Olympic runner Colleen Quigley runs for a living—so it’s a good thing she has so much fun doing it. Quigley, 31, shared a video of herself wearing leggings and a sweatshirt, running on the beach with her Bernese Mountain Dog, Pie. “Pie is a true sprinter. She will go hard for about 10-15 sec then she needs full recovery before doing the next rep 🤣 . What I love most about Pie is that she is the best post-workout snuggle buddy and that’s really all I need from her! 🥰” she captioned the post. Here’s what Quigley’s diet and training routine looks like.
Quigley eats the same breakfast almost every day—oatmeal with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and coffee with a tiny bit of creamer. “I eat lunch after all my morning workouts are done, which is usually around noon,” she told Runner’s World. “Breakfast food is my favorite, so I’ll usually throw together an egg scramble with plenty of vegetables and pulled chicken, then top it all with feta cheese and cilantro. I also love making two slices of toast with mashed avocado, two fried eggs, and a smoothie.”
Quigley’s training routine is as intense as you’d expect—she runs for 8 miles every day, and clocks in a 13 to 16 mile run on Sundays. She also swims, rides her bike, and does Pilates. “My favorite workouts involve speed! 200-meter repeats on the track with a lot of recovery is always fun because it’s painful and wild — but it’s over quick and you feel like you’re flying!” she told Vital Proteins.
Quigley recommends mixing up workouts to avoid boredom. “One of the biggest mistakes you can make is doing the same thing everyday,” she told WHOOP. “You get into ruts, and then you don’t feel motivated. Variety is what makes it fun, otherwise it’s boring. Mix it up. It’s better to be a well-rounded athlete and do things that challenge your endurance, strength, and speed, rather than doing the same thing all the time.”
Quigley loves food and cooking, often enjoying a glass of wine as she makes dinner. “I try to eat a good mix of protein, carbs, and fats at dinnertime,” she told Runner’s World. “Some of my go-to dishes are turkey burgers made with quinoa with sweet potato fries on the side; pizza made with a sweet potato crust and loaded up with veggies, chicken sausage, and cheese; and my dad’s yogurt fettuccine recipe, which I’ve made with all types of noodles (penne or shells are great) with roasted Brussels sprouts and a salad on the side.”
Quigley has good advice for anyone new to running. “You do have to get in shape before it becomes fun,” she told WHOOP. “That means working through some of the beginning awkwardness, feeling heavy in your legs and tired, like you don’t know what you’re doing. You have to just push through that for a while before you feel that runner’s high,” she says. “I always tell people don’t lose heart if at first it’s not what you imagined. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad runner, it just means you haven’t done it enough yet. You just have to stick with it.”