WhittleFit Athlete Spotlight: Angela Martin

Here's our brand new WhittleFit Athlete Spotlight article, where we let you inside the mind of WhittleFit athletes and see what makes them tick.

This month we focus the spotlight on Angela Martin, lets see what Angela has to say:  

  • What got you started in endurance or multi sport events?
    • My husband started doing triathlons in 2011 and I could see he was really enjoying it. I was doing some running but was not really feeling the love and then in June 2012 I saw my gym was holding an indoor triathlon. I did a few months training (I hadn’t been swimming since I was a teenager!) and completed it in Nov 2012. A month later my husband bought me a road bike for Christmas and I haven’t looked back!
  • How long have you been working with WhittleFit?
    • I started to receive coaching from Mark in Spring 2013.
  • Tell us about your home and work life
    • Home is really busy. My husband has a full on training plan (Mark coaches him too) and we have two children who are both really sporty so evenings and weekends usually involve taking them to their clubs. Luckily I only work part time so I do most of my training in the day. I like working with Mark because I don’t have to think about what I’m going to do, I just open my plan and follow it.
  • What was your first race?
    • Apart from the indoor tri my first triathlon was the Amman Valley Sprint tri in Spring 2013. My first open water triathlon was Mumbles sprint in June 2013 which I absolutely loved although I was almost sick with fear before it!
  • How many races have you competed in?
    • Not that many, I’ve done around half a dozen sprint triathlons, 2 olympic distances and a few sportives. 2015 was supposed to be my first ‘long’ year so I didn’t compete much. I was signed up to race the Ironman Zell am See 70.3 but I had an accident a few weeks before which prevented me from taking part.
  • What advice would you give someone starting out in triathlon?
    • If you can, join a club or get a coach. It’s easy to treat every session as a smash fest but that doesn’t get results. Get advice and a plan to take you to your goal. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Mark is that consistency is key, it’s the routine, repetitive sessions that make the difference long term. I would also say, if swimming is a weakness get technique advice from a swim coach. A small tweak to your stroke could make a huge difference. 
  • What has been the most rewarding part of your journey racing in multi sport or endurance events?
    • I love the buzz you get from completing a race, the endorphins give you a real high although usually within 24 hours I’m thinking ‘I should’ve pushed harder’.
  • What is your biggest accomplishment so far?
    • Making it to the start line of any race is an achievement for me. It would be easy to give up and make excuses not to train but I want to be healthy and inspire my kids to be healthy and fit too and I think I’ve achieved that.

Thanks to Angela for checking in with us! Angela has some good challenges lined up for 2016, including the the Alpe d'Huez short course triathlon, the iconic French alpine triathlon! Keep checking back here as we'll be adding a new WhittleFit Athlete Spotlight article every month, and even some guest posts from some single sport endurance athletes!!!