Did the Fox Trot 5K today in Elgin. It was good fun, and a good race. I was able to pull off a win, but got some luck as there was a 10 mile race as well and I think the big guns were doing the longer race today for the most part.
I have done that race for over a decade off an on, now my kids were getting into it by doing the 2 mile fun run/walk. I thought back to all the times I went to local 5/10K races with my father when I was little. I remember never doing well, but always having to wait around for awards so my younger sister could collect her trophy, let me stress this again –every time.
I also saw a lot of old friends before and after the race and it made me really reflect on all the racing I have done over the years. Lindsay and I have been making an effort to try to do some different things, even if it is changing from the 10 mile race you always do, to the 5k. Seems like we often (myself included) get stuck in a rut, and we need to be forced out of it to make a change at times.
Last weekend we did Memphis which like above is something we always have done. This time we were going to do something different but so many friends were doing the race this year, we decided to have one last crack at it. It turned out to be good as the race is retiring the venue I have been going to off an on since the very beginning of my racing experience. One year my dad and I were standing on the shores waiting for our turn. I wasn’t sure if my bike even FIT ME as I hadn’t ever used it! Times have changed. So while it was a brutal day, and one I had to do a lot of walking, it was nice to say goodbye and be forced out of that rut.
Next weekend Lindsay and I are going to Kansas 70.3, a new race for us. I spent the last 6 days trying to get rested up as we thought I was a bit over done going into Memphis. Kansas I have a feeling will offer some new challenges and I am looking forward to doing my best.
If you are there, I’ll see you out there, and good luck!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
I have used a 13 week program called "Goal Mile" with some of my athletes with a lot of success for a couple years now. It is a 13 week program which involves a track workout each week a long with a second run (in most weeks) to help you achieve faster run speeds then you ever thought possible. It is a fresh new approach to track workouts and it has also been my experience it helps to elevate ALL your running speeds. Even if you are a long course athlete this plan will still help you. Most of my athletes use this plan regardless. What happens when you start going long all the time is speed starts to diminish. This will help boost your speed and economy.
Here is a link to the plan. It is 30 bucks. It is supplemental. So you can use it within all the other things you do. It is only 1 -2 workouts a week for 13 weeks. So if you are coached, you might be able to use this as well, or self coached, you can still do your normal schedule, just add this in.
www.trainingpeaks.com/adamzucco
Here is a link to the plan. It is 30 bucks. It is supplemental. So you can use it within all the other things you do. It is only 1 -2 workouts a week for 13 weeks. So if you are coached, you might be able to use this as well, or self coached, you can still do your normal schedule, just add this in.
www.trainingpeaks.com/adamzucco
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Cool news!!
By JAY SCHWAB jschwab@kcchronicle.com
Elburn resident takes triathlon coaching award
Avoiding burn-out for young athletes is tricky enough in traditional sports such as soccer, basketball or baseball.
Now consider the risk in a sport as mentally and physically demanding as triathlon.
Adam Zucco, of Elburn, has a strategy for tapping the potential of young triathletes without sapping the joy from the sport. That approach went a long way toward Zucco being named USA Triathlon Developmental Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
“It’s a huge honor because there are so many great coaches out there and so many people out there trying to do great things,” Zucco said. “I just got lucky enough to get the tap on the shoulder this year.”
Zucco, 34, is head coach of the Tri-Cities based Multisport Madness Triathlon program, an outfit that in the past decade has produced numerous top finishers in national and international competitions. He also is a partner with TrainingBible Coaching, an organization that mentors “results-driven endurance athletes.”
Patience and vision have factored heavily into his coaching success, Zucco said.
“I think a lot of coaches feel under the pump to get instantaneous responses,” Zucco said. “With a lot of these kids, I’ve taken three- and four-year plans. The biggest thing you can do for an athlete to make them better is to improve their economy, and to improve their economy, they have to be able to move efficiently.”
Zucco’s willingness to think long-term might be a product of his own story. He wasn’t much of an athlete as a youngster, recalling the need to shed almost 40 pounds in three weeks leading up to Marines boot camp. He has dropped 70 pounds from his heaviest point, and contends “there is a place for everyone” in the triathlon, which combines bicycling, swimming and running.
Zucco has plenty of help from other coaches at Multisport Madness, but his sophisticated training methods have been instrumental, especially in guiding the program’s teenage athletes.
“Adam is really the one who has brought the expertise to the program as far as coaching,” said Michael Kanute, whose son, Ben, is one of the program’s top triathletes. “There have been some years he’s been more hands-on and some years he’s been less hands-on but all along he’s been the one who has written the plan and balanced the training.”
Zucco has the versatility to train a wide spectrum of ages and abilities. For TrainingBible, he mentors athletes from as far away as Hong Kong and Moscow through online software, but he is just as comfortable overseeing beginners.
“With younger kids, literally some of the speedwork I have them do is play a fun game of soccer or combat frisbee because they’re going to work harder than if I had them doing intervals on the track if they’re chasing their friends around,” Zucco said.
Proud as Zucco is of Multisport Madness’ elite competitors – Geneva’s Kevin McDowell placed fourth at the ITU Junior World Championship in Australia last fall, and Lukas Verzbicas won a competition in North Carolina in September – he also delights in the sport’s overall surge in local popularity.
Zucco said the Tri-Cities is “almost becoming the Boulder of the midwest,” noting large packs of triathletes and their family members who regularly go on evening bicycle rides together.
“It’s really cool,” Zucco said. “It’s becoming a whole new lifestyle for a lot of people in our area.”
Copyright © 2010 The Chronicle. All rights reserved.
Elburn resident takes triathlon coaching award
Avoiding burn-out for young athletes is tricky enough in traditional sports such as soccer, basketball or baseball.
Now consider the risk in a sport as mentally and physically demanding as triathlon.
Adam Zucco, of Elburn, has a strategy for tapping the potential of young triathletes without sapping the joy from the sport. That approach went a long way toward Zucco being named USA Triathlon Developmental Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
“It’s a huge honor because there are so many great coaches out there and so many people out there trying to do great things,” Zucco said. “I just got lucky enough to get the tap on the shoulder this year.”
Zucco, 34, is head coach of the Tri-Cities based Multisport Madness Triathlon program, an outfit that in the past decade has produced numerous top finishers in national and international competitions. He also is a partner with TrainingBible Coaching, an organization that mentors “results-driven endurance athletes.”
Patience and vision have factored heavily into his coaching success, Zucco said.
“I think a lot of coaches feel under the pump to get instantaneous responses,” Zucco said. “With a lot of these kids, I’ve taken three- and four-year plans. The biggest thing you can do for an athlete to make them better is to improve their economy, and to improve their economy, they have to be able to move efficiently.”
Zucco’s willingness to think long-term might be a product of his own story. He wasn’t much of an athlete as a youngster, recalling the need to shed almost 40 pounds in three weeks leading up to Marines boot camp. He has dropped 70 pounds from his heaviest point, and contends “there is a place for everyone” in the triathlon, which combines bicycling, swimming and running.
Zucco has plenty of help from other coaches at Multisport Madness, but his sophisticated training methods have been instrumental, especially in guiding the program’s teenage athletes.
“Adam is really the one who has brought the expertise to the program as far as coaching,” said Michael Kanute, whose son, Ben, is one of the program’s top triathletes. “There have been some years he’s been more hands-on and some years he’s been less hands-on but all along he’s been the one who has written the plan and balanced the training.”
Zucco has the versatility to train a wide spectrum of ages and abilities. For TrainingBible, he mentors athletes from as far away as Hong Kong and Moscow through online software, but he is just as comfortable overseeing beginners.
“With younger kids, literally some of the speedwork I have them do is play a fun game of soccer or combat frisbee because they’re going to work harder than if I had them doing intervals on the track if they’re chasing their friends around,” Zucco said.
Proud as Zucco is of Multisport Madness’ elite competitors – Geneva’s Kevin McDowell placed fourth at the ITU Junior World Championship in Australia last fall, and Lukas Verzbicas won a competition in North Carolina in September – he also delights in the sport’s overall surge in local popularity.
Zucco said the Tri-Cities is “almost becoming the Boulder of the midwest,” noting large packs of triathletes and their family members who regularly go on evening bicycle rides together.
“It’s really cool,” Zucco said. “It’s becoming a whole new lifestyle for a lot of people in our area.”
Copyright © 2010 The Chronicle. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Just keep going
It was good to get away and get some training in some warm weather. I am posting pictures of a couple of the camps we did. One was with Multisport Madness in Palm Springs, the other was a personal camp in San Diego. What was even cooler was Lindsay and I were able to go to Tucson just by ourselves. It was a good boost of fitness but the reality of coming back to winter storms is HARD REALITY that I still live in the Midwest.
I had an athlete ask me the other day how to improve over the winter and would a camp help. Of course, camps are great for boosting fitness and especially if done properly can really set you up for a great increase even when you return if you back it up properly with the right type of training. What my answer to him was also was consistency. Seems that every athlete I coach is looking for the “magic bullet”. There is no one single thing if you just do that it will make you a better athlete. Of course there are specific things you can do to improve, i.e. economy, strength, form, new stimuli, etc. In fact I just received a bike fit at the Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn with Rich Ducar and John Cobb. I will try to post about that in a separate blog, but we made some pretty extreme changes he swears will pay off. However, the that being said, any athlete will have the most significant changes with consistent approach to training. It isn’t the most sexy answer but you just have to go to work and stay at work over and over. At least this is what I have found.
As coaches we know this and can really help our athletes stay on track. We often get the athletes that want to do the New Year’s Epic swim, or the major ride in the summer, or 100 days of swimming, etc. Again, those can be fun and help, but if those are the only thing you are changing, you are going to be right back to where you were last season, just maybe injured from the massive change in stress for the short term.
The good news is the flip side of the coin. Just because you can’t make it to a single camp of an epic day, doesn’t mean you are necessarily at a disadvantage. I have some Ironman athletes right now with busy work and family schedules. We haven’t been able to do many rides if any over 5 hours. Most of them are 4 or less. Our approach has been to consistently introduce the right amount of stress on a consistent basis to keep fitness moving forward. We feel we have been quite successful to this point.
Monday, December 7, 2009
150.00 waived!!
Per Joe's blog:
Looking for a present for the athlete in your life? How about 3 months of coaching? This is something nearly every athlete would love to receive as a gift to help them get ready for the 2010 season. Notify us before Christmas and TrainingBible will even give you a gift - we will waive our normal $150-250 Start Up Fee (with 3 months paid in advance). This offer is good for any of our coaching services. For a list of services and fees go to http://www.trainingbible.com/coachingPlans.aspx. To take advantage of this offer please email our Director of Coaching, Adam Zucco (azucco@trainingbible.com) before December 25, 2009.
Best,
Looking for a present for the athlete in your life? How about 3 months of coaching? This is something nearly every athlete would love to receive as a gift to help them get ready for the 2010 season. Notify us before Christmas and TrainingBible will even give you a gift - we will waive our normal $150-250 Start Up Fee (with 3 months paid in advance). This offer is good for any of our coaching services. For a list of services and fees go to http://www.trainingbible.com/coachingPlans.aspx. To take advantage of this offer please email our Director of Coaching, Adam Zucco (azucco@trainingbible.com) before December 25, 2009.
Best,
Monday, November 2, 2009
Practice makes perfect?
It is often said “practice makes perfect”. Does it? It might.
I was doing some research and came across an interesting study of ice skaters. Each ice skater was given 1 hour to practice their craft. One skater was an Olympic caliber skater, one was a very solid up and comer, and the final was a beginner.
The Olympic skater spent their time practicing moves they have not yet perfected. The Up and comer spent their time practicing moves they have already perfected. Finally the beginner spent a lot of time talking with friends, and in general reluctant to do much.
All three skaters practiced the same amount of time, however each used the time extremely differently. The basic premise of the study was practice alone does not make perfect, however DELIBERATE practice does.
I send a lot of time with my athletes trying to get them to understand this, especially with weaknesses. Joe Friel used to use the example about golf when speaking with me. He would point out for a new golfer the worst thing they could do was spend hours a day hacking away. The same golfer would do much better to do several shorter practice sessions refining skill.
Self coached athletes will get better with “time in” for sure. The same athlete with a general plan will do even better yet. The athlete with a coach will on average do the best because deliberate practice is forced. It usually does not come naturally to work deliberately on the things you do not like to do.
Coaches will often encourage athletes to invest in devices such as power meters and or speed distance watches for this exact reason, it helps us refine the practice even more.
I was doing some research and came across an interesting study of ice skaters. Each ice skater was given 1 hour to practice their craft. One skater was an Olympic caliber skater, one was a very solid up and comer, and the final was a beginner.
The Olympic skater spent their time practicing moves they have not yet perfected. The Up and comer spent their time practicing moves they have already perfected. Finally the beginner spent a lot of time talking with friends, and in general reluctant to do much.
All three skaters practiced the same amount of time, however each used the time extremely differently. The basic premise of the study was practice alone does not make perfect, however DELIBERATE practice does.
I send a lot of time with my athletes trying to get them to understand this, especially with weaknesses. Joe Friel used to use the example about golf when speaking with me. He would point out for a new golfer the worst thing they could do was spend hours a day hacking away. The same golfer would do much better to do several shorter practice sessions refining skill.
Self coached athletes will get better with “time in” for sure. The same athlete with a general plan will do even better yet. The athlete with a coach will on average do the best because deliberate practice is forced. It usually does not come naturally to work deliberately on the things you do not like to do.
Coaches will often encourage athletes to invest in devices such as power meters and or speed distance watches for this exact reason, it helps us refine the practice even more.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Kona 09
my friend's Polar watch said it was 105 degrees today at teh bottom of Hawi, and it did not get below 100 until we finally reached the airport at mile 100ish.
Everyone,
Thanks for all the support. I really never write race reports, but Ill give you the down and dirty.
Swim-
Very hard swim. Got knocked around a ton. Saw a girl about 20 yards ahead of our group should out to catch her, took me several min. I finally did, followed her blindly, but for some reason half way back she swam off course, and by the time we got back on course we were back with the group.
Bike-
I went pretty well the entire way. Went through half way in like 2:27ish. It was so windy and hot coming back I just chose to shut it down and save it for the run. I gave back 15 min on the back half, but it paid off.
Run
Just ran steady. Ran first 10 miles conservative, walked Palani Hill which is like almost half mile steep hill, then tried to run harder. Was able to get it down to 7:15-7:30 pace several times, but then would hit one of the never ending up hills. The hills here are like Campton hills, over and over. Not steep but always on one and they go FOREVER. So I kept getting relegated to 8:30ish pace.
Walked a couple aide stations, and a couple really steep sections, but all in all ran consistent.
10:04, PR for here, by far the hardest Ironman I have ever done with heat and wind. Crowie (male winner ran 2:48! 6 min slower then last year, Macca ran 2:55 and several of the top pros were around 3 hours) It was a very hard day today.
Everyone,
Thanks for all the support. I really never write race reports, but Ill give you the down and dirty.
Swim-
Very hard swim. Got knocked around a ton. Saw a girl about 20 yards ahead of our group should out to catch her, took me several min. I finally did, followed her blindly, but for some reason half way back she swam off course, and by the time we got back on course we were back with the group.
Bike-
I went pretty well the entire way. Went through half way in like 2:27ish. It was so windy and hot coming back I just chose to shut it down and save it for the run. I gave back 15 min on the back half, but it paid off.
Run
Just ran steady. Ran first 10 miles conservative, walked Palani Hill which is like almost half mile steep hill, then tried to run harder. Was able to get it down to 7:15-7:30 pace several times, but then would hit one of the never ending up hills. The hills here are like Campton hills, over and over. Not steep but always on one and they go FOREVER. So I kept getting relegated to 8:30ish pace.
Walked a couple aide stations, and a couple really steep sections, but all in all ran consistent.
10:04, PR for here, by far the hardest Ironman I have ever done with heat and wind. Crowie (male winner ran 2:48! 6 min slower then last year, Macca ran 2:55 and several of the top pros were around 3 hours) It was a very hard day today.
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