In this week's rewind episode, Emily sits down with four-time Olympian Katie Ledecky, the most decorated American female Olympian in history. Ledecky brings us back to her roots, talking about her first-ever goals in swimming and how she originally fell in love with the sport at age six.

The swimming legend shares her perspective on the grueling work required to maintain excellence over a two-decade career, regularly logging 20+ hours a week in the water and another 6 to 7 hours in the gym. Katie opens up about how she handles pre-race nerves, her mental strategies for befriending pain in the final meters of a race, and how she breaks down monumental goals into small, doable pieces.

Plus: The deep impact of her family, what it’s like to drop into a random local pool for lap swim, and what true lifestyle balance looks like for her outside of training. She also touches on what it means to be a powerful role model and how that mission became even more meaningful when she partnered with Athleta’s Power of She collective.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How does Katie Ledecky befriend pain? She recalls a defining 1500-meter race from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships where she hit a wall of pain at the 900-meter mark but pushed through to pick up her split times.

• Katie talks about how she feels about what she’s achieved in her 22-year career in sport. Having far surpassed her childhood dreams, she shares how she continues to set bigger goals while maintaining her passion.

• What is Katie Ledecky’s "why" in swimming? She discusses balancing her personal drive to find the best version of herself with a deep joy for inspiring the next generation of athletes.

• How Katie Ledecky fuels to train and perform. She walks through her daily nutrition schedule, navigating early morning practices, and structuring a balance of protein and carbs.

• How much sleep does Katie Ledecky get and what she does when she doesn’t get as much as she’d like. Katie discusses aiming for 8 to 9 hours a night and the sacred role of her daily midday nap.

• What it was like for Katie to follow in her brother’s footsteps in the pool. She reflects on looking up to her older brother, Michael, and following him into the sport.

• What Katie Ledecky’s relationship is with goal setting and how that has evolved since she started swimming. She explains her childhood habit of writing down "want times" to gamify her progress.

• What are Katie Ledecky’s current goals? She focuses on the upcoming World Aquatic Championships in Singapore and building consistency in her training block.

• How does Katie Ledecky reframe negative self-talk? She shares her approach to managing off-days in practice by finding small technical elements to adjust and relying on the positive energy of her teammates.

• Katie talks about the most difficult hurdle of her professional career—navigating the uncertainty, isolation, and training adjustments brought on by the 2020 Olympic postponement.

QUOTABLE MOMENTS

• "Nerves are a good thing. It means you care about what you're about to do... Knowing that you're prepared for the biggest stage and you're ready—that’s one of the best feelings in the world."

• "Even if you hit that point in that race, you can push past it and maybe even go faster. It's always interesting to learn those things, and I'm still learning at this age. That's what keeps it fun for me."

• "I'm always just trying to push myself and trying to be the best version of myself that I can be... If we can encourage each other to pursue those passions, pursue those big goals, beautiful things happen." 

• "I can't be at 100% every single day. But if I'm at 80%, I've got to give 100% of my 80%. I just try to be as consistent as I can be on a day-to-day basis." 

• "Keep it moving. If you keep moving forward, you're going to make progress, you're going to have a good day."

SOCIAL
@katieledecky
@womenshealthmag
@emilyabbate
@iheartwomenssports

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ASK ME A QUESTION: Email hello@hurdle.us to with your questions! Emily answers them every Friday on the show. 

Listen to Hurdle with Emily Abbate on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.