Melissa-Rollison/Hauschidt Triathlon Swim Photos by, Timothy Carlson

“We pretty much eat a general diet – lots of fruit and veg. Lots of red meat, though, especially if I’m here in Boulder because you lose iron at a greater rate at altitude.

“I’m fortunately sponsored by SIS, Science In Sport. I eat their bars and gels, protein and electrolytes. That saves a bit of money because you go through a lot on the bike. Sometimes I make a peanut butter sandwich for the ride, but it’s so much easier to chuck bars in your pockets. Sometimes you get back from training and think, ‘Oh, what can I eat?’ Just today, I started scooping peanut butter out of a jar with a teaspoon ...

“I take liquid iron when I’m performing at altitude, but other than that, no supplements or potions.”

CROSS TRAINING?

“With triathlon, I never have to do anything active other than my sport. Though, I do ride my skateboard a bit in the off-season. I’ve got a long board and a short board, so it depends where I go. My coach doesn’t really like it – but when we’re in full training, there’s not really any time to do anything more active. You’re too buggered.”

ON YOUR FEET

“I’m sponsored by Adidas. I think they’re one of the best brands – and I’m not just saying that because I’m sponsored by them. I’m pretty picky with my shoes. When I went to triathlon, I had a lot of shoe sponsors come to me. All those new, weird and whacky ‘triathlon’ ones. I said to my manager, ‘Adidas or Nike.’ I don’t care how much money they’re offering – I’ve had so many injuries from incorrect footwear. I just want an old-school basic shoe. The good thing about Adidas, there’s nothing fancy. No big air bags here, gel there and all this sort of stuff – just a simple, plain shoe. I like good cushioning, but not all the plastic and the extra support for pronating, supernating, etc. I’m a forefoot striker, so this is of no use to me. I just need some cushioning.”

HEAD SPACE

“I don’t listen to music at all when I’m training. I don’t like it. It relaxes me too much – it chills me out. I like to be in the moment – especially when I’m doing the hard sessions. I like to ... I don’t know ... feel the pain, I guess ... The good times and the bad times.”

TECH HEAD?

“I’m not a gadget person. No heart-rate monitor, no Wattage. Nothing like that. I have just the basic watch for running – just time, no GPS or anything. On my bike, I just look at the speed. And the altitude: I like to know how high I’m climbing. Just for interest.”

GETTING UP

“During the racing season, I never have a problem with motivation; because you’ve always got a race ahead of you every two to four weeks, you’ve always got that to focus on – it’s the goal. I guess the hardest time is in the off-season, when I’m home, when it’s cold, stuff like that. It might be 4.30 in the morning and you’ve got to get out of bed and it’s dark and cold – that’s the hard bit. But you just pull yourself together; that’s when you think, ‘My competitors are out there training – I’d better get up.’ Generally, there’s not much of a problem with motivation because you’ve got three disciplines – it mixes it up and makes it interesting.

“The thrill of winning is probably what keeps us all going – especially winning the world champs. All that hard work has paid off – I guess that’s what you’re thinking.

“During a race, if I’m starting to slacken off, I just think, ‘Well, if I slacken off, it means it’s going to hurt a lot longer than if I keep pushing through this bit of pain.’ If I don’t win a race, if I’m not the strongest in the field and the other girls are better than me, I can accept that, but if I’ve slackened off or done something wrong in a race, it plays on my mind for weeks. I can’t live it down. That’s what I think about when I’m really hurting. It’s only a little bit of pain now – it’ll all be worth it.”

‒ Graem Sims