Train Like an Olympic Athlete: How One Vogue Editor Learned to Love the Burn

Elisabeth TNT calls on the experts to up her training game—and draws major inspiration from U.S. Olympic track-and-field hopeful English Gardner.

Who doesn’t dream of a body like Gisele’s? We all want to look fit and youthful, with glowing skin, a toned core, and shiny hair. But one day, the research says low-intensity activity is king; next it’s short spurts of high intensity. There are the yoga-obsessed, the Pilates nuts, cardio true believers, and core-strength advocates. Who can keep up? The only thing every expert I have spoken to or trained with seems to agree on is that consistency is key.

I count myself among the lucky—I actually enjoy exercising. But with the Olympics on the horizon and the Met Gala approaching, I wondered what it would mean to train like a real athlete. I’ve never really tried it. I used to be a competitive horse-show jumper until I gave it up to attend boarding school—but that hardly counts. I do know that pushing a bit harder on someone else’s say-so is a daily part of an athlete’s life—and not mine. Let’s face it, there are mornings when staying tucked in bed under my cozy blanket for an extra hour seems much more reasonable than going for a run.

I called up Nike’s master trainer Traci Copeland, and she put together a six-week tailor-made plan that would work around my schedule and my various whereabouts. Through multiple time zones, consecutive Fashion Weeks, and bouts of jet lag I ran miles under the guidance of my Nike+ Running app and converted my hotel rooms into mini-gyms for quick spurts of action via the Nike+ Training Club app. When I had to sneak in a long run through Hyde Park after the Erdem show and before Christopher Kane, I did it. (That particular run was on a windy day, through typical London on-and-off drizzle, and no walk in the park—pun intended, naturally!)

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Photo: Courtesy of Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis

I never thought I could run at a consistently fast pace, or do HIIT (high-intensity interval training) over and over, or hammer out sprints on a diabolic self-powered manual treadmill called the Curve. (Those courtesy of Toby Huntington-Whiteley—yes, Rosie’s brother—who put me through fierce drills at the Bulgari Hotel’s Workshop Gymnasium in London.) Through it all I have felt shattered, then great, energetic, full of beans, and then right back to shattered. My body has ached in areas I was never even aware existed. A spot on my left foot has begun throbbing more or less continuously. But my mind has also started pacing with dissatisfaction when I’m not able to move. Call me hooked on the endorphin high.

My biggest inspiration came from training with U.S. Olympic track-and-field hopeful English Gardner, 23. She’s a two-time world-outdoor-championship silver medalist in the 4 x 100-meter relay—a fierce, fast, and fabulous young athlete who has been competing since the age of seven. Not only is she physically awe-inspiring—her body, in little shorts and an athletic bra, is a study in anatomy and muscle definition—but her levelheadedness and devotion to her sport are absolutely moving. As we stood there, lightly stretching on a track in Los Angeles, her big brown eyes attentively catching mine, I asked her what the hardest part of being an athlete was. “Discipline,” she said, “because so many things can deter you. I would love to have more of a social life. I’d love to date, share my confusions and the experiences of the day with someone.” But the sport puts such extreme physical and mental demands on her that she has time for little else. “So I guess the hardest part is realizing the sacrifices you have to make and being disciplined enough to make them,” she said.

A large tattoo covering her shoulder blades reads pondus mundi, Latin for “the weight of the world,” and this is not just a line. Gardner is a very contemplative, spiritual person. Meditation and prayer are key parts to her success. Every day at 4:00 p.m. she drops whatever she is doing to spend an hour centering herself. She incorporated this ritual after her failed attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. “Something in me was not allowing me to cross that threshold,” she said. A period of self-reflection followed. Her body is as fit as it has ever been, but mental strength will be the difference for her in 2016.

“I tell my younger siblings that great things come from being uncomfortable,” Gardner said thoughtfully before we part ways. “Let training be an outlet; let go and have fun because that’s what it does for me.” I’m on board this bandwagon—for today.

 

Sittings Editor: Sean Knight
Hair: Sylvia Wheeler; Makeup: Tsipporah Liebman

 

 

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