Posts Tagged ‘Conrad Stoltz’
THE XTERRA U.S. PRO SERIES SHOWDOWN…err, THROWDOWN!
XTERRA Utah 08
Saturday I will toe the line for my 7th XTERRA USA Series title. The Series title points to consistency throughout the season. After consistently winning a few races earlier this year, I got a nail through the tire in Idaho, and cut my foot in Richmond. (go here to see those juicy pics again) Those setbacks, (setback seems to be a Caveman consistency in itself) means that the points are closer than I would like. I really dislike this course- its lots of climbing and a little bit of down hilling. 2800ft of down hilling is lost with this point to point race up the site of the 2006 Winter Olympic Super G course.
That said, Ogden is a great town, the people are really welcoming and the scenery is amazing. The trees are turning red and yellow on the mountain slopes. The Utah Sports commission is putting a lot of money into promoting sport and sports events in the state, and they are quickly building a sportsman destination reputation.
I borrowed this piece below from the www.XTERRAplanet.com newsletter. For press info, and pics, say you are a journalist and want to be placed on the mailing list, email Trey Garman. For video on previous XTERRA races, go to www.XTERRA.TV
“It all comes down to this. The 8-stop XTERRA Cup Series for professionals that started in early May wraps up with the ultimate showdown of XTERRA’s best on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Utah. And when we say the best, we mean it as the top 13 ranked men and women are on the start list – the lone exception being fourth-ranked Dan Hugo who just suffered through two weeks of a severe flu and painstakingly decided to stay home in South Africa to build an 8-month-base of training so he could tackle 2010 with a vengeance.
10 Questions with Nikola Tosic
For starters, and the reader’s benefit, write a short paragraph about yourself:
Born in 1977 in Belgrade. Grew up in Lagos, lived in Serbia, USA, Italia, South Africa and a bit in France. I love internet and work with online content for living. I enjoy doing sports and art (same stuff). I love good food. I like living close to my parents and have been together with Martina, my girlfriend, for eleven years.
[Note from Conrad: Nikola is The Master, The Brains and The Teacher behind TriathlonTeam.org. Before I met him I could only read emails and attach photos. Nikola started putting the team together about 2 years ago. Dan Hugo was 1st, who introduced me (over a great seafood linguine on the Cape Town ocean front) and from there on the team grew quickly to 8 guys. We are still looking for a worthy girl blogger… (send applications here)
Nikola has helped me with brand building, logo design, race kit design, technically correct blogging and so much more. We also share a mutual love for good food and coffee. All our brain storming meetings go hand in hand with culinary delight.]
How you feel about your season so far?
Six years ago I started with 30kg overweight and somehow managed to finish Ironman in a decent time in my fifth season. This, my sixth season, is a complete failure when it comes to results. I am fat lazy and stupid. But I have managed to spend great time training in Stellenbosch, Greece, Switzerland and I still have Croatia and few nice places left. I have met really cool people and had a lot of fun. So from numbers side its shit, from emotional side it could be the most dynamic and interesting season ever. Since results mean very little to me it is a great season.
Champions’ training. Different strokes for different folks…
In search for the holy grail of sports performance, Irish National Team ITU member, Gavin Noble (Dublin Triathlon Champion this past weekend) cranks out the Watts in the lab. This kind of lab testing will give Gav and his coach all kinds of numbers they can play with in training. Tests will be repeated often, charts plotted and if all goes well, high fives given.
These delicious little numbers makes the guy in the sweater with the clip board’s toes curl. Race times can be projected, tactics formulated and athletes can be compared to each other even before the starters’ gun bangs.
Read more about Gavin and Aleksandar and my swim sets on Igor’s blog.
Our other TriathlonTeam.org team mate, Will Clarke (British ITU Triathlon member and National Champion) really winds it up on the track. Looks like fellow GB Team mate and Chicago Tri winner, Stuart Hayes hanging on for dear life.
Bigger than you can imagine group track sessions typically forms the mainstay of their training. (they train up to 40hrs a week) These are blood and guts sessions. Coaches needs to be impressed, fellow athletes intimidated, but most of all, the times they do around the carefully measured 400m serves as building blocks of confidence and self belief to be drawn upon at the next race.
Enter The Caveman.
Photo shoot for Active Therapeutics and SpiderTech
Photos by Bob Woodward
While training in Bend, OR recently, a few friends got together to shoot a few pics:
Avia AVI STOLTZ review
My own customization for the muddy ski slopes at XTERRA Vermont
From Triathlon Product Reviews
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Avia Avi Stoltz Xterra Racing Shoe
After the traction disaster that my wife and I both suffered during the Granite Bay Duathlon, we went looking for a shoe with better traction that qualified as a racer. We both have significantly different needs. I sometimes qualify as a Clydesdale as I hover around 200 lbs, but I’m a pretty neutral runner. I usually race in a light weight trainer (like the Brooks Ghost for example) with the green superfeet insole for just a little support. My wife Tatjana weighs about 115 lbs and is one of the fastest 40+ runners in our area. She pronates moderately, but since she is so small, she doesn’t need a lot of support. She usually races in a racing shoe that has some support built in and orthotics or the same green superfeet insoles.
