Wow, seriously the summer is almost over??? Man that was fast.
Each day I would tell myself to write but then would be so tired from training and the daily operations and running of TBC that I would say “ahh, tomorrow will be just as good”. So, a few months later and I guess it is finally tomorrow. LOL
August was an amazing month. I had my athlete Ben Kanute take 2nd Overall at Junior Nationals, have had 4 athletes successfully finish Ironman with 4 PR’s. One of which was Steve Maves who at 51 years old went 27th OVERALL at IMLOU. Not bad for an “on call” doctor who has weekly scheduling issues. I cannot wait to see him in Kona along with my other 2 athletes I have going this year. But first is Vegas in 5 days…gulp
Earlier in the season I had high goals for Vegas 70.3. I still do, but a couple weeks back came to a cross roads with my training. I had what was possibly a very serious season ending illness and had to shut things down for the better part of a week. With an amazing amount of stress and anxiety behind be thanks to the help of Keith (a great friend and doctor) and some other close friends who happen to be docs as well we were able to discover the cause for all the issues. Blood clots, while scary and painful, but limited to superficial veins meant if I was able to deal with the pain, I could continue on without too much risk for serious side effects.
I decided Kona was going to be my main focus and had to play some catch up with that. I want to put myself in a good position to have a solid race there and hopefully improve either on my time and or place of last year’s 9:16, 82nd Overall. In doing so I did a lot of volume and training which I am hoping will also help me in Vegas as the course there will be tough, but we will see.
Next year I am considering racing as an Elite to see what that experience would be like so this being most likely my last Kona for awhile I am happy with the choice to focus on that. I have had several great showings this year and while I will always have to work on my running have been able to swim and bike solid even from the last wave in many races and think I can be in the mix for a lot of races which would be cool. Additionally I think it is a cool idea that I started as an overweight guy who could not run 1.5 miles to join the Marines in 1997 and will possibly come full circle to be able to say I achieved Elite status. I would also be lying that the main driver is I really do not know what I want to do next year and this at least buys me time to sign up for races later. That alone is a luxury I would to enjoy for at least 1 year.
Still deciding..
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Kansas
Just got home from Kansas 70.3, I FINALLY had a run I knew I was capable of. I held back on the bike slightly, but really not too much. I averaged about 15 watts less then California but still pushed pretty well. The biggest difference was a tactic to focus on specific things in my run and it worked quite well. 1:22 was my run split and that is about 3 min faster for me on a course that has a lot of turns and a couple good hills.
I rode down on Friday with Danny and Lindsay. The drive is just far enough that by the time we got there at midnight we were pretty darn happy to be there. With a good night sleep under us, despite several wake ups, I felt quite refreshed. My ribs were hurting me to the point I went to an Urgent Care center 2 days before that and was finally able to get some topical pain meds to help reduce the pain significantly. This was the first time I hadn’t been in a lot of side pain in 2 weeks. That was a welcome surprise.
Kansas is great course, but the added logistics of 2 transition areas and not being allowed to park at either sucks. It makes for a 2-3 hour pre race brick and athlete check in process. If you do this race, just realize this is something you will have to deal with. We got there, got checked in, did our brick and then it was time for the REAL reason I drove to Kansas City, Planet Sub sandwiches. We definitely got a good pre race fill there this year and decided it also needed to be our first stop on the way home after the race.
The night before the weather looked like we were going to be racing in a massive rain storm. I was not at all looking forward to that but at this point just wanted to race enough to justify the calories I had been eating all day. I went to bed with wishful thinking and thank goodness the prayers were answered. Race day seemed to dodge a bullet.
It was so much fun to get some redemption on a race I really struggled with last year. I also love continuing to work on ways to try to gain more speed. I am working on faster running off the bike with some techniques I have used in training before but finally took the leap of faith and tried it in a race. It was amazing how hard it can be to get yourself out of your comfort zone and how you “normally” do things. I was very pleased with the result however with 1:22 being my fastest half marathon off the bike to date. One of the guys I respect the most in my AG – Tim Hola out ran me by less then 1 min. I use him as a bench march as he is probably the single most consistent top performer I face. He is an amazing guy, and talent.
Now just have to figure out what is next. I have Courtney Ogden staying with me this summer. So I hope to do some training with him and learn from one of the most experienced pros I know.
I rode down on Friday with Danny and Lindsay. The drive is just far enough that by the time we got there at midnight we were pretty darn happy to be there. With a good night sleep under us, despite several wake ups, I felt quite refreshed. My ribs were hurting me to the point I went to an Urgent Care center 2 days before that and was finally able to get some topical pain meds to help reduce the pain significantly. This was the first time I hadn’t been in a lot of side pain in 2 weeks. That was a welcome surprise.
Kansas is great course, but the added logistics of 2 transition areas and not being allowed to park at either sucks. It makes for a 2-3 hour pre race brick and athlete check in process. If you do this race, just realize this is something you will have to deal with. We got there, got checked in, did our brick and then it was time for the REAL reason I drove to Kansas City, Planet Sub sandwiches. We definitely got a good pre race fill there this year and decided it also needed to be our first stop on the way home after the race.
The night before the weather looked like we were going to be racing in a massive rain storm. I was not at all looking forward to that but at this point just wanted to race enough to justify the calories I had been eating all day. I went to bed with wishful thinking and thank goodness the prayers were answered. Race day seemed to dodge a bullet.
It was so much fun to get some redemption on a race I really struggled with last year. I also love continuing to work on ways to try to gain more speed. I am working on faster running off the bike with some techniques I have used in training before but finally took the leap of faith and tried it in a race. It was amazing how hard it can be to get yourself out of your comfort zone and how you “normally” do things. I was very pleased with the result however with 1:22 being my fastest half marathon off the bike to date. One of the guys I respect the most in my AG – Tim Hola out ran me by less then 1 min. I use him as a bench march as he is probably the single most consistent top performer I face. He is an amazing guy, and talent.
Now just have to figure out what is next. I have Courtney Ogden staying with me this summer. So I hope to do some training with him and learn from one of the most experienced pros I know.
Monday, June 6, 2011
I have to brag….
I am having a good season for myself, but I don’t want to talk about me. I want to brag on my athletes. Since January:
I have coached:
(Sally M)
- First Place Rock n’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix
- First Place at the Skirt Chasers 5k and PR
- First Place at Rev3 Olympic race in Costa Rica
- First Place at Rev3 Half Ironman in Costa Rica
(Trevor G)
- First Place in a local Xterra race
- Several top 10 finishes at Regional Xterra Championships
- 9:35 at Ironman St. George (FIRST EVER IRONMAN)
(Sue H)
- 8th Overall Female at Disney 70.3
(Melanie S)
- First ever half Ironman win
- 3rd place in AG at Ironman St. George (FIRST EVER IRONMAN)
(Sue D.)
- Hasn’t raced yet but was a mid 6 hour Ironman biker. Last weekend she did a 100 mile organized ride, no drafting in 4:56!
(Ben K)
- First Overall Leon’s triathlon (FIRST OLYMPIC EVER)
(Joe L)
- Qualified for Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships
- PR for Half Marathon sub 1:30!
- 3rd place in AG at Leon’s Olympic
And the Season is just started!
I have coached:
(Sally M)
- First Place Rock n’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix
- First Place at the Skirt Chasers 5k and PR
- First Place at Rev3 Olympic race in Costa Rica
- First Place at Rev3 Half Ironman in Costa Rica
(Trevor G)
- First Place in a local Xterra race
- Several top 10 finishes at Regional Xterra Championships
- 9:35 at Ironman St. George (FIRST EVER IRONMAN)
(Sue H)
- 8th Overall Female at Disney 70.3
(Melanie S)
- First ever half Ironman win
- 3rd place in AG at Ironman St. George (FIRST EVER IRONMAN)
(Sue D.)
- Hasn’t raced yet but was a mid 6 hour Ironman biker. Last weekend she did a 100 mile organized ride, no drafting in 4:56!
(Ben K)
- First Overall Leon’s triathlon (FIRST OLYMPIC EVER)
(Joe L)
- Qualified for Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships
- PR for Half Marathon sub 1:30!
- 3rd place in AG at Leon’s Olympic
And the Season is just started!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
TTT
I just finished racing Triple T last weekend in Southern Ohio. I love this race because it is hard to replicate the intensity and experience of a race, like a race can do. Well, this event offers you 4 chances to race in a single weekend totaling an Iron distance. Not only are the total miles a bit tough, but the terrain in the foothills is super hard as well. Makes for a fun time though.
Friday – this was a sprint race which I simply do not do well. Hardly any of my training is done over threshold for long periods of time, so I knew going in this would be one of the hardest races for me. That proved to be correct, and I ended up in 7th overall place about 90 seconds off the leader.
Saturday – starts with an Olympic distance race, finally some real distances. I had a solid swim. What the main problem was however was I was swimming against John Kenny who seems to be one of the best swimmers in the US for open water. He put over 2 min on me in just the swim. I was able to make up about 20 seconds on him on the bike, and a little on the run but he held on for the win and beat me by about 50 seconds.
After a quick massage and a light lunch I went back to the hotel and rested up for the afternoon race. This was another Olympic distance but the order was bike – swim – run. I knew to have any chance of making up some serious time on John; I would have to try to separate myself on the bike. I was able to do that by out biking him by 2 min but it came at the cost of massive leg cramps in the water and he was able to not only make that up on me, but then put 2 more min on me! WOW! I am a solid swimmer, so I am not totally used to getting whooped this bad on the swim. I collected myself and tried to run him down or at least the best I could. By the run turn around I had made up about 90 seconds. I caught him finally with just under a mile to go and was able to win by 18 seconds overall.
Sunday – We started the half Ironman just over 2 min apart. Again, in the swim he was able to put 4 min on me and that pretty much sealed the deal. The efforts from the day before were catching up to me and while I had one of the top bike splits even to include the teams, it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap on John. I knew then it was time to protect 2nd place. My feet were killing me so for the last 5 miles each step was agony, but was able to hold off a hard charging Jared Milam.
All in all I ended up 2nd overall with a combined time of 9:28. All in all I was very pleased.
Friday – this was a sprint race which I simply do not do well. Hardly any of my training is done over threshold for long periods of time, so I knew going in this would be one of the hardest races for me. That proved to be correct, and I ended up in 7th overall place about 90 seconds off the leader.
Saturday – starts with an Olympic distance race, finally some real distances. I had a solid swim. What the main problem was however was I was swimming against John Kenny who seems to be one of the best swimmers in the US for open water. He put over 2 min on me in just the swim. I was able to make up about 20 seconds on him on the bike, and a little on the run but he held on for the win and beat me by about 50 seconds.
After a quick massage and a light lunch I went back to the hotel and rested up for the afternoon race. This was another Olympic distance but the order was bike – swim – run. I knew to have any chance of making up some serious time on John; I would have to try to separate myself on the bike. I was able to do that by out biking him by 2 min but it came at the cost of massive leg cramps in the water and he was able to not only make that up on me, but then put 2 more min on me! WOW! I am a solid swimmer, so I am not totally used to getting whooped this bad on the swim. I collected myself and tried to run him down or at least the best I could. By the run turn around I had made up about 90 seconds. I caught him finally with just under a mile to go and was able to win by 18 seconds overall.
Sunday – We started the half Ironman just over 2 min apart. Again, in the swim he was able to put 4 min on me and that pretty much sealed the deal. The efforts from the day before were catching up to me and while I had one of the top bike splits even to include the teams, it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap on John. I knew then it was time to protect 2nd place. My feet were killing me so for the last 5 miles each step was agony, but was able to hold off a hard charging Jared Milam.
All in all I ended up 2nd overall with a combined time of 9:28. All in all I was very pleased.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
2 camps
2 weekend camps for athletes looking to take a step forward.
I am offering 2 weekend opportunities for you to train with people who know how to make you better. It will be an opportunity for you to ask questions, get looked at on the swim, bike and run, and more importantly see how we train! It is going to be somewhat informal, down and dirty, but you will get REAL SCOOP on tricks, techniques, and ideas to help you get faster – period.
It has been my experience that every time I or another coach gets to actually see you workout, or vice versa we find ways to help. So my intentions are to do a short TRAINING weekend. It will consist of:
Friday – swim, run (This will give myself and other coaches a chance to take a look at your while you workout. This isn’t an instructional format. It’s a workout. That being said all weekend we will be pulling athletes aside making tweaks, and adjusting what you are doing if needed.
Sat – Masters swim session, and Bike focused Brick workout. (OPTIONAL GROUP DINNER – Not included in price)
Sunday – Run session and the coaches will stick around to answer any questions you would still have.
***We will have the run at a store so you can take advantage of exclusive discounts for campers***
We want to see how you hydrate, carry food and bottles, pace yourself, use your power meter if you have one, and speed distance watches. We will be available all weekend for questions, chats, whatever you need.
Because of the informal atmosphere we will be trying to keep the costs low.
I am offering 2 camps. Both based primarily out of Geneva, IL.
THE FIRST CAMP WILL BE MORE EXCLUSIVE - ONLY 2-3 ATHLETES PER COACH. The athletes will be selected by the coaches who will be working with them. We want this one to be a little more in depth and want to make sure there is more personal interaction.
The dates: July 1-3rd.
Cost: 350.00
INCLUDES:
All health club fees
SAG SUPPORT for ride
ANALYSIS of each workout on WKO
This camp will include a dinner out
Optional VO2 Max testing at a discount (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Optional Gait analysis (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Optional Bike fit (will be scheduled prior to camp)
The Second camp will be same format but allow more campers
The dates: July 22nd- 24th.
Cost: 270.00
INCLUDES:
All health club fees
SAG SUPPORT for ride
Optional VO2 Max testing at a discount (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Please email me directly if you have interest in either camp: azucco@trainingbible.com
I am offering 2 weekend opportunities for you to train with people who know how to make you better. It will be an opportunity for you to ask questions, get looked at on the swim, bike and run, and more importantly see how we train! It is going to be somewhat informal, down and dirty, but you will get REAL SCOOP on tricks, techniques, and ideas to help you get faster – period.
It has been my experience that every time I or another coach gets to actually see you workout, or vice versa we find ways to help. So my intentions are to do a short TRAINING weekend. It will consist of:
Friday – swim, run (This will give myself and other coaches a chance to take a look at your while you workout. This isn’t an instructional format. It’s a workout. That being said all weekend we will be pulling athletes aside making tweaks, and adjusting what you are doing if needed.
Sat – Masters swim session, and Bike focused Brick workout. (OPTIONAL GROUP DINNER – Not included in price)
Sunday – Run session and the coaches will stick around to answer any questions you would still have.
***We will have the run at a store so you can take advantage of exclusive discounts for campers***
We want to see how you hydrate, carry food and bottles, pace yourself, use your power meter if you have one, and speed distance watches. We will be available all weekend for questions, chats, whatever you need.
Because of the informal atmosphere we will be trying to keep the costs low.
I am offering 2 camps. Both based primarily out of Geneva, IL.
THE FIRST CAMP WILL BE MORE EXCLUSIVE - ONLY 2-3 ATHLETES PER COACH. The athletes will be selected by the coaches who will be working with them. We want this one to be a little more in depth and want to make sure there is more personal interaction.
The dates: July 1-3rd.
Cost: 350.00
INCLUDES:
All health club fees
SAG SUPPORT for ride
ANALYSIS of each workout on WKO
This camp will include a dinner out
Optional VO2 Max testing at a discount (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Optional Gait analysis (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Optional Bike fit (will be scheduled prior to camp)
The Second camp will be same format but allow more campers
The dates: July 22nd- 24th.
Cost: 270.00
INCLUDES:
All health club fees
SAG SUPPORT for ride
Optional VO2 Max testing at a discount (will be scheduled prior to camp)
Please email me directly if you have interest in either camp: azucco@trainingbible.com
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Economy
The weather seems as if it is finally turning… maybe. Everyone is excited to start running in a single layer of clothing, and running faster! To run fast one of the things you want to address is economy. So often I hear about athletes who are doing “hard training” on the track, tempo runs, with faster training partners, etc. What most never think to address is economy.
Improving economy while running can improve performances up to 20%! Why then wouldn’t every athlete do this? Easy, it is not always viewed as “hard”. Having a proper gait analysis, or structural analysis, or learning how to improve your mechanics, or even fueling strategy are all great ways to improve economy. If you do not buy into the theory of economy, try running with your shoes on backwards. Obviously, this would be close to impossible. However it is a gross example of how having someone show you to put your shoes on right would be far more effecting then trying to run “harder” with them on backwards.
If you have questions on how to improve your economy feel free to ask any of us here at Training Bible Coaching.
Adam
Improving economy while running can improve performances up to 20%! Why then wouldn’t every athlete do this? Easy, it is not always viewed as “hard”. Having a proper gait analysis, or structural analysis, or learning how to improve your mechanics, or even fueling strategy are all great ways to improve economy. If you do not buy into the theory of economy, try running with your shoes on backwards. Obviously, this would be close to impossible. However it is a gross example of how having someone show you to put your shoes on right would be far more effecting then trying to run “harder” with them on backwards.
If you have questions on how to improve your economy feel free to ask any of us here at Training Bible Coaching.
Adam
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