Spring break at Zap fitness

( Zap Fitness Center)

Last week was our spring break and this year me and a few of my teammates decided we wanted to go somewhere running related. At first thought Eugene and Flagstaff came to mind, but money wise that was out of the question. So, after almost deciding to just stay in Indiana I came up with the idea of us going to Zap Fitness in Blowing Rock,NC. Zap fitness is a non-profit organization that helps fund elite post collegiate runners in their quest to make the Olympic team or to just be national/world class runners. They have regional and elite standards for athletes who apply. The elite athletes receive room and board, $500 monthly stipend ( plus I'm pretty sure there are bonuses depending on how you perform), travel expenses, physiological testing, training and racing gear, and after 6 months you receive health insurance. Zap also does a lot of different running camps in the summer and has numerous amounts of collegiate teams who stay at their facility. The coach at Zap Fitness is Pete Rea who was a pretty good runner at the university of Connecticut ( i believe 29:29 in the 10k).



Anyways, heading to Zap Fitness I really didn't know what to expect I mean most kids are heading to Daytona beach and we were on our way to Blowing Rock, NC. I heard good things about the trails there but I really wasn't expecting the most amazing place I've ever run! After a 7hr drive we dropped our stuff off at Zap and headed out for a run at Moses Cone state park. Moses Cone is a park that has about 25-30 miles of carriage trails ( wide trails with really thin crushed gravel or limestone) through the mountains of Blowing Rock. This park has everything you could ever want, a flat 1500 meter loop for intervals, winding trails up mountains for hill work, and beautiful scenery to get lost in while knocking out a long run. Once we got back from the run we got settled into our rooms and got ready for dinner. The zap fitness center is comprised of two buildings the building on the left ( in the picture) is where guest stay and the one on the right is where the athlete's stay. The guest residence I believe has 12 rooms in all (some doubles and some singles) we rented two double rooms which was pretty much like a dorm room, so we felt right at home...haha. The guest residence also has a living room on the first floor the consist of a fire place, few couches, and a TV/DVD player. Since we were the only ones staying there we had the whole place to our self ( well Jeff Gaudette did stay the first night....that guy is hilarious).

( map of moses cone 25 miles of trails...however there is another lake not shown that has a trail up a mountain and probably adds another 10 miles or so of trail)

The athlete building consisted of two kitchens ( one down stairs in the cafeteria and one up stairs were some of the athletes live), a weight room, physiological testing lab, rooms for the athletes, and a office/ living area where we spent most of our time playing guitar hero..haha. They also have three other houses, one for Pete and Zika Rea, one for the two girls on the team, and another house for two other athletes...all of which are located within a mile of zap. All of the athletes seemed pretty cool we ran with most of the guys one day on a dirt road that ran along a river and passed a water fall. Jonathan Pierce formerly of Standford had a ping pong duel with one of my teammates Scott Keeney...this was probably one of the best ping pong matches in history...haha. Keeney won the first match and Pierce took the second we were going to have a grudge match but Pierce had to fly to NY for the 8k championships ( Pierce also found out that he made the world xc team while we where there...so that was pretty exciting). Brendan O'Keefe ( 1500 meter runner) was a really cool guy he had us cracking up about a bunch of stuff ( Pete decided when Brendan had a kid he had to name it Okidokie O'Keefe..haha) . Lastly, overall the trip cost 195 dollars for a 4 night stay, 3 lunches, and 3 dinners. I felt this was a great deal especially since the meals we had were 5star and buffet style! One of the athletes Michael Bunker happened to be a chef and he made us the most amazing dishes ever I've never eaten so much food...haha.

Training wise I ended up getting in 80 miles in last week I only did one workout which was a 35 min tempo mostly up hill. I also got in a 16 mile long run which is my longest run in the last month or so. That run went by so fast on Moses cone I felt like running more but knew that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. This week I started my first week of 10k workouts and I'm excited to continue the training that Derick has planned for us. Also, Derick decided that I should be put on a 1hr limit on my runs (excluding long runs) and add more morning runs to make up mileage. This is an attempt to keep me healthy but at the same time run higher mileage and I'm all for that!

This spring break was by far the best spring break I've ever had. I've done the whole Daytona beach thing and don't get me wrong I had a great time, but this was fun yet inspiring at the same time. Being in such a great atmosphere really got me pumped on training for my last season as a sycamore and my future plans in running. Everyone at Zap Fitness made us feel right at home and I would definitely recommend them to other athletes.

(Sycamores and Zap)