At 41 years old, Katerina Nash is one of the most decorated off-road racers in the world. She’s been to the Olympics five times—beginning when she was an 18-year-old at the 1996 Atlanta Games up until the 2016 Games in Rio—made it onto multiple World Championship podiums, and won dozens of UCI cyclocross races and mountain bike and cyclocross World Cups in her two decades of racing.
But her accolades aren’t front-loaded to the beginning of her career: Instead, the U.S.-based cyclist from the Czech Republic continues to rack up the wins, often beating out racers decades younger than her.
That was the case when she lined up on the starting line at the first cyclocross World Cups of the season in Iowa City, Iowa, on September 14 and Waterloo, Wisconsin, on September 22.
She finished second in Iowa’s Jingle Cross, but it was her race in Waterloo where she took the win, reaching the top step of the podium alongside second-place finisher Jolanda Neff, 26, of Switzerland and third-place finisher Evie Richards, 22, of Great Britain.
“I wanted to be at these first World Cups because I wanted to support the racing coming to the U.S., but I didn’t have much of a plan for the season,” she says. “If you asked me before the ’cross season if I wanted to win another World Cup, I would have said the chances were slim. But now that I did it, I can’t wait to keep doing more.”
So how does Nash just keep winning? Bicycling caught up with her after her latest victory to persuade her to spill her secrets. Here’s what she had to say.
Stay Focused on the Prize
When looking at her race schedule for the year, Nash originally wasn’t paying too much attention to the World Cup at Waterloo. But after her second-place finish at Jingle Cross, she knew she had it in her for one more World Cup win.
“I was close at Jingle Cross, and I knew I would have a good start position in Waterloo, so I knew it was possible. The ’cross fire started up for me,” Nash said. “Then, the morning of the Waterloo race, I saw the muddy conditions and was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be good.’ Deep inside, I knew I was going to try to go for the win.”
Embrace Those ‘Eye of the Tiger Moments’
Nash admits to feeling a little bummed out about her second-place finish at Jingle Cross: “I recognized I didn’t have the ‘murder yourself’ mentality in that race,” she says.
While she felt like she had a great race, she recognized that she didn’t push through to gain a couple critical seconds.
“Then when I moved into the lead at Waterloo, it came out. I was able to push through and suffer like a dog. I couldn’t make it up the tiny hill to get out of the finish line corral!” she says. “I don’t know if that feeling will come again this year, I know I can’t do it every weekend, but I love that feeling of pushing beyond those limits.”
Accept That You’ll Make Mistakes
Because of incredibly muddy conditions, it was clear from the start that there were plenty of mistakes to be made on the course—not just from Nash, but from the other riders, too.
“This race, it wasn’t ‘if’ mistakes would happen, it was ‘when’ you will make a mistake, and how can you recover from it?” she says. “I made every mistake in this race: I crashed on the first lap, I crashed on the last lap. The nice thing about cyclocross and mountain biking is that you have time to fix your mistakes if you don’t let them freak you out.”
Make Your Years Work for You
Nash lets her experience work for her as she races against her young, “super fast” competitors.
“If I can use what I’ve learned in 16 years of cyclocross and more than 20 years of racing bikes, I’ll put it to good use,” she says.
It plays a huge role in her training—during her time racing, Nash has discovered what works for her, and what she needs to keep doing to performing at her peak.
“For me, it’s always been about consistency with training. I train year-round, I train steadily, I don’t do any huge weeks or many fully off weeks. I try to stay as consistent as I can,” she says. “Training isn’t rocket science; it’s just putting the work in. Do endurance, sprinkle in intensity, rest enough that you can show up to races fresh. It takes time to figure out what that means for you.”
Seek Help
Nash has worked with the same coach, Dean Golich, for over 17 years, and while they don’t communicate every day, they check in regularly.
“I value having a coach—and working with one for so many years—because I love knowing that I have someone who I trust to help me work through my training,” she says. “For a long time, I didn’t want to have to think about what I needed to do. I think a lot of busy professionals could benefit from having a coach to help them get ready for races, so they don’t have to think about what they need to do after work, they can just get it done.”
Focus on Health, Not ‘Race Weight’
While every athlete needs to find their “right” weight, Nash recognized that she had to stick with one that was not only beneficial for racing, but helped her live a healthy life.
“A lot of racers have been willing to sacrifice health to get that one big result,” she says. “I think that’s what’s helped me stay in the sport for so long and not struggle with injuries. I enjoy the racing so much that I knew I needed to find a good balance to be able to stay in it, enjoy it and stay healthy. Healthy is always better in the long term.”
Find Your Balance
Yep, Nash loves bikes—no surprise there. But she makes sure to complement her riding with other kinds of exercise, too. Given her background as an Olympic-level cross-country skier, it’s no shock that she still straps on skis when she has time.
“I like being an all-around athlete, running and skiing in addition to riding. I like walking and hiking with my dogs,” she says. “I like being able to try different types of bike racing now, like stage races and enduros.”
Seek Moderation
While Nash eats a healthy, balanced diet with lots of fresh, unprocessed foods, she makes sure to leave room for the fun stuff—and not to stress about it.
“I really enjoy having a glass of wine. I enjoy having a glass of wine traveling, with friends—it’s part of my diet,” she says. “I eat things that I enjoy, but I don’t have many bad food habits. I love healthy foods, and I love that in California, we have fresh fruits and vegetables available all year. Where I grew up in Eastern Europe, we had dried apples as our only fruit by February. So now if I can buy blueberries every day, that’s great.”
Love Your Sport
Nash has actually never signed a contract for cyclocross—her team has always just added it on because she wanted to do it, not because she had to.
“There’s something about the cyclocross race circuit that I love. I’ve never been burned out. Occasionally, I wish I could have an offseason and not pack up my gear and go to Europe to race. But then I do it,” she says. “I guess I’m not normal, but I blame cyclocross for that!”
