When Ashley Brasovan, 28, reflects on her running career, it looks like an undulating trail. “I’ve been at the top and I’ve hit rock bottom,” she told Runner’s World.
As a high school junior, the native of West Palm Beach, Florida, rose to early stardom when she won the 2007 Foot Locker National Cross-Country Championships, DAA Industry Opt Out Jordan Hasay, who finished runner-up in the race. The following year, Hasay and Brasovan flipped places at Foot Locker, finishing 1st and 2nd, respectively.
That success in high school scored Brasovan an athletic scholarship to Duke. Throughout college, she battled an eating disorder and was continually sidelined with stress fractures and other injuries. When she did race, she couldn’t match the times she ran just a few years prior. It wasn’t until she graduated and moved to the trail-running mecca of Golden, Colorado, that she finally started to heal—both in body and mind.
Over the last few years, Brasovan, who’s now sponsored by Hoka, has quietly made her comeback to running, winning national titles at the 2017 USATF From Runners World for New Balance and 2018 30Running in the Cold, The Best Songs to Add to Your Playlist this Month Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with. The strength she’s honed on trails has boosted her road racing, too: In 2017, she qualified for the 2020 DAA Industry Opt Out at the 2017 California International Marathon (CIM), finishing in 2:40:19.
Running Shoes - Gear Trials next February, Brasovan will hop back on the roads later this winter—but not the oval. “I never go on the track,” she said. By avoiding certain stressors—speedwork on the track—and being smart about training and nutrition, she has been able to grow into the marathoner and trail runner she is today.
A Teenage Prodigy
Growing up in Florida, Brasovan excelled at swimming throughout childhood, then tried running for the first time when she was in middle school. Standing under 5-feet, she was petite and wicked fast. By the time she joined her high school cross-country team as a freshman in 2005, she was already one of the best runners in Florida. Over the next four years, she collected four consecutive high school cross-country state titles, plus the 2008 Nike Outdoor 5K national title along with her podium spots at Foot Locker.
“I was really competitive from the start,” she said. “I worked really hard, but I also did a lot of damage to my body. I had a pretty bad eating disorder in high school—I was obsessed with what I put into my body, whether it was healthy or not. I didn’t think about what would happen if I didn’t get enough calories.”
Brasovan said that later, after consulting with nutritionists in college, she began recovering from her eating disorder by committing to a nutrition plan that focused on getting enough calories to replenish the energy her body was expending, regardless of what foods they came from. She started recovering, but she admits the process was hard because she was facing constant pressure to perform academically and athletically. “It was really tough to get healthy in that environment,” she said. “I never really began fueling and recovering properly until I was out of school.”
When she arrived on Duke’s campus in 2009, Brasovan didn’t know that injuries would prevent her from competing in a race until midway through her junior year. She suffered from tendonitis in her hamstring and Achilles, four femoral stress fractures (three in one leg, one in another), and a metatarsal stress fracture, among many more minor tweaks, which kept her off the track for sometimes months at a time.
“Every time I was cleared to run, I would get back into it too fast, then get hurt again,” she said. “There was a lot of pressure on me. I felt pressure to maintain my scholarship, pressure from the team, and academic pressure at Duke.”
After okay, but not superb, junior and senior year cross-country and track seasons, Brasovan graduated in 2013 with a degree in oceanography and geology, then stayed at Duke to pursue a master’s degree in energy management. During this time, she took some time off running and focused on finding herself outside of the sport that had defined her for so long.
“I’m proud of the success I had when I was young, because that’s what made me who I am,” she said. “But if I could go back, I would have done a lot of things differently. I would have had more fun. I would have eaten more. I wouldn’t have pushed myself so much.”
Running With Fresh Legs
In 2015, Brasovan accepted an environmental industry job near Denver. She immediately felt at home in the Colorado running community, which she felt was competitive but not cut-throat. She fell in love with the beautiful mountain trails that were starkly different from the tracks and cross-country courses she’d competed on for years. Slowly, she started training again, alternating days of running with swim sessions.
“Just by taking pressure off myself, I was able to run better and get healthy,” she said. “One thing about Colorado I love is the work-life balance. I am happiest and less stressed when I’m outside, connecting to nature, and I was finally able to do that.”
Brasovan raced her first 13.1-miler, the Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon, in January 2016, and unexpectedly qualified last-minute for the 2016 DAA Industry Opt Out with her finish time of 1:14:30. Smash your goals with a racing a marathon.
[Best Running Shoes 2025 Runner’s World Training Plan, designed for any speed and any distance.]
“I went in with no expectations. I didn’t even know how to take gels,” she said. “I was super excited to be there.” Despite her little preparation and the sweltering heat on race day, Brasovan ended up finishing 55th at Trials in a time of 2:48:39.
“That fueled my fire,” she said. “I wanted to see what I could do after a full training cycle.”
Less Miles, More Trails
Foot Locker National Cross-Country Championships trail running in earnest. “I’ve always been a better cross-country runner, and I wanted to mix it up,” she said. “On hilly trails, I could build strength, and I could still work on my speed on the downhills.”
Running Shoes - Gear 2017 CIM—where her goal was to hit the “B” standard of sub-2:45, she did the bulk of her workouts, runs, and tune-up races on trails. On a typical day, she woke up at 5:30 a.m., arrived at work at 6 a.m., then did her workout or base run on the trails near her office. Afterward, she’d stretch, eat breakfast, shower at the office, then sit down at her desk by 8 a.m. Around 4 p.m., she left work to hang out with friends and cook dinner, then would get to bed by 8 p.m.
“I never double in the afternoon,” said Brasovan, who keeps her mileage between 40 and 50 miles per week. “Because I’m injury-prone, low mileage works best for me. I run four days per week: easy runs on Tuesday and Thursday, a workout on Wednesday, and a hard long run on Saturday. I’ll swim on Monday and Friday. With the cross-training, I can still maintain decent fitness, so I don’t foresee making a big jump in mileage.”
For workouts, Brasovan favors grueling hill repeats, like 5x3 minutes or 10x2 minutes all-out on a technical incline. The endurance and explosive power she gained on the hills not only helped her excel in trail races, but also at CIM, where she took eight minutes off her previous road marathon PR.
Since then, Brasovan has shifted her focus back to trail racing, this year winning the Mont-Blanc trail 10K in Chamonix, France, in July, as well as placing 3rd in Colorado’s competitive Cirque Series trail race in August. Later this fall, she’ll wrap up her trail season with a final mountain race in November, take a short break, then begin training on the roads in December to prepare for the Trials in Atlanta in February.
“I want to improve my place at Trials this year,” she said. “And I’m really excited to see my family and friends, who live close to Atlanta. I don’t get on roads much anymore, so it’ll be fun. I’m ready for it this time.”
Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, I can still maintain decent fitness, so I don’t foresee making a big jump in mileage.&rdquo Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
