Columbia, Maryland USA 17 May 2009

Hey hey,

What a great place to have a race, Columbia Maryland is so beautiful, very green with loads of hills… well at least the course had plenty of hills. The weather was a little fresh and a little wet for my liking but with me carrying a few extra kilos (my rubber ring) around the course it meant I didn’t have to worry about overheating. We started at 6:45am and because the water was 70’F (over the 68’ cut off) we were not allowed to wear our wetsuits. Ffffffreeezzzzing. But as we got going and the blood started pumping the cool temperatures made for a fast day. I was second out of the water with a little gap on the other competitors which was nice. I got going on the bike and thought I was riding strong… I was riding strong but Andrew Yoder, a young 19year old who is the bomb on the bike came rolling past me 10minutes into the bike and made me feel like I was standing still. He was the only person I saw out there on the challenging but fast 40km bike. He ended up putting almost 2minutes into me by the end of the bike.

I felt good starting the run and just tried to find my rhythm. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run back my 2 minute deficit, all I could do was run within myself and hope to see him by the end of the 10km run. I got to half way and still no sign on Yoder. There were was plenty of up and downhill throughout the run so I just keep working it and eventually at about 4.5miles / 7.5km I caught him, but he didn’t give up and pushed me all the way to the finish. I managed to hold him off for the win and we were not too far off the course record.

All in all… besides the travel, our experience here has been great. The Tri Columbia staff and volunteers did a great job in looking after the athletes and putting on and world class event. Also ARX http://www.fastertomorrow.com/ one of my sponsors was an event sponsor so it was great to hang out with them at the expo and after the race.

Back off to Santa Barbara first thing tomorrow to get into some heavy training millage for IM Germany. Right now I have to break down my Specialized bike to fit it into my custom box (made by my dad), dry and K-Swiss race flats and my Aqua Sphere Swim Suit, email the kind folks at Zipp to let them know my Sub 9 Disc with Ceramic bearings must have had a stone flung at it at Wildflower because I found a small crack in the carbon before packing my bike for this trip, and chat with the guys at Plumbing World about the Stellar Trust Ball that was held this weekend in Auckland, New Zealand in order to raise funds for the awareness of the drug “P” or Meth.

Next race on the cards is the Buffalo Triathlon in Minnesota in 3 weeks time.

Until then, Take care

Terenzo Bozzone

WILDFLOWER 4 MAY 2009

So I guess in this line of work or any line or work you have good days and you have bad days. This past weekend at the Wildflower Half Ironman in California was one of those bad days at the office.

Last week started off great, after flying back to the west coast after my race in Florida we headed down to Specialized at Morgan Hill, although I didn't get any product I felt like a kid a Christmas. Hanging out with the engineers and designers looking at the new bikes and equipment that will be coming out later in the year... I can't wait.

Well, The race started off as a good day. I swam well and was out of the water not too far behind Andy Potts (one of the fastest swimmers in our sport), jumped onto the bike and was riding strong, at least that is what my SRM (power meter) said. But for some reason there was a bigger group of guys than usual pushing the pace, and they didn't slow for the whole 90km. We soon bridged the gap to Potts but Bjorn Anderson had started to put some time onto us and was riding into the distance. We got about 75 percent through the course and hit one of the big climbs. To illustrate how fast we rode up the hill - Chris Lieto (a great biker) had put about 1minute into the group in about 10km, half way up the climb we had already caught him, surely he was meant to be riding away from us? These guys were racing up the hill like it was a 40km bike race and I probably should have backed off, but I didn't want to lose time so I pushed it to stay with them.
We soon got off the bike and headed out onto the 21km hilly run. Potts and I were running shoulder to shoulder, It was not feeling great so after a mile I backed off the pace and thought he would come back to me, I was finding my rhythm and my legs were starting to feel okay, that was until I hit the hill at mile 4 and had to slow into a walk. I think the drink bottle I lost at the start of the bike with all my calories in it was a bigger problem than I thought. I tried to keep going the best I could but it was ending up like last year's race where I blew up big time. On the course we passed a road that would lead us down to transition/ the finish, that is where I wanted to go (a short cut to the finish), but I couldn't do that so I just kept plowing through the run, almost running backwards, I went from 2nd place with a comfortable lead on the rest of the field down to 8th place.
This was definitely a race that I would like to forget, but after looking at how last year unfolded after getting thrashed at this same race I am sure the rest of the year will go okay. Maybe my weekend was not that bad after all, Dixie - a great lady who helps organize the event slipped on the grass on Friday and broke her ankle, my buddy Chris Boudreaux was having a great race and it a pot hole at full speed and pulled his back out and couldn't finish, another friend James Cotter hurt his back and was having trouble moving the days leading up to the race and last but not least James Bowstead, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the femur 10days out from IM New Zealand and was meant to be up here training and racing with me but is still not back running. Other than that it was a fun weekend, a couple of my sponsors, ARX - Faster tomorrow, Aqua Sphere and Specialized had a presence at the expo and I had a good time hanging out with them.

We are now settled into our place in Santa Barbara with my brother where we will be based for the next month training and working on our tan while swimming in our lycra in the awesome 50m outdoor pool that is pretty much on the beach.Attached are a few pictures from the past week.

Next stop for me and Kelly is the Columbia Olympic distance Tri in Maryland on the 17th May

Thanks
Terenzo