When Olympic runner Alysia Montaño ran the 800-meter USA Nationals race in 2014 while eight months pregnant, she made headlines and generated an overdue conversation around equality and respect for pregnant athletes. Later, the three-time world champion’s experience pushed her to speak out against Nike’s punishing treatment of pregnant athletes in a New York Times op-ed. Now, she’s the founder, president, and CEO of &Mother (soon to be rebranded as For All Mothers), a nonprofit that’s dedicated to breaking barriers moms face in the workplace.
“Women are dismissed, undervalued, or erased altogether from opportunities that they had worked for — all only because motherhood is now added to their resume,” Montaño says. &Mother teamed up with egg-freezing and -donation company Cofertility for its latest campaign, “Level the Playing Field,” which promotes fertility freedom for women in sports and highlights the barriers they face when it comes to balancing their careers with building a family. The athlete and founder lives in Berkeley, California, with that daughter who won the 2014 race with her, Linnéa, who is now 10; her 7-year-old son, Aster; her 5-year-old son, Lennox; and her husband, Louis. Here’s how she gets it done.
On her morning routine:
I naturally get up at seven, and we wake up the boys by 7:30. My 10-year-old gets up around the same time I do, but she gets herself ready. My husband and I do a good job of tag-teaming. First thing in the morning, I get up and get myself fresh while my husband heads downstairs, handles breakfast, and sets up the boys’ lunch boxes. My daughter makes her own lunch. I stay upstairs with the boys to wash their faces, do their hair, and tackle their basic hygiene needs. I get them dressed and they sprint downstairs. We make sure to do all the last-minute things they need for school and we push them out the door. Then I’m ready to exercise.
I have protein and carbs before I head out. It’s usually a piece of toast with peanut butter, banana, cranberries, and honey for an energy pop. Sometimes I have oatmeal or yogurt. I make sure I have 24 ounces of water when I wake up so I’m nice and hydrated, and then, of course, coffee. I picked up a cup a day habit now that I have three kiddos.
On working out:
I exercise first thing in the morning. Getting that first hit of dopamine is super important for me. You have to put your oxygen mask on first. I pick two days out of the week that are real hard cardio strength, which includes a run, and I integrate weight training twice a week and some functional mobility exercises. The idea of routine is forever ingrained in me, whether I’m training for the Olympics or not. But all seven days of the week, I am moving my body. Not every day is a hard day. I’m off running once a week. On that day, I walk and stretch, but it’s not intense. My workouts are typically about two hours long, and that includes drills and stretching.
On defying expectations for pregnant athletes and speaking out:
When I was ten weeks pregnant, I walked into a conversation with my manager at the time and a woman who worked in PR. I thought it was a powerful moment with those two women, so I held my breath and told them I was pregnant. My manager told me to focus on myself and my baby. But because the words pregnancy, maternity, and postpartum were not in my contract, after this woman left when I was about seven weeks postpartum, two men took her place and decided I would be financially penalized. They did not pay me for that first quarter the year after having my daughter.
I knew I couldn’t rush the process after giving birth to a whole human being, so I followed my plan. I went out and did the very best I could. I won Nationals at six months postpartum. I hadn’t done half of the workouts that I would have done if I wasn’t postpartum, and it proved fruitful for what my body needed then. I got my pay reinstated. I won Nationals again at ten months postpartum while still breastfeeding. I broke two American records, won two gold medals, two silver medals, and figured out how to pump my breast milk at competition and get it back to my daughter. These proof points are not what we need to be protected; we should just be protected. Not every athlete is going to be able to come back and win medals and break records and make the world championship team postpartum.
But I did say, “Send me my check.” They asked what I wanted over the next five years. I told them I wanted to have another child and make the next Olympic team. They responded by not continuing my contract and saying they wanted someone who was more dedicated to their craft. So in 2017, I set out and had my son anyway. I didn’t get paid for two years, but it gave me an opportunity to talk about it. After two years of no opportunities in sports, I realized I had nothing to lose. But the landscape for women in sports had everything to lose. You have to do ten times more and do it ten times better to get the respect you deserve.
On why she started a nonprofit:
We’re seeing an incredible surge in women’s sports, and we deserve to be celebrated. But when women walk into motherhood, they often face the “motherhood penalty.” And in sports, when your body is your business, the penalization is that much greater. Motherhood is a value add and we need to see it that way. We started the organization to create a landscape where women in sports can continue their careers, and we have a lot of work to do.
On getting better contracts for pregnant athletes:
We have really pushed for policy changes. This includes our gold standard for contractual language, where we have agents and brand sponsors adhere to our best practices and recommendations for including words that didn’t exist in contracts before, like pregnancy, postpartum, and maternity. This means not expecting someone to perform in championship shape at nine months pregnant or being penalized for not winning a championship.
We have to ask ourselves, How are national governing bodies and players associations supporting mothers in sports? And how do we create opportunities for affordable access to child care? At the same time, we’re creating a playbook with subject-matter experts and we want it in the hands of everyone in sports. We’re making a pathway of access to policies and contractual language that includes maternity leave and pregnancy deferrals, lactation accommodation and ways to store and transport breast milk when you’re competing and need to get it back home to your baby.
On managing stress:
My daily movement is a meditation to me. My mind becomes so clear when I get my blood flowing. It doesn’t have to be wildly intense; it can be moderate. But moving my body gives me an opportunity to release stress, lower my cortisol levels, think clearly, and come back to the things I have to tackle within the day.
On getting back into a reading groove:
I need to make time to read. I’ve wanted to pivot from what I’ve been doing — reading business books like Traction — back into novels and old books I haven’t read in a long time, like Brave New World.
On celebrating small wins:
It’s really important to celebrate daily and be our own best cheerleaders, and I teach my kids to do the same thing. I don’t want to walk through my life waiting for a moment where I can exhale and celebrate. We can find it in the little things every single day.
On the people who help her get it done:
My husband is a partner in our household, both emotionally and physically. And my mom is the absolute best. She lives in Southern California, but it’s only a 45-minute flight away, and she’s on call. My kids are also part of the village. I love watching them grow because they teach me so much about myself. I also work with an incredible team of folks who are passionate and supportive of our mission. They’re rolling up their sleeves and ready to help knock down barriers, because I can’t do it by myself.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Montaño’s finish in the 800-meter race in 2014.