Chrissie Wellington at Club La Santa

Posted: Monday January 26, 2009

Chrissie uses Club La Santa to re-start her training.

The Ironman World Champion visited Club La Santa because she feels it is the ideal location to get her training off to the right start.

“The fantastic facilities, the peaceful environment and the perfect weather help me get into a routine” said Chrissie Wellington.

Background

The 31-year-old is an extremely successful and ambitious sportswoman, with an extraordinary background as an athlete.

In 2007 she won her first Ironman World Championships in Hawaii and since then she’s gone on to win many more races.

Her unique background saw her do work experience within the British Government and later in Nepal, before changing direction and moving into the world of professional sport. Indeed, it could be these experiences and her educational background which have helped her become the powerful woman she is today.

Memories from Lanzarote

It’s not the first time that Chrissie’s visited Lanzarote. She came for the first time aged 6, on a family holiday. It must have struck a chord as she can still remember some of the sights from back then and she was also able to refresh some of these memories on one of the cycle rides through the region.

Plans for 2009

The main plans for this year are to do 3 Ironman races, one in April – so probably Australia, another in July – Chrissie has not revealed which one yet; and of course October for the World Championship in Hawaii. Attaining this level in the sport demands many training sessions and to Chrissie it is basically a seven-day-a-week programme in order to maintain the right shape for the competitions.

Even so, she’s not obsessed about diet, but makes sure her meals contain 60% of the carbonated calories to give her the right fuel for her body. Once a week, she includes red meat to ensure the iron needs of the body and healthy fats, such as olive olive are also included. As are some unhealthy ones, she does eat chocolate sometimes, as well as cheese. ;-))

Aspects of triathlon

The Ironman world champion doesn’t just think of winning the next race, she also wants to be seen as the best role model she can for upcoming athletes.
She also wants to work with the less wealthy, so they can practice the sport – at the moment financial barriers can prove prohibitive.

Private life

The past few years have been pretty overwhelming for Chrissie. After all, it’s not taken much time from starting out, to becoming World Champion the very first time she participated in Hawaii.

The sudden rise took everyone by surprise and it’s certainly not been taken for granted. At the moment, her main challenge is being away from England – and her friends and family – for such a long time.

It’s this kind of sacrifice that has to be made by professional athletes and socialising has to take a back seat to training.

Fortunately phone and email help her to keep in touch.

Future plans

Chrissie intends to remain a professional athlete for the next 5 years or so and then go back into development, politics, but she may now also combine this with sports development.

She loves studying, travelling, politics and now, obviously the triathlon!

We wish Chrissie a successful season for 2009 and are looking forward to seeing her again (soon… very soon…?) at Club La Santa.