SINGAPORE 70.3 7 SEPTEMBER 08
I arrived home on Monday evening and have been catching up on sleep since. I am starting to find my feet and looking back on my whole trip I am pretty happy with how things turned out and what I learnt from the different races and training. I thought by now I would have stopped using the experience excuse, but I have found myself in a position where the lessons I am learning are the most important to date and once these are under control the limit of what can be achieved will be raised to a whole new extent... I think.
Training in Portland was awesome. I did most of my training with Chris Boudreaux and Andrew Lafrenz who were awesome training partners and all round nice guys. When I had enough energy and felt fresh enough I went running with my bro and his team, I am sure they just ran fast because they didn't want a triathlete running with them. When I wasn't training I was either sleeping, eating, lying on the couch in a comatose state or relaxing on the massage table of Michael Bilyeu.
Last stop for me was the Singapore 70.3, I mean ITU, woops no I actually mean 70.3 with a little bit of drafting going on. It is hard for me to get my head around how this race was marshalled. It was the largest prize money 70.3 race outside of world champs and it seemed the drafting rules didn't apply. With the field stacked with Aussies including 3 times ITU world Champion Peter Robinson and 2004 Olympic representative Simon Thomson I really wanted to make the bike ride hard which soon proved to be what it was for me but not so much for everyone else behind. As my legs where almost about blown from trying to break away I realised that I was a marked man and this was not going to happen. So I tried to let my legs recover a bit before the run cause I was going to need it.
The guys headed out like it was a 10km ITU race and at 1km into the 21km run there were 5 Australians ahead of me. This was either going to be a long day for me or for them if they blew up. I just found my rhythm and ticked along. It was hot and humid and pace was going to be the deciding factor in the second half. I slowly ran through the field and soon I was 50meters behind the leader Simon Thomson and holding even. At about half way he slowed and I caught up. we ran together for the next 7km and when he surged with 3km to go, my tank was empty and could not match him.
I crossed the line in 2nd place, 15sec behind.
I now head down to the snow for 3 days with Kelly and her family which I have been looking forward to. Then it is back to the drawing board to make a few changes and plan to get ready for half ironman world championships in November in Florida.
Thanks for all the support and encouragement
Kind regards
Terenzo
VINEMAN 70.3 HALF IRONMAN 20JULY2008
Two weeks into solid training and my first race of this block is done and dusted.Today was the Vineman 70.3 (half Ironman) in Sonoma country, just north of San Francisco near Napa valley where all the great vineyards are, hence the name Vineman.
It was probably one of the strongest half Ironman races of the year with most of the big names. The swim was straight forward, up and down a river, then a large bunch formed on the bike which was not the best as the course had a lot of small climbs and corners and there was a big yoyo effect through the group, I suppose all the accelerations did pay off as a few people started struggling near the end. I got off the bike in 4th about 3 minutes off the leader but managed to string out a 20 second lead over Craig Alexander, one of my main competitors but he pulled that back within the first 2km, which was a huge shock to me as I thought I was moving fast.His pace didn't slow, but I managed to hang in there, struggling at times. We caught the leader Steve Larsen about half way through the run and Craig slowed up a bit, I thought I would test his legs and keep the pace going, I gained a small lead and it kept growing, I didn't know what was going on, was he playing with me or had his legs gone. I wasn't going to hang around to find out so I kept pushing along. With 1mile to go someone yelled that I was on for a course record, I was already giving it my all so all I could dowas try and hold on a bit longer. I crossed the line in 3.49.30 about 30 seconds under the record and got a large 3L bottle of La Crema wine, who knows what I am going to do with that.
So all in all not a bad day at the office. In fact the last few days have been great, I have been staying with Chris Legh at this great home stay in Santa Rosa, the Devore's, where tradition says their house has a great curse where someone who stays their will be victorious. Well let's hope they don't wash the sheets!!! Okay that sounds dirty, but you know what I mean.Quick turn around today, already back on my way to the airport to head down to San Diego for a day before going back to Portland to work on my recovery before getting back into some serious miles. My brother and I purchased a nice small car so I should have a bit more independence and save some $ on gas.Next stop for me is TimberMan 70.3 in a month so will check in again soon.RegardsTerenzo
OUCH!!!! 16 June 2008I'll keep this one short and brief.Stop 3, Kansas 70.3 (half Ironman), similar temperatures to last week, hot and humid, but not quite as bad. I knew this race was going to be a tough one, 3rd in a row. And that is what if felt like, bloody hard. The swim was okay, Simon lessing pushed the pace early on and surprisingly a small bunch hung around. Onto the bike with 4 other guys including Lessing and Craig Alexander, winner and runner up at the 2006 half Ironman world champs and I had nothing in the tank, soon I found myself riding solo about 1 minute behind. I wanted to stop, I couldn't find any rhythm and had no power, I told myself things would change as the race unfolded, when the blood started moving to my sore muscles, but it felt like things were getting worse from 30-40km and I was starting to get worried. Then all of a sudden after one of the turn rounds something snapped and I was back to my normal self. I made up the deficit and then put 1minute on Craig and TJ Tollenson, what was going on?Onto the run and I knew I was going to have to pull something special out to hold off Alexander, I pushed the first couple miles which I ended up paying for the next 10miles, woops. I could feel my calves and quads on the verge of cramping but nothing bad enough to stop my stride. I crossed the line with a 3 minute lead. I am glad I don't have another race next week. Well, I didn't quite get the clean sweep, but I am happy with how the form is looking, especially off no base training.Three races in three states that I have never been to, and all with great memories, not only of the races but of the whole experience, from people to scenery. I now fly back home tonight, don't know what I was thinking when I booked that flight. Think I must have been looking forward to getting home to my new TEMPURA bed that arrived as I was leaving for the airport 3 weeks ago. Should make for a speedy recovery!CheersTerenzo
EAGLEMAN 10 June 2008
Okay, so the signs are out there. If I didn't love doing this sport so much and love it when people try and make my life a living hell I would probably retire and get some high powered job so that everyone was afraid of me. I mean honestly, first not making the O game team and now getting a 4 minute drafting penalty in the first 1km of the bike because someone else came in front of me and slowed down. If we were racing at the world champs last year he would have got the penalty. But besides that, ruining someone’s race before it has even begun is not on, at least give the race a couple miles for everyone to settle into their positions and if you are going to give a penalty for something so pathetic, so early on, just make it a stop and go penalty! Okay so enough of me bitching. Now I had to decide whether I kept going or just pulled out of the race and focus on the half Ironman in Kansas the following weekend, I decided to keep going, I have not pulled out of races in the past and I wasn't going to start now. After all, this trip is all about learning new stuff. I eventually cooled back down and settled into my rhythm, with a penalty you have to stop at the first penalty tent on the course to do your time, in this case it was at 22miles or about 35km. It so happened that I ended up riding at the front of the bunch the whole way there, people are not allowed to draft and have to sit 10meters behind the cyclist in front, but there is definitely an advantage when riding behind someone, even at that distance especially when there are 5 guys in front of you.So after my 4 minutes hanging out in a tent on the side of the road, I had drunk a bottle of Gatorade as it was a stinking hot day and was only going to get hotter, like 40+ degrees Celsius, I was back on the bike, probably riding a bit too hard, but determined to make up time and I would have if the second bunch hadn't caught the front guys and pulled them along. Anyway, off the bike about 4 minutes down on the quick runners, Paul Amey, being one of them, one of the quickest runners in the sport. All I could do was find a pace that I could hold, if I went out too hard in this heat things could have got nasty. Slowly I picked my way through 6 of the 7 guys who were in front of me but just could not close the gap on Amey. I finished 2minutes 30seconds down, not a bad result given the situation, (you do the maths), all I can say is it would have been a great battle if things were how they should have been.Straight to the medical tent for me where I received 2 IV drips to help re-Hydrate. I finished the race at 10.30, and I was still hanging around outside a couple hours later when there where still people heading out on the run and it was a whole lot hotter then, I take my hat off to those guys. I had a great home stay in Maryland, a beautiful house right on the water and Luke Finlay the owner was a great host.Now I am just settling in Kansas, ready to scout the course and recover this week. My legs felt fully recovered after my Idaho effort so much the same routine from here to get the legs back in shape.Sorry again for the long drawn out report, what can I say, I like to keep you guys informed. Next time I think I will do it in bullet point form and see how that goes. Will probably be a hell of a lot easier to write with my 2 thumbs on my crapberry.Have a good weekRegardsTerenzo
1 down 2 to go 3 June 2008Who would have thought traveling could be so stressful!!! What a mission. Getting to the airport, checking in with someone who is determined to make your day miserable, flights being changed and no where to stay at my destination... Well, if that's not character building then what is?
I think recently I have had to learn to deal with these types of situations, I have had to learn not to let things out of my control wear me down.
Anyways, back to the race. I woke up, forgot to hit my snooze button and realized an hour later, woops. For this particular race we had two transitions, the swim to bike, which was 20min drive away, and we had to hike up a 1km hill, usually the pros get preferential treatment and dropped off right at the start, not this time. I was actually a little worried because my quads were throbbing the previous night from having to walk down this monstrosity.
So the swim was cold, icy cold and instead of cutting it short I think it was slightly long, and did I mention it was cold? I was out the water first with a small group of guys and headed off for the bike which had a handful of notable climbs and a heap of wind. Chris Lieto came flying past me at about 20km, I had decided to race my own race and control myself so I let him go, I was expecting to loose about 3 minutes on him, but by the time I got off the bike I was nearly 5 minutes down, oh bugger. I had thought my new bike position was good, but with such a deficit I think I will have to look at it again.
Off onto the run and I had to find a quicker rhythm than what I was planning if I wanted to make up time on Chris. By the end of the first lap (10.5km) I had closed the gap to just over 2 minutes, then I got a bit carried away and started running quicker, I wanted to be sure I could catch him, I ended closing the gap in 4km, poor guy seemed to be hurting, well I suppose that's what you get when you ride like Lance Armstrong. I finished with about a 2 minute lead, my first win in the 70.3 series and with it being the inaugural race here in Boise it was really special.
Chris Lieto finished 2nd, with Joe Gambles and Leon Griffin from Aussie 3rd and 4th and Jordan Rapp, fellow training partner up in Victoria finishing off the top 5.
Next stop Cambridge, Maryland this weekend, I think my legs should be back by then.
Well back on track and still early days, so thanks for sticking by me.
Chat soon
Regards
Terenzo
Boise 70.3 1 June 2008http://www.insidetri.com/article/71387/bozzone-tackles-boise-7033 IN 1 28 May 2008
Where in the hell do I come up with these subject headings? You can see I write too many of these updates, am going to start running out of material.
Okay, so off to the US again for three Half Ironman races in this one trip...
First stop Boise, Idaho for a race this weekend, then Cambridge, Maryland and lastly Kansas. It should make for an enjoyable trip, living on the road and out of a suitcase for three weeks.
After Wildflower 3 weeks ago I had a quick stop in Portland, Oregon to scout out the training terrain and visit my little brother. It was great to see him and get a better understanding for this University life stuff, it is no wonder he is always tired when I speak to him, it doesn’t matter what day it is I can always call him before I go to sleep, about 5 hours time difference and he is still up either studying about half the nights or out partying the other half. All in all the training is good, the running tracks are the best in the world and I get to run with fast guys – like crazy fast guys, 3 guys on the team are low 28min 10km runners. The cycling seems to be good but I think I will need a tour guide for the first couple weeks and the swimming, well not too sure about that. Couldn’t seem to find any descent pools let alone swimming squads, but hey they have a big river there, will just need to make sure I don’t start off down stream… I am planning on spending most of the second half of the year up there training in the sun.
Well back to this trip – so I was lacking a bit of strength at Wildflower which should have changed by now as I have managed to get a good couple weeks of solid training done back here at home, but 3 halves in a row is a bit crazy, but definitely doable. I was fortunate enough to get a bit of time in a wind tunnel to play around with my set up thanks to Tri NZ – my girl friend calls it the constellation prize for not going to Beijing. We came up with some exciting stuff, some of which will be tried in these next few races.
The plan for the year is to kick butt at the Half Ironman World Champs in November and everything up until then is focused on learning more about this distance of racing and figuring out where my limits are and how far I can push the boundaries before I pop, like I did at Wildflower. That is not me making excuses for average races up until then, I don’t get on the start line to place at the bottom of the podium, for me it is all or nothing.
Thanks
Terenzo
WILDFLOWER....... No Comment 4 May 2008
I guess you need more than two weeks strength training to race a tough half Ironman!!! But at the end of the day I shouldn't really use that as my excuse. I knew where my fitness was and if I raced inside my zone I am sure the second half of the race may have unfolded differently. The swim was great, I relaxed the first half of the 1.9km swim and with 500m to go I went to the front and pushed the pace to get a bit of a gap on the weaker swimmers. It worked well and I picked up the swim prime exciting the water first. The first part of the bike is very tactical and I kept pushing the pace even though my heart rate was a few beats higher than what I wanted. But I got a good lead and as my pace settled so did my heart rate. At about 10km into the 90km bike Bjorn Anderson the fastest biker around over this distance caught up, I thought the pace he was riding was comfortable for me so I tried to stick with him for a while. Then all of a sudden my legs started to die, I was only a quarter through the bike, this was not good. My pace started dropping and continued this trend trough the race, I could see on my power meter the numbers drop, about 100 watts difference from start to finish. Not good at all. I was really paying for my mistake, the same mistake I have made a couple times, you think I would learn from mistakes. I like doing and learning things the slow, hard way it seems. Not for any longer.Off onto the run in 6th position, I tried to let my race start again. I found a steady rythem and for the first 5km I was moving well. But my legs were still deteriorating and I was struggling to keep going. Blisters that had formed and bleed out due to the high proportion of the run course being on soft surfaces and every muscle from my hips down just wanted to rest. I could see a couple of competitors up the road and every time I tried to pull them in I died a little more. I was passed by Chris Liegh but caught Bjorn in the final stretches so finished in 6th spot. All in all the atmosphere was great, just like I remembered. The great support from the spectators and volunteers and the racing environment is a lot friendlier than the ITU Olympic distance stuff. Whenever a competitor passed me yesterday they either smiled at me to keep going or told me to keep it up. Even Chris "Macca" who ended up winning said when he passed me near the end of the bike "stick with us, you are the fastest runner here, you will be able to make up time." I am fortunate to be able to do a sport that I love for a living and to be around great competitors and supporters who make my life enjoyable. Even at moments like these I can reflect on what I do have in my life and I find myself smiling. That's not to say I am happy with my performance, in fact the complete opposite is how I feel, but I will not dwell on that for too long, instead I am going to fix what went wrong and make sure next time I am more prepared. Yesterday was not my day, I put myself in a position for a great day as doing average is not what I reach to achieve, but a bit more control would have gone down a treat. I was also fortunate to have my little brother Dino down from University at Portland, Oregon looking after me. We are know back in San Francisco to watch a couple of his team mates run a 10km invitational race at Stanford tonight, then we head back up to Portland to figure out if the surrounds are perfect for me to train and get ready for the northern hemisphere summer of competition.Next stop for me is the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in 5 weeks which will be a good day for me to have a perfect race.I hope that everyone is well, I will keep in touch to let you know how everything unfolds.RegardsTerenzo
XTERRA NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 14 APRIL 2008What was I thinking entering an off road triathlon. A 1000m swim in the Blue lake in Rotorua, then a 26km Mountain Bike around the Redwood forest and to finish off an 11km run. Well that was how I spent last weekend
The afternoon before the race I thought I would go and check out some of the course and see what I was getting myself into. I didn’t want to ride the whole thing mountain bike so I just did the first 30minutes, well that was no fun – it was all up hill. Then I wanted to get back to my car… the short way, I found a straight line down the mountain on the National Downhill MTB trail, woops, I shouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t stop praying for it finish, I think I almost wore the brake pads down on my bike completely. So this little outing really was a blow to the confidence, I arrive confident and went to sleep that night thinking oh well, I did just come down here for fun.
Race day was beautiful. The sun was up and had warmed the cool air by the time our race started. Off on the swim and my competitiveness took over, pushing my way to the front and trying to keep the pace up as I knew I would have to put some time on the better Mountain bikers. First out of the water and off onto the bike… uphill right from the word go. To summarize the bike, the “uphill” was no fun, but I didn’t loose any time to the skilled bikers and the “Downhill” was exciting but I got time drilled out of me. Thankfully for my Specialized Epic mountain bike I managed to keep my deficit to a minimum.
I was off the bike 3min 40sec down on the leader and second and third were also well ahead, so I found my rhythm and pushed the pace. I now know why they call it an off road tri. Side stepping through the bush, would pay its dividend on the second lap where I experienced cramp so bad I had to stop and stretch it out. That was when I lost back the lead I had caught up on the first lap, so back in second and hobbling along, trying to prevent the cramp from returning, every stride I thought my race was over. I tried to change how my foot was contacting the ground, which seemed to work, and then laid the hammer back down.
Finally I got to the finish in first place, my first Xterra. Second place, Mark Leishman was only 20seconds back and had really made me work for the victory. I couldn’t believe what a great event it was, after racing around the world I was surprised to see an event in the middle of the forest on such an international level. Everything was run so smoothly, from the tricky parts deep in the forest to what would normally be chaotic transition zones. And the media covered the event well.
Well, what is next for me? After the huge upset in not making the Olympic team I have decided to focus this year on more of the non drafting races. I will be racing the Half ironman at Wildflower in 2 weeks and then be returning Back to San Francisco in the beginning of June for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. My main goal for the year is going to be the 70.3 (half ironman) world championship in November in Clearwater and I am still undecided on the Xterra world champs…hehe
New Plymouth 9 April 2008I win.. just by starting the race.
OH SHIT 4 April 2008I don’t really know how to start this email and I don’t think there is any easy way to inform you that the selectors made there decision last night and decided not to select me. it was a huge shock to me as I was sure the cards I had played would guarantee me selection. But hey, I suppose “selectors discretion” means just that… I really should have sent them an Easter egg. Too late now.
I know there has been a media release stating this, I would have really like to let you all know from me before the media, but I had quite a tough night. So sorry if you have heard from other sources before me.
As everyone knows this has been my life’s Dream and Goal. The past year has been solely based around making this team and representing New Zealand with Pride. This was a huge blow to me as I had done everything possible.
I am a strong believer of Fate – everything happens for a reason, and although right now that reason is far from clear to me, I know I am going to continue striving my best with new determination to be the best Triathlete the world has seen.
I know that everyone supported me to be the best I can be and no question about it, I have been striving in that direction my whole life. I am disappointed that I am not on the team as it would have been a great journey for us all. The support you given me over the years has made me what and who I am and I regards all of you as a part of my team.
Not too sure what the next steps are for me leading into the future but you can be sure that I still love this sport and with this set back I am going to come back to reach new heights.
Thanks everyone for everything and sorry this outcome has not been in our favour.
I look forward to catching up with everyone in the near future
Kind regards
Terenzo
Mooloolaba "THE BALANCE" 1 April 2008
Well, race one of the season is done and dusted. Not nearly the result I was looking for but a solid performance, the whole race went to plan… except for the outcome.
The day was hot and there was a slight wind, the field was stacked with several World Champions and Olympic medalists and the course was one similar to that of the course in Beijing. I had to finish in the top 5 for automatic selection. This is how my day unfolded.
It was a beach start with a short run into the small surf which suited me and I managed to get out past the breakers near the front. There was of course the usual pushing and pulling throughout the swim, but I can pretty much guarantee that whoever got too close to me wont be doing that again, I stood my ground. You can never really tell where in the field you are until you are out cause all the kicking and splashing makes it look like you there are twice as many people in front of you. but when I got out of the water I was in the top 10, goal one accomplished. I thought this was going to be a deciding factor as on this course a small bunch of 10-15 usually stay away, that was not the situation today. I think the whole field came together on the bike and there where definitely some decent crashes as I heard bikes getting pilled on top of each other multiple times.
Coming into the second transition I managed to get onto Marko Albert’s (from Estonia) wheel and received a good drag down the final kilometer of the bike. Soon it was off onto the run. I knew this was going to be hard as I was starting to feel my legs tighten up near the end of the bike, but I kept thinking positively and going through everything in my head. The first kilometer was crazy fast and up hill and it seemed we didn’t slow down for the whole of the first lap (2.5km) actually it seemed that the leaders didn’t slow down at all throughout the 10km. However that was not how my race was going to unfold. The start of the second lap I felt as if I had been hit by a train, I kept loosing the group in front of me and catching back up down the hills, but when the third lap rolled around my legs where even heavier, guys I can usually run with where running away from me, I don’t know how I even got to the finish. At the end I had managed to hold off Shane Reed, the other kiwi who was going for that spot. I finished 14th. Not a bad effort but I am far from happy with my performance, my running training had been going great but without the fire in my legs for the second half it made for a tough day. So the next big obstacle is how I am going to manage swimming well and running well on the same day, it always seems to be one way or the other.
Because I didn’t make the top 5, there is no automatic selection, instead the selectors will announce the team next weekend after the New Plymouth World Cup, so fingers crossed.
Right now I am doing everything in my power to recover faster and get ready for next weekend, it is going to be a different outcome.
Will be in touch
Regards
Terenzo
Mooloolaba 25 March 2008
HI all,
I hope that you had a good Easter. I am having withdrawals from the lack of Chocolate in my body. I guess I will have to make it up after this weekend.
I just wanted to write a quick note before I head off to Mooloolaba for our final Olympic Selection race this weekend. I have been looking forward to this race for some time now and can’t wait to let it all out this weekend. The criteria for the final New Zealand spot is that we have to be the first New Zealander home and in the top 5, which is a pretty tough task with the international field expected for the race. If we fail to reach this criteria then it is all up to the selectors.
My preparation has gone well and I am happy with my form leading into the race. I have had some pretty hard workouts with some tough guys like Adrian Blincoe – New Zealanders fastest 5km runner who will be competing in the games for Athletics as well as a couple other friends, Tom Mayo and Paul Angland who I have been able to rely on 100% to come out and push me along giving his everything for every workout. So thanks guys.
If you would like, you can follow the race this weekend on www.triathlon.org – they should have live video coverage of the race. Our race starts at 1:40pm Sunday Australian time, which is 4:40pm in New Zealand, and 8:40pm Saturday evening Pacific Time in the States. So tune in if you can.
Also apologies for terenzo.com being down the last month, I should have a new and improved site up and running in a couple weeks time.
Thanks everyone for you support, will touch base after the race
Kind regards
Terenzo
