Meeting your idols is a risky business, they might turn out not to be everything you’ve built them up to be. But meeting Chrissie Wellington, four-time Ironman World Champion, was pretty much as awesome as she is badass.
I’d gone to meet her at a talk and book signing she was giving at Runners’ Need, but first bumped into her coming off the tube at Canary Wharf. She was happily chatting away to a fan and posted with him for a picture with her trademark grin beaming. Heading to the talk on foot in trainers, capri leggings and a t-shirt, she looked like any other after-work runner but her record – undefeated 13 times over the Ironman distance and women’s world record holder for the event – is anything but ordinary.
It’s difficult to judge what, as someone who can barely swim a few lengths and cycles once ever couple of weeks, you will be able to take home from the advice given by an athlete who is the best in the world at their sport. But Chrissie is clearly passionate about engaging with amateur level athletes and passing her enthusiasm for the sport on to them.
Here’s three great pieces of advice that I took away from the talk…
- Whatever length or type of race you’re doing, break it down into stages. Don’t think about it as a whole. Run the stage that you’re in and think about the next one when you get to it. This also works for interval sessions: don’t think about 10 sets of 400m – think of each interval at a time.
- Visualise your race in the build up. As well as visualising it going well, visualise yourself dealing with various problems that might occur. What would you do if your goggles got knocked off? If you’ve already visualised that in preparation you’ll deal with it much better if it happens.
- You’re capable off much more than you think is possible. Believe in yourself and push your boundaries.
If you’ve ever seen the film Cocoon where the old people go swimming with the alien pods and come out the water revitalised and full of life, that’s what it’s like meeting Chrissie Wellington. Her enthusiasm and belief is contagious.
And that’s possibly why this very average marathon runner who hasn’t even done a sprint triathlon promised her I’d do an Ironman. When you make promises like that to the four-time world champion, you kind of have to keep them.
Well, that’s a promise you’ll have to keep … gulp!
She’s obviously a very inspiring woman, and an amazing athelete.
Jeez Lazy Girl, that’s a hell of a promise. And one you can’t back out of. What a journey that’s going to be. But much like you’re first marathon, get your head straight and you can do it.
It’s hard not to be a fan of someone like that. Amazing.
Luckily i didn’t give Chrissie a timeframe in which I’ll do this. But I’ve just signed up for swim coaching so I’ve taken the first step towards it.
Laura.
That’s a great move Laura. Talk about a positive step. Hope it goes well for you. I took some lessons a while back, and I can honestly say, a bit like running, once you get the right form for you, it’s really enjoyable.