Here's How A World Champion Runner Actually Eats And Trains

She's 31 years old, lives in Austin, Texas, and is a world champion sprinter who trains hard to be very fast. Also, she loves rum raisin ice cream, cheese pizza, and Skittles. But more on that later.

She's already won four Olympic medals: Two golds in the 4x400 relay and one gold and one bronze in the 400-meter sprint. She was previously ranked the best 400-meter sprinter in the world.

BuzzFeed Health talked to Richards-Ross to learn about how she's preparing for the Olympic trials, which take place in July.

Richards-Ross spends about two hours per day doing sprint workouts at distances from 200 meters to 800 meters, but says that anything over 500 meters is "too long." "I like my workouts short and fast," she says. Her most dreaded running workout: five minutes of running alternating with five minutes of rest for 30 long minutes.

And cross-trains by cycling and running on an underwater treadmill.

"Mental prep is the toughest part for elite athletes," she says. "I visualize myself on start line so when I go out on the track it feels like I’ve been here before ... When I’m standing there I tell myself, 'I’m prepared. I already won this race.'"

She also watches videos both of her own great performances on the track and of athletes who have done amazing things in her events.

Which means she's working hard and following her diet basically always.

"I honestly feel like I am training the entire day, and I consider food part of my training," says Richards-Ross. A typical day of training starts with hard-boiled eggs, gluten-free cinnamon raisin toast, and yogurt with fruit.

After breakfast, Richards-Ross heads to her first workout of the day, either weightlifting or running depending on the time of season.

For lunch, Richards-Ross makes spaghetti with broccolini, red and green bell peppers, onions, parsley, and bok choy, and tops it with grilled chicken breast. Then, if her training is particularly heavy, she'll take a mid-afternoon nap.

One of Richards-Ross's goals for her diet is to incorporate as many colors as possible. This salad has chopped romaine lettuce, spinach, red grapes, strawberries, blueberries, yellow corn, dried unsweetened organic cranberries, shredded carrots, and sliced apples, and is dressed with fresh lemon juice.

She steams brown rice and adds carrots, onions, peas, and low-sodium soy sauce. The main course is linguine sautéed in coconut oil with julienned peppers, broccoli, and bok choy.

"I'll kill a whole bag on a Saturday or Sunday," she says.

See you in Rio in August 2016, Sanya!