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Triathlon (and Life) Advice from Chrissie Wellington

Jun 21, 2014 | Uncategorized | 2 comments

vTriathlon (and Life) Advice from Chrissie Wellington

On Thursday evening, instead of watching the World Cup, I went to a free talk at Runners Need by the triathlon legend that is Chrissie Wellington. She has won the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, four times, as well as breaking world records on numerous occasions. Plus she had the biggest smile ever!!

I loved listening to her talk about her life, achievements and best of all, her advice for us. Here are a few (paraphrased) takeaways from her talk. Oh and you should read her book; A Life Without Limits, it’s fab.

  • Find out what you’re passionate about and go after it. 
  • Don’t be afraid of failing or of what other people think. 
  • Remember your motivation and the end goal when it gets tough. 
  • One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to a training plan. 
  • Work out which your A training sessions are, and make sure you put them in to your schedule at times you will always be free. The other training sessions should be thought of as ‘nice to haves’, i.e. if you have time. 
  • Rest is really important, take a full rest day every 7-10 days. Professional athletes train for 4-6 hours a day, but the rest of the time is spent properly resting. 
  • You have to train your brain as well as your body. 
  • Break down your training, as well as race day in to manageable chunks, like 5 sets rather than 20 in interval training. 
  • Don’t think of it as 3 events, it is one event and all three disciplines affect the other. 
  • Regularly practise your race pace so that your body knows instinctively what that pace is.
  • Learn what it is to hurt. It will hurt. You’ve got to overcome the pain. 

Chrissie Wellington Ironman World Champion

Here’s Chrissie with Katy!

I’m not quite googling Ironman entries for next year…yet. But I am definitely keen for an Olympic distance tri, then who knows after that! 

2 Comments

  1. Lauren @Poweredbypb

    So gutted I missed this as had to work. Sounds great, the book is amazing!

    Reply
  2. Stephanie M

    I’m thinking I need to get my hands on the book! I’m not ever going to be a triathlete but I could do with some life advice haha!

    Reply

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