Chuck Graziano's Page

Can't believe it's mid-August already. It seems like yesterday that I was thinking there's tons of time until IM AZ and now with the cooler mornings and darker evenings, things are really starting to set in. I've finished making all of my travel plans for AZ. Some things I learned (that probably everyone else already knows): If you book a car rental through Hotwire, you can save a ton of cash. With Adrianna & Anthony, me, Toni & Grandma coming along, we need a minivan. Hotwire saved me a… Continue

I've been taking a core strength class over the past few weeks to replace the PT that I had been doing to rehab my low back/spine. Well, not everything goes as planned and the core strength class turned out to be a little too aggressive and I aggravated my back. Have taken the last week off from everything and have gotten back to swimming and cycling yesterday. Strength training (of a less aggressive nature) will start today with, hopefully, a longish ride. Laid out my schedule when I heard the… Continue

So, for this year, I'm more challenged to race than ever before. The spinal infection that took over my life in September has now been defeated, but it left its damage. I'm recovering nicely and am back to a descent level of training, focusing on rebuilding the core strength that I lost from the infection and trying to get my cycling power back close to where it was last year. Still about 10-15% shy of my FTP wattage from 2007, but I started from "ground zero" and am very satisfied so far. I sti… Continue