Kate O'Connor is pausing for breath, briefly, after a whirlwind 14 months that has transformed her into one of Ireland's standout sporting stars.
Now into day four of a warm-weather camp in Portugal, O'Connor and her coaching team, led by her father Michael, are shifting into a more technical phase after securing her fifth championship medal at the World Indoor Championships in Poland in March.
"We're over there to do a nice hard, hard block of training and get some good technical work in... Last block was more of a get fit kind of block. So this block is more introducing all the events again," O'Connor told RTÉ Sport.
The road to Poland was far from smooth, with O'Connor revealing to Greg Allen that she was, at one point, unable to walk due to knee pain in the weeks leading up to the championships.
O'Connor seems relieved to be out of the woods: "My body is feeling good, thank God," she noted.
The O'Connor team aren't just competitive on the track, with a cooking rota set up for the camp quickly turning into a competitive affair.
"Camp is all about working hard and then recovering harder. So, I do a lot of napping after training and eating well.
"We actually have a bit of a rota. It's a bit of a competition at the moment on who can cook the best dinner. So, no, it's been good craic. It's nice to just fully put all your focus into training and recovery."
O'Connor has proven her steely composure on numerous occasions, claiming silver at the World Championships in Tokyo last year whilst having a painful knee injury. She explained that not just her body is tested daily.
"I think that's the thing with multi-events. It's not just a case of going out and doing.
"It's a lot of brain training and brain work. And for me, a lot of visualising. So I can leave the track, my body feeling fatigued... But also very tired, just in my brain."
Mental training methods and in particular, visualisation, are more typically associated with F1 drivers, golfers who have tracks and courses to memorise.
It is evident from watching the 25-year-old compete across her seven events that self-talk and mental rehearsal are important in her final preparations. What looks like muttering to us as she steps up for a clutch third attempt in the high jump are crucial to clearing the height and ultimately winning medals.
"That's a big, big wow!"
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 19, 2025
A second PB of the morning for Kate O'Connor, this time in the high jump.
💻 Watch: https://t.co/8r55LhgRBk pic.twitter.com/fRSdO6EYFG
Despite her mental fortitude O'Connor revealed she isn't working consistently with a sports psychologist.
"I definitely had chats with people before, but I'm not actively working with someone. I think that we handle our load and like expectation within our camp very well. I haven't felt the need for it."
Breaking the 7,000-point barrier in the heptathlon remains the benchmark of being a GOAT in the event, a feat achieved by only seven athletes since the event replaced the pentathlon in 1984.
O'Connor’s Irish record of 6,714, set en route to World Championship silver in Tokyo, shows she is closing the gap.
Anna Hall, who has been one or two podium places ahead of O'Connor in the last two global championships, shared some words that resonated with the Irish record holder: "You can't really have an event that's a weak point," O'Connor recounted.
O'Connor added: "Everything needs to be great, and you need to continually be pushing everything on. Because there's no wriggle room."
O'Connor has improved spectacularly since finishing 14th at the Paris Olympic Games, adding almost 500 points to her personal best score.
The progress didn't happen overnight, but a shift in mindset did, with O'Connor admitting she previously placed blame with her coaching team.
"I just probably never fully committed enough up until 2025 to make that happen... I probably more so blamed the coaching around me. I was like, 'I do everything that you ask', which I did do.
"I probably wasn't looking after my nutrition and recovery side enough. I cleaned that up for the whole of winter season. So at the end of 2024 into 2025, and I started into 2025 in January in really good shape."
This year, with Hall's words echoing in her mind, the focus has been on fine tuning all of her events, citing improved speed as one of the reasons for her overall improvements.
"If I want to score 7,000 points, I need to make them all better, and I need to make sure that I'm bulletproof across all seven events.
"We definitely put an emphasis on speed, because I think that across all seven events, it really plays a huge part in them all. I think last year, that was a huge part of my success was that I got faster, and it fed really well into everything. So we're still continually working on that, as well as kind of getting more springy. And also trying to tap into that endurance side."
Success at the level which O'Connor has experienced comes with the expected bandwagon of media attention, brand deals and more eyes watching your every move.
Brands and companies are queuing up to be associated with the world silver medallist and it has moved into another role for her father Michael, who manages as well as coaches in the growing O'Connor empire.
"It's class, that we get to work so closely together... He's also a coach, but he's also a business partner as of right now, which is class, and we get to come out here together on training camps and get to travel the world together, and we have a really special, close relationship."
The Dundalk native admitted while athletics has moved from a hobby to a job it has created more motivation to succeed - watch out world.
"It definitely feels more like a job, which I love. I think that I love turning up at the track every day. Now whenever I'm putting myself in those hurt zones or I'm on the track for four or five hours, it's like I'm doing this for a reason. I'm representing my country. I'm representing brands. And people want me to do well. And I've got eyes on me.
"I think that it makes me push myself into even more difficult zones than I probably ever have before. And I enjoy it as well. I love my job. I love my work... Whenever I was a kid, I dreamed of this job. I always wanted this to be my life.
"And I've made that happen. I get opportunities like this where I get to come away to a warm country and train for three weeks.
"And that's my work. So I really can't complain at all."
