Balázs Csőke on IM Texas

Featuring Balazs Csoke, Klean Team USA Ambassador – Sponsored Athlete

Coming back from the holiday weekend, we had the opportunity to catch up with one of our sponsored athletes, Balázs Csőke. Rested and relaxed, he shared some great insight on 2013 Ironman Texas, what’s ahead this season and how he ended up as professional multisport athlete!

Q: What are you beliefs regarding nutrition? Do you keep a low fat percentage-body weight ratio? How do you stay lean? There are a lot to talks about this lately:  https://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/05/nutrition/how-the-pros-stay-lean_76179
A: I personally believe it is important to have a wide variety when it comes to nutrition. I try to avoid junk food and eat as organic as possible. Yes, I do keep a low fat percentage-body weight ratio. With my training, it is hard to keep weight on.

Q: Do you follow a typical lifestyle diet as a regular routine?
A: No I do not follow any special diet. Variety is the key.

Q: Nutrition adjustment: Do you keep a normal routine throughout training and any modifications leading up to race day?
A: I try to decrease my finer intake leading up to the race, but my normal routine throughout training involves lots of protein.

Q: What do you eat the night before?

A: My traditional pre-race meal is pasta with lean ground beef and tomato sauce, and I always eat at 6:00pm the night before.
Q: How do you normally feel during taper?
A: As a pro, my taper is a bit different. I keep training the same distance but cut back on the effort–I cut back on quality but not quantity.

Q: Training leading up to IMTX, how do you prepare for brutal heat and humidity?
A: I think it is almost impossible to prepare for that kind of heat and humidity. Something you can do for your body is to increase electrolyte intake the days leading up to the race.

Q: Sweet Cervelo P5, is that you favorite piece of equipment?
A: Absolutely. I am really happy to be a part of the Cervelo family, and I have never ridden such a fast bike before.

Q: Core workouts: Secret weapon?
A: Yes I do a lot of core workouts; it’s an important part of training at the level which I am racing. I prefer to do the TRX workout to increase core strength. I recently read about how Vit-D helps with recovery, so the more I learn about it, the more I can see its benefits.

Q: What is your favorite leg of the race?
A: Swimming is my favourite leg, but my favourite moment of the race is the finish line.

Q: How do you keep smiling and looking so good throughout the marathon? It’s not fair!
A: Well I try to have a “poker face” for my competitors. Trust me, it was a fake smile.

Q: What’s the next race on your radar?
A: I will probably just do a few 70.3 races, but my big focus is the World Championship in Kona in October.

Q: What is your personal mantra in a few words. What inspires you?
A: My personal mantra is to prove to myself that I can be better than I thought I could be.