Josh McHugh ist ein australischer Profitriathlet, der neben seinen internationalen Starts in der WCS Serie auch in der deutschen Bundesliga unterwegs ist. Da er unsere Leidenschaft für Kaffee teilt wie kaum ein anderer, war es natürlich naheliegend, dass er der Triathlon Profi für unsere Fragereihe wird. Wir hoffen damit gerade den Hobbytriathleten unter euch ein paar interessante Einblicke zu bieten. Um nicht zu sehr zu verändern, was Josh uns zu berichten hat, haben wir uns entschieden, sein Interview im Orginal zu veröffentlichen. Ich hoffe es macht euch auch in englisch Spaß zu lesen. Wir haben ihn gebeten noch einen Traingsplan anzuhängen, um euch einen möglichst guten Eindruck davon zu geben, was unser australischer Freund so unter der Woche treibt.
1. What is the perfect coffeeride for you?
We have a great coffee ride in our area. We usually start quite early in the morning, head down to a little coastal town – Evans Head. Have a quick stop at the bakery, eat some breakfast and quick coffee.
we then proceed riding along the coast until heading back into the hills of Alstonville, here we park up and enjoy a nice coffee after riding 100km. Theres no better loop in the area, and nothing beats a good coffee after a hard ride.
2. What does a hard Training day of a pro triathlete look like?
I’ve recently moved to the Gold Coast and was introduced to a more intense program.
a hard training day starts at 5:30 with a 6 – 7km swim.
we would ride to a criterium course ( solid hill and tight turns) 1hr away and do 1hr session broken into 3 x 20minute blocks. Total ride is 100km. In the afternoon would be a run totalling 1hr 20mins. My coach likes to give is 25 x 400m on the track. Its a session that really tests your fitness.
3. How many Kilometres are you swimming, running, and cycling over the week?
on an average training week.
25 – 30km swimming
250 – 450km cycling
85 – 100km running
these distances vary during the season pending on what races we have coming up.
4. Can you tell us some typical beginner faults, and what they could do to avoid them?
Triathlon is a very individual sport and everyone has different ideas and perceptions.
In almost all beginner triathlons, drafting is forbidden yet, but you still see accidents amongst the competitors. This is largely due to the stability and confidence of the athletes riding in aero position. It’s always harder to control your bike whilst in aero position.
Triathletes often train alone and possibly lack some bike skills. You see this from beginners right up to athletes competing in the World Championship Series.
To avoid this, I would suggest riding in groups or with friends and practising time trialling. Triathletes need to be confident in their riding or they can be a hazard to other cyclists. Local bike races are also a great opportunity to improve bike skills.
5. What does your training + food look like in the last days before an important race?
My training does not vary to much until 3 days out from competition. The start of the week is usually minimised in terms of volume but the intensity is kept the same.
Two days out from competition is usually my rest day and normally taken as a travel day. Only an easy jog when I arrive.
The day before the race is quite relaxed. A swim in the morning, I try and ride over the cycle course and have a jog in the afternoon.
The race morning, I usually try go for a jog/walk to wake the body up before breakfast.
I try to eat quite well throughout the season. I try not to eat to many sweets.
I do not eat much bread during the season. I also try to avoid having no carbohydrates at night, so I tend to stick more towards protein in the evening.
The day before the race I don’t usually care what I eat. I would always have some sort of sports drink and a few lollies to keep the sugars high. In race morning ill try and eat a small portion of bread with some protein (eggs) and will definitely have a coffee approximately 2hrs before the race.
Its definitely a lot harder to keep this food plan when racing in Asia, as some foods are just not accessible.
6. Do you want to tell our readers anything else?
I would like to call Deutschland my second home but I have admit the coffee in Australia is better!
.jpg)
