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While we’re setting up the home trainer and shoveling snow from our driveways, Henrietta Christie is taking full advantage of long days in the sun during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. 

Henrietta’s off-season is unlike any of our other athletes because she takes hers in the summer in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

Henrietta shares her practical applications of the Pillars of Performance, and how they are setting the 2023 Tour Down Under Zwift Young Rider’s Jersey champion up for another big January in Australia.

Movement 

As it’s summer in New Zealand I’m able to ride outside more in the sun, which is lovely. I’ve been doing long rides focusing on endurance and low intensity for a few weeks. This builds up my endurance zone before doing VO2 work as I get ready for Tour Down Under.

I go to the gym two times a week. My coach and my gym trainer work together to maximize the effectiveness of the training. I will do a heavy day at the gym and back it up with a big day on the bike. 

I do lots of different exercises. One day I will do lots of leg workouts, deadlifts, and squats, and then the next I will do more core-focused exercises and then arms. 

I’ve been doing a lot of hiking with my sister. We’ve been exploring new trails which is really cool. We hiked down to a cave and I realized that I’d got us both lost so we walked about an hour and a half back up a hill. I was a little bit in the doghouse after that but the views were incredible.

I do yoga when I have a heavy load on. Yoga helps to relax my muscles and it helps to take focus away from cycling all the time.

Mindset

My consistent mindset tool is meditation and journaling. It’s important to do these things throughout the year, not just in the off-season. 

I find journaling fantastic. It’s a great way of writing down how my day went, picking up things that didn’t go well and make a plan of how to improve things by looking at patterns over the days of training. 

Even if it’s just 15 minutes, write down everything that you think is important from that day. Things that went well, things that went badly on and off the bike, things that made you happy and then you can make a solid plan about things that make you train well but also make you a happy person. 

I see a sports psychologist. Using this all year round is a great way to come back to your ‘why’ of cycling while also keeping all your goals in check and having a solid plan. 

I love my dog Cid. I got him in the off-season last year and I had great fun raising and training him. When I left he was a small little thing and I came home and he’s a massive teenage dog now. It was adorable because he was very excited when I came home so it’s been great spending time with him and our other dog Rex. I’m trying to convince everyone that we need a third. 

It’s very important to have time at home. It’s a great way of reconnecting with my family and friends and enjoy being around the people I care about. I spend the whole year in Europe and that can be a bit isolating at times so it’s important to spend time at home, be whole again and then get ready to do it all over again.

Fuel

I make my own ride food. I really like making stuff where I control what goes in. I can control the amount of sugars to carbohydrates and I feel like it’s a more involved way of getting what I need while training. 

Homemade banana loaf is really helpful for long endurance rides. It allows for a lot of slow-releasing energy throughout the ride and it doesn’t have a bad effect on your tummy. 

I have 20 grams of protein within 20 minutes of finishing the exercise. I use Thorne RecoveryPro® chocolate flavour. I use it in smoothies and at breakfast if I need protein after the gym.

I take Iron Bisglycinate and Multi-Vitamin Elite from Thorne every day. It’s important to keep iron levels up for healthy blood and to efficiently transport oxygen throughout my body, especially when I’m more likely to be iron deficient on my period. The Multi-Vitamins are great because you get everything you in two or three capsules at breakfast and dinner. 

My staple for the off-season is my porridge [oatmeal]. I never go away from my porridge, I love it! It’s not even seen as a cycling food for me, I will have it every single day with berries, nuts, honey, etc. You have to make it look good.

Recovery

I like to get to bed between 8 pm and 9 pm depending on how busy the day has been. If it’s an easier day I’ll tend to go to bed later because I won’t need as much sleep compared to when I have a five hour day on the bike. 

I naturally wake up at 7:45 am so I work backwards from there. So if I need ten hours of sleep then I will track it to make sure I get to bed on time. I will also listen to my body and swap my rest days around if I’m particularly tired. 

I use FasCat to analyze my sleep. It also helps to put into data how my body is feeling. It has been a great tool to manage my recovery and training so that I know when and when not to push.  

With these practical real-world applications of the Four Pillars of Performance, you too can find the benefit from the symbiotic relationship between Movement, Mindset, Fuel and Recovery in your everyday life.