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Intertview with Guy Crawford : By Michelle Downs
May 21, 2011, 6:18pm
Guy Crawford made everyone sit up and take notice at Busselton 70.3 a few weeks ago. With a smoking fast swim and bike split, he hit the final run leg with a lead of three and a half minutes and toughed it out to the finish line in 6th place in a stacked filed.
Below Guy has a chat to Triathlon Tribe about his race at Busso, his favourite swim sets and how things have changed since he made the move to full-time pro athlete......
Triathlon Tribe: First of all, congrats on your fantastic result at Busselton 70.3 last weekend! You led the race out of the swim, off the bike and into the run before hanging on to finish 6th. A great solo effort off the front! Tell us about the race from your perspective. Were you happy with your performance?
Guy Crawford: Happy, Yes . I felt good in the water and knowing Bryan was on my feet, i thought we could get away together on the bike, if a few of us could get away on the bike , it could have been a race changer. However after a quick T1 and going totally anaerobic it was apparent Bryan was still suffering from doing a 70.3 six days earlier. So basically I though bugger it, put my head down and went hard.... Yep those tactic's probably bit me in the ass later on.. But I knew I had at least a minute on the other guys out of the water and knew I was in good riding shape...so it was head down and time to chew my stem for 90k...Off the bike I had 3:30.. I knew I needed 5mins and a 1:18 half .. in any case I ran the best I could on the day and 1:23 was all the body could do on the day.
Triathlon Tribe: As a relatively new (just heading into your second year full-time) professional triathlete, what is your background? Tell us a bit about yourself!
Guy Crawford: Well I have been involved in the triathlon world for about 13 years..In my youth I was a runner , which surprises me now , as today a pensioner ran past me on her Zimmer frame.. I started swimming at 17 a relatively late age for swimmers.. however from 17-20 I swum A LOT and barely rode or ran. I then worked as a bicycle courier for 5 years. whilst throwing in a bit of university. Soon after that I got a job with blue seventy where I was there sponsorship manager. This involved travelling the globe working with athletes and event organisers promoting the brand. An awesome job with a great company!
Triathlon Tribe: What has been the biggest difference in the transition from working and training to training full-time? Have there been any unexpected challenges?
Guy Crawford: two big things... 1) you can train more when you don't have a job and that's great..... 2.) you get paid less. when you don't have a fixed income.... and that's not so great.
Triathlon Tribe: You have based yourself in Perth, WA over the previous summer. How have you enjoyed this and what have your highlights been? Any races, training opportunities or destinations you would particularly like to rave about?
Guy Crawford: I love WA, it's a great place and if your a bit worried about riding on the road WA has the best footpath riding in the world... hundreds of kilometres of safe riding... Only person you need to worry about is yourself....
I have enjoyed the races here, in particular Kalgoorlie where Kate and I went for an Olympic distance race and while it was a 7 hour drive into no-where the people made it worth our while.. They were great and it really made the race for us. When it comes to training.. Anywhere in the Busselton area is great. We venture down there when we can for some big miles. Busselton is the home of WA's 70.3 , so if your down that way make sure you make the 30min trip to Margaret river. Great wineries, food and people.. you won't regret it.
Triathlon Tribe: As I mentioned previously, you are a bit of a fish and had the fastest swim of the day at Busselton 70.3 a few weeks ago. What are your favourite key sessions that you do in the pool? What are your top tips for people who want to improve their own swimming?
Guy Crawford: I like to mix my swimming week up. I swim 5 times on average.
one session is an ocean swim or wetsuit swim if you can't get to the ocean one longer swim , like this morning was 8x 800's broken..
.
The sessions that gets me race ready are short rest high intensity sessions. Of which I do about two per week. These are only 3-3.5 k...Leading into Busselton I did this set each week and I think it made a difference
300 warm up
10x 100 on 1:25
10x 100 on 1:20
3 x100 on 1:25
3x100 on 1:20
4x100 on 1:15
200 warm down
My advice to people looking to improve there swimming. Would be firstly make sure you've got people to swim with and a coach to seek advice from . no one wants to be staring at a black line for hours on end and be getting nothing from it . Once you've got that sorted getting a balance in your swimming week is important.. Smashing yourself every-day isn't the answer.. Get a good balance keep consistent and soon enough you'll be swimming dolphins off your feet...that's my two cents anyway.
Triathlon Tribe: As the Australian summer triathlon season wraps up, it is time to head overseas. You had entered Ironman China, which unfortunately was cancelled at the last minute, which would have obviously been a huge disappointment! What is the plan now? What other races do you plan on racing this year?
Guy Crawford: yep China was a pain alright. I had planned to race 70.3 Boise on the 11th of June , So there is a race just round the corner. After that . things are up in the air. I will be racing more 70.3 races and they will mostly be US based. My goal is to race 70.3 worlds on September 11th . So I'll be aiming to peak around then.
Triathlon Tribe: Your girlfriend, Kate Bevilaqua, is also a professional triathlete. It is helpful to have your partner also competing at a high level the sport? Do you train together?
Guy Crawford: Having Kate in the same sport is amazing. We train together almost every day. Some times she has longer sessions and sometimes I have quicker sessions. Kate and I love the fact we get to train travel and race together , We know we're extremely lucky in that regard. We spend 6 months over seas each year so if I or Kate had a 9-5 it'd be VERY hard. Best we retire at the same time.
Triathlon Tribe: As a Sponsorship Manager for Blue Seventy, any tips to aspiring athletes on how to approach and work with sponsors?
Guy Crawford: What can you do for them? Ask yourself that question before you get in touch with potential sponsors. If you can answer it... Your chances will increase ten fold..
Triathlon Tribe: Speaking of sponsors, who are yours? Any products or brands you would like to recommend?
Guy Crawford:
K-Swiss.. best clothes and shoes in the sport.
Blue Seventy..... The wetsuit is amazing. flexibility and buoyancy are second to none.
nuun hydration.... i no longer cramp
Ceepo bikes .had my first race on it at Busselton.. best bike I've ever had!
Xu1 sports .... anything any time... great tri products
Rolf Prima wheels.... Great wheels and a great company to have behind you!!!
If you want to catch up on some more of my antic's/ photo's and mayhem please drop into my website www.guycrawford.us
Thanks Guy! Good luck for the coming season and we look forward to seeing you race on Australian shores again later in the year.
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