Interview with Mavi García, "the queen" of the duathlon in Spain

Double champion of Spain of Duathlon LD and bronze in the world standard distance. Mavi García is the best Spanish duathlet of today.

 

 

From Triathlon News we wanted to know a little more about Mavi ,. so that he does not tell in the first person his evolution within this sport

Hello Mavi, first of all, congratulate you on your bronze medal at the Avilés World Cup. Your first great national result was the bronze in the Duathlon Spanish championship in 2013, in that race Ana Burgos was a gold medal. And just 3 years later you won the bronze in the World Cup, like Ana (who achieved it) 2 times), making a very brave career in all segments. Could you summarize how was the competition?

I was convinced that they were going to make me suffer a lot, in the first few kilometers I put myself in the lead at a pace sub 3'30 '' / km and nobody overtook me, I felt then that it would be a great day. After tightening a bit more at the end of the 10km we got only 5 girls to the T2, with Emma Pallart first who took the lead before catching the bike.

Soon we put the 5 according to relays to open gap and we achieved it. In the absence of 15km I attacked, but Emma reacted with the rest of the girls to the wheel. I tried again but they picked me up again so I decided not to wear myself out anymore and save for the last 5km. After the T2 I left a little behind and lost a few seconds, can hook with the head where we only stayed 3 duathletes.

At the start of the second lap I made a wrong turn and they took me a few meters ... it was impossible to chase the 2 headfirst, so I looked back, I saw that I had enough distance and I squeezed to get the bronze, which I knew to glory, with all the people cheering in goal.

 

Your beginnings in duathlon were relatively recently, in 2010 after several years without sports you started to compete in races on foot and track in athletics, in 2012 you tested with the bike and you already won your first duathlon, little by little you were improving until your big bang last year in the Cto. of Spain of LD where you made a carrerón before many of the best triathletes / duathletes of Spain. What was that victory for you?

The Orihuela Championship of 2015 was a big surprise for me, although I had already runner-up in Spain in Sprint duathlon the previous year, there I went a little blind .... In fact, they did not consider me very much. hehehehej I loved running there, I enjoyed doing an extra effort and taking a very long distance to the second one.

It was such a surprise that when I reached the finish line I had never cried for a race and there I could not stop. In fact, from that moment on, they began to know me more at a national level.

After winning in Orihuela you received an offer from the Bizkaia-Durango cycling team. What are the most important differences between competing in duathlon and cycling?

In fact just finished chips just before Orihuela, I signed with them through a friend who had dealings with the federation and got it to be a concentration with the team.

The differences are many, it has nothing to do with the other, starting with the environment, because it is a team sport and because they do not see things in the same way.

The bad part of cycling is that it absorbs you a lot of time with long trips and the worst is the danger it entails. For the rest it is a very grateful sport in which I enjoy a lot and that I have taken with great enthusiasm. The duathlon I love! When I am there, it is my habitat, I control both modalities well and there is hardly any danger. Each time I like it more. They are also more specific things that you can organize even to visit other cities.

In your first season in elite cycling, you got great results. What was your best memory?

This season I started very well, I did not expect to win in the first cup of Spain and I enjoyed it a lot, also in the return to Burgos, which I think is the most important triumph in cycling to date.

You started 2016 revalidating the title of Spanish Champion Duathlon LD. Until then, you combined your work with cycling and duathlon. How was your day to day combining work and training?

Yes, I've only been on leave for two months now and the difference is abysmal. My day to day during the last three years has been like this:
To get up to the 7.15h to prepare a sandwich or tupper, to prepare a backpack, to take a bike to the car to load it and to work. In the mornings I was doing 08.30 to 13.30h, I was already dressed with the bike from work and I was getting closer to the 2 hours of training. Then I went home, took a shower and left with my bike to work again because I left the car at noon there. Then I expected work from 16.00h to 19.00h and when I left some days I also went straight to the sports center to do my training to run. I came home to the 21.30h to have dinner and sleep.

To all this I also tried to do what a normal person does, like go shopping, meet my friends someday and go see the family too .. Stress pure and hard.

In addition to all that, I used all my vacations to go to compete, absolutely all. So, if someone asks how I'm making this leap in quality, there's the answer. And I think it will go more because little by little with rest I will be able to assimilate more and more.

From your second championship of Duathlon LD Spain, you have requested a leave of absence in your work, and you decide 100% to the sport. How are your training days now?

Now everything has changed. Neither have we wanted to put much more training suddenly, because simply resting more the difference is already very remarkable. The race part I do for now exactly the same and in cycling if the volume has been increased since I have many more hours.

I do not double every day but many. I do two days of gym a week, I usually do 4 bike sessions and 3 or 4 also run. I also try not to go so fast and rest a little at noon. It is a pass compared to the previous.

Those of us who know triathlon know the benefits of cross training, but there are many runners and cyclists who do not see it that way. What has crossed training provided to you in order to improve both in athletics, and especially now in cycling?

It is something very curious because there are very few people who believe in it, but my experience has shown me that it works a lot! However, I think that if I dedicated myself exclusively to doing just one thing, I think I could increase the level a bit, but to date doing what I do has been improving by leaps and bounds, so while this is the case, it will continue to be the approach of my plans.

We use the part of the race to make series and reach very high pulsations that with the bike are more difficult to achieve, and on the other hand the bottom that I take in bike besides not harming my joints is difficult for a runner to have it.

You are one of the best duathletes in Spain ... and well, this question is "required" Are you thinking of trying triathlon? How do you take the swim?

Ha, ha, yes! If I have time I go one day a week to relax the muscles and swim a little. The idea is to do, but I do not know how to say when .. I imagine that one or two years you will see me in some ... There I leave it!

Finally, in this new sports-work stage, with what sponsors and help accounts?

For now I'm still with the usual, but it is clear that covering sports expenses and some that do pay me something can not survive. We are now with interesting things that surely something good comes out. That is what would make me continue and really be able to touch my roof, that is the intention.

(Photos: Mavi's Facebook and http://www.mavigarcia.com)