037 Makenna Myler - Pregnancy, Cycles, & Navigating Running

Episode Summary

Makenna Myler, while pregnant with her first child, ran a mile in five minutes and 25 seconds— just 10 days before she gave birth to her daughter in October. Her husband, Mike, created a TikTok post that accumulated over 6 million views. Her story jumped to numerous other news sites around the world...and she just did it again, right before this recording---running a 5:17 just days before she’s set to have her second child.

The following spring after having her first, she started entering races to qualify for the Olympic trials. At the end of May, she finally qualified with a time of 32:03.62 in a 10,000-meter race in Oregon. Her time was almost three minutes faster than her best collegiate time.[2]

In the trials on June 26, 2021—seven months after having her first baby—she placed 14th out of 44 runners in a highly competitive 10,000-meter race. Although she didn’t go on to compete in the Olympics, she signed a contract to run professionally for Asics.

In her debut as a pro runner, she ran the Deseret News half marathon in 1:09.54, beating the old course record set by fellow BYU standout Sarah Sellers. Makenna competed in track and field for Brigham Young University from 2011 to 2014.

Episode Sponsor

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Key Takeaways

00:58 – Whitney Heins welcomes Makenna Myler to the show to share her running story, including how she ran a mile in five minutes and forty-five seconds while 9-months pregnant

14:17 – Makenna reflects on her very first ‘Pregnant Mile’

20:09 – The genesis of The Naked Myler

21:45 – Key running lessons Makenna has learned throughout the years

27:53 – Changes Makenna has made that have helped her with running through her cycle

33:35 – The importance of showing up

35:28 – The ‘Internal Governor,’ explained

41:45 – Makenna reflects on her experience and the realities of running while pregnant

51:16 – Makenna shares the goals she has for her website

54:21 – Whitney thanks Makenna for joining the show and sharing her story

Tweetable Quotes

“So, we did the [pregnant] mile. It wasn’t really planned that well. I was jumping in the middle of this guy’s three-mile tempo. It wasn’t an official race. He was even late because he was trying to do a run before I even did the mile. And then he came, filmed it, thought it was funny so he tried to make a funny video to show our friends and family, and posted it on TikTok. And then half a day later he said, ‘You have half a million views and ESPN wants to post your video.’” (16:44) (Makenna)

“I think what hit me the most was the self-deprecating comments that happened so much. And that’s why we actually started The Naked Myler, which kinda led into this female-running guide for women because so many people - and especially women - were like, ‘Wow, I can’t even get off the couch and I’m a terrible person because I can’t run a five minute mile.’ I really wanted to help people and help them connect happiness with running.” (19:05) (Makenna)

“Now, we have the Naked Myler blog, which is a resource of women - four females - who are running through all things pregnancy, periods, all the hormonal changes to help them navigate how to do that with their cycles.” (20:34) (Makenna)

“First, just mentally understanding that was a huge game changer. I would still show up for the same workout, but I would have to understand, ‘Ok, my body is not responding today. I’ll cut the workout in half. That is ok and I’m not going to let that drag me down or ruin my training. I’m just going to continue on.’” (27:58) (Makenna)

“I think it’s also important to distinguish between adaptations and racing. Because, to me, training is where you’re trying to get your body to adapt to stimulus. And the race is more of the performance. It’s putting it all together. You’re not really trying to get an adaptation, necessarily, from the race.” (33:50) (Makenna)

“The first pregnancy I was training off of relatively high fitness and then just seeing what I could maintain. And this time around, it was more building fitness because, like I said, I took a break. I raced the first two months of pregnancy, took a break, and then had to build fitness. And that was way harder.” (47:23) (Makenna)