How to set goals like katie ledecky

Katie Ledecky utterly dominated the sport of swimming at the Olympics in Rio. Here is how to set goals like the greatest active swimmer on the planet.

The feats and accomplishments of Katie Ledecky befuddle the mind at times, particularly for those who have been around competitive swimming for longer than a hot minute.

Six Olympic gold medals.

Undefeated in international competition since 2012.

First swimmer since 1968 to win the 200-400-800m freestyle Olympic triple.

She won the 800m freestyle by over 11 seconds in Rio, the 400m nearly 5 seconds.

…and she is only 19 years old.

Her work ethic has become a thing of legend, and she solidified this status while spearheading a dominant United States team performance in Rio, powering her way to five gold medals, four of them individual.

While a sweeping majority of us will never grace the deck of an Olympic pool, much less have ambitions of being there, Ledecky’s domination and unparalleled success in the water—sweet molasses she’s still only nineteen—offers some lessons for anyone who has aggressive aspirations in or out of the pool.

Here is how to set goals like Katie Ledecky.

1. Throw caution to the chlorine.

You don’t get to the pinnacle of the sport by accident, or by setting “safe” goals. Similar to the mindset that Phelps has with his “no limits” approach to goal setting,

Ledecky advises that young swimmers should dream and think big.

“I would encourage you to set really high goals,” she told the Today show during her post-Olympic media circuit after Rio.

Go big. Think so big that it scares you a little.

2. Have your goal right in front of you.

Fellow swimmers might have been confused looking at Ledecky’s pull buoy during training. The numbers “565” were printed neatly in perma-black ink.

The numbers, as her coach Bruce Gemmell revealed later, signified her goals for the 400m and 800m freestyles in Rio: 3:56 and 8:05. (She would swim a 3:56.46 and 8:04.79 in Rio.)

The accuracy with which these goals were set and later accomplished is staggering when you note that they were set in the months following the Barcelona World Championship meet, where she crushed the world records in the 800 and 1500m freestyles…in 2013, a full three years before the Rio Games.

You don’t need me to tell you that the training of a distance swimmer is no joke.

A lot of meters and yards swum over years and years in the pool. Having your goal right in front of you will help keep you focused and maintain your sense of purpose during those back-breaking sets and workouts.

3. Break it down.

Okay, so you have your big, audacious goal. And you have taken the next step and written it down somewhere that you will see it every day, or every time you are training.

But that’s not enough.

Now comes the truly challenging part, the thing that makes swimmers like Ledecky into the stratosphere of excellence—the daily willingness to fail in training in its pursuit.

In training each day in training Ledecky had specific targets to hit. Stroke rates, race pace, intervals—and she would hammer away at them fearlessly.

Each day she would show up and go all out to try and hit the targets and intervals for the day. If she missed, she would come back the next day’s swimming workout with the same determination as the day before.

This kind of resilience seems easy, basic even, but it is extremely difficult mentally to be willing to fail–often spectacularly–and not be discouraged to try again and again.

Piece by piece Ledecky mastered her ideal swim over the long hours and years of training in the pool by breaking it down and going after each race pace and each stroke tempo until she mastered it.

4. Surround yourself with faster swimmers.

Rather famously, Ledecky trained mostly with male swimmers while with her club program back in Washington. During national team camps at altitude in Colorado Springs she readily “broke” some of the male swimmers during long training sets.

“Last year I was the guy getting broken by her,” said Olympic teammate Conor Dwyer, who is no slouch in the mid-distance events himself. Dwyer won a gold medal in Rio in the 4x200m freestyle relay and placed 4th in the 400m freestyle.

By racing against stronger swimmers Ledecky was insuring that she always had someone to chase down, and eventually, beat.

“There’s always someone faster,” Ledecky told ESPN earlier in the summer.

In order to improve, you need to surround yourself with people who are going to push and propel you to the next level. For Ledecky, this means training against some of the top distance male swimmers on the planet.

5. Keep your goal to yourself (or don’t).

Ledecky was always coy when asked about what her goals were, dodging questions like “How much faster do you think you can go?” with a smile and “We’ll see.”

Her coach knew what she wanted to do, but the general public had no idea what she was planning to drop in Rio. Michael Phelps was similar when setting his goals—choosing to keep his goals to himself.

On the other hand, sprinters like Russian Vlad Morozov and Canadian Santo Conderelli preferred to let their goals be known, Morozov sharing his during a Reddit AMA and Condorelli posting his on Instagram.

Whichever format works best for you, roll with it.

Some athletes thrive on the pressure that comes from going public with their goals and reap the accountability benefits of doing so, while others are able to perform better in practice and competition when the pressure only comes from within.

6. First In, Last Out.

Lastly, it’s important to note that without the ruthless hard work that Ledecky routinely puts in at the pool all the goal setting “secrets” and tips are worthless.

You can draft a purposeful goal, break down exactly what you need to do it, but without the daily commitment to seeing it through it’s just a waste of paper. Gemmell credits Ledecky’s work ethic above all else as a driving force of her rise to becoming the top female swimmer on the planet.

There’s no secret, no magic technique correction, just showing up day after day, mastering her craft and doing the work.

See Also:

This is What Katie Ledecky’s Main Sets Look Like. Ever wanted to peek under the hood of what Ledecky’s training looks like? Here ya go.

How Katie Ledecky Took Her Training to the Next Level. One of the little known facts about Katie Ledecky is her use of a training journal to not only monitor her training, but set goals and even keep a gratitude list.

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This past summer Katie Ledecky showed the world that she is better at swimming than the rest of us are at pretty much anything.

She thoroughly cleaned up in Rio, winning four gold medals—three of them individual—and a silver. Her 400 and 800m freestyle wins were devastating, with her margin of victory in the latter a staggering 11-plus seconds. She swept the 200-400-800m freestyles, something that hadn’t been done since 1968, displaying a once-in-a-generation range of speed and ability.

She’s now a two time Olympian, kicked an American Ninja Warrior’s butt at a made-up game on Ellen, and tossed a heater when she threw the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game.

And did we also mention that she’s only nineteen years old?

Here are some goal setting tips us mortals can pick up from the greatest active swimmer on the planet:

Keep them visible.

Thinking and dreaming about our goals is easy. Everyone does that. If you are even mildly serious about crushing your goal, jotting it down and having it in sight is almost mandatory.

After all, something changes when you take literally five seconds to write down your goal. It becomes a little more real.

When Ledecky and her coach Bruce Gemmell sat down after the 2013 FINA World Championships, where she rocked the world records in the 800m and 1500m freestyles, they discussed what was possible over the next three years leading into Rio. They decided on two goal times: 3:56 for the 400m freestyle, and 8:05 for the 800m freestyle.

Even though they kept the goals to themselves as they prepared for the Olympics, the goals she had set were never far—she had written “565” to signify her two goal times on her pull buoy. Every day during her swimming workouts, during the long 8,000-9,000-yard training sessions with a nearly endless number of flip turns, those three little numbers were there waiting for her, motivating her, reminding her of the purpose of all the work.

And how did she do in Rio? She pretty much nailed her goals right over the head, swimming a 3:56.46 in the 400m freestyle, and 8:04.79 in the 800m freestyle.

Be willing and ready to fail.

The word failure carries with it so much negative baggage that the moment we slip up, fail, or otherwise disappoint ourselves we quit. We tell ourselves, “Ah, we didn’t really want it that bad” and move on to the next thing, never giving our goals a fair and consistent effort.

Which is too bad, because without the ability to brave the initial hurdles and resistance we can never truly improve or advance towards the hard and rewarding things we want from life.

One of Ledecky’s strengths is her willingness to fail in practice, to see past the initial struggle and keep at it. In Angela Duckworth’s book Grit, her coach related just how serious Ledecky was when it came to being willing to fail:

“There are days she fails catastrophically,” he said. “She fails in practice more than anybody in her [training] group, because she’ll start out like, ‘This is the pace I need to swim in the race, so I need to replicate it in practice.’ And she’ll go six repeats like that, and the tank goes empty and she just falls off. But you know what? She’ll come back the next day and try it again. And on the third day, she’ll nail it. And she’s been doing this since the first day I walked on the deck with her.”

Nobody likes failing at something or not being good at something the first time out. Being willing to fail is not about getting comfortable losing or sucking—it’s using the rage and frustration from not nailing it the first time to get the hang of it in future attempts.

Surround yourself with people who will bring out the best in you.

If you looked at the people you keep in your circle, would you say that they are inspiring bigger and better things out of you, or are they encouraging mediocrity and the status quo?

When you hang out with people who are doing the things you want to do it’s inevitable that their influence will help push and propel you upwards.

Ledecky, having outpaced the female swimmers on her team, trained predominantly with male swimmers in the lead up to Rio. During altitude camps at the United States Olympic Training Center, she would go head to head with male swimmers on the national team and routinely “break” them.

One of the male swimmers that Ledecky “broke” included Conor Dwyer, who is no slouch himself in the middle distance swimming events—he placed 4th in the 400m freestyle in Rio and won a bronze in the 200m freestyle.

By surrounding herself with swimmers who were faster than her she rode their wake towards faster swimming, elevating her to times and records that are so far and above the competition it’s ridiculous.

Meet and Exceed Your Goals

Whatever your goals are—whether it be learning how to swim faster freestyle, or get that promotion at work, or get in better shape—there are lessons that the top swimmer on the planet can teach you.

Write out your goals and keep them in sight. Be ready to fight back against those first few moments of difficulty. And surround yourself with people who will push you upwards.

You don’t become the fastest distance freestyler in history without having done some impressive stuff in training. Here are a handful of Katie Ledecky’s main sets. Try at your own risk.

At the Rio Katie Ledecky solidified her place as the greatest woman freestyler in history, and as the top female swimmer on the planet.

Since 2012 she has been on absolute tear, going undefeated in major international competition and repeatedly shattering world records in the 400, 800 and 1500m freestyles.

In Rio she added the 200m freestyle to her list of events, completing the hat trick of 200-400-800 freestyles for the first time since Debbie Meyer did so in 1968.

2012: An Effortless Hand-Off Between Coaches

Ledecky’s age group coach at Maryland’s Nation’s Capital was Yuri Suguiyama. They worked together during her early teenage years, with Suguiyama guiding her to a surprise gold medal in the 800m freestyle at the London Olympics in 2012.

When Suguiyama left NCAP for a job at the University of California, it was Bruce Gemmell of the Delaware Aquatic Club who took over the reigns of the program.

Already an accomplished distance coach—his son Andrew had qualified for the London team as well—it didn’t take long to see that the new partnership would work out.

The following sets were some of the distance swim workouts that she did in preparation for the 2013 Barcelona FINA World Championships, where she would snag the world records in both the 800m and 1500m freestyles.

Gemmell cites Jon Urbanchek and his colors system as part of his coaching methodology, which he describes as “part science, part art, part witchcraft, part seat-of-my pants.”

Here is a quick key for the colors that are mentioned so that you can get a better idea of what kind of intensity that the sets are supposed to be done at:

Low intensity, aerobic work (White/Pink)

• Short rest, usually around 10-20 seconds between reps.
• Heart rate between 130-150.
• Used a lot during the early season, for recovery and for technique work.

Aerobic, threshold swimming (Red)

• Ideal intensity for threshold improvement.
• Sets are generally around 30-40 minutes.
• Heart rate 150-170

Optimal threshold (Blue)

• Taxing, uncomfortable
• Slightly above threshold pace
• Heart rate 160-180
• 20 to 30 sec rest between reps
• Sets last between 20 and 30 minutes

The Main Sets: Katie Ledecky

The following workouts were all completed in short course yards. At the time Ledecky was training with a group of 4-5 other swimmers who all shared the same interval.

(The last one is simply ridiculous.)

Set #1 — Threshold

1 x 300 @3:15 neg split

3 x 150 @1:45 (Target: 1:27.0)

3 x 100 @1:15 (Target: 56.0)

6 x 25 @:20 Fast Feet

:60 rest between rounds.

• Gemmell would sometimes also like to have Katie and the group do the 25’s kick towards the end of the set in order to help build up her legs and finishing kick.
• “The real work is in the 150’s, 100’s, and 25’s.”

Set #2 – Active Rest/Race Pace

4 x [200 pink + 50 easy @3:00]

6 x [150 desc 1-3 pink to red, 4-6 red + 50 easy @2:30]

4 x [2 x 100 red @1:20 + 100 easy @1:40]

6 x [50 Race + 50 easy @1:30]

• 4,000 yard set of a 8,200 yard practice.

Set #3 –Threshold

3×100 @1:10 cruise

1×300 @3:10 Pink (Target: 2:58)

3×100 @1:05 cruise

1×300 @3:10 Desc 1-5 Start at Pink (2:58)

• “Cruise” is left purposely vague for the swimmers in the group to decide for themselves.
• 6,000 yard set of 9,700 yard practice

Set #4 – The Lactate Set

1 x 200 @2:20 Target: mile pace

2×100 @1:20 Target: 500 pace

2×50 @:40 Target: 200 pace

6:00 rest between each round

• 2,000 yard set of a 7,100 yard practice
• This would typically be done on a Wednesday or Saturday.

Set #5 – 5,000 for time

5,000 yards freestyle for time = 50:10

• The last 600 yards was completed in 5:48.

More Stuff Like This:

Cam McEvoy: The Hardest Sets I’ve Ever Done. You don’t become the fastest swimmer ever in a textile over 100 meters without some epic training.

Butterfly Sets: How to Dominate Your Next 100m Butterfly. Bob Bowman used the following two sets to help develop Michael Phelps into a devastating butterflier.

Swim science: Olympian Katie Ledecky knows the power of.

Katie Ledecky stood in front of a group of Los Gatos High students last week and told them they could achieve their dreams if they set goals and worked hard.

And they believed her.

Why wouldn’t they? After all, Ledecky is one of the most accomplished swimmers in history, and — at 22 — just a few years older than the students in her audience.

Just like many of them, she had no expectation that she would do extraordinary things. Her accomplishments as a world-class athlete have almost taken her by surprise.

“I still pinch myself,” Ledecky said.

Ledecky is five months away from the Tokyo Olympics, which will be her third Olympic Games. After dominating collegiate swimming for two years, she turned professional in 2018, though she continues to train at Stanford with her coach Greg Meehan.

Turning professional allowed her to accept corporate sponsorships. Her association with Panasonic brought her to Los Gatos High on a Tuesday, between her two swim workouts. Ledecky and Panasonic collaborated on a “Dive into STEM” program, which allows Ledecky to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She draws connections between her sport and science.

“Now that I’m doing research, I see the scientific process at work and see the ways it is similar to swimming,” said Ledecky, who is majoring in psychology at Stanford. “It’s a process. You don’t just get the end result right away. There are many steps.”

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Ledecky, who is taking the year off from classes to prepare for the Olympics while still doing research for a professor, is particularly interested in the power of the mind to shape reality. She’s been conducting her own experiments in mind-set all her life.

Little 6-year-old Ledecky kept a list of her “want times” — her name for her goals in swimming. She would list her events — the 25-meter freestyle or the 25-meter backstroke — and the time she hoped to achieve. After a meet, she’d go back and write down what she accomplished.

“From early on, I enjoyed the math and was fascinated by how tenths of a second or hundredths of a second could make a difference,” said the world-record holder in three events. “I’ve seen how those goals have spurred me to set records.”

When Ledecky was a shy 15-year-old and qualified for the Olympic trials, her coach asked her what her goal was. He wanted her to say it out loud. Finally, Ledecky told him that she wanted to make the 2012 London team. And she did.

Before the 2016 Rio Games, she wrote down three goals for herself: to win the 200 freestyle, to go 3:56 or faster in the 400 freestyle, and to go 8:05 or faster in the 800 freestyle.

She won the 200, went 3:56:46 in the 400, and swam 8:04.79 in the 800, setting world records in the latter two events.

“It’s fascinating to me how powerful goal-setting tools are,” she said.

The fall after Rio, as a Stanford freshman, she applied to a psychology seminar entitled “How Beliefs Create Reality.” In her application, she explained that she had just returned from the Olympics and that her goal-setting had helped create her reality in the pool. She was accepted into the seminar.

Ledecky has goals for Tokyo, though she isn’t willing to share them publicly. (We’ll assume one is that the Games take place; we spoke before speculation began that the coronavirus could derail the Olympics.)

Illness derailed Ledecky last summer at the World Championships in South Korea. She had to withdraw from two events, but ultimately won silver in two others, the 400 freestyle and the 4×200 freestyle relay, and won gold in the 800 freestyle.

“It was actually remarkably easy for me to get over it,” she said. “I trusted in my training. When I got back, I was able to build off my training. I don’t look back at it with disappointment.”

Ledecky is a methodical, disciplined athlete. She says that motivation has never been an issue for her, something her high school audience found fascinating. She sticks to a strict schedule, swimming 10 times a week. That’s twice a day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; once a day on Wednesday and Saturday; and no swimming on Sundays.

“She’s very inspiring,” said senior Amber Wilson, a Los Gatos swimmer who got her swim cap signed by Ledecky. “I’m speechless. She’s gotten where she is through hard work and dedication.”

Ledecky’s life hasn’t changed much since turning professional, except to be able to focus her training. She became a breakout star of the Rio Olympics, winning four gold medals and a silver. She will be one of the faces of Tokyo, particularly with the addition of the 1,500 freestyle for women, for the first time. (She holds the world record in the grueling race at 15:20.48.)

Still, her first Olympics are clearly her most cherished memory. Just 15, the youngest American on the team, she achieved the goal that she dared to speak out loud.

“I was just happy to be there,” she said of making the 800-meter freestyle competition in London.

But she swam in the preliminaries and made the final. When she flipped at the 600-meter mark, Ledecky remembers, “it was like waking up from a dream.” She was leading, and she only had 200 meters left, which she knew she could dominate. She thought to herself, “don’t mess this up,” and as she covered the final meters toward her first gold medal she took in the Olympic signage lining the pool.

“It was surreal,” she said. “I thought you had to be a superhero to make the Olympics.”

Not true. But you have to set your goals. Have a process. And work hard.

And then a little girl with “want times” can, in fact, become an Olympic superhero. It’s a scientific fact.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @annkillion

Ann Killion

Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Ann Killion has covered Bay Area sports for more than a quarter of a century. An award-winning columnist and a veteran of 11 Olympics, several World Cups and the Tour de France, Ann joined The Chronicle in 2012. Ann has worked for the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. She is a New York Times best-selling author, having co-written “Solo: A Memoir of Hope” with soccer star Hope Solo,”Throw Like A Girl” with softball player Jennie Finch and two middle-grade books on soccer, “Champions of Women’s Soccer” and “Champions of Men’s Soccer.” She was named California Sportswriter of the Year in 2014, 2017 and 2018. She has two children and lives in Mill Valley.

Having won four gold medals and one silver during the course of the Rio Olympics this year, swimmer Katie Ledecky successfully smashed her personal goals and blew the United States’ collective mind in the process. Watching her repeatedly obliterate her competition in distance events, chillin’ at the wall waiting for both the other swimmers and the yellow world record line to catch up with her, it’s easy to admiringly wonder whether her intense momentum could possibly be sustainable, and how long Katie Ledecky could be this good. Like a true champion, though, 19-year-old Ledecky is instead thinking about how she can improve as she resets her goals.

Coming into the 2016 Games in Rio, Ledecky had already earned one gold in the 800-meter freestyle in London four years before. Over the course of the first week of her sophomore Olympics, she’d bolster her medal count to six, earning gold in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, and the 4-by-200-meter relay, and silver in the 4-by-100-meter free. Her insane dominance — like when she out swam her closest competitor by a full 11 seconds in the 800-meter on Friday, a margin that left her totally alone in the photos of her finish — was so complete and striking that it was almost comical.

With a time of 8:04.79, Ledecky obliterated both the world record and the Olympic record in that race. She sprints her distance events in a way that The Washington Post‘s Dave Sheinin at a speed that would be like world’s fastest man Usain Bolt sprinting a marathon at the pace he completes the 100-meter dash. Is this woman even human? Can she truly repeat this kind of incredible showing for Tokyo 2020, let alone best it?

That’s the plan. Ledecky has opted not to go pro — passing up the opportunity to earn a ton of cash off endorsements in the process — in favor of swimming on scholarship for Stanford starting this fall. So, she’ll leave her coach of the past three years, Bruce Gemmell, for that new adventure, NBC’s Olympics site reported, but he’s sure she’ll keep getting better:

Does that mean times are faster? I’m not sure it does. She’s been the most dominant female freestyler probably ever. Maybe the most dominant female swimmer over a four-year period, ever… There can be new challenges. There can be new doors. There can be new opportunities. I guess I just don’t want to get hung on the faster is necessarily better, and if it’s not faster it’s not better.

Ledecky has repeatedly said that there is no secret to her success — and, indeed, experts told Sheinen of the Post that her best asset is her mindset and determination to win. That, and the fact that she trains almost exclusively alongside elite male swimmers, because they’re the only one who can push her to be better in the pool.

“She’s proven to be the best in the world, but she’s still looking to get better,” said Russell Mark, a USA Swimming high-performance consultant, told the Sheinen. “I wouldn’t be offended if someone as good as her was like, ‘Hey, I’m just going to train and keep doing what I’m doing.’ But she’s still attacking these opportunities to get better.”

Even the very best athletes sometimes need time off to rejuvenate their bodies and minds. Michael Phelps, who is the most decorated Olympian in history and once called Ledecky a “stud,” actually retired after the 2012 Games in London before returning to the pool ahead of Rio. Gymnast Aly Raisman took a yearlong break from training in between London and Rio because, she told ESPN, she’d been living and breathing gymnastics since she was a toddler.

Ledecky is also seeking balance in her life, telling NBC that her next project is getting “all the stuff” for her dorm room. She’s been able to avoid any major injuries so far in her career (and it’s certainly been an impressive one so far), so it seems as though she knows how to challenge herself without sacrificing her body’s wellbeing. Whatever Katie Ledecky’s doing, it’s working for her, and I can’t wait to see what else she’ll accomplish.

The Olympics are overflowing with inspiring personal stories in recent days. Astounding athletic talents like Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Simone Biles, Simone Manuel, and so many others have overcome numerous challenges and left us in awe during the Rio games.

Among the champions is Katie Ledecky who recently blew away the competition in the pool, and even broke her own world record. Ledecky has won five Olympic gold medals, nine world championships, and is the current world-record holder of the women’s 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle. In this NBC Sports video, she recalls her childhood saying, “I never dreamed of going to the Olympics. I had no clue of how to qualify for the Olympic trials even. And I just continued to set goals, and one day going to the Olympics was my goal. And you just have to dream big, and work hard, and big things can happen.”

It’s understandable Ledecky never imagined she’d be swimming in the Olympics when she started swimming at the age of six. At that time, her only goal was to try to swim as fast as her 9-year-old brother Michael while in the pool. Michael has described how although he was three years older than Katie, she’d manage to be just one year behind his best swim times. When she was nine, Katie had the chance to meet Michael Phelps as a fan and got his autograph which certainly was inspiring. But sticking with the sport into high school, she developed both her textbook swimming skills and remarkable self-confidence in her ability to compete. Indeed, she set several records in the American and US Open, and the national high-school record for her prodigious freestyle racing.

And then the 15-year-old Ledecky made her international debut in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. She was the youngest American in the 2012 games. The young talent surprised audiences across the globe by winning the gold in the 800-meter freestyle. At the time, she stated, “I knew if I put my mind to it, I could do it,” and “I wasn’t intimidated at all.”

Clearly, the teen’s words reflected the ability to think like a champion. According to sport and performance psychology expert Dr. David Fletcher from Loughborough University many athletes have pre rehearsed scripts to repeat in their minds to maintain focus on their goals. “It’s convincing themselves of things they’ve done successfully in the past. Because often when the nerves hit you start doubting yourself,” he asserts.

Some other famous quotes from the now 19-year-old swimmer include:

“You just have to want it more than everyone else.”

“Go to that place, have a great swim. Whatever happens, happens. Have fun, enjoy it because there’s no guarantee you’ll ever be back there again.”

“I was prepared for it and it did hurt a lot, but I got the job done and it feels really good.”

“I try to make the good days great and take something positive from the days I’m not feeling good–work on technique or something like that.”

While actors and athletes have largely different skill sets, they both share certain aspects of their job requirements. For instance, there’s the emphasis on performance before audiences as well as the importance of self-confidence to excel in their fields. In Ledecky’s case, it’s apparent that as she set new goals for herself, she managed to plant the seeds of positive affirmations along the way.

“You still really do get the opportunity to meet so many people, especially at events after the Olympics,” Katie Ledecky tells PEOPLE

When the Olympics do happen next year, Katie Ledecky is ready to be reunited with friends and acquaintances from around the globe.

The U.S. Olympic swimmer, 23, tells PEOPLE, “You really do get to interact with a lot of athletes at the Olympics, typically. I don’t know what it’s going to be like next year, but typically you’re in the cafeteria with everyone from all over the world. So that’s kind of just a melting pot of every athlete, every sport, every country.”

Ledecky is a five-time gold medalist and will compete in Tokyo in July 2021 — a full year after the original date of the postponed 2020 Games, which were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“You do get some instances where you are approached by athletes from other countries, and they want to sit down next to you and talk to you over a meal in the village,” recounts Ledecky to PEOPLE. “I’ve had a couple of those instances. And you’re also riding the bus with the other athletes and you strike up conversations there and you trade pins and all that.”

Ledecky — who has competed in two previous Summer Games — hasn’t yet had the opportunity to watch other athletes compete while at the Olympics, due mostly to the length and set up of swimming events. Yet, she says, “You still really do get the opportunity to meet so many people, especially at events after the Olympics. So whether it’s award ceremonies or other events that we’re invited to post-Olympics, media events, things like that.”

One of those people? Gymnast Simone Biles, who joined Ledecky and host Joi Wade for an interactive Capital One and Visa conversation last week on finding silver linings, embracing pivots, and setting Gold Medal Goals for 2021.

“I’m really happy to be able to partner with Visa and Capital One, to share more about my goal-setting process and hopefully inspire young adults to set and achieve some big goals for the year,” Ledecky says of the chat.

Gold Medal Goals comes on the heels of Capital One’s ongoing efforts to support the changing needs of college students.

“As a recent graduate of Stanford University, I’ve just been so impressed with Visa and Capital One’s ongoing commitment to help the student community succeed,” Ledecky says. “They have a new First-Gen Focus program, which is dedicated to first-generation college students, and they’re just really helping other college students learn smart money habits and prepare for their financial future and ultimately reach their goals.”

And Ledecky’s own next goal? A successful run at the Games next year.

Katie Ledecky regularly records times that trump her male counterparts, and would love to race against them. The 5-time Olympic gold medallist also reveals why goal setting is so important to her.

Katie Ledecky has set a new standard for women’s swimming.

Despite being just 23-years-old, the USA star has already won five Olympic gold medals and 15 world championships titles – the most by a woman in history.

In addition, she is the current world record holder in the 400m, 800, and 1500m freestyle events.

Such achievements have led a growing number of voices wanting to see the Washington DC native take on men in the pool.

“I’d love to, that’d be fun.” Ledecky told swimoutlet.com, upon being asked if she’d like to compete against the men.

Ledecky sets 400m Freestyle world record

The USA’s Katie Ledecky remains untouchable throughout the women’s 400m fre.

At the Des Moines Pro Swim Series meet in March 2020, Ledecky’s performance added fuel to the flames. She swam a 15:29.51 time in the 1500m, which would have placed her fifth in the men’s competition.

“I’ve done that at a couple of meets when I was back on the east coast. I’d love that opportunity. I’ll have to talk to some meet organisers.”

Ledecky V Titmus rematch

But there was one woman who managed to beat Ledecky last season.

At the 2019 world championships, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus caused the shock of the event by defeating Ledecky in the 400m freestyle final.

While it should be noted that the American was struggling with an illness in Gwangju (pulling out of two events later in the competition), the Ledecky v Titmus rematch was one of the most hotly-anticipated subplots to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Ledecky admitted at the time that the loss ‘stung’, and it would appear she was taking no chances with her preparations for Japan.

“I haven’t had a bad practice since January,” the Stanford-based swimmer revealed in March 2020.

“There have been a lot of practices that have stood out. Definitely some that I’d put in my top 10 of all time.”

The importance of goal setting

Aside from total dedication to her training, Ledecky sees goal setting as one of the key components of her success.

As a six-year-old, she kept a list of ‘want times’ – which were her swimming goals.

“From early on, I enjoyed the math and was fascinated by how tenths of a second or hundredths of a second could make a difference,” the psychology student told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I’ve seen how those goals have spurred me to set records.”

Athlete Evolution: Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky’s athletic evolution from the 2012 London Olympic Games to th.

As a 15-year-old qualifier for the 2012 Olympic trials, Ledecky’s goal was to make the London 2012 team. Not only did she succeed, but she also took home the 800m free gold medal.

Ledecky’s three goals ahead of Rio 2016 were to win the 200m free, to go 3:56 or faster in the 400m free, and to go 8:05 or faster in the 800 free.

She achieved all three feats, setting world records in the 400m and 800m.

Following this, she applied for a psychology module at university entitled “How Beliefs Create Reality,” having seen first-hand how goal-setting helped create her reality in the pool at the Rio Olympics.

Ledecky is always careful to keep her goals to herself ahead of an event, but surely the 400m, 800m world records, as well as becoming the first female 1500m freestyle Olympic champion ever will be in her mind for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Ledecky becomes youngest 800m Freestyle champion | London 2012 Replays

Fifteen-year-old American Katie Ledecky wins the women’s 800m freestyle, be.

Getting creative in isolation

One of the goals Ledecky has set herself in isolation, is to stay fit by any means necessary.

With most of the pools in the Bay Area shut, she has had to make do with some backyard pools in small groups, as well as fitness sessions with whatever is lying around at home to remind her of the water…

But despite the period of reduced training, Ledecky’s focus on the task ahead remains the same.

“I still have goals I wanted to achieve, goals that I was hoping to achieve this summer,” Ledecky told CNN.

“But I’m perfectly fine putting those on the back burner for next year and staying committed to those goals. I want to represent Team USA next year and do it really well.”

“I think when we get there, it’s going to be a true celebration of the world being able to come together again.”

For now, it’s back to the aqua burpees for Ledecky, and planning her route to flory at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

What are the secrets behind Katie Ledecky’s dominance? At last year’s ASCA World Clinic, Coach Bruce Gemmell provided some insight of Katie Ledecky training. The full presentation is available on the ASCA Website. One take home that’s hard to emphasize in print is how much attention was given to her semi final 3rd place finish in the 200m freestyle at World Championships last year. Though one of her rare losses, this race epitomizes the mental grit that separates her from other really good swimmers and places her into the “legendary” category. Also, don’t be shy to check out our previous posts on Katie Ledecky:

40 Must Do Katie Ledecky Training Secrets

1. Presentation could be two slides: 1) Katie does everything she needs to do to get better. 2) Katie is tough as nails….In some ways it is that simple! Want to do Katie Ledecky training, be tough as nails
2. Training, dryland, nutrition/recovery, stroke, race strategy – this is what puts her on the Olympic team
3. Mental capacity – what separates her from everyone else (15 for 15 in international finals)
4. “What seems like talent, it turns out, is often better practice habits in disguise”
5. “Talented athlete” = been practicing better than everyone else; not a matter of natural ability
6. Limited to no dryland program until 2012 (which was appropriate for that stage of her development)
7. Big improvement in pulling in 2015 because they wanted her to swim the 1500m in WC’s basically as pull set because it was right before 200m semi’s
8. 1.36-1.38 stroke tempo for 800m. Race tempo, along with race pace, is key to success
9. Training base (57.5/T30 base…progressing down to 57.0) – combination of science and intuition
10. Rarely have done T30 test set
11. One of her strengths: Competitive training group! (Sometimes plays mental games with her to make the fast lane 4:25/500yd or faster…her PR at time of lecture is 4:26!!)
12. Katie Ledecky training doesn’t stand out in practice…until you realize she’s the only girl on the team and is surrounded by elite male middle distance/distance swimmers. Thrives on the competition
13. Don’t need long goal meetings with her; she’s very specific about her goals; coach’s job is just to make sure she’s working on the right things
14. 3 weeks on – 3 days off cycle…“Off” days = skill work, other stroke work, easy distance (“off” is relative, still doing

8k per day)

Take Home Points of 40 Katie Ledecky Training Secrets

The psychology of Katie Ledecky is what makes her special. As Coach Gemmell says, the training and physiology is what gets her on the team, but the psychology is how she sets records. There is nothing fancy in the program, as they do less volume than many other programs (but definitely not “low volume”) and run the same workouts as many other teams. If there is any “magic” in the team it is having a training group where anyone can lead on any given day and in which she is both challenged yet supported at every single practice.

Below are the 4 parts compliments of Swimming World Magazine: