Congratulations Kona Competitors!

Congratulations to all of the TrainingPeaks members who competed in Ironman Kona last weekend! In one of the world's toughest races, just making it to the starting line is an accomplishment, and finishing can be uncertain for everyone from top professionals to first-time age groupers. Among the many TrainingPeaks members at the race were Adam Zucco and Matt Hoover, both coached by Jim Vance. Read on below for some of Adam's thoughts on his race, and check out Jim Vance's blog for some thoughts on both athletes.

Describing the swim, Adam admitted that it was quite challenging, with lots of jostling and confusion. "Very hard swim. Got knocked around a ton. Saw a girl about 20 yards ahead of our group, set out to catch her, took me several minutes. 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."

On the bike, Adam felt better, opting to slow down towards the end in order to conserve more energy for the run. "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."

The hills were the most challenging part of the run for Adam, who got down to around 7:15 minute mile pace on the flats but had to fall back towards 8:30 on the hills. "Just ran steady. Ran first 10 miles conservative, walked Palani Hill which is almost half a mile of steep uphill, 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."

With this consistent effort, combined with a pleasant lack of stomach issues, Adam was able to PR on the run, finishing the marathon in 3:43. His overall time was  10:04, a PR for the Kona course, which Adam describes as "by far the hardest Ironman I have ever done with heat and wind... Very different here. 10:04 got me 62nd in my own AG!"