Susann interviewing Chris McCormack, Sydney, March 2012
When I was Down Under at Chris’ in March I took the chance to talk with him about Olympic distance racing, about the changes in training he had to make, about aging as an athlete, and many other things. We had the talk in a very casual private atmosphere. It is very appealing to listen to Chris, how he motivates himself again and again to achieve the extraordinary. The talk is an exciting walk through the short history of triathlon with one of its few icons alive. Enjoy it.
1 A successful shift from long to short course is about being open to change
In this first part of the interview he is talking about what it means to implement change and not just replicate what he was doing when he was a short course guy. The biggest issue of the whole enterprise, Chris says, is pace. To put it in a nutshell: if you want to succeed you need to be open to change and structure your work in a way that you regain your ability to change pace.
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2 Athletically I am content challenges I see elsewhere in my sport
Sometimes Chris is having these tiny almost invisible flares of doubts when he starts musing about his decision to go for the Olympics, he misses the – as he calls it – big stuff. On the other hand he says: “It’s my last shot on the Olympics, if it doesn’t happen, it won’t break me, not like in 2000 when I thought now life is over.”
3 MACCA about Lance Armstrong, the Olympics and Kona 2013
Lance Armstrong is probably the person currently most talked and speculated about in triathlon. So I couldn’t resist to ask Chris what he thinks. About the Olympics, he puts it this way: “It’s like having had the desert already, and then going to the fridge completely unexpectedly finding a block of chocolate, pure joy!” About another Kona in 2013, he is very sober. For the time being he is very much laid-back about the Kona race.
