Day in the Life:

Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky is a 5X Olympic gold medalist, 9X world champion, and multiple world-record holder for Team USA women’s swimming at just 19 years of age… What goes into her daily 24 hours to keep her so far ahead of the pack?

Below is an inside glimpse into Katie’s average training day heading into Rio 2016. The Stanford-bound Ledecky will likely be following a similar path to Tokyo 2020…

Katie’s Daily Routine:

405AM – Wake Up

415AM – Snack of toast w/ peanut butter, banana or apple

5AM – Swim Practice, 6,000 to 6,500 yards

7AM – Breakfast of bacon, egg, cheese & tomato omelet with potatoes; or bagel with cream cheese and egg; or yogurt and fruit with berries… preferred beverage is chocolate milk.

8AM – Nap

10AM – Snack of yogurt, honey and granola with mixed berries, plus either an apple or pear

11AM – Dryland training

1230PM – Lunch of pasta with chicken or Caesar salad with chicken and an avocado

1PM – Watch TV, Read or take another Nap

245PM – Snack of fruit and sometimes more toast w/ peanut butter

330PM – Swim Practice, 7,000 to 8,000 yards

6PM – Snack of yogurt, key lime flavor is a recent favorite. Drinks another chocolate milk.

630PM – Dinner of carbs, such as pasta, white rice, or arugula with white beans, tomato, garlic and chicken or steak. Ledecky does not eat candy, ice cream, cake or soda. Although she did have a tiny piece of her mom’s birthday cake in April.

7PM – Read, Watch TV… “She has become a news nerd, especially the primaries, caucuses and debates,” her father Dave told ESPN.

915PM – Bedtime

Work Ethic

With a 4AM alarm clock, Katie’s parents say she will occasionally have to wake them up for her daily ride to practice, “… but we’ve never had to wake her up.” Katie’s coach, Bruce Gemmell, tweeted photos of Katie practicing until 115AM during the Rio Games, due to the time change and scheduling of meets. She was the last one out of the pool, and has a reputation for doing this. “We’ve seen this before. The process never ends,” wrote Bruce.

We've seen this before. The process never ends. Last one in warm down pool. Kazan 2015 and #Rio2016 1:15am. pic.twitter.com/NNQtk5f19O — Bruce Gemmell (@CoachGemmell) August 11, 2016

The Next Phelps

After outpacing members of the men’s Team USA team during training camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last spring, veteran members including Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps identified her as “the one to watch” and anticipated her success in Rio. As Phelps expressed to USA Today:

She is such a strong swimmer and such a dominant swimmer… You can tell she is very goal oriented, and for me it brings me back to kind of what I was like way, way, way back in the day. Every time she gets in the water, it’s like a world record. She is improving so much, and I think she is just trying to push that barrier, and I think it’s pretty exciting to watch her do that.



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