Racing driver Katherine Legge is British but moved to the United States years ago, and clearly loves her new home. Legge, 43, shared a picture of herself on social media, wearing a bikini while posing on a boat with two friends, looking happy in the sunshine. Her caption highlighted how much she appreciates the friends she has made while on the other side of the pond. “Beyond grateful for the freedom and opportunities this amazing country and special people have afforded me. Celebrating surrounded by friends and fun and sunshine,” she captioned the post. Legge trains hard to be a champion—here’s what it takes.
Legge has been racing for a very long time. “I started karting when I was 9 years old,” she says. “Ever since then I love the adrenaline rush, the competition with others, the speed, the focus it gave me, the need to be smart about engineering the car to be fast, and the competition with myself to continue to grow and get better. It’s pretty much my identity at this point.”
Legge starts the day with either avocado toast or a protein smoothie. A recent study from UCLA shows eating avocado can greatly benefit skin health. “In the bigger context, skin is a part of the body and you can’t just rely on topical treatment to keep your skin in great health,” says Zhaoping Li, MD, chief of the division of clinical nutrition at UCLA. “Skin health is only going to go so far, especially if your body is not in the best condition. What we have learned from this study is that avocado is a very unique fruit. It has a lot of fibers, monounsaturated fatty acids and phytonutrients and it has an impact on many, if not all, of the organ systems inside of our body.”
When she’s not racing, Legge stays active through her workouts. “I’m either training, running, riding my bike or in the gym, doing racing-related business activities or in the yard or playing golf!” she says. “In my heart, I have always been focused on racing – making the most out of the opportunities I have had, and fighting for new opportunities. Like all professional sports, it is difficult to succeed in racing. I wasn’t always sure at the beginning of my career if I would make it to the top levels of the sport, but I always was single minded and focused on doing so.”
Legge loves to run outside and do the stairs when the gym is not an option. “Running! You can do that anywhere and I need to do cardio for racing,” she says. “Racing is an endurance-based sport. You are in a hot cockpit for hours at a time, dealing with high-g loads under braking, acceleration and cornering; very heavy steering and even greater braking forces, so it’s important to do plenty of hot sweaty running outside in the heat to adapt! There are also a lot of stretches and core exercises you can do on the road too. I need to do more stretching!”
Legge enjoys a cup of antioxidant-packed coffee every day. “There aren’t a lot of downsides to drinking moderate amounts of coffee — and in fact, it can have positive effects on your health,” says registered dietitian Devon Peart, RD, MHSc, BASc. “The latest research is showing that it’s not the antioxidants per se that make coffee, in moderation, beneficial. It’s actually the phenolic compounds… Coffee is made from beans, a plant food. Research is showing that the phenolic components in coffee provide health-promoting effects similar to those in vegetables or fruits.”