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Clams, Slim Fast and More Clams:
Written by Steven Cozza
Thursday, 27 July 2006
The riding up here is so epic. My 4 hour rides are turning into 6 hour epic adventures. Being at altitude can totally take a toll on your body but I have some tips for acclimatizing faster in a legal, safe, healthy way. After every ride, I slam down a slim fast which has great recovery nutrients in it. After yesterday's 6.5 hour epic of over 3 hours of climbing, I slammed 3 Slim Fasts down and already feel fully recovered the next day from it all. I also have been eating buckets and buckets of clams. Clams have the highest amount of iron over any other natural food. The boiled clams that I found have 110% of your daily need of iron, no fat and are high in protein and Vitamin B-12. B-12 and iron are both needed in producing more red blood cells. When going to altitude, your body works overtime trying to grab more oxygen from the thin air. So because of this your body needs to create more red blood cells in order to deliver more oxygen to your body. On top of all this, walking around in the icy cold Lake Tahoe and surrounding rivers, helps as well. I call it "Nature's Ice Bath" haha! Not quite like the ones they have down at the Olympic training center but much more exciting. Today, I go for a nice easy ride to get the legs ready for my next hard workout. Then, I'll probably spend time with my good friend Callie and my dog "Teddy" (an awesome Aussie).
Thanks for reading!
Steven
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Tahoe Altitude Training Camp
Written by Steven Cozza
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Thanks to Callie, a friend of mine, who has a cabin on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, I am able to train for the next 10 days in high altitude as preparation for the Tour of Utah. After a strong ride at Nationals this year, I am going into the second half of the season with a lot of confidence. I did not win this year's National Time Trial like I had done the year before which brought on a little disappointment, but I figure I have been motivated in my career more from disappointments than victories. Through the month of June I worked really closely with my coach Dario in order to bring on great form. I went a month without any races before the National championships. This proved to me that you can train your way into great form as long as you are doing the proper workouts. After all the years I have been racing, I have found that having a great coach is not only important for getting me into great form but also getting me out of slumps. Coming up to altitude will help me acclimatize for the altitude in the Tour of Utah. One of the stages goes over a 10,000 Ft. pass so I want to go over that feeling like I am at sea level. The other day I was able to train over four 7,500 ft. + passes and I felt fine -so that is good. The hard base training I did over the winter is sure paying off now, I think.
For the next couple of days, I will be training hard, having fun rafting, fishing, and laying on the beach with my friends. Staying balanced I have found is the best for riding your best. Rafting down the Truckee River will be fun but also good in helping my legs recover because it's like taking an ice bath.
Thanks for reading and more soon. Hopefully I will have caught some fish by then.
Steven
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Steven's Race Report , US National Championships U23
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 17 July 2006
This year, all my hard work and training in June paid off for me at the US U-23 National Championships in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. It was my first race with my new team TIAA CREF and I was glad to be able to perform well for them.
When we first arrived in Seven Springs, two days before the first race the road race, we pre-road the RR and TT course. Both the courses were awesome with 3000 feet of climbing each lap for the road race with a total of 4 complete laps and the 30 kilometer time trial which was a roller coaster ride the entire way, nothing but ups and downs, twists and turns. Finally the National Championships were going to suit me to the best because the courses were really challenging and those are the kinds of roads I ride best. Being back at Nationals is always nice because you get to see all your fellow competitors that you begin to know and become friends with over all the years of racing.
Seven Springs is a resort for skiing and snow boarding in the winter time with very little snow. It's nothing like Tahoe, but it sure is pretty with all the green trees and rolling grass. CREF totally hooked us up by putting the riders in condos in the Seven Springs resort area. We were situated pretty much on a mini mountain, so even on an easy day, we had to do tons of climbing just to get back up to where we slept.
Finally the 107 mile road race arrived and I was both mentally and physically ready to go. The gun went off and there we went. Since there was 12,000 feet total of climbing in the race, the peloton was definitely not going to go all out right away. About 15 miles into the race the peloton bunched up right before a roller and I shot by with all my momentum from the roller before. I decided not to hit the brakes and just kept going. Soon I had two other riders with me which I had both raced with before on the US National Team over in Belgium. By the time we had come across the finish line for lap 1, we had a 2 minute gap on the main group. The two guys I was with were not having the best of days so I had to work on the front for most of the times over the climbs. I was okay with it though because I needed them for the descents. By lap 2, we had 5 minutes on the peloton and by lap 3, we had 7 minutes. I knew this was a good situation. I later heard going into lap 4 that I had 2 teammates bridging up so I had a reason to sit on at this point and not take pulls. The two riders I was with were pretty much finished so my two teammates had no trouble in coming up to us along with another rider. So there was 6 of us at this point, with 7 miles to go. As soon as my two teammates got on, I attacked so that we wouldn't have to work and so they could just sit on as the other 3 riders worked to bring me back. I had 1 minute on them within the first mile of my effort. I saw victory just right up the road. It felt so great to be still able to make an effort like this after being off the front for 90 miles with only 2 other guys. I road all out. As I started up the last hard climb I looked back and saw two riders coming up to me. I drove hard but it wasn't good enough. My teammate Craig Lewis and rival Brent Bookwaulter bridged up to me. Craig attacked Brent and got clear of him as he road on up the road. I did my best to hang with Brent at this point. I was able to so. I was pedaling my ass off for 3rd place as my teammate road in for the kill. I would have loved for my move to have worked but I was so stoked for Craig and his win. This was a hard course and the strongest man won and thankfully it was my teammate. I could not have raced this race any more tactically wiser. With me being off the front, it put quite a bit of pressure on the rest of the competitors which was great for my whole team because they could just sit back the whole race and follow wheels. Directly after the road race was the podium which was pretty funny. Along with his winning jersey and gold medal, Craig was given a bottle of beer that he shook up and soaked me with, getting a lot of it in my eyes so for all the photos I am squinting with a huge smile. To check it out go onto the http://www.usacycling.org/ web site. It's pretty funny but was sure a good sting for my retinas - haha. J
Feeling pretty strong in the road race gave me confidence going into the Time Trial two days to follow. I pre-road the TT course one more time on my recovery day just after the road race, and I felt good. The day came and it was pouring cats and dogs like crazy. This changed some things for sure. When the course was dry, you really never needed brakes. Since I was the defending Champion, I was the last to go off. This was a 30 kilometer out and back course with nothing flat. On the way out, I didn't feel so great, but when I made the turn around, I was on and I just started passing people one by one. By the time I had passed the 5th person, I was wondering where Brent was; I knew he was my greatest threat. They started us off in 30 second intervals. With 5 kilometers to go, and Brent nowhere in sight, I knew this wasn't good. I charged so hard the last bit of this Time Trial hoping to close the distance, but Brent was just too strong on this day, and he took the win with me coming in 2nd. It was a good effort by me but not good enough. No beer in the eyes on this podium!
With two races down, there was one to go - the Criterium. This race was on a 1 kilometer race track. The plan was to get as many of our guys in a break and have it try and lap the field or plan B have it come down to a field sprint and lead out our sprinter Nathan Mitchell. A break went with 8 guys and 3 of my teammates made it into it. At this point our job in the main peloton was to just mess things up - slow down the race to try and give the break its best chance at staying away. They did with Craig winning again, Troy coming in 4th and Blake coming in 6th.
All in all, this was an awesome Nationals with our team coming through with a strong performance. I feel privileged to be part of the TIAA CREF Team. The warm welcome by my teammates, the encouraging words from my director Jonathan and manager Ben, the mechanic, soigneur, and our great sponsors, make this a first class team I am proud to be a part.
Thanks for reading,
Steven
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