A Day In The Life Of Triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay

When Red Bull contacted me earlier this year to fly to Lanzarote and spend a day training with Triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay, it was a no brainer to accept. So last week, a few bloggers and I packed our bags ready to spend three days in sunny Lanzarote at Club La Santa.

We arrived on Wednesday around lunchtime. Once we checked into our rooms – which were bloomin’ lovely, may I add – we headed to lunch where we were briefly introduced to Lucy who had just casually finished a 35k run as if it was my morning 5k run.

After we finished lunch (a gigantic Spanish salad) we quickly returned to our rooms for some downtime. To our surprise, we had been kindly gifted an amazing selection of treats thanks to Red Bull and Lucy’s sponsors.

Spread out on our beds, we had goodies ready to prep us for Thursday’s big day. From left to right we were gifted the following: a ROKA backpack, Oakley sunglasses, ROKA swimsuit, goggles, TICKRfit heart rate armband, Red Bull and a Strava pack. Five days later and I’m still ogling over my ROKA backpack!

That afternoon we hit Club La Santa’s lagoon and put our paddleboarding skills to the test. Alas, with it being my third time, I was a lot more confident on the board but unfortunely, due to the heavy current, I didn’t get very far! Either way, it was still a lot of fun – and also a great way to bond with the other bloggers.

After Paddleboarding we headed back to our rooms where we freshened up for dinner with the team. 3 courses down and a lot of sleepy eyes later, we were ready for a full on day training Triathlete style with Lucy for the following morning. Ekk!

6.30am – Wake up call

We started the day how Lucy would normally start most of her days, with a swim. Although a 6.30am start may seem a little early for most of us, this was practically a lay-in for Lucy who is a regular waker to 5.30am alarms.

Once we got our suits on and packed our bags with our goodies (oh so handy), we took a very dark walk to the swimming pool – which was straight across from our apartments! Handy dandy.

7.00am – Swim brief with Bella Baylis

Out of all three activities, our morning swim was the one I was looking forward to the most. Fun fact: I used to swim quite a lot as a child and attended weekly swim lessons until my teenage years. Unfortunately, my teenage hormones took control and I gave it up for dancing, which was the ‘in’ trend during the time. Damn it, Hannah. So with a little faith that I wouldn’t be totally awful, I was excited to get stuck in.

After we all arrived, we were quickly introduced to Bella Baylis. For a little info, Bella is a 16x Ironman Champion, World ITU Long Distance Triathlon Champion. Nowadays, retired from racing, Bella offers coaching to others to achieve their sporting goals – including Lucy.

7.15am – Time to hit the laps!

To get us started, Bella indulged us with a little information about Lucy’s training when it comes to the water. Swimming more than 3x a week, Lucy comes from a background of swimming so she knows exactly what she’s doing. Bella was keen to get us started after introductions and stated that she’d firstly like to watch us all in the water doing a few laps. This way, she was able to understand how we swam and could pick up on any weaknesses/things for us to work on. After watching our first few laps, she provided us with a few tips and techniques to work on.

The pool itself was 50m – something I was not used to – and after 1 lap of the pool, it was clear that my breathing was already my weakness. Whilst my strokes were fine I struggled to get into the pattern of breathing and breathing to the side only. But let’s face it, I probably looked like a drowning dog gasping for air. 

Bella quickly picked up on my breathing and straight away gave me a few techniques to work with. One being to swim with 2 strokes and then to breathe to the side. Whilst this worked great for the first 50m, I struggled with the last 50m and alas, my ugly doggy swim returned – to which Bella then told me to try 4 strokes before breathing. Perfect. This was something I could work with.

After a solid hour of technique work, flippers and floats, I was stupidly happy to see a drastic improvement in such a small amount of time. By the end of our session, I had mastered the art of swimming with 2 strokes and breathing to the side. By 8.30am however, my body was ready to get out the cold pool and refuel with some good breakfast grub.

Thanks to Bella’s techniques I can safely say that I’ll be hitting the pool again this week. Just from that single lesson alone, my motivation to get back to the pool has increased massively!

9.00am – Breakfast fuel

After a quick shower and a few tummy rumbles, it was time to hit the breakfast buffet. My favourite.

In true greedy style, I ate like a *triathlete* and indulged in two portions for breakfast – bearing in mind that we probably wouldn’t be eating again until after our bike ride. So with that said, two portions it was. Savoury first, followed by dessert. Yum!

10.30am – Cycling brief with Bella

After breakfast and a quick return to our rooms, we headed downstairs to the cycling centre at Club La Santa. Again, this is a daily routine for Lucy but instead of training in one go, Lucy will break in-between her exercises to refuel and rest a little. Just like we did by swimming, resting, re-fuelling with breakfast and then heading onto the next exercise, and so on…

I have no expertise in cycling – nor do I cycle for fun. So to say I was a little apprehensive would be an understatement. What worried me the most? The road bike! I’ve never touched one, let alone rode on a road with one. Ekk!

10.45am – Time to helmet up!

Once we grabbed our bikes, buckled our helmets up and took a cheesy group photo, we were ready for our arranged 45k bike ride. Well, as ready as I could be!

To start, we split into two groups. The people who were the most confident on the bike were in one group (who would follow Lucy and be able to keep up with her), and the let’s say the ‘less confident’ group stuck with coach Bella who took us around two laps of Club La Santa before hitting the Lanzarote hills.

Once we felt confident on our bikes, we took off on our route and left the gates of Club La Santa.

I won’t lie, I did not like the ride there. At all. The hills were steep, my neck was hurting from the positioning of the bike, the sun was coming out to say hello and holy moly, my lady parts were already hurting from the saddle. Lol!

However, after we beasted the hill coming out of Club La Santa, I finally started to enjoy the ride (as did my quads). The scenery was absolutely beautiful with the Lanzarote hills surrounding us. In fact, we were pretty lucky with the weather as it was meant to rain for the entire day.

After about an hour on the bike, we hit the end of our route and stopped for a quick 10 minute refuel. Despite not being hungry, but aware that it was lunchtime, I decided that a quick sugar-free Red Bull (which is blimmin’ delicious, by the way) and a banana would be a good idea.

During my ride back, I thought about Lucy’s training and how caffeine is really important to her (something which I questioned beforehand).

After a shake of the legs and a gaze at the scenery, we hopped back on our bikes ready for the ride back to Club La Santa. We had a pretty long inclined hill to tackle as soon as we hit the road but luckily, thanks to my Red Bull, I suddenly had a bounce of energy (which I don’t usually feel from caffeine) and it’s as if my whole attitude changed from ‘I really don’t want to do this’ to ‘I’m really enjoying this now’. Thanks for that, Red Bull.  In fact, I loved the ride back. 

I was riding on my own pretty much the whole way back as I managed to gain some speed and momentum. During my ride, I thought about Lucy’s training and how caffeine is really important to her (something which I questioned beforehand). Now that I’ve experienced the effects caffeine has during long periods of training, I now realise that it helps Lucy in many ways: to help keep her energised, fuelled and most importantly, alert.

We returned to Club La Santa just after 1 pm. The end of our second exercise of Triathlete training was done and in true triathlete style, it was time for a quick break before lunch.

2.00pm – Lunch fuel

Funnily enough, although we had been pretty damn active for the morning, my body wasn’t feeling that hungry. But I listened to my head and ordered a healthy meal of chicken, salad and potatoes – making sure I get my carbs and protein in for the ultimate recovery. I also ordered a beetroot and ginger detox juice (beetroot is great for muscle recovery) which actually, turned out to be a big mistake.

After eating – what felt like a bit too much – I now had a very full stomach and sadly, the beetroot juice didn’t agree with my very sensitive stomach – nor did my taste buds for that matter. Probably not the best thing to have just before a late afternoon run.

3.30pm – Nutrition chat with Lucy Charles

After lunch we settled down for a nutrition chat with Lucy where we could find out more about her lifestyle, training schedule and nutrition. I was personally interested to see how she fuels her body for triathlete training.

To get things started, Lucy started off by explaining what her nutrition looked like at the beginning of her training. I was half surprised to hear that at the beginning of her training, Lucy was massively undereating. However, thinking about it now, I’m also not surprised. I guess if you’re exercising as much as Lucy, it’s pretty easy to burn more calories than you consume! Anyway, in bullet points – to keep things simple – here’s a little recap of our chat with Lucy…

• Now eats a very balanced diet – doesn’t deprive herself of treats
• Lucy doesn’t count her macros but knows roughly how much fuel her body needs.
• Throughout the day Lucy will eat healthy, nutritious food. However, if by the end of the day, she still needs to fill her body with extra calories, she’ll induldge with treats to do so. Basically, she likes to eat the good stuff first and then have her treats later on. My kinda diet!
• A big grazer! Lucy will graze throughout the day but only with foods that she knows her body responds well during training with.
• Snacks include healthy protein bars, fruit and veg.
• During an Ironman Lucy will eat only what she has previously practised with beforehand. This is key for her otherwise she might end up eating something that she hasn’t trained with before and her body may react differently. Although, she does state that liquids work much better for her during an Ironman than solids.
• A typical day of food before a big race will typically look like this: A bowl of porridge for breakfast, bland food throughout the day and a tolerable amount of coffee. On the run-up to her races, Lucy will limit her amount of fibre so her stomach is set for race day. Aka, no last minute toilet breaks!

In regards to Lucy’s training, it was interesting to hear how her body responds to caffeine…

• Clearly notices the difference in her training when she doesn’t have caffeine for the day. E.g, Lucy’s running will be slower (which she has previously tested).
• Does Lucy ever experience caffeine come down? Nope, but sugar on the other hand? That’s a whole different story!
• Whilst Lucy loves Red Bull straight from the can, she’s also known to consume it mixed with water – especially when training hard so her stomach can tolerate it.
• Although Lucy doesn’t personally count her caffeine consumption, her coach on the other hand, will count it into her nutrition.
• What does a typical day of caffeine look like for Lucy? She’ll start the day with tea first, as well as a bowl of porridge and have a coffee for her second session. She’ll save a Red Bull for a longer session. E.g, a long ride (6+ hours).
• Lucy’s key sessions for caffeine: Strength training and long rides and runs.

4.00pm – Run time!

After our chat with Lucy, it was time to return to triathlete life and squeeze in our last exercise for the day. By now, my legs were getting tired and my energy levels were dipping. Now, it’s starting to come as no surprise as to why so many athletes rely on caffeine throughout their day of training!

Once again, Bella and Lucy joined us for a gentle run around Club La Santa, however, due to my – still full stomach – I only lasted one lap before pulling out with a pretty bad stomach ache and cramp. I’m definitely a morning person when it comes to exercising on an empty stomach.

Once the rest of the team returned – after probably the most relaxing session of the day – we headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

6.30pm – Evening dinner with the team and Lucy Charles

Dinner was nice. Tiring, but nice. We ate outside of the walls of Club La Santa and Lucy joined us. Sitting opposite me it was the perfect opportunity to get to know her a little. We discussed all things from the contraceptive pill to her engagement. It was a lovely way to end a great trip.

10.30pm – Recovery time – aka, SLEEP!

After dinner and a lot of sleepy eyes, we headed back to Club La Santa for our final night before checking out in the morning. To no surprise, I slept like a log that night. Once I had taken my supplements (magnesium, zinc and multivitamin +) and hit the pillow, I was out like a light. Finito.

Looking back at the trip now, it was great to not only get the chance to train with Lucy herself, but to also understand the way athletes fuel their body’s for such an insane amount of training. Whilst I always understood the basics of caffeine, this entire trip really did open up my eyes to the increased benefits of using it to fuel training – whether that be triathlete training or not.

So sit tight for next week’s post as it’ll be all about caffeine and how it can help to support your training and performance!

Photo credit: Ayoze Morera – http://www.alsolajero.com