“I had a small tear in my Achilles and sometimes it can be hard to stay motivated,” shares Willy Fink, Under Armour runner on the Baltimore distance team. In this episode, he talks with Brad Miles about his running career, highlighting his comeback from injury and performance at the US Olympic Trials.

Willy recalls his early running days and his progression from high school mile races to college steeplechase and 5k events. After graduating in 2017, he balanced work and training until securing a contract with Under Armour.

Following an Achilles injury in March, Willy underwent physical therapy and used the Lever system to recover, gradually increasing his training. By May, he was back racing, winning a mile and a 1500m race in Nashville, and eventually making the finals in the 5k at the US Olympic Trials.

Join Willy and Brad in this episode of Run Fast, Run Forever Presented by Lever Movement as they explore the importance of patience, a strong support system, and the strategies that helped Willy stay motivated through setbacks. Learn how to turn setbacks into comebacks and find inspiration in Willy’s story of resilience and determination.

Quotes

• “One of the things I have to keep learning over and over again is patience. It takes a long time to improve upon where you’re at; fitness doesn’t come overnight. That’s something I have to keep in the back of my mind pretty consistently, especially because I race a lot.” (14:43 | Willy Fink)

• “Sometimes if you have a bad race, you just have to tell yourself it’s okay. There will be other opportunities, and you shouldn’t put too much stock in every single race you run. It takes a lot of patience and self-control to enforce that in your mind. I feel like that’s been one of the biggest things for me.” (15:14 | Willy Fink)

• “The goal was to run as well as possible at the Olympic trials, make the final in the 5k, and go from there. In March, dealing with a small tear in my Achilles required a lot of patience and inspiration from my teammates to push through and get healthy. It was crucial to wait for my injury to heal without pushing too hard, then start training again, focusing on not jumping back in too quickly and having the patience to be truly ready.” (17:09 | Willy Fink)

• “As I started getting back into running, I began using the lever a lot. With an Achilles issue, putting too much weight on it can really mess things up, especially since running puts a lot of strain on your calf. Lowering the impact and weight on my Achilles was really helpful for running pain-free and gradually building up my mileage again.” (21:03 | Willy Fink)

Links

Connect with Willy Fink:

https://www.instagram.com/eaglewilly22/

https://www.instagram.com/levermovement/

https://www.instagram.com/bradmiles/

https://levermovement.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm