Tony's favorite cartoon character, pretty fitting!
Let me hit you with a little background info first and how I came to be a member of Triathlon Connection and my relationship with Tony. My wife Jill and I had lived in Northern New England for most of our adult lives. We had times out of the area here and there but New Hampshire had been our home for awhile, yeah cold, snowy grey NH. And so it came to pass that we got sick and tired of the cold, not those Bluebird snow days where we could ski and snowshoe all day, but all those other grey and windy bonechilling days that eventually would give way to Mud Season, then Black Fly Season, which passed into Mosiquito Season, then one day of Summer, then Leaf Peeper Season, and then November and we start all over again! Yuck! We needed a change of scenery and wound up in SoCal. Being an athlete I searched out running and tri-clubs and found a pool before we even picked a house to live in, hey first things first! I joined Socal Daybreakers and LA Tri club before we even moved. After arriving here I found LA Tri was not my cup of tea and began to look for another option, one that was close to home. During my morning runs with the Daybreakers, I had the occasion to chat with this strange dude (strange because he was nice and approachable, 2 things that are abnormal to us New Hamphire people!). He told me about his tri club and that I should join. Heck, I thought, if he is running a tri club it must be a good one, and well it IS! The club is truly a reflection of its leader, we are a caring and dedicated bunch. One that feels more like a group of family and friends instead of a high intensity tri club.
My chat with Tony seems to have come at a crossroads for both him and the club he started back and has grown, along with the help of his awesome wife Sinta, since 2004. Tony first met Sinta, then a member of the LA tri club, during some training rides with Cycling Connection. Sinta was new to group rides and was having a hard time not getting dropped by the group. Tony would stay back and help pull Sinta to the end of the ride. As time passed Sinta needed less and less help till she was good enough to hang with the group without Tony's help, but she still rode with Tony, something that did not go unnoticed by coach! When Tony Started Tri Connection the numbers were small and sometimes it was only Tony and Sinta going out to train, but with a housing boom occuring in Rancho and with the steady support of Corey from Coates Cyclery, the club began to grow. Sinta helped Tony with the Website and it is hard to think of one without the other, they certainly seem like they were made for each other! Today TC's number exceeds 200 members who stretch from the desert to Glendora. Its has become a big job to run the club, as well as have a full time job, as well as coach other athletes and oh by the way keep up some level of training yourself. So Tony and TC find themselves at a time of change, a time that will require more participation from its membership as the club grows and moves into the future.
Tony had been active as an athlete who participated in sports that used a ball as their main focus until he was involved involved in a terrible motorcycle accident in1989 that robbed him of the use of his left arm and one he was lucky to come out of it alive. Recovery from any bad accident is tough but one that reminds you of it effects on a daily basis is even tougher. He was left to chart a new course and found, although difficult at first, he could still ride a bike. After becoming involved ultra cycling, even completing the California Triple Crown (Three 200 mile rides in one calendar year!), he had become enamored with the idea of triathlon. His favorite triathletes were Ironman Champion Mark Allen and some french IM dude who trained using a HR monitor (a real pioneer) which created an idea for Tony: He wanted to be an Ironman! Having run some in high school all that was needed was to learn had to swim, well one handed that is, which he learned for the sole purpose of finishing an IM . Soon he developed a technique and felt confident enough to enter Ironman Canada in 1999. He triumphantly finished the race and upon his return from Pentictan dug out his old helmet from the crash, a symbol of what had happened and how it had changed him, and tossed it in the trash. Oh sure he was different now, but it wasn't because of his scars, it was because he was an Ironman! Tony still harbors some athletic goals, Wildflower in less than 6 hours as well finishing an Ironman under 12 hours, and outrunning me.
Tony has raced a ton, I tried to pin him down to a number but I wasn't able to, let's just say a lot (and a lot of entry fees too!) but what he really loves to do now is coach. Not just the kind of coach that show up with a whistle and a stop watch but someone who gets to know you, your lifestyle, what makes you tick, what he tries to do is build that relationship so the athlete and the coach are a team. Working toward a common goal, knowing full well that not everyone has the time or desire to train 25 hours a week. He feels he learns as much from those he teaches or coaches as they learn from his experiences. His proudest achievements are from coaching individuals who have children, jobs and relationships that are important to them yet they strive to be an Ironman. To those people who think of getting to an Ironman maybe as impossible as walking on the moon, its those individuals Tonys loves to work with and help. When those athletes cross the finish line he is crossing it with them and at those times he as as proud as when he is crossing it himself.
While I think it should be....
Let me hit you up with some stats: Tony Troccoli was born in 1965 and he is of Italian and Spanish decandaent, he races with Zoots and rides a Cervelo. One of our clubs favorite saying is swim, ride, run, eat, sleep, repeat well Tony's favorite food is Angel Hair Pasta! A couple of Tonyism's:" If you gonna yak then get in the back!" or "if you are yakking you are not working hard enough!" YES he has done a race in a speedo only! It was the the Tinsel tri and he has a picture of it, luckily we don't have it for this article. He also see a lot of people enter tri's and triathlon as awhole untrained and unprepared. He has ambitions to write a book, one written from the normal triathletes point of view. Not a book to teach you how to become an elite triathlete but someone who actually has a life and wants to incorporate triathlon while still keeping their everyday life. In fact to me it seemed like the book is almost already written Tony just needs the time to type it up.
Hopefully I have provided you with a brief glimpse of Tony and what has gotten him to where he is today in the world of triathlon.
The author and Tony square off for a hard hitting interview!
