Tuesday, June 26, 2012

IM COEUR D ALENE

Kate and I left well in advance for IM CdA . We drove from Boise to Coeur D Alene the Wednesday before hand. Quite a magical drive if you ever get the chance to do it . Pictures to follow on facebook and website in a few days.
Onto the race.
Race morning rolled round quickly as it always does and we climbed into the 55 Degree F water ( 12 C ) …COLD…for our warm up… after about 3mins you go numb and lose the feeling that your about to have a panic attack..


( Photo Dave Erickson )

Pointing out the turn round for the swim to T.O

So back to the beach for an ankle deep start and as usual I had a great start and got myself out to a body lengths lead in the first 15seconds, however after a few hundred meters I was feeling quite bad, maybe I should have gone out a little slower?? but that’s never my way, I like to go hard and then settle in except T.O then Bryan Rhodes came past me and I knew I wasn’t swimming that well. However lucky IM is a LONG LONG LONG day and as long as I kept it together and didn’t lose to much time it’d be ok… That’s what I told myself anyway.
By the end of the swim I had lost nearly 2mins to T.O and Rhodsey.


Swim exit ( Photo Dave Erickson )

I had a quick transition and was out onto the bike, I can usually tell if my legs have come to play or if they are still in bed, to my delight I knew I’d have good legs today.
I played a smart game and rode with Viktor Zyemtsev for nearly the entire ride. We caught Chris ( I think he sat up and called it a day to be fair ) then soon after T.O and before I knew it we were leading the race. Heading back into town I made a conscious decision to ease off and try and get some calories in for the run. I knew Viktor was a great runner and my thoughts turned to a top 3 finish, if I wanted to achieve this I had to make sure I had calories to burn and wasn’t riding beyond my means.


( Photo Dave Erickson )

Heading into T2 and out onto the run the crowd was CRAZY, people screaming everywhere, I think I was smiling for the entire first mile, telling myself DON’T RUN TO FAST. Once out of town I settled into 6:50-7 min miles with my goal of running a 3 hour marathon. At 6 miles or so Tim caught me and spoke some words of encouragement that was very nice of him.


(Photo Jessica Alexander )


( Photo Dave Erickson )


( Photo Dave Erickson )

Heading back into town and I was still sitting pretty in 3rd place. Then at about 17K I started to crack ( I think that’s how they described it on IM LIVE ) and fall apart , by the time I hit the half way point I was hurting pretty bad in 4th equal . Then BOOM , KA-POW , I was gone .. My brain was still working and willing my body to push on, but my body was refusing…( Sorry body.. MY BAD )
I ended up finishing the race and once again the crowd was fantastic. Not the finish I wanted but never the less I learnt a lot and got some things really right and other things horribly wrong.. HAHA


Finish ( Photo Dave Erickson )

Big thanks to all the supporters out there, my fello professionals who were great to race with and learn from..Your legends.
My coach Pete McKenzie… legend.. best coach ever.
My Sponsors.. Sorry I couldn’t bring home the bacon on this one.. We are getting closer by the race. Thanks for your continued support.
You are AWESOME
Guy

Monday, June 4, 2012

70.3 Honu




We love coming to the big Island to race and train, Although this time the wind made it really hard for me to enjoy the Queen K …
For the week leading into Honu 70.3 Kate and I based ourselves in Kona .
Our last long ride to the bottom of Hawi was crazy the cross winds made it really hard to keep your line on the road and then later in the week the wind seemed to increase. OH NO!!
Come race day the forecast was wind wind and then a little more wind…








With Lance Armstong on the start line the media seemed a tad heavier than usual…( which was cool )

THE RACE

Once the gun sounded and the initial white wash of the start settled down I found myself on Lance’s feet and continued to swim in the top 5. The swim was as I expected it to be ( a big group ) and 8 of us exited the water within 15 sec’s of each other.
Now here was where I had to make a decision ride for as long as I could with the likes of Lance, Greg, Chris and the GCM AKA Maiki or ride my race. I decided to ride my race( In hind sight maybe I should have tried to ride a bit harder in the beginning ) however decisions made and I was feeling really good riding at a comfortably hard pace.
Riding up Hawi was crazy the wind felt like it was pushing my front wheel out from under me. Congratulations to all that got through that ride, it was intense.

At the Turn I had lost some serious time to Lance and quite a bit to the other 3 in front. I decided to ride hard down Hawi, the wind played with my head a few times, but I rode through it for the most part and was stoked with the way I descended. You have to keep thoughts like “ If I fall off at this speed, I’m probably going to die “ out of your head.

Onto the run and by this point the field was totally split apart, I ran out of transition and onto the golf course where the spongy grass started sapping the energy from my body ..YAY…for the first 3-4 miles I didn’t see a soul, except for the awesome aid station volunteers. Then once out on the first real road section I spotted Maiki and Chris still 6-8mins up the road.. I kept my pace and tried to run strong through the windy sections and fast with the tail wind. Leading into the last 2 miles I could see the gap to Chris and Maiki was coming down quickly, 3mins , 2mins, 90sec and then 1min…I was running people down ( that doesn’t usually happen ) In the end I ran out of real estate and was 64 sec’s off the podium ..

Happy with my day, mixing it up with some of the best in the sport. The guys in front are all legends in Triathlon.
Big congratulations to everyone who battled the wind ( Pele ) and finished in those conditions.


RESULTS

1. Lance Armstrong (USA) 3:50:55
2. Greg Bennett (USA) 3:53:41
3. Chris Lieto (USA) 4:05:55
4. Maik Twelsiek (GER) 4:06:16
5. Guy Crawford (AUS) 4:06:59

Now it’s time to recover and then start our build for IM CDA in 3 weeks time.

Thanks to my sponsors and supporters…

K-Swiss , blueseventy, Ceepo , Rolf Prima, Xu1 Sports , nuun, Vision, FSA, Ryders, Rocktape, Challenge Tyres, SaltStick, Swimsmooth and Bont