How To Run Like An Olympic Medallist | Daryll Neita

0:02There we go.

0:06Daryll, thanks so much for joining me at Untappd today. It's an honour to be here. Thank you. And who have we here? We have Melon here today. Melon, you going to say hi? Very well behaved. He's a good boy. He's well travelled and well media trained. How old is Melon? He's six. Six? He's six now. He's getting a big boy. Wow. I know. Comes with age, the calmness. They're a bit of age, but they do say they go on to, you know, a good 20 plus years. So we've got some time. Wow. Yeah, the smaller the dog, the longer the life. Really? Yeah. I should know this. You should know this. I should know this as an owner of dogs myself.

0:42Exactly. The smaller the dog, the longer they live. So, Daryl, you're one of Britain's fastest ever sprinters. I am. Second fastest British women of all time. Second fastest. Second. When did you realise that you were fast? I think super young. I have memories of being in primary school and being faster than the boys. You know, like kiss chase and stuff like that. But it's like, I'm fast, you know. And then probably sports days, just being ahead. Cousins, family members, just being able to outrun people from a young age. And thinking this feels really easy. Did you always want to be a runner? A sprinter, should we say?

1:20I think when I was super, super young, I didn't understand what that even was. My story starts being scouted in primary school sports day. So I'm in year six, I'm probably eight years old. I win sports day. The local coach, Alan Portard, he would come to sports day every year to come and scout some talent. And it was my year. He told my mum, she's nothing short of an Olympic medalist. My mum's like, OK. Really? Yeah. And then, you know, he takes me to the track twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. We start my plimpsoles, doing long jump, javelin, shot put, the whole thing. And then, yeah, I just kind of continue from there.

1:53I run for my local borough, which is Lewisham. moving on to London, England and then Team GB. It's just been a story that's just kept on going. You know, it just started on a real grassroots organic level, just running and being scouted. I have a four-year-old and as well as a five and seven-year-old. And they, yeah, nobody has come to me saying that they think they're going to be Olympians yet. Not yet. There's still some time. Yes. Yeah, that kind of leads me on to an athletics community I started. It's called the Daryl Nita Athletics Community. and it's all about just having the young kids having some fun, like introducing them into athletics and starting from the ages of three.

2:30Just getting them into it, seeing how they can hold a javelin and run. Should we pop him on the ground if you like? Merlin's not really wanting to do that right now. No. It was a great intro with him. Look at him go. Yeah, he's fine. Perfect. Well, that's great. Sorry, tell me about the community. So the community is great. I started in 2024, just before the Paris Olympics. I wanted to do something, give back. And it was just something I started doing sports days with the local community, the young children, getting them into the sport, trying something new and just, you know, scouting some talent or not even scouting talent, but just giving young people the opportunity to get involved in athletics and see if we see anything.

3:12How can you tell if somebody that's already fast has what it takes to be much faster? That's a good question. Is it just kind of genetic? Is it environmental? mental it's definitely of genetics there's a lot of talent i would say track and field is you know you're talented i would say that you need to still work hard you need to nurture that talent and really it's just about consistency you can spot it from early you can always see when someone's just genetically gifted you might have a super long stride someone like usain bolt was just superhuman you could see it gout gout gout we've got gout he's just also another superhuman so a lot of it's genetics but i would say that with that natural talent that you have from being a youngster you do need to nurture it you do need to stay healthy you do need to make it through the cycles because the sport is long you know so nature hard work talent are young athletes properly supported nowadays athletics is one of those sports where it's definitely evolving there's a lot of new initiatives in the last few years where i think the spotlight is being shown in our sport a lot more but there could always be more support there could always be more coaching opportunities in the uk um just more support being poured into the sport i mean i've spent majority of my career training in different countries.

4:20I've been in America and Italy. I'm back in America now, chasing, not chasing, but like nurturing my talent and trying to be the best athlete I can be. And sometimes it would be nice to, you know, wonder what it'd be like if I could train at home, if I did have that kind of the infrastructure and the support here. But I found myself having to be a global to get to where I want to go. Over a short distance, like 100 meters, where any edge makes a massive difference yeah what is more important and obviously it's a very it's a difficult question to answer but having that kind of natural talent versus real grit hard work determination like will it will a naturally slower person that gives themselves entirely to the process beat a naturally faster person ever yeah or you know i think that's just what makes this sport so interesting because we have early bloomers young kids that come out genetically talented that are just crazy and then you have people that might bloom a lot later in life and maybe they weren't seen as the supernatural like uh gifted child so I think that's what's so good about athletics because it really it we don't know like I think there's a little bit of both but I would say it's what I have is a very holistic approach to the sport so I would say a lot of it is being you know spiritually in tune with yourself as healthy as you can be do everything in moderation train as much as you like as hard as you can and as efficiently as you can and it's what makes the sport so individualized we all get there in a different way when you see 100 meter final we've all gotten there in a completely different way so it's like is there a correct answer I don't know but I do know that what you can do is lock into who you are and do your best and just stay on your path and do what you can to get to the top do you find that you run better and faster when you're kind of mentally sound and happier?

6:12100%. 100%. I think me as an athlete, my journey has been very up and down. I've had peaks, I've had, you know, lower moments. But I'd say that for me personally, I need to be spiritually in tune. I need to be happy. I need to be having a good time. That's when I'm going to see my best performances, you know. So I definitely say that's important. What does a typical training week look like for you? Typical training week is busy. I train four to five times a week. I'm in Florida. Yeah, so I'm far, I'm across the Atlantic Ocean. I'm all the way over there. It starts off with a track session in the morning.

6:46I'll start at 8.45. I'll be there for about two and a half hours. I'll have a short break and then I'll hit the weight room and I'll do that every day, five days a week.

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8:52and you exclusively run track sessions or do you ever wear like normal kind of super shoes or even just you know a kind of a mirror plus starting like do you run recovery runs outside of the track so the way the year is structured is you know you have the winter months which is really where you get your base so we'll do a lot more endurance work there it's the time for us to get strong that will go from let's say October till about January, February, March you know we're really in the trenches we're doing the long distance well for us it's long distance but it's probably like 300 meters around the track you're doing your longer reps you're getting your body strong for the summer it's when you get to around you know March, April which you start to deload and we'll start to peak and everything will get a lot faster a lot lighter in the gym getting ready for the summer.

9:38Is 300 meters the longest rep you do? Maybe 400 but yeah I'm not going much further than that really well yeah because i'm only running a 60 or 100 or 200 meters so the way we train as sprinters short sprinters is we do short sprints but we do a lot of them with a little rest wow i i just would have assumed that you would do some like slightly longer no not necessarily i can understand why half a marathon would be a bit useless for you but i would expect that well sorry not expect i would have thought yeah that you guys would run like couple of K, two, three K just to kind of warm up or cool down, no?

10:12No, I mean, we'll do like our jogs, get our body warms, but we'll do, the furthest I'll go is probably a 400 meters, maybe a tiny bit more in the winter. Are you ever not wearing spikes? Yeah, throughout the winter, it's a lot of it is in trainers. A lot of it is in trainers. We're on the grass, so we're not yet on the track. You know, we're doing so much heavy pounding that we don't need to rush being on the track so soon. So there's a lot of elements to it and that's where the coach comes in and he builds that and we just kind of follow and trust it and then peak in the summer and gym work gym work we're in the weight room so every day i'm on the track i'll have about 20 minutes and then i'll hit the weight room in there for about an hour and a half um that's mostly like power stuff so we're in there working on our power and our strength um me or lower body and upper do a lot of body us as female sprinters we need that upper body strength so that definitely comes into it a lot that's how we release our strength as women do you have any sessions that you almost fear before you go into them like what what's the hardest session and how regularly would you be training to the point where you push yourself to near breaking or even breaking does that happen as a sprinter it's a good question i'd say earlier on in my career i would have probably feared more of the longer distance stuff as i said like the lactic work where you're building up that lactic acid and you just want to be sick in the winter but i'd say now towards this i wouldn't say i don't like anything but But the hardest sessions for me would be the speed endurance side of things where you're doing, you know, a 250 or a 150 flat out.

11:41You have 12 to 15 minutes for recovery and you've got to go again. And we need this race pace. So obviously on a race day we do this once and then you get a week and then you do it again. These kind of sessions you might have 12 minutes and you need to produce a faster or a fast time, you know. So that's really getting yourself ready for running fast. I can only assume that like a proper warm-up is really important for what you do. I, you know, I think that when you're looking at kind of the sessions that I run or like the longer distance stuff, like warming up and cooling down, although it's important, probably isn't essential, right?

12:16Like, you know, we're not really, like, pushing ourselves into that super high level, like, lactate stuff that burns your lungs and, like, where your stride is really elongated. Like, even if we're doing a really, really hard session, you kind of will warm up, like, during the session, you know, your body will tick over. The warm up isn't, like, so intense. Yeah, it's whereas, I've just remembered something, actually. I went to a Let's Do This event at the Battersea track, and people were sprinting. We were doing 100-meter sprints, and everyone got to have a go, and there was like a gun and a pitcher.

12:55I was 12-2 or something, 12-3, but I kind of pulled my – I really hurt my thigh because I wasn't properly – You got injured? Well, sort of, not really. It was like everyone watching as well, so really embarrassing. So like set off, like bam. And then pull. just went like like as hard like a straight away i was like yeah no i i kind of thought i had warmed up but like this is my point right that you know as as somebody that's a really enthusiastic runner who loves running who probably averages like 13 14k a day like i i don't really need to warm up before a run and i don't really need to cool down like if it was a super fast thing then I would warm up a bit and I would cool down a bit but like you know I can run at a pretty decent level now without the need to warm up but I can only imagine that for you who literally goes from zero to you know as fast as you can possibly go in four or five strides maybe a bit longer what the hundred meters yeah I have about 50 strides no but I mean you you break out of the yeah the first 10 minutes you're you're you're in you're at your race pace you know immediately which is incredibly fast.

14:07So like, it's a lot for the body. It's a lot for the body, yeah. How long do you spend warming up? Typical up is about one hour, one hour 20. An hour warming up for the race. Yeah, yeah. So stretching, our dynamics, then you've got your strides, your hurdle walkovers, you've got to really get every single bit of your body engaged. You would do that, sorry, this sounds really stupid now, but yeah, for race day, you would warm up for an hour and 20 minutes. Yeah, and it's funny because I feel like people kind of forget that because say I'm like racing, I might get messages or phone calls like an hour before but it's like I'm warming up but I think people just see you on TV and they think you've just appeared but no we've been warming up for like the last two hours when you see us on TV if you didn't do that and you just went straight into the blocks and you blasted out at your Olympic 100m final pace what would be the chances of you getting injured?

14:54it would be exactly what happened to you if you did no warm up like almost certainly you would injure yourself you'd injure yourself you wouldn't be able to even hit the max speeds that you need to it would just be scary like trying to like push out of the blocks without any warm-up muscles are like freezing cold they need to be dynamic they need to be warm the body needs to be ready everything needs to be flowing the blood's pumping like it's all part of it somebody should have told me this it's really important to warm up for a sprint yeah and cool down do you yeah cool down you do your two laps jog skip or you do your grass walks or just do a couple laps walking just cool down it's also just the mind like connect taking what you've just done meditate on it and you know know, cool the body down.

15:34When you call yourself spiritual or say that you need to be spiritually in tune and you're talking about meditating now, like how much of a focus is that for you to achieve the things you need to achieve as an athlete? I was born to run. I've been running since I was so young. So it's really about what are the things I need to do to reach my full potential and be as good as I can be. You know, I've been training for this amount of years. I've been doing all the right things, but I think still mentally there could be things that I could be engaged with better and you know just making sure I leave no stone on turn so I've really leaned into since Paris Olympics actually just making sure my mindset is as strong as it can be and I'm as connected to my sport as I can be because I think it's easy to just get distant from it you know if you're not making the effort to actively be in tune with your sport and just yeah just kind of being at one with it.

16:23What are the things that you've found have made the biggest difference so i can only imagine that as a 100 meter runner yes you may feel like you're plateauing a lot of the time right because you know you'll pb at some point obviously exactly and that will be the number that is then linked to you and your ability amount of years it could be and and yeah like not being not breaking that for years yeah what does that do to your mind you know again not to compare us because we're completely different uh you know sports basically but i know that if I focus on my 5k, I'll annihilate my PB in a few weeks.

16:58I know the same across all distances, right? Like if I want a fast marathon, I can take these steps to run a faster marathon. I know that if I want to run a faster 400, I can do that probably in a few days, right? By focusing on that. And obviously I'm not an elite professional athlete, but there must come a time when that number is really difficult to chip away at. How much emphasis is on it because it's so important but also very difficult. It starts off, for me, athletics started off as such a, you know, it was a thing I was just kind of doing. It wasn't something that was my career. I've ended up going to three Olympic Games.

17:37My second Olympic Games, I make the 100-meter final but I come last. My third Olympic Games, I make the 100-meter final but I come fourth. So I'm chipping away every four years. I'm really climbing the ranks here. And I think, especially after Paris 2024 Olympics I walked away with a fourth in the 100 and a fifth in the 200 which is so close to the podium on both and I really want to be on that podium so I had to do some real reflecting on what is it that I need to do to climb on this podium what is it I need to do and as you said like we have these numbers and these goals but for me it's just about it was really about taking some time back reflecting and doing what I can to really become the best version of myself what what did you miss out by just in passing um the hundred meters it was 0.04 so we're talking four hundredths of a second four centimeters and the 200 was even less it was even less and it was between third and it was really tight on the line but could that be it could be anything it could be anything so it's like okay that's what makes this sport a sport I love I've fallen in so in love with the process of it of like what can I do to get closer because is it just a bad race did I just have not a great start was my finish not great or did I it could be so many different how did it feel so when you missed out by four centimeters not not the missing out yeah the race itself so in the blocks yeah how did you feel I was so wired I was so ready and my mindset was I'm giving this everything I have I'm not stepping a foot wrong like I'm going for this I really wanted that medal and there's a picture of me when I crossed the line and I'm like I saw my Instagram it's like pinned at the top because in that moment I looked up at the screen and I seen I come fourth and I just it was just so it was so close um and in that moment I was at first kind of angry I was I was angry and I was disappointed but then I think after some time I was able to reflect and be like okay I have done amazing I've just come fourth at the Olympics.

19:34Was the person who came third, like, did you feel behind them? I just knew I was in the race for so long. And it's really in that final moment. It's like, do you have the stamina to keep going? Do you have the strength to hold it through the line and accelerate? You know, it's all these things. And back to your question. Did Shikari Richardson win it? She came second. She came second. Julian Alfred won it. It was Julian, Shikari, Melissa, and then me. I can't imagine how, like, it's four centimetres. So back to your original question about, like, having a time, it's like, reflecting on that experience, I just really did some groundwork to be like, okay, LA28 is four years away, what am I doing to make sure I am leaving no stone unturned?

20:18And that's where I'm at now. And how's it going? It's going great. I wouldn't say it's been a straight line, but it's been a line that I've needed to walk because I think whatever's coming in LA, I need to be ready for it. And these last two years have been challenging. You know, they haven't been the way I would have pictured them, but they've been what I've needed. Do you think if you ran that same race in the same circumstances, like, you know, in a parallel universe three or four times again, that the result would be the same? No, I'm winning that. Yeah, so it is a kind of circumstantial thing, right?

20:56Circumstantial thing. When it's four centimetres, it's kind of like I'm getting Formula One vibes. Where everything is just like so marginal. It's so marginal. It's what keeps you hungry and it's what keeps you in love with the sport. It's what keeps my focus there. It's what keeps my determination there, my consistency there. That you're so close. That I'm so close and it's just right there. And what was the gap to winning that race? So the four centimetres I'm assuming is to come third in podium. I should know what time was won it in. Well, I mean, you know. She had a little bit of a way. She had a little bit of a way, but I think just within myself, I know what I'm capable of.

21:31And I know I haven't even scratched the surface. I really don't believe I have. Do you fear any of your competitors? Not in terms of like obviously actually fearing them, but is there anyone that you look at when you line up with them and you go, you know, crushing them is going to be rough? Or is it quite clear that there are still people that are faster than you at this time? There are people that are doing some very remarkable things ahead of me, but I know what I can actually do. And it sounds delusional or crazy, but I think that's what's part of being an elite sports person. You have to believe that you are the best and you can achieve what it is you set yourself out to be.

22:08I'd say earlier in my career, rewinding to like Tokyo 2021 Olympics when I made the final, when you can see my reaction was like, oh, my God, I made the final. I was shocked. I knew I wanted to do it, but it was a shock. The athlete I am now is like, no, I belong here. I'm meant to be here. I'm going for gold. So I would say it's about respecting your opponents, but not having too much respect to the fact that you don't believe that you could be number one.

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24:55When you're all so close, is it a case of if you put in, you know, Rocky style, like build up to your Olympics? Say if you were to outwork the Sha 'Carri Richardson's of the world and you were to get up earlier, get better sleep. You know, like I can only imagine that she's a finely tuned athlete to the highest levels. but were you to outwork her for a period of time is that what would make the difference it's a great question and I think the honest answer to that is because we just don't know how people are preparing for themselves we can only outwork ourselves so if you know you've outworked yourself and you've given everything you can possibly give no matter what the result is you will be content with it and I think that truly is winning like when you know you've put you've laid everything on the table and you did your best and that was your result all you can do is go up against it again we've obviously been speaking about you know the olympic finals yes surely waiting you know four years to get back to that moment to give yourself the chance to rectify that four centimeters it is just so you know exciting but also crushing you know surely There's a lot of mind games.

26:19There's a lot of mind games involved. It must be so difficult to train for that moment. Obviously, you'll have other things. You'll have worlds. You'll probably have indoors. You'll have championships. Europeans and things like this. Lots to be getting on with. Is the Olympics and podiuming at the Olympics the North Star that keeps you going? It's exactly my North Star, for sure. I love the Olympics. I just really come alive when it's Olympic time. But yeah, it is. and I really have high ambitions for LA 2028, just looking at my trajectory and how far I've come since Rio 2016 when I was the youngest on the team and to walk away with a medal then.

26:58And that was something that I'd never even had dreamed of yet. So yeah, I've got really high ambitions and high hopes for LA. But it's just about keeping yourself going, keeping yourself entertained. And in this game, what I've learned is every level there's been challenges. so it's about overcoming those challenges and you know not just overcoming but coming out of them and being even better so there's always something to keep you growing as an athlete and keeping you hungry for the next thing I'm like so excited for you it's good I'm happy to hear this it's going to be good it's so cool it's such an amazing event and you know even to be you know among the fastest people on earth lining up for the Olympics must just be such an incredible feeling LA as well is going to be It's insane.

27:47It's insane. I can't wait. And the fact that I train out in Florida, it's in LA. It's all just feeling like it's meant to be. It's going to be good. I think they're going to really put on a show. Is the heat helpful for sprinters? I suppose it's... It's helpful, but it does also become a bit too much. Like I'm hearing right now out there, it's 100 Fahrenheit. It's like 40 degrees right now. It gets crazy. Surely that's quite helpful for your body to be nice and warm. And, you know, easier to... Like I can only imagine that the injuries are probably, and is it a reason that you guys tone it down a bit in the winter or do a different style of training and strength training in the winter because you're more injury prone because your body won't warm up as well?

28:25Yeah, well, the whole program is designed for you to get as much of your strength and your heavy loading work where you can, while we're not demanding so much of our bodies yet to be racing and trying to hit peaks. So it's all done in a very clever way. But yeah, the sun is definitely helpful. It helps just get the body temperature high. So we're able to sprint quickly out there, you know. Sometimes we have to cut a warm-up in half because it's just too hot. I've got something that I've wanted to know for ages, actually. And this is perfect. Okay. What do you do with your breathing? So, like, I'm curious to know whether or not you take a big breath and, you know, bang out of the track.

29:06Blocks. Blocks. and kind of breathe out and just and race the 100 or do you breathe during the race breathe in go breathe out so i'll take a big breath as i breathe out and then it's so funny because whenever i talk about whilst i'm running it's just silence i don't feel anything i can't hear anything i'm in such a zone i can assume that i just hope no i don't think i think i breathe pretty like relaxed throughout the run i'm not like i hold the breath all the way to the end i'm a relaxed runner yeah i like to be in my stride and be breathing and you know how many strides you take in the race between 48 and 50 i think depending on yeah like the frequency of you know some you might be a bit over striding in a day but that's like roughly the perfect number so 50 steps i just think it's so cool what's it is so cool i mean i get to run as fast Yes, I can.

30:05What's the fastest you've ever run 100? My PB is 10.90 seconds. And when was that? The fastest I've ever run it is 10.80, but there was an illegal three-point-something wind, and that was at the British Championships in 2022. Illegal tailwind. Illegal tailwind. So when it's over plus two points, exactly. I should really just take that as my PB. Whose fault is that? The wind? I think so. But legally, the fastest is 10.90. I want that to chop down. I know I can run a lot faster than that. And what will win you gold at the Olympics? We've had 10 sixes this year, so we need to get it going. And the world record is 10-4.

30:40Crikey. So we need to chop it down. We're on mission, chop it down. Let's get it down, mate. Let's get it down. How are we doing this? Can we assist? Please, come to the track and just shout for me. Chop it down, Daryl. I think so. We need these knees moving faster. That's what I need at this point. It's exciting. Yeah. What are your top three shoes? You're an Adidas athlete, right? I'm an Adidas athlete, yes. So we'll talk Adidas then. What are your three favourite Adidas shoes? The SL20, which actually been discontinued. So I have like a million of them in bulk. So that I can never run out. My favourite.

31:14We could set up a resale business. Right, so SL20, but they've remodelled it as the SL2. It's called. Bit different, but similar. It's my favourite. It's what I use for warming up. The longer runs. I just, I love the flat base. I get a lot off the ground. It's a good shoe. People often ask me that. I always recommend that shoe. well I mean you don't need to name three if you only use one yeah that's my favourite and you wear the latest spikes the latest spikes yes those cool like are they yellowy yeah all different colours they'll be yellow do you get your own do you get like special track shoes I actually I'm allowed to say this but I'm part of some testing for some things coming out in the future I don't want to spill the beans do you have any tips for people who are looking to become better runners.

32:02So I think people who go to the track and want to get faster, how can we become faster runners? How can we become faster? We can stay injury-free. That helps. So do your weight room stuff, your conditioning. That's always good. Less injuries is the more time we have running. So that starts us off well. Yeah, you want to be doing power stuff, plyos. You want to build that into your program. What else? It's really just repetition, just going at it you know getting a better start and acceleration finding a good position in the blocks being low to the ground so you can have a really good acceleration through past 30 meters when you get to that zone you're upright and you're at your max velocity and you can really sprint to that finish there's just so many different components but the main thing i would say is just keep chipping away just consistency i can only imagine the technique and stride length and how you're composed physically during the race is probably incredibly important.

33:01Yes. Could you run us through what perfect sprinting looks like? So what's the kind of minor detail that your coach will go into that allows you to be as fast as you are? Yeah, you really want to... Obviously, it all starts coming out of the blocks and it's that acceleration phase in the 100 metres. It's who can really accelerate at their most potential max power through the track. Like it's not just about leaving the blocks and standing up and running. It's like, how can we generate as much force from the blocks down the track? And then once you get to that point, it turns into your max velocity running and your upright running.

33:39And to me personally, that's where I've been doing a lot of work. I mean, we can see it. I'm someone that is, I would say, very talented. but technically there's some adjustments that need to be made to really take me from the let's say the 10 nines to taking off two temps we're talking 10 sevens and just below the the time i've got now basically 10 three yeah yeah let's just say 10 three yeah yeah let's go to the world record world record yeah let's talk like that so yeah a lot of real um technical adjustments that i needed you know having your your foot that leaves the ground not kicking behind you and lagging really working on getting that to the front you know being having front side mechanics and just making the leg cycle as efficient as possible because if we're leaving our foot back in behind us that's now taking time to come back through do you see what i'm saying yeah so you don't you don't kind of stride at all where your foot comes what where would your foot come back to so you see like when you when you're sprinting and you have one knee that comes up the knee the other one's behind so the knee blasts that one we really want to get that fast that that through fast something that I'm working on personally to really get those high knee bouncy mechanics that's going to make a really big difference just the lag that you have at the behind bring it to the front so when we talk about strides we're literally like allowing the foot to come and almost kick you up the arse and as a sprinter we want to be as far away from the bum as possible my technique has always been pretty close to the butt and that's what makes me pretty hybrid like I've got the frequency I have the stride length but it's about really maximizing this and not having a stride length that's too big because now it's just taking me too much time to recover my foot back through the front so we've all got different things we're working on it's great training with someone like Noah Liles who is just the greatest of all time but I'd say training with him has been amazing in the last two seasons because his technique is so efficient and so perfect just to be able to see that every day you know that repetition and just watching how the greatest train it really is about having leaving no stone unturned and being technically clean and smooth and he is a really great example of that do you think that he will go on to to beat all of Bolt's records and how long does he have left in the sport I mean obviously I know he's young I think what's really interesting about athletics right now is more on the women's side but we're seeing the ladies go on a lot longer than we ever thought.

36:09So we had like Shelly-Ann come back, have a child come back and then run faster than she's ever run. We're talking like 10-6. It's very encouraging because once upon a time it felt like there was a peak in track and field, especially for the women. And when you get there, you have your kids, it's kind of like game over, but they're coming back stronger than ever. So that's exciting. Now I think he'll just keep going on to break records and be amazing. I don't think we can put any limits on him. He's just going to keep going and it's great to see. How do people who enjoy longer distance running add sprint work into what they're doing safely i think you could start off with like drills technical drills you know your a skips b skips c skips um that's a really great way to work on your mechanics without going at high speed so as we said earlier like we'll start off with a warm-up and every single day i'm making sure i'm doing them on my toes to really practice that position you want to be in when you're sprinting which is on your this part of your foot here and just as I said before like we're focused on not having our feet at the back so even in our a skips we can really focus on bringing our heel through fast and not having it lag so even if we're not going at 100 speed we're able to practice the mechanics at a lower at a lower tempo and doing that repetition every day you really see the changes in your mechanics so I would say that this year I've really focused on my drills and not kind of like talking and laughing when I'm doing them no like a skip I want to make sure I'm doing this and this because when it comes to watching me run at high speeds and we slow it down you can really see the changes um that i've made just like the accumulation of doing the small things well do you find it difficult to build power in the gym without getting heavy the program i'm in right now with the coach i'm working at with lance brauman in florida i would say it's the first time i felt so powerful and at my right physique whereas i feel you know not not overly big i feel dynamic i feel slim but i feel really strong so I think a lot of that is in the programming but it's important to keep what you do in the gym when it does come to the strength work fast you want to keep it dynamic you don't want to be doing heavy slow weights especially in the summer when you're trying to be fast we want to keep things fast and heavy so you want to build the strength but keep it fast keep it dynamic that's what you want for sprinting because people have the habit of doing their winter training but they're going heavy in the weight room they're doing their squats at max but they're going slow through the movement.

38:33So you're training your tendons to be slow. We want speed. So you want to keep it fast. Fast twitch. Fast twitch. There you go. At what age did you realize that you had fast twitch muscles? And how important is it that people know that about themselves? I think... Yeah, because you can actually just have slow twitch. Who said... Ollie said in the extra mile that there is that... People either have fast or slow. There's a gene that everyone who has lots of fast twitch. You can actually just have slow twitch fibers and that's not fun. That's no good for being a sprinter. We can train them. We can get like reactivity and do drills.

39:05But yeah, that's even something that I've been working on. Just really increasing my frequency. I have a great stride length and strength. But it's like, how do we hit the ground faster? How do we have more strides in this 100 meter race? What about food? Do you love food? I love food. I love food. Do you have to be careful about what you eat? I do have to be careful. As I said, I'm leaving no stone unturned. So this season, I've been working with someone to help prepare my meals, especially when I'm out in America, because the food there is a bit different to how it's here. And I'm really, you know what I'm saying?

39:36And we want to keep it as slim and nice as possible. So I've been working with someone out there to just help prepare my meals and just keep things clean. What's your favourite American burger? I haven't had a burger in America. What? I have before, but not recently. I wouldn't say favourite. I really just don't enjoy them. You don't like the old US drug? Maybe Chick-fil-A? Yeah. Do you like Chick-fil-A? I love Chick-fil-A. Okay, we can do that. And a peach iced tea. And a peach iced tea. That's probably the only burger I'll eat out there. Sounds nice, actually. It does. Have you had a Chick-fil-A?

40:05I have, but I can't really remember it. Like the waffle fries? And the little nuggets? Maybe I've not, you know. It's good. I'm a huge Chick-fil-A fan. I haven't tried In-N-Out. I've heard that's good. I love Chick-fil-A. Oh, yeah? All right. It's good. It's like a little two-dimensional chick. Yeah, the red. Yeah, red and yellow, is it? Red and white. Red and white. You might be thinking about... McDonald's, maybe, I'm thinking about with the red and yellow. Yeah, exactly. It could be. In-N-Out obviously is king I haven't had In-N-Out It's in California right? In-N-Out's real good I haven't been there yet Double double animal style Is like yeah What's in it?

40:39Oh it's like double patty And then it's cheese And like these kind of grilled chopped onions Okay And then this like burger sauce It's good Okay it sounds good What about Nando's? Oh yeah Okay Yeah no I like a Nando's Okay good Bleaker burger is king Have you had one of those here? No Oh wow I haven't had that If you're going to take anything away from today Okay It's that you need a Bleaker burger if you like burgers of course but are the sounds things you don't love a burger not in America I have one in Europe bleak a burger here you should get yourself some of that what's your favourite food I feel like I'm really not hitting the mark with the food thing the whole food situation is kind of written off because my family have a Jamaican takeaway called Reggae Shack delicious it's absolutely delicious where's that it's based they've got a place in Charlton they've just opened their spot yeah south east you know Charlton Reggae Land Reggae Shack Reggae Shack Yeah Well Started in 2020 We know what we're having for lunch But it's really good Like I'm not I'm not even just being like Bias It's the only thing I really eat When I'm over here Right I need some reggae shack I need some curry goat Rice and peas You know The whole situation Delicious And so your That's And your meal prep Is nothing like any of this No Is it clean to the point Of being a bit boring No no it's good It's a guy that I work with And he like Creates a menu And will have me pick What I'm fancying He's good It's good It's a good situation Out in the US I've made sure to keep it tight.

41:59Sushi? I'm not the biggest sushi fan, but I'll eat it. Especially when I'm in Japan. Yeah, lovely. It's fantastic out there. Yeah, the Wagyu beef out there. Anyone who whinges about Wagyu beef not actually being great just hasn't actually had it. You haven't actually had it, exactly. Yeah, it's like just some imposter. Yeah, they don't know what they're talking about. These restaurants here, oh, it's Wagyu beef. It's not, it's bollocks. Until you go out there, you haven't had it properly. Exactly, that's true. So, yeah, I'll have it out there. Oh, look at Melon, by the way. He's been so good Oh here he is He's just been with you The whole time Yes What kind of music Do you listen to When you're building up So I'll set the scene I'll set the scene Why are you laughing?

42:40Was it me? I'll set the scene It's the morning Of the finals We're in LA Okay You have made the finals You are 10.4 seconds away From being crowned Olympic gold medalist feels good you've woken up you're full of beans not actually maybe you are I don't know I don't know if you like beans I love beans on toast this is the thing finally we found I love beans on toast listen I love beans sushi what load of shit I love beans on toast yeah that was the reaction you wanted because my teammates in America they just can't no no they don't do beans Americans don't do beans they're just not understanding so you're into beans on toast I did get there in the end love beans on toast so okay fine so you've had your beans on toast You are metaphorically and physically full of beans, right?

43:31It's a beautiful day in LA. You're aware that the crowd is just rip roaring. You've got a huge amount of support from your home country who's all there. Your family are there. And you've got your... A chihuahua? Well, yep. No, we've got... Melon. We've got Melon, yeah. Melon's there, obviously. But we've also got like takeout all the way from London. Reggae Shack. Yeah, yeah, we've got Reggae Shack there. I like this. I'm really feeling it. No, no, no, no. Reggae Shack's there. and it literally just like things couldn't possibly feel better you've woken up you feel like some kind of superhero just like the energy is insane you've done your your warm-up and now you're kind of walking out arena style sort of like maximus in gladiator like he knows he's gonna just decapitate everyone you know like he's just like you're you're you're you're the woman of the moment you have something thumping in your ears what is it in this very moment as you've just built that picture it might be butterfly effect Travis Scott do you like that song I do do you know what it is what a belter it's not my favourite song no but the intro blaring is insane like you cannot not get high can we use it we can't use it can we we definitely can't use it do we not have a spare couple of million it's definitely not my favourite song but as you just explained it I could just hear that song just like I can hear it in the stadium imagine that in the stadium when I go to my next meeting yeah on a line bike yeah providing it's not raining I will listen to that I like that and I'm going to think you're going to feel it I can see myself as the fastest woman on earth the Olympic champion yeah feels good yeah it does yeah it does feel good beans on toast melon you're in the box in the stadium just that is that is what dreams are made of that was good I like that that was really good it's all about feeling it you've got to feel it you've got to feel it you've got to feel it if something is off guess what you're going to get stuffed you're going to get stuffed yeah so you've got to feel it You've got to feel great.

45:22Got a flow, got a vibe. That's what it's all about. Will you have done any meditating that day? Do you meditate? You do? You cross-legged? I made a vlog of the Paris Olympics. So I made a vlog throughout the whole thing. And before the finals on YouTube, like on my Daryl's Diaries YouTube channel, I made a vlog of my whole Paris time. And I was literally like, before that finals, doing my makeup, putting my stuff on, and I was just in my notebook like, I am getting this medal tonight. The medal feels so good tonight. And I was vlogging it. And I was close. But I just need to keep manifesting. I need to keep meditating.

45:58Get closer to it. Feel it. Got to feel it. It's already happened. I'd be living. We've got the medal. Can you feel it right now? I can feel it. It's heavy. It is. I can feel it around my neck. Yeah. It's like, it's real nice as well. It's just like. Shiny. Yeah. Probably real gold too. We've got it. Yeah. It's ours. I like this. Listen, I like this too. Visualize. If you ever need any visualizing, you know, like, you can give me a call and I'll just, I'll, I'll set the, I'll set the tone. Yeah, that was really good. I was quite happy with that shit. I kind of felt shit like there's support here.

46:31Yeah, you can feel it. As an elite professional athlete, you know, you've obviously got access to incredible kit and training and, you know, the right kind of diet and stuff. And I think a lot of people would see that as a great advantage. but obviously that's the reward from all of the time that you put in and remaining in that mindset for basically the entirety of your life. Can we just talk a little bit about how that feels and how difficult it is to be on your game all of the time? Yeah, I think that's just so important. Where the mind actually is at is the most important thing. And I've definitely done so much work in...

47:11Getting to new stages of my career, you know, maybe being the undiscovered talent or, you know, I haven't made it on the big stage yet. There's a lot less pressure. You then make an Olympics. It's a different ballgame. You then make a final. It's a different ballgame. You then come fourth, miss a medal. It's a very different ballgame. So it evolves. And I found myself in moments where it's like things are going incredibly well, but I might not be in the best place. And it's been important for me to really take myself out, ground myself and kind of, you know, go back to the roots and refocus and realign.

47:43And you do have these moments where, you know, opportunities come up, things happen. It's a new world. There's new opportunities. And it's just like you really need to. I've had to have really good people around me, family, friends, my circle, just to keep me grounded. and I've done a lot of work in that just, I'm kind of rambling here, sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm kind of rambling. It's good. Is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just actually thinking that was probably one of your best answers. Damn! We can leave that in there. But it's just been about, wow, I've reached a new level. What does this mean?

48:20Oh, wait, no, the goal hasn't changed, you know? I'm still wanting to be that golden girl in LA. I still want that gold. I still want to run these times. it doesn't mean now that I've got this popping up and this happening that I'm going to go off course but actually how do I enjoy those things and not ignore them all completely because it is about having a balance and there isn't art and a skill and being able to enjoy what's coming with it and not getting carried away and not coming off course you know so I've definitely had to mature through that and I think ultimately I've just I'm in a place now where it's like let me remain in the present moment.

48:55I can't really control what's happened or what's going to happen, but I can remain present and remain grounded. And as long as my core values are aligned and I'm, you know, going for gold, it's going to always look a little bit different. Every cycle was good. I'm going to do it in a different way. I'm going to have more resources now, you know, I'm going to have a bit more backing here. So things navigate in different ways, but it's just about really having that inner circle, the people that believe in you, the people that were there at the beginning, the people that are always going to be there.

49:23And ultimately, you just being there for yourself and just remaining grounded, I think. I really love the fact that I'm from South East London and I've been able to do something and represent South East London on the global stage because being from there, growing up, you know, you might see all sorts of stories on the news about people from Lewisham or South East London. And I've been able to really make something for myself and really build something and hopefully inspire so many people to just really go for it, believe in your dreams and kind of not give up be consistently disciplined and see what you can make of your life let's go what a wonderful way to end the discussion thanks so much for coming in thank you

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