London Athletes Q&A
Ashlee Nelson
In London....
Where’s your favourite place to train:
Indoors: Lee Valley.
Outdoors: Pretty much based in Lee Valley.
What do you do to improve your:
Balance:
A lot of theraband work; they’re short bands you place around your ankles, with the other end around a chair leg, then you move your leg in different directions — it works on your central nervous system. Standing on one leg while you’re brushing your teeth helps too, and it’s convenient.
Core:
Exercise on the Weaksy Circuit, it’s the worst killer abdominal session ever - back to back sets of crunches, single leg lowers, planks and stuff without stopping. It’s the way that it’s put together that kills.
Strength:
Clean lifts.
Cardio:
Running, circuits, doing high knees into press ups, into sit ups into chest passes against the wall using a 5k, into rocky pressups, with clap in the middle, and at the end of that a minute of boxing, which really gets you feeling the lactic in your arms. It’s painful but you think about punching someone so it can be quite therapeutic, especially if your coach has the pads on!
Flexibility:
A lot of stretching; Bikram yoga, in a really hot room makes you sweat and gets your muscles really warm and pliable.
Where do you like to go to watch/participate in other sports?
I love boxing — I have friends who are boxers based in Ireland so I don’t really watch it live, but I check out Sky Box Office for the big fights. I’d go to America to watch the NBAs, but mostly just to find myself a nice tall basketball player!
If you could train anywhere in London, restrictions removed, where would you go?
Lee Valley is the best place for me, I’ve relocated from Stoke on Trent to come and train in London and haven’t ventured much outside.
Where do you celebrate your victories?
I spend time with friends and family, nowhere in particular, as long as you’re with the people that support you it doesn’t matter.
Where do you go to cut loose?
Chilling at home, away from the track is good. Shoreditch is my kinda area, Old Street - cool but chilled. I’m a total urban nerd. If I want to get dressed up YoYo in Notting Hill is cool as it always has live bands, new art and new acts.
Where do you go to get away from it all?
I’m the type of the person who likes good company, so it doesn’t matter where I am. I do prefer a cold holiday to a hot holiday though as I used to ski a lot in Italy, but since I started signing contracts and stuff I’m not allowed to do extreme sports, but still — a cold holiday is my ideal getaway.
What do you do to relax?
Go shopping, though even that becomes stressful in central London, so I do a lot of internet shopping on asos and topshop.
What do you do to treat yourself?
Buy shoes. I’ll go into the bank, put money on one of my cards and then hit Oxford Street and just buy shoes until my card gets rejected.
What songs on your iPod really get you inspired?
Slum Village, hip hop.
Duale.
House, funky house.
Drum and Bass, heavy heavy when I’m driving to the track. Even to train you need that motivation.
What has been your career highlight so far?
Winning a medal at the Under 20 World Junior Championships in Poland, which became a bit of a double whammy as when I got back I found out I’d been selected to go to the Olympics.
What do you see as being your ultimate victory?
A Gold medal at the Olympics. That’s what everyone’s working for and it’s scary because only a certain amount of people can have them. Most of my friends can’t understand why I train to the point where I’m being sick and my abs are hurting when I laugh, but that’s what it’s all about.
What things count as everyday victories?
When you go to Topshop and you want a pair of jeans but they’re smaller than you are - buy them anyway and work at it until you can make them fit! You don’t have to be an Olympic champion to be fit and healthy — it’s the satisfaction of feeling better in general.
How did you get started in sports?
My big brother was also an athelete who went to Beijing but got injured — he’s my inspiration.
If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
I’d definately be doing a lot more fashion based things. I’m studying fashion design at Middlesex and really focusing everything into that. The things I’m doing at the moment, learning, and making connections, will get me to where I want to be eventually.
