At the beginning of March we launched our all new women's section on the site, and promised you "profiles and features from female personalities in triathlon." Well, we doubt that there is anyone in triathlon right now with a bigger profile than Chrissie Wellington!

After winning the World Age Group Triathlon Championships in Lausanne in 2006, Chrissie decided to try triathlon full time in 2007, but who could have forecast what was to happen next. Two years on, two Ironman World Championships, an ITU World Long Distance Championship, unbeaten in five Ironman races to date, Chrissie has hit the sport like a whirlwind. So much so that established male pro Torbjorn Sindballe - a Kona podium finisher himself - said before Hawaii last year "I think she's probably the biggest talent the sport has ever seen. I think she'll win it, and she will win by a lot." Well, she had a puncture... and he was still right!

Annie Emmerson caught up with Chrissie to talk about her 2008 season, and what lies ahead for 2009 and beyond.

AE Chrissie, it probably seems like a long time ago now, but congratulations on an amazing 2008 season! You had a faultless year and were probably one of the biggest favourites ever, to stand on the startline of an Ironman World Championships. Were there ever any doubts in your mind that, barring a disaster, you wouldn't win the race for a second consecutive year?

CW Of course there were doubts! I went into the race wanting to win, and fully prepared to challenge for the title, but you can never take anything for granted, and I definitely wasn't convinced that it was a sure thing! With Ironman anything can happen, with you and your competitors, all I could do is prepare the best I possibly could, and go out there and give it everything!

AE At the end of your season you made some fairly radical changes to Team Chrissie when you decided to cut ties with TeamTBB and your coach Brett Sutton. We initially read that your new coach was going to be Chris English, but that didn't materialise. Instead you chose to go with Simon Lessing, what was behind your last minute change of plan?

CW I truly am grateful for everything Brett and TeamTBB did for me over the past two years. They gave me that chance to become a professional, train with some of the best athletes in the world and become Ironman World Champion, However the team wants to focus on development athletes. The aim is for it to become a kind of 'one stop shop' with sponsors that support the whole team, with no autonomy for each athlete to secure their own deals or have their own managers. This meant that I, and many other athletes, no longer fit into the structure – and the majority of us had to chart our own paths.

Yes, initially I, Hillary and Belinda all decided to go with Cliff English. We made the decision quite quickly after Kona, and on reflection I think I should have let the emotion of Hawaii subside and given myself time to think clearly about what was best for me. It was nothing against Cliff, but I just felt that Simon was the right fit. I am extremely happy with the decision, I have moved to Boulder, and have a small, but great, group of people around me. Training is going really well – I am happy, focused and really looking forward to the future, in and out of triathlon!

AE That's all really positive for the season ahead, but ultimately leaving the coach that led you to such great success must have been a tough decision?

CW As I said, I am really grateful to Brett and the Team. Without him and the structure he established I don't think I would have reached such heights so quickly, but sometimes change is a good thing. Not just training and coaching, but in life in general. It is all about growing and developing, and I carry with me all the lessons learned over the past two years, and then look forwards; no looking back!

AE You made some comments about possibly targeting London 2012, were they serious ones?

CW Size matters, and I think my strength lies in the longer distances. For me, Kona IS the Olympics, and as I have said before, I wouldn't trade the Hawaii Crown for anything, not even an Olympic Gold. But of course, the Olympics is still the biggest, most famous sporting spectacle, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in representing Great Britain, in my home country, in 2012. Given my lack of talents on the high board or with a javelin I guess the most obvious choice would be triathlon or maybe cycling. Of course, Olympic distance triathlon is a world away from Ironman, and requires a totally different skill set, and cycling – well the time trial needs to be about 100km longer and for the road racing I need to learn to ride in a pack! But never say never, life is all about challenges, and I love to rise to them, so who knows what might happen!

AE Was working with five-time World Champion Simon Lessing, and his dominance at Olympic distance a factor in your coaching choice?

CW I have to say I didn't really know too much about Simon until last year, when he went through his life story at the British Triathlon Awards Dinner. I knew about some (although not all) of his athletic achievements, and of course that was a factor in my decision, but definitely not the only one. Being in the sport for 25-years has obviously given him a huge wealth of experience about what worked and doesn't work, and obviously I can learn a huge amount from that. I like the structure he has put in place for me, together with my run coach Darren De Rueck. I have a small close knit group of people, who I can lean on for advice and support. The training is varied and interesting. I am doing a lot of sessions with Simon, who pushes me to my limit, as well as Julie Dibens who has recently moved to Boulder too. She’s an amazing athlete and a great person, and we are enjoying socking it to each other (although she socks it firmly to me in the swim!).

But ultimately the choice of coach is more than just a programme. I get on really well with Simon. He has a great sense of humour, a really good bulls*it filter, and his work and play ethic is very similar to mine. Obviously it takes time to develop a deep level of trust between athlete and coach, but I am incredibly happy with the way things are going, training wise but also in terms of my life in general.

AE Have there been many changes to your training program since you switched coaches?

CW Some changes yes, but not too many!

AE This year you've told us that you will be targeting Ironman - Australia , Quelle Challenge Roth and Hawaii - do you think you would have to stop Ironman racing in order to be successful at the Olympic distance?

CW As I said above, Hawaii is like the Olympics for me, and I am more than happy to fly the flag for Great Britain on the Kona stage. But yes, I think it would be difficult to be super successful at both so if I was to ever to want to race competitively at Olympic distance I would need to adjust the training, and the race schedule. Maybe drafting racing could be an option, although I would need to find some more fast twitch fibres to compete with the girls on the run.

AE Would you consider perhaps targeting another Olympic sport, such as the road time trial, given the success of ex (age-group) triathlete Emma Pooley, rather than triathlon? Have British Cycling approached you at all?

CW No, British Cycling haven't approached me – I doubt they even know who I am! Never say never. But I have to say, if I wanted to give cycling a shot I would need to throw myself behind that goal 100%, and for now – I am not sure I am willing to give up the threesome…….. of swim, bike and run.

AE You had a tricky moment in Hawaii when you had a puncture and couldn't work your C02 canisters, have you now perfected the art of working a C02 canister or will you go back to the old fashion way of blowing up a tyre?

CW I will be sticking with clinchers for the time being, and since Kona I have been practicing the tyre change, and a big shout goes out to Marty at Genuine Innovations for a decade's supply of all things gassy! I have a canister to practice with every day of the year... and am pumped and ready for action.

AE In 2007, pre Ironman Hawaii, you were quoted as saying that you didn't know who Natascha Badmann was. Was that really true, and did you really have no knowledge about the athletes that were potentially your closest rivals in the race?

CW I think I was misquoted slightly! I did go in as blind as a bat, and didn't really know much about my competitors, other than those on TeamTBB. I knew who Natasha was by name, and the amazing things she has achieved, but I wouldn't have recognised her, or indeed many of the others!

AE For the last two seasons you've completely dominated every race you've done, but is there anyone out there that you’re watching out for?

CW I haven't always been on top – there have been a few where I have had my butt whipped. Julie Dibens socking it to me in IMUK 70.3 in 2007 was one example!

Overall I focus on my own training and my own race. I can only do my best, and if that's good enough to beat everyone else then I'm gonna be the champ, and if someone is better than me on the day then they deserve that victory! But I respect everyone on that start line (aside from any dopers). They are all pro athletes, and can all give me a swim, bike and run for my money... Discount no-one!

AE The training side of being a full-time triathlete can be fairly mundane, you were quoted in the Guardian as calling it, "monotonous, regimented, mono-dimensional lifestyle" do you miss the mental stimulation of working and studying?

CW I love the lifestyle, don't get me wrong! It's just less varied than it was before. I do miss spontaneity, a more active social life and the opportunity to travel for longish periods of time. I definitely don't miss sitting at a desk all day, pushing paper and counting paperclips - and I get my mental stimulation in other ways. Brain Training on the Nintendo DX (currently my brain is the size of a five-year old, so obviously I need to practice more). Books. And keeping my finger in other pies, like the development of a new organisation called GOTRIbal - www.gotribalnow.com. And Scrabble - although getting beaten by Simon's eight-year old daughter probably wasn't the highlight of my blossoming Scrabble career.

AE Most people can only dream about winning the Ironman World Championship, but you've won two, is there another sporting event out there that you dream of winning?

CW The World Scrabble Championships. Or lawn bowls. Maybe I could also go on Gladiators. Although I am not so good with that pole thing. It would be great to be on Question of Sport (Matt Dawson’s team if possible), but given my lack of general sporting knowledge I wouldn't be a great asset and the only prize that Sue Barker would give me would be a booby one.

Seriously, I really want to do more adventure racing and take part in some bonkers, multi-day, multi week, Ranulph Fiennes, James Cracknell style endurance challenges. Not really ‘sporting events’ in the conventional sense, but definitely something I dream of doing more of one day. Sharing a tent with James would be tough. But I am sure I would cope.

AE At the recent 220 awards you won the Jane Tomlinson Award for Outstanding Contribution to Triathlon, if you had to give the award to someone else who would that person be?

CW Two people – Dick and Rick Hoyt: