Ellen Keane: The healthiest thing anyone can do is have a good big cry
Paralympic gold medallist and Sports Ambassadors for Dublin City Council, Ellen Keane speaks about isolating after contracting Covid-19 and how the pool is her ultimate happy place. Photo: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Irish Paralympic swimmer and former contestant, Ellen Keane is used to living life in the fast lane.
The 27-year-old trains twice a day every day with Sundays being her only day off.
However, after recently contracting Covid-19, she was forced to take some time off away from the pool. A couple of days into her isolation and the Paralympic gold medalist said that even then, she was already missing the water.
“It was great for the first few days," she says.
"It was like, 'oh I get to stay home and stay in bed all day'. I don't even know what day it is,” she laughs.
When she is not in isolation, Ellen's routine is a bit different and her mornings typically revolve around Denny, her beloved miniature dachshund who she describes as “very needy”.
“He tends to wake us up at five or six in the morning to be fed and to be let out to go to the toilet so that’s how we wake up in the morning,” she says. “When I’m training — if I’m not woken up by the dog — it's more get up, eat, get out the door and then after I train, I focus on the skincare routine.”
When it comes to being an athlete and even exercising, you have to fuel your body so, in the morning, it’s about getting enough calories in to be able to finish the session or to be able to fuel yourself for the session. For me, that might consist of maybe a smoothie or even something as simple as toast with Philadelphia cheese.
Post-training, I try to get some eggs in for protein. It could literally be anything. It depends on what my body is doing; if it needs more carbs, if it needs more protein. It would tend to be trying to make my plate look like a rainbow.
I’ll get such a craving for jam doughnuts. I will go in and I will buy a bag of jam doughnuts and I will eat them all in my car before I get home.
I can’t be arsed will all of them fancy things. You just need a classic jam doughnut with some sugar on top.
I’m the worst person ever at relaxing but I guess my happy place is my bed. I just love sleeping so if I'm in bed sleeping and relaxing like that, I’m happy and so content.
My coach would be one. My coach was a paralympic athlete too, so he has won multiple medals throughout his paralympic career. His name is Dave Malone and then I guess the people I see every day.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to be out in the Institute of Sports Training so I would see different sports people out there.
I get to see Kellie [Harrington] and even when Kellie won her medal, it was a few weeks before I won my medal, and it just gave me a big boost and stirred me on to kind of push forward to try and win another medal for Ireland.
It was probably a few days ago. I love a cry. You need to get your emotions out. If you don’t get them out, you’ll hold on to them so I’m always saying the healthiest thing anyone can do is to have a good big cry and then you’re fine.
I think it’s just don’t be afraid to say no. I think we try so hard to do everything at once and then we don’t take a break. Having a rest and letting yourself recharge and sometimes having a day to yourself is exactly what you need.
A nap. It’s amazing what can happen when you just have a nap and have a rest. I think it's my form of mediating.
The swimming pool. You get away from your phone, you get away from nearly yourself. You’re just kind of floating and you’re grand. It’s the lack of gravity.
Even those tops that you have that are leotards — I would always buy them. My boyfriend is like, ‘why are you always in a swimsuit?’. It’s where I’m most comfortable. In a swimsuit.
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