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."