MTB
Train Like a Pro: Kate Courtney
World champion Kate Courtney reveals how she trains for the leg-crushing, lung-burning effort of cross-country mountain-bike racing, where she has to earn it every time.
When she hits the start line, Kate Courtney, 24, brings a finely tuned aerobic engine and a steely determination. During a typical 90-minute race, she must repeatedly accelerate out of tight corners, grind up steep climbs, glide through rock gardens and fly over jumps. Thanks to her well-honed talent and mental resilience, Courtney won the cross-country world championship in 2018—and by July 2019 had three World Cup victories. She approaches this intensely difficult sport with a unique sense of joy. “I love to line up on race day and know that anything can happen—that something awesome can happen,” Courtney says. “We don’t know who’s going to win, which means it could be me!”
AEROBIC FITNESS
"I’m training 18 to 25 hours on the bike every week."
"And there are definitely times when I do more. Every ride is different and it’s all structured training. I use power and heart rate to dictate exactly what I’ll do. I’ll do interval sets, where I do repeats at a certain power level for a set time. It’s super specific. A lot of times, the workouts model what’s in upcoming races or reflect big-picture training goals. My coach and I identify different weaknesses we want to address and strengths we can develop to make me a well-rounded athlete."
Kate Courtney
© Miko Lim/Red Bull Content Pool
STRENGTH
"Every day is leg day."
"There are different things I focus on in the gym, but there will be at least one upper-body and one lower-body circuit. As a cyclist, it’s always leg day. I do a long warm-up, because that’s where the injury prevention, mobility and functional strength comes in. Balance work is helpful, too. If I think about my races, it’s about being coordinated in how I use core strength and stability on descents. There’s always a couple people in the gym with new ideas to try. What’s cool about the gym is that there’s an element of play that I don’t get in my other training, where I have specific power targets."
TECHNICAL SKILLS
"There are lots of chances to work on skills in training."
"Getting practical coaching advice on certain skills you want to develop is important. If I do a four-hour mountain-bike ride, there’s going to be a lot of descents. If I can pick specific skills and have some specific directions on what I need to be working on—that’s really helpful. I look at video or talk to my team manager [and three-time world champion] Thomas Frischknecht, who sees places I can improve that maybe I didn’t realize. To really see improvement, it’s important to apply a particular skill—say cornering—with intention in your training."
Kate Courtney
© Miko Lim/Red Bull Content Pool
RECOVERY
"I think you can only train as hard as you can recover."
“I take this aspect of my preparation really seriously. I do a ton of things for recovery. Yoga, massage, physical therapy—all the fun things. Napping is one of my go-to options; I think it is really underrated in terms of recovery. I like to eat Greek yogurt before bed every day. It gives me an extra dose of protein, which is good for recovery. I really don’t do recovery rides—I think I can recover well in a half day or overnight between workouts. That’s something that enables me to push and stay at a high baseline, even when I’m training hard, high-volume days.”
FUEL
“I eat waffles before hard workouts as well. I top them with Greek yogurt, berries and maple syrup. I always travel with Sleepytime Tea and I always bring salt with me. I put salt on everything!"
