The Challenge is Lolo Jones’s break from the gold medal race

With another shot at the gold medal fast approaching, Lolo Jones is conditioning in nontraditional ways.

Olympians keep in shape in creative ways between the quadrennial games. For Lolo Jones, her 2020 off-season conditioning included competing on the MTV reality show The Challenge: Double Agents. 

“That was a very very tough show. I was actually shocked,” Jones told FanSided. “I’m getting on this show and I’m like, I need to start pivoting my training back to like serious mode. I had to reinforce everything that 20 years as a professional athlete taught me.”

Jones even had to give herself a talking-to at one point to reinforce her priorities because while she was on The Challenge, the Olympics weren’t placing higher than silver.

“I had to make it seem like I was at a real deal competition,” Jones said. “I was like ‘Lolo, this is a reality TV show.’ And then yes, I’d be like ‘WE ARE PLAYING FOR A MILLION DOLLARS.’ What would you focus more on, a million dollars or a gold medal that’s actually not really gold medal?”

Lolo Jones is still chasing her gold medal, Peyton Manning moment

Which is not to say that Jones is not steely focused exercising the lingering demons from the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, when she clipped the second to last hurdle and finished 7th in a race she was leading headed to gold. The pressure to earn the gold medal is real for Jones and it comes from within.

“There is internal pressure to finish these goals that I’ve been working on for 20 years and I still haven’t achieved some of my sports career goals,” Jones said. “We are steps aways from this finish line, this marathon of a journey and you want to finish your career strong. Everybody wants to have that Peyton Manning moment.”

Manning famously went out a Super Bowl champion with Denver. Although not at the peak of his quarterback talents, he was buoyed by a great Bronco defense. Jones could get that long-chased gold medal somewhat similarly as a part of USA Bobsled. She is on this season’s 10-woman national team as a push athlete doing her best to stay young.

“As you get older it is very difficult to do the same things you did in your 20s,” Jones said. “You wake up your body hurts a little bit more. I focus on my stretches, my mindset and definitely hydration is key for me because it helps my muscles rebound faster.”

For her recovery, Jones is working with Pedialyte Sport, which quickly replenishes fluids and is formulated to replace electrolytes you may lose from exercise.

Jones may be eyeing the finish line of her career, but she’s keeping active in exciting ways and the 2022 Olympics can’t come soon enough.

Watch Lolo compete Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on MTV and see how Pedialyte Sport keeps her in it to win it.