A marathon runner is training for the Olympics while going to med school full-time. 23-year-old Felicia Pasadyne has a lot on her plate. In addition to studying to get her MD at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, she's not putting her Olympics dream on hold.
"When I moved to New York City, I began racing New York Road Runners races. I could balance my medical career with running better than I thought I could," Pasadyn tells PEOPLE. "I started training harder and entered more competitive races. By mid-2024, I set two goals: I want to make the Olympic Trials, run professionally and be salaried for it."
The med school student-turned-Olympian keeps a strict routine and schedule.
"I learned from a young age, being a competitive swimmer and runner and juggling classes, that things like sleep and having a routine and schedule were all important in succeeding in time management," she shares to People. "Swimming was such a large time commitment that I needed ways to be more efficient, whether that be packing lunches or being specific about time slots with friends or sleeping nine hours every night so that I could study them as efficiently as possible and be productive during the day."
Runner Levels Up
"Putting myself in as much discomfort leading up to the race so that the race feels slightly more prepared and comfortable," Pasadyn said.
"When I walk, I listen to a podcast that quizzes me on boards," she says. "I always get nine to 9.5 hours of sleep. I also have super proper fueling. I eat like five meals a day. I have no restrictions. I pretty much just am thinking like I'm a machine and I need to feed this machine. I wake up every morning around 4 a.m. and run on the treadmill while studying or in Central Park, usually between 4:15 a.m. and 5 a.m. or so."
"By 7 a.m., I'd find out what happened to my patient overnight, develop a plan with the PAs and the attending, and see my patient," she also shared.
"There's a chance I have to adjust my training because I spend about three hours in the gym, and I don't think that will be possible when I'm seeing patients," she says. "Maybe I'll be more of a 5K, 10K and half-marathon runner during residency, then go back to marathons after. I'm just trying to be flexible, and that's hard coming from a person who's usually quite regimented."
