Taylor Knibb has “a very good plan” and she’s sticking to it
She’s heading to the Olympics in two sports, all while looking to dominate at a variety of triathlon distances.
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
She did her first Ironman race in Kona last October, less than two months after she’d nailed her spot for the Paris Olympics. This year she’s been honing her draft-legal triathlon skills, but has also competed in two long-distance races (Ironman 70.3 California and T100 San Francisco), winning both handily. And, as if all that’s not enough, just four days after finishing second at WTCS Yokohama, she won the US National Time Trial Championships, earning an automatic spot for the time trial in Paris, too.
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While it all might seem to be a jumble of distances, races and sports on the outside, for Knibb and her team, it’s all part of the plan. After she flew to Abu Dhabi in March only to have the race cancelled, Knibb was ready to toss the plan out and do as little traveling as possible before Paris. Her team, which includes coach Dan Lorang (who coached Jan Frodeno and now works with Anne Haug and Lucy Charles-Barclay) as her head coach, former 70.3 world champ Julie Dibens for swimming, Erin Carson for strength training and Lawrence Van Lingen for running, managed to convince her otherwise.
“I got pursuaded … we stick to the plan,” the 26-year-old American said shortly after her dominant win at the T100 San Francisco race that was run as part of the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. “And I have a very good plan.”
Larang provided a detailed race plan for the T100 race in San Francisco, too, which Knibb followed to the letter.
“I had detailed plans for each section of the course and it made it really simple,” she said. “I work with a very smart coach. It’s all about your game plan and executing the best race. He gave me some levels of perceived exertion and watts … and (told me) to trust myself and execute well.”
As good as her race in San Francisco was, Knibb says that her last WTCS effort didn’t make the grade.
“I would say 11th place in an Olympic distance is not really acceptable,” she said. “So there is a lot to work on … I got very humbled two weeks ago.”
That result provided lots of motivation, though.
“Oh, 100 per cent and it’s fantastic,” she said. “I mean, it’s always a massive opportunity and I’m just always grateful when I get to race the best women in the world. I get to do it over a lot of different distances, so it gets to be a very different crowd each time. But you always get to learn, and I think that’s that’s a big piece of my new team. Yes, it matters where we are at any given point, but like we use the information very well in terms of how we adapt our plan moving forward.”
That plan, of course, includes that two-sport double in Paris. Knibb says that it wasn’t as hard a sell to Lorang as you might think. And, of course, there’s a plan to ensure that she’s ready for both.
”When I first talked to Dan, I asked him ‘what do you think of this?’” she said. “He said they (triathlon and time trial) use very similar energy systems and ‘they would complement each other well.’ When you look at the dates relative to the competition spread (time trial on July 27, triathlon on July 31), it’s going to be the reverse of what it was in Charleston (the site of the national time trial championships). I raced better in Charleston than I raced in Yokohama … so it’s setting up for a better race on the 31st by hopefully doing that effort on the 27th. And, what an opportunity.”
”So, I trust that I will have a very detailed plan, but also that the training won’t be that different,” she continued. “It just might be which bike I’m on, and that’s just kind of fun, because then the thinking goes out the window and I get to experience something else.”
Thinking “out the window” is not something that happens a lot with Knibb. In fact, she has lots of thoughts about the potential for more racing in San Francisco. If Knibb had her way, World Triathlon wouldn’t just have a long-distance T100 race in San Francisco – there would be a WTCS race, too.
“I would love a WTCS race here,” she said. “Can you imagine three laps on the bike course? That would be amazing. I think the athletes would love that, too, because it’s not just like the cookie-cutter courses, copied and pasted and put on in a different country.”
For now, though, she’ll have to settle on all the other races that include triathlon and time trial at the Olympics (which will likely include three races since she will likely be on the mixed relay – she was part of the US silver medal team in Tokyo), more T100 events, possibly the Grand Final and a defence of her Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand in December.
It’s a busy schedule, but Knibb doesn’t seem concerned. Her team will figure it all out.
