FT Masterclass: Ironman with Chrissie Wellington

'Don’t be afraid of failure, because then you won’t start,' says world champion Chrissie Wellington on Wimbledon Common

People think I’m some kind of superhuman being,” says four-time world Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington. “I’m not that. But I am incredibly driven and determined. And persistent – I simply will not give up.”

The capacity to not give up is pretty key to Ironman distance triathlon, a body-busting event that stretches over a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and finishes, just for the hell of it, with a full marathon distance (26.2-mile) run. Wellington who, with no false modesty, describes herself as an “average” athlete when at school in Norfolk, has tamed the beast – she’s raced Ironman distance 13 times and never tasted defeat.

So just how fast does she run? To put that to the test I ask her to set off at her marathon pace and I’ll try to keep up. To put that into context I’ve done a couple of Olympic-distance triathlons (1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run) and, on a good day, can get around 10k in 45 minutes.

At my gym, they sometimes ask me how fit I’m feeling, marks out of 10. On the crisp winter morning I meet Wellington, I’m pushing 7.5. Let’s cut to the chase: I last five minutes.

It’s not so much the pace itself; four-minute kilometres is a fair clip, but do-able for, say, 20 minutes. What knocks me off my stride is the realisation that this is what Wellington does after an hour of tough ocean swimming – the world championships take place in Kona, Hawaii – and a buttock-testing near five hours on a bike saddle. At this pace I should be all about focusing on my running, but the reality check of how she operates is startling. Before I know it, she’s off – and there’s no catching her.

At least I’m not alone there. Since Wellington belatedly crashed into the world of top-class Ironman (she was a late starter, leaving behind a high-flying government career in international development to take her first world crown in 2007 at the age of 30) she has routinely destroyed the opposition. Unbeaten against women, she has dramatically closed the gender gap in Ironman racing, setting a female world record and finishing fifth overall last year at Germany’s top race, Challenge Roth, an event in which only the male winner ran a faster marathon. A fair reward for dedicating herself body and soul to the Ironman cause for five years, training 28 hours a week across three punishing disciplines.

It wasn’t until last year’s race in Kona that she was truly tested. She had been forced to miss out in 2010 because of illness and going into 2011 a nasty bike smash, an occupational hazard in triathlon, should have forced her to pull out. But she wasn’t having it. Injuries hampered her on the swim and bike and she found herself down the field in sixth going into the run, when hitherto she’d always led. She charged through the field, turning in an awesome marathon time of 2:52:41.

“I always wondered what it would be like to race full-out, to push myself to greater heights. One of my biggest fears is of losing, and I faced that fear in Kona last year. It sounds odd but doing the book was one of the things that drove me on – I kept thinking what a terrible ending for the book it would be if I lost.”

The book is A Life Without Limits, a candid account of her unconventional rise to sporting legend status. As a teenager she had body image issues which led to bulimia, evidence of a control-freak streak that has contributed to her sporting rise. “I’ve channelled it in terms of taking control. Running took over. I’m obsessive-compulsive and I suffer from a kind of guilt complex if I feel that I’m not doing my best. If I gave up in a race, I couldn’t live with myself.”

'Before I know it, she’s off – and there’s no catching her.' Keith Watson struggles to match the pace of 13-time Ironman distance champion Chrissie Wellington

You get the feeling she means this quite literally, and there’s no doubt Wellington is an intensely committed individual. But she’s also got a healthy perspective on the life of a professional athlete, the reason perhaps that she’s taking time out from triathlon in 2012 to pursue other options: she’s heavily committed to charity work and will be commentating at the Olympics. “There’s no downtime when you’re training for Ironman, it’s a 24/7 effort – sleep and rest is all part of the training programme.”

Even though that’s the case for the professionals, Wellington holds fast to the “anyone can do it” philosophy. Laughingly describing herself as an “accident-prone Muppet”, she’s genuine when she claims that she discovered her own endurance talent almost by accident – a 3.08 marathon debut in London in 2002 on the back of scant training was a hint – and is on a mission to help others find their unsuspected potential.

“With my book, I didn’t want to create a ‘Chrissie training bible’ – I don’t feel qualified to offer that kind of detail,” she says. “It’s about spreading the message of what people are capable of – which is a lot more than they think they are.” She admits that the prospect of an Ironman is daunting to the uninitiated, but she’s so pragmatic on the subject, I’m buying into it. How do I start?

“Break it down, both the race and your training, into achievable chunks. The Ironman is the goal – but it’s made up of a set of smaller tasks. And go for a race that’s not hugely hilly or pancake flat – the flat courses are dangerously deceptive for novices because of the demands on the bike. When it’s flat, you don’t change position on the bike and when you get off you won’t be able to run.

“Go for it. Look fear in the face and accept that a lot of people are feeling the same as you. But don’t be afraid of failure, because then you won’t start. Don’t be put off by the cost – you can hire wetsuits, you don’t need to spend thousands on a bike – you are the key piece of equipment. Follow a training programme and join a club if possible. You need a structure; it gives you something to focus on other than the race.”

Most of all, though, says Wellington, keep it fun. She’s a human racer. “I like sport to be instinctive, not obsessed by stats and training logs. I like to go out for a run and not worry about the pace that I am running. I want to explore a different landscape.” Does she get frustrated that triathlon gets relatively little coverage? A cloud briefly passes over her sunny demeanour: “A little. People who achieve amazing things in sport deserve a lot more coverage. But they [the media] would rather write about a footballer’s farts than a world champion.”

Not that she’s one to dwell on the negative. “I am a role model,” she states matter-of-factly with no hint of arrogance. “I have the chance to offer myself up as some kind of inspiration to other people.” And she is: I can feel an Ironman stirring in my soul.

‘A Life Without Limits’, by Chrissie Wellington, is published by Constable this month (£18.99)