Twenty Years, No Shortcuts: What Ashleigh Gentle Has Learned About Longevity in Professional Triathlon

Ashleigh Gentle has been at the sharp end of professional triathlon for more than two decades. Two-time Olympian, ten-time winner of the Noosa Triathlon, junior world champion, runner-up on the World Triathlon Series circuit, and now a multiple T100 and 70.3 winner since making the move to middle distance. She is also, as we record this, a few weeks away from the birth of her first child.

What I wanted to explore in this conversation is not the race results but the bigger picture. What does a career that long actually teach you about how to train, how to look after yourself and how to keep going? The answers are not complicated. But they are consistent, and they are exactly what I keep telling the athletes I coach.

IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER:

Growing up playing multiple sports and why Ashleigh believes that gave her a robust physical foundation that has protected her throughout her career
The junior and under-23 years, the lessons learned early, and the coach who shaped her approach to sustainable training
A decade on the World Triathlon Series circuit, the highlights, and why she eventually made the move to middle distance
How she discovered she had probably been under-fuelling her entire short course career, and what changed when she started working with Precision Fuel and Hydration
Training and racing alongside husband Josh Amberger, and what that has meant for her relationship with the sport
The daily habits and routines that have kept her healthy and performing at the highest level for over 15 years
Strength training: the two years she stopped doing it, the chronic injuries that followed, and why she has never dropped it since
What the next chapter looks like, on and off the start line

KILLER QUOTE
"If I tried to do what I did 10 years ago now, I would be ruined. It's not that I'm weaker or not as capable. It's just that you've got to respect your body and what it's been through. That adds up. That counts for something."

CONNECT with Ashleigh
Ashleigh Gentle is a two-time Olympian and professional triathlete based in Brisbane, Australia.

Instagram: @gentle_ash

Ashleigh’s favourite books is ‘The Nightingale’ by Kristin Hannah.

She also recommended ‘Too much Lip’ by Melissa Lucashenko

CONNECT with Precision Fuel and Hydration
precisionfuelandhydration.com

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Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s.
Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s

If what you heard today resonates and you want a training structure built around these principles, with individuality, recovery, strength and the long game at its centre, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is designed around.

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Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle

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