Lukáš Kočař: Finding Power and Speed

“Molveno is the biggest race for me this season,” Czech athlete Lukáš Kočař says. Currently sitting 8th in the World Cup standings, Kočař is confident and poised to perform at the XTERRA World Championship. “My level of current fitness is pretty good so I'm looking forward to Molveno and, looking at the standings of the World Cup, maybe I will fight for fourth place in the overall.”

“I raced Molveno last year and the year before when it was the European Champs, and two years ago when it was only the Short Track race; so, I’ve raced in Molveno three times now,” he points out. His previous experience bolsters his confidence on a course that suits his powerful climbing abilities on the bike. “It’s pretty hard uphill and then maybe 20 minutes downhill but it’s not so technical. I think the course suits me well,” he explains. With a run that isn’t too hilly, Kočař is poised to compete with the top seeds, who he names as Felix Forissier, Arthur Serrières, and 2019 XTERRA World Champion Brad Weiss. 

Handling the Heat

Kočař also hopes to turn one of his season rivals into an ally: the weather. Training in Czech where the weather is colder, Kočař struggled racing in the hot temperatures of Taiwan and Belgium. “I can say I had back luck this year for the races because I really like the cold,” he says. Only as his home weather warmed up has he been able to adapt to the heat. “I currently feel much better because I try to train in the middle of the day when the weather is the warmest but I hope maybe in Molveno it will be much cooler conditions.”

The start to the season wasn’t just tough because of the heat, Kočař says he was overtrained. The self-coached 30 year-old says coaching himself “isn’t too hard” when it comes to training, it’s resting that has been his downfall. “I have big goals so it’s always hard and maybe I train too hard and don’t rest too well. I was pretty tired this summer,” he says, referencing his 8th place in Taiwan and 7th place in Belgium. 

“I have big goals so it’s always hard and maybe I train too hard and don’t rest too well."

“The hardest part in training is the one or two weeks before a race… Sometimes I just want to do some more training to be fit for the race but I'm tired and it's not the best idea,” he says. While he recognizes the pitfalls of being self-coached, he equally isn’t interested in having someone coach him. As a junior, Kočař says he didn’t have access to good coaching and, when he finally did as a senior, his results were lackluster. “Maybe I expected something more from [having a good coach] but the results weren’t so good,” he says. “Two years ago, I started to coach myself and I like it more. I’m trying new things and I also studied some sports in university so I think it’s my hobby trying to be the best by myself.”

Support

He isn’t, however, trying to do everything alone. Kočař says in the past year finding a balance between sport and the rest of his life has become more important. When his girlfriend was offered a job in Prague, they packed up and left Brno and left all their family behind. “We are alone here,” he says. “I don’t see my family too much. It’s also a little bit hard to train alone here.” But, recognizing the need for balance, Kočař and his girlfriend travel back to Brno once or twice a month to be with family. 

The two also travel together to races. In fact, Kočař jokes that his girlfriend is famous in the XTERRA community. “When she can, she’s always there at the race. She’s giving me time gaps to competitors. She’s always holding the phone to do the stories for my Instagram,” he smiles.

Dirt Road

Kočař has also been trying to balance his off-road and on-road career. As the child of two Czech national triathlon champions, Kočař grew up dreaming of going to the Olympics. When he realized he wasn’t going to qualify, he all but stopped and started his university studies. “During that time, I wasn’t training hard during the winter so in the summer season I tried something new and it was the start of my XTERRA career.”

“During that time, I wasn’t training hard during the winter so in the summer season I tried something new and it was the start of my XTERRA career.”

Calling his first foray into XTERRA as the start of his career is something he can only do in hindsight. After his first big win at XTERRA Czech in 2015, Kočař crashed and broke his neck. “I crashed pretty hard and then for two or three years I took a break,” he explains. As he continued with his physiotherapy studies, Kočař says he never planned a comeback; nevertheless, in 2018 he found himself on the XTERRA start line. 

“I came back naturally,” he says. “I also tried middle distance road triathlons and combined it.” With a 5th at road triathlon national championships and a third at XTERRA Czech in his first year, Kočař soon found his stride and the podium, both on the road and the dirt. 

Full XTERRA

Catering to both his road and off-road ambitions has never been easy but the launch of the XTERRA World Cup changed the game for Kočař. “This year I wanted to go full XTERRA,” he says.

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“The World Cup is a great idea because there wasn't this format and I think now we have 6 or 7 big races where it’s almost everyone so the level is pretty high and that's what you want.”

Kočař is particularly intrigued by Short Track racing. While he is one of the best climbers in the sport, he admits his technical skills are always a work in progress. “The Short Track is the best training for me for the technical part. It helps me a lot because there are always some drops and jumps and it’s been the biggest improvement for me.”

Molveno State of Mind

The World Cup hasn’t just strengthened Kočař’s technical skills. What separates many of the top contenders for the World Championship title is their mindset and, as expected from one of the sport’s best, Kočař is well aware of what he needs to be thinking to get the best out of himself. 

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“When I have big expectations, I’m too motivated and I just try too hard and I get to the point where I just need to slow down. When I don’t have big expectations, I think that’s maybe the best scenario and it helps race tactically. When the race is better than I expect, sometimes I go into a state or flow and from that point, when you are over your expectations, that’s my best race and my best results.”

"When the race is better than I expect, sometimes I go into a state or flow and from that point, when you are over your expectations, that’s my best race and my best results.”

It might seem impossible to show up to the biggest race of the season without expectations but the lessons he has learned in training and life about balance might just be the key to his Championship race. 

Above all else, whether it means hills, heat, rocks, or roots, Kočař ultimately says the biggest competitor is still mother nature: “XTERRA is the most fair. XTERRA is just so hard that you don’t need referees, you will find out if you are strong enough or not.”