When new Lynx sports performance coach Andrea Hayden thinks about what represents good, strong Midwestern values, she thinks Applebee's.

"This might not be the most exciting thing," Hayden said while trying not to laugh. "I'm really excited to live the Midwest life. Like, I just kind of miss Applebee's. Like the simple way of living, [but] it's not simple. That's dumbing it down. It's just different than Silicon Valley. Just the kindness of people, meeting your neighbors, talking with them. Obviously, that didn't always exist in California."

I get it. It takes someone with a certain tolerance level, or level of insanity, to spend more time sitting in traffic than sleeping. That pace was not the right fit for the Missouri-born Hayden.

So the trailblazer's trail has her headed back to the Upper Midwest — and back to the Twin Cities.

Hayden is currently helping players who aren't participating in the Olympics maintain their fitness levels until the break is over as the 17-8 Lynx resume their bid for the Western Conference championship. With no games being played, she has a little more time to enjoy the lakes she visited during her first stint in the Twin Cities.

In 2019, Hayden joined the Twins for a yearlong fellowship that turned into a permanent position as assistant strength and conditioning coach — the first female strength and conditioning coach in Major League Baseball. There was no transition into entering a workout room full of male professional athletes and getting results. When Ian Kadish, the Twins strength and conditioning director, interviewed Hayden for the role, he never brought up the fact that she was a woman.

"I was never in an environment that made me feel less than," Hayden said. "There was completely a seat at that table. I think it's really how you carry yourself. I was raised that way. We are all human and all people, and so you just kind of learn to connect with them."

At the time, it was the high point of a career that began when she was a personal trainer near her hometown of St. Charles, Mo., before becoming the athletic performance coach at nearby Lindenwood College. The Twins still view her as a rock star in the industry. Beyond her knowledge and temperament, her people skills helped some players who weren't big on strength training pick up the weights. Her influence reached into the press box, where she talked Dustin Morse, vice president of communications and content, into adding 15 pounds of muscle.

"She is awesome," Morse said. "She helped change my life and gave me the confidence to get in the gym and make myself better."

But in June of 2021, Hayden wanted to try something different and headed west to become Stanford's associate Olympic sports performance coach, working specifically with the women's basketball and women's golf programs. She worked alongside a different group of high-level coaches at one of the nation's great academic centers. She was on the bench the night basketball coach Tara VanDerveer set the record for most wins in NCAA history.

Being around that excellence on a daily basis — and being in an environment that constantly sought groundbreaking discoveries in sports performance — motivated her to push her career further.

But taking the 280 to the 85 to the 101 every day — they don't say I-94 in California — was not for her. She learned that the Lynx were looking for a strength coach through connections in the Twin Cities, notably Dr. Chris Camp, the Twins' director of medical high performance. She couldn't wait to interview.

Soon, Hayden, her force plates, GPS data, heart rate data and other devices she learned about at Stanford were on their way to Minnesota.

"I think it's great to see her journey and it's been a pleasure to watch!" Kadish wrote in a direct message. "It goes to show how great of a community the Twin Cities is. She and I keep in touch and it's always great to have a friend down the street!"

It is rare in these parts that a trainer has worked for multiple professional sports teams in the same market. But Hayden has achieved this, as each step along her journey has built her for this moment.

And she's back in a place where the pace of life suits her.

"To come back here, I find a more comfortable way of living. Life has been really easy," Hayden said. "Being outside, obviously the lakes and enjoying different things that I've missed quite a bit."

Like Applebee's.