Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 346. The Greatness Equation: 4x Olympian Katie Ledecky Shares Her Recipe For Gold, Goal Setting Tactics & Feelings On Inspiring The Next Generation

Transcript

346. The Greatness Equation: 4x Olympian Katie Ledecky Shares Her Recipe For Gold, Goal Setting Tactics & Feelings On Inspiring The Next Generation · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: When I was six, I just started for for fun
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and had no aspirations or no belief that the Olympics
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: would be in my future.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Life.
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  Speaker 3: Hey everyone, Emily a body here. You are listening to
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  Speaker 3: episode two hundred and forty six of Hurdle, a wellness
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  Speaker 3: focused podcast where we talk to inspirational people about everything
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  Speaker 3: from their highest highs and toughest moments to essential tips
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  Speaker 3: on how to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: We all go through our fair share of hurdles. My
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  Speaker 3: goal through these discussions is to empower you to better
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  Speaker 3: navigate yours and move with intention so that you can
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  Speaker 3: stride towards your own big potential and of course have some.
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  Speaker 4: Fun along the way.
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  Speaker 3: I am smiling ear to ear because of the sentence
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  Speaker 3: I'm about to say. This week, I am sitting down
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  Speaker 3: with Olympic swimmer Katie Lideki Wow.
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  Speaker 4: I wanted to say that sentence was so long.
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  Speaker 3: I truly viewed this interview opportunity as the utmost honor.
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  Speaker 3: Katie's been on the top of my dream guest list
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  Speaker 3: for years, so to be able to have this conversation
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  Speaker 3: during Women's History Month, coming out shortly after International Women's
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  Speaker 3: Day felt special and purposeful and so.
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  Speaker 4: So valuable to me as a female entrepreneur.
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  Speaker 3: We talk about so much today what it was like
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  Speaker 3: for Katie when she first got in the pool and
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  Speaker 3: how even the best to ever do it started somewhere.
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  Speaker 3: Her first goal simply to make it across the pool
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  Speaker 3: without holding onto the lane line. Katie shares her perspective
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  Speaker 3: on the work that's been required of her to get
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  Speaker 3: to where she is today, spending twenty plus hours in
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  Speaker 3: the water a week, we want to mention time out
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: of the pool. We also talk the impact that her
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: family has had on her for the better, what it's
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: like to drop into a pool and swim during open
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: swim for someone like Katie Leddecki, and what balance looks like.
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  Speaker 3: Plus in line with Women's History Month, naturally, Katie talks
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  Speaker 3: about what it means for her to be a role
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  Speaker 3: model and how that got even more meaningful for her
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  Speaker 3: when she joined Athleta's Power of She Collective. Again, such
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: a special conversation. I am so grateful for this opportunity
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: and so excited to bring it to the feed this week.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Make sure you're following along with hurdle Over on social
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: it's at Hurdle podcast.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I am over at Emily a body.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Our Instagram page now has an Instagram channel called The
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Daily Hurdle that's popping in with helpful reminders to help
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: you live your healthiest life on the regular. To subscribe,
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: click on over to the show notes, and also in
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: the show notes you will see a link for our
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: weekly newsletter. It's called The Weekly Hurdle comes out every
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: single Friday, and although you have the opportunity to support
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: and give, it is absolutely free and in there you'll
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: find a lot of the same inspiration, motivation things you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: love from the show, plus gear picks, what I'm listening to, reading, watching,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: so much more. Again, the link to subscribe to The
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Weekly Hurdle is in the show notes.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: With that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling today.
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  Speaker 5: I am enthused, excited and to be sitting down with
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  Speaker 5: four time Olympian, the most decorated American female Olympian in history,
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  Speaker 5: part of Athleta's Power of She collective, Katie Ledecki.
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  Speaker 4: Welcome to Hurdle.
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  Speaker 2: 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 to you know,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: before we really get into the swing of things here,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: I was thinking about how, I mean, hurdle has something
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  Speaker 3: like eight hundred episodes. I've had the opportunity to talk
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: to so many stellar humans. But I was arriving at
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  Speaker 3: this conversation today with some nerves, and I thought to myself,
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  Speaker 3: who better to talk to me about how to handle
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  Speaker 3: nerves than the most decorated female Olympian in American history. So, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: tell me, what do you do when you're feeling a
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  Speaker 3: little bit anxious before you jump into the pool?
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  Speaker 2: Well, nerves are a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: It means you care about what you're about to do,
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  Speaker 1: and so I appreciate.
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  Speaker 2: It that you care about this interview.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, the nerves have never gone away
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  Speaker 1: from me, which which is great. It's a good thing
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  Speaker 1: because it means that I still really care about what
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  Speaker 1: I do. I care about my performances. I sometimes even
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  Speaker 1: get nervous for practices because I really care about my
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  Speaker 1: practices and my training. So nerves are a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's just good to remind yourself of
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  Speaker 1: all the hard work that you've done before a major
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  Speaker 1: competition or performance or interview, and that should give you
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  Speaker 1: the confidence to know that you're prepared is one of
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  Speaker 1: the best feelings in the world. Knowing that you're prepared
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  Speaker 1: for the biggest stage and you're ready. I'm someone that
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: has kept journals over the years, and so usually before
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: my big, big meats, I'll look back at my journal
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  Speaker 1: for that year and look at all the good practices
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  Speaker 1: that I've done and remind myself of all those really
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  Speaker 1: good things I've done in work out to get me
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  Speaker 1: 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
• 5:47
  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 world,
• 6:00
  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 it's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of a lot of training, but I know that it's
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: all worth it, and I do truly love it. I
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: love the time I get to spend with my teammates
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  Speaker 1: and coaches, and I love everything that I've learned through
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  Speaker 1: the sport and through just the process that I've gone
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: through each year.
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  Speaker 3: Last year, you also added to your resume being a
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: New York Times best selling author with your memoir Just
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Add Water. You talk about in that memoir your ability
• 6:31
  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
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: four games, you told the New York Times it hurts,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: but I love it too much to stop.
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  Speaker 4: You get used to the feeling.
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  Speaker 3: Do you remember when you first really got to the
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: point where you knew how to befriend pain From.
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  Speaker 1: A young age, I kind of recognized it, or I
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  Speaker 1: at least recognize that I enjoyed the distance events more
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  Speaker 1: than a lot of my teammates did when we were
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  Speaker 1: first trying trying those events out. So I think I
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: pretty quickly realized that the distance events were my calling
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  Speaker 1: in the sport of swimming.
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  Speaker 2: But then I think I've had some.
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  Speaker 1: Moments over the years where I've learned different things in
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  Speaker 1: the distance races where you really do confront confront pain
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  Speaker 1: in different ways, and you don't know exactly when you're
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  Speaker 1: going to start feeling it in the race. But I
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  Speaker 1: do remember one race back in twenty fourteen. It was
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  Speaker 1: in Australia at the Pan Pacific Championships and the fifteen
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  Speaker 1: hundred free. I dropped quite a bit of time, broke
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: my own world record, and I remember hitting maybe the
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred mark of the fifteen hundred and just having
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that sense of pain come on and not feeling like
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  Speaker 1: I was going to be able to keep up my
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: splits that I was holding. But I somehow just tried
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  Speaker 1: to tell myself to keep the same rhythm that I've
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  Speaker 1: had and try to ignore that pain.
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  Speaker 2: And when I looked back.
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  Speaker 1: At my split after the race, I actually was able
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  Speaker 1: to pick it up on the back half of the race.
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  Speaker 1: So that's something that I often remind myself of now
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  Speaker 1: that even if you hit that point in that race,
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  Speaker 1: you can push past it and maybe even go faster.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, it's kind of always interesting to learn
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  Speaker 1: those things, and I'm still learning at this age, and
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  Speaker 1: 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, right,
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  Speaker 3: Like you understand, Okay, this is what it's going to
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  Speaker 3: feel like when I push this far, for example, beyond
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  Speaker 3: my comfort zone. And I appreciate when you came to
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  Speaker 3: that realization. It wasn't just oh, I can push this
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  Speaker 3: far past by comfort zone. It's that I can push
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  Speaker 3: this far past by comfort zone, and I can even
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  Speaker 3: surpass what I thought that I was capable of, speaking
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: what I thought that I was capable of. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: you didn't start swimming at age six thinking that you
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  Speaker 3: were going to go on and do the things that
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  Speaker 3: you've done so far in your career. Right now, when
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  Speaker 3: you think about your career, would you say that you've
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  Speaker 3: done everything you 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. As you said, when
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  Speaker 1: I was six years old, I never dreamed of even
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  Speaker 1: making it to one Olympics. So when I did make
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  Speaker 1: it to the Olympics and I did win a gold
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  Speaker 1: medal at my first games, you know, my family and
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  Speaker 1: we kind of had this conversation about how anything anything
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  Speaker 1: more than that, It's just like icing on the cake,
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  Speaker 1: cherry on top, whatever you want to say, because none
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of us ever imagined I would make it that far
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  Speaker 1: in the sport. So I've I've definitely surpassed the dreams
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  Speaker 1: that I had when I was a six year old,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly I've I've set bigger and bigger goals as
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  Speaker 1: I've worked my way up, and you know, I'm always
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  Speaker 1: eager to chase something new, and I'm not perfect, and
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  Speaker 1: I haven't achieved every single one of my goals across
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  Speaker 1: my twenty two year career in the sport, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: I love the chase, I love the journey, I love
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  Speaker 1: the process, and I always think back to who I
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  Speaker 1: was when I was six years old, just starting out
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  Speaker 1: in the sport, just swimming to have fun in the water,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: learn the strokes, make friends, and just have a good
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: time in and around the pool. So that's what I
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  Speaker 1: feel like I'm still doing. Of course, there are big
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: goals on top of that as well, but it always
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: comes back to that for me.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: We'll talk about whatever the remaining goals are and just
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: a little bit, but you do touch on a really
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: interesting concept, which is that you have to have a
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: strong why in order to both put in the type
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: of work that you do in and out of the
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: pool and keep going. Now twenty plus years in what
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: is your why?
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  Speaker 1: Katie, I'm always just trying to push myself and try
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to be the best version of myself that I can be.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of a personal journey that I feel
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: like I'm on. But then also I've really enjoyed the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: opportunities that I've had to inspire the next generation of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: young girls and boys coming up in the in the sport.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: And that's why I love partnering with Athleta, and we
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: have this power of She movement and all about empowering
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: young girls and and getting them excited about sport and
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: movement and and and that's why I love love sport
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and why I love competing, and why why I love
• 11:32
  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.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Some of them I'm racing now, so so that's pretty
• 11:43
  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
• 11:48
  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
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of I kind of coined after my first Olympics the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: power of the gold medal. It's it's something that I
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't recognize until I got home after the London
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Olympics and started taking the gold medal around to children's
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  Speaker 1: hospital and schools and to meet wounded warriors. Just the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: ability to show gold medal to someone and have their
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: their face light up and smile that that means the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: world to me, and that's what motivates me to win
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: more gold medals when I'm I'm back at at the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Olympics and World Championships and any competition like that, because
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I know, I know the impact that that can make
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: on someone else. And yeah, so it's kind of it's
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: kind of both a personal journey and in terms of
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: trying to push myself to give everything that I have
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to the sport, but then also to inspire young kids
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  Speaker 1: to go after their dreams and know that they can
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  Speaker 1: achieve really big goals.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just the gold medal, though, candidly, it's you, right.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: I Mean I was looking at the post that you
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: shared from last year where you're announcing the memoir, and
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: one of the comments in it, someone says, I just
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: want to say that I wish to be just like you.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: When LA twenty eight comes around, I'm hindered with scoldiosis
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  Speaker 3: and really short, but I still have dreams of swimming
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  Speaker 3: with you in LA twenty eight. This is just one
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  Speaker 3: person who literally would do absolutely anything in her wildest
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: dreams to be in your presence. When I read something
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: like that to you, how does it make you feel?
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  Speaker 1: I mean it gives me goosebumps. I mean I still
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: love those interactions as I said.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: That I get to have on.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: A daily basis, or even just online as you said
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: on social media, the ability to kind of connect with
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: other people and you know, resonate with other people and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: inspire other people. Again, that's something I never expected I
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: would have the opportunity to do in the sport or
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: in life. So it's an opportunity that I don't take
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  Speaker 1: for granted. It's the responsibility I don't take for granted.
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  Speaker 1: And I hope that I can continue to do that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Just because you don't take it for granted. And I
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: don't want to put words in your mouth, but I
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: would imagine that it doesn't come with a certain weight
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: or a certain emphasis or a certain you go to
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: the pool and everyone knows you're Katie Ladeki does the
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: weight of being the best to have ever done it?
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  Speaker 4: Feel some kind of way.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, I try not to really think about it
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  Speaker 1: too much. I mean, I guess, I mean, I guess
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: going to swim meet now is a little different than
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: when I was fourteen and nobody really knew who I was.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I've actually been to a few kind of age group
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: level meets over the past few months, and you know,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: there are autographs and selfies that I take behind the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: blocks before races and things like that. But I guess
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I've kind of grown used to it again. I love
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: those opportunities and to put a smile on someone's face
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: or you know, inspire them to continue to work hard.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Just kind of I guess, the recognition of what comes
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: with you know, notoriety, but it's it's not something that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I think too much about. I just go about my
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: business and try to be the best version of myself
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and stick to my values, stick to my my family's values,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and everyone around me has always kept me pretty level headed,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I think, and has kept my life balance.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I went to school, I finished my degree at Stanford,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I came back from my first Olympics, and I was
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: a sophomore in high school. So just kind of always
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: jumped right back into the next thing in terms of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: setting goals for myself in and.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Out of the pool, in school, all those things.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: So I've had a really good group of people around me,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and that's kind of what I touch on in the book.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of the chapters are named after
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the people in my life that I feel like have
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: really allowed me to have this long career and successful
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: career in the pool. And you know, they're the ones
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that I give the most credit to for guiding me
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: on this journey and keeping me on the right path.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about that.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: We often hear this phrase like your board of directors, right,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: the people that have a seat at the table over time,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: that board of directors can ebb and flow. But for you,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: it seems to have really been dialed in on both
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: your family, your coaches, your teammates. What makes you, Katie
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: a good teammate? What is it about you, I know,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Captain from the previous Olympics that makes you a leader
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: For the people that you share the seats at the
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: table with, It's just.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: About trying not to be any different than who you are,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: you know, just try to lead by example, and you know,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: try to recognize when someone needs help. And I think
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I'm at the point in my career where I've had
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: so many years of experience now that I can see
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: my experiences in other people, and I can understand what
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: going to your first Olympics feels like, or you know,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: competing against the world's best at age fifteen sixteen years old.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: What that feels like.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: So I try to give little bits and pieces of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: advice to the younger swimmers on these trips that I
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: go on. Apart from that, it's it's really just about
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: sticking to my routine, making sure that I'm taking care
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: of my own business. And I know that some of
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the younger swimmers have said that that that is helpful,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: just to be able to watch and observe, you know,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: see kind of how I go about warming up and
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: warming down and eating well and getting to sleep. So
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I just try to stay stay true to who I
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: am and what I need to do. And I think
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: that's important for a number of reasons. And then I think,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: you know, I always try to be encouraging and try
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: to bring good energy to any space I'm in, so
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: at the pool, at practice, at the swim meet at school,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: wherever it is. I'm trying to be uplifting and and
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I'm a pretty positive, happy person, so that's not too
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: difficult for me, and I just try to try to
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: bring that wherever I go.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: How do you bring the good energy on the day
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: is that maybe you aren't feeling the brightest or the
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: most shiny.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I think I just remind myself that those days pass.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, You're gonna have good days and you're gonna
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: have bad days, and so you know, sometimes if I'm
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: having a bad day in practice, I kind of just
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: have to laugh it off in a way and recognize
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: that my teammates next to me are having a good practice,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: and you know, it's it's their day and it's time
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: to help them make it an even better day. And
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I know that my bad day will pass and I'll
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: have an opportunity tomorrow to have a great day.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of how I think of it.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: And I can't be at one hundred percent every single day,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: but if I'm at eighty percent, I've got to give
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: my one hundred percent of my eighty percent. I just
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: try to be as consistent as I can be on
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: a day to day basis both with my effort and attitude,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and I think with that comes performance and provement.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: That is such a good point, right, because all you
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: can do on any given day is give it all
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: that you have, and some days, to your point, eighty
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: percent is what you're going to have. But it's up
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: to you to meet that eighty percent with all that
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: you've got. And it doesn't mean that you're any lesser
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: because you're showing up one day with eighty percent. It
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: just means that it's up to you to take hold
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: of that opportunity as it stands.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if I find myself struggling in practice, someday I'll
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: try to kind of change up how I'm thinking or
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: change up my technique a little bit to kind of
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: find something. And just going through that process is often helpful,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: and sometimes I kind of stumble on something that'll help
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: me with my technique long term, or kind of is
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: something that I can file and in my back pocket
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I guess and pull out whenever I need it again
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: as something that helped me get through that day.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: You mentioned your first Olympics before twenty twelve London. You
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: won your first gold medal there in the eight hundred
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: meter freestyle. You talked about warming up and cooling down
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: in all of these different things that you do surrounding
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: the races to make you perform your best.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: You've been in it for a minute now, would you.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Say that those processes have evolved with time or have
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: you always been diligent in the things that surround the
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: actual competition.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: They've evolved in some ways, but I think they've also
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: stayed the same in many ways. And I think they've
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: stayed the same because I had really good coaches from
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a young age that instilled those habits in me. So
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: coaches that taught me how to warm up well, how
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: to warm down well, you know, emphasize good news, trition,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and good sleep and recovery.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: So you know, I've.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Definitely learned new things in each of those areas over
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the years and have had to just certain warm ups
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and warm downs things like that to kind of meet
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: my needs and you know, respond to how I'm feeling
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and things like that. But for the most part, the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: real structure of it has stayed the same, and my
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: priority on all those things has stayed the same.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: Can we talk a little bit about the lessons that
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: you've learned you mentioned nutrition. You mentioned sleep first, Let's
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: talk with nutrition. Clearly, the amount of effort that you
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: are putting into the pool is extraordinary and it requires
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: and demands a lot of what you're putting into your body.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: What does it look like to fuel as Katie Ldeki, Well.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You know, a swimmer's day is a pretty long day too.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Most swimmers are up pretty early in the morning, so
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I've I've had to experiment with different morning snacks before
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: morning practice. So right now for me.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I have oatmeal in the morning on my way.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Out out the door for practice with a banana, and
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: then you know, I'll swim, I'll have have weights, and
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: then I'll have you know, my breakfast after practice with
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: some eggs, some veggies in there, some toast, yeah, and
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: then I'll have a good lunch, have a snack, go
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to my afternoon practice, have dinner. You know, I usually
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: have a core power right after right after practice. Just
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: get a good balance of protein and carbs throughout my
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: whole day. That's really the most important thing for me
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: as a swimmer, and making sure I'm eating healthy overall
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: and fueling my fueling my body for performance.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Got a touch on the sleep, how much sleep is
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Katie Lideki getting every night I.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Shoot for you know, eight or nine hours. Probably am
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: closer to about eight, and maybe occasionally dip under that,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: but I always make it up with a nap after
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: morning practice or kind of midday. So yeah, I would
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: say I'm hitting eight every day at least. As I said,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: we have early morning practices, so it's actually later in
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the morning then it was in high school. You know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: in high school, I was up at four point fifteen
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: in the morning for five am practice, and you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: my dad would be up at three forty five to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: get himself ready to drive me to practice. So you know,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: as I said, it takes a lot of commitment, but
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: not just from me, but from a whole group of people.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: And yeah, sleep is something that I value and I
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: sometimes don't know how I did it in high school,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: you know, waking up at that hour and then not
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: getting a nap during the day because I was in
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: school all day, and then going back to afternoon practice.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: So I definitely cherish having a little more free time
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: in my day now to just squeeze a nap in.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: I really appreciate the way that you talk about your family,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Katie it's very clear that the relationship that you have
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: with them is so special and dear to you. Talk
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: to me a little bit about how they have been
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: crucial in helping you get to this point where you
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: are now.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: My family is everything to me. I have an older brother, Michael.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: He's three years older than I am, and he's kind
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: of the one that I followed into the sport. We
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: started swimming for a team at the same time, and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I think he was really the one that wanted to
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: join the swim team at a summer.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Summer league pool.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just kind of always admired his hard work and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: dedication to his studies and to his swimming and every
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: activity that he did, so I just tried to follow
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: in his footsteps. And then, yeah, just the dedication that
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: my parents had to help us pursue our passions. They
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: were never pushy. They never felt like we had to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: swim or never pushed us to follow one path or
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the other. They wanted to make sure that we prioritized
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: our education, really took our studies seriously, and that was
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the number one thing for them. And then any other
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: activity that we enjoyed doing they were going to support.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: And that became swimming over the years more and more,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and uh so.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Thankfully they were. They were up for the early morning drives.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And I actually didn't get my driver's license until I
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: was in college.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: So they were in it for the long they were
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: in it for the long haul with me. But what if.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I really tried to enjoy all the time that I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: got to spend with them, you know, in the car
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: going to and from practice to swim meets. I mean,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: my mom still comes down. I mean she came down
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to Florida a few weeks ago.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: For a meat that I had.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, both my parents have been and my brother
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: have been to every Olympics I've been to, except for
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Tokyo when when they couldn't, and and have pretty much
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: been every World Championships as well, So they've been there
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: every step of the way.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: My extended family as well.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I have one grandmother that's still alive, but all my
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: grandparents have been really influential in my life. She's ninety
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: nine years old, and she is just a force and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: just somebody that I so admire and I so enjoy
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: talking to and learning from and the love that she
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: shows her family.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: She has a very big family.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Is just something that I try to keep within me
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: and remind myself of on a day to day basis,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: or when I'm at competitions, I think of her and
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: think of just the love that I have from my
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: whole family.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so special, and so often we hear that
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: saying in order to be her, you need to see her.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: It's very clear that your grandmother was such a powerful
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: example of what being a powerful woman is. Right now,
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: alongside with placing so much emphasis and value on your
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: family and caring so deeply about those relationships, I could
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: imagine that there were some challenges along the way when
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: it came to wanting to show up for your family
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: and then also needing to show up for yourself within training,
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: talk to me a little bit about the sacrifices that
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: you've had to make up until this point of your
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: career in order to perform at the highest level.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever really viewed them as sacrifices.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I think there are choices that I've made and choices
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: that my family has made with me to, you know,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: help me pursue my goals.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, certainly through high school, I would, you know.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Spend my weekends getting ahead on my homework when I
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: knew that I had somewim meets coming up in the
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: next couple weeks. So you know, maybe I wasn't out
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: partying as much or going to as many school dances.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Things like that.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: But you know, I talk a lot about my family,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: but I've always had really great friends as well that
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: have read recognize that I do have these big goals
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: in something that I really care about, and they've always
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: been supportive of that. And I think, you know, my friends,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: whether or not I could go to certain things, they
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: kept inviting me, and they, you know, always stayed connected.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: And even beyond high school and beyond college, I've I've
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: stayed connected with those friends. So you know, I wish
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: that I was able to spend more time with them
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: at certain moments throughout those years, but I've I've really
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: cherished the moments that I have gotten to spend with
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: them and the connections that I've been able to continue
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to have with all of them. And I have so
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: many great friends through the sport of swimming as well,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: and swimmers kind of bond over the challenges that we
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: face in the sport, and you know, just the grind
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: of the training and all of that, and I, as
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I said, I love it, and so I guess I
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: don't really see it as you know, a sacrifice or
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: something that's gonna drain me or anything.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: It's something that I love.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: To embrace and I love to, you know, try to
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: do all the little things that will help me achieve
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: my goals. So I'm not like eating fast food or
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: ice cream or things like that every single day. But
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: you know, I like what swimming brings to my life,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and I am continuing to do it.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's why I'm continuing to do it. I guess.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: I appreciate what you said the note about your friends
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: might know that you can't make it, but they invite
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: you still. And I think that that is such a
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: profound and important thing, right, just this communication between you
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: and the people that you care about that you do
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: want to be involved, right, It's not that you don't
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: want to be present. And so that's a conversation about intentions,
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: and your friends know that you have the best intentions
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: and you also have this very important career, like you
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: can have both.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, you know, I think so many of
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: my friends are either swimmers or worse swimmers, or became
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: swim fans through my involvement in the sport. So I've
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: appreciated that and I've appreciated them, you know, understanding what
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: it takes to get to this level.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: to my sponsor at Brooks Running. Brooks recently sent me
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: the new glycerin twenty two, and I have been putting
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: it through the paces my friends. I did last week's
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: long run in it, and then I took it out
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: for some eight hundred's on Thursday. And the sneaker overall,
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: it feels lightweight, it feels super plush, and it feels
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: so comfortable. I love a sneaker that's distraction free, which
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: allows me to really be present in the moment.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: And something else.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: I love about Glisser in twenty two the double jeckard
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: knit upper. It's like a sucking skin, so it offers
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: a flexible and accommodating fit, and it moves with me
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: regardless of pace, if I'm picking it up or if
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: I'm keeping it sexy. Also, I've got to give some
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: love to the foam in this shoe. To be specific.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: I know it's a little jazzy here, it's DNA tuned,
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: which means it's a nitrogen infused foam that essentially is
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: made up of larger cells in the back which help
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: keep things plush in the heel, and smaller cells in
• 31:31
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• 31:36
  Speaker 4: We love feeling the balance right.
• 31:39
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  Speaker 3: going to be honest because we are mostly women here
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  Speaker 3: that that time of.
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  Speaker 4: The month is typically such a headache for me.
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  Speaker 3: I know, I know it's a headache for all of us,
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  Speaker 3: But as long as I can remember, I.
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  Speaker 4: Have leaked on long runs and bike rides.
• 32:14
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• 33:19
  Speaker 3: your family a big tool in let's call it your
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: quote unquote toolbox. What else would you say are tools
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: in the toolbox that you use regularly that help you
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: perform at your best?
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I guess we haven't really talked much
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: about my coaches, but I've had some incredible coaches over
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the years. I've actually had four different coaches leading into
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: each of my past four Olympics. I'm sticking with my
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: current current coach going through this this Olympic cycle. But yeah,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I have really great coaches and great teammates. And then
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, another tool in the toolbox is
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: just the experience that I have the number of years
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: I've into the sport. At this point, I find that
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: extremely valuable.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: That's something that some of the younger competitors that I'm racing,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: you know, they're still kind of building that up. So
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's one thing that I can rely
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: on in the sport now, is just the experience and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: the different things that I've learned about how to push
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: through races, how to prepare for certain races, the expectations,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: all those things, how to manage all that.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: I think that's something that's in my toolbox.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: And then I think trying to take it one day
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: at a time and trying to learn each day. And
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: I think just the perspective that I have now kind
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: of this appreciation that I have for the sport at
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: this point in my career, I'm trying to just take
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: advantage of each day that I have in the sport
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: and the opportunities that I have away from the pool
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: as well. So I think having balance in my life
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: has always been important, and that's something that I try
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: to always pray ties and think about. Whenever I feel
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: like I'm getting too caught up in the sport or
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: too caught up in my goals, I kind of take
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: a step back and make sure that I have everything
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: in balance, and yeah, I'm grateful for the people around
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: me that ensure that as well.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: Coaches and experience both really great tools in the toolbox.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: You mentioned the word goals, and I'd love to talk
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: a little bit about goal setting. What has your practice
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: looked like for goal setting in the past, and how
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: has that evolved for you over time.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: When I first started out in the sport, my very
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: first goal was to make it across the pool without
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: stopping on the lane line. I swam the twenty five
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: free my first summer of swimming. That was my one event,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: and I would swim three strokes, grab onto the lane line,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: wipe my nose, three strokes, grab on to the lane line,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: take my breath. So my first summer, I achieved my
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: goal of making it across the pool.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: So that was good. And then beyond that, I started.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: I started right.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Down my goals and I called them want times. I
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: didn't call them goal times. I called them want times.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: And I have no idea how I came up with that.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I think I just wanted to come up with something
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: unique and something that was different. Nobody taught me that.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Nobody taught me that I should write down my goals.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: But I really love to do it, and I think
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: it maybe stemmed from my love of math. So I
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: would write down my times, and then after the race,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I would you know, do the addition and subtraction and
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: check how far away I was from reaching my goal
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: or how much I beat my goal by. So I
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: was doing that at age seven, age eight, and really
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: kept that up for quite a while. I think there
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: came a point where I stopped writing them down before
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: every single meet, but I would write them down before
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: each season and I would review. I would start reviewing
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: them with my coaches. As things got more serious, you know,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: we'd have kind of goal setting meetings, and even those
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: kind of evolved over the years from just talking about
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: what the goals are to talking about the process in
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: how I was going to reach those goals, what technical
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: things I needed to work on, what splits I needed to.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: Hold in my races.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: As I got older and older and still to this day,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: I became a student of the sport. I loved watching swimming.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I loved watching the best compete and trying to learn
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: from them.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Pick up little tidbits. So you know, it's evolved over
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: the years.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I've written down my goals for some seasons.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: Other seasons I don't.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I usually always share those goals with my coach, and
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: often I actually rely on my coach to help me
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: come up with those goals and verbalize those goals. And
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: having a coach verbalize those goals to you can actually
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: give you a lot of confidence. I think, confidence that
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: you know somebody else believes that you can can achieve
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: those things. It's not just some fantasy in your head.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: It's something that's really attainable.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: That combination of being able to visualize them by writing
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: it down and then that external validation there that coach
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: that believes in you is really special. I mean for
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: someone like you, fourteen Olympic medals, we've got twenty six
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: total World Championship medals. What kind of goals does someone
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: that's that decorated set today.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm always looking at the next thing, and I
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: mean this year there's a World Championships in Singapore at
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the end of July. There'll be a trials meet for
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: that in June. So you know, really my next big
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: goals are for those competitions, and you know I'm not
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: going to share those with you. I'm sorry, as I said,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I really just share them with my coaches. But yeah,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: I'm just always striving to improve, and I think improvement
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: looks different each year. You know, I don't just set
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: goals for competition. I also set goals and trainings. So
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: certain sets that I want to do in practice or
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: certain times I want to achieve in practice, those are
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: kind of goals that I set on a weekly basis.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm kind of always trying to stay in
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: the present. I would say, just just trying to stay
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: focused on the goal for the day, and then as
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: I as I achieve those goals, that builds up my
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: confidence moving toward the bigger competitions when I want to
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: achieve my goals for those meets.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: What's the secret Sauce to picking yourself up when you
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: come up short on your goal?
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: For you?
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: How do you reframe perhaps maybe negative self talk that
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: can creep in when things don't go as you'd hoped.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Always talking with someone is important, you know. I usually
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: talk with my coaches. We talked through what went right,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: what went wrong, you know, what were the pros and
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: cons of the performance, and even my very best performances,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: I would pick apart and find areas for opportunity to improve.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I think it's always good.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: To evaluate things and you know, see what you did right,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: see what you did wrong, see how you can improve
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: your training to be better next time.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: I think it's you know, in swimming, it's a.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Time based sport, so the scoreboard doesn't lie and you
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: can I think some athletes get caught up in those
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: results and you can kind of get emotional one way
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: or the other based on a performance. But I think
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the way to get past that is to think about
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the process and think about what went into that and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: how that process could improve. Or maybe the process went
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: great and you want to replicate that next time and
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: just continue on that path. So I think it's just
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: making it more of a conversation rather than oh, Okay,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: that was the result, that was bad, that was good.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: It's got to be a little more than that. It's
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: got to be a true evaluation and reflection I think
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: of the whole process.
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: One of the things that I really appreciate about you,
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: Katie is that you are an athlete who has like
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: your own blinders on. And what I mean by that
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: is that you can hear all of these things about
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: people telling you about how many metals you have, but
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: for you, it's not really about the metals. It's you
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: stacking yourself up against yourself. And I think that that
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: is something that, to your point, a lot of athletes
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: struggle with, right whether it's looking at the clock or
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: comparing yourself to somebody else. For you, how do you
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: no pun intended stay in your own lane? How do
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: you keep the blinders on and focus on the best
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: that you have to give in any given day.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know if there's one thing exactly that I
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: can point to, but I think I would kind of
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: fall back again on my coaches and kind of the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: guidance that they've given me over the years, and the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: kind of the love of training that that they've instilled
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: in me, and you know that comes from them writing
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: great practices and keeping the practice environment.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Really fun and enjoyable.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: Those things helped me focus on the day to day
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: rather than just the end result, And especially at the
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: level I've been at for the last decade, you know,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: once once you achieve a world record, it I guess, yes,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I I broke those records a few times, but you know,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: there comes a point where you're not going to go
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: a best time every single race, and I think at
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: first that was that was challenging for me to recognize,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: but I recognize that I would go to every single
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: meet believing that I could potentially break a world record.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: That was kind of the mindset that I had during
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: this this long stretch where I was breaking world records
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: that you know, quote unquote random meets, you know, like
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: like not a World Championships or Olympics. And that was
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: a good thing in that it helped me treat every
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: competition with the same level of focus and determination and
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: you know energy, like I didn't need a full you know,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: ten thousand people in the stands to get me excited
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: to race. I you know, would would put myself in
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: that mindset of Okay, I can I can do something
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: special when I dive in, and even though I know
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: now that that's not going to happen every single time
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I race. I I've tried to hold on to that
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: mindset and have have kind of recognized the bump that
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: that would give me. Treating each race like it's an
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Olympic final. That brings the best out of me, and
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: that helps me focus in training, helps me, you know,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: just enjoy the process. Knowing that I'm going to, you know,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: expect the best out of myself each time I get
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: up and race. And so I've got to put in
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: the work every day and training and and and the
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: results will come.
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: It's, as you said, that tool in your toolbox, the
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: experience that enables and empowers you to have this powerful perspective.
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: It also beckons the question what does self talk look
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: like for Katie Lideki.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of describe it as you know, this
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: this voice in my in my head, it's kind of
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: like someone that's giving me a pep talk. And it's
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: a very direct voice, I would say, especially when I'm
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: I'm racing, you know, it's kind of like someone else's
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: speaking to me. Like I'll tell myself as I'm going
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: into a flip turn, you know, hit that turn, you know,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: like let's go like like just very positive. And then
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: if I'm starting to feel some pain in the middle
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: of a distance race, I'll you know, tell myself, all right,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: just focus on on the pull or focus on holding rhythm.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: Very just short direct statements that I'm kind of giving myself.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: But it is almost like somebody else's is giving giving
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: it to me. But you know, unfortunately, and swimming we
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: can't have like the headphones that you know, football players
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: or whoever have in their helmets. We don't have that
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: in our swim caps, so we can't have a coach's
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: voice or.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: Something like that.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: But I think that's kind of like the voice that
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I have in my head, just someone that's kind of
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: cheering me on and you know, pushing me to get
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: past any moments of doubt or any tough moments.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: In a race.
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: Even in the challenging moment.
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: Someone with your level of experience is also dialed in
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: at times into breaking it into little doables, Is that right?
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, especially in the distance races, I have
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: to do that. So i might get to the thousand
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: mark of the fifteen hundred and I'll start counting down
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the fifties that I have left. So I'll stop, I'll
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: stop counting up, and I'll start counting down that I
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: have all right, I have just ten fifties.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: I have nine fifties.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: And that makes, you know, the hardest part of the
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: race seem less daunting. It kind of reminds me of
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: all the training that I've done, all the fifties that
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: I've done in practice, ten fifties seems like like nothing.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's kind of one example. But I
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: think I try to do that on a larger scale
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: as well. When I am just thinking about the week
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: of training and trying to be the best that I
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: can be this morning, this afternoon, you know, just just
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: each half day.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: I guess each each and every part holistically. You mentioned
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: and talked a little bit about how the day could
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: look like when we talked about fueling. But what does
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: balance look like for you these days? I know, right now,
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: coming fresh off of an Olympic cycle, we will have,
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: you know, worlds down the pipe. But is there a
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: little bit more balance and the ebb and the flow
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: of the year as it goes with competition schedule, or
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: how do you make sure that you're finding time for
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: yourself outside of the pool.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I took a little bit of time off after Paris,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: maybe the longest stretch I had been out of the water.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: That's not saying too much, though.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: I was probably out of the water three or four weeks,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: and then I kind of eased myself back into it.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: I did quite a bit of travel in September and October,
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: so I was away from my normal training environment, but
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: I did start training or swimming more regularly throughout my travels.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: You know, swimming actually is a big part of my
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: balance and you know, without it, it throws my balance off.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: So even while I was traveling, I was searching on
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the airplane, you know, best pools and such and such city,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: and I would kind of plot out my lap swim
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: hours and when I was gonna.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Go hit up the pool. So, you know, I got
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: Some some fun things after after Paris, see some friends,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: see some family, had some great opportunities to speak to
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: different groups, things like that. And then in October, late October,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: I came back to Florida and got back into my
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: normal routine of training and kind of setting up the
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: year for you know, leading into the World Championships this summer.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: So I'm into the hard, hard training and have done
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: some racing this year already. And you know, away from
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: the pool, away from training, I've enjoyed getting a lot
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: of time with my family this year. I actually hosted
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and Christmas in Florida, which was nice. So had
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: some good time with my family over the holidays, and
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: have really made a lot of great friends in Florida
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: as well over the past three and a half years
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: that I've lived here. So I feel like I have
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: some good roots here now, and I love to spend
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: time with them and do some things out of the
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: pool around here.
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: I can only imagine like owning or you know, working
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: at a facility in some random town, like maybe outside
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: of Chicago. And Katie Lidecki just like walks up and
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: wants to use the pool for lap swim. Do you
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: have any funny stories about something like that.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of great stories. I started.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: I started calling it by lap Swim Tour because I
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: would just show up at lap swim, pay.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: My three dollars whatever it was, and.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: It was kind of it was like a fun social experiment,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I guess, just to like see how long it took
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: people to recognize who I was, or things like that.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: I think the best story I have is maybe from Utah.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: I was there for an event and then I stayed
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: an extra a day or two to visit my aunt
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: an uncle who live in Salt Lake, and so my aunt,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: who loves to swim as well, came along with me
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: to the pool and so she got to kind of
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: sit on the side and watch it all ha.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: And actually I was like.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Splitting the lane with someone and that person knew who
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: I was and was very very nice. And then there
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: was a third person that wanted to join the lane,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: and so we would have to switch from splitting to
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: circle swimming. And the guy that I was originally splitting
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: the lane with felt bad that I would have to
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: circle with all of them, and so he offered to
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: He was like, oh, like, I'll just I'll switch to
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: this lane so you don't have to do three in
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: a lane. Katie, Like, I'll go three in a lane
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: in this lane and then you'll just have to split.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: And the guy that was just joining the lane was like,
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: what's his problem? You know, like why does he think
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: we can't go three in a lane? You know, what's
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: the deal? I just kind of laughed it off. I
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: was like, I don't know. I think he just felt
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: like we could could split. He was just being nice.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: I think maybe by the end of the swim the
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: guy figured it out. But you know, I tried to
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: roll up like without my life decy cap and try
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: to be anonymous for as long as I could.
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: Oh man, so good those people of you, they're probably
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: still talking about that in Utah.
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: You know, the thing that I got a kick out
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: of was like once people started talking and sharing with
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: their friends that I was there, I started thinking, Wow,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: you know, I bet a lot of people are going
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: to show up the next day just to see if
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm back, and so I think, I'm I'm really
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: you know, inspiring people to get to the pool. So
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: that's it was kind of a fun, fun little thing
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: to do, and again it kind of kept me, kept
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: me moving and engaged with the water and also engaged
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: with other people. It was It's fun for me to
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: share my experiences and take pictures and whatever whatever anyone
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: wants to do.
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: I enjoy those moments.
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: I love that and I love again the good energy
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: that you bring. Now, obviously, not every day is going
• 51:56
  Speaker 3: to be the best day. There are going to be
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: difficult moments and beyond sport. For you, what would you
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: say has been one of the most difficult, challenging hurdles
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: of your career.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: I think it was probably the year delay of the
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Olympics in twenty twenty.
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: And that's not a unique hurdle for me.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: That was something that all the Olympic athletes or potential
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Olympic athletes, you know, were dealt and finding how to
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: train during that time and how to stay connected with
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: other people.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, that was a challenge for everyone.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: So again, trying to keep things in perspective at all times.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: I think, trying to be grateful that we still had
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to strive for our goals even though they
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: were a year delayed. That was what I kept reminding
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: myself of. But you know how important family is to me,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: So the probably the biggest challenge for me was being
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: away from my family for so long. I was out
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: in California at Stanford training in the Bay Area, and
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: my family was in in Maryland or on the East Coast,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: and so yeah, that was probably the longest stretch of
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: time that I had been without family. I think it
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: was a full year where I didn't have any contact
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: with any physical contact with my family. I say that
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: because I probably FaceTime my parents, you know, two or
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: three times a day part of that stretch. But yeah,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: I think it was just a real challenge to see
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: the finish line at times, or not know if the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: finish line was going to be there. I mean, I
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: think even a month out of the Olympics. There was
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: still some chatter out there that maybe they'll still cancel it.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: You just couldn't one hundred percent see that it was
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: going to happen at any time, So there was just
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: always this uncertainty.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: I think, looming, and that.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: Just was a challenge knowing how much hard work we
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: had all put in. But again, perspective was key, knowing
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: that that was absolutely necessary to postpone the games. Of course,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: health was number one thing. Always trying to keep things
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: in perspective was probably the biggest challenge.
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: Now, someone goes to your Instagram page and they see
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: the smiling Katie Lideki, this four time US Olympic swimmer,
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: a nine time Olympic gold medalist, a twenty one time
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: world champion. But when you look in the mirror, Katie,
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking back at you.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, at five am, I don't look very pretty,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: but I try to give myself a smile as I'm
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: brushing my teeth and getting ready for practice. When you
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: say mirror, I guess I think of the mirror that
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: I have back at home in Bethesda, Maryland. It's kind
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: of like it's my bathroom mirror. It's kind of like
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: a time capsule in a way, because I actually have like.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: Some of my goals written up.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: I think it's actually some technique things that I had
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: typed up that I had taped.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: To my mirror at one point.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: And then there's also one of these, like one of
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: those pink circular sticker things that you can write on
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: kind of like a whiteboard, and I have like a
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: list that I'd written up once of things not to
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: forget to pack for a swim meet or something.
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: So it's it's always funny to go back home and
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: see that.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: And then I also see there's there was like a
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: road to London sticker that I put up on my
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: mirror before the London Olympics, probably back before I even
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: had qualified for Olympic trials. And so when I see that,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: and when I go home now and I see that
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: and I look at myself in the mirror, I guess
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: I still can't believe that I've made it this far
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: in the sport, because, as I said, when I was six,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: I just started for fun and had no aspirations or
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: no belief that the Olympics would be in my future.
• 55:51
  Speaker 4: I think that's just such a special reminder for so
• 55:53
  Speaker 4: many of us.
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: Right, we're talking to this beautiful, decorated athlete, and there
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: was a time even in your journey, where you were
• 56:01
  Speaker 3: a beginner and you only get and I say this
• 56:05
  Speaker 3: like a privilege, like you only get to be a
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: beginner once. And for you, when you were a beginner,
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: you distinctly remember just wanting to make it to the
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: other side of the pool, right, And there's so much
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: to take from that.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we're all but we're all beginners when
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: we start. I did not look like an Olympian when
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: I started.
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: I did not.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: You know, my mom swam in college, but it's not
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: like she was an Olympian or anything like that. I'm
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: not like denegrating her accomplishments, but it's not like it's
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: not like I had someone right in front of me
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: that that had done it, that made it real for me,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: or made it seem possible right from the get go.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: I certainly had those role models that I looked up
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: to in the sport from a young age. There were
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: some great female distance swimmers in the Maryland, Virginia area,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: Katie hoff Katziegler that I looked up to, and once
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: I started loving swimming and watching swimming more and more.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: I would watch the Olympics on TV and just think
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: that these people were superheroes and just like you had
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: to be a different sort of person or it just
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't attainable. It's something that's on your TV and you
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: know you're never going to get to experience that. But
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: I think, just as we've talked about, I think just
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: taking it one step at a time and just enjoying
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: each step along the way help me get there and
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: help me get to the point where that would be
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: my next step.
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: It's so special now because we said before that line,
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: in order to be her, you need to see her,
• 57:39
  Speaker 3: you articulating that in its true form right here now.
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: For so many you are her. What does it mean
• 57:46
  Speaker 3: to you at this point to now be this woman again?
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: We mentioned the power of she collective, to be this
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: person that is at the forefront of woman sports, someone
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: that so many people aspire to be. Like, whether we're
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: talking about being in the pool or well beyond it.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: You know the power of she.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: It's it's all about women moving women forward. And that's
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: something that I feel really passionate about and I feel
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: very lucky to be in the position that I'm that
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: I'm in to be around other great female athletes and
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: great female swimmers, great female coaches like just I have
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: all these experiences where I just kind of take a
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: step back and enjoy where I'm at currently and just
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: remind myself of the impact that I can have on
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: young girls.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: And on on women.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: And as we've talked about, it's something that I truly
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: enjoy and I truly enjoy hearing other stories and stories
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: of people's journey through sport and through movement, and I
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: think it's just something.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: That connects everyone.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: It's you know, everyone has their own passions, but I
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: think everyone, regardless of what those passions may be, is
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: trying to be the best version of them themselves. And
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: if we can encourage each other to pursue those passions,
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: pursue those big goals, beautiful things happen, and you'll learn
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: new things about yourself, You'll learn new things about each other,
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: and you'll find commonalities.
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: With other people.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: You'll find differences, but you'll learn from those experiences. And
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: that to me is much more valuable than a gold
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: medal or a silver medal, bronze medal record. Just getting
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: to connect with other people and such a wide range
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: of people and getting these international experiences. Those are things
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: that are way more important to me than anything that
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: the scoreboard says at this point in my career.
• 59:51
  Speaker 3: Together, we have the opportunity to lift each other up.
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: Right now, Katie, you have the opportunity to offer yourself
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: a piece of advice. You talked about the hurdle that
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: was going through the pandemic and the delay of those goals.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 4: Knowing what you know now.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: Katie, what would you tell yourself going through that hurtle moment?
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: I would tell myself keep it moving. That's something that
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: is a phrase that a great coach, John R. Banchik,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: who just passed away last year, would always say to
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: his swimmers and is just a cherished phrase of mine
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: and something that I often tell myself now now that
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: he can't tell tell all of us. So yeah, keep
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: it moving. Very very simple, but really can be applied
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: to sport life day to day. If you keep moving forward,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: you're gonna make progress, You're gonna have a good day.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 3: You're gonna have a good day. Keep it moving, Katie Ludeki,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: truly such a joy for me. I can't even tell.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 4: You for those that may not be following along.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 3: With you who would just yet? I don't know who
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: those people are, but just in case, how do we
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 3: keep up with you on Instagram? Give us your details.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram at Katie Ldeki.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 4: Catch you guys next time