Wellington ignores the Ironman rulebook

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON (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 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.