This week, the 2024 European Track Championships start in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, signalling the start of the 2024 track calendar - and the journey to the Paris Olympic Games!
Photo: Josie Knight/ X
Josie Knight, an international and professional cyclist, coached by The Complete Athlete, describes her preparation for the event, and the first time wearing the Rainbow stripes.
Consistency is key
Josie, the current UCI World Champion in the Team Pursuit, has had a long time to prepare for this season, with the World Championships earlier than usual in 2023, and her last race the UCI Gravel World Series event in Sweden in August. Since then, Josie has had a great few months of uninterrupted training:
"I’ve really been able to see the improvements through the consistent training and I’m very excited to get stuck into our season"
Working closely with her coach, Laurence, Josie has built to a higher volume of training, with more specific intensity to build key qualities, layering on work month by month. This isn't always easy, as Josie explains:
"As track riders with races dotted about the full year we don’t often get a good block like this where there isn’t a taper and a competition to factor in. So it’s been really good to have such a long spell".
A key focus of training at The Complete Athlete is to really focus on the basics. Even for an Olympic medalist a consistent, well managed period of training is critical. How do we achieve this? Well, one way certainly isn't sexy. We find a pattern of training, underpinned by training science, that works for the athlete across the week, one that can be repeated consistently, and we repeat these four week blocks repeatedly without interruption. This has allowed Josie to find a pattern of sessions, of expending energy, of balancing recovery, and permitted this without the need to take any unnecessary or extended breaks, accumulating a great volume of specific training for her event.
A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
So, what do the Europeans have in store? Well, for Josie, who won her first European track championships medal in 2019 (well, her first senior medal, having won silver at the junior track champs in 2014), is looking to regain the title Great Britain won in 2023. What's different? Everything! As current World Champion in the event, Josie and her team mates have the honour of wearing the rainbow stripes for the year, a privilege all desire in cycling:
"I’m really looking forward to racing in the rainbow stripes, gaining confidence in my role in the team and hopefully solidifying my place in the team for Paris 2024 in this next block, it should be exciting!"
From Apeldoorn to Adelaide
After a great, consistent spell of training, the next few weeks are busy for Josie. From Europeans, Josie travels with the team to the first Nations Cup event in Adelaide Australia, followed by a training camp in Australia to benefit from the (very) warm weather, getting back in to some solid training before returning to the UK.
We wish Josie, and her team mates, the very best for the upcoming racing!
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