June 27, 2017 | Women’s Health Online

Jun 2017

10 Tips to max your health from an Olympic runner

This is exactly what mid-distance runner Eloise Wellings does to stay on her A game – by Alice Ellis

JUN

Eloise Wellings knows a thing or two about staying in primo health – as an Olympian middle-distance runner and mum, the 34-year-old needs to be on her A game all the time. At the moment she’s in training for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Here’s a peek at exactly what she does to stay fighting fit:

My wellness

> I use the ‘one-line rule’: if sugar is in the first line of the ingredients in food, then I will only eat it occasionally.

> I use meditation and visualisation to help me focus on the things that are going to help me achieve my goals.

> I supplement daily with ubiquinol (the active form of CoQ10) to help me get the most energy possible from the food that I eat.

> I get massages regularly.

> I take a rest day! Having a full day off training per week is quite rare in my sport but when I do, it enables me to step back, absorb all the work I’ve done over the past six days and rejuvenate. (Read about why rest days are good for you here.)

My fitness

> I lift weights/do strength work in the gym three times per week – it helps with my bone density and running power and efficiency.

> I do pilates/core work to improve my overall body posture and composition.

> I do a flexibity session. Flexibility helps with injury prevention in runners. (Read more about that here.)

> I train with an altitude mask on the bike or treadmill every week – this lets me train with less oxygen to help improve my oxygen carrying capacity at sea level.

> Of course I do a track session – this is my main, high-intensity workout of the week. A typical track session looks like this: 4km warm-up, 8 x 1km in 3 mins 10 secs with 1 min rest in between. Then 4km cool down.