Ironman 70.3 Miami

I raced the Ironman 70.3 Miami yesterday and after putting together a great day I managed to hold off and win the race.

I made sure I checked the weather forecast before leaving Los Angeles on Thursday as Hurricane Sandy was sneaking by and I knew they had canceled a race in the Bahamas. Miami was due to feel the side of Sandy on Thursday and Friday and clear up by Saturday. That is the one thing I love about Florida, they seem to get the weather forecast right 99% of the time. Sandy has moved up the east coast and gained enough power to be called a super storm as it hits the states up north.

By race day the sun was out but we were still receiving some of the strong winds. Fortunately the harbor where we swam was somewhat calm and besides of a few of my competitors presuming it was going to be a non-wetsuit swim and leaving their wetties at home it was fast swim.

The bike was an out and back. Out into the wind, back with the wind. Riding into the wind it seemed people where getting mighty close to the draft zone and the stronger cyclists could not make any impact on the group. This all changed dramatically after we hit the turn around. Jan Van Berkel who beat me in a sprint finish at 70.3 Ireland a couple months back launched an attack, while I sat in 5^th place waiting for the two Germans in front to hang in there. They didn’t and I didn’t react quick enough and soon I was sitting on the front of the group trying to chase down or at least limit the deficit we would have on Jan. we went from 23 mph heading out to 33 mph on the way home and the large group soon was not there. I had 2 guys sitting behind me but I was doing all the lifting which was fine.

Through the technical section into Transition we managed to almost close out the deficit and we ran out of Transition just behind the leader. Frommhold, one of the guys who were behind me took off like a man on a mission and we ran our first mile under 5minutes. It was a 2 lap run course with a bridge you crossed 4 times in total. The gradient on this slowly pinched away at your legs and by the time I hit it for the forth time I was glad I had open up a good lead and I could enjoy the last few miles to the finish.

Frommhold ended up paying big time for his early pace and lost several positions while Jan and Horst Reichel held on for 2^nd and 3^rd.  Another high would be getting to share the #1 position on the podium with woman’s race winner and current Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world Champion Leanda Cave. Leanda – have a holiday chick, It would be well deserved!

I have been putting in a lot of hard work and it is great to see it paying off albeit very late in the season, 1:11 for the Half Marathon 2 weeks ago, 1:12 for this week and after a long season I still have a lot of energy going into my next two races.

I fly to LA for a couple days before starting the trip back to NZ where I will be going via Taiwan for the Ironman 70.3 next weekend. I have never been to Taiwan and am looking forward to experiencing the culture and racing at a new venue.

Until next week

Rev 3 Anderson

I just finished the Revolution 3 Half Ironman in Anderson, South Carolina and while a victory would have been nice I am really please with how I performed to finish in 3rd place behind Andrew Starykowicz and Ben Collins.

Training the past few weeks in California has gone really well. My fitness has taken a big jump forward and I was really looking forward to testing things out this weekend.

I struggled a little through the Swim but came out with all the contenders. Jumping onto the bike there was a little congestion and I couldn't do my normal flying mount as guys were swerving all over the place. Andrew Starykowicz who has a solid figure soon came thundering through the whole group up a small climb in a gear that must have been a 54 x 13 (that’s a gear most would ride on downhills). Ben Collins had a small gap on the group and jumped onto his ticket outa there when Stary came past.

Our group on the bike struggled to find any rhythm and I knew if this kept up we would be looking at a big deficit off the bike. I tried a couple times to get away from the group and both times I thought I had done enough to isolate myself, but both times I was reeled in. I am honored that I had this target on my back by my competitors but I wish we would have all road steadier throughout. Finally with 15miles to go 4 of us managed to get away and the pace was good the rest of the way, we limited our loses but were still looking at a nine and a half minute deficit on Stary and over 6 minutes on Collins.

Richie Cunningham sped out of transition onto the run which got me in the mode to run fast. We were running well together, a couple 5:15 miles then all of a sudden he had dropped off. I wasn't sure if I could catch up to the leaders being that far back but I thought I would try and it was a good test to see where my running form was at. I kept the pressure on the whole run and was really proud of how I managed to keep it together the whole 13miles. I was making some good ground those middle 7 miles but it was going to be too little too late. Crossing the line in 3rd place in a time of 1hr51min50sec, 40seconds down on Collins and 2.5minutes off Starkowicz. My 1hr 11minute half marathon on a hilly course, while a great time didn't make any difference to the overall standings but I had a good day and hats off to Andrew and Ben for unbelievable races. 

Check out http://rev3tri.com/live/ for a quick update from me at the finish line (may need to scroll to about 40 seconds into it)

Next stop for me is going to be Miami 70.3 in two weeks time followed by the Taiwan 70.3 on the way home to NZ.

Ironman 70.3 world champs

It is with great regret that I have to announce that due a sinus infection I am going to have to pull out of the Ironman 70.3 World Champs.

 My training has been on track and recent results have been very positive - I have been feeling very fit and strong, but I think maybe I made one too many Trans-Atlantic fights - blocked ears and airways do not bode well for a fast race...

I am desperately disappointed to have to withdraw from this race but I wouldn't have been doing myself any favours, either in the race or longterm, to line up with such an incredible line up of Pro Triathletes knowing I was not going to be able to breathe properly.

The race this weekend is going to be amazing with every 70.3 world champion standing on the start line among a bunch of other athletes who are having amazing years. I wish them and everyone else competing the very best of luck and I look forward to seeing you all battling it out over the amazing course here in Las Vegas.

I have managed to tick a couple big boxes these past 2 weeks which I know will be a stepping stone to much greater results in the near future. I am going to rest up and get healthy, then plan my attack on the last part of the triathlon season and finish on a high.

Regards 

Terenzo Bozzone

Ireland 70.3

Holly smokes that was one intense race. I have just finished the Ireland 70.3 here in Galway Ireland and while I did not cross the line in first place I was not far off the pace… About a second. Surprising all the travel hasn't been knocking me around too much and I have been managing to get right into the correct sleeping patterns in all my destinations. After brazil I was really looking forward to getting up to Ireland and checking out some of the country, and grabbing a pint of the local Guinness (although I am yet to do that). It is an amazing country and the people are some of the friendliest in the world, oh yeah and I have officially given them the award for the worlds best accent. Onto the race. The weather was very wet and windy in the days leading into the event. Fortunately it cleared up this morning with the rain stopping and the wind dying down, but that didn't help the near freezing water warm up at all. We got in and I struggled to warm up my arms in the 10minutes before the start. The gun went at 7am and I could not for the life of me turn my arms over any faster. Jan Van Berkel who I would later go on to battle with to the finish line got a small gap on the field and all I could do was settle into the pack. After we rounded the first buoy I had to make the decision to follow the group or head in the right direction to the next turn. I chose the later and trusted in my ability to navigate the shortest line. Eventually the others realized and started correcting, luckily for me it just so happened the Jan joined the correct course right next to me and the rest of the swim was history. We got a good lead on the remainder of the field and my arms eventually came right and I lead the last 600meters. Next step was the run through transition, this was about 1km long. Good times, I love running barefoot in the cold on wet grass and gravel. Jan and I worked out way through the 90km bike course, each taking a lead on the front for 10minutes. While you are not allowed drafting in these races it still helps mentally and to a small extend physically when you are 10meters behind. The roads were smooth and there were some gentle undulations along the way , but all in all the bike was course was ideal for fast times. We averaged over 43km per hour and built our lead over the other pro men which included last years winner Mike Aigros, fellow Swiss countrymen of Jan. I wasn't sure what would happen to Jan on the run, most of the time when guys swim and bike so well they fade away on the run and it is just a battle to see who can hold on the longest and Jan was doing a great job holding on. We got to 6km together and then my gut started giving me some problems, I am not as tough as some of the other ironmen out there who can go on the go so I needed to find a Portaloo ASAP. Loosing about 40seconds with this rookie mistake of getting something wrong with food intake, probably yesterday or this morning as this has never happened to me in the past. I focused on building my rhythm through the next 15km of the race as a fast run is exactly what I needed and wanted the week before the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Las Vegas next weekend. Luckily I had a Clif Shot in my Fuelbelt flask to restore the calories I just lost. At 17km into the run I finally made the bridge up to Jan but unfortunately he wasn't as tired as I was hoping. I tried to surge several time to get away from him but he would not let me get a gap. I also tried to back off and run behind him, but he slowed the pace right down, I suspected he wanted to have a sprint finish, which was okay for me, I missed these things, I haven't had to sprint since starting my half ironman career, but before that I had a pretty good track record over the shorter distance. It was a game of cat and mouse the last 3km with painfully slow speeds but I was not going to lead him out into the head wind. I waited for him to make his move, I also knew at about 100meters to go the was a pretty tight 180 degree left hand turn that I wanted to be on the inside going around. I squeezed past him going into the turn and I was sure I had it in the bag. I carried momentum nicely then at about 15meters from the line my legs just gave way and Jan with the speed from coming up recently from the ITU racing came past me to get the Win. It was a tough, but fair race and today Jan raced like a champ and deserved the win. Mike Aigros came in third place We ran 1hr13min for the half which was a nice step up from last weekends 1hr16min. Lets see if we can shave a little more off that next week in Vegas. Back in my room chilling out with my 2XU compression gear and doing what I can to recover as much as possible before my flight to Vegas tomorrow morning. Just to show how small this world is, I bumped into an old friend and ITU commentator Barrie Shepley who was racing his first 70.3, the physio I saw before the race worked with Darcy Noel who I studied at physio school with back in the early 2000's and Chris Broome, Westlake head boy at the same time as me at Rangi and his girlfriend are traveling around and just so happen to be in Galway seeing the sights. Look forward to catching up next week Regards Terenzo