We have four simple rules at the Kawaoka compound:
Don’t talk, act.
Don’t say, show.
Don’t promise, prove.
Don’t eat Mcdonald’s, eat lettuce.
This past weekend, I had two athletes racing a local 10-mile road cycling time trial (Taco Time Ice Breaker TT) — my wife (Becca) and Michelle M.
This “out season” has been all about working on weaknesses. We’ve participated in a 1500M swim race (Becca’s first ever swim event), joined a local Masters group, and set a high priority on improving our functional threshold power (FTP) on the bike, all while continuing to dominate at local running races.
#1 in the Lovers Category at Better Half Marathon last month:
I’ve heard Becca sobbing in our training room trying to hit power targets, grunting in pure agony doing over-unders, and she’s cussed me out multiple times. The fact is, she has set big goals for herself and it’s my job to get her there. She works her ass off, both in her professional life and in training. Same goes for Michelle, except I don’t think she dislikes me as much. They are both hardcore, hard-working, very passionate, inspiring women in our sport.
Becca warming up for TT:
Becca at the start of her inaugural time trial. The guy behind her better watch it…
Becca and Michelle both won their respective age categories. In fact, Becca was 1st OA in the CAT 4/5 division, swept CAT 3, and was 1′ behind the winning Pro/Cat 1 woman. 24.7 mph. Beast mode.
Michelle was 1st in the 35+ Cat 4/5 by a healthy margin!
While I am very happy for both of them, I am not surprised by their results. They put in the work, listen to me, and follow the plan. I do a lot of training data analysis and nerdy number-crunching behind the scenes, but my coaching philosophy has always been providing workouts that are the most “bang for your buck” and eliminate the fluff I see in other training plans.
At the end of the day though, nothing replaces consistent, hard work by the athlete.
Congrats Michelle and Becca on your well-deserved victories!
As Marshawn Lynch told Prime Time in an interview: “Ain’t never seen no talking winning nothing… I’m gonna get it. Don’t need to talk about it… I’m just about that action, boss.”
The Kawaoka’s are all bout’ that action, boss.
—
Elliot Kawaoka 
Leave a Reply