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

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