The U.S. Olympic rowing team member reveals how she packed and prepared for the Paris Games.
The place that I ’ve rowed that inspire me most in sport is decidedly Lucerne , Switzerland . It is one of the most beautiful natural rowing class on the planet , if not the most beautiful . It ’s where I becamean Olympian . It ’s a really extra place for me . When we crossed the refinement agate line first … that moment is indefinable , of just thinking about how much work you put in , how long you ’ve dreamt of it . I ’ve been rowing since I was 14 , and so at 27 , 13 year later , to thwart the finish line first at this celebrated beautiful lake and know you just garner your seat at the Olympics was the best feeling in the human beings .
But , I think mytrip to Thailandwas my preferred head trip . In high school , I go to Thailand with my family line and Thai elephants are a bighearted ethnic part of nature . And we were hiking in the mountains and I did n’t realise I had undiagnosed asthma attack at the time .
And there was one day where I just crushed the salary increase and my mummy said , " Well , what were you thinking about ? " And I say , " I was thinking about elephant . " And elephants are so big , they ’re so heavy , but they can locomote really long distances . And they just do it by taking their time , going one step at a time , not hasten . And I had just been thinking if an elephant can do it , I can do it . And so a business leader phrasal idiom for me is “ carry your inner elephant . ” My mama get me an evil eye elephant necklace , so I think that that trip-up to Thailand and that struggle to keep up with my family , realize that thought process about elephant helped me and then being able-bodied to power through – that lesson and that inspiration is definitely part of my athletic journeying .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
As presently as weget to Paris , I ’m in race mood . We ’re run in the first hebdomad of the game , so for that first week up until I ’m done racing , it ’s all focus , all the time . And then after that I am going to have about 11 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. where I get to enjoy Paris . And so I have many dreams about spending Day sitting in a cafe , hoi polloi - follow , getting some French chocolate , and try some Gallic cheese . I have some friends who speak French and I ’m lucky enough that some of my friend are come out to observe and so I ’m trust to tour Paris with them .
I lovelavenderand it ’s go to be during the lavender salad days , so I ’m hop to jaunt to the due south of France and see one of the lavender festival . I have never been to the catacombs . I blend in to Paris when I was about five and so to go back and to see all these ethnic monument and all these historical place . I jazz that they are bringing French civilisation and French history into the Games and having a lot of the venues underthe Eiffel Toweror dressages at Versailles .
Being persevering about time zone shifting is really of import as an jock , and so I took a neuroscience eternal rest class in college . I joke that I am an Olympian because I ’m a good sleeping car . I ’m so happy that we ’re going to Italy for our pre - camp so that if something were to go awry with the fourth dimension shifting , we will have about three week in Italy to get fully adjust to the time before we go to Paris . Only having a few days get really chilling because if you mess up it up , your performance will show .
Rapid fire
Window, middle, or aisle seat?
Aisle seat unless I ’m really trying to sleep and then I ’ll go for the window seat .
Pack light or overpack?
Pack light .
Favorite way to pass time on a plane
My favourite way to exceed the time while move is take heed to a podcast or an audiobook and knitwork . I ’m currently knitting an endless wrap . It ’s a cross between a shawl , a sweater , and a mantle . It ’s just enormous and clip - consuming .
Biggest travel anxiety
My big travel anxiety is always being athirst because I ’m always hungry .
Favorite travel snack
My favorite travel snack is trail mixture . The salty , the sweet , it ’s just perfect .
What is your best tip for staying organized?
I am a huge believer in packing cubes for staying organized and once I started using them , I have not gone back . They make live out of your suitcase so much simpler .
Go-to drink order on a plane
My go - to booze rules of order on a plane is love apple juice . require that Na .
Must-have travel items
I am now a Brobdingnagian buff of noise - canceling headphones , and I do n’t go without those anymore .
I also will not move around without my Kindle because the power to have an innumerable number of book in your handbag is really significant to me .
Now that I ’m an athlete , when you spend that much fourth dimension sitting down and you normally drop all your clip moving , I will get off the aeroplane and my legs and my stifle and my ankles and my foot are all conceited to hell . So I definitely like compression wind sock . On any flight of stairs more than three time of day they are a must . Absolutely non - negotiable .
Courtesy of Apple
This torture gadget is a Roll Recovery . For jock , a lot of the metre you could expend a foam roller to avail relax your sinew , but froth rollers are very declamatory and they do n’t travel very easily , so this is a bounce - loaded hair curler . you may put it on your leg or on your hand and it ’ll avail roll out your muscles . I ’ll do this on the airplane sometimes or in the airport . It ’s very important for keeping your sinew ready to go .
I always go with hydration packs . And so these are by Skratch , which is a pretty great society . They ’re small single service hydration gang with a minuscule bit of lettuce . On the airplane , you ca n’t bring a Gatorade with you , but you may bring juiceless powder and fulfill up your urine bottle and cast this in .
Courtesy of Amazon
Courtesy of Target
Courtesy of Amazon
Courtesy of Amazon
