Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Built on Consistency: Katie Ledecky on Reframing Hard Days, Swimming Into the Record Books & Inspiring the Next Generation

Transcript

Built on Consistency: Katie Ledecky on Reframing Hard Days, Swimming Into the Record Books & Inspiring the Next Generation · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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Speaker 1: When I was six, I just started for fun and
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Speaker 1: had no aspirations or no belief that the Olympics would
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Speaker 1: be in my future.
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Speaker 2: What's going on? Emily A Badi?
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Speaker 3: Here you are listening to another episode of Hurdle, a
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Speaker 3: podcast featuring the mindset, secrets, and true stories of the
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Speaker 3: most inspiring women in sports and wellness, empowering you to
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Speaker 3: live a healthier, happier, more motivated life and of course,
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Speaker 3: conquer your own hurdles. This week, I am sharing a
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Speaker 3: very special rewind episode with one of the greatest athletes
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Speaker 3: of all time, the legendary Katie Lideki. We originally sat
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Speaker 3: down for this chat in early twenty twenty five, and
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Speaker 3: since then, Katie's continued to completely dominate the swimming world.
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Speaker 3: Fast forward through hundred and sixty five days. Lodeki won
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Speaker 3: her seventh consecutive world title last August in Singapore in
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Speaker 3: the eight hundred meter freestyle, and she also won gold
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Speaker 3: in the fifteen hundred. Today, she's working as hard as
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Speaker 3: ever training for LA twenty twenty eight and has her
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Speaker 3: sights set on adding to her metal collection. In this conversation,
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Speaker 3: Katie opens up about what it truly takes to maintain
1:27
Speaker 3: excellence over a two decade career, We dive into no
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Speaker 3: pun intended, how she defines her why today, her mental
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Speaker 3: strategies for befriending pain during those grueling final meters of
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Speaker 3: any distance race, and how she breaks down monumental goals
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Speaker 3: into small, doable pieces. She also shares what balance looks
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Speaker 3: like for her outside of the pool, how she brings
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Speaker 3: positive energy to her team even on off days, and
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Speaker 3: the powerful role her family is played in her historic journey.
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Speaker 3: Whether you're chasing an athletic goal or just trying to
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Speaker 3: navigate your own daily grind, Katie's perspective on dedication, routine
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Speaker 3: and self talk, it's pure gold. Make sure you're following
2:08
Speaker 3: along with Hurdle over on social It's over at Hurdle podcast.
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Speaker 3: You can also check out iHeart Women's Sports over at
2:13
Speaker 3: iHeart Women's Sports and me over at Emily Abadi. Listen
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Speaker 3: to Hurdle with Emily Abody on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
2:19
Speaker 3: podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Speaker 2: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to
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Speaker 2: hurdling today.
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Speaker 3: I am enthused, excited and to be sitting down with
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Speaker 3: four time olympian the most decorated American female Olympian in history,
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Speaker 3: part of Athleta's Power of She collective.
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Speaker 2: Katie Lideki, Welcome to Hurdle.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me, Emily. I'm excited to chat today.
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Speaker 3: Oh my god, I'm so excited to chat today. You know,
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Speaker 3: before we really get into the swing of things here,
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Speaker 3: I was thinking about how, I mean, Hurdle has some
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Speaker 3: thing like eight hundred episodes. I've had the opportunity to
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Speaker 3: talk to so many stellar humans. But I was arriving
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Speaker 3: at this conversation today with some nerves, and I thought
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Speaker 3: to myself, who better to talk to me about how
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Speaker 3: to handle nerves than the most decorated female Olympian in
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Speaker 3: American history.
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Speaker 2: So Katie, tell me, what do you.
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Speaker 3: Do when you're feeling a little bit anxious before you
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Speaker 3: jump into the pool?
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Speaker 1: Well, nerves are a good thing. It means you care
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Speaker 1: about what you're about to do, and so I appreciate
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Speaker 1: it that you care about this interview. But yeah, I mean,
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Speaker 1: the nerves have never gone away from me, which is great.
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Speaker 1: It's a good thing because it means that I still
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Speaker 1: really care about what I do. I care about my performances.
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Speaker 1: I sometimes even get nervous for practices because I really
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Speaker 1: care about my practices and my training, So nerves are
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Speaker 1: a good thing. And I think it's just good to
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Speaker 1: remind yourself of all the hard work that you've done
4:00
Speaker 1: before a major competition or performance or interview, and that
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Speaker 1: should give you the confidence to know that you're prepared.
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Speaker 1: Is one of the best feelings in the world. Knowing
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Speaker 1: that you're prepared for the biggest stage and you're ready.
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Speaker 1: I'm someone that has kept journals over the years, and
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Speaker 1: so usually before my big big meets, I'll look back
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Speaker 1: at my journal for that year and look at all
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Speaker 1: the good practices that I've done and remind myself of
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Speaker 1: all those really good things I've done in work out
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Speaker 1: to get me ready for that moment.
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Speaker 3: Well, these sentiments coming from you, and I love how
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Speaker 3: you say the more time that you put in it
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Speaker 3: really prepares you for the most difficult things. You yourself
4:41
Speaker 3: putting twenty plus hours a week, usually in the water. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 3: what's happening out of the water. That's a lot of
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Speaker 3: time when you think about it, Katie.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I probably spend twenty hours a week in the water,
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Speaker 1: and then I probably spend maybe six or seven hours
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Speaker 1: a week in the gym. So it's a lot of
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Speaker 1: a lot of training, but I know that it's all
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Speaker 1: worth it, and I.
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Speaker 4: Do truly love it.
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Speaker 1: I love the time I get to spend with my
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Speaker 1: teammates and coaches, and I love everything that I've learned
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Speaker 1: through the sport and through just the process that I've
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Speaker 1: gone through each year.
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Speaker 3: Last year, you also added to your resume being a
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Speaker 3: New York Times best selling author with your memoir Just
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Speaker 3: Add Water. You talk about in that memoir your ability
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Speaker 3: to befriend pain, and that's where I want to start
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Speaker 3: us off today. I know that after the twenty twenty
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Speaker 3: four games, you told the New York Times it hurts,
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Speaker 3: but I love it too much to stop.
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Speaker 2: You get used to the feeling.
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Speaker 3: Do you remember when you first really got to the
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Speaker 3: point where you knew how to befriend pain.
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Speaker 1: From a young age, I kind of recognized it, or
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Speaker 1: I at least recognized that I enjoyed the distance events
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Speaker 1: more than a lot of my teammates did when we
5:53
Speaker 1: were first trying those events out. So I think I
5:56
Speaker 1: pretty quickly realized that the distance events were my calling
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Speaker 1: in the sport of swimming. But then I think I've
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Speaker 1: had some moments over the years where I've learned different
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Speaker 1: things in the distance races where you really dont confront
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Speaker 1: pain in different ways and you don't know exactly when
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Speaker 1: you're going to start feeling it in the race. But
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Speaker 1: I do remember one race back in twenty fourteen. It
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Speaker 1: was in Australia at the Pan Pacific Championships and the
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Speaker 1: fifteen hundred free, I dropped quite a bit of time,
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Speaker 1: broke my own world record, and I remember hitting maybe
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Speaker 1: the nine hundred mark of the fifteen hundred and just
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Speaker 1: having that sense of pain come on and not feeling
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Speaker 1: like I was going to be able to keep up
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Speaker 1: my splits that I was holding. But I somehow just
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Speaker 1: tried to tell myself to keep the same rhythm that
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Speaker 1: I've had and try to ignore that pain. And when
6:52
Speaker 1: I looked back at my splits after the race, I
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Speaker 1: actually was able to pick it up on the back
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Speaker 1: half of the race. That's something that I often remind
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Speaker 1: myself of now that even if you hit that point
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Speaker 1: in that race, you can push past it and maybe
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Speaker 1: even go faster. So you know, it's kind of always
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Speaker 1: interesting to learn those things, and I'm still learning at
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Speaker 1: this age, and that's why it keeps it fun for me.
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Speaker 3: I think that you get to a point where you
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Speaker 3: do it once and you realize that you're capable of it,
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Speaker 3: right like you understand, Okay, this is what it's going
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Speaker 3: to feel like when I push this far, for example,
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Speaker 3: beyond my comfort zone. And I appreciate when you came
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Speaker 3: to that realization. It wasn't just oh, I can push
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Speaker 3: this far past by comfort zone.
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Speaker 2: It's that I can push this.
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Speaker 3: Far past by comfort zone, and I can even surpass
7:44
Speaker 3: what I thought that I was capable of, speaking what
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Speaker 3: I thought that I was capable of. I mean, you
7:49
Speaker 3: didn't start swimming at age six thinking that you were
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Speaker 3: going to go on and do the things that you've
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Speaker 3: done so far in your career.
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Speaker 2: Right now, when you think about.
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Speaker 3: Your career, would you say that you've done everything you
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Speaker 3: wanted to?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I probably would have said yes to
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Speaker 1: that question ten plus years ago.
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Speaker 4: As you said, when I was six.
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Speaker 1: Years old, I never dreamed of even making it to
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Speaker 1: one Olympics. So when I did make it to the
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Speaker 1: Olympics and I did win a gold medal at my
8:23
Speaker 1: first games, you know, my family and I we kind
8:26
Speaker 1: of had this conversation about how anything anything more than that.
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Speaker 1: It's just like icing on the cake, cherry on top,
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Speaker 1: whatever you want to say, because none of us ever
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Speaker 1: imagined I would make it that far in the sport.
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Speaker 1: So I've definitely surpassed the dreams that I had when
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Speaker 1: I was a six year old, and certainly I've set
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Speaker 1: bigger and bigger goals as I've worked my way up,
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Speaker 1: and you know, I'm always eager to chase something new,
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Speaker 1: and I'm not perfect, and i haven't achieved every single
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Speaker 1: one of my goals across my twenty to your career
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Speaker 1: in the sport, but you know, I love the chase,
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Speaker 1: I love the journey, I love the process, and I
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Speaker 1: always think back to who I was when I was
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Speaker 1: six years old, just starting out in the sport, just
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Speaker 1: swimming to have fun in the water, learn the strokes,
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Speaker 1: make friends, and just have a good time in and
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Speaker 1: around the pool. So that's what I feel like I'm
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Speaker 1: still doing. Of course, there are big goals on top
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Speaker 1: of that as well, but it always comes back to
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Speaker 1: that for me.
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Speaker 3: We'll talk about whatever the remaining goals are in just
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Speaker 3: a little bit, but you do touch on a really
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Speaker 3: interesting concept which is that you have to have a
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Speaker 3: strong why in order to both put in the type
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Speaker 3: of work that you do in and out of the
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Speaker 3: pool and keep going. Now twenty plus years in, what
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Speaker 3: is your why?
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Speaker 1: Katie, I'm always just trying to push myself and try
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Speaker 1: to be the best version of myself that I can be.
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Speaker 1: So it's kind of a personal journey that I feel
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Speaker 1: like I'm on. But then also I've really enjoyed the
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Speaker 1: opportunities that I've had to inspire the next generation of
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Speaker 1: young girls and boys coming up in the in the sport.
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Speaker 1: And that's why I love partnering with Athleta, and we
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Speaker 1: have this power of SI Movement and all about empowering
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Speaker 1: young girls and and getting them excited about sport and
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Speaker 1: movement and and and that's why I love love sport
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Speaker 1: and why I love competing, and why why I love
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Speaker 1: training because I have that opportunity to give back and
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Speaker 1: and see those young kids coming up in the sport,
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Speaker 1: some of them I'm racing now, so so that's pretty
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Speaker 1: exciting for me. And it's just a lot of joy
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Speaker 1: that I have. I think when I'm I'm training, when
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Speaker 1: I'm in the pool, when I'm out of the pool,
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Speaker 1: and then a lot of joy when I get to
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Speaker 1: speak to young students, speak to young athletes. I kind
10:52
Speaker 1: of I kind of coined this after my first Olympics,
10:56
Speaker 1: the power of the gold medal. It's it's something that
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Speaker 1: I I didn't recognize until I got home after the
11:04
Speaker 1: London Olympics and started taking the gold medal around to
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Speaker 1: children's hospital and schools and to meet wounded warriors. Just
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Speaker 1: the ability to show a gold medal to someone and
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Speaker 1: have their face light up and smile that that means
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Speaker 1: the world to me. And that's what motivates me to
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Speaker 1: win more gold medals when I'm back at the Olympics
11:29
Speaker 1: and World Championships and any competition like that, because I
11:34
Speaker 1: know the impact that that can make on someone else.
11:38
Speaker 1: And yeah, so it's kind of it's kind of both
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Speaker 1: a personal journey and in terms of trying to push
11:43
Speaker 1: myself to give everything that I have to the sport,
11:46
Speaker 1: but then also to inspire young kids to go after
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Speaker 1: their dreams and know that they can achieve really big goals.
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Speaker 3: It's not just the gold medal, though candidly it's you, right.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I was looking at the post that you
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Speaker 3: shared from last year where you're announcing the memoir, and
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Speaker 3: one of the comments in it, someone says, I just
12:06
Speaker 3: want to say.
12:07
Speaker 2: That I wish to be just like you when LA
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Speaker 2: twenty eight comes around.
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Speaker 3: I'm hindered with scoldiosis and really short, but I still
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Speaker 3: have dreams of swimming with you in LA twenty eight.
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Speaker 3: This is just one person who literally would do absolutely
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Speaker 3: anything in her wildest dreams to be in your presence.
12:24
Speaker 3: When I read something like that to you, how does
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Speaker 3: it make you feel?
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Speaker 1: I mean, it gives me goosebumps. I mean, I still
12:30
Speaker 1: love those interactions as I said, that I get to
12:33
Speaker 1: have on a daily basis, or even just online, as
12:37
Speaker 1: you said, on social media, the ability to kind of
12:41
Speaker 1: connect with other people and you know, resonate with other
12:45
Speaker 1: people and inspire other people. Again, that's something I never
12:49
Speaker 1: expected I would have the opportunity to do in the
12:53
Speaker 1: sport or in life. So it's an opportunity that I
12:57
Speaker 1: don't take for granted. It's the responsibility I don't take
12:59
Speaker 1: for grant it. And I hope that I can continue
13:02
Speaker 1: to do that.
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Speaker 3: Just because you don't take it for granted. And I
13:06
Speaker 3: don't want to put words in your mouth, but I
13:08
Speaker 3: would imagine that it doesn't come with a certain weight
13:13
Speaker 3: or a certain emphasis or a certain you go to
13:16
Speaker 3: the pool and everyone knows you're Katie Leadeki. Does the
13:20
Speaker 3: weight of being the best to have ever done it
13:24
Speaker 3: feel some kind of way.
13:26
Speaker 1: I mean, I try not to really think about it
13:28
Speaker 1: too much. I mean, I guess, I mean, I guess
13:32
Speaker 1: going to swim meet now is a little different than
13:35
Speaker 1: when I was fourteen and nobody really knew who I was.
13:39
Speaker 1: I've actually been to a few kind of age group
13:42
Speaker 1: level meets over the past few months, and you know,
13:45
Speaker 1: there are autographs and selfies that I take behind the
13:49
Speaker 1: blocks before races and things like that. But I guess
13:52
Speaker 1: I've kind of grown used to it. And again, I
13:54
Speaker 1: love those opportunities and to put a smile on someone's
13:57
Speaker 1: face or you know, inspire them to continue to work hard.
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Speaker 4: So yeah, it's.
14:02
Speaker 1: It's just kind of I guess, the recognition of of
14:04
Speaker 1: what comes with you know, notoriety, but it's it's not
14:08
Speaker 1: something that I think too much about. I just go
14:11
Speaker 1: about my business and try to be the best version
14:14
Speaker 1: of myself and stick to my values, stick to my
14:17
Speaker 1: my family's values, and everyone around me has always kept
14:23
Speaker 1: me pretty level headed, I think, and has kept my
14:26
Speaker 1: life balance. You know, I went to school, I finished
14:28
Speaker 1: my degree at Stanford, I came back from my first Olympics,
14:32
Speaker 1: and I was a sophomore in high school. So just
14:34
Speaker 1: kind of always jumped right back into the next thing
14:38
Speaker 1: in terms of setting goals for myself in and out
14:41
Speaker 1: of the pool, in school, all those things. So I've
14:44
Speaker 1: had a really good group of people around me, and
14:47
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I touch on in the book.
14:50
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of the chapters are named after
14:53
Speaker 1: the people in my life that I feel like have
14:55
Speaker 1: really allowed me to have this this long career and
14:59
Speaker 1: andsful career in the pool. And you know, they're the
15:02
Speaker 1: ones that I give the most credit to for guiding
15:06
Speaker 1: me on this journey and keeping me on the right path.
15:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about that.
15:12
Speaker 3: We often hear this phrase like your board of directors, right,
15:15
Speaker 3: the people that have a seat at the table over time,
15:19
Speaker 3: that board of directors can ebb and flow. But for you,
15:22
Speaker 3: it seems to have really been dialed in on both
15:25
Speaker 3: your family, your coaches, your teammates. What makes you, Katie
15:31
Speaker 3: a good teammate? What is it about you? I know
15:34
Speaker 3: captain from the previous Olympics. That makes you a leader
15:38
Speaker 3: for the people that you share the seats at the
15:40
Speaker 3: table with.
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Speaker 1: It's just about trying not to be any different than
15:44
Speaker 1: who you are, you know, just trying to lead by example,
15:47
Speaker 1: and you know, try to recognize when someone needs help.
15:50
Speaker 4: And I think I'm.
15:51
Speaker 1: At the point in my career where I've had so
15:54
Speaker 1: many years of experience now that I can I can
15:57
Speaker 1: see my experiences in other people, and I can understand
16:01
Speaker 1: what going to your first Olympics feels like, or you know,
16:05
Speaker 1: competing against the world's best at age fifteen sixteen years old.
16:08
Speaker 4: What that feels like.
16:09
Speaker 1: So I try to give little bits and pieces of
16:12
Speaker 1: advice to the younger swimmers on these trips that I
16:16
Speaker 1: go on. Apart from that, it's really just about sticking
16:19
Speaker 1: to my routine, making sure that I'm taking care of
16:23
Speaker 1: my own business. And I know that some of the
16:26
Speaker 1: younger swimmers have said that that that is helpful, just
16:30
Speaker 1: to be able to watch and observe, you know, see
16:33
Speaker 1: kind of how I go about warming up and warming
16:37
Speaker 1: down and eating well and getting to sleep. So I
16:41
Speaker 1: just try to stay true to who I am and
16:44
Speaker 1: what I need to do, and I think that's important
16:47
Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. And then I think, you know,
16:50
Speaker 1: I always try to be encouraging and try to bring
16:54
Speaker 1: good energy to any space I'm in, So at the pool,
16:58
Speaker 1: at practice, at the swim meet, at school, wherever it is,
17:04
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be uplifting. And I'm a pretty positive,
17:09
Speaker 1: happy person, so that's not too difficult for me, and
17:13
Speaker 1: I just try to try to bring that wherever I go.
17:17
Speaker 3: How do you bring the good energy on the day
17:19
Speaker 3: is that maybe you aren't feeling the brightest or the
17:22
Speaker 3: most shiny.
17:23
Speaker 1: I think I just remind myself that those days pass.
17:27
Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna have good days and you're gonna
17:29
Speaker 1: have bad days, and so you know, sometimes if I'm
17:33
Speaker 1: having a bad day in practice, I kind of just
17:35
Speaker 1: have to laugh it off in a way and recognize
17:38
Speaker 1: that my teammates next to me are having a good practice,
17:40
Speaker 1: and you know, it's their day and it's time to
17:44
Speaker 1: help them make it an even better day. And I
17:47
Speaker 1: know that my bad day will pass and I'll have
17:49
Speaker 1: an opportunity tomorrow and I'll have a great day. So
17:51
Speaker 1: that's kind of how I think of it, and I
17:53
Speaker 1: can't be at one hundred percent every single day. But
17:56
Speaker 1: if I'm at eighty percent, I've got to give my
17:58
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of my eighty percent. I just try
18:01
Speaker 1: to be as consistent as I can be on a
18:03
Speaker 1: day to day basis, both with my effort and attitude,
18:09
Speaker 1: and I think with that comes performance and provement.
18:13
Speaker 3: That is such a good point, right, because all you
18:15
Speaker 3: can do on any given day is give it all
18:17
Speaker 3: that you have, and some days, to your point, eighty
18:20
Speaker 3: percent is what you're going to have. But it's up
18:22
Speaker 3: to you to meet that eighty percent with all that
18:25
Speaker 3: you've got. And it doesn't mean that you're any lesser
18:27
Speaker 3: because you're showing up one day with eighty percent. It
18:30
Speaker 3: just means that it's up to you to take hold
18:32
Speaker 3: of that opportunity as it stands.
18:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, if I find myself struggling in practice, someday, I'll
18:39
Speaker 1: try to kind of change up how I'm thinking or
18:42
Speaker 1: change up my technique a little bit to kind of
18:45
Speaker 1: find something, And just going through that process is often helpful,
18:49
Speaker 1: and sometimes I kind of stumble on something that will
18:53
Speaker 1: help me with my technique long term, or kind of
18:57
Speaker 1: is something that I can file in in my back pocket.
19:01
Speaker 1: I guess and pull out whenever I need it again
19:05
Speaker 1: as something that helped me get through that day.
19:24
Speaker 3: You mentioned your first Olympics before twenty twelve London. You
19:28
Speaker 3: won your first gold medal there in the eight hundred
19:30
Speaker 3: meter freestyle. You talked about warming up and cooling down
19:34
Speaker 3: in all of these different things that you do surrounding
19:37
Speaker 3: the races to make you perform your best. You've been
19:40
Speaker 3: in it for a minute now, would you say that
19:42
Speaker 3: those processes have evolved with time or have you always
19:46
Speaker 3: been diligent in the things that surround the actual competition.
19:51
Speaker 1: They've evolved in some ways, but I think they've also
19:54
Speaker 1: stayed the same in many ways. And I think they've
19:56
Speaker 1: stayed the same because I had really good coaches from
20:00
Speaker 1: a young age that instilled those habits in me.
20:03
Speaker 4: So coaches that taught me.
20:05
Speaker 1: How to warm up well, how to warm down well,
20:08
Speaker 1: you know, emphasize good nutrition and good sleep and recovery.
20:12
Speaker 1: So you know, I've definitely learned new things in each
20:15
Speaker 1: of those areas over the years and have had to
20:18
Speaker 1: just certain warm ups and warm downs things like that
20:22
Speaker 1: to kind of meet my needs and you know, respond
20:26
Speaker 1: to how I'm feeling and things like that, But for
20:30
Speaker 1: the most part, the real structure of it has stayed
20:33
Speaker 1: the same, and my priority on all those things has
20:38
Speaker 1: stayed the same.
20:39
Speaker 3: Can we talk a little bit about the lessons that
20:41
Speaker 3: you've learned. You mentioned nutrition, you mentioned sleep. First, Let's
20:44
Speaker 3: talk with nutrition. Clearly, the amount of effort that you
20:47
Speaker 3: are putting into the pool is extraordinary and it requires
20:50
Speaker 3: and demands a lot of what you're putting into your body.
20:53
Speaker 3: What does it look like to fuel as Katie Ldecki.
20:56
Speaker 1: Well, you know, a swimmer's day is a pretty long
20:59
Speaker 1: day too. Most swimmers are up pretty early in the morning,
21:02
Speaker 1: so I've I've had to experiment with different morning snacks
21:07
Speaker 1: before before morning practice. So right now for me, I
21:12
Speaker 1: have oatmeal in the morning on my way out out
21:16
Speaker 1: the door for practice with the banana, and then you know,
21:20
Speaker 1: I'll swim, I'll have have weights, and then I'll have
21:24
Speaker 1: you know, my breakfast after after practice with some eggs,
21:28
Speaker 1: some veggies in there, some toast, yeah, and then I'll
21:31
Speaker 1: have a good lunch, have a snack, go to my
21:34
Speaker 1: afternoon practice, have dinner. You know, I usually have a
21:38
Speaker 1: core power right after right after practice. Just get a
21:42
Speaker 1: good balance of protein and carbs throughout my whole day.
21:45
Speaker 1: That's really the most important thing for me as a swimmer,
21:49
Speaker 1: and making sure I'm eating healthy overall and and fueling
21:53
Speaker 1: my fueling my body for performance.
21:55
Speaker 3: Got a touch on the sleep. How much sleep is
21:57
Speaker 3: Katie Lideki getting every night?
22:00
Speaker 1: I shoot for, you know, eight or nine hours. Probably
22:03
Speaker 1: am closer to about eight, and maybe occasionally dip under that,
22:07
Speaker 1: but I always make it up with a nap after
22:11
Speaker 1: morning practice or kind of midday. So yeah, I would
22:14
Speaker 1: say I'm hitting eight every day at least. As I said,
22:17
Speaker 1: we have early morning practices, so it's actually later in
22:21
Speaker 1: the morning then.
22:22
Speaker 4: It was in high school.
22:24
Speaker 1: You know, in high school, I was up at four
22:26
Speaker 1: fifteen in the morning for five am practice, and you know,
22:30
Speaker 1: my dad would be up at three forty five to
22:33
Speaker 1: get himself ready to drive me to practice. So you know,
22:38
Speaker 1: as I said, it takes a lot of commitment, but
22:40
Speaker 1: not just from me, but from a whole group of people.
22:43
Speaker 1: And yeah, sleep is something that I value and I
22:49
Speaker 1: sometimes don't know how I did it in high school,
22:51
Speaker 1: you know, waking up at that hour and then not
22:54
Speaker 1: getting a nap during the day because I was in
22:57
Speaker 1: school all day and then going back to afternoon practice.
22:59
Speaker 1: I definitely cherish having a little more free time in
23:04
Speaker 1: my day now to just squeeze a nap.
23:06
Speaker 3: And I really appreciate the way that you talk about
23:09
Speaker 3: your family, Katie. It's very clear that the relationship that
23:13
Speaker 3: you have with them is so special and dear to
23:17
Speaker 3: you talk to me a little bit about how they
23:20
Speaker 3: have been crucial in helping you get to this point
23:24
Speaker 3: where you are now.
23:25
Speaker 1: My family is everything to me. I have an older brother, Michael.
23:31
Speaker 1: He's three years older than I am, and he's kind
23:34
Speaker 1: of the one that I followed into the sport. We
23:37
Speaker 1: started swimming for a team at the same time, and
23:40
Speaker 1: I think he was really the one that wanted to
23:42
Speaker 1: join the swim team at a summer summer league pool. Yeah,
23:46
Speaker 1: just kind of always admired his hard work and dedication
23:50
Speaker 1: to his studies and to his swimming and every activity
23:55
Speaker 1: that he did, so I just tried to follow in
23:58
Speaker 1: his footsteps. And then, yeah, just the dedication that my
24:02
Speaker 1: parents had to help us pursue our passions.
24:06
Speaker 4: They they were never pushy.
24:08
Speaker 1: They never felt like we had to swim or never
24:11
Speaker 1: pushed us to follow one path or the other. They
24:15
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that we prioritized our education, really
24:18
Speaker 1: took our studies seriously, and that was the number one
24:22
Speaker 1: thing for them. And then any other activity that we
24:24
Speaker 1: enjoyed doing they were going to support. And that became
24:28
Speaker 1: swimming over the years more and more, and uh so
24:31
Speaker 1: thankfully they were. They were up for the early morning drives.
24:35
Speaker 1: And I actually didn't get my driver's license until I
24:37
Speaker 1: was in college, so they were in it for the law.
24:40
Speaker 1: They were in it for the long haul with me.
24:41
Speaker 4: But what if.
24:44
Speaker 1: I really tried to enjoy all the time that I
24:47
Speaker 1: got to spend with them, you know, in the car
24:49
Speaker 1: going to and from practice to swim meets. I mean,
24:52
Speaker 1: my mom still comes down. I mean she came down
24:55
Speaker 1: to Florida a few weeks ago for a meat that
24:58
Speaker 1: I had. I mean, both my parents have been and
25:02
Speaker 1: my brother have been to every Olympics I've been to,
25:05
Speaker 1: except for Tokyo when they couldn't, and have pretty much
25:09
Speaker 1: been to every World Championships as well. So they've been
25:12
Speaker 1: there every step of the way. My extended family as well.
25:15
Speaker 1: I have one grandmother that's still alive, but all my
25:19
Speaker 1: grandparents have been really influential in my life.
25:22
Speaker 4: She's ninety nine.
25:23
Speaker 1: Years old, and she is just a force and just
25:27
Speaker 1: somebody that I so admire and I so enjoy talking
25:32
Speaker 1: to and learning from. And the love that she shows
25:35
Speaker 1: her family she has a very big family, is just
25:39
Speaker 1: something that I try to keep within me and remind
25:42
Speaker 1: myself of on a day to day basis, or when
25:45
Speaker 1: I'm at competitions, I think of her and think of
25:49
Speaker 1: just the love that I have from my whole family.
25:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so special, and so often we hear that
25:56
Speaker 3: saying in order to be her union to see her.
25:59
Speaker 3: It's very clear that your grandmother was such a powerful
26:01
Speaker 3: example of what being a powerful woman is. Right now,
26:07
Speaker 3: alongside with placing so much emphasis and value on your
26:12
Speaker 3: family and caring so deeply about those relationships, I could
26:15
Speaker 3: imagine that there were some challenges along the way when
26:18
Speaker 3: it came to wanting to show up for your family
26:21
Speaker 3: and then also needing to show up for yourself within training,
26:25
Speaker 3: talk to me a little bit about the sacrifices that
26:28
Speaker 3: you've had to make up until this point of your
26:31
Speaker 3: career in order to perform at the highest level.
26:34
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever really viewed them as sacrifices.
26:38
Speaker 1: I think there are choices that I've made and choices
26:42
Speaker 1: that my family has made with me to you know,
26:45
Speaker 1: help me pursue my goals. I mean, certainly through high school,
26:50
Speaker 1: I would, you know, spend my weekends getting ahead on
26:52
Speaker 1: my homework when I knew that I had some meets
26:55
Speaker 1: coming up in the next couple weeks. So you know,
26:58
Speaker 1: maybe I wasn't out partying as much or going to
27:01
Speaker 1: as many school dances things like that. But you know,
27:04
Speaker 1: I talk a lot about my family, but I've always
27:06
Speaker 1: had really great friends as well that have recognized that
27:10
Speaker 1: I do have these big goals in something that I
27:15
Speaker 1: really care about, and they've always been supportive of that.
27:18
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, my friends, whether or not
27:21
Speaker 1: I could go to certain things, they kept inviting me,
27:24
Speaker 1: and they, you know, always stayed connected. And even beyond
27:29
Speaker 1: high school and beyond college, I've I've stayed connected with
27:32
Speaker 1: those friends. So you know, I wish that I was
27:35
Speaker 1: able to spend more time with them at certain moments
27:38
Speaker 1: throughout those years.
27:40
Speaker 4: But I've really cherished.
27:42
Speaker 1: The moments that I have gotten to spend with them
27:45
Speaker 1: and the connections that I've been able to continue to
27:48
Speaker 1: have with all of them. And I have so many
27:51
Speaker 1: great friends through the sport of swimming as well, and
27:54
Speaker 1: swimmers kind of bond over the challenges that we face
27:58
Speaker 1: in the sport and know just the grind of the
28:03
Speaker 1: training and all of that. And I, as I said,
28:07
Speaker 1: I love it. And so I guess I don't really
28:09
Speaker 1: see it as you know, a sacrifice or something that's
28:13
Speaker 1: gonna drain me or anything. It's something that I love
28:17
Speaker 1: to embrace and I love to, you know, try to
28:20
Speaker 1: do all the little things that will help me achieve
28:23
Speaker 1: my goals. So I'm not like eating fast food or
28:27
Speaker 1: ice cream or things like that every single day. But
28:31
Speaker 1: you know, I like what swimming brings to my life,
28:35
Speaker 1: and I am continuing to do it. I mean, that's
28:37
Speaker 1: why I'm continuing to do it.
28:38
Speaker 4: I guess.
28:40
Speaker 3: I appreciate what you said the note about your friends
28:43
Speaker 3: might know that you can't make it, but they invite
28:46
Speaker 3: you still, And I think that that is such a
28:49
Speaker 3: profound and important thing, Right, just this communication between you
28:54
Speaker 3: and the people that you care about that you do
28:57
Speaker 3: want to be involved, right, It's not that you don't
28:59
Speaker 3: want to be present, and so that's a conversation about
29:03
Speaker 3: intentions and your friends know that you have the best
29:06
Speaker 3: intentions and you also have this very important career like
29:11
Speaker 3: you can have both.
29:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, you know, I think so many of
29:15
Speaker 1: my friends are either swimmers or worst swimmers, or became
29:19
Speaker 1: swim fans through through my.
29:22
Speaker 4: Involvement in the sport.
29:24
Speaker 1: So I've appreciated that and I've appreciated them, you know,
29:28
Speaker 1: understanding what it takes to get to this level.
29:32
Speaker 3: Now, your friends, your family a big tool and let's
29:35
Speaker 3: call it your quote unquote toolbox. What else would you
29:38
Speaker 3: say are tools in the toolbox that you use regularly
29:41
Speaker 3: that help you perform at your best?
29:44
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I guess we haven't really talked much
29:46
Speaker 1: about my coaches, but I've had some incredible coaches over
29:49
Speaker 1: the years. I've actually had four different coaches leading into
29:54
Speaker 1: each of my past four Olympics. I'm sticking with my
29:58
Speaker 1: current current coach going through this Olympic cycle. But yeah,
30:02
Speaker 1: I have really great coaches and great teammates. And then
30:08
Speaker 1: I think, you know, another tool in the toolbox is
30:11
Speaker 1: just the experience that I have the number of years
30:13
Speaker 1: I've put into the sport. At this point, I find
30:17
Speaker 1: that extremely valuable.
30:18
Speaker 4: You know, that's.
30:19
Speaker 1: Something that some of the younger competitors that I'm racing,
30:23
Speaker 1: you know, they're still kind of building that up. So
30:25
Speaker 1: I feel like that's one one thing that I can
30:27
Speaker 1: rely on in the sport now is just the experience
30:31
Speaker 1: and the different things that I've learned about how to
30:34
Speaker 1: push through races, how to prepare for certain races, the expectations,
30:39
Speaker 1: all those things, how to manage.
30:40
Speaker 4: All of that.
30:41
Speaker 1: I think that's something that's in my toolbox. And then
30:44
Speaker 1: I think trying to take it one day at a
30:46
Speaker 1: time and trying to learn each day. And I think
30:50
Speaker 1: just the perspective that I have now kind of this
30:54
Speaker 1: appreciation that I have for the sport at this point
30:58
Speaker 1: in my career, I'm trying to just take advantage of
31:01
Speaker 1: each day that I have in the sport and the
31:04
Speaker 1: opportunities that I have away from the pool as well.
31:07
Speaker 1: So I think having balance in my life has always
31:10
Speaker 1: been important and that's something that I try to always
31:13
Speaker 1: prioritize and think about. Whenever I feel like I'm getting
31:17
Speaker 1: too caught up in the sport or too caught up
31:20
Speaker 1: in my goals, I kind of take a step back
31:24
Speaker 1: and make sure that I have everything in balance. And yeah,
31:27
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for the people around me that ensure that
31:30
Speaker 1: as well.
31:32
Speaker 3: Coaches and experience both really great tools in the toolbox.
31:36
Speaker 3: You mentioned the word goals, and I'd love to talk
31:38
Speaker 3: a little bit about goal setting. What has your practice
31:41
Speaker 3: looked like for goal setting in the past, and how
31:44
Speaker 3: has that evolved for you over time.
31:46
Speaker 1: When I first started out in the sport, my very
31:48
Speaker 1: first goal was to make it across the pool without
31:51
Speaker 1: stopping on the lane line. I swam the twenty five
31:54
Speaker 1: free my first summer of swimming. That was my one event,
31:58
Speaker 1: and I would swim three strokes, grab onto the lane line,
32:01
Speaker 1: wipe my nose, three strokes, grab onto the lane line,
32:05
Speaker 1: take my breath. So my first summer, I achieved my
32:08
Speaker 1: goal of making it across the pool.
32:10
Speaker 4: So that was good. And then beyond that, I started.
32:13
Speaker 1: I started writing down my goals and I called them
32:16
Speaker 1: want times. I didn't call them goal times. I called
32:19
Speaker 1: them want times. And I have no idea how I
32:23
Speaker 1: came up with that. I think I just wanted to
32:24
Speaker 1: come up with something unique and something that was different.
32:28
Speaker 1: Nobody taught me that. Nobody taught me that I should
32:31
Speaker 1: write down my goals, But I really love to do it,
32:35
Speaker 1: and I think it maybe stemmed from my love of math.
32:40
Speaker 4: So I would write down.
32:41
Speaker 1: My times, and then after the race, I would you
32:45
Speaker 1: do the addition and subtraction and check how far away
32:48
Speaker 1: I was from reaching my goal or how much I
32:50
Speaker 1: beat my goal by. So I was doing that at
32:53
Speaker 1: age seven, age eight, and really kept that up for
32:56
Speaker 1: quite a while. I think there came a point where
32:59
Speaker 1: I stopped writing them down before every single meet, but
33:02
Speaker 1: I would write them down before each season and I
33:06
Speaker 1: would review.
33:07
Speaker 4: I would start reviewing them with my coaches.
33:09
Speaker 1: As things got more serious, you know, we'd have kind
33:12
Speaker 1: of goal setting meetings, and even those kind of evolved
33:15
Speaker 1: over the years from just talking about what the goals
33:20
Speaker 1: are to talking about the process in how I was
33:25
Speaker 1: going to reach those goals, what technical things I needed
33:28
Speaker 1: to work on, what splits I needed to hold in
33:30
Speaker 1: my races. As I got older and older and still
33:34
Speaker 1: to this day, I became a student of the sport.
33:37
Speaker 1: I loved watching swimming. I loved watching the best compete
33:41
Speaker 1: and trying to learn from them pick up little tidbits.
33:44
Speaker 4: So, you know, it's evolved over the years.
33:46
Speaker 1: I've written down my goals for some seasons, other seasons
33:50
Speaker 1: I don't. I usually always share those goals with my coach,
33:54
Speaker 1: and often I actually rely on my coach to help
33:59
Speaker 1: me come up with those goals and verbalize those goals.
34:02
Speaker 1: And having a coach verbalize those goals to you can
34:05
Speaker 1: actually give you a lot of confidence. I think, confidence
34:09
Speaker 1: that you know somebody else believes that you can can
34:12
Speaker 1: achieve those things. It's not just some fantasy in your head.
34:16
Speaker 1: It's something that's really attainable.
34:18
Speaker 3: That combination of being able to visualize them by writing
34:21
Speaker 3: it down and then that external validation there that coach
34:25
Speaker 3: that believes in you is really special. I mean for
34:27
Speaker 3: someone like you, fourteen Olympic medals, we've got twenty six
34:31
Speaker 3: total World Championship medals. What kind of goals does someone
34:36
Speaker 3: that's that decorated set today.
34:39
Speaker 1: Well, I'm always looking at the next thing, and I
34:42
Speaker 1: mean this year there's a World Championships in Singapore at
34:45
Speaker 1: the end of July. There'll be a trials meet for
34:48
Speaker 1: that in June. So you know, really my next big
34:52
Speaker 1: goals are for those competitions, and you know, I'm not
34:56
Speaker 1: going to share those with you. I'm sorry, as I said,
34:59
Speaker 1: I really just share them with my coaches. But yeah,
35:02
Speaker 1: I'm just always striving to improve, and I think improvement
35:06
Speaker 1: looks different each year. You know, I don't just set
35:10
Speaker 1: goals for competition. I also set goals in training. So
35:14
Speaker 1: certain sets that I want to do in practice, or
35:17
Speaker 1: certain times I want to achieve in practice, those are
35:20
Speaker 1: kind of goals that I set on a weekly basis.
35:23
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm kind of always trying to stay in
35:28
Speaker 1: the present, I would say, just trying to stay focused
35:31
Speaker 1: on the goal for the day, and then as I
35:35
Speaker 1: achieve those goals, that builds up my confidence moving toward
35:39
Speaker 1: the bigger competitions when I want to achieve my goals
35:43
Speaker 1: for those meets.
35:45
Speaker 3: What's the secret Sauce to picking yourself up when you
35:50
Speaker 3: come up short on your goal?
35:52
Speaker 2: For you? How do you reframe perhaps.
35:56
Speaker 3: Maybe negative self talk that can creep in when things
35:59
Speaker 3: don't go as you helped?
36:00
Speaker 1: Always talking with someone is important, you know. I usually
36:04
Speaker 1: talk with my coaches. We talked through what went right,
36:08
Speaker 1: what went wrong, you know, what were the pros and
36:10
Speaker 1: cons of the performance, and even my very best performances,
36:15
Speaker 1: I would pick apart and find areas for opportunity to improve. So,
36:22
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's always good to evaluate things,
36:26
Speaker 1: and you know, see what you did right, see what
36:29
Speaker 1: you did wrong, See how you can improve your training
36:32
Speaker 1: to be better next time. I think it's you know,
36:36
Speaker 1: in swimming, it's a time based sport, so the scoreboard
36:39
Speaker 1: doesn't lie and you can I think some athletes get
36:42
Speaker 1: caught up in those results and you can kind of
36:45
Speaker 1: get emotional one way or the other based on a performance.
36:49
Speaker 1: But I think the way to get past that is
36:51
Speaker 1: to think about the process and think about what went
36:57
Speaker 1: into that and how that.
36:58
Speaker 4: Process could improve.
37:01
Speaker 1: Or maybe the process went great and you want to
37:03
Speaker 1: replicate that next time and just continue on that path.
37:06
Speaker 1: So I think it's just making it more of a
37:08
Speaker 1: conversation rather than a oh okay, that was the result,
37:14
Speaker 1: that was bad, that was good. It's got to be
37:17
Speaker 1: a little more than that. It's got to be a
37:19
Speaker 1: true evaluation and reflection I think of the whole process.
37:24
Speaker 3: One of the things that I really appreciate about you, Katie,
37:27
Speaker 3: is that you are an athlete who has like your
37:30
Speaker 3: own blinders on. And what I mean by that is
37:33
Speaker 3: that you can hear all of these things about people
37:35
Speaker 3: telling you about how many metals you have, but for you,
37:37
Speaker 3: it's not really about the metals. It's you stacking yourself
37:40
Speaker 3: up against yourself, and I think that that is something that,
37:44
Speaker 3: to your point, a lot of athletes struggle with, right
37:48
Speaker 3: whether it's looking at the clock or comparing yourself to
37:51
Speaker 3: somebody else. For you, how do you no pun intended
37:55
Speaker 3: stay in your own lane?
37:57
Speaker 4: How do you.
37:58
Speaker 3: Keep the blinders on and folks us on the best
38:01
Speaker 3: that you have to give in any given day.
38:04
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's one thing exactly that I
38:06
Speaker 1: can point to, but I I think I would kind
38:10
Speaker 1: of fall back again on on my coaches, uh and
38:13
Speaker 1: kind of the guidance that they've given me over the years,
38:17
Speaker 1: and the kind of the love of training that that
38:20
Speaker 1: they've instilled in me, and you know that comes from
38:23
Speaker 1: them writing great practices and keeping the practice environment really
38:28
Speaker 1: fun and enjoyable. Those things helped me focus on the
38:32
Speaker 1: day to day rather than just the end result. And
38:36
Speaker 1: especially at the level I've been at for the last decade.
38:41
Speaker 1: You know, once once you achieve a world record, it
38:43
Speaker 1: I guess, yes, I I broke those records a few times,
38:46
Speaker 1: but you know, there comes a point where you're not
38:48
Speaker 1: going to go a best time every single race. And
38:51
Speaker 1: I think at first that was that was challenging for
38:54
Speaker 1: me to recognize, but I recognize that I would go
38:59
Speaker 1: to every believing that I could potentially break a world record.
39:04
Speaker 1: That was kind of mindset that I had during this
39:07
Speaker 1: long stretch where I was breaking world records that you know,
39:13
Speaker 1: quote unquote random meets, you know, like like not a
39:16
Speaker 1: World Championships or Olympics, And that was a good thing
39:20
Speaker 1: in that it helped me treat every competition with the
39:25
Speaker 1: same level of focus and determination and you know energy,
39:30
Speaker 1: like I didn't need a full you know, ten thousand
39:33
Speaker 1: people in the stands to get.
39:34
Speaker 4: Me excited to race.
39:35
Speaker 1: I you know, would would put myself in that mindset
39:39
Speaker 1: of Okay, I can I can do something special when
39:42
Speaker 1: I dive in, and even though I know now that
39:45
Speaker 1: that's not going to happen every single time I race,
39:48
Speaker 1: I've tried to hold on to that mindset and have
39:52
Speaker 1: have kind of recognized the bump that that would give me.
39:56
Speaker 1: Treating each race like it's an Olympic final. That brings
40:00
Speaker 1: the best out of me, and that helps me focus
40:04
Speaker 1: in training, helps me, you know, just enjoy the process,
40:08
Speaker 1: knowing that I'm going to, you know, expect the best
40:12
Speaker 1: out of myself each time I get up and race,
40:15
Speaker 1: and so I've got to put in the work every
40:18
Speaker 1: day in training and and and the results will come.
40:37
Speaker 3: As you said, that tool in your toolbox, the experience
40:40
Speaker 3: that enables and empowers you to have this powerful perspective.
40:45
Speaker 3: It also beckons the question what does self talk look
40:50
Speaker 3: like for Katie Lideki.
40:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of describe it as, you know, this
40:56
Speaker 1: this voice in my in my head, it's kind of
40:59
Speaker 1: like someone that's giving me a pep talk. And it's
41:02
Speaker 1: a very direct voice, I would say, especially when I'm
41:06
Speaker 1: I'm racing, you know, it's kind of like someone else's
41:08
Speaker 1: speaking to me. Like I'll tell myself as I'm going
41:11
Speaker 1: into a flip turn, you know, hit that turn, you know,
41:14
Speaker 1: like let's.
41:14
Speaker 4: Go like like just very positive.
41:16
Speaker 1: And then if I'm starting to feel some pain in
41:20
Speaker 1: the middle of a distance race, I'll you know, tell myself,
41:23
Speaker 1: all right, just focus on on the pull or focus
41:27
Speaker 1: on holding rhythm, like very just short direct statements that
41:32
Speaker 1: I'm kind of giving myself. But it's it is almost
41:36
Speaker 1: like somebody else's is giving giving it to me. But
41:41
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately and swimming, we can't have like the
41:44
Speaker 1: headphones that you know, football players or whoever have in
41:48
Speaker 1: their helmets. We don't have that in our swim caps,
41:50
Speaker 1: so we can't have a coach's voice or something like that.
41:54
Speaker 1: But I think that's kind of like the voice that
41:56
Speaker 1: I have in my head, just someone that's kind of
41:58
Speaker 1: cheering me on and you know, pushing me to get
42:00
Speaker 1: past any moments of doubt or any tough moments in
42:05
Speaker 1: a race.
42:06
Speaker 3: Even in the challenging moments. Someone with your level of
42:10
Speaker 3: experience is also dialed in at times into breaking it
42:14
Speaker 3: into little doables.
42:16
Speaker 2: Is that right?
42:16
Speaker 4: Yeah?
42:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, especially in the distance races, I have
42:19
Speaker 1: to do that. So I might get to the thousand
42:22
Speaker 1: mark of the fifteen hundred and I'll start counting down
42:27
Speaker 1: the fifties that I have left. So stop, I'll stop
42:30
Speaker 1: counting up, and I'll start counting down that I have.
42:33
Speaker 1: All right, I have just ten fifties. I have nine fifties.
42:37
Speaker 1: And that makes, you know, the hardest part of the
42:40
Speaker 1: race seem less daunting. It kind of reminds me of
42:44
Speaker 1: all the training that I've done, all the fifties that
42:46
Speaker 1: I've done in practice, ten fifties seems like nothing. So yeah,
42:52
Speaker 1: that's kind of one example. But I think I try
42:55
Speaker 1: to do that on a larger scale as well. When
42:59
Speaker 1: I I'm just thinking about the week of training and
43:03
Speaker 1: trying to be the best that I can be this morning,
43:07
Speaker 1: this afternoon, you know, just each half day.
43:10
Speaker 3: I guess each each and every part holistically. You mentioned
43:14
Speaker 3: and talked a little bit about how the day could
43:16
Speaker 3: look like when we talked about fueling. But what does
43:19
Speaker 3: balance look like for you these days? I know, right now,
43:22
Speaker 3: coming fresh off of Olympic cycle, we will have, you know,
43:26
Speaker 3: worlds down the pipe, But is there a little bit
43:29
Speaker 3: more balance and the EBB and the flow of the
43:31
Speaker 3: year as it goes with competition schedule, or how do
43:34
Speaker 3: you make sure that you're finding time for yourself outside
43:37
Speaker 3: of the pool.
43:38
Speaker 1: I took a little bit of time off after Paris,
43:41
Speaker 1: maybe the longest stretch I had been out of the water.
43:44
Speaker 4: That's not saying too much, though.
43:46
Speaker 1: I was probably out of the water three or four weeks,
43:50
Speaker 1: and then I kind of eased myself back into it.
43:52
Speaker 1: I did quite a bit of travel in September and October,
43:56
Speaker 1: so I was away from my normal training environment. But
44:00
Speaker 1: I did start training or swimming more regularly throughout my travels.
44:05
Speaker 1: You know, swimming actually is a big part of my
44:09
Speaker 1: balance and you know, without it, it throws my balance off.
44:12
Speaker 1: So even while I was traveling, I was searching on
44:16
Speaker 1: the airplane, you know, best pools and such and such city,
44:20
Speaker 1: and I would kind of plot out my lap swim
44:24
Speaker 1: hours and when I was.
44:25
Speaker 4: Going to go hit up the pool. So, you know,
44:28
Speaker 4: I got to.
44:28
Speaker 1: Do some some fun things after after Paris, see some friends,
44:33
Speaker 1: see some family, had some great opportunities to speak to
44:37
Speaker 1: different groups, things like that, And then in October, late October,
44:42
Speaker 1: I came back to Florida and got back into my
44:45
Speaker 1: normal routine of training and kind of setting up the
44:50
Speaker 1: year for you know, leading into the World Championships this summer.
44:53
Speaker 4: So I'm into the.
44:54
Speaker 1: Hard, hard training and have done some racing this year already.
44:59
Speaker 1: And you know, away from the pool, away from training,
45:01
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed getting a lot of time with my family
45:05
Speaker 1: this year. I actually hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas in Florida,
45:09
Speaker 1: which was nice. So had some good time with my
45:12
Speaker 1: family over the holidays, and have really made a lot
45:16
Speaker 1: of great friends in Florida as well over the past
45:20
Speaker 1: three and a half years that I've lived here. So
45:22
Speaker 1: I feel like I have some good roots here now,
45:25
Speaker 1: and I love to spend time with them and do
45:29
Speaker 1: some things out of the pool around here.
45:32
Speaker 3: I can only imagine, like owning or you know, working
45:36
Speaker 3: at a facility in some random town, like maybe outside
45:39
Speaker 3: of Chicago. And Katie Lidecki just like walks up and
45:42
Speaker 3: wants to use the pool for lap swim.
45:44
Speaker 2: Do you have any funny stories about something like that.
45:47
Speaker 4: I have a lot of great stories. I started.
45:50
Speaker 1: I started calling it by lap swim Tour because I
45:53
Speaker 1: would just show up at lap swim, pay my three
45:56
Speaker 1: dollars whatever it was, and it was kind of it
45:59
Speaker 1: was like fun social experiment, I guess, just to see
46:03
Speaker 1: how long it took people to recognize who I was
46:06
Speaker 1: or things like that. I think the best story I
46:09
Speaker 1: have is maybe from Utah. I was there for an
46:14
Speaker 1: event and then I stayed an extra a day or
46:16
Speaker 1: two to visit my aunt and uncle who live in
46:21
Speaker 1: Salt Lake, And so my aunt, who loves to swim
46:23
Speaker 1: as well, came along with me to the pool, and
46:25
Speaker 1: so she got to kind of sit on the.
46:27
Speaker 4: Side and watch it all happen.
46:29
Speaker 1: And actually I was like splitting the lane with someone
46:33
Speaker 1: and that person knew who I was and was very
46:36
Speaker 1: very nice. And then there was a third person that
46:39
Speaker 1: wanted to join the lane, and so we would have
46:41
Speaker 1: to switch from splitting to circle swimming. And the guy
46:46
Speaker 1: that I was originally splitting the lane with felt bad
46:49
Speaker 1: that I would have to circle with all of them,
46:51
Speaker 1: and so he offered to He was like, oh, like,
46:55
Speaker 1: I'll just I'll switch to this lane so you don't
46:57
Speaker 1: have to do three in a lane. Katie, Like, I'll
47:00
Speaker 1: go three in a lane in this lane and then
47:02
Speaker 1: you'll just have to split. And the guy that was
47:04
Speaker 1: just joining the lane was like, what's his problem?
47:08
Speaker 4: You know, like, why does he think we can't go
47:12
Speaker 4: three in a lane? You know, what's the deal? I
47:14
Speaker 4: just kind of laughed it off. I was like, I
47:16
Speaker 4: don't know.
47:16
Speaker 1: I think he just felt like we could could split.
47:19
Speaker 4: He was just being nice.
47:23
Speaker 1: I think maybe by the end of the swim the
47:25
Speaker 1: guy figured it out. But you know, I tried to
47:27
Speaker 1: roll up, like without my ladeci cap and try to
47:31
Speaker 1: be anonymous for as long as I could.
47:35
Speaker 2: Oh man, so good those people have you.
47:37
Speaker 3: They're probably still talking about that in Utah.
47:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, the thing that I got a kick
47:42
Speaker 1: out of was like, once people started talking and sharing
47:45
Speaker 1: with their friends that I was there.
47:47
Speaker 4: I started thinking, Wow, you know, I bet a lot
47:50
Speaker 4: of people are going to show up the next day just.
47:52
Speaker 1: To see if I'm I'm back, and so I'm I
47:55
Speaker 1: think I'm I'm really you know, inspiring people.
47:57
Speaker 4: To get to the pool.
47:58
Speaker 1: So that's it was kind of a fun, fun little
48:01
Speaker 1: thing to do, and again, it kind of kept me,
48:05
Speaker 1: kept me moving and engaged with the water and also
48:09
Speaker 1: engaged with other people. It's fun for me to share
48:12
Speaker 1: my experiences and take pictures and whatever whatever anyone wants
48:17
Speaker 1: to do.
48:17
Speaker 4: I enjoy those moments.
48:19
Speaker 3: I love that, and I love again the good energy
48:21
Speaker 3: that you bring. Now, obviously, not every day is going
48:25
Speaker 3: to be the best day. There are going to be
48:27
Speaker 3: difficult moments in and beyond sport for you. What would
48:31
Speaker 3: you say has been one of the most difficult, challenging
48:35
Speaker 3: hurdles of your career.
48:37
Speaker 1: I think it was probably the year delay of the
48:41
Speaker 1: Olympics in twenty twenty, and that's that's not a unique
48:45
Speaker 1: hurdle for me. That was something that all the Olympic
48:48
Speaker 1: athletes or potential Olympic athletes you know, were dealt and
48:53
Speaker 1: finding how to train during that time and how to
48:57
Speaker 1: stay connected with other people.
48:59
Speaker 4: I mean, that was a challenge for everyone.
49:01
Speaker 1: So again, trying to keep things in perspective at all times.
49:05
Speaker 1: I think, trying to be grateful that we still had
49:07
Speaker 1: the opportunity to strive for our goals even though they
49:11
Speaker 1: were a year delayed. That was what I kept reminding
49:14
Speaker 1: myself of. But you know how important family is to me,
49:18
Speaker 1: So probably the biggest challenge for me was being away
49:21
Speaker 1: from my family for so long. I was out in
49:24
Speaker 1: California at Stanford training in the Bay Area, and my
49:28
Speaker 1: family was in Maryland or on the East Coast, and so,
49:32
Speaker 1: you know, that was probably the longest stretch of time
49:35
Speaker 1: that I had been without family. I think it was
49:39
Speaker 1: a full year where I didn't have any contact with
49:42
Speaker 1: any physical contact with my family. I say that because
49:46
Speaker 1: I probably FaceTime my parents, you know, two or three
49:49
Speaker 1: times a day part of that stretch. But yeah, I
49:52
Speaker 1: think it was just a real challenge to see the
49:55
Speaker 1: finish line at times, or not know if the finish
49:58
Speaker 1: line was going to be there. I mean, I think
50:00
Speaker 1: even a month out of the Olympics, there was still
50:04
Speaker 1: some chatter out there that maybe they'll still cancel it.
50:07
Speaker 1: You just couldn't one hundred percent see that it was
50:10
Speaker 1: going to happen at any time. So there was just
50:12
Speaker 1: always this uncertainty, I think, looming, and that just was
50:16
Speaker 1: a challenge knowing how much hard work we had all
50:19
Speaker 1: put in. But again, perspective was key, knowing that that
50:22
Speaker 1: was absolutely necessary to postpone the games. Of course, health
50:26
Speaker 1: was number one thing. Always trying to keep things in
50:30
Speaker 1: perspective was probably the biggest challenge.
50:33
Speaker 3: Now, someone goes to your Instagram page and they see
50:38
Speaker 3: the smiling Katie Lideki, this four time US Olympic swimmer,
50:42
Speaker 3: a nine time Olympic gold medalist, a twenty one.
50:44
Speaker 2: Time world champion.
50:46
Speaker 3: But when you look in the mirror, Katie, what is
50:49
Speaker 3: it that you see looking back at you.
50:53
Speaker 1: I mean, at five am, I don't look very pretty,
50:58
Speaker 1: but I try to give myself off a smile as
51:01
Speaker 1: I'm brushing my teeth and getting ready for practice. When
51:04
Speaker 1: you say mirror, I guess I think of the mirror
51:06
Speaker 1: that I have back at home in Bethesda, Maryland. It's
51:10
Speaker 1: kind of like a it's my bathroom mirror, and it's
51:13
Speaker 1: kind of like a time capsule in a way because
51:16
Speaker 1: I actually have like.
51:18
Speaker 4: Some of my goals written up.
51:19
Speaker 1: I think it's actually some technique things that I had
51:22
Speaker 1: typed up that I had taped to my mirror at
51:24
Speaker 1: one point. And then there's also one of these, like
51:28
Speaker 1: one of those pink circular sticker things that you can
51:32
Speaker 1: write on kind of like a whiteboard, and I have
51:35
Speaker 1: like a list that I'd written up once of things
51:39
Speaker 1: not to forget to pack for a swim meet or something.
51:42
Speaker 1: So it's it's always funny to go back home and
51:46
Speaker 1: see that. And then I also see there's there's like
51:49
Speaker 1: a road to London sticker that I put up on
51:52
Speaker 1: my mirror before the London Olympics, probably back before I
51:56
Speaker 1: even had qualified for Olympic trials. And so when I
52:00
Speaker 1: see that, and when I go home now and I
52:03
Speaker 1: see that and I look at myself in the mirror,
52:06
Speaker 1: I guess I still can't believe that I've made it
52:09
Speaker 1: this far in the sport, because, as I said, when
52:12
Speaker 1: I was six, I just started for fun and had
52:15
Speaker 1: no aspirations or no belief that the Olympics would be
52:19
Speaker 1: in my future.
52:20
Speaker 3: I think that's just such a special reminder for so
52:22
Speaker 3: many of us. Right we're talking to this beautiful decorated athlete,
52:27
Speaker 3: and there was a time even in your journey where
52:30
Speaker 3: you were a beginner and you only get and I
52:34
Speaker 3: say this like a privilege, like you only get to
52:36
Speaker 3: be a beginner once. And for you, when you were
52:39
Speaker 3: a beginner, you distinctly remember just wanting to make it
52:42
Speaker 3: to the other side of the pool, right, And there's
52:45
Speaker 3: so much to take from that.
52:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we're all but we're all beginners when
52:50
Speaker 1: we start. I did not look like an Olympian when
52:55
Speaker 1: I started.
52:56
Speaker 4: I did not.
52:58
Speaker 1: You know, my mom swam in college, but it's not
53:01
Speaker 1: like she was an Olympian or anything like that. I'm
53:04
Speaker 1: not like denegrating her accomplishments, but it's like, it's not
53:09
Speaker 1: like I had someone right in front of me that
53:12
Speaker 1: had done it, that made it real for me or
53:14
Speaker 1: made it seem possible right from the get go. I
53:18
Speaker 1: certainly had those role models that I looked up to
53:21
Speaker 1: in the sport. From a young age. There was some
53:23
Speaker 1: great female distance swimmers in the Maryland, Virginia area, Katie Hoff,
53:28
Speaker 1: Kate Ziegler that I looked up to. And once I
53:31
Speaker 1: started loving swimming and watching swimming more and more, I.
53:35
Speaker 4: Would watch the Olympics on TV.
53:37
Speaker 1: And just think that these people were superheroes and just
53:42
Speaker 1: like you had to be a different sort of person
53:44
Speaker 1: or it just wasn't attainable. It just it's something that's
53:48
Speaker 1: on your TV and you know you're never going to
53:50
Speaker 1: get to experience that. But I think, just as we've
53:53
Speaker 1: talked about, I think just taking it one step at
53:55
Speaker 1: a time and just enjoying each step along the way
53:59
Speaker 1: helped me get there and help me get to the
54:01
Speaker 1: point where that would be my next step.
54:04
Speaker 3: It's so special now because we said before that line,
54:06
Speaker 3: in order to be her, you need to see her,
54:08
Speaker 3: you articulating that in its true form right here now.
54:12
Speaker 3: For so many you are her. What does it mean
54:15
Speaker 3: to you at this point to now be this woman? Again,
54:19
Speaker 3: we mentioned the power of she collective, to be this
54:22
Speaker 3: person that is at the forefront of women's sports, someone
54:26
Speaker 3: that so many people aspire to be. Like, whether we're
54:30
Speaker 3: talking about being in the pool or well beyond.
54:32
Speaker 1: It, you know, the power of she. It's all about
54:35
Speaker 1: women moving women forward. And that's something that I feel
54:39
Speaker 1: really passionate about and I feel very lucky to be
54:44
Speaker 1: in the position that I'm in to be around other
54:48
Speaker 1: great female athletes and great female swimmers, great female coaches
54:53
Speaker 1: like just I have all these experiences where I just
54:57
Speaker 1: kind of take a step back and enjoy where I'm
55:01
Speaker 1: at currently and just remind myself of the impact that
55:05
Speaker 1: I can have on on young girls and on on women.
55:09
Speaker 1: And as we've talked about, it's something that I truly
55:12
Speaker 1: enjoy and I truly enjoy hearing other other stories and
55:17
Speaker 1: stories of people's journey through sport and through movement, and
55:21
Speaker 1: and I think it's just something that connects everyone. It's
55:26
Speaker 1: you know, everyone has their own passions, but I think everyone,
55:31
Speaker 1: regardless of what those passions may be, is trying to
55:35
Speaker 1: be the best version of them themselves. And if we
55:38
Speaker 1: can encourage each other to pursue those passions, pursue those
55:43
Speaker 1: big goals, beautiful things happen, and you'll learn new things
55:47
Speaker 1: about yourself. You'll you'll learn new things about each other,
55:51
Speaker 1: and you'll find commonalities.
55:53
Speaker 4: With with other people.
55:55
Speaker 1: You'll you'll find differences, but you'll you'll learn from those experiences.
55:59
Speaker 4: And that to me.
56:01
Speaker 1: Is much more valuable than a gold medal or a
56:05
Speaker 1: silver medal, bronze medal record just getting to connect with
56:08
Speaker 1: other people and such a wide range of people and
56:12
Speaker 1: getting these international experiences. Those are things that are way
56:16
Speaker 1: more important to me than anything that the scoreboard says
56:19
Speaker 1: at this point in my career.
56:20
Speaker 3: Together, we have the opportunity to lift each other up.
56:24
Speaker 3: Right now, Katie, you have the opportunity to offer yourself
56:27
Speaker 3: a piece of advice. You talked about the hurdle moment
56:29
Speaker 3: that was going through the pandemic and the delay of
56:32
Speaker 3: those goals.
56:33
Speaker 2: Knowing what you know now.
56:35
Speaker 3: Katie, what would you tell yourself going through that hurdle moment?
56:40
Speaker 1: I would tell myself keep it moving. That's something that
56:44
Speaker 1: is a phrase that a great coach, John R. Banchik,
56:47
Speaker 1: who just passed away last year, would always say to
56:50
Speaker 1: his swimmers, and it is just a cherished phrase of
56:53
Speaker 1: mine and something that I often tell myself now that
56:57
Speaker 1: he can't tell all of us. So yeah, keep it moving,
57:02
Speaker 1: very very simple, but really can be applied.
57:04
Speaker 4: To sport life day to day.
57:08
Speaker 1: If you keep moving forward, you're gonna make progress, You're
57:11
Speaker 1: gonna have a good day.
57:13
Speaker 2: You're gonna have a good day.
57:14
Speaker 3: Keep it moving, Katie Ladeki, truly such a joy for me.
57:17
Speaker 3: I can't even tell you. For those that may not
57:20
Speaker 3: be following along with you who would just yet. I
57:22
Speaker 3: don't know who those people are, but just in case,
57:24
Speaker 3: how do we keep up with you on Instagram?
57:27
Speaker 2: Give us your details.
57:28
Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram at Katie Ladeki.
57:31
Speaker 4: That's it.
57:32
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Abodi and at Hurdle Podcast Another
57:35
Speaker 3: hurdle concord.
57:37
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time