Secrets of the pros: Rachel Joyce and Leanda Cave
The golden multisport pearls of wisdom of the European LD and Ironman World champions
Issue ID: February 2013
RACHEL JOYCE
EUROPEAN LONG-DISTANCE CHAMPION
A fourth in Kona 2011 and a win at the ITU LD Worlds preceded two sub-9hr wins at Ironman Melbourne and Challenge Roth in the first half of 2012. Although illness ruined her chances of challenging at Kona last October, all signs point to Joyce being
a top contender in 2013.
SWIM
“Going into 2012 I didn’t have a strong swim focus as I had gains I wanted to make on the bike and run. So the swim was more about maintenance, which I’ve generally been able to rely on to get me out in the front pack. I still swam five or six times per week,
averaging about 20km.”
BIKE
“The aim was to increase my bike endurance, plus I wanted to refine my ability to handle surges in effort so I could cope with race dynamics if necessary. This involved more bike volume, finishing at race pace… almost all my rides included intervals at and above race pace. I think the benefits are starting to come through now, but I expect them to really show themselves in 2013.”
RUN
“The aim was to improve the back end of my marathon and generally speed up! This involved a high frequency of runs each week to build endurance and acclimatise to running on tired legs. I’ve also done a fair bit of treadmill running to help with my leg turnover. I think I saw the benefits come through with some good runs in my 70.3s, and to a lesser extent in my full-iron distances (I broke the 3hr marathon mark in Challenge Roth).”
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
“This year I’ve been diligent in making sure I hit the gym for strength and conditioning work. It’s enabled me to hold my run form for longer. I’ve also been working on my mobility. Dr John Ball of Maximum Mobility has treated a couple of niggles, before drawing up a mobility and strength programme that’s helped keep my hips and lower back moving as they should.”
NUTRITION
“I’ve addressed an ongoing issue I’ve had with low iron levels. This isn’t completely sorted but in 2012 I managed to avoid becoming seriously anaemic for most of the year.”
LEANDA CAVE
IRONMAN AND 70.3 WORLD CHAMPION
After a strong third-place finish at Kona in 2011 followed up with her first Ironman victory at Arizona, Cave had a huge breakthrough in 2012, becoming the first woman to win both the 70.3 Worlds and Kona in the same season.
SWIM
“I did a lot more band-only work [around her legs] to improve my arm cadence – it’s very hard and I only do reps of 100m max. I tend to glide a lot when I swim, which is efficient for a long-distance swimmer. But my speed has suffered since moving to Ironman, so picking up the cadence has helped. A typical set would be 16 x 50m, sprinting every 25m with 10secs rest.”
BIKE
“This year I incorporated more top-end work, mostly because I was racing in Hy-Vee [Olympic-distance race, Cave finished 15th] and I needed to speed up out of turns. So I did short, explosive work [high intensity] in the middle of a long ride. A typical workout would be two sets of 5 x 1min explode, 2mins easy with a 5min TT between sets. All of this during a long ride.”
RUN
“I didn’t really change my run training this year. I just wanted to improve on the gains I made in 2011, which was kind of a breakthrough for me, especially in terms of running a marathon in an Ironman. Key run training centred on consistent intervals at Ironman pace during long runs. A typical workout would be a 10min warm-up, then 3 x 20mins at race pace with 5mins easy between.”
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
“I incorporated more core and strength work into my training, especially during the off-season and when I was injured.”
Image: Getty
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
