Insight from Ironman World Champion, Chrissie Wellington

As seen on Active.com, Chrissie Wellington is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to achieving peak performance on race days. She has won the Ironman World Championship race in Kona for the past three consecutive years.

Wellington is well-known for being a fierce competitor. Her first of many tips is to have passion. “Passion gets you further than gear,” she said. It’s not about what you have materialistically, but rather what you have inside you; the courage, strength, and endurance to push through milestones and achieve all that you’re able to. It’s not about having those crazily expensive tennis shoes; it’s about having that unbeatable inner voice that will not die out; you must believe in yourself and your ability to succeed.

The second tip she shared is simply this: More is not always better. People have a tendency to believe that, in regards to training, the more you do, the better off you will be. Training is not all about quantity; it is all about quality, she said. Focus on the effort that you put into a training session; really give it your all. Whether it lasts for 20 minutes or two hours; that is not of utmost importance.  The vitality lies in the quality of your workout; make it count.

Another suggestion that Wellington shared is that resting is as important as training. “Recovery is an integral part of training,” she began by saying. Recovery, for her, includes proper nutrition, compression garments, getting enough sleep, and consciously resting between training sessions. Relaxing is a significant practice for both the body and the mind. “Without recovery, I wouldn’t be the athlete that I am,” she said.

For more tips from Wellington, please be sure to check out Active.com’s “10 Performance Tips from Chrissie Wellington” article. She goes on to share strategies such as training your mind, the power of having mantras, making it hurt, proper diet, and more. All of these tips will help in the training for any race, such as the San Diego Resolution Run 5K & 15K or IMPACT Fitness Challenge.

By: Brittney Schering
Sandy Feet Writer