This article is based on my guest appearance on the Simple Wins Podcast with Sam Nott, where I opened up about the injuries that nearly derailed my career, the mindset shifts that turned everything around, and how I balance content creation with competing at the D1 level.
The Freshman Mistake That Changed Everything
When I arrived at LSU, I thought the path to success was simple: outwork everyone. I was emptying the tank every single practice, every single day. I felt like I didn’t belong yet, so I had to prove myself. That mentality kept me sidelined with injuries for two years. It was the classic freshman mistake — believing that 100% effort all the time equals 100% results.
What I didn’t understand was that consistently running at maximum intensity doesn’t make you faster. It breaks you down. I went through the mental toll of watching my teammates compete while I sat out, questioning whether I’d made the right choice coming to LSU, wondering if my body could hold up at this level. The recovery process wasn’t just physical — it was a complete reset of how I thought about training.
From Soccer to the Track
Before I was a D1 middle-distance runner, I was an aspiring pro soccer player. That transition shaped a lot of how I approach athletics today. Soccer gave me the competitive foundation and the endurance base, but track and field demanded a completely different kind of discipline — one where the clock doesn’t lie and there’s nowhere to hide on race day. On the Simple Wins Podcast, I talked about how that background in a team sport actually helps me as an individual athlete. The accountability is different when it’s just you and the clock.
The 7/10 Rule
The biggest mindset shift in my career was learning to train at 70% instead of 100%. It sounds counterintuitive — why would running easier make you faster? But when I stopped giving maximum effort every practice and scaled back to about a 7 out of 10, everything changed. I stayed healthy. I recovered faster between sessions. And I actually hit my fastest times and had my healthiest season yet. The 7/10 rule is something I talk about a lot now because it applies beyond running. In content creation, in school, in life — sustainable effort beats burnout every time.
The Triage System: Balancing D1 Athletics, School, and Content
People always ask how I manage everything. I’m carrying 17 credit hours, training twice a day with an SEC schedule, and running a content platform with over 100,000 followers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. The honest answer is triage. Every day I’m making decisions about what gets my full attention and what gets good enough. Some days the content takes priority because I have a video idea that can’t wait. Some days school takes priority because I have an exam. Training is non-negotiable — that always happens — but everything else gets triaged based on urgency and energy.
I don’t have a perfect system and I’m not going to pretend I do. There are weeks where the YouTube upload is late, or I’m editing at midnight after a full day of practice and class. But consistency over time is what compounds. I’ve published over 257 videos on YouTube by showing up week after week, even when individual weeks felt messy.
Fueling for Tomorrow
One of the biggest mistakes I see young athletes make — and one I made myself — is skipping pre-practice fuel. You wake up, you’re not hungry, so you go straight to morning practice on an empty stomach. Then you wonder why your afternoon session feels terrible. What I’ve learned is that eating before you run isn’t about today’s practice. It’s an investment in tomorrow’s recovery. Your body can’t rebuild what it doesn’t have the fuel to repair. On the podcast, I broke down my approach to nutrition as a D1 athlete — it’s not complicated, but it requires treating food as part of your training, not an afterthought.
Content Creation as a D1 Athlete
Sam asked me about how content creation fits into the life of a D1 athlete, and the truth is it’s become inseparable from who I am. I started making videos because I wanted to document the journey — the real side of what it looks like to compete at the highest level of college track and field. The 6 a.m. sessions, the ice baths, the race-day nerves, the losses that don’t make the highlight reel. That authenticity is what built the audience, and now the audience has opened doors through NIL partnerships like my deal with COROS Watches.
My advice to any athlete thinking about starting content: don’t wait until you have the perfect setup or the perfect season. Start now, be real, and let consistency do the work. The audience will find you if the content is honest.
About the Simple Wins Podcast
The Simple Wins Podcast is hosted by Sam Nott and is dedicated to mastering your mental edge. Sam’s approach focuses on the small, repeatable wins that compound into real results — which is exactly how I think about both training and content creation. This conversation covered my injury history, the mindset tools that got me through it, and practical advice for anyone trying to balance athletics with building something bigger.
Key Takeaways
Training at 100% every day leads to injury, not improvement — the 7/10 rule changed my career. Recovering from a two-year injury stretch requires mental rebuilding, not just physical rehab. Balancing 17 credit hours, D1 training, and a content platform comes down to triage — not perfection. Eating before practice is an investment in tomorrow’s recovery, not just today’s performance. Consistency in content creation compounds the same way consistency in training does — 257+ videos didn’t happen in a week.
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Follow along with my journey as a D1 distance runner, content creator, and entrepreneur. New content every week across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and this blog.