Cozumel 70.3

Here we are in Cozumel Mexico where I just took silver in the Ironman 70.3 Cozumel today. It is hard to believe as I start to write this it is bucketing with rain outside and there are still a lot of Amateur athletes out on the run. Until about 30minutes after we crossed the finish line the conditions were near perfect, slightly overcast, not too much wind, a nice amount of heat and a lot of humidity. Now tents are being ripped down by the wind and rain, and the roads are completely flooded. Words cannot describe the respect I have for those people still out on the course, firstly the athletes running in ankle deep water and most importantly all the volunteers still out there with huge smiles of encouragement on their faces. RESPECT!

There are actually two tropical storms over Mexico at the moment, Hurricane Ingrid on the Gulf Coast and Tropical Storm Manuel on the Pacific coast and while we are not in the worst of it, it is devastating to see what they have done to parts of the country.

This would have to be one of the toughest fields here in Cozumel, I find myself saying that about a lot of races these days, it is great to see how much the sport and the athletes have developed over the past couple years. There were a number of guys I had my eye on today, but I knew what I wanted to accomplish from the race and went out and did my thing.

The swim was relatively uneventful, we swam all over the place and the pace was very controlled, this was not ideal as I was hoping we would get a small buffer on some of the stronger bike/runners, which we didn’t. Also, I want to say a massive thank you to Miguel and the Aqua Sphere team down here for looking after me, it has been a blast!

Onto the bike, I made my move that would later go on to decide the race at 20km in. This section of the course was meant to have really strong cross winds which I was praying for, but today it was relatively calm, still I put the pedal to the metal on my new Argon 18 bike and basically thought I was Sebastian Kienle (70.3 world champ who beat me by breaking away on the bike). I tried not to look back for 30minutes and just push as hard as I could and by that time there were only 3 left, James Cunnama, who would go on to win today, Matt Chrabot, who has just recently stepped up from ITU and had a great race to finish 3^rd and fellow Kiwi Tom Davidson, who missed the first 4 aid stations and paid for it when the run started.

After the initial damage was done we started taking good time out of the rest of the field and it would come down to who had the most in the tank for the run.

Transition had a nice layer of water and oil and by the time I got off the carpeted section and hit the concrete to make a turn to our gear bags I was sliding, first on my feet, then on my back for a good 5meters, luckily a parked car that was inconveniently parked stopped my slide.

Off onto the run and my tank was definitely a little empty, I had a lead out the gates which quickly got swallowed up by James and Matt and soon James was on the front setting a good tempo. To be honest, the way I was feeling, the end of the run, which would mark the end of this training block, couldn’t come fast enough. I kept it together for most of the run, but James who lives and trains here on the Island of Cozumel paced the run well, he got a little gap with 3 miles to go and the imaginary rubber band that was keeping me up with him soon snapped, luckily the rubber band Matt had attached snapped a little earlier. No one gave up and it was a fight all the way to the final 100meters.

While a victory would have topped off the last month I got what I needed to, out of the event and I am looking forward to the onward progression through the remainder of the season.

I have a could weeks of vacation planned which I think is well earned both on mine and Kelly’s part and then I will build up for Miami 70.3, then head back south and finish the season with Mandurah and Shepparton 70.3’s across the ditch in Australia.

Ironman 70.3 World Championships

WooHoo, it is great to be back!

I am over the moon with my second place finish here at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships here in Las Vegas. It has been a tough couple years but the learning I have had to persevere through has been extremely beneficial. I am very thankful for everyone who has supported and believed in me to get back here, having you all in my corner has given me a great deal of strength and motivation.

It definitely felt weird being in Vegas for a race instead of the usual party scene, I can only imagine how tough it is for the boxers who actually have to perform on center stage on the stripe, we at least had all our race activities slightly out of town.

To kick things off, what felt like a solid swim ended up being a reasonable amount off the pace I was actually swimming. Craig Alexander and Greg Bennet who are both solid swimmers where next to me so I figured we were doing okay. It wasn’t until we exited the water and got the split to the leaders when I figured out we were actually over 1 minute off the front group, which was a big group with a lot of top athletes and could potentially stay away.

I made sure I set a fast tempo at the start of the bike so we were doing everything we could to close the gap. A couple guys came past me about 4km in and there was a fast downhill section, it felt like they were riding with their brakes on and I was a milli second away from bombing down the outside to keep the pressure on. I thank my lucky stars I didn’t do it because with the mud on the corner at the bottom someone would have been picking up the pieces and that would have been my race. Oh and I forgot to mention, it was bucketing with rain, all that heat training up in the Santa Monica mountains and we get rain… THANKS!

There were a couple guys pushing the pace on the front of our chase group and that along with Sebastian Kienle catching us at about mile 20 helped us bridge the gap to the lead group. The race was now together, but not for long, Sebi quickly made his signature break away and while we all knew it was coming no one could do anything to stop him from getting away, I think in the back of all our minds we were hoping he wouldn’t have the strength to put together a similar performance to that of last year where in won the race in the same fashion. Aside from that the bike finished with a large group, with several of the ITU (short course) guys making the move up to 70.3 (Half Ironman) distance the pace was sure to be on for the run.

I almost didn’t get my running shoe bag running through transition, but luckily that only cost me a few seconds. Then it was off onto the half marathon. This was going to be a testing run, with both speed and strength as the course was basically 2mile down hill and 2 miles up hill. Joe Gambles took off and I struggled to get my legs turning fast enough to keep up, we would have run through the 1^st km in under 3minutes, he final started to slow but just as that happened, Jan Frodeno, another German ITU athlete came bounding past me and I was not about to let him get away that easily. I matched his pace, well at least for a little while. We were about a quarter through the 2mile uphill stretch and I checked in to see where my body was at and decided if I was going to hold it together for the duration I would have to back off slightly. I did this but kept him in contention and by the end of lap 1 of 3 I had caught back up as he was struggling with cramps. It started getting a little tougher not having someone in my sights but I was doing a good job holding it together. Half way through the run my legs were really feeling it from the differential of the up hill and down hill running and I was starting to worry maybe I had pushed the gas a little too hard at the beginning. I hung tough but unfortunately the 1 minute I had pulled out of Sebi on lap 1 didn’t keep going down each lap.

Crossing the line in 2^nd place to good friend Sebastian Kienle was okay for me today. He deserved the win with how he raced and sharing the podium with another friend, Joe Gambles made for a good day for us all.

A big thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement.

Regards

Terenzo

Vineman 70.3

I just finished 3^rd in the Ironman 70.3 Vineman tri today up in Sonoma Valley. It was a tough race but I am pleased with the result and I am looking forward to a couple easy weeks before the build up towards the world champs in Las Vegas begins.

Kelly and I spent the last 2 weeks up in Portland, Oregon. The training up there was great and it was good to have a good friend of mine, Chris Boudreaux up there to smack out the miles and the hard sessions with. Looking back I am somewhat surprised with the amount of work we managed to do in the short time between these past 2 races. Aside from a couple appearances at the local bike shop “Athletes Lounge” the big thing to report back with was the amazing food. Both of us expanded our taste buds horizons and had an absolutely amazing time in the NorthWest. I would like to say I managed to execute self-control and not over indulge in the amazing food… but I would be lying.

 

Race day rolled around and while I felt I had not recovered and absorbed the past 2 weeks training as much as I would have liked I managed to get stuck in and take out of the race what I needed to.

The pace was hot in the swim and a small bunch of 7 of us formed going out onto the bike, again for 5miles the pace was on, Tim Don, Luke Bell and Paul Matthews all trying to stretch it out. About a mile later Bevan Doherty made a move that couldn’t have been any more perfect for his race. He attacked and basically road away from the group and held onto that lead to win the race.  I tried a couple times to get the group working to close the gap but it seemed everyone was content with sitting in. Something I still can’t understand as we had a couple minutes on Gambles and Reed, 2 of the stronger runners in the sport and Bevan was riding away basically to take the title without contention. I guess they were happy with finishing outside of the money.

I stuck to my race plan and soon Gambles and Reed caught us, we eventually got off the bike 2.5minutes down on Bevan and set off on a mad chase.  I was 1^st out of transition with Reed hot on my heels, we ran through the 1^st mile in 5minutes (which is quick) but soon settled down to about 5:25 pace. Both of us kept pushing the pace trying to take as much time as we could. At 6 miles we had made up almost 1minute. Bevan showed his class by holding that time difference even for the rest of the race and Gambles was equally as classy, after setting out at his even tempo he was now closing the gap to us. The last 2 miles was a dogfight with Reed and I doing everything we could to hold off the fast approaching Gambles. We did so but I had nothing left in the tank to react to Reeds kick with 200meters to go.  I would be content with 3^rd place today and I am happy with where my form and fitness is leading into the final build up to the Ironman 70.3 world champs in 8 weeks time in Las Vegas.

Back to NZ for a couple weeks of R&R, I am looking forward to sleeping in my new Tempurpedic bed and hanging out with friends. But firstly a quick detour to Queenstown for the filming of a new Kelloggs Nutri-Grain commercial. Watch this space…

BSLT 70.3

This weekend was the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon in Lubbock, Texas. It was my third time to Lubbock, which matched my placing of 3^rd in the race.

Kelly and I had a couple great days in Montreal seeing the sights after the Mont Tremblant race, which probably was not the best recovery, but seeing the sights in particular the Notre-Dame Basilica was well worth it. We also celebrated our half-year wedding anniversary, I can’t believe how fast the year is moving.

Then to top off my great recovery our flight out of Montreal was delayed 7 hours, we missed our connection in Houston and had to overnight at a really dodgy hotel, but at 1am in the morning we were not in the mood to go looking for luxury. Finally on Thursday we made it to Lubbock where we stayed with one of our favorite homestays, The Holloways. A big thanks the Shari and Randy for taking such good care of us.

Race day rolled around and while the temperatures were a lot cooler than past years the pro start list was one of the best the race had ever seen, but it was going to be a Tasman showdown with Kiwis and Aussies rounding out the top 6 placing’s.

I woke up race morning with a bit of a crook gut and struggled to get in the zone the whole day, I ended up making a couple very amateur mistakes including my front wheel sliding out under me turning around the 1^st U-turn on the bike.

Josh Amberger and James Seear took out the swim hard and had a minute lead out of the water. Mark Bowstead must have got some inspiration after the opening stage of the Tour de France and was riding like an uber biker pushing the pace. Just as we were about to catch the leaders I took my little spill and struggled to bounce back. I contemplated calling it a day but thought better of it and tried to get the most out of the race given what I had.

Up the front Greg Bennett had started to pull away while Amberger was stuck in a penalty tent, Bowstead was paying a little for all the work at the start of the bike and after having Tim Reed in my sights for the whole race I finally bridged up to him just before rolling into transition.

Reed set a good tempo immediately and closed the gap to Bowstead in 4 miles. I was struggling to hang in there and soon found myself running solo trying to hold onto 3^rd place.

Bennett showed his experience and class by putting together a solid run after a hard bike and taking the victory, Reed chased hard the whole run but struggled to take much time out of Bennett and I cruised home for 3^rd place. 

Next stop Portland to do some training with the guys from bike shop “Athletes Lounge.” I love the training up there, good riding and some of the best trails in the world. We will spend a couple of weeks here, before we head down to Sonoma County for the Vineman 70.3 in 2 weeks time.