Getting Dirty/ and Kona Taper

Cyclocross season is on!....but I’ve been feeling like I’m still in complete taper mode. Cyclocross training and racing is TOUGH, my HR goes way up and I am sucking air, and even walk around a little stiff and sore, but I still feel like I’m tapering because the overall volume of time is so much less than what I’ve been doing all spring and summer. This has become my Kona taper for the past 3 years. Mid October I take a break from the bike head to Kona and do some running on the island, swim a little (hmmm I’ll have to find my goggles) and cheer on Adam and this year a lot of friends. I cross train by doing some surfing and stand up paddling. I’ll miss race number 3 of the CCC. I always do which leaves me behind in the series with a lot of catching up to do, but it’s worth it. Plus this year the CX season is extra long. Nationals are in Madison in January with a whole lot of races before then and I want to make it to the starting line.

I’ve raced twice already and done numerous wet, hilly, dirty rides. I’ve come home muddy, and bloody a few times, but I have LOVED hitting the trails and riding off road. Triathlon was fun and rewarding this year, but I have also been anxiously awaiting the start of cyclocross. The benefits of switching gears like this are huge, both mentally and physically. Triathletes have the tendency to end the season, take a short break then get right back at it so they can get fitter and faster for next year..... because that’s going to be the year to qualify for Kona. Many skip doing strength, technique, skill, or work on weaknesses. This leads to going back to using the same muscles in the same way (often the wrong way) and then wonder why they aren’t getting faster, or the same body parts keep hurting. Cyclocross riding puts your body in a different position on the bike, takes you on grass, trails, sand, or snow. Much of the pedaling is done with a higher cadence and incorporating fast explosive surges and uses the muscles differently. Racing cyclocross is also a mental change. The goals are different, there are no paces to hit, other than all out. You race as hard as you can for 45 min and that’s it. It is a laid back crowd that is still competitive, but supportive and out to have some fun.
The first race of the series was 1 week out of Vegas 70.3. My mind was ready for change but my legs were completely confused what to do with the fast surges, and my technique for tight turns and cornering were rusty since I had been riding aero all summer. By the 3rd lap I was ready to go and felt like I could keep racing. That is so “triathlete”. The course was slick, wet, muddy and full of tight turns which made it difficult to use fitness to get ahead. I don’t mind the mud, but like a tougher course. For some reason girls from Michigan and Wisconsin came to race and the field was stacked. So with triathlon fatigued legs and a kick ass field I wasn’t happy with my finish, but left motivated to put the CX back in my legs. Two weeks of training on trails and dirt left me feeling much more ready for race 2 in Dekalb. Hopkins Park has a flyover, a small hill and some areas to test your fitness. This is one of my more favorite courses. I had a great start and worked my way up into 3rd place before the end of the first lap. I felt so strong and I usually gain on girls as the race goes on. However, during the 2nd lap I started feeling my rear wheel sliding out from me as I was cornering hard. Then I felt like I was going nowhere and finally couldn’t corner at all. Sure enough a flat rear wheel. I rode on it flat to the wheel pit and I managed a wheel change thanks to Bicycle Heaven Eric. However it took way to much time and threw me completely off. I knew if I finished I’d at least score some points. Once rolling again I just rode as hard as I could and actually caught back up to the end of the field. I walked away frustrated because I was riding strong and racing near the front (minus the cat 1 who showed up), but excited at the same time because I know I can be up there.

So I’ll come home little rested, maybe somewhat tan and, way behind in the CCC series, but highly motivated to climb on the cross bike again and race.

Viva Las Vegas!!

“Loving and/or long live the Las Vegas life! “

My World Championship weekend in Las Vegas was as spectacular as the big giant casinos, crazy clothes, neon lights and all the glitz and glam that goes with Vegas, without ever even making it to the strip or into any of the famous casinos (although I did pack some sassy shoes just in case post race I found my way to Las Vegas Blvd). Hanging with my family and friends in such a cool place while getting ready for a big race was incredible. I did play Blackjack for the first time ever 2 nights before the race and was a winner, so maybe Lady Luck was on my side.

This weekend and race topped off an amazing triathlon season for me. It has been 3 or 4 years since I took the tri season serious, but finishing it up Vegas style at the World Championships was a perfect ending. I worked hard all season for this race and am thrilled that it ended on the upside!

The logistics of this race were as challenging as the race itself. But luckily we have been out there a lot and knew our way around so we were ready for a lot of the back and forth. We stayed out at Lake Las Vegas Resort, which was the swim start and T1, but 15-20 min away from the expo, finish line and T2 and all the good food, however, it was nice to just walk out of the hotel and across the bridge to the swim start race morning and took away a lot of the race morning stress of getting to transition on time.



I knew how challenging this course was going to be and did everything I could to be ready for the hills on the bike and run. Add to it a non wetsuit swim and racing against the top 70.3 athletes around and that is a true race to be ready for. The start list alone was enough to motivate me to work hard. I love this kind of challenge and racing against the toughest, it takes you to the next level.

My race: I couldn’t have been more ready thanks to my coach, Scott Iott, who wrote such challenging workouts and kept me psyched up and motivated even on the bad days, but I couldn't have gotten there without the help of my amazing husband.


There is no slacking going on at the Zucco house, and when we both are training hard, it gets a little crazy. He had to put up with a little more disorganization this summer including size xs skinfit tri shorts winding up in his drawer and into his workout bag LOL! I wish I could have seen that. I am continually amazed at the plain old hard work Adam puts into training and tried to do my best at playing along. Standards are high in this house!

Swimming in Lake Las Vegas without wetsuit wasn’t so bad thanks to my Skinfit Plasma (so worth it). I swam strong and felt smooth, but a few too many laps short will leave you off the back, so I sprinted the loooong run to T1, and couldn’t wait to ride the hills. The bike is challenging with like 5000 feet of climbing, but nothing like Georgia. When we preveiwed the course we actually rode farther out which include a much bigger climb before the turn around. I was bummed it wasn't in the race. I loved the hills and passed lots girls in my AG especially going up! When Adam came by me so fast, it was startling! He yelled as he was flying by and I kept him in my sights going up the next climb, then he was gone on the decent, and then I dropped my chain! This is the only negative thing that happened in the race. Maybe I was distracted by how fast he went by! I stayed cool, tried the back pedaling thing to get it back on but no more lady luck. I had to stop and get off to fix it. GRRR. Extra motivation to ride faster. I went from 36th to 16th on the bike. The run was challenging but I loved it.There were 3 loops with basically 2 hills up then down and little to no flat making keeping a normal stride going interesting.


It finally felt hot, but not the super extreme that was predicted. I found my legs quick and was able to follow the plan of run strong uphill and go fast downhill It was working. I never felt bad, although the 3rd time ups the long nearly 2 mile climb I did slow down some and wondered when it would end. I went from 16th to 12th on the run.


Now it’s off season or is it in season for cyclocross? plus a little Kona spectating training.


My Mom and Dad were there, they are training for Kona spectating too!

GA, 6 Gap, and more!

Climbing, climbing and more climbing! By car, foot, or bike I spent much of my time in GA going up and down and around the hills. Just driving in and out of Big Canoe will leave you hanging on the edge of your seat. Training here is NEVER easy. The hills are steep, and never ending. They are different than the long climbs in Tuscon up Mt. Lemmon or up the long grades in the foot hills of Mt. Hood. This camp was set up for those with late season big races, and was not for anyone who wasn't willing to hurt a little. Everyone worked hard and had awesome training days!

My legs are still talking to me after several big bike days, 1 big brick with some swims and steep hilly runs and I crawled home to try to recover and while running around getting ready for back to school, back to work and back to normal life.

Here is a short summary of the TBC Big Canoe camp as I experienced it:

Day 1: Swim in the morning, then; Preview of the 6 Gap ride.
This section of North Georgia is part of the Blue Ridge Mtns. and in fact you cross the Appalachian Trail in 2 spots. The bike course calls the climbs “gaps” not really sure if its because of the gap it makes in the side of the earth, gap it makes through your muscles as it shreds it while you climb, or the gap in the teeth of some of the locals. Our group road 3 gaps, roughly 60 miles. It was hot, the the hills were tough and I had forgotten how these steep climbs just keep going around every curve. At the top of Nells Gap I caught my breath, saw a phone booth, and tried calling 911



When was the last time you saw a phone booth! The last climb of the day was Woody Gap, with an amazing view across the Blue Ridge mtns at the top. I am partial to the Rockies, the Cascades,and mtns of the west but, these hills are amazing. At the top of this climb you think you are home but there is still about 20 miles of big rollers back to the car.




Day 2: Swim in the morning: my arms felt worse in the water than my legs, then:

Long brick on tired legs. This ride was closer to home and included Sunrise climb. Don’t let the name fool you, she is a b@#% and comes after a 7 mile steady climb, followed by a long decent where you can’t really pedal allowing all the blood and lactate to pool in your legs before starting back up. It was 90 some degrees on this day and running on a gravel logging road off the bike up and down more hills made me feel like an ox.

Day 3: supposed to be an “easy” day with a swim in the morning, and a trail run. After 20 min of running, my running legs finally came to me and I actually could push the pace up and down the steep hills. Later in the day I tried to relax with the kids and camp BBQ while preparing for the big day....all 6 gaps.

Day 4: 6 gap; that would be Jack’s, Unicoi, Hog Pen, Wolf Pen, Woody and Nells in the order we did them. That is 6 big climbs ranging for about 3 miles to 8 miles long. We did 81 miles with something like 9000 feet of climbing. For some strange reason, I felt the best on this day and was able to keep climbing and ride strong keeping up with the boys. My favorite was Unicoi, and I yelled bad words climbing Hog Pen which is the steepest goes for about 7 miles. I can't remember the % grade here, but I think it was in the high teens. I probably should have been on my road bike with a 25 in the back, but was on my flatlander TT bike with the 23 in the back, because well, Vegas is close, and that’s the bike I’ll be racing on there, but not an ideal choice for this terrain. Maybe that explains some of the strange looks from the other bikers out there, but at least it hopefully made me stronger.

We came home to an empty house, the Aussies have moved on to Arizona. We must have worn them out, or they are afraid of Chicago winter. I now have a 3rd grader who can technically ride his bike the 2 blocks solo to school. I haven't let go on this 100%
and walk 1/2 way with him!


Only a few more weeks of training, and its Vegas baby!
Then let the cyclocross begin!

Peaks and Valleys

a
hoping all jack's FB practices will be this nice

Anyone who knows me well enough knows I LOVE the mountains. The peaks and valleys, the views, the lifestyle. I love the desert mountains of Arizona and have made my way up Mt. Lemmon and Kits Peak. I love the lush green mountains of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up and seeing the peaks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens when cruising around Portland. I love the way they look and I love climbing them on my bike. (Yea, why do I live in Chicago?)

I help injured athletes every day climb up and down the peaks and valleys of rehab from an injury. The pain starts to feel better, ROM and strength improve, and I guide them through stressing the area a little more, then there are a few days of increased pain and swelling as the injured area adapts to the new stresses. It never fails the patient will always complain that they feel like they aren’t getting better, and always ask why is it still painful or swelling up.


still learning the long board



As a coach I create these peaks and valleys in blocks of training. You stress the body, you work hard pushing the volume and or intensity, stressing the body a little more then build in some rest. The body adapts to the load you’ve dumped on it and you become fit and fast. This process does not come without some discomfort or maybe few subpar workouts. These valleys aren’t pleasant to pass through. It’s not fun to feel like dirt, or like moving through quick sand sometimes it even feels like you have never worked out a day in your life before. The key is to press on, not collapse in the valley in order to make your way to the next peak.

Athletes also have a hard time accepting those valleys especially when things have been clicking along great. It is nearly impossible to stress the tissues, build the training, increase the volume and intensity without eventually…slowing down, getting sore, tired, sick, or completely bonking in a workout. When a subpar workout slaps you in the face, take a look back…..have you been killing it like a rock star for a few days, have you taken a dip into the poor nutrition valley leaving you operating on fumes. Or maybe you've been really loading up the training hours. Sometimes forced rest finds it way into your schedule due to horrific weather, unexpected travel due to work, or an illness that forces you to dip down into the valley.

If you find yourself in the valley, stay consistent, stay positive, and do all those things that are sometimes harder than training….rest, eat the right things, hydrate stretch, relax and most importantly be patient and before long you will be crawling out of the valley to the top of the next peak.

We are in North Georgia getting ready to start a TBC camp with a group of athletes training for Vegas, Hawaii, and other late season races. Tomorrow we are riding 6 Gap, which was part of the tour of Georgia. I am confident I will be experiencing plenty of peaks and valleys throughout the week all in an effort to be ready for Vegas in Sept.

Tales from the Draft.....

....a summary of my Madison ride behind Adam’s wheel.

I do 95% of my training solo, not because I am totally opposed to training in a group, and I am definitely not anti social, but primarily it’s because I have a crazy schedule. It is often more work to coordinate workouts and meet up with people. I have my windows to fit in the workouts, without a lot of room for error. Training with others has its benefits and purpose especially if the group as fast as or faster than you and your goal for that workout is to push yourself. Other times training in a group can slow you down, or make you work harder than you should on an easy day. On those rare times I get to train with Adam, I am always pushed to my limits.

We spontaneously decided to take a trip to Madison for a change of scenery and to get some hillier miles along with our Aussie athletes. This meant I’d be riding with 2 very fast guys on a tough course, but I was up to the challenge and definitely bored with my flat cornfield routes. We packed up the car Fri afternoon, headed north, and checked into our hotel by the capital. Thanks to priceline.com we scored huge last minute deal. We roamed around State St. and grabbed a late dinner. Madison is such a fun town, and as we were showing Courtney and Raija the swim course, finish line etc for the IM, I had little twinges of…..if I ever did an IM again I would love to do this one…. but then I quickly came to my senses!

We decided to start the ride in Verona because doing the loops with places to re fuel works so great and none of us are actually doing IM MOO, so to heck with the “stick”.

My goal for the day was to stay with the boys for as long as I could, and not to worry about power, pace, HR etc. and “work the uphills”. My plan was to do 2 loops/ roughly 80 miles.

Loop1:

I stuck to his wheel like glue. On the downhills I would lose him some and would have to hammer in my hardest gear to maintain contact. I road the uphills hard, just to stay as close as possible. Some of what went through my head on loop 1:

>Thank goodness my legs feel ready for this!
>It’s hot already
>Why is my left hand sweating more than my right? Weird.
>There are lot of riders out here, there must be an IM coming soon.
>It’s hard to let go and take a drink trying to stick to his wheel, let alone take a gel
>We are flying past these people really fast, but I can’t look away to see who they are
>Already done with loop 1, that wasn’t so bad

Back in town we re-filled our water bottles and laughed about the macho guy who decided he was a better rider than the OA age group winner of several 70.3 races as well as the Champion of IM Australia and was racing us at the end decked out in his race wheels, aero helmet and aero bottles. My guess is he eventually drifted off into a cornfield somewhere completely shelled.

Loop 2:

Because I was still felt human, I decided to keep hanging on. I did notice the pace seemed a little quicker and on the flatter sections I was having to work harder to stay in the draft. I made it a goal to work as hard as I could to stay on that wheel until 3 hrs of riding and then I could cruise, but until then keep pushing. Those steep uphills through the farms after Mt.Horeb hurt a bit more the 2nd time around and that is where I noticed my HR getting pretty high and starting to feel the effort.

Thoughts from loops 2;
>Wow it’s hot
>Hmmm we are going a little faster this time
>This is definitely how you aren’t supposed to ride this course if you are racing the IM
>Where is the next uphill, hammering in these flats is getting tough
>Wow we are already back to here
>When I trained for the IM here years ago these loops seemed to take much longer

I made it to nearly the end of the loop but lost contact with them on one of the hard uphills almost back to town, that was at about 3:40 hrs of riding. I was very happy to see Verona. I did my transition run practically smiling the whole way even though it was sizzling out.

I never looked at my power, really, the whole ride, because I was really staring at a wheel and a nice pair of legs for almost 4 hrs, but what is interesting is that even though you save about 30% of the energy by drafting, my normalized power for the 81 miles was right smack in the middle of the wattage range I try to hold for my ½ Ironmans.

No pics from this outing, I was too busy holding on for life!

Racine

This year I was actually looking forward to racing in Racine. It has not been my favorite course in years past. It is flat with horrible roads, there is a big tendency for drafting, and the Lake Michigan swim hasn’t always been good to me. But I often come back because it is so fun to race with all my Multisportmadness friends, its close to home and is always competitive.I'm always up for a challenge, so I took the bad with the good, and headed up to Danny’s house on the lake for a fun race weekend. I had big goals for this race. I knew it was going to be hot so I packed extra salt tabs, decided to braid my hair to cut down on the frizz (lol/ jk!), and tried to stay hydrated.

Pre race day in Racine for me typically involves packet pick up, soaking the legs in the cold lake, pre race pasta dinner with all of MSM, and hanging out watching highlights of the tour,and sometimes working a little physical therapy magic. Who can beat accommodations across the street from the race with friends. Thanks Danny!




Casa Delgado becomes its own little bed and breakfeast triathlon style! This year athletes were tucked away in all corners, and included 3 pros. It was hard not to sleep past 4 as everyone was up early ready to race!

The transition area was huge and packed. It seemed very crowded compared to previous years. I kept bumping into the people behind me when trying set up my transition and pump up my tires. I set up my space, and made the long walk up the beach to the start. It was warming up fast and I waited as long as possible to put on my wetsuit, and hung out talking with friends waiting for my start.



Swim: it is a shallow start, so I did several dolphin dives out to the deeper water. I was right in the front with the leaders for this part! For me I had a good start and made it to the first turn with the lead pack. Then I settled into a decent rhthm. The water was perfect, and I felt good. I swam strong. And finally made a little headway on my swim.


actually smiling at the swim start!

I think some of the swim time includes the long run up the beach. Its not where it should be or where it used to be but there is a glimmer of hope in the distance for my swim. Once I hit the ground I ran as fast as I could through the sand, passed 3 girls in my AG before getting to my bike. I made a quick transition and was on my way. I should have taken a few seconds to rinse the sand off. As I was riding away I felt like a snickerdoodle sugar cookie with sand all over my arms and hands.

Bike: the first few miles of the bike are out of town and a road with big cracks. I was building my effort and letting the biking legs get in the groove when I hit a big crack and launched 1 water bottle. I;ve made the mistake of leaving it on the road in a different big hot race which was the wrong move and lead to a meltdown. So I stopped and went back for it. Smart move because of how hot it was, and it seemed like there was 1 aid station short on the bike compared to most 70.3 races. It was windy and it seemed every turn there was still wind. Maybe my legs were flat I don’t know but the ride seemed hard. It was hot and the roads were full of cracks. Not the most pleasant ride or fun ride. I kept passing girls in the AG which was motivating when I wasn’t feeling the best. I finished strong, but was glad to be done.

Run: I started the run feeling pretty good, took 2 salt tabs at mile one and was able to follow the plan for the first few miles. At the first turn around I could see a few girls in front of me weren’t that far off. My run has been good to me this year but I wasn’t feeling as snappy in the 100 deg temps. Slowly I was reeling 2 girls in front of me. I kept trying to pick it up to my goal pace but it wasn’t happening. I saw AZ coming at me and he looked good. He is having such a good year its hard not to feel like a slacker, so I kept trying to kick it into high gear. I felt like I was running through mud! Finally I caught the girl in front of me with about 2 miles to go. The aid stations became a nightmare to negotiating even slowing the avg. pace down more. I had to wait in line, or grab my own drink/ ice etc. It seemed all those people I was bumping into in transition were in my way when I was trying to plow through transition. I wanted to quit several times. This race wasn’t so fun, it was HOT. I wasn’t meeting my goals, I had already had so many good races and had my spot to Vegas, so felt like why was I out here doing this! But realizing Vegas is on the horizon, I started to tell myself keep running its going to be Hot, and hard in Vegas. I tried to hit that last down hill right before the finish trying to run fast only to have my calves cramp up causing me to hobble and wobble. The girl I had worked so hard to pass, caught me back and then 1 more with in yds of the finish.

I always try to take away something good from every race, even when they aren't what you set out to do. I was disappointed to be 7th, but 4th -7th were within seconds. I finished 5:01+ and on such an extreme day, isn't so bad. But, I feel even better about sticking with it and pressing on when it got tough and the goals for the day weren’t happening.

Awards Ceremony

Own up to it, standing on the podium at an awards ceremony can pretty much seal the deal on a lot of hard work making the pain, sweat, fatigue, days of walking around with wet pony tails and goggle marks on your face worth it. Whether standing top step of a local race, or top 10 of a huge national event leave you smiling for a few days. An Age group award, a well deserved PR at an A race, or getting a ribbon at a swim meet is the ultimate goal/ …the goal that gets you out of bed when you’d rather roll over, allows you to hang on to the end of that interval, or motivates you to swim in the fast lane.

I have been living with my own elite AG for years, but add a couple of professionals to the mix and I’ve come up with a few observations. Training has been in full swing around here and big races are on the horizon. Being a 40 something AG female who works and has kids living amongst them has been humbling, but who can complain about having 3 very fit men hanging around the house! Nevertheless, I have been compiling my own little awards ceremony for the members of the IHOT;

1. Healthiest Eater > Cesar , he can make a fruit plate look fabulous

2. Most artistic > Miss Kaitlin Zucco; I had her color flags for our International friends on the 4th of July




3. Least likely to fatigue> Adam, hands down, unanimous decision

4. Most patient> Courtney, he arrives and winds up with a stress fx, but always greets you with “Morning Mate!”

5. Most frequent PR’s> Jack , my 8 yr old; easy to do when you have a swim meet every other week and can add a flip turn to a 50 free

6. Best stretcher> Cesar; he is a physical therapist’s dream patient

7. Messiest Hair> toss up between Courtney and myself/ heat, humidity and chlorine does wonders, so why even try

8. Most creative>Adam; can turn a regular training weekend into a camp for athletes, and a race weekend into a vacation !


At the end of the season maybe I’ll be able to come up with a “best of” blog, but for now I wish nothing but the best for all the athletes in the house at Muncie, Racine, and at the last swim meets or tennis matches because I've seen all the hard work put into making the awards ceremony!