He’s one of the best athletes in the world and he’s hoping to prove it at the next Olympics. Decathlete Devon Williams talks track and field, training for ten events and Olympic preparation. Then, in celebration of our 150th episode, we countdown our Top 5 Life Lessons.
Interview with Decathlete Devon Williams
Nick VinZant 0:11
Hey everybody, welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant coming up in this episode, the greatest athletes in the world, and the best advice in the world
Devon Williams 0:23
is the most grueling event like you see at the end of our race that everybody kind of just balls across the line is just laying laying out like a graveyard. And
Nick VinZant 0:32
I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, like, download, subscribe, share, we really appreciate it, it really helps us out. So our first guest can make a legitimate claim that he is one of the best athletes in the world. And right now he's getting ready to try and prove that at the Tokyo Olympics. This is decathlete Devin Williams. So I probably shouldn't start with this question. But I just kept thinking about this with 10 events. How many pairs of shoes do you have to bring to the track with you?
Devon Williams 1:09
I have about I think I have about six shoes. Because some some shoes crossover events.
Nick VinZant 1:15
Do you have to bring like a lot of stuff with you Like when you come to the track? Like oh man, that's a decathlete. Look at all that stuff he's got as compared to like the sprinter
Devon Williams 1:25
It's really easy to spy because we because we all of us have our own suitcases that just full of like our spikes, snacks to snack on throughout the day, water, Gatorade, all kinds of stuff. But it's really easy to spot when in the airport because we'll be the ones carrying like a big 20 foot bag of pole ball poles over our shoulder. I have a suitcase on the other hand and a carry on bag on our back like it's it's a sight to see.
Nick VinZant 1:52
How Now, did you when you started your career like did you I'm going to be a decathlete or did you just transition into it later?
Devon Williams 2:01
Well, I'll be ready to try it since I was about seven or eight years old. So back then I was when I was just getting started. I was kind of like a 100 200 400 runner. And then over time, like I just progressed into the hurdles. And then from that I progressed into the decathlon, which at the time that was the pentathlon, which is five events. Because at that point, I was kind of already I was already doing the Sprint's I was already hurling and I was already doing like long job. So my dad was just kind of like if you're already doing all these events, you might as well just try to attack on and do them all together.
Nick VinZant 2:36
Is that how kind of most athletes most decathletes get into it, like they transition at an early age or to do most decathletes like, Hey, I'm in the 100 meter. And I'm right at elite level. But I can't quite get to like Sue, I can't I can't do the 100 meter full time. But I could do decathlon. Is that how that works?
Devon Williams 2:56
I think it depends where you come from. So some of my teammates are from Estonia. And they grew up doing the decathlon. I don't believe they started off doing like one event, I think they just kind of start off training for the whole multi event. Whereas usually in America, most people don't find out about the decathlon until like they're older. So a lot of us we start out doing just singular events. And then either like you realize you're good at a lot of them, and then decide to do the whole thing. Or just kind of slip into it just having fun and say, Oh, I try that. Now. I don't think too many people like in America grow up doing the decathlon or pentathlon.
Nick VinZant 3:45
Okay, put all humbleness aside. Like, why are you good at,
Devon Williams 3:51
uh, I think just years of being in the sport. And just having a background in so many other events. At one point, when I would run symmetric on my dad's club, I will be doing the decathlon. So that's 10 events, plus the open events that I was already doing. So that's the 110 hurdles, I was doing the 400 hurdles and the long jump. So in a weekend, I might be doing 13 hold events. So it is kind of thought process behind that was just like getting more practice and doing like hurdle races and just competing more. So by the time I got to college, I was like, What do you mean, I can't like do hurdles and do this, in addition to the decathlon. Like when I got to college, I kind of became just a decathlete. So that was kind of like taking some of the load off. But to answer your question, I guess more directly. I don't really know why I'm what I'm good at. I mean, I grew up playing almost every sport, and my dad was kind of the coach of almost all of the sports I played. So I kind of grew up as the coach's son and kind of grew up with that pressure to kind of like do stuff even away from the playing field like at home, just like do extra workouts. So I kind of always grew up with the motivation to be great, and always grew up wanting to be an athlete. That was all I want to do growing up. So I think just kind of a mix of all that kind of just made me progressed over time and get better. So I guess maybe that plays a part.
Nick VinZant 5:22
What's like your typical training week look like? Are you just, I'm at the track from 8am until 8pm every day, or is it more recovery based, because you got to do so much stuff.
Devon Williams 5:36
Um, it's actually not as long as probably a lot of people would think are practicing it usually take about two, maybe a little over two hours, depending on the day. Our weight room sessions usually lasts about an hour, hour and a half. on that track sessions are usually like, two hours. But we usually try to do depending on the day, three, like three or four events a day. So we kind of just touch on a lot of the events throughout the week. You know, if we're doing long jump, we might just get a few approaches in No, we're not trying to like overdo any of it. We're kind of just continuously working on things. But then moving on to the next thing, just so we can kind of roll through everything. Hardest and longest days are usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And then Tuesday and Thursday are usually like the days that we lift and do like a throw so shotput or something. And then the weekend, all we do is lift up a quick live session. So we we work six days out of the week, and then on Sunday is usually just like our rest day. I guess it's typically is considered like a recovery day. But really every day is a recovery day. Like we have to do something recovery wise every day after practice. But Sunday's kind of just like a relaxed day.
Nick VinZant 6:50
Do you have to like balance out the way that your body works, right? Like let's say you're I'm just making stuff up, your shot puts not as great as you want it to be. But if you improve your shot, but then do you transition your body so that you're not as good at sprinting? Like Is that something that you guys have to kind of plan around like, you can't really train this event that much because it'll screw up the other events,
Devon Williams 7:15
not necessarily shotput. But we kind of take that approach with the 1500. That's our that's the 10th event in the longest and the longest race. So that event, we don't do a lot of long distance training, because every other thing in the decathlon is fast twitch. So we usually train the fast twitch, and then kind of just touch on the longer distance. So a lot of people when I say like we run the 1500, they think that to train for that you just run miles and miles. But that's not the case, we usually will do like two laps at our race pace. So whatever we want to come through the 15th. or whenever we run the 50 100, whatever we want to come through at the 800 mark, we practice that pace in practice. So then we get in the race, that pace is familiar to us, rather than just running miles and miles and miles, you might build up your stamina, but you're not really practicing like your race execution pace. If that makes sense.
Nick VinZant 8:19
It does. It kind of a little bit sounds like we train for fast twitch. And then we just mean we just hope when we get to the 1500
Devon Williams 8:27
we can get through it. If you train the slow twitch muscles too much, then your fast twitch will suffer. You just kind of have to think about it from Okay, most of these events that we do require you to be fast twitch, but for the 1500 is just all endurance. So we do practice endurance, but it's not like we just don't run miles and miles just to train for the 1500 is kind of just more of like a get used to the pace kind of perspective.
Nick VinZant 8:58
When you're in the event. Right? You're at the top tier event. Is it all out every single event? Or do you try to just like okay, this is gonna This is enough for me to do this place and this event. And that's all I need. And I'm going to save the rest for the next one
Devon Williams 9:13
It's pretty much all out when you're in competition. As decathletes, we all tried to pass our personal best. So that's pretty much our goal. Every competition is just doing better than you did last time. So it's not so much about that place that you come in each event is more about how well did you do? Because the decathlon was based on points. So you can come in first in four out of 10 events. But then if the other six events are terrible, you're not going to place high at the end of the decathlon. So it's really about just being consistent and trying to limit bad performances in each of it.
Nick VinZant 9:56
Yeah, no. Are you big for a decathlete. fleet small for a decathlete average for decathlete?
Devon Williams 10:06
Yeah. Because there's, there's so many events. So there's people that are on the bigger side. And they usually shine and like all that throwing events, some of them can run pretty fast. But then a lot of bigger guys suffer in the 1500. Or like the longer running stuff. But then you have, you know, smaller guys who were super quick, but they might not throw as far but they can run the 15 because they're like in a have a lot of endurance. So it's just kind of, I think it's all based on the athlete. And however the athlete performs at their best. So if they perform better when now they're all bulked up, that's how they perform. But if they perform better when they're leaner, that's where they're more comfortable, then that works for them. But it is kind of all up to the individual athlete.
Nick VinZant 10:55
Wikipedia says you're six three, is that right? Yeah, like really? six, three, are you like six, two and a half? And you lied to somebody that says, Well, if
Devon Williams 11:03
you go to the doctor, probably six to something. But when I have shoes on, I'm six, three.
Nick VinZant 11:08
That's that's the official American count. Right? Yeah. Obviously, like, getting ready for Tokyo 2020. What is that? How does that work? Like? Is there a qualifying process for the United States team? And then you go to Tokyo or what? You got to hit a point total? Or like, how does that work out?
Devon Williams 11:28
Yeah, so I'm freezing up for the United States, we all have to reach a point standard. And then on top of that, we have to qualify, we have to place within the top three places at the Olympic trials in June. So the United States is kind of not unique, but different from some other countries. Because other some other countries, you can, you know, just get the Olympic standard. And then you're just automatically on the team of that country to go to the Olympics. But for the United States, you can hit the point standard, but then you still have to go to the trials and qualify. And so at the top three,
Nick VinZant 12:07
so are you nervous me?
Devon Williams 12:12
yeah, I think everybody kind of has those nerves, just because it is like the major dream of a lot of us. Because it's our Super Bowl, we have a Super Bowl every year. For us, our Super Bowl comes every four years. We do have the World Championships every two years. But I mean, the dream is to be an Olympian. So it does add some pressure to it. But I think that's kind of where experience comes in. And just knowing that you knowing what you've done in the past and having faith in your coach and your training. I think that helps kind of settle the nerves a little bit. But the nerves are definitely a natural thing.
Nick VinZant 12:54
Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Let's do it. Hardest event for you. And then what overall decathletes would say is the hardest event 1500 hands down. No question. Like, that's an immediate.
Devon Williams 13:09
Yeah, that's, yeah, that's the 10th event. And it's the most grueling event like you see, at the end of our race that everybody kind of just balls across the line is just laying laying out like a graveyard. And yeah, Tanja, for sure.
Nick VinZant 13:26
Easiest event,
Devon Williams 13:27
for me the hurdles, because that's like my most natural event, I would say just kind of like a more over overarching easiest event. No disrespect to like any people that do this event. Just individually, but probably the shotput just because I would say that's like the least technical event out of everything that we do.
Nick VinZant 13:54
If you were to look at the events and say like, okay, obviously you're very good at all of these events. But which event Are you generally like farthest, or decathletes in general are usually the farthest from the best in the world. Like which event are decathletes? Usually the most, behind the Olympians who are there specifically for that event?
Devon Williams 14:14
I mean, probably, there's probably a lot of them. Just depending on how you compare people, because there's some people in certain events that can run with the best in the world. But then you look at like, the rest of the academies and then I might not be that strong of it. But I would probably say shotput
Nick VinZant 14:37
Yeah, that's kind of not really fair. Right? Like, those are some big dudes.
Devon Williams 14:40
Exactly. Um, and also the 1500. I think those guys I mean, all of them run under four minutes. But all of us are usually there's some good 1500 meter runners that kind of run like low for minutes, but most of us are kind of run it for 20 to 440 range. Which isn't really acceptable for your like open 1500 meter runner.
Nick VinZant 15:04
I don't know what the like the Greek word would be for 11. But if you could add an event to the decathlon, what would you add?
Devon Williams 15:12
That's a good question. I'll probably add the 200. I used to run the 200 when I was a kid. And I remember that at one point was my favorite event.
Nick VinZant 15:21
What event Do you forget is in the decathlon?
Devon Williams 15:26
I don't think I forget any other events at this point? Oh, yeah, I think I'm pretty much got it all down.
Nick VinZant 15:32
I was wondering like, Oh, yeah, I forgot we got to do that. Do that was kind of hard to forget. Right. Right. I guess when you do it professionally, you dendrite, you tend to remember these better to be stronger or faster.
Devon Williams 15:47
They go hand in hand so much. But if I had to choose, probably faster, because every event in the decathlon is based on speed. So there's some events that you can solely just rely on your speed to kind of just carry you in the event, whether it be the 100, the long jump hurdles, so I'll probably go with speed.
Nick VinZant 16:13
We interviewed a to Table Tennis Olympians before a couple of weeks ago. And they said that China is basically the country when it comes to table tennis, ping pong. They haven't been beaten in 21 years. Is there a country for decathlon? Like oh, man, here comes the guys from
Devon Williams 16:31
I will say the top countries historically, I've been the US. Germany, Canada has been strong. I think those are like the top ones. Usually.
Nick VinZant 16:43
What did you think about? Did you see DK Metcalf? Ron? Yeah. Do you think about that?
Devon Williams 16:49
I was surprised. I was shocked. Honestly, I didn't know he had been training for the the 100. I thought it was just like, the thing that he just jumped into the race. He's like, all fast, I'm just gonna jump to the race. He actually looked really good. Like, I didn't think he would get out that well out of the blocks. Because in the 100, that's pretty much the whole race right there is if you get out that sets up the rest of your race. But if you mess up your start, there's really no coming back from that. But he got out really good. And ran at a faster time than I thought he would run.
Nick VinZant 17:21
I think the most impressive thing that I personally saw about that is afterwards, when they showed him in the interview, and the other guy looks like a child next to him. Yeah.
Devon Williams 17:34
He's the starting line. Like they took a picture of him and then like everybody else that was on the line with him, and everybody just looks like high schoolers. If
Nick VinZant 17:43
I was a defensive back, I would retire. Dude, I'm not doing that.
Devon Williams 17:49
Then he got passed on to you in the game. So he lives even bigger. But also, like I said, effect that, you know, when he looks big in football games, too, but has that same effect that when you look at football players playing a game? I mean, they're all pretty much the same size. Yeah. But then you put a football player on the track with the track guys. That's when it looks really different. Oh, so we That was funny.
Nick VinZant 18:13
Okay, man. Here's the big one. Are decathletes the best athletes in the world?
Devon Williams 18:19
For sure. I mean, by definition, we run at a high level we jump at a high level we throw at a high level, we're the most versatile athletes. And by definition that would make us the the world's greatest athletes. I mean, no disrespect to like basketball players like LeBron, like great basketball players. But I don't think being a great basketball player makes you the greatest athlete. I think being able to do a lot of different things at a very high level. I think that makes you the world's greatest athlete. And by definition that will make the Catholics the world's greatest the world's greatest athletes.
Nick VinZant 19:00
I think one of your friends submitted this one. Are you actually a better athlete than your sister?
Devon Williams 19:07
I don't know what friend that was. But me and Kendall we've never like compared ourselves to each other. We don't have that sibling rivalry. And we never did. Like we just grew up always supporting each other. I always tell people like if I had a brother, I'm sure we'd have the sibling rivalry and I would definitely be better than my brother. But my sister my little sister at that, like there's there's no comparison between us. We don't like to compare ourselves to each other. We just like to kind of push each other and and just be the great athletes that we are individually.
Nick VinZant 19:40
Um anything else you think we missed or anything else you want to add or anything like that?
Devon Williams 19:45
I'm not think I'm good. I have my own brand. leevers me it is it represents kind of my mindset, and also the mindset of the decathletes to like I told you earlier, we kind of just, we all compete against ourselves and our own personal scores. And that's kind of what makes the decathlon a unique event compared to all the other events is that, yeah, we all want to win, but we're not out there to just beat each other. That's not what it's about. It's about doing the best that we can each of our individual events along our decathlon and then ending up with the highest score that we can at the end of so that's kind of one of the means behind my brand nieghbors. Me and whoever wants to support they go to shock MBM. COMM have a little bit everything on there. And yeah,