Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 241. Katie Hoff Anderson, Former Pro Swimmer & 3x Olympic Medalist

Transcript

241. Katie Hoff Anderson, Former Pro Swimmer & 3x Olympic Medalist · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Understanding that every single person, no matter what it looks
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  Speaker 1: like on social media or you know how successful they've been,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: everyone is going through those things and the people that
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  Speaker 1: are relentless are the ones that keep trudging and keep
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  Speaker 1: rising above.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, Emily Abadi here. You are listening to episode
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  Speaker 2: two hundred and forty one of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Reconnect with everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: and industry CEOs about their highest highs, toughest moments, and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: everything in between. We all go through hurdles in life,
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  Speaker 2: and my goal through these discussions is to empower you
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  Speaker 2: to better navigate yours and move with intention so that
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  Speaker 2: you can stride towards your own big potential and of
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  Speaker 2: course have some fun along the way. For today's episode
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  Speaker 2: number two forty one, I am chatting with Katie hoff Anderson, who,
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  Speaker 2: at just fifteen years old, made her first Olympic team
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  Speaker 2: Once Tales as the female Michael Phelps. She withstood so
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  Speaker 2: much pressure and emerged from years of effort and valuable
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  Speaker 2: lessons learned on what it takes to succeed and power
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  Speaker 2: through bitter disappointment as an eight time world champion and
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  Speaker 2: two time Olympian with a silver and two bronze medals,
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  Speaker 2: all before retiring. In today's episode, we talk about the
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: importance of mental health, something that she says wasn't really
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: talked about back when she was competing, plus how happy
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  Speaker 2: she is to be a part of driving that conversation
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  Speaker 2: and the importance of us taking care.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Of ourselves today.
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  Speaker 2: She also talks about transitioning out of being a full
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  Speaker 2: time athlete and what that has looked like run a
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  Speaker 2: business with her husband, Todd, as well as getting into
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  Speaker 2: the speaking circuit, plus the female empowerment work she's doing
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: alongside companies like the Lash Lounge, and what it means
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  Speaker 2: to have a relentless spirit. Such a oh Man, such
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: a good conversation here, So happy to bring it to
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  Speaker 2: the feed. Appreciate Katie's transparency and honesty, and also after
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  Speaker 2: this combo, I was super inspired to go grab her book.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: It's called Blueprint. I'm going to link to it in
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: the show notes.
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• 3:03
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• 3:06
  Speaker 2: from you the hurdlers last week that you love five
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Minute Friday. But if you want me to keep making it,
• 3:12
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  Speaker 2: your mind, any question, nothing's off limits. Click on over
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  Speaker 3: That's it for now. With that, let's get to it.
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  Speaker 3: Let's get it to a hurdling today.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I am chatting with Katie hoff Anderson. She is a
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  Speaker 2: two time Olympian, a three time medalist, an eight time
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  Speaker 2: world champion swimmer.
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  Speaker 3: How are you doing, Katie?
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I'm great, How are you? Thanks for having me?
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  Speaker 3: I am so good.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so happy to have you here today, three days ago,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: you moved to Nashville.
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  Speaker 3: How does it feel.
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  Speaker 1: It feels amazing. Honestly, we're one. We have a ton
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: more space, so it's an actual house, and I've done
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: apartment living. I've lived in Miami, Chicago, New York, so
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  Speaker 1: that is amazing. I didn't understand the value of space
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: until he got here. And then two we already did
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  Speaker 1: a big neighborhood run and I just love the environment.
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  Speaker 1: So we're really really happy.
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  Speaker 2: You're no stranger, as you said, to moving around. Do
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: we expect that Nashville will be a little bit more permanent?
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  Speaker 1: That is the hope. I hope. I feel like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: every city I've moved to, there's been some like, oh, like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we'll deal with this or deal with that.
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  Speaker 1: And I feel like Nashville, for both me and my husband,
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  Speaker 1: feels like it checks all the boxes in every way business, personal, family.
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  Speaker 1: So we're hoping, we're hoping that the ten moves in
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  Speaker 1: ten years is over and we can be here and
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  Speaker 1: we can be here long term.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, ten moves in ten years. I can't
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  Speaker 2: even process that. I mean, I've moved four times in
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  Speaker 2: ten years, and I thought that was a lot.
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  Speaker 1: You know, and I feel like every time I'm like, okay, well,
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  Speaker 1: like I'm more experienced, Like it's fine. It sucks every
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  Speaker 1: single time, Like no matter how prepared you are, you know,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: how far in advance you plan, But you know, we
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  Speaker 1: got through it. Shout out to my mom who flew
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  Speaker 1: down from Baltimore and helped us drive a twenty foot
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: U haul truck. So that was really helpful. But we're
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: getting settled and you know, it's it's worth it's worth it.
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  Speaker 3: Moms are always the MVPs.
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  Speaker 2: Well again, despite the craziness, I'm happy that you were
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  Speaker 2: able to make the time to sit down.
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  Speaker 3: Ten moves in ten years life.
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  Speaker 2: So life is looking a lot different these days than
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: it used to for you. You had highlighted that this
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  Speaker 2: will be a good fit for you when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to career.
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  Speaker 3: So what are you up to right now, Katie?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. A variety of different things, which is
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  Speaker 1: kind of how I like it. And I like to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: stay busy, so I do some work with my husbands.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: We have a company called Synergy dry Land. So it's
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: actually a lot of people don't know this, but swimmers
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  Speaker 1: have to do things on land and we have to
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: be coordinated, and we have to build strength and mobility
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  Speaker 1: and stability. And so we have a virtual company that
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  Speaker 1: works with some chains across the nation to help their swimmers,
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  Speaker 1: you know, stay injury free and be faster. So that's
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: been really really rewarding and fun to be involved in
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the sport in a way that I never imagined. I
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: do some advocacy work with the National Blood plot Alliance.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I do different speaking and motivational work with different companies,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and most recently started to work with the Lash Lounge,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: which has been fantastic just because they have such an
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: amazing message in terms of empowering women and helping to
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: instill confidence, which is obviously literally all I'm all about.
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  Speaker 1: So that's been fun.
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  Speaker 2: So many things to dive into here. Wow, no pun intended.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I've ever used that a podcast.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: It just came to you because.
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  Speaker 3: You mentioned doing work with the Blood Clot Alliance.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: For those that may not be familiar with your story,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: can you tell us a little bit about why that
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  Speaker 2: is a cause that's so close to your heart.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So my career actually ended because I got a
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: pulmonary embolism. And I say that in explaining what a
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: pulmonary embolism is, because when I was diagnosed, I had
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  Speaker 1: no idea what that meant. You know, how many people
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  Speaker 1: die a year, Like, there's just not a lot of
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  Speaker 1: resources and understanding of how deadly a blood clot can be.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I ended up having two in my right lung.
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  Speaker 1: Took me forever to get diagnosed, and finally got the
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  Speaker 1: diagnosis after about two months. And you know, obviously in
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  Speaker 1: any sport in life, but specifically in swimming, lungs are
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  Speaker 1: kind of important. And so it was something, yeah, something
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  Speaker 1: that was career ending and just felt i mean devastated
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  Speaker 1: and lost in all of the emotions. And so now
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  Speaker 1: being able to speak with physicians, speak with doctors, build
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  Speaker 1: out resources for people of things that I didn't have
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  Speaker 1: when I was diagnosed, which was back in twenty fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: has been extremely I would say, the silver lining of
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  Speaker 1: of something that was obviously, you know, very very tough
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  Speaker 1: at the time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I cannot even imagine how it must have felt
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  Speaker 2: for you to go so long without a diagnosis.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I felt crazy. You know, like as
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  Speaker 1: an athlete, you're just one. You're just trained to push
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  Speaker 1: through everything. So I think part of that mentality of
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  Speaker 1: just pushing through. I didn't even understand the early signs
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  Speaker 1: and symptoms, and then to have this, I mean it
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: was like literally a sword was being shoved in my
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  Speaker 1: rib area. I passed out because I couldn't even take
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in air, and then I was told that I it
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: was just like an intercostal strain, which is still painful,
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  Speaker 1: but I was like, I think I can push through that.
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  Speaker 1: This seems different. And I mean doctor to doctor to
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  Speaker 1: doctor just kind of profiling me as, oh, well, you're healthy,
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  Speaker 1: you're strung, like you know what's going on, and then
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  Speaker 1: ultimately being told you know, your your career is over,
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  Speaker 1: but you should be grateful to be alive, which I
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  Speaker 1: always when I when I speak to doctors and like
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  Speaker 1: that's awesome, But I don't want to just be alive.
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  Speaker 1: I want to thrive. And imagine someone came into your
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  Speaker 1: office and was like, hey, you know all the work
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  Speaker 1: you did to go through medical school and you know,
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  Speaker 1: putting your time and your residency and have someone come
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  Speaker 1: in and be like, guess what, You're no longer practicing medicine,
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  Speaker 1: but grateful to be alive, you know, And I think
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  Speaker 1: that's part of my message is helping to educate how
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  Speaker 1: to work with patients who do survive.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, there's one hundred thousand people that die a year,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: which is not okay, and that number needs to go down.
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  Speaker 1: But the people that get the diagnosis like the PTSD,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: which I still have, and the trauma of not feeling
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  Speaker 1: like you can return to normal life affects I mean
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  Speaker 1: millions of people.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And for you at that time career ending injury,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: did you feel like you had more to give?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean. The the sad part about it is,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: so I had my first two Olympics and my second Olympics,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you know, was crazy. So I'm five events and was
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: called the female Michael Phelps, which amazing honor, but intense
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: amount of pressure, and I truly didn't really enjoy like
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  Speaker 1: sit there and be like, wow, I have haf on
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: my cap, I have you know, you know, I'm representing
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the United States. I didn't ever really get to appreciate
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: those moments because I was always just like next thing,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: next thing, next thing. And so when I made a
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: comeback for twenty sixteen, I was actually at a stage
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: in my career where I could enjoy the training enjoy
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the process. I feel like I was really owning everything
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I was doing, and I had enough perspective to actually
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: look around and go, wow, this is this is really special.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And so to be thwarted that ability to come back
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and make my third team and actually appreciate the moment
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: was really tough because I felt like I was really
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: hitting my stride. I was training out of this world.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I was training, you know, top times, and so my husband.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I always say, like the only people that truly knew
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: what I was about to accomplish was my coach, my husband,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and me, and maybe a couple of teammates. But I
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: think that part, you know, whenever you end something, regardless
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: whether it's in sport or career personal, and it's not
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: on your own terms, it's really really difficult to handle
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: that and know what to do next.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: What changed? And I asked that in what changed for you?
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Going from this place of what's next, what's next?
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: What's next?
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  Speaker 2: To being able to appreciate the moment that you were
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: in and the journey that you were on.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I think a couple of different things. I took a
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: year off, so you know, between leading up to two
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: thousand and four, I mean I was fifteen years old
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: at my first Olympics, so I wasn't have a licen
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: like I didn't have the maturity to look around and
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: not do what's next, look's next? And I think, you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: after two thousand and eight, it was again it was
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: like I didn't have a I didn't have enough time,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I didn't have enough awareness to realize that I needed
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to take a second, maybe work through it in therapy.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: You know. I always say, like, back then, it's you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: mental health, and that piece of things wasn't talked about
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: in the same way that is in twenty twenty three,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and so I wish that I had talked about it
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and worked through everything that had happened at that point.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I think it wouldn't have felt like I was just
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: like kind of being tossed around and not really owning
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and conquering what was in front of me. And so
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I think just time, which is always such a hard
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: thing for people to hear, is like just time, just
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: be patient, right, There's no magic bullet, but that for
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: me was what it was. And then deciding on my
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: own terms, Okay, like I want to do this, I
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: want to make a comeback. I'm grateful for what this
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: sport is giving me. That I think was the biggest difference.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: This topic of mental health something that has become so
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: much more openly discussed these days. When you see that,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: how does that make you feel? Reflecting on your journey, A.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Couple of feelings one maybe a slight amount of regret
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: as I wish that that was there. I wish that
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I had focused more and I sought out some but
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think I realized just how impactful that can be.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: And then I would say, just you know, excitement for
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: others that that is something that's being talked about and
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that is something that hopefully is going to allow athletes
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and you know, anyone continue on and find more happiness
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and joy. I think a lot of times you just
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: shove it down, you keep going forward, and you don't
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: realize that it's festering and it's you know, contributing to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: why you're irritated, or why you're acting a certain way,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: or why you're you know, not treating someone the way
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: they should be treated. You don't realize it. And I
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: think now, because it is so prolific and it is
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: so talked about, people are going to therapy and chatting
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: through it, and I'm hoping it just makes a kinder
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: world out there, which several ways to go, but I'm
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: hoping that that's what it can do.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: It also like brings us forward to that moment when
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: you're talking about having all of this pain, right when
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: it came to the blood clots, and you know that
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: in itself, having a constant pain, it's distracting and its
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: anxiety inducing, and it produces this catabolic energy which then
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: prevents you from being your true self. Right if you
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: have this constant pain and all of this energy present
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: that distracts you from what's going on, then not only
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: is that going to prevent you from executing and acting
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: how you wish to act.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: But it's also going to affect you mentally.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. I mean I at the point of,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: you know, seven weeks before I got diagnosed, I was like, Okay,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I'm just not as tough as I thought I was,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you know, made to Olympic teens, won Olympic medals. I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: guess I'm not that tough. You know, I just couldn't.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I kept trying to practice and I just couldn't do it.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: And so I mean I was I was. I've had
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a couple of lows in my life in my career,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: but that was one of the lowest. I just my
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: entire identity was being tough and pushing through things and
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: being able to go after it, and this was kind
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: of the first time where I just couldn't, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: my body was just not letting it happen. And I
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: mean I remember just every time I go to an
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: appointment being like, please, let there be something wrong with me.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: At this point, like I don't care what it is,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I just need to have some type of answer.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, at that point when you were in this low place,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: talk to me about the day to day.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: What were you doing to cope with the uncontrollable.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Crying. I mean, definitely upset. I think the thing that
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: got me through was just my supports, you know, my
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: my husband, my parents, you know, close friends, my coach.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I just I'm someone who like I have to keep
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I have. I always say I have to go emotional
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: first in order to get to logical. And you obviously
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: have to get to logical in order to make decisions
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and you know, drive forward action. But I have to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: get it all out first to make sense of things.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: And so for me, I mean, prior to the diagnosis,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I just kept trying, like I kept trying different doctors,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: kept asking questions, kept trying to advocate for myself. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: then once the diagnosis was there, it was that next
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: step of okay, like, here's what it is, like you
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: need to decide are you going to keep trying to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: make this work or are you going to close a chapter?
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: And that again was a lot of talking to my
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: inner circle, all of those things to ultimately arrive at
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the right decision.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I want to dial it back to the beginning of
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: your journey going into your first Olympics at fifteen years old.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: What was it like for.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: You at that point to have eyes on you as
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: a young teenager?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Very surreal, And I don't think I even had an
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: appreciation for it until now, because now we work with
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: young athletes and I see their day to day and
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: what they go through and different pressures that happened at
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: a meat and I look at that, I'm like, oh
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: my gosh, like I was having, you know, the Today
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Show and all these big outlets, and you know, millions
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: of people put these expectations on me, and I actually
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: don't even I mean I didn't handle it well, but
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: to I mean had I hadn't ever been on a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: national team. I hadn't ever been out of the country.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I hadn't been away from my parents for more than
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: three days, and it was six weeks. Like there were
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: so many things that put me in such a uncomfortable
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and new and foreign situation. I just remember feeling like
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: a deer in the headlights, being excited that I was
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: on Olympic team, and then having this realization of like,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I've been drinking of the going in
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the Olympics my whole life. That now means I have
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to go compete in the Olympics and not just make
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the team. And yeah, it was. It was really tough,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and I felt I now, I feel like I had
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: imposter syndrome. I didn't. I didn't, you know. I was
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: looking at people on the team and I had their
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: like Jenny Thompson is just an legendary swimmer, and I
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: had her poster on my wall like two years before.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: So like it was this like massive jump and leap
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: into the spotlight, and uh, yeah, I just I just
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: wasn't ready for it. Mentally physically, I'd say I was
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: but just mentally emotionally, it was not ready.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I giggle a little bit about like the line my
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: whole life at fifteen, right, like so much work had
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: already gone into it at that point, and you were
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: about to step onto such a world stage at such
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: an early early age. It's truly truly phenomenal. When you
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: showed up to competition, were you able to express any
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: of these feelings or did you feel like part of
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the whole.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Shabang was keeping those to yourself?
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean at that point, you know, my coach
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't able to come on the trip. It's interesting how
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the Olympic team works. They select certain coaches and so
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're newer, you aren't seeing a lot
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: of events you your coach doesn't come with you. So
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I had anyone that I could
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: express that to. And I also feel like I didn't
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: know if other people were feeling the same way, Like
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: when I looked around, like everyone seemed confident and happy,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and you know, no one seemed like they were freaking out,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: which I now know is the opposite. Everyone's freaking out,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: everyone's nervous. It doesn't matter if you're Michael Phelps or
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: anyone else you are, you're freaking out. It's the Olympics.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: And so keeping that in for me, especially the way
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: like I'm such an extrovert, I have to get things out.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I just like have to throw up my feelings and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: so that I think I think if I'd had someone
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: there or and I think they've done a much better
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: job as we've gone forward. Like I hear about Experience says,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: now there's a lot of younger girls who are on
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the team and there's that support system, but it just
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: wasn't there. I just there was even some bullying that
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: was happening on the team. So it was just yeah,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: just an all around like name all the things that
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: could be challenging, and they were there.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: So you said it, not me, the words throw up.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did not mean to lead you into that,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: but yeah, but you did, but I did actually not
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: just figuratively.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh my gosh, scarring for life.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean so. And it's funny because people are
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: people always say like, oh, you threw up because it
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: was so painful, and it's like, well, yeah, the four
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: under I am, which was my still to this day,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: my best race, is really painful, but I think it
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: just I got in the ready room, looked around, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I think I stopped breathing in the reading room for
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the you know, five to eight minutes before we paraded
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: out for prelims. And so I remember hitting the tune
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: fifty meter mark, which you still have one hundred and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: fifty meters to go, like a minute and forty seconds,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and I was like, I literally have nothing left. Like
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: that went through my head. And so I think it was,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: you know, a build up of lactic acid, but it
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: wasn't any more painful than I'd experienced before and getting
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: out and just feeling so sick to my stomach and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: throwing up all over the pull deck in front of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the entire stadium on TV cameras. I always say, like,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: imagine you have a dream, like you know, when you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: have like a big speech or event or something at
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: work and you have usually I usually have dreams or
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: nightmares of something that could happen. And I always say, like,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: you know that nightmare that you have, like that was
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: actually my reality, Like, oh, I threw up all over
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: National TV, and I mean thank god that, you know,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Instagram wasn't what it is today and social media because
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I came and imagine how much more humiliating that would
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: have been. But I mean even for about eight months
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: after that, like if you googled my name, that was
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the first Google image that popped up, and my parents
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: actually had to call and say, you plase take down
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: this picture of like our daughter, like literally mid throw up.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: So you know, I think in the moment, I was
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: probably a little bit more oblivious to it, thank goodness,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: But I was still reading stuff and seeing things, And
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: I mean that could have been the end right there,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to be honest with you.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: But it wasn't the end.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Also, I think there are a lot of people that
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: would like love the phone number of who they can
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: contact a Google to like switch whatever photos are in
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: their search history up. But for you, like I said,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: wasn't the end. In fact, you went on to do
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: some really really amazing things. I mean three gold medals
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: two thousand and five World Championships, three more in two
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: thousand and seven, and then on to Beijing. So once
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you get to Beijing, are you going into this with
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: the mindset like this is my time?
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean I kind of went on a revenge
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: tour after two thousand and four, and I've just had
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: this moment of like I can go this way and
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: be done, or I can show that, you know, this
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: meet was just not a fluke and I'm here to stay.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: And I obviously went on that I'm here to stay
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to do this. And so I mean,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: from that, from oh four to eight, I felt like
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I could do no wrong. Like I just had such momentum,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and I was you know, breaking American records and world records,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and it just felt like all the stars were aligning.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And so yeah, I mean, oh eight, very much in
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: my mind was like here's where I you know, here's
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: where I do it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I've done everything that up until this point of you know,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: American it's kind of like your world championship, gold medal,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: American record, world record, those are kind of all the
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: boxes to check. And then at the same time, obviously,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: because I was swimming so many events, the comparisons to
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Michael Phelps were inevitable, especially because we both were repped
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: by Speedo and we both you know, were young at
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: fifteen when we made our first Olympics, same club team.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So there was like, good job media, Like it's not that,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: it's not that creative to make these comparisons, but it's
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: certainly added about, you know, a thousand pounds of expectations
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: on my shoulders when I hadn't even one one Olympic
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: medal heading into two thousand and eight.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just sitting here thinking, like trying and put
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: myself in your shoes and thinking about what would be
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: for me, like a deep desire just for people to
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: refer to me as me, not to discredit, Like how
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: cool it could be to compare be compared to Michael
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Phelps briefly, But the like expectation and nature of that
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: just gives me anxiety sitting where I am.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, uh yeah, I mean and again like you're
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: when you when you're in it and things are swirling,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: you don't even realize you're just kind of like in
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: survival mode. And so I remember when the comparisons started happening,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and I just thought, oh my gosh, like I'm not
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: ecal medals, I'm not going in ranked you know, first
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: in all my events. And I remember I had traded
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the world record back and forth with Stephanie Rice, the
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Australian actually so a good friend of mine, and just thinking,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: you know, even if I have some of my best swims,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: which I just had an insane Olympic Trials at won
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: five events. Like I was still I still felt the
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: weight of the world on my shoulders because obviously you're
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: doing interviews and I only could control what I could control.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: But I just remember feeling like this feeling and pit
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of my stomach. The closer we got, right and after
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: you make the team, they do a better job of this.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Now you actually get to go home and spend time
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: with your you know, your club team and all that.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: But at the time you literally like send a box
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of clothes to training camp because you go straight from
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Olympic Trials. It's an eight day meet. It's grueling, it's
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: it's the United States. So you have to be, i mean,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: on your a game to make the team, and you
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: just go immediately into training camp, which is in California,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: so there's no break there. And I just remember, you know,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: we have I'm like, all right, we have what forty
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: three days till the games. Each day they got closer.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: It was just like there was like a you know,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: twisting and just kept twisting tighter and tighter, you know,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: until day one of the games.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and did you feel as though when you didn't
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: win the gold and the four hundred free and you
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: then you know, there's it takes two world records to
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: beat what is your original four hundred individual medley like
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: it for you? Did you feel like that was worse
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: because of all these comparisons that have been made between
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: you and Phelps.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: One hundred percent? You know, I actually I'll share this.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I have the video. I will probably never post it,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: but you know, you look at how athletes are celebrated
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: right now. Right if someone who's coming up and they
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: don't have you know, phelpsy and expectations on them, they
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: win a silver medal and they're celebrated, and people are like,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: they want to medal in general, and they're celebrated, right
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: And I had this moment during the last Olympics where
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I started crying because I was watching these athletes be
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: celebrated and they were excited, they were hugging because they
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: want to medal for their country. And I never got
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that feeling because it it's like, well, yeah, if you're
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: expect to win ecle medals, winning three medals isn't you know,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: a success. But I just had I just felt like Wow,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Like I feel like, and maybe it's just where I'm
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: at and my you know, my perspective, but I felt
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: like athletes who were just winning medals and maybe it
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: wasn't gold were really being celebrated, and I was like, wow,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: that's so cool, because it gives me chills to talk about,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: like it's so cool. But when I look back on
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the experience, it was actually a really good meat for me.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: You know, the Fountre I AM was like half a
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: second off my best time ever, which was, like you said,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the world record at the trials, and just on that day, right,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: two women went faster, the foreigner free. You know, I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: got touched out, but you know it was that was
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: probably the one that wasn't my best race. But I
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: actually wasn't the favorite in that race at all. It
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: was definitely the forunton i AM broke the American record
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and the tu undred three fast time ever by American.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Three people happened to go faster anchored the relay, the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: fastest split ever by an American, and again like we
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: broke the road record, but two other teams did too,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: So just I mean, there's just so many instances where
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I just kept in every race. I just kept getting
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: pummeled by the media, Like we call it the mixed zone.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So when you get out of the pool, first of all,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you like can't breathe, like dying, and you have to
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: go through this little maze where like all the media
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: from all over the world is and it just I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: just kept getting like, what happened? What happened? Are you upset?
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: You know? And like I just you know, especially the
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: day one, like I just won my first Olympic medal,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I overcame what happened in oh four and so looking back,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I'm like, I actually, you know, I
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: actually had like a really successful meat and it was
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: just how it was painted in the media, which is
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: why I get extremely passionate when I anytime someone negative
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: is like Mikaela Schiffrin, when that was going down in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, I was so fired up because I'm like,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: you can't A, it's one day, like she has so
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: many other accomplishments, and b it's still winning medals, you know.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: So it's just it's just how how things are are portrayed,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: and and that's just kind of the way it is.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you're so entitled to all of those feelings, right,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Like you're entitled to have frustration. And it's also just
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: so impressive now to hear you speak on, you know,
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: what had happened at that Olympics and have so much
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: perspective on it, because you could have made the choice
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: to move forward with one perspective, one view on it.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: But since then, having had time to reflect on it,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: maybe now more so would you say today you're more
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: proud than you were back then.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Oh one thousand percent. I mean, I couldn't even I
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: couldn't even really I didn't want to even pull out
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: my medals for like four or five years, Like you
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: will be like, oh my god, like I want to
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: see your medals, and I would always be like, yeah, here,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean. And the first time I actually
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: admitted that publicly was I did a ted X talk
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, and I was like, do I let
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: it rip? Like, do I see? You know? I was
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: always didn't know what people would think because to your
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: point of you know, obviously, winning Olympic medals is amazing,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: but when you're when you're framed in the light of
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: it should be eight goal medals or five goal medals.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: It's not seen as successful or I felt guilty about
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: feeling that way, and so I just said it and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: ripped the band aid. And I think that was really
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: a pivotal point in my life because one it was
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: received so well because I was so raw and so vulnerable,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and two it just kind of allowed me to, like
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I said, throw it up, get it out there. And
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: it was just this moment of you know, obviously, we'll
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: always like if when you set a goal and you
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: don't get there, right, I always I always going to
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: have that little feeling of like, ugh, like I didn't
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: get that gold medal. But at the same time, I
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: have much more of an appreciation of what it takes
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to even get to the Olympics, let alone win a medal,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: and so it's you know, it's it's a process and
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: it's always going to be one. But I think at
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: this moment, yes, like I normally, if I hadn't just moved,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: you'd have you see the metals behind me. So I
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: definitely have more of more pride than ever.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I love to hear that you mentioned your ted X talk.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: The talk itself called finding your Relentless Spirit? What is
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: your relentless spirit?
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: The cool thing about your relentless spirit is different for everybody,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: And so for me, it's just the ability to keep
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: battling and keep fighting and keep moving forward no matter what.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: I have this thing called your do, So whenever you're
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: kind of going through it and you you know, you
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: feel like there's a rain cloud following you, like what
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: the heck? Like go away? You know. I'm always like,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: you're do your due right, like enough things happen to you,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: and if you stop right that do you're due for,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: something positive and amazing won't happen. And so for me,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: like that, relentlessness is someone who can just keep putting
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: one foot in front of the other no matter what,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: even when it feels like the sky is falling, and
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: you know you'll be able to accomplish pretty extraordinary things.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: But we say it all the time, Like two weeks ago,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I said to my husband, like, we're due, We're due,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: because it was just everything was falling apart. But understanding
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: that every single person, no matter what it looks like
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: on social media or you know how successful they've been,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: everyone is going through those things. And the people that
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: are relentless are the ones that keep trudging and keep rising.
• 32:25
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  Speaker 2: How does someone become more relentless?
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: I would say a couple different things. I would say,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Number one, you have to build your let's say your
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: trust tree around you. You cannot do it alone like
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: it is, it will be literally impossible. So I think
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: one analyzing who are the people around you? Who are
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: your mentors? It's the number one question I ask people.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I'm like that they're going through something, or they're trying
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: to build a business or whatever they're they're trying to do.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: It's like, who are your mentors? Right with people that
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: you're going to turn to when you need advice and
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: you need some extra support. And if you don't have that,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: go find it because it's not going to happen without that.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Then obviously your loved ones and your friends, and I
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: think always analyzing that. Right, If you don't stop and
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: analyze who's around you, why am I doing this, You're
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: not going to be able to battle back if they're
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're going through some really really sucky,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: hard stuff and you can't look and go, there's my
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: north star, that's why I'm doing this, you won't be
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: able to be relentless. But you have you have a
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: very very concrete vision and understanding of that, you will
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: always like it'll almost like just kind of grab you
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: and pull you back up, just just automatically. And I
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: think that's what I struggled with, Like obviously as a
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: professional swimmer, it was always like when medals, Olympian, all
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: those things, and then I always say to people, I'm
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: like I had to start over too, So like, yes,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: at age ten, I was like, I'm going to the Olympics.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: That's my north star. But I had to redefine and
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: find a new north star when I retired because that
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: was ripped away from me.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So you're saying two things to be important here,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: One having a great support system and being cognizant of
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: those that are around you, but to really being able
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: to reiterate and be specific about what your why is.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Why is it that you are going after the things
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: that you have, at one point or another articulated to
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: be of importance to you.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would say there's different ways to look
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: at that, right, Like some people could say like, well,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: I'm in this like oh I hate my job or
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I'm you know, doing this and it really sucks. Well,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: like a lot. There are a lot of times throughout
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: the last you know, six years of retirement where I
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: hated what I was doing, right, but it's served a purpose.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: So if you can see like okay, like I'm doing
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: this job, the hours are really rough and it's I
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: don't I just it's making me miserable, maybe it's time
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: to switch or maybe there's something that you know lesson
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: that it's teaching your skill set that's going to then
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: you know, springboard you to the next thing. So I
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: think that is really important. Like it's super easy when
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: when times are tough to just be like oh this
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: sucks and just kind of throw your hands up. But
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: I think taking a second, and that's where the mentors help, right,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: because sometimes you're so emotional and so in it that
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: you can't see the bigger picture. I think that piece
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: is something that I did really well over the last
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: six years, is just being able to have an understanding
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: of the why even in the suck.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, I know that you didn't necessarily share a lot
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: about your perspective on the events that happened in your
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: career until more or least recently around twenty nineteen. Why
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: what was the catalyst for that? What was the catalyst
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: for you to be more open about your POV.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Ted talk was really like I always
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: go back to, that was really pivotal moment because I
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: always thought that, oh, well, I can't share my story
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: or my story is not going to help anyone, because
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I just felt like there was I mean, there's so
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: many positives in my career. I just felt like if I,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: how can I talk about my story out talking about
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the downs, and if I don't talk about the downs,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: then that's a super not authentic story and I would
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: feel so just terrible about not being real with people.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: So I was constantly battling this. I even tried to write.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: I tried to write my book probably four or five
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: different times throughout you know, right before I actually did
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: go out and write the book, and just couldn't do it,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: like I would have these emotional breakdowns. So like I
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: kind of referenced earlier, like if you don't address things,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: it's going to manifest itself negatively in different ways, right,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: And it was just I was depressed, I was irritated,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: like I just I couldn't focus. And so I feel
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: like my reason and catalyst was the ted talk of
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: just being being received so positively and people saying no,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: like this is like everyone goes through hard times, Everyone's
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: got to get back up, like this is this is
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: a message that people need to hear and this could
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: positively impact people. And it was kind of this moment
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: of thinking, wow, like that could be a new north
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: star for me. Like I always say, like all the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: bad stuff that happens, like it'll eventually make sense, right,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: and it has to come around full circle. And I
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: always say like I want it to make sense. And
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: this is the first time a decade later where I
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, this makes sense, like this is what
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: I'm supposed to do. And same thing with the blood clot,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: like Okay, this makes sense. Maybe I can now help,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: you know, elicit change and generate awareness so that people
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: don't go through the same thing as me, and so
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: that just kind of created a snowball effect of starting
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: to share my story more and then writing the book
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: and then having that come out, and it just one
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: kind of chain reaction, one thing after the next.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: What was the hardest part about owning your story?
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I think just revisiting some really sad times, you know.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: And my I worked with a fantastic ghost writer and
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: he was essentially a coach, Like we would talk about
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: a moment and he would be like, that was surface level,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: go deeper, like no, you know, and then I would
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: and I mean I had to kind of go through
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: some of those emotions all over again, right, and you know,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: having to do that a decade later. My husband would
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: come home from work and he would be like, what
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: year are you in, like you know, and I'd be like, yeah,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: two thousand and nine or yeah, you know. So I
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: think that part was scary. And then then the next
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: piece that was terrifying was publishing it and just feeling
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: like everyone who read the book could just see into
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: my soul. I just felt so naked and so open
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: because I had I had always said like I'm going
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: to be raw, vulnerable, authentic, like I have to be
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: if I'm going to put this out. And again, like
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: I had so many people recommend the book to someone
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: who was, you know, in a tough time or you know,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: send me messages about how it positively impacted their athlete
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: or their mom who was going through a tough time
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: at work. Right, So, like getting those messages made it
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: all worth it and just really empowered me to keep
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: sharing my story in a really authentic way.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: And not only like a book that was recommended to
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: others going through difficult times, but then to see the
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: recommendations that are a part of the book from both
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Michael Phelps and Katie Ladecki, you know, talk about a
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: full circle moment for you having been at one point
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: compared to Michael Phelps himself.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: How did that feel for you to be able to get.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: That endorsement on your vulnerable, authentic take on the events?
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Really cool? Yeah, I mean both of those. So it's
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: funny like Katie and I were kind of two ships passing,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: like I was coming out of my career, she was
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: just rising to her greatness in twenty twelve, and so
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: it's been really fun to have a relationship with her
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: of just and she's so respectful of kind of the
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: passing of the torch from you know, one athlete to another.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously in the freestyle, she's broken all my records, which
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: I always say anytime, if my record's gonna get broken,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: it has to be broken by someone who works their
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: butt off and is a genuinely good person, then I'm
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: okay with it relatively, So that is definitely Katie. And
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: then Michael. Yeah, I've known him since I was thirteen
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: years old and it was kind of an older brother
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: figure to me, and so being able to now see
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: you know, what he's done on the mental health side
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: of things and how he's kind of transitioned out of
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: his career has been really cool. And so it was,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: you know, very grateful that he was willing to endorse it,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: and we had a good conversation about it as I
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: was going through the publishing process.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: You shared that now you have a lot of perspective
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: on perhaps the why these blood clots happened for you.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: That language is always really hard to accept happened for you,
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: especially when an event isn't as you'd hoped it would
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: go and so much work having gone into your career.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Let's talk a little bit about that transition from being
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: in the pool constantly to now getting out of the pool.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: What was that like for you as you came to
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: accept what was happening with your body.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think number one. I mean I had to grieve,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: and I had to grieve. I think there's no we
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: talked earlier, there's no time table with that, there's no
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: brushing that, like it just has to happen. And so
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: I went through a stage because my career ended not
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: on my own terms, like I wanted nothing to do
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: with swimming. I was just like this ended bad. I
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: had this feeling that, you know again, because my entire
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: identity was as an Olympic swimmer, like maybe people don't
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: want to talk to me because I'm not swimming anymore.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds crazy, but it's how a lot
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: of people feel. And so I just went away. I
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: was like, I'm going to reinvent myself. I'm going to
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: become this, you know, this corporate person and to just
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: excel at that and didn't address anything. So I struggled
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: for probably three four years, and not only you know,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: going in and pretending that this massive part of me
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: didn't exist, but also the support system, Like all my
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: you know, teammates and people that I was close with,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: I really drifted away from people that understand you to
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: your core, understand you're crazy, right, You're you're wanting to
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: go above and beyond and do whatever it takes to
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: accomplish a really big goal. So that was probably one
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: of the most challenging times in my life. I mean
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: three or five years and I was still excelling, but
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: I was doing so of coming home at night and
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: crying my eyes out and then going and functioning, you know,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: functioning well, right, Like, well, people thought I was doing well,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: but you know, underneath it all, it wasn't. And like
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: I said, it wasn't until I kind of came back
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and owned my story and then now found a way
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: to really be involved back in the swimming community through
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: our business Energy dry Land, that I feel way more complete.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: And there's certainly still work to do, but I would
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: say like I'm the most complete, happiest version of myself
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: since my swimming career, like a decade ago.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really happy to hear that, and thank you
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: for sharing that. You articulated a bit of a career
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: transition here first in that kind of dark period.
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: Now in this period where you're.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: Really happy about the opportunity to give back. So tell
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: us a little bit about what giving back looks like
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: for you these days.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So through the business, we get to go and
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: travel to teams, we get to talk to the athletes,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and part of it is, you know, we don't take
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: on a ton of teams so that we can feel
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: integrated with these athletes. And these athletes are the exact
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: age I was when I was trying to make you know,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: my first Olympic team. You know, their age is ten
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: to eighteen, so really really critical times and you know
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: in athletes and a young person's life and so being
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: able to you know, be there for advice, be there
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: for support, to be there for that understanding of what
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: they're going through. You know obviously that the nerves before
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: meet or not feeling confident in what they're doing, or
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: as a female, like you're going through so much and
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: you're at the same time, like you know, wearing a
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: swim suit and you know, becoming a woman and all
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: those things that is already tough as an as a
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: you know, a young female, but then you add the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: athlete aspect onto it and that's even more challenging. So
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: I would say that's been the most rewarding of just
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: being able to and I'm big on not giving unsolicited advice,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: so sometimes it's just the presence of just being there
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: and then you know, being open for them to come
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: to me if they need anything. And then you know,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: the other aspect is being able to go and share
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: my story and and talk with different individuals, different companies.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: You know. Obviously the athlete side of me loves talking
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: with athletes, but there's so many lessons that go beyond
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: into the workforce. I did work in sales for a
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: long time, uh so I understand that aspect of being
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: in the business world and all that comes with the
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: ups and downs of that, especially in sales. So that piece,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: whether it's you know, normal life or athlete life, I
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: feel like the just the sharing my story and being
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: there to be a listening ear is extremely rewarding.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: You also mentioned at the top of this doing more
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: work within that place of female empowerment.
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: What does that look like for you these days?
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: A couple different things. I mean, again, like I do
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of work. You know, we'll take athletes from
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: the teams and and kind of pick certain ones off
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: to give extra love and support too. So maybe it's
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: connecting on a zoom once a month. Maybe it's it's
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: texting back and forth if they need it, you know,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's in person and we sit down.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: But you know, I'm very very passionate about that because
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: I just think that the more that there's visibility, the
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: more that there's again an openness to listen. I think
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: it's it's really a lot of times I felt like
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: it's just either you know, kind of shoved down my
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: throat or it's what's the word, It's just it's just
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: someone's talking at me about it, right. So it's like
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: you almost don't have the ability as a young athlete
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: or young female athlete to go, wait a second, like
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: this is how feeling or and I feel like that
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: was okay, and then having this space to then vent
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: or talk through it, right. And so I'm really really
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: big on that because I think it then allows the
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: athlete the space to actually discuss how they're feeling and
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: validate how they're feeling, or give advice or talk through hey,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: here's what I went through. And so I think just
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: having that presence, you know, on the Olympic team having
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: more female coaches. Right there aren't a ton, but I
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: think now it's becoming more and more common, and you're
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: just more comfortable sometimes talking to, you know, a role
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: model that is female or a mentor that is female,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: especially at that age.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Oh my god, the things that I would
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: have told my younger self if I had someone that
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: I felt like I could look at and they would
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: understand me, they would have been so monumental to have
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: that mentor. For you, knowing that you are in this
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: place of being a role model, how does that make
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: you feel like.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: A lot of responsibility. I don't take it lightly, but
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: I feel like, again, it's that makes sense moment. I've
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: had some really positive experience with mentors, and I've had
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: some maybe not so positive experiences. So I'm able to
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: kind of pull from, you know, ways I've been helped.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: You know, honestly, my mom is the best at that.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Like she's so good at not talking at me and
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: being like, here's what you should do, here's your advice, right,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Because immediately you're like, oh, well, like here's how I
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: should feel, right, Like you should be able to be
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: in a space where you can express how you feel
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: and have that be okay and be like, yes, that's normal,
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: and have that validation, and then I think you can
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: explore from there. But my mom was always like probably
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: the first person that showed me that that's how you
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: support someone, and that's how you mentor someone is just
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: being a listening ear. And then obviously if someone's gonna
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: ask my advice, I certainly will give it and just
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: give kind of all angles and my perspective. But it's
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: it's definitely nice to feel like, Okay, I've been there,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: I've done that, so I have that understanding without without
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: even needing to say it, right, I don't even need
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: to say yeah, like I remember back in the day,
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: when it's like it's already known. So it's about that
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: athlete or that female who's going through it and then
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: just being able to express themselves.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: You gave us some really helpful tips earlier about how
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: to be a little bit more relentless transitioning into confidence,
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: something that you're clearly talking about all of the time,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: both with your athletes and within your other speaking engagements
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: and to your followers and social media. Where do we
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: begin on that? How do we garner more confidence in
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: our day to day.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So for me it was always around process, Like
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I was never someone that could just I don't know
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: if anyone can actually do this, even if they say
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: it like I can't just be like yes, like I am,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: I am able to do this. I am strong, I
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: got this. Like those things are positive, but I needed
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: to look back on a body of work and go, no,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: like I've put in these paces. I was, you know,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: rocking out on my nutrition consistently for six months. Right,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: I have these different buckets, and that was nutrition, it
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: was sleep, it was in water, it was strength and conditioning,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: it was you know how I felt it. I looked right.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: I was always the girl rocking mess scarra and earrings
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: like that was always something like look good, feel good.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: And so there was all these different aspects that I
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: leaned on so that you know, as I again I'm
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: big on momentum, but as you kind of check those
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: boxes and know that you're doing all those things that
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: drives that confidence, and whether that's in a boardroom or
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: behind the blox, or you're about to do something really
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: big in your life, you can reflect on all of
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: those things and know that you've done them and that
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: was That was the biggest source of confidence for me,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: for better or for worse. But it also keeps you
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: accountable daily because you're like, hey, I'm going to look
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: back on this and I'm going to draw from this
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: when I really need that confidence, I better be checking
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: all the boxes and doing all the things so that
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: my confidence is at the you know, the highest point
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: when I need it.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's definitely. It's easier. It's easier than done right.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: It can definitely be challenging. I think the other thing
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: that I like to do is break it off into
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: digestible pieces, right, Like if you look at a massive goal,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: like people always say, like the Olympics, oh my gosh,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: every four years, So how are you sitting at the
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: bottom of a mountain looking up and going I have
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: four years of work? That would be debilitating, Like that
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: would just make you be paralyzed, right, And I think
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: any big goal, a lot of times people don't even
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: They get so overwhelmed. They're like, I don't even know
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: where to start, right. So like being again, I'm big
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: on this, but like mentors, coaches, friends like sit down
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: and be like, okay, well, what's step one. What's like
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: the first little benchmark that I need to get to,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: and then you accomplish that, and then you gain more confidence,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: and then you get to the next one. Right, So
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: they all drives you, you know, each little bit drives
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: you further and further up the mountain. And that, to
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: me is the key to success is just old bits
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: and again easier said than done. Having it be this
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: day to day process is tough, right, But that's also
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: why it's a big goal, or why why you feel
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: so amazing to you accomplish the goal. Because if it
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: was something that was like just just kind of you know,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: something that you want, or if it's not that bad, right,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: you would be you' accomplish it and you'd be like cool,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: you know, Like it has to be something that's like,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: oh my god. And sometimes it's like, oh, like I
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: hate this, or all the alarm clock goes off and
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: I don't want to do this, Like the amount of
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: times that I'm just like, oh my god, I don't
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: want to do this. Right, But like you you look
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: back and you're like no, no, no, like okay, Like,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: but those have to be front and center daily or
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: even the most motivated people in the world are not
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: going to do them like it just won't happen. We're human,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: like we want to be comfortable, we want to sit
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: on the couch like we you know, like that's just
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: human nature. So having those things that that your little
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: kind of tips and tricks for yourself is vital.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: You have made it very clear that you're passionate about
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: both having role models as well as other people that
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: you respect kind of in your immediate space to help
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: lift you up, to get you to where you want
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: Who are those people for you?
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I would say, honestly, someone who's been a
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: huge inspiration and mentor to me, Jesse Ittzler, is someone
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: who from speaking to just encouraging me to go after it.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: He and Sarah Blakely as well, his wife, have been
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: amazing in that way. And then I would say, there's
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: there's people I've had, you know, a coach who I
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: still talk to in the swimming world. I have, you know,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: someone who on the business side for Synergry is you
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: know in the swimming world, so they I talk to them.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: So I think it's really important too to like you
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: can't have just one mentor right, Like, there's different things
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: that you're doing so you go to different people for
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: different things and they're going to I think have multiple
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: perspectives also helps, right, Like I might get something from
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: Jesse and be like, oh, that's a great idea. Okay,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: I'll do that. But I might have, you know, the
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: person in the swimming world that I talk to, you know,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: every week, be like, Okay, that's that's a good idea
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: for that aspect. So don't pigeonhole yourself into one mentor
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: because you're gonna you're gonna glean, you know, little pieces
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: of advice from each.
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: So so fortunate for you to have so many people
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: in your life that just really have influenced you in
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: such in such a positive way. Is it's Larre's hell
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: on the hill as hard as it looks, Yes it is.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: It is on your hell on the hill for your
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: say that you get it. So the one in the
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: long like the hilly is half marathon. That's the one
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: that is in uh Maine, but the one in Connecticut
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: that's I mean, it is four hours every time you
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: get to it. There's one hundred total hills to get
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: like eight and a half miles, Like I'm not kidding
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: like that. It gets so steep that the next day
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: my biceps are sore because I'm pressing on my legs
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: to get up like you have to. It's it, it goes.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: It's a metaphor for everything I've been saying, Like, if
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: you on hill ten, if you're like, oh my god,
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: I'm ninety more of these, you would stop, Like you
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: would stop. You have to just be like, Okay, I'm
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: gonna go another five. Okay, cool, I'm gonna go another
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: you know. But yeah, it's it's it's.
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: Hell incremental small wins, one at a time.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: Someone comes to your Instagram page, they see a two
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: time Olympian, three time medalist, to speak, or a world champion,
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. When you look in the mirror, Katie,
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: what is it that you see looking back at you?
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. I would say. Ah,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: I would say a strong, confident, work in progress, empowered
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: female love that.
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: How is it for you to work with your husband?
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: It's so fun. I mean people always are like, oh
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: my god, I could never but you know, we obviously
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: have our our challenges. But I think the reason it
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: works is that you know, he is very much he
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: actually trained me at the end of my career, and
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: so he is the one. He has the degrees and
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: the certifications on the training side, and I have very
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: much the lens on the swimming of like, hey, this
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: would work, and swimming so different because gravity is not
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: a factor, So there's all those aspects. But our strengths
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: complement each other really well, and we have very very
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: different styles, which is obviously a good thing, sometimes a
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: bad thing, but I think overall, it's just it's really
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: fun to be able to, you know, travel travel. Flew
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: seventy six times last year and a lot of them,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: but it didn't feel it didn't feel like work because
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: he was always with me, you know, like typically when
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: you travel, you're away from your loved ones or your
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: spouse and you're like, oh, I just need to get home.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: But we would just make it like, oh, we're finished
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: with the work today, let's go on date, you know.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: So it's I feel very fortunate that we have this
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: crossover and I have my stuff and he has his
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: stuff kind of outside of things, but we have this
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: amazing overlap and it's just been really special to have
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: him also come into the swimming world and like he
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: went to a swimming in Knoxville like a month ago,
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: and he was talking to all the people that I
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: had known since I was thirteen, and I was like,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: this is so beautifully bizarre that this is happening. So
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: it's really cool because at the you know, I always
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: wanted to have you know, a USA capus at Anderson
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: on it and be able to have haff Anne Anderson
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: and he did, you know, obviously was cut short because
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: of the blood clot So it's kind of this like
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: really special thing that we're still able to be in
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: the swimming world. He's still able to go to Olympic
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Trials in twenty twenty four and see every see my
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: world and see what it was like for me. So uh,
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: it's it's definitely a really cool, fend thing and we're
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: grateful for it.
• 58:52
  Speaker 3: What excites you right now, Katie, Oh.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: My gosh, so many things. I feel like living in
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: ten see, living in Nashville really excites me. We're you know,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: around some really really close friends, so you know, being
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: able to explore the city with them and get some
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: really fun memories. Our business is, Synergy is doing really well,
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: so I'm excited about that. And then I would say, uh,
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: family is in the near future. So I'm excited for
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: not announcing my pregnancy right now. Not a pregnancy enough,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: so it's not the announcement. But no, I think you.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: Though, I'm flattered that you would even think for a
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: second I would allow that to happen without.
• 59:33
  Speaker 3: Us talking about it.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: And you're like, hold up, I'm like, whoa, who knew
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: that you were going to come on hurdle and give
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: this news.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: No, but it's the first time we've actually said, hey,
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: you know, we've been married, oh my gosh, seven plus years,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: and I think it's the first time we've we've felt like, hey,
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: I think we're in a really good spot. Like you're
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: never ready obviously, fully, but we're in a really good
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: spot to feel like, you know, we want to build
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: a family and feel confident that we were in that place.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: That's a really as a spot I never thought i'd
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: get to. So that's a really a really cool place
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: to be, you know, for the near future.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: I love that it sounds like you guys are really
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: in alignment with where you're going and where you've been
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: and excited about what's to come up. Yes, all right,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: so final question here, for you today, Katie. Right now,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: you have an opportunity to give yourself a piece of advice.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: Looking back on that hurdle moment when you were told
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: that your career as you knew it at the time
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: had to come to an end, what advice would you
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: give yourself, knowing what you know now?
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: Wow, I would say, there's no rush. I just felt
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: like I my career ended, and I felt like I
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: instantly had to find the next north star and the
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: next thing that was going to define me. And I
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: don't know how I could have avoided that, but I
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: wish I had been able to stand in front of
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: myself and be like, take your time. You you know,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: you didn't make an Olympic team in a year. You
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: can you can work through this, and there's no rush,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: Like you're not behind, right. And I always felt like,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: because my career ended later that I was just behind
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: and so there was this panic that I needed to
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: find something and do it and do it in an
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: elite way and all and just added a lot of
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: unnecessary stress. And I think a lot of people feel
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: that way of you know, I'm this age, I have
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: to rush, I'm behind right because of social media, are
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: people posting things, and there's a lot of time and
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: you will get there and being patient is hard, but
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: there's no rush.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: I'm hearing a lot of trust to the process here.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: Yes, which is such an annoying thing to say because
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: it's so annoying, but it really is what's necessary. And
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: so yeah, trust the process. Say it to yourself, to
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: your blue in the face, and trust it.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: Trust it, Katie. I'm so happy that we were able
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: to make this happen today. Tell the hurdlers that they
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: don't follow you just yet. How do they keep up
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: with you? How do they follow along with you? And
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: give us your details?
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: So I am very active on Instagram, So it's kt
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: Hoff seven, so seven because lane seven was the lane
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: that I made my first Olympic team in, so kt
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: Hoff seven. And then my website is Ktihoff dot com.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: So I update with podcasts and speeches and things like that.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: Beautiful.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle podcast
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time.