Few athletes achieved extra on the Paris Video games than swimmer Katie Ledecky. She gained 4 medals, together with gold within the 1500-meter freestyle in a brand new Olympic report of 15:30.02. Within the course of, she turned probably the most adorned feminine Olympian ever to compete for Group USA, with 14 whole medals to her title.
However probably the most significant accomplishment for her was her last one: profitable gold within the 800 meters for the fourth time, making her the one lady ever to four-peat.
“It doesn’t get any simpler every time,” Ledecky tells SELF after getting back from Paris. “I felt a way of aid, a way of pleasure, all of the feelings on the finish of that one. You all the time wish to finish on a great word.”
So how, precisely, does an athlete wind down from such an unimaginable excessive? Right here’s how Ledecky is taking good care of her physique and thoughts post-competition, so she will get again to coaching mentally and bodily refreshed.
1. “Pre-covery” is simply as necessary as what comes after.
The preventive sport is very essential for Ledecky, who was identified with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, in 2015. This situation causes blood to pool in her legs when she stands up, generally inflicting signs like dizziness, fainting, or exhaustion.
Along with staying hydrated and taking in additional sodium, Ledecky controls her signs with compression gear to enhance circulation. She has a shirt and leggings, however compression socks are what’s most necessary to maintain blood flowing via her legs. She all the time wears them when she’s touring lengthy distances (say, on flights from the USA to Paris).
“Lots of people use compression socks on flights anyway,” she says. “Particularly as an athlete, it simply helps the legs really feel higher and helps begin the restoration on the aircraft earlier than you even land.”
2. Fueling between races turns into much more important throughout a stacked schedule.
Ledecky’s Olympic schedule was grueling—between heats and finals, she swam eight totally different races throughout six days, for a complete of almost 6,000 meters. After each, she did simple laps to “heat down,” swimmer-speak for cooldown.
As well as, she centered on getting protein, carbs, and electrolytes to replenish and put together for her subsequent race. One of the best ways to do it: in grab-and-go type, as a result of who’s bought time for a sit-down meal when the race schedule is beckoning? Ledecky chooses protein shakes—she’s been partnered with Core Energy for years—for coaching and competitors.
“It was simple to seize a kind of proper after my race,” she says. “I might drink it as I used to be warming down.” Chocolate is her favourite taste, however she blended it up with vanilla every now and then. (Happily, Group USA had shipped 11,000 Core Energy bottles to Paris forward of time and hauled enormous coolers on to the pool, so one was all the time proper inside attain.)
3. Find time for enjoyable and rejoice all the good things.
Though this was her fourth Olympics, Ledecky had by no means stayed for the second week of the Video games after swimming concluded. So for the primary time, she spectated different occasions, popping up at males’s and ladies’s basketball video games and golf matches earlier than carrying the flag within the closing ceremony.
