Getting Back on Track at the OTC
Written by Steven Cozza
Thursday, 22 July 2004

What a month. The month of July has got to have been my worst month ever in the sport of cycling. To start things off I had just finished up healing from stomach problems. Than right after the 4th of July I had a soar throat for a weak that ended up turning into a sinus infection and now it’s already the 22nd and I am still am on antibiotics trying to fight this sinus bug off. So it wasn’t the best visit back home but I'm hoping that this will all just make me stronger in the long run. Getting sick is just a part of pushing you body to the limits and sometimes your body just needs a break the only problem is it happens sometimes at the worst time. There are ways though to prevent getting sick or decreasing the disaster of a cold. The one big mistake that I made and found out just recently from the doctor here at the OTC is that as soon as I had the head cold I should of started taking decongestive's like Sudafed to decrease my chances of it turning into a sinus infection. Well lesson learn and I hope you can learn from my mistakes. The ultimate best way to stay healthy and almost never get sick is to go to bed on time for me that is around 10 pm and wake up around 7 am. Rest is very important for you bodies recovery especially if you’re a cyclist. On a higher note after a long 2 days of driving I have just arrived to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center where all be altitude training for the next 3 weeks leading up to the USA National Championships in Park City Utah August 12th to the 13th. The OTC is a perfect environment for me to recover and get strong after this horrible early July start. The services here are just great. They definitely take care of us here that’s fur sure. The food is just great and the people are really nice and helpful. It is such an honor to be living where some of the greatest athletes lived and trained. It is a good feeling when you see lots of visitors coming to take a tour of the place and you live here. You can kind a say it is like an athletes dream to be here. Colorado Springs is at 6600 feet so the altitude training is great and the town seems to be pretty nice. I already have found the local Coffee shop and met some locals so that’s cool.

For the first week of training all be doing low intensity longer rides of around 3-5 hours just adapting to the altitude. The 2nd and 3rd weeks all be doing more intervals and speed work to get my legs going again for Nationals and the rest of the season. My main Goal this season is still to win the time trial at Nationals and even though I had a bad month of July my sights are still aimed on reaching my goal. I am going to do everything in my will to prepare for my goal and can only do my best to achieve it.

That's about all for now Friends,
Steven

Soar throat and Green Slime
Written by Steven Cozza
Saturday, 17 July 2004

For the past two weeks now I have been fighting the worst cold I have ever caught in my whole life. After it turned into a sinus infection I finally was able to take antibiotics to battle this virus. With a little less than a month till my biggest goal of the year the National Championships in Utah I can only hope I get better soon so I can get back to my training program. I have had this happen to me before and was able to come out of it stronger than ever so I'm going to do my best to pull a hail Marry Utah. I have a lot of races in my legs this season so far so that will definitely play in my favor even if I have been run down from this cold a little. So off to Colorado I go for a 3 week training camp at altitude and than to Utah for the Nationals on the 12 and 13. As soon as Nat's are over I will be leaving Utah with the National team back to Belgium to finish off my season in Europe. That's about it for now folks. Thanks for reading and check back to see how I did at Nationals and the other big races all be doing in Europe later on this year. Wish me luck.

Catch you later,
Steven Cozza ?