Message posted by: Clyde W.

07:06 09Jan08 RTRS-INTERVIEW-Triathlon-Wellington ignores the Ironman rulebook

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Chrissie Wellington remains

faintly bemused by the adulation she has received since she

rewrote the triathlon rulebook by winning the Hawaii Ironman at

the first attempt less than a year after turning professional.

"I still don't really know that much about triathlon," the

30-year-old Briton told Reuters in an interview, adding that she

had yet to see any television highlights of the October race.

"I love the sport but I don't know much about its history

and three years ago I knew virtually nothing about Ironman or

Hawaii."

Hawaii knew little about her either but sat up and took

notice when she destroyed the field in one of the greatest

displays in the 29-year history of the iconic event which

combines a 3.8-km swim, a 180-km bike ride and a marathon.

Confounding the experts and questioning the sport's received

wisdom have become second nature for Wellington.

In an admission that will make most coaches feel faint, she

said she had never used a heart-rate monitor, the must-have tool

of every training manual. "I don't own one and I've never had a

VO2 max test either," she said.

The test, routinely performed on professional athletes,

measures the maximum oxygen consumption rate while exercising.

"When my coach asked me what gearing I had on my bike I

didn't know what he was talking about. I won Ironman Korea with

training wheels, I first climbed on a time trial-specific bike

five weeks before Hawaii and a day before the race I had to fix

a broken pedal with industrial glue.

"The man was right; it really isn't about the bike," she

added, in reference to the title of seven-time Tour de France

winner Lance Armstrong's autobiography.

CAREER BREAK

Rewind a year and Wellington was winning her age-group

(amateur) world championship at Olympic distance in a

performance so dominant that she decided to contemplate turning

professional.

So, her career in international development with the British

government was put on hold while she threw herself into the

unknown and joined famed Australian coach Brett Sutton's stable

in Thailand.

Opinionated and unfocused, she initially argued with Sutton

on all kinds of issues, not least nutrition. Within a few weeks

though, that relationship had changed into one of such trust

that when he barked: "You need to eat some cheese" the

previously fat-fearing Wellington merely asked: "How much?".

"He is such an individualist, that's what makes him so

effective," Wellington said. "We are a group of more than 20

elite athletes with a host of personal targets and histories.

"I'm always being asked 'How many hours a week do you train?

How many miles do you ride?' and the truth is I've no idea.

Brett sets up a regime with particular long-term goals but he

tailors things on a daily and even hourly basis depending on

what he is seeing physically and mentally."

While every aspect of her life is now geared towards

triathlon success, the building blocks were put in place while

she was having fun during her work in Nepal, where the highlight

was a 1,300-km mountain bike trek via Everest base camp that

involved daily spells of up to 10 hours in the saddle.

"It was amazing," she said. "You think you are over the

worst for a day then suddenly you are literally faced with

another mountain to climb. I suppose it helped when it came to

time on the bike competitively but at the time it was just

having fun as the best way to get around a fantastic country."

NEXT STEP

Sutton saw enough of that endurance base to suggest a

previously unconsidered switch to Ironman. Victory on

Wellington's debut in Korea in August justified that faith and

paved the way for the trip to Kona, Hawaii.

Just making it to Hawaii was the culmination of long-held

ambitions for most of the field but Wellington saw it merely as

the next step in an exciting adventure that could yet involve a

return to Olympic distance for a tilt at Beijing in August.

"I'm driven and competitive, don't get me wrong, but Hawaii

wasn't the be-all and end-all for me and that helped," she said.

She arrived at the start as a virtual unknown but was

determined to defer to no-one.

Nine hours, eight minutes and 45 seconds later, she had

become an Ironman immortal. She won by a big margin, her bike

time was nearly five minutes faster than any other woman in the

field and she closed out the event with a 2:59.58 marathon, the

second fastest in race history.

For Wellington, though, the highlight of her Hawaii

experience was the time she spent back at the finish line hours

after she had finished, watching the amateurs limp home after up

to 15 hours on the punishing volcanic rock.

"That was wonderful, to see each athlete's personal

satisfaction when they crossed the line," she said. "Winning the

race was fantastic but for me watching those age-groupers finish

is what sport is all about."

(Editing by Clare Fallon)

((clare.fallon@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 7933; Reuters

Messaging: clare.fallon.reuters.com@reuters.net.

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