Kat Holmes is used to being asked how she pulled off the near-impossible feat of qualifying for the Olympics while simultaneously attending medical school.still isn't sure how to answer the question.
"I wasn't sleeping on the plane, I was studying. I'd go compete, study between each of my bouts, go right from the competition to the airport, fly back and go right from the airport to class," she says. "It was awful, really." When I was going through my first Olympic cycle , I definitely got burnt out. I was going 100% all the time. Now that I've been competing at this high level for 15 years, I recognize the signs. First my body kind of starts to hurt a little bit more. Then I don't sleep as well. Then anhedonia, you have a little harder time finding pleasure in things.
I remember in high school they gave us these school planners and made us write down all of our homework and stuff. I actually still buy a paper planner every year and I write everything I need to do for the week in there. I sit down and I write every single due date as far into the future as I can. When I'm done, I cross it off and I know I don't have to deal with it.