Beyond Going Long

Last week I published an interview with the talented Amy Forshaw, this week is the turn of another AG talent, Liz Pinches! This year, Liz has taken her performances to another level.Liz races out of the talented Thames Turbo Powerbar squad - part of the elite arm of Thames Turbo, whose mission it is to make an impact nationally and internationally at the pointy end of races.

She is currently ranked number 1 in Europe for her age-group by the WTC, was the first AG at Ironman 70.3 Italy and beat several pro’s on the way to a stand-out result at Ironman 70.3 Antwerp.

I caught up with Liz to find out a bit more about her and what she has done to take herself to the next level of performance.

Hi Liz, for those that might not be aware of your work, you are one of the most talented female triathletes in the country. Tell us a bit about your achievements to date in the sport?

I have represented GB Age Group teams at Olympic distance since 2006 and been to two Ironman 70.3 worlds so far, in 2010 and 2011. I am currently ranked Number 1 in the 35-39 Age Group in the new Ironman Age Group Ranking (AGR) system but its been a long while coming - I have competed since 2004, gradually getting more and more trophies in bigger and bigger events.

I had never thought about being able to beat pr’os before but this year that has started to happen, in part I suppose because to win the 35-39 age group in a European event has meant that you need to be seriously competitive and reach the kind of level that means you are capable of being the first amateur.

You’ve had some cracking results this year - including beating several pro’s at Antwerp and first amateur female at Italy. Which has been your favourite performance this year and why did it go so well?

My favourite race so far has to have been Antwerp. Although I didn’t have any support crew, I just raced my race, pushed through a lot of pain, and knew I’d done enough to win the age group.

When I found I’d beaten seven pro’s as well that was a bonus. It was a PB by 6 mins and I felt that everything had just gone to plan. I honestly felt that, if that was my last race ever, I’d be proud to retire on that performance. But it wasn’t, and I’m not.

Are these performances a build up of hard work over a longer period paying off, or have you made adjustments to your preparations which has taken you to the next level?

To be honest, there has been a huge performance improvement this year, which I put down to two things- firstly mental drive, and secondly my coach Tom Bennett. Oh and the drugs but I was told not to mention that (I should point out that Liz was DEFINITELY joking! - Rich)

The increased mental drive is a result of having come back from injury (how often have we seen that lately - injured athletes who produce the performance of a lifetime in their comeback - Jess Ennis for one). You don’t ever yearn for something as much as when its taken away from you. I had hip surgery after Clearwater 2010 and made it my goal to come back stronger than ever.

I raced Ironman distance last year in my first season back after surgery, and it went amazingly well- I was the first amateur and 8th overall at Challenge Copenhagen. This year I chose a new coach, in Tom Bennett, who told me he could get my run speed back again, and under his guidance I have just raised my game several notches. Mostly through learning to push through a lot more pain than ever before.

My hurt locker is a very familiar place now. It will be coming with me when I travel to Las Vegas later this week.

Tell us a bit about your remaining targets for the rest of the year and where else you will be targeting?

Well this year was always all about Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Las Vegas on September 9th.

I raced it last year, and I love the course and the conditions, but I was still too tired after the Ironman to do it justice. This year there will be no excuses. There are just under three weeks to go, and I’m ready. After that will be a bit of a rest, and then Auckland for the ITU World Championship Series Final. I would usually go off and do something a bit different when the season is over, like a marathon, but I think I’m a bit too tired for that this year.

Perhaps I’ll put my feet up with a glass of wine instead! Of course, there is the Marathan du Vin….it did cross my mind!

Some fantastic age-group performances in the bag.. might we see you racing under a pro card soon?

That’s a tricky question, one that I need to give some more thought to.

I have just taken a sabbatical this Summer to see what is possible when you train without working, and I do love the lifestyle but I’m not sure if I could cope without a salary. Its the age-old question of ‘how much do you really want this?’

Who have been your influences within triathlon?

I think about it a lot, particularly at the moment because of the Olympics, and how many of those were inspired by their own heroes.

I wrote a blog post about it during the Games because I think this thing about self-belief is so important, and when you see people you can identify achieving their goals, it raises your own expectations. How many distance runners will be born from watching Mo?

Anyway, I guess my Heroes are going to be fairly obvious - Macca and Chrissie, because they are mentally made of toughened steel, they pay attention to the small stuff and I love Macca’s smack talk!

What would you say to an age-grouper who might hope one day to perform at the top end of the podium? What advice would you give to them?

I would say the biggest change to get to the podium is in mindset, and the hardest thing for most age groupers to do when they first start out, is to believe in themselves. The slightest doubts that start to creep in like: ‘I’ve lost too much in the swim, I’ll never make it up’; or ‘they are all bigger stronger bikers than me’ are the real enemy.

You have to learn to love hurting yourself in training, but racing for the fun of it. Train hard, race easy, and at the end of the day giving your best on the day is what counts more than the outcome. I’d still rather be beaten by one of the best in the world (Nicola Spirig beat me twice in a week in July!) but give it my best shot than to win a race where it was easy and I didn’t have to try.

Oh, and if I’m allowed one more piece of advice, I’d say that most athletes would never consider sleep being worth more than a training session - but that is one thing I’ve learned with the luxury of not working. Sometimes you will perform so much better after a good sleep, than if you’d done ‘just one more session’ because it says so in the plan.

Thanks Liz, that’s fantastic advice and it’s been great talking with you. Good luck in Vegas!