She makes herself sound like a distinctly average runner. "I need to go a lot faster, I'm not fully-balanced when I do run, and I've got to adopt any tactic in racing, not just the late burst."
In reality she is the Olympic, Commonwealth and, up until last August, the world 400 metres champion but the jolt of trailing in fifth in the world final in Berlin, coupled with a season so miserable she wanted to go on holiday in June, seems to have served as an epiphany.
Christine Ohuruogo could be found last week training hard in the wind and the rain at the Lea Valley athletics stadium in north-east London, not far from her Stratford home, and not far from the London Olympic stadium which grows upwards by the day.
In less than three years time the 25-year-old, labelled as the face of the London Olympics even if her failure to attend three out of competition drug tests and subsequent one year ban dented this somewhat, plans to be winning gold inside the same stadium and, if she does, she will look back on 2009 and see it as the year that made the ultimate difference.
Ohuruogo, who successfully appealed against a lifelong Olympic ban, and who claimed the 2007 world title just weeks after her suspension from the sport had been lifted, now recognises that this season went wrong from the moment she claimed that stunning gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, hunting down her arch rival Sanya Richards in the final straight.
"I got swept up in the whole euphoria of the Olympics," she admits. "At the time I wanted to do everything asked of me. I also felt an obligation to do so for the sport and for the local youngsters who now have their very own Olympics to look forward to.
"As the year went on I grew so tense and tired that by June I couldn't wait for the season to be over. When I found myself wanting to go on holiday rather than train I knew I was in trouble. My body, and therefore my mind, was shot."
This is when her right hamstring tore, resulting in a desperate for fitness in time for Berlin. "It had been tight for ages but I just ignored it. In 2007 my suspension meant that I'd shown no form up to the worlds and won. Last year it was the same but went on to win the Olympic title. I thought I'd be able to do it all over again this year.
"Even I knew it was serious when I had to pull out of both Paris and Crystal Palace, meaning I had no meaningful competitive race before the world championships. By Berlin I was technically fit and pretty much pain free, but I just didn't have the training hours under my belt."
It is what we suspected, but something Ohuruogo always denied before, during and immediately after Berlin but now, on reflection, she is finally being honest with herself.
"I think it was down to stubbornness. I was the defending world champion and I thought I might just be able to turn up and pull it off. When you are on the start line of a final you must always believe you can win but, if I'm honest, in the back of my mind I knew I was under-prepared, which is just the worst thing. I knew it was going to be hard. When we came round the final bend I was hoping I'd find my trademark kick but, this time, there was nothing there. That only comes with training."
Under the circumstances fifth was not too bad, even if Richards blazed home first in impressive style, and if Ohuruogu was hurting she hid it well. Now, however, she comes clean.
"Do you want to know the truth?" she asks. "I was devastated, absolutely devastated. It hurt so much then, and it still hurts now. I heard myself described the other day as the former world champion, and it made me physically wince."
It also added just a little more fuel to the highly-motivated young woman who has emerged from the failure of 2009, as has the happy demeanour of Sanya Richards who announced afterwards how sorry she was that her British foe had not been at her best.
Ohurougu laughs at this notion. "She didn't mean that," she says. "Sanya was happy as Larry that I'd shown no form at all. It would be better for her to beat me when I am one hundred per cent and not racing on one leg.
"But the lessons from this year will be crucial for my future success. It's made me grateful for what I've done and made me realise it doesn't come easily and you don't just grab a medal. It's a wake up call.
"I'm going to be more selfish from now on, and more single-minded on what I do best. I'm also going to work hard on my speed because I know I can be a lot faster, on my balance, and on being able to win races in any fashion, and that includes leading from the start. The event's moved on and my opponents have an answer to the old me, so now I need to counter."
It is not as if she is not used to a challenge. Whatever the rights and wrongs may be of her three drug test absences and resulting suspension back in 2006-7, she amazed the world of track and field by becoming world champion in Osaka. "It was the only way to make up for the ban and the criticism I took," she explains.
The doubters and critics remained however up to and during Beijing. "I walked around with it on my shoulders to the point where I just grew exhausted by it all. Then I just didn't care any more. It's an issue that will never be erased but I poured myself into training and that kept my sanity."
Now there will be question marks over whether her time has come and gone. "I accept that," she says. "But I don't want to be remembered for what I've done so far, but for what I'm going to do. Winning the Commonwealth, world and Olympic titles was nice, but it's not enough. Not nearly enough."
It begins with the European Championships next June, and then the Commonwealths in October, both of which she intends to compete in, and then the 2011 world championships. And it may end a mile from her house in the London Olympic stadium where, just possibly, she could be racing against her sister, Victoria, who is nine years younger and a very promising 400 metres runner.
"She's got something for sure and, of course, it would be lovely to be running with her, but I'd hate her to be compared to me, or not enjoy her sport because of my existence."
Victoria Ohuruogo is not the only teenager her big sister is concerned about, either. "I'm a little worried about 2012 coming and then just going," says the face of the Olympics. "There are a lot of deadweights around here and from what I'm seeing the message the Olympics will give is in danger of by-passing a lot of the kids.
"The Games should be fantastic for the area, the stadium should be like a beacon of hope and inspiration, but I think the kids around here need to see it all completed and the Games taking place, and by then it may be too late. Kids have so much more these days but don't make the most of it. Someone needs to tell them there's nothing wrong in good, old-fashioned hard work."
Christine Ohuruogo laughs again, something she was not doing three months ago. "Just listen to me," she adds. "I sound like a 50-year-old."
But it will be good, old-fashioned hard work that will return her to the top and she knows it.
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