Rhode Island 70.3

Finally I have made it back home to New Zealand after an event filled few months on the road. The last race of the series for me was in Providence, Rhode Island on the weekend. This was going to be my 9^th race of the season and 8^th race on this trip. My journey over to the East Coast from LA had a rough start with me missing my flight by a few minutes. To add to this frustration I had one too many coffees that morning and had started to get the jitters while checking in. I managed to arrange to get on a 6am flight the next day so it was off to Santa Monica to hang out with Macca and Derrick. I managed to balance the $150 airline charge out with a one night refund on my hotel.

I arrived in Providence late Thursday afternoon to be greeted by Vinu Malik, owner of Fuelbelt, one of my sponsors. The next couple days rolled around fairly quickly and I soon realized that there were a few more top competitors racing than I had expected. I was going to have to have another great day if I wanted to come out on top.

Race morning was here and after 3hours sleep I was up at 3am to get ready for a 6am kick off. Also the start was an hour drive away from the finish. Thankfully Vinu was up nice and early to drop me off. So we cruised down in him Benz and cranked “The White Panda”

The Start of the swim was fast and soon we all realized that we couldn’t hold onto Kiwi, Graham O’Grady’s feet. He ended up putting a good 90seconds on us heading onto the bike. He also biked strong on the hilly course and held us off until the last section, that is most of us except Paul Ambrose who was starting to put time into us like we were kids riding BMX’s. Off the bike we were a group of five with a 3.5 minute deficit on Ambrose.

Richie and I quickly opened a little gap and were trotting along at a comfortable pace. The time to Ambrose was slowly coming down, but it was hard to calculate if we were going to have enough runway to bring him back. With Richie and I not looking around too much we were soon caught by another Aussie Tim Berkel. Berkel was running strong and putting the pressure on. Soon Richie had dropped off the new pace and I was only just hanging on. Onto the second lap we had made up 2 minutes so all going well we should catch Ambrose with a couple miles to go. I decided to make a move on the steepest hill on the course to test Berkel’s legs. He hung strong for most of the way but I managed to open a little gap that I worked hard to get bigger. Soon Ambrose was in my sights and instead of him giving up when I passed he ran with me for a mile or so and was probably puffing less than me.

All that kept me going that last half of the run was the thought of a good rest once I crossed that finish line. The fans were great and kept my spirits high and legs light those finishing stretches. I was relieved to get this win under my belt and one race closer to evening out my firsts and seconds for the season – 4 wins, 5 seconds and counting.

Tim Berkel came in second, Paul Ambrose third, Richie Cunningham fourth and Maxim Karit fifth.In the womans race we Kate Major ran into the win, Catlin Snow took second and fellow Kiwi Sam Warriner who lead the race most of the day struggled the closing miles and finished third.

Just in case I was not punished enough I had to go back and pack up my hotel before noon, get back for prize giving, rush to the airport to fight with the check in guy who has possibly stolen my bike case, fly to Orange County, arrive at midnight, wake at 6am, meet with Felt, shoot Oakley 2011 campaign all day with Walter Iooss, drive to Triathlon lab to pick up bags, drive to airport, sort out missing bag and fly to NZ in not the greatest seat. Glad to be home!

It has been a great season so far, thanks to everyone who has made it possible. I am now home for the next few weeks for a bit of R & R before getting ready for the big one in Kona in October.

I would also like to welcome California based Tri shop Triathlon Lab to the team. They are a great company and are helping to take this sport to the next level. It will be great to have a team of highly experienced mechanics helping me out whenever I need. I am looking forward to a great relationship with you guys.

By the way, New Zealand is cold and Kelly is working in Bali…

Thanks

Buffalo Springs 70.3

Race Number 8 done and dusted over the weekend at the Buffalo Springs 70.3, in Lubbock, Texas. After a long and uncomfortable trip from LA to Texas, we finally arrived and greeted by Randy our homestay and the heat of the Texan summer.

Weather forecast for race day was crazy and the temperatures were meant to soar which could be a huge factor during the race.

Race morning came round fast and we were up at 3.30am, it felt like I hadn't even slept!!

6.30am and we were off on the 1.2 mile swim. Had a great start and settled into a good rhythm early on. After a 21.33 minute swim we were out and onto the bike. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much of a gap on the rest of the pro field so 6 of us headed out onto the 56 mile bike. Managed to jump on the back of the Lieto and TJ Tollakson's crazy fast express train for the first half of the bike.......whoever told me to cycle with Chris Lieto is nuts.....

After pushing my body for 40mins to try and stay with them I was totally stuffed and fell off the pace......now it was survival mode for me, trying not to waste too much energy for the 2nd half of the bike to ensure I had something left in the tank for the run.

Finally arrived into transition and with the famous Bozzone transition I was out onto the 13.1 mile run 4.30mins down on Lieto. Didn't feel great for the first 2 miles of the run and the temperatures were starting to climb, but I kept digging deep trying to find that extra gear. Seeing Lieto walking on the other side of the lake definitely gave me the extra gear.....thanks Chris!!!

For the next 4 miles I just put my head down and ran as fast as I could to try and catch him. By the turn around point I had run 2.30 minutes into Lieto (race leader), but he was still nowhere in sight. I tried to pick it up but I didn't seem to be gaining on the way home.

Finished 2nd 1.30mins down on Chris Lieto, with Ben Hoffman rounding out the podium. Congratulation to Chris for a great race!!

Thank you to our awesome homestay in Lubbock, Randy and Shari Holloway. We had a great time and hopefully we will be back next year!!

Back in LA for the next week, before I head over to Rhode Island 70.3 on the East Coast for my last race in the USA before I return home to NZ for a short visit. Looking forward to the break and catching up with everyone back home.

Eagleman 70.3

Hi guys,

I just got back to LA after a good 2 weeks on the road. Firstly last
weekend where I finished 2nd to Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander, then
this past weekend where I managed to back it up and win the Eagleman 70.3, a
race I won last year.

This year the conditions were tough with wind blowing in all directions and
the temperatures reaching about 35'C/ 100'F, not to mention the tough
competition.

David Kahn lead the swim from start to finish and managed to hold that lead
for a good portion of the bike, that is until young uber biker Andrew Yoder
swallowed him up. Behind them I was with a good group which included James
Cotter, Richie Cunningham, Tim Marr & Philip Graves. We all seemed to be
struggling and the gap the Yoder grew to almost 6 minutes before we decided
we needed to dig deep to gain a bit back. Cotter and Graves road strong.

We were off the bikes with a 4 minute deficit on Yoder and I guess we were
all questioning our ability to run him down. All I could do was find my
rhythm which I struggled to find and let the rest take care of itself.
Slowly we were making time but with the sun blasting down anything could
happen. Cotter was only seconds behind me. I have done some training with
him in the past and knew he was going to be dangerous.

It wasn't until about mile 8 where I caught Yoder, but things were getting
ugly out there. Every stride was a struggle and I am not proud to admit I
spent more time looking over my shoulder than I did looking in front of me.
Counting down the miles to the finish and it wasn't until the final stretch
where I knew I had the race.

By the time I got to the line I didn't have enough energy to grab the
banner, all I could do was get my hands about head high and try to smile.

Cotter also managed to run down Yoder in the closing stages of the race.

Fellow Kiwi Samantha Warriner took out the girls over Sam McGlone and
Michellie Jones rounded off the woman's podium.

Chilling out for a couple days before trying to find a little extra form for
my next race, Buffalo Springs 70.3 in 2 weeks in Texas.

REV 3 HALF IRONMAN

Wow, what a race!!! My legs are screaming at me big time!!

Today I raced the Revolution 3 half here in Quassy, Connecticut. The scenery is so beautiful here with stunning lakes and rolling green hills, reminds me a lot of home.
The pro field here was unbelievable with the best of the best on the start line, including Craig Alexander, Matt Reed, Ritchie Cunningham and Joe Gambles to name a few.

The gun went off at 6.50am………tick tick boom, we were now off on the 1.2 mile swim around Lake Quassapaug. Got into a great rhythm early on in the swim and managed to get onto the feet of Matty Reed. He is an amazing swimmer and I knew if I stayed close to him I would come out of the swim in a great position.

Came out of the water with Matt and most of the other main competitors and out on to the incredibly challenging and tough 56 mile/90 km 1 loop bike course. This was the hilliest bike course I have ever raced on and it was a matter of pacing myself and not losing the front bunch so that I still had a little left in the tank for the run. For most of the bike 6 athletes stayed together while Bjorn Andersson flew right past us early on in the bike like we were standing still. Joe Gambles then came through the pack and managed to get a 1 minute gap on us.

Arrived in transition with Craig and Matt, 2.30 minutes down on Bjorn and 1 minute down on Joe Gambles. Matt set the pace early on in the run and he was flying, if I wanted to have a chance at taking the title I had to stay with him. By mile 4 on the run we had dropped Craig Alexander and had about a 1 min gap back to him. Matt and I now thought it was game on between just the 2 of us so we slowed down slightly and found a more comfortable pace. Feeling really comfortable now and running side by side with Matt half way through the run, I now had to make sure I paced myself well so that I still had something left in the tank to get to the finish line first. Looking back over my shoulder at around mile 9 Craig was in my sight again and catching really fast…..bugger, I thought he was down and out. I now had to put the hammer down as Craig was flying toward us. With only 4 miles to go I managed to drop Matt Reed and have a slight gap on Craig Alexander. By mile 10, Craig had caught me and we were running side by side. I managed to stay with him for another mile but he eventually dropped me and unfortunately I had nothing left in the tank to go with him. With Craig now running away from me I knew I had to keep pushing to get to the finish line if I wanted to finish on the podium. Finally made it to the finish line in 2nd, 1 minute behind Craig Alexander and with Matty Reed 2 minutes back from me in 3rd to round out the podium.

All in all this race was unbelievable and really happy with the 2nd place result. With the stellar line up of Pros, grueling race course, incredible venue and professionally run event by Todd and Heather Gollnick and her Revolution 3 team, I will definitely be back here again next year.

Next stop is Cambridge, Maryland for the Eagleman 70.3 on the 13 June.

Regards
Terenzo