Bend, Wattie INK Photo's!!

We were lucky enough to spend a few days in Bend OR after leaving Eugene. Bend is a very great spot. Wattie and Heather were nice enough to host us. here are a few shots of me out training in Wattie's new line of clothes. Neon and Stealth mode black. VERY COOL!!

Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove

Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove

Kate and I headed off  to Eugene a few ago weeks for the Rolf Prima Tri At The Grove.

We love going to visit the team at Rolf Prima, Good people and always very welcoming. Thanks  for having us team.

The race itself was great for me. Unfortunately Jesse Thomas didn't start because he raced the weekend before and poor Chris Bagg has a spill on his bike!! (hope you've healed) So It ended up being Guy against the clock. I really wanted to have a crack at the course record! Result = I got it.  I'm sure Jesse or Chris will go better next year, (being the great athlete's that they are) But the good news for me is I have it for another 11.5 months. YAY.

Not only was the race super fun, but the coverage of the event was great. The race was featured in the paper and we were super Impressed by how much attention Triathlon got within the community!

Here are a few shot's and the article featured in the paper.

My Time 1:51:36, One of my better 10K runs off the bike. So things are heading in the right direction.
Thanks again for the support team.

Living with some-one training for Ultra-Man

For nearly 5 years Kate has been telling me she would like to do an Ultraman. "Yeah, great babe!" Never really thinking it would actually happen. Until the bomb was dropped....she signed up for Ultra520k Canada!

Lets just say I am glad it was only a short 7 week build for her. I don't know if I could have survived not being number one in the relationship any longer!

I've been musing over the past few weeks and decided to put these thoughts into a few sentences so you can learn where I did not....

How to live with someone training for an Ultraman! ... Don't..... move to hotel or pitch a tent in the yard and live there!! Move in with that crazy cat lady, or the man down the street who always talks to himself at a shout. Any of these options are better options. (In-fact they are good options)

I've put together a list of important rules to follow when living with some-one training for Ultra-man. They are your Ultra-man survival kit so to speak!!

1) Sleep:Don't wake them up: Even if it's an accident, it's your fault, if you need the bathroom in the night, best you take your pillow and sleep in the bath-tub

2) The Silence: What was once a comfortable silence now means "you've done something wrong" You need to run at this point.

3)Eye contact means: Your in trouble "Again you run"

4) Food: If you eat something  from the fridge that was specifically bought for training or that emergency can of coke, the hidden chocalate bar at the back of the cupboard. Even if you didn't know what it was for. Well, Lets just say don't do that... DON'T DO IT.....Move to another state or go into the wittness protection program.

5)You will be forced to train with them at some point: But you won't talk. we spent 7 hours riding together. 7 hours single file riding in the rain. (Fun?.... NOOOOOO) I don't even have an ass she can look at!

6)You will be wrong when your right,

7)You breathe to loud

8)You chew to loud

9)you walk to loud

10)you blink to loud

11)your voice is like listening to some-one scratching a chalk board. 

12)The Commando Crawl is the best way to get around (very quiet too, do this at all hours and do it slowly to avoid detection)

I have found that light cotton clothing is a great choice as it makes very little noise!!! (below you can see a picture of me practicing)

Kate now whispers at 4000 Dessa-bells in my ear!! 

Always have coke and redwine available. ALWAYS!! If they don't need it, you will.

If you get asked to go for an easy run: check what she's wearing, if she's wearing a Camel Bak, "you say NO"...Learn from my experience. 3 hours into an easy run when you start licking concrete because it's cooler and wetter than your tongue you realize you've "made bad choices"

Don't get me wrong.....I love to swim....but when you walk into the local YMCA 25 yard pool and she has gels/museli bars and bottles of GU with her.....be prepared to grow old and wrinkly over the next few hours.

On a personal note: I'm also a born again virgin.

Ok on a serious note: It's not all bad, ........................Ok it's all bad.......... good-luck!!

See my before and after photo's.

Before Ultra-man training

After Ultra-man training

Cheers

Guy

http://www.guycrawford.us
Coaching: http://www.gkendurance.com/
Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/blue70guy

Mental few weeks!

Yes the title of this blog sums it up nicely!
What a mental few weeks it’s been and in usual fashion I’ll keep this blog to the point and hopefully entertaining!!! Please forgive my pigeon English.

It starts as we leave for Ironman Lanzarote from Boise Idaho.

Flights consisting of: Boise-Seattle-Iceland-England-Madrid-Canary Islands.

We arrive to the beautiful Lanzarote, I love the white buildings, the water and the people!
What I don’t love : The Wind.
Race day shows up and so does the wind. YAY
The swim: I stayed in the front group and only took the lead once during the 3.8k. I knew the bike was going to be hard, so I was in energy saving mode early on.

Bike: HOLY NEW LEVEL OF PAIN!! I was riding within 30sec of the lead until about 90km, That’s when I climbed inside the hurt locker. “It was pretty dark in there” At one point I was riding 9kph uphill pushing over 400watts into a head wind. After shedding a few tears, I got back in the grove and kept pushing on. At 4:40mins I had my second really rough patch (this is when I'm usually getting off the bike and I still had 40min to ride) That 40min was an emotional roller coaster. (I think all IM’s are)

Below are some bike pic's from the race.

Anyways I came off the bike and started to run. I was surprised that I felt ok. After 30km I was pretty gone and was doing the classic "Ironman Shuffle" I ended up with a 3:30 marathon.

The positives: I now know I can blow up twice on the bike and still run a 3:30 marathon. Not suggesting that I’m content with a 3:30 marathon, but I have to find the positives in every race and that’s this one.

We spent a few days post race having a look around Lanzarote before heading to Venice for a few days. (I spent most of my time in the clear waters of Lanzarote hanging out with the stunning sea life) Flashback: During the race I saw the biggest Manta Ray ever,  wanted to stop, it was HUGE…. I’m 192cm tall and it was MUCH bigger than me!! Crazy.

Venice = see pictures. I’d never seen Venice before and it was on our bucket list of places to visit. it’s a crazy maze of alley ways and canals and I loved getting lost there!

Then it was off the the UK for a night before heading back to Perth to set our lives in order before returning back to the US.

The second set of flights (with a stay over here and there)
Lanzarote-Grand Canaria-Madrid-Venice-Madrid-Heathrow-Abu Dhabi-Perth.

From when we left Australia 3.5weeks earlier we had 20+ individual flights and have flown a full loop of the globe!! For some-one that doesn’t enjoy flying this was less than ideal, but pretty cool all the same!!

Upon getting home to Perth, I was struck down with man flu (much worse than a regular flu) and spent a week feeling sorry for myself.

It was great to have a little taste of a Perth winter before heading getting back on a plane and shipping out for the USA. This time we are Boise bound until late October/early November.

3rd set of flights: Perth-Auckland-Los Angeles-Portland-Boise.. arggghhhhhh

Kate made me do a 25KM trail race two weeks ago. It went straight up and straight down. My legs have never hurt so much. They were on par with my first ever Ironman. Lucky all my toe nails have fallen off or are already black.

Then Last weekend we went and watched Mick Hall race at Ironman Coeur d Alene. Sadly it didn't end the way he wanted. Unless of course he wanted a hospital visit?. (Pretty sure he didn't) Still it happens to us all. Ironman is a hard thing to get right every-time and we all know Mick was the fittest he's ever been. Next time Mick!!

Ok that should bring every one up to date!!

70.3 Busselton. my life, concussion, Off-road racing!

70.3 Busselton. my life, concussion, Off-road racing all quick enough to read without getting half way through and wishing you hadn’t started…..

The beginning of my year has been different to every other year!! Usually I’m all about the high octane activities and training. Go to max and get fast!! This year under the guidance of Jeff Shilt has been all about building a base and doing some big weeks… What I though would be easy WAS NOT, I’ve never trained Volume. Well I thought I had, but really I hadn’t!!! Without going into detail I was drowned in fatigue in the early part of the year which made me think I was going crap!!

My first outing of the year was in March at a Rapid Accent event called X Adventure Dunsborough.(Swim/Run/Mountain Bike) I was 2nd out the water close behind Ben Allen (3rd Xterra Worlds Champs) the run includes a lot of rock hopping, and as it turns out I look like a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to do Monkey bars when I rock hop… Or perhaps a Grasshopper having a seizure?. Anyway My first race of the season didn’t go as I had hoped and I didn’t get to test my fitness properly! I finished and didn't break any bones!!

Onto Karri Valley Triathlon: I lead from the water, but felt terrible. On the bike my legs decided they would go on vacation to Bali. Lucky for me I managed to settle in before Courtney Ogden and Matty White caught me. We finished the bike together and had the most epic run battle I can remember with a 3 way sprint finish starting 1000m out… "It hurt really bad"… But it was the first time I’ve ever outrun these two blokes….. The clouds parted and the sun shined down on me…. YAY.. 2nd place overall behind a flying Matty Burton!!

Then it was off to Xterra Rotorua with my new found confidence. I was the man again.
I was 3rd out of the water but only 1 sec off the lead. “perfect” Onto the bike I caught my shoe and it torn off and landed on the road. “bugger” I stopped ran back and picked it up… Missing the lead two guys!!!!… I still thought I could have a great ride I sat in 3rd for a while and was eventually passed by 4 or so guys whiling riding 57% above my skill level on a muddy descent. I lost my balance and instead of using my brakes to stop I used my head and in the process knocked myself out… I came to almost immediately and had enough sense to know what had happened… I ask myself a few questions and figured the only thingI shouldn’t do is hit my head again…. Knowing that I am a cross between Chuck Norris and a ninja I decided to continue…. But I crept through the next half of the bike with countless people passing me…. (I was a little anxious) … I started running and as the run progressed I felt better and better and started running really well by the end.. I was stoked to finish but text time I’d rather not land on my head!!! So I probably have a few things to work on.

One week later and I was back in Western Australia for the Geraldton Endure Olympic distance. I had headaches all week long (from the concussion the week earlier) and was getting pretty bumped out by them. But the day before the race I woke up feeling great. no headache a fair amount of energy and thought “maybe I won’t come 316th tomorrow”
Race Day: the swim was great I went to the front and stayed there, my arms felt pretty good, not great, but way better than the last two races. Through T1 I went like a scorched  cat and managed to get about 5sec gap on the young guys. I went as hard as I could on the bike for the first 5K and managed to get out to about a 30-40sec gap!!! I was happy with the way my legs responded. I settled into a very uncomfortable pace and came into T2 with a little over a minute lead on Jonney Sammut and Courtney Ogden with the stud ITU runners a few minutes behind them. Once again the scorched Cat came out on the run. But I found the manageable pace and at the end of the day I came away with a win over some very talented short and long course guys. PUMPED!!!

Busselton 70.3 soon rolled around and I was super excited to see where I was at. It was a stella field with some of the best in the business on the start line. The start of the swim was FAST but I was able to handle the pace changes relatively well. I choose my own line and found myself at the front of the swim and again lead the swim out. (Big thanks to Paul Newsome for Sorting my swim out) I was VERY happy with that swim. I felt great, nothing hurt and I was able to change pace when needed. If only every swim felt that good!!!! As soon as I stood up I was a cannon ball…. A cannon ball that produced lactic acid enough for 12 people and as Sam, Terenzo and Brad rode past me in the early stages of the bike I felt like asking them if they could soft peddle for 2min while my body processed the HUGE amounts of lactic acid I had unleashed upon it. Needles to say I lost them and was left in no-mans land. The first lap was misery, but the second lap my watts starting lifting and my legs came to the party…. I was thinking what if I rode like this at the beginning… “would I have had the legs to ride with Sam and Terenzo?” I guess we’ll have to wait until the next race to find that out….I came into T2 Just ahead of Brad in 3rd place. I ran the first lap at a pace that would have probably dropped Haile Gebrselassie then the last 7 K I was DEEP in then hurt locker running as fast as I could to hold off a fast flying Alex… He caught be with 1K to go and I finished in 7th place…

Some real positives to take from the race. I believe I am better at swimmer, biking and running than I was a year ago.

Now I am sitting In Idaho typing this after a mega long trip to get here and this week we are off to IM Lanzarote!! I feel fit and ready to rumble.
It’s an Ironman and an incredibly hard one at that!! Athlete tracker will let you know how I progress through the race, hopefully I can stay at the pointy end for the duration !!!

Thanks for the support. We have the BEST team behind us.

Guy

New Sponsor "Profile Design"

It's an exciting time of year!! The fitness is building the desire to race is high.

We've planned out our year and we've signed or resigned with great companies to help us and GKEndurance leading into a action packed 2015 season.

This sponsor needs no long winded introduction. Tried and true and used by both World Champions at the 2014 Hawaii Ironman World Championships.

I am delighted to announce and welcome Profile Design to my team of sponsors for the 2015 season and the foreseeable future.

Kate has been riding Profile Design products for some years and only has great things to say about the team and the products

I can understand why! The Profile Design team is super friendly, easy to deal with and fun! The products are exceptional and the best in the business. 

                    My new Bar's The Aeria and Hydration unit The Aero HC System Pictured Above

 I could describe just how excited I am to be riding Profile Design products. But I'll let this picture do it for me!! STOKED!!

End of the Season, IMWA

It's that time of year!!

• Do an Ironman (Check)
• Have a break ( In the process )
• Enjoy Christmas and the New year (You know I will)
• Start training and racing locally here in Western Australia. (already excited)

This year has had it's up and down's. But as I reflect on it, it's still been our best year yet!

We had a few up and down races. But Kate won 70.3 Busselton in May (Now she's done the double, Ironman Western Australia and 70.3 Busselton) I went faster than I've ever been Over 70.3 and Olympic distance and started Xterra racing with success.  So I'm still going faster over every distance!! "Can't frown at that"!!!

We went from coaching a few people to starting our business "GK Endurance" and it's really taken off. We have a GREAT crew of athletes training with us and they each bring there own piece of awesomeness to the table!! I'm super excited about the future for them and us.

We have a fabulous group of sponsors!! These sponsors have supported us through thick and thin and we really are lucky to have such a great group of people behind the products! Thanks also to our supporters and family joining us on this Triathlon, Coaching, and training camp Journey into 2015.

70.3 Taiwan

Going back 5 weeks now!! So I'll make it short!!

We arrived back from the USA via NZ and spent 3 days in Perth before heading off to Taiwan.
I love racing in Taiwan, We stay in this cool resort called YOHO (I think part of the movie "Life of Pi" was filmed at the Resort, or so I have been told)
We did some pre race exploring out to the night markets. One word "mental" describes it.
All types of food, LOADS of people and tents for miles, each with there own twist on the food they were selling.
The race itself went well, I tried my hardest to break things up in the swim but to no avail. We stayed in a group of 5, with one Frenchman breaking away towards the end of the swim. He stayed off the front on the bike but suffered for his efforts on the run!!, The rest of us stuck together and it became a running race. Heading out onto the run with this calibre of runner I knew I had to start easy and hope some-one crumbled!! I was very happy with the way I ran on this course, It's hot and slow. I think Cameron Brown is one of the first guys to break 1:20 (very impressive). I finished off the day in 4th and was happy with the performance!! If only Freddie slowed up a bit more!!

Name	Country	Div Rank	Gender Rank	Overall Rank	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish	Points
Brown, Cameron	NZL	1	1	1	00:28:31	02:13:39	01:19:58	04:05:44	3500
Marais, Stuart	ZAF	2	2	2	00:28:33	02:13:46	01:20:46	04:06:38	3483
Croneborg, Fredrik	SWE	3	3	3	00:28:29	02:13:50	01:26:29	04:12:21	3380
Crawford, Guy	NZL	4	4	4	00:28:26	02:13:45	01:27:52	04:13:48	3354
Debiltriathletecaux, Victor	FRA	5	5	5	00:32:05	02:14:41	01:26:42	04:17:03	3296

After this we came back to Perth and supported our GKEdurance athletes at Mandurah 70.3. Followed by preparing for a camp we were running in Busselton in the lead up to IMWA.
The camp was great, not only for the athletes that attended but for us as coaches. We broke some boundaries and I'd like to think each athlete came out of the camp knowing a little more about themselves. I don't think Kate or I will be known for putting on easy camps!!(If you come, be prepared) Work hard, rest easy!!

IMWA

For me, This was going to be a tall task for us. We have been training but we've not had the base training we would have liked coming into IMWA for a variety of reasons. I was fit, but was I Ironman fit??. I wasn't sure but I happily rolled the dice. I still think it could have gone either way (really well or lots of suffering) I finished 9th pro and that wasn't bad, but I thought I had a top 5 in me. Thats not to take away from the guys who finished in the top 5, they were simply better on the day and hats off to them!!
What I am excited about is with limited training time leading into Busso, I managed to knock myself into decent shape and I'm already excited to get back racing. (which can only be a good sign) I'm hungry for more!!

Our team of athletes were amazing. They kept on trucking and each of them got to that finish line.
We were very proud coaches and it bought tears to our eyes on more than one occasion. Seeing people achieve there goals is very emotional. Well done team!!

That brings me to today, I'm sitting in Margaret River (wine country) and once I stop typing this, I think that's what I'll do. Have a red, sit back and relax for a few days. Kate and I also have some planning to do for next year!! Needless to say we will be racing Ironman,s 70.3's a few Olympic's and I'm going to dive into some more XTERRA races!!! But for now it's time to have a week off!!

Thank-you for another awesome year!!
See you soon

Guy