It is the end of an elite era. The beautiful training center in Blowing Rock, NC that has been home to some of the best endurance athletes in the country is for sale. What does that mean for the elite athletes that live and work there? And what about the adult and teen running camps that ZAP has hosted for the past 18 years?
Coach Claire talked to head coach and owner, Pete Rea to find out.
Pete Rea, the Elite Athlete coach at ZAP Endurance Team USA, has an impressive resume. He has led 51 athletes to Olympic Trials since the facility’s opening in 2002, and also coached the following:
Pete together with his wife, two-time Olympic trials qualifier Zika Rea, are coaches at the facility, host adult running camps during the summer and retreats all year. The facility has a state-of-the-art weight room, a bio-lab for physiological testing, and a 24-bed lodge. RunnersConnect has held fall running retreats at ZAP for years and it's always been a highlight of the season.
Big changes are coming to ZAP, however, and Coach Claire talks to Pete to discover what’s in store for the team and their beautiful 45-acre center. They also talk about the evolution of running since the ‘90s, what Pete sees as the future of running, and what’s next for him and the athletes he coaches.
Prior to ZAP, Pete served as a private coach to athletes of all ages and abilities in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also the distance events coach at The Walton School in Georgia. Pete was a distance running standout both as a prep athlete in Connecticut, at the University of Connecticut, and as a post-collegiate runner in the early 1990s. Pete has been a freelance writer for over 20 years for publications such as Running Times, Running Journal, and more than a dozen fitness publications around the US.
2:59 You've been the head coach at ZAP Endurance, formally ZAP Fitness, since the beginning in 2002. A lot has changed in the world and in the world of running since then. Can you talk about what those early years were like in the sport and at ZAP and how it’s changed?
5:59 How has the environment at ZAP changed now versus in 2002?
6:57 You mentioned that the ZAP facility is for sale. That’s a big part of why I wanted to have you on this show. Can you talk a little bit about that, what’s going on and what the future’s going to be like?
8:24 How does not having a training facility in the future, how does that change the group training model? Because they won’t be getting up together. They won’t be probably having their meals together as much anymore.
9:16 You mentioned that ZAP does group camps and group retreats, and that’s actually where we first met. RunnersConnect always has a training camp at ZAP. So what is that going to look like in the future?
10:33 What has the year 2020 been like for the athletes that you coach at ZAP?
11:59 What about the athletes that you have that have been injured? Have they been really using this time to heal and take care of themselves and scale back? At least maybe that is a silver lining for some of the people?
12:35 You have led 51 athletes to the Olympic Trials with ZAP. What does it take for an athlete to reach that level?
14:52 How would you describe your coaching style?
16:42 Time on feet matters, but you can’t go hard all the time, right?
17:17 Would you advise a recreational runner who’s looking to move up to the marathon to do a lot of running at a controlled pace?
17:46 How much slower than marathon pace would you say is a good recovery or easy run pace?
22:49 What advice would you give the people listening about training without a goal race? How do you stay motivated? How do you add a little spice to it? How do you keep that carrot in front of you when there’s no race?
24:39 Two of your athletes, Joe Stilin and Joanna Thompson, have recently moved to New York City, but they are still affiliated with ZAP. How will you work with them from a distance?
26:01 In 2019, the Swiss running company On became the official sponsor of ZAP. Can you talk about the change from Reebok to On?
27:19 What’s On’s answer to the Nike shoes? They’ve got some carbon fiber plates?
28:11 Any predictions for the London Marathon coming up?
29:13 What's next for your athletes? What are they training for?
“Athletes now are fully aware of the types of training others are doing both domestically and around the world, and that’s helped athletes who at one point probably thought they were training hard and then realized they weren’t.”
“We’ve got a couple athletes right now who are struggling with injury. The party line is, ‘Well, if you were going to be hurt, if there’s such a thing as a good time, it’s now.’”
“What he averaged over the long term was clearly one of his greatest strengths, not what he did over any given three weeks or even a month or six months.”
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