:15  
very different, because I'm old. And so it's a different ballgame when you know, I'm 40. And I don't recover like a 25 year old, I don't recover like a 30 year old and I don't recover like a 35 year old. You know, I do the training program. And it's just there's a bit more thought that has to go into it. You know, in terms of my recovery, that's the biggest issue is like I don't recover as fast. So if I do a hard workout in an afternoon, I will most likely not be quote unquote, recovered by the next morning just doesn't work that way. And so I can't, I mean, I can do another hard workout. But that will further put me in a hole. And so it's just a matter of managing how deep the hole I get in is and keeping whatever the next assessment or important workout is in mind to make sure that I'm not digging myself out of this giant trench. Because it's not going to take just an afternoon off to like, yeah, snap me back. Yeah, those were the days but

Kristi Wagner  9:13  
I feel like that dovetails well into like the new system because I do feel like I mean, obviously we have like a training program and things are you know, a bit centralized, but like, there also is a lot more like individuality. Yeah.

Meghan Musnicki  9:25  
100% I mean, there's the new training system is one of the main reasons that I am competing still, I would say the older system definitely shaped me into the athlete that I am. I had so much success in that system. From the outside. It's it made me tough, it made me successful. It made me have a high standard and it shaped who I am as an athlete, and I'm able to carry that with me into this new system. So I consider myself pretty lucky because the new system has allowed me to live in train out of CRC, you know, with my husband so I didn't have to live on the other side. But if the country for X number of years, all of these things kind of allowed me to be able to come back, because if I had to move to Princeton last year in December, I wouldn't have done. You know, like, it just wasn't worth it. I had a full time job. I have my two cats bring him beans, and I have course my husband. Yeah. And it just it wouldn't have been worth it. And so it was like, okay, that's one another one of the reasons why like the short term was so yeah, the short term objectives were so important. It was like checkpoints, like okay, yep, this is still working. I'm still liking this. And, you know, I can still do it here. And not have to completely uproot my life yet.

Kristi Wagner  10:38  
Yeah, do you feel like there's a different, like energy sort of within the team, for sure.

Meghan Musnicki  10:44  
They're always had I mean, every single, every single quad, there's a different energy, every single quad. And I also think it's important to recognize that the energy that you perceive a team to have is largely shaped by your position on the team. I think someone who has a ton of success on the team is going to view the team differently than someone who has had no success. I think someone who sits right on the bubble is going to view it differently than someone who is more confident. And again, that's not to say it's right or wrong, or good or bad. I think it's just important to take it into account when you're like assessing a system. Yeah. It would be easy to say, Oh, this is terrible. It's horrible. It doesn't work. Well, it doesn't work for me, or it doesn't work for XYZ. Yeah. You know, it's it's not, there is no one program or one system that works for everyone. That's not the way sport works. That's not the way elite sport works.

Kristi Wagner  11:43  
No, that's true. How has it been like training? You know, now that it is like more serious? Wow, having like, because you were just you know, in prison at the training center, which was a pretty like, yes, full time gig like just kind of reclusive on correct thing. Correct? How is it now living with your husband and like having a full time job and training in a more independent way?

Meghan Musnicki  12:07  
It's great. It's, it's harder and easier at times, there are many times where I'm so exhausted, I want nothing more than to just lay in my bed all day and not do any work. You know, it's like, Oh, my God, do I really have to go do work right now? It's a nice distraction, I would say. So you're not totally consumed by rowing 24/7. So that that's been great. And then you know, it's a, somewhat of a different question. But like, living in training, or living with my husband, who also happened to be my coach is, is an interesting dynamic in and of itself, that you have to kind of learn to balance and there's a learning curve to it. So it's been largely good. That's not to say there aren't days where I'm just like, sitting at my computer, like crying, thinking, Oh, my God, I'm so tired. I just want to go to bed. But, you know, like I said, the company I work for is wonderful. And they're super supportive and very inquisitive about what I do, which also is really nice, because it's like, oh, well, these people actually kind of care or have an interest in what I'm doing.

Kristi Wagner  13:06  
Yeah. So like, you've never trained at altitude, right? This is your first time. Yeah. Yeah. How's that been? Were you nervous to come

Meghan Musnicki  13:14  
here, um, I wasn't nervous, I was more nervous to cut to be honest, I was more nervous to come here to reintegrate with the women. That's what made me the most nervous the training aspect of it is something that for whatever reason, I generally doesn't make me nervous. I don't know if it's the way I think about it. I don't know if it's just kind of, because I've been around so long. And I know that I've done a lot. So I was more nervous about integrating with the group. Having said that, I knew it was going to be challenging. Like my sister lives at altitude, altitude, she lives near Jackson Hole, and it's like 6200 feet there. And so we go out there big Christmas. And so when I would do that before going to to LA in the previous cycles, I know what it's like to arrive at altitude. Granted, it was only for like seven days, at most. And then I would go back down to sea level, but it is a different beast. That's for sure. It's harder. You walk upstairs and you're like, wait a minute, I'm an elite athlete, I can't make it up three flights of stairs without being out of breath for 45 seconds. So I guess I wasn't I wasn't too afraid of the altitude aspect, just because it was like, it's just being comfortable with the fact that you're going to be uncomfortable, and then trying to make it not disruptive. Yeah, as much as you can like to how can you kind of improve your sleep? Or like, how can you, you know, work on your recovery more and just try and really focus on those things. And because you're at a training center, it's a lot easier to do because everything is right here. Yeah, it's been good so far. Two weeks down, one to go. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  14:39  
I mean, I think the worst is over.

Meghan Musnicki  14:42  
I'm pretty sure it is. Yeah, I was looking at the schedule. As I was walking to lunch. I was like, Alright, I can do that. Yeah, yep. Okay, good.

Kristi Wagner  14:47  
I can do this. Yeah. I feel like it's kind of cool that like, even now in your career, you're still like doing new things. Like that's kind of how it Yeah, cool. It's,

Meghan Musnicki  14:57  
I think about that and I'm like, How was you gonna learn Yeah, right like it's it's the best way to learn something that was one of the things that I loved about training in the pair out of CRC with Mike and skip was having different coaches for the first time. Because it, you don't know everything about rowing. And to have someone articulate something. It's obviously all the same concepts, right? Like, we're all going for the same concepts, but the way people articulate it resonates with you differently. And so that's been the really cool part is to have someone say something to me that finally clicks, or that makes me think about a part of the stroke differently. And just being able to be like, Oh, yep, that is very helpful. Or what? What, what are you what are you talking about? Oh, you mean this? It's, that's cool. Because you just there's so much you can always learn. Yeah, to, thankfully, to, to improve and to like, move the needle.

Kristi Wagner  15:50  
I think about that all the time. I'm like, I've taken so many strokes. How can it still be so hard?

Meghan Musnicki  15:56  
Yep. Yeah. And it's like a, it's like a golf swing, or a tennis swing. Right. You know, like, you want to replicate it as identically as as possible in certain situations. But then there has to be like this certain nuance to it, depending on what you're doing. And it's it's fun to figure out and frustrating to figure out.

Kristi Wagner  16:18  
Yeah. Oh, but now you're gonna go in the camp. I heard a rumor

Meghan Musnicki  16:21  
I am. I am going into camp. That's very exciting. It is very exciting. We go to Florida in a week. Yeah. See what happens? Yeah. Yes, exactly. Exactly. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I definitely still get nervous about it. You know, I want what everybody else wants. Were so much invested in it, and there's so much weight that you put on it, or the amount with which you want it is scary. Because you're like not regardless, not everyone is gonna get it. Yeah. And that's like,

Kristi Wagner  17:01  
a scary thing. But I feel like you can't like live in that.

Meghan Musnicki  17:05  
No, definitely not. Yeah, that's why you gotta roll it back and be like, Okay, what do I have to do today? Right, this second, what do I need to be doing? That's the easiest way to do it. And that's one of the things that I've been working on is, you know, managing the stress and anxiety that comes with elite level performance, and then finding what works to help to, to manage it. And for me, it's a lot about not getting too far ahead of myself. You know, like, Okay, we have this or test it this time. And then I have a race at this time, like further down the line. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's like, weeks down the road. I can be aware of it. Like I'm not living in denial that it's happening. But me thinking about that right now. Is doing nothing to help me get faster. Yeah. So it's, I think I start to roll it back and think of what is it today that will help me be faster? Yeah. And sometimes it's something that I want to do. And other times, it's something that I don't want to do. But most of the time, I know what the answer is. Yeah. Which is nice. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  18:04  
it's more manageable. Yeah,

Meghan Musnicki  18:06  
it's much more manageable. I think that's the thing that a lot of younger athletes can get carried away with is being like, well, I want I want to go to the Olympics, and I want to, you know, I want to win a gold medal, or I want to do whatever and it's like, okay, yes, we all want to do that. But if all is that's all this you're thinking about right now. You're gonna drown? Yeah. Because it's, there's too many steps. There are way too many steps between now and then. Yeah, you know, you can think I want to win a gold medal the day before your final. Yes, right. Like, you can have that in your head as motivation, right? You know, and have it be something that motivates you, that pushes you, but it's not your sole focus, you know, breaking it down into more manageable chunks, smaller goals, whatever it is, that works for you. And realizing that you're gonna have a lot of crap days between now and then. But that doesn't mean that it's, it's, it's an impossibility. It's just the reality. When you train as much as we do. You can't have day after day, week after week, month after month of quote, unquote, perfection. You know, it's not always going to be a good time. It's not always going to be a good time. Christy.

Kristi Wagner  19:14  
Do you feel like there's anything that you've done in this cycle that you like, hadn't done before?

Meghan Musnicki  19:24  
Um, I do more mobility. As I get older, I have to wait I definitely have to warm up for longer. I'm still working on forcing myself to stretch for longer after the workouts. There's actually

Kristi Wagner  19:38  
like proven things that that does nothing. Oh, I don't know.

Meghan Musnicki  19:41  
I can check that off my list. This is great. This is great news. Perfect. So I'll take that off my To Do lists for today. Working with a sports psych are is also super helpful. Just to help it's like any normal doctor checkup. Yeah, you know, manage, you have to manage Your Mind? And sometimes it's some is for some people, it's harder than others. And that's why there's people out there that can help you do it. Yeah. You know, and it's always nice to have someone that you can kind of basically unload on. Yeah. And it's not, you know, me, yeah, you have girlfriends or or, or boyfriends or family members or whatever. But this is an objective third party that has nothing really invested in what you're doing and has kind of a detachment from, from you. And it's, it's, it's a great resource to answer your question, the biggest thing that I've had to do differently is the volume of, of training that I do, I was always one of those athletes, that was the did more, you know, do more, pull harder, work harder, that will make you faster, spoiler alert, doesn't work, the older you get, can kind of be detrimental. So that is hard for me and managing the anxiety that comes with that, because that's the only way I knew how to be. And that was the way that I did it. And that was the way that brought me success. And so I'm trusting that like, Okay, you're at a different stage in your career. What you need to be successful is different than what you needed 510 12 years ago, but that's scary. Because if you're, you know, if you're like, Well, I know this works. I know, this works for me, rather like not for everyone, but I know this works for me. And having to step away from it. Yeah. And kind of really embrace that. For me more is not always better. Yeah. has been really challenging in that kind of, you know, is also a deeply rooted psychological belief, obviously, that needs it requires talking to someone about Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  21:40  
that makes sense. I feel like it's interesting. Like, I also very much subscribe to like, I can do more like I can like, like, that's how I like build confidence. Yeah, so I to feel like I have like things to prove that it's like works. Yeah. But I, whatever got injured a lot. And it was like a very interesting, you know, working with cat on, like, how can we monitor these things, so that like, you know, you have like evidence to prove when you should be resting or when you should be taking time off. And I feel like having that like for me like having my whoop. And like, no, like having like evidence? Yep, is helpful for you, for me. So that it's not just like, I'm listening to my body, you know, to say like, no,

Meghan Musnicki  22:24  
for sure. But it's some people need more like a concrete like something they can look at to see. Yeah, I understand that. That's, it's like everybody knows that. There's tons of evidence out there. The the the way you build fitness is through continual training. Yeah. Right. So if you're training really hard, and then getting injured for three weeks, and then training really hard, and then you're injured, it does nothing. And then if you're like, Okay, well, maybe I should like back off. But it allows me to train for a year, a full year or whatever it may be, at a time without internet without major interruptions to the cycle, that's going to be far more beneficial than if you're just like 120% for four weeks, or for three months. Yeah. And then like, you've pushed yourself over the edge, you break, and you have to take a week off, three weeks off, or Yeah, however, however long that it is, and you've interrupted it, and it's like, oh, then you start back over? It's like, okay, learning from those things. Yeah. You know, and it's, it's, but again, it takes faith and trust in like, I get that anxiety of, Well, should I be doing more? I should, you know, like, what? Yeah, how do you know, I shouldn't be doing more. Circling back to something you said it also, one of the things I've worked on, or continued to work on is, is being happy with something when it goes well. And not immediately being like, okay, but it should have been better, right? Like giving myself even if it's like five minutes, you know, because I'm one of those people who will finish an erg test or whatever. And even if it's great, or like, at the time, I'm like, yeah, that, like when I put the handle down, I'm like, that was good. I can almost guarantee you that within three minutes. I'm thinking to myself, if I was a little bit tougher at this part, or if I did this, you know, if I, what if I did this, or you know, I didn't become such a baby in the middle. Could I have gone? And then it's like, you know, that's part of what makes me a good competitor. But it can also be very, not beneficial. Yeah. You know, like, acknowledge what goes well, for sure. And, you know, give it you know, don't sit in it for like, oh, yeah, like, that was amazing. I got this medal like that. I got this medal at a World Cup or whatever, and I don't need to do anything more. Okay, well, that's probably a little perhaps we should, but you know, be happy with that. Yeah. You said something to me the other day after one of our workouts about how you're like I'm most I thought you did a really great job on that workout or whatever. And you said something like, it made me go faster, or like I was struggling and it made me go faster. And like that's the kind of stuff that I love, because people do that to me all the time. Like In terms of like, when I see them, I'm like, This person is making me faster. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  25:03  
that's why I like training, like what the screw, you know, exactly.

Meghan Musnicki  25:07  
And if you can feed off of it, or you could just be like, oh, this person is pushing too hard or like, whatever kind of puts like this negative spin on it versus being like, you know, everybody has workouts where they don't feel great, you see someone else, and it kind of gives you a little bit of that, a slight more of a mental edge, or whatever it is to push just a tiny bit more. And that's, that's where you make improvements. It's not the workouts where you like, feel great, and you're just wailing on it. And we're like, you're, you're like, wow, these numbers are amazing. I feel great. I'm about to PR, I'm gonna crushing this. It's the ones where you're like, I don't know if I can do this. I don't think I can do this. Oh, my God, this hurts. Like, I'm not in a great headspace. Because let's be honest, the third 500 of a race, you're not in a great headspace. It doesn't feel most of the time. It doesn't feel great. But for me, if I can recall moments where I was like that, and I held on, that's what builds me my confidence. That's where I'm like, Yeah, you know, my teammates. And I, we felt like garbage. Because we just did X number of weeks at altitude, and we're doing X number of minutes. But like I saw each and are the one I was sitting next to or whatever, like dug into the well. Yeah, it's like she's doing it. I can do it. I want to do it. Yeah. And that's, that's cool. That's what it's like to be on par in a group part of a team. And it

Kristi Wagner  26:21  
builds confidence. I feel like in yourself and and other people like, I feel like, I mean, obviously, already, like respected Sophia, like, of course so much. Yeah. Like, watching her like do suit certain workouts, and you're just like, holy,

Meghan Musnicki  26:35  
yeah. Wow. That's incredible.

Kristi Wagner  26:39  
Yeah, yes. Thank you. Yes, sir. Being in the same boat as Yes,

Meghan Musnicki  26:42  
I want to go with you. I want to line up with you. And it's

Kristi Wagner  26:45  
just like, they're giving everything and like you're giving everything because they're giving everything and it's just like, I don't know. And

Meghan Musnicki  26:51  
regardless of like, even you probably saw Sophia before it. And she may not have been feeling great, or like, whatever. But she still sits down. She shows up. And she like, does it does it? Yeah, you know, and maybe it's not the best that she's ever done on it every single time. But you know that she's like digging deep for it. And that does build a ton of confidence. And there is no feeling like sitting on the start line with your boat, whether it's one other person or seven other people. And being like I've seen each and every one of these women dig deep into a well, yeah. And I know we're ready to just put our best foot out there and see what happens. Yeah, you have to believe in yourself, or else you're just going to question yourself the whole way down the course. And when it starts to hurt, you're gonna listen, you're gonna listen.

Kristi Wagner  27:39  
It's true. Well, thank you so much. Well, thanks

Meghan Musnicki  27:42  
for asking me I have a question for you, though is asking, what is your favorite part about rowing the double?

Kristi Wagner  27:52  
Well, I like the small boats because I like when you want to go. The boat will move. Like I don't like I think rowing with a lot of people is super fun. And a couple of years ago I got to row on the eighth at Henley which like we didn't do as well as I think everyone were liked but like it was really fun experience getting to row neat, but like, we're in the semi and we're losing and I was like we got to go and I like went the way that I would go on a double Yeah, and we did not move

Meghan Musnicki  28:25  
nothing's happening. Yeah, that's a real it's a real Thorn. When that happens. It's like wait, which

Kristi Wagner  28:31  
isn't actually didn't help anything that I wasn't

Meghan Musnicki  28:35  
rowing the boat. Fine.

Kristi Wagner  28:39  
Like, like we were talking about in the two person voting. It's just such a unique relationship. And like, I feel really lucky. Roma. Sofia's Sophie is probably no, you know, disregard tennis video, of course, like one of the best like athletes I've ever and Well, thank you so much. Oh, you're welcome. So fun.

Meghan Musnicki  28:56  
Oh, you're welcome.

Kristi Wagner  29:00  
So thanks for listening. And thank you so much to Moose for coming on the podcast and sharing so much. I had a really great time learning from her and feel lucky I could share the conversation with everyone. So to leave, everyone this week, I'm sharing a quote from my quotes folder from Billie Jean King and it's a good one I think so. Billie Jean King says reputation is what others think about you what's far more important is character because it's what you think about yourself. So thanks for listening. See you next week.

I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our Ask Christy anything segment, head to our website, the other three years.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai