Brazil 70.3

I am about to depart Brazil but will leave with fond memories of the little town on the south east Coast of Santa Catarina called Penha. After a bit of a journey to get up here from New Zealand on Tuesday I found my body didn't get knocked around too much from the stress of travel and the stress of almost not being allowed on my flight out of Auckland because I didn't have a flight booked out of South America. I managed to get something organized minutes before check-in closed so was smooth sailing for the next 24hours. Race day quickly rolled and I will admit that I was the calmest and most relaxed I had been before a race in a long time. The great vibe of the place and beautiful beach contributed largely to that, oh yeah and also really bad internet connection and not many people to speak english to. The Pro athletes down here are very talented and I went into the race not expecting anything, Jon, my coach and I spoke about the key areas I needed to race well in to best prepare for Vegas, so this was my main focus. Crossing the line in first at the end of the day was just a huge bonus. I cant describe the elation I felt after over 20 months of not being on top of the podium, and racing a top quality professional field made the that much more satisfying. The race consisted of an Ocean swim with a nice beach break, a 6 lap bike course and 2 lap run. 2 local guys got away from me during the bike, Igor Amorelli and Fabio Carvalho and built a 1min20sec lead coming off the bike. I was sure with the great swim and bike their legs would fall off at the start of the run, but that didn't happen! Over the 15 km I pushed in the run I finally made my way to the leader, Carvalho but with his home crowd cheering he was not going to give up. His stride revived and he tried to attack me 3 times before finally I put in my move with just over 3km to go. It was a tough decision to make as the last 3km was into a gale headwind, but I knew I had the upper hand when after a minute on the front he dropped off. I kept pushing as I knew soon the crowd would carry me home and running down the finish shoot I couldn't pump my fist hard enough. A Huge thanks to all the local Brazilians for the patience with the 2 words of Portuguese and their friendly hospitality. Aside from the race I had a great time relaxing and my only regret is that I have to fly out straight away. Looking at Facebook and twitter It seems I may have offended some people by assuming the water wasn't suitable to drink. I didn't mean any offense to your beautiful country, I was only commenting and what the hotel staff advised and with my heavy travel and race schedule the next few weeks I am doing everything I can to stay 100% healthy. Aside from that I had a few laughs with Rhodsey, a fellow kiwi athlete and raced against one of my old friends Santaigo Ascensco who won the very first World Championships I represented New Zealand at way back in 2000 in Calais, France. Next stop is Tampa where I will hang out for a few days to stay closer to Las Vegas time zone and climate before shooting across the northern hemisphere ditch to race the Ireland 70.3. Thanks for all your support and I am really glad I could get a "W" on the board. Regards Terenzo

Portland Rev 3 and Vineman 70.3

Hi guys, Sorry I didn't get an update out after the Portland Rev 3 a couple weeks ago. But here is a quick run down on my last 2 events. I had been hanging out in Portland with my training partners and bike shop sponsor Athletes Lounge for the past few weeks and had really been enjoying the training and even more the great restaurants. They have some amazing trails to run on and I didn't realize how much I had missed running on them, especially my tempo runs along Leaf trail. The Revolution 3 triathlon series was running the Portland Half for the second year and this year they had really vamped up the course. I think they had gone for a Tour de France theme with some of the meanest hills I have ever seen in a triathlon.

I had a good swim and felt good for most of the bike. Richie Cunningham and Paul Matthews got away at the early stages of the race and put a minute into us by the start of the run. one of the toughest things I found on this bike course would have to be the last 10miles. You are on a dead flat road with a strong cross wind and most of us had left our legs on the hills. Fellow Kiwi, Graham O'Grady and I found ourselves chasing down the 2 Aussies up ahead with 2 Americans (well 1 canadian and 1 american ) hot on our heels. Off onto the run I could feel my legs had been burnt big time but I did what I could to hold it together. I started coming around and was holding a good pace but as soon as pne of the americans, Jesse Thomas passed me I ran a bit too hard for a mile and paid the price big time. At mile 4 I was in a good place but quickly my legs feel off and I am sure that people on the side of the road watching me run would not have been able to tell which direction I was moving. From getting up to 2nd place I slowly moved backwards and just finished in the money with a 6th place which is respectable given the quality of the field. Richie who is having an amazing year managed to hold off Jesse on the run to come away with the victory. Next stop was the Vineman 70.3 in Sonoma, Northern California. I won this race back in 2008 and had a great homestay. It is great to catch up with them again and enjoy some of the local wine. Again the quality and depth of this field was huge. It is amazing to see how much and how fast this sport is growing.

Again nothing too exciting happened in the swim, a small group came out of the water together and again Paul Matthews head an amazing transition and got away from the group. Immediately after getting on the bike Greg Bennett jump across and the two of them rode like it was a 40km TT and put 3 minutes into us pretty quickly. I wanted to focus on having a good run this week so backed off slightly on the intensity of the bike ride. Joe Gambles lead the chase group for most of the ride and we got off the bike and onto the run with just under a 3 minute deficit. Gambles took off out of the gates like a man possessed and Luke McKenzie and I settled into our rhythm together.

Soon I found myself closing the gap to Joe and at mile 4 I was about to close the final 5 meters when running through an aide station one of the volunteers walked backwards into me. I thought he was going to hit the deck pretty hard but it all happened so quick and with my athletic build it was me who did the tumbling. I struggled to find my rhythm again and found myself pushing way too hard for several miles. I caught Joe and he started winding up the pace on a 2km dirt track and after making up 45 seconds on Greg Bennett in that short section my legs had been spent. Soon I was back into a similar position I was in last week just trying to survive to the finish line. When I was passed with 1 mile to go I had nothing to react with, but with 400 meters left and about to be passed again I found every bit of energy I had left to hold off 6th place and finish in 5th. I hold no harsh feelings to the guy who took me down, our sport depends largely on volunteers and I am very grateful for all they do. Next time I will be more solid on my feet though! My racing while it still isn't where I would like it to be I can see things starting to come together and there is now a light at the end of the tunnel. I am looking forward to Racing on a new course in the Philippines in a few weeks time and putting on a great show for all my fans over there. Will catch up again soon Regards Terenzo Www.terenzo.com Www.twitter.com/terenzo1 Www.facebook.come/terenzobozzone Rev 3 photos thanks to Eric Wynn eric.noahs@gmail.com And Vineman photos thanks to Larry Rosa lpr@larryrosa.com

Prologo Touch

Oh the Pain

This weekend was the Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3 in Lubbock Texas. After a good block of training back in New Zealand and a steady 10 days in the heat of Los Angeles I felt ready for a good race. My fitness had taken a big step up since my last bloke of races and I was excited to get out and see what I could do.

The race kicked off and the start of the swim was fast. I felt comfortable for the first few hundred meters then I am not sure why but I started struggling a little. I just didn't feel right in the water. Maybe because it was of wetsuit legal temperature and  the water temperature and air temperature made for pretty warm conditions. I chose to wear my Aqua Sphere wetsuit as it is always quicker to swim in a wetsuit than without due to the buoyancy. 

 Aside from the gun swimmer Clayton Fettell the group of guys got out of the water together. Out of transition and straight up the steepest hill on the course I felt like I left my legs in my transition bag as a group of 4 guys made climbing this hill seem easy. Soon I was on my own but I wasn't worried. I knew the shape I was in and I knew once my heart rate settled down a little I would be back in the game. Sure enough at mile 2 things started to look up. My legs had caught up with me and I felt strong for the first time in a while. My Felt bike was humming in part thanks to my Zipp wheels, SRAM group set, Profile- Design cock-pit, Giro Helmet, Sidi Shoes and Prologo Saddle.  I quickly got into my rhythm and started working my way back into the race. Slowly I reeled in the leaders. As I was approaching 2nd and 3rd place I moved to the left to get ready to pass. I entered the 10 meter draft zone behind 3rd place, fellow kiwi and good friend Mark Bowstead and was making my way through the pass when Mark, not knowing I was there decided to surge and pass the athlete in front of him. With the rules the way they are you have 25 seconds to pass an athlete once entering their draft zone, you are not allowed to drop back once entering their draft zone. My wattage increased from the 300 watts I was pushing to 500 watts so the draft marshall would see I was moving forward through the pass.  Unfortunately I had no more gas to move any quicker and by the time I had passed Mark and the other athlete it was 40 seconds. Instead of using common sense or the theory that I passed 2 people within the 50 second allocated period the head official decided to give me a red card (4 minute penalty at the next penalty tent). I was furious but knew there was no changing her mind so I got back in my zone and forgot about it. I was ready to stop at the penalty tent a few miles up the road. Unfortunately the tent was not set up by the time we passed so I would have to wait until much later in the race to take my penalty. 

Sorry for dragging this on, I will move through the race a bit quicker now. I soon made my way past the leader, Luke Bell and was feeling great. James Bowstead, caught me with about 20 miles to go and we stayed within a few hundred meters of each other for the remainder of my race. The penalty tent was going to be with 10 miles to go, I would stop relax for 4 minutes then finish the remainder of the bike with good effort and smash the run with everything I had. 2 miles before the penalty tent the head official decided I was drafting again because I was not 5 bike lengths behind James. I was and James will vouch for me. And by the way they rule is 10 meters from front wheel of the rider in front of you to your front wheel, not 5 bike lengths, that is used as an example in briefings. 

Oh well, I was still in the zone and I figured we would sort it out at the tent where I was stopping for 4 minutes anyway. I got there and quickly lost my focus and got really frustrated that she could not use common sense to see through the first penalty where after the over taking dilemma I immediately road away from the other guys and with the second penalty that she did not know the rule was 10 meters not 5 bike lengths (not a big deal but a bit of a worry when the official doesn't actually know what the ruling states), makes you wonder. Maybe she just didn't like how good I looked in my 2XU race kit…

I lost my cool and cracked, I had 8 minutes of penalty time and thought it was ridiculous so I through in the towel. Immediately after making that decision and starting my journey back to transition I knew I had reacted impulsively and made the wrong decision but it was to late as I had given the official back my timing chip… I wanted to make my point. My race was over and instead of dealing with the consequences and moving on from them I reacted emotionally and made the wrong decision. I hurt deep down the whole way home and am still burning inside, what makes it worse is that the leaders of the race blew up big time and the guys who were 8-9 minutes back where victorious on the day. I am not saying I would have won, but I am saying that I should not have pulled the pin as it as a long and hot day and anything could have happened out there. Besides a good tempo run would have been good for the training!!!

A big congrats to Michael Lovato for regaining his title here and coming from over 8 minutes down on James Bowstead off the bike. There were also a lot of other races out there this weekend so congratulations to all the winners and also to those who competed and made it to the finish line.

I learnt a big lesson today, one that hopefully I will remember. It doesn't pay to be emotional and make emotional decision. I have never strategised what I would do in a situation like this and that was my fault. If I knew what to expect and how I would feel emotionally going into the penalty tent I may have been able to handle the situation better. So big learning to be made today.

Next stop for me is Portland where I will base myself for the next couple weeks before competing in the Portland Rev 3. I am looking forward to hanging out with some good friends in the area as well as my bike shop sponsor Athletes Lounge. 

A big thanks to Shari and Randy Holloway for putting the Bowstead brother and me up in their house this week and making us feel at home.

Also, if you are up for a way out their story, check out Andrew Starykowicz's blog. He raced the Abu Dhabi tri in March and has been locked up for a hit and run on his bike during the race for the past few months.

http://astarykowicz.blogspot.com/ 

Thanks for your support

Until next time,

Terenzo Bozzone