She's a Paralympic Swimmer and World Champ, and This Is Her Training Routine For Tokyo

"As an athlete, physical strength is what people typically seem to focus on, but the truth is, without the mental strength, it doesn't matter how strong you are physically. I have worked extremely hard throughout my career to be in tune with the mental side of my performance just as much as the physical."

"We begin each session with soft tissue work, which is an important part of my training, given that I use my arms for everything I do. After that, we moved into a warmup circuit of chest press and bent-over rows, then my main focus of the workout, which consisted of a rolling exercise we do to focus on core strength and stability, followed by sled pulls. In order to adapt the sled pulls, I attach a belt around my waist that's connected to the sled (pictured). We ended with a couple rounds of pull-ups. Sometimes I strap my wheelchair to my body and do pull-ups with the extra weight, but considering we were going for more reps, I strapped my knees to my chest (it ensures I am lifting all my body weight since we have the bar lower to make it accessible to reach from my chair), and to adapt for my left arm injury, we strap my left hand to the bar."

"Each Monday I lift prior to my swim, so I focus in between sessions on doing what I can to give myself a quick refuel and to get ready for a good first swim of the week. One of the things I have worked really hard throughout my career is to be intentional in my workouts. It is one thing to simply show up and go through the motions, however it's another to be not just physically present, but mentally as well. Being intentional in my training ensures that I am getting the most out of each session so we can train smarter not harder."

"I went into my training session feeling a little sore from the previous day, but mentally focused — I have learned throughout my career that you don't always have to feel good to race fast, and days like this are when I like to practice that mental state. Truth is, you won't always feel your best on race day, but you have to find a way to keep your head in the game, because our bodies are capable of far more than our minds try to tell us.

Today I really stepped it up in my training. My main set was 1x125m freestyle hard followed by a 75 easy. We did this 12 times through with a goal time on the 125 seconds, and I not only made my goal times on each round, but surpassed them. I ended today's practice with a 200m IM (individual medley) fast for time, and it ended up being my fastest training time in over a year. It was a great opportunity to get up and swim fast when tired.

The rest of my day was focused on my work outside of the pool and my recovery. Nutrition and recovery have become vital to my daily practices, as well as taking time to mentally reset so I can be prepared for the following day of training."

"Today was a lighter day. We worked on IM, where I was able to focus on technique over speed, and did some smooth pace work. Days like this are just as important if not more than the hard days, as it allows us to really get the most out of training weeks.

My coach Steve Van Dyne does an incredible job being aware of when it is time to push my body and when we should take our foot off the gas a little and let it recover. It is easy to approach training with a 'grind it out' mentality, but it is imperative at this point in my career that we find that fine line of pushing my body, while also training with a 'smarter not harder' mentality."

"We began our training session with soft tissue work. Typically on Thursdays, my body needs a little more attention. One of the pinch points for me is at my level of paralysis — it's where tension seems to build as I put a lot of strain on it through training. Today we focused on cupping throughout that area of my back.

After a warmup, my main set was a circuit with high rows on the Kaiser, dumbbell clean and presses, and a few exercises focused on core strength. My trainer, Russ Linville, gets creative with our workouts and always finds new ways to challenge my body to build not just strength but stability. It has been fun working through that process and trying new things along the way."

"Going to the pool my body felt extremely sore – while I've had a good week of training and performed well throughout, my body has also been a bit beat down this week. Today was another day of focusing on my mental strength and remaining mentally strong, despite feeling beaten down physically. My main set was 10x100m freestyle following by 1x500m freestyle, then back into 10x100s. All in all, I held pretty steady throughout the set, which was my goal."

"Today was a day filled with adapting and pivoting. That's one of the hardest aspects of my career as an athlete that I had to learn to embrace, and it still isn't always easy, but it is vital to my long term goals. Not all days are going to be great training days, and sometimes you have to listen to your body and meet it where it's at, rather than fight against it.

Today was one of those days: we made it through about 3,500 yards of our workout and my coach and I decided to call the training session. It is probably my least favorite thing to do as an athlete, but I trust my coach and know that making the decision is the smartest thing to do in that moment. Maybe once a month we have to make that call, but all in all, I am really happy with how my training week went. Now it's time to recover and get ready for another strong week next week!"

"My weekends are for recovery. We are at a stage in training where we've found that five days of good quality training and two days of rest is a good balance for my body. Over the years, I have had to really learn how to be mindful in all aspects of my training and while the weekend is my rest time it doesn't mean I am 'off.' I believe as an athlete, I am always training — some days that looks like two workouts and other days it's resting, but both are equally as important to the process.

I focus on quality sleep, utilizing recovery tools like my NormaTec, taking Epsom salt baths, and doing things that mentally and emotionally help me recharge, which typically consists of quality time with my husband and our fur-baby, Sam."