Olympic finalist Kate Grace joined this week’s Citius Mag Podcast shares her meditation and pre-race tips that she’s been practicing for years. Grace mentioned this routine after she made the Olympic team and was profiled in The New York Times. Her mother, Kathy Smith, taught her this particular routine in high school and hey, I guess it helped her make an Olympic team. She shared it with the show.

The start line exhale

“I stick out my tongue and exhale loudly. I used to be embarrassed by that so I would pretend I was yawning and put my hands over my mouth but now I kind of embrace it…I’m doing it for myself. They say that long exhales are calming. It make sure you get all the air out of your lungs, but it’s also something that’s kind of goofy but then cuts my nerves. There’s also a lip trill. Singers do it. You basically blow out of your mouth kind of with your lips closed so they make kind of a buzzing noise…I do that also.”

Guided Meditation before the race

It’s something that my mom gave me. It’s about releasing negative thoughts so I lay there for about 10 to 15 minutes. Do the guided meditation. Then I do what is called body scan. I listen to Clearest Blue by CHVRCHES and I breath in and out and I picture like a blue light in my body and ridding my muscles of any tension. I started doing that when I had to come back and race 4×4’s in college…not to that particular song though.

Listen to Kate Grace on the latest Citius Mag podcast below:

https://soundcloud.com/user-713795263/kate-grace-on-personal-bests-racing-caster-semenyalaura-muir-meditation-and-more

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This episode was brought to you by our friends at ShoeKicker and EducatedRunning so check them out.