70.3 Canberra

It's that time when the Northern hempisphere season is over and the southern hempisphere season begins. Triathlon being a year round sport now.

I thought i'd have a crack at Canberra 70.3 despite only base training for 6 weeks.
I was positive leading into the race that i could have a good day.

Race day rolled around and i told my body that is wasn't 1AM due to the time change from Perth. I was surprised to find i felt pretty good. ( triple shot coffee's help )

The swim was a one lap deep water start with some young ITU guys coming across to have a crack at the longer distance. Once the gun went off it was on, The pace at the front was fast and after a few hundred metres i had to back off or risk exploding.
Two guys got away and left a group of us about 1 min back out of the water.

Onto the bike and this is wear things got crazy. It was a 5 lap bike course ( due to road works ) there was a fair amount of carnage. Despite the numbers our group managed to leave the bike course in one piece. ( As did most ) Except for one dude i saw with a broken collar bone... OUCH!! mend fast mate....Ok i'm getting side tracked, back to the race.

Onto the run and i was excited to see what i could do after the biggest run block of my life.
Things started off ok i was running a solid tempo, but i was still well off the winners "Tim Reeds" pace. I really struggled trying to run fast, but as the run went on i felt better and better. Maybe it was the distances i've been running or the positive self talk that was going on.( Thanks Pete ) But i started bringing people back towards the end of the run and had more in the tank to give.

Long story short, i'd much prefer to be on the podium, but im excited about where my fitness is this early and i'm looking forward to the season ahead.

REED, Tim Australia 00:24:00 02:00:43 01:12:06 03:40:13 1 1
LAMPE, Joseph Australia 00:22:31 02:00:02 01:16:56 03:42:57 2 2
BETTEN, Sam Australia 00:23:45 02:00:44 01:15:08 03:44:19 3 3
PRINCE, Michael Australia 00:24:01 02:00:38 01:17:58 03:46:15 4 4
WALL, Lindsey Australia 00:23:57 02:00:47 01:19:27 03:47:33 5 5
HODGE, James Australia 00:22:35 01:59:38 01:22:20 03:48:24 6 6
REITHMEIER, Alex Austria 00:23:59 02:00:31 01:21:05 03:49:11 7 7
CRAWFORD, Guy New Zealand 00:23:54 02:00:42 01:21:56 03:50:11 8 8
ALLEN, Ben Australia 00:23:41 02:04:50 01:20:06 03:52:08 9 9
SKIPWORTH, Todd Australia 00:23:52 02:08:47 01:16:22 03:53:25 1 10

Thank-you for the continued support
Your all legends

Guy

70.3 Augusta

I tried the double AGAIN. ( two 70.3s in 7 days )

This time was better than the last yet still not great.

70.3 Augusta started off in mild conditions , perfect racing weather really.
The swim has a bit of a current as my race best swim (19:52 ) shows. Usually I'll swim about 24-25mins

The swim went pretty smooth with a group of about 7 of us existing the water within 20 secs of each other and then onto the bike we mostly rode together .
My legs felt like they were full of cement. I struggled for the first 30miles then managed to find my riding legs ...or maybe i adjusted to the pain.

I went to front for the last 12 miles and led the group off the bike into transition 2. The group had now dropped to 5. Out of T2 and into the run I felt like death warmed up. I waited hoping my legs, lungs and head would come good. But it wasn't to be, I ran the 21k slowly but still in much pain. The week before I ran 12 mins quicker and it felt easier.

70.3 Augusta was a tough tough day and I tried to push my body somewhere it obviously didn't want to go.
Will I do it again? Yeah probably, I'm a slow learner..3rd times a charm right?

So after Flying back to Boise and spending a few days training and recovering it was off to Hawaii for IM World Championship . I'm working for blueseventy and doing my roll as supporter for the many friends we have racing.

The island was all hussle and bustle , Lycra and swimsuits. ( the poor locals )

It's been an exciting week, hanging out at the coffees of Hawaii boat, Ceepo signing, hanging with the blueseventy and K-Swiss crew. Plus catching up with loads of people we only get to see once a year.

Ohh and watching those crazy athletes battle the Kona IM course. it was a hot tough day that saw some interesting changes at the pointy end of the race.

Cheers
Guy

70.3 Branson

70.3 BRANSON

Hey Ya-all

I’m back racing and its great to be back. After IM CdA I had to have 6 weeks off running due to a foot injury. However with that behind me it was time to blow out some cow-webs at 70.3 Branson.

Kate and I left for Branson on Friday , Our last flight was basically a pro flight from Denver to Branson. Hoffman, Potts, myself , Kate, Caroline and many more.

Kate tried to make me fit my bike case and all our other gear into a convertible. It was ridiculous and didn’t work … what did I say Kate? “ Guy is always right “ …. That has a catchy tune to it…

Onto the Landing party which Mr Tom Ziebart puts on before each race. ( Tom is awesome by the way ) A great race director. ( who puts on a great after party )

Onto race day and usually i get a little tense, but I was quite relaxed for this one. Not quite knowing what the body was going to do.
The swim start was its usual madness and we all watched Potts swim away, then I lead the group to the turn around buoy, I had a few looks over my shoulder and saw there was about 6 guys with me..( not that I could count 6, I just knew there was a lot of slashing going on) I decided to take it easy and on the way back to shore and let some-one set the pace, I got a nice free ride into T1.
Out onto the bike and Potts and Hoffman were off with a group of 4 of us riding together-ish. The guys worked well and we rode a good tempo… Nothing to crazy, in hide sight maybe I should have ridden quicker, but I don’t think it would have made a difference to the end result.

In T2 and our little group made our way out onto the run. 2 guys shot off like bullets and it took me a lot less than one second to decide not to go with them, I ran pretty cruisy for the first 2 K and then settled into my pace. For the first time in as long as I can remember I ran strong through each K and felt pretty good ( when I say pretty good , I was hurting bad , but a maintainable bad ) not a “im about to vomit and pass out on the side of the road”… which is my usual racing technique .

In the end I finished in 6th place and had a pretty good day.
I’m stoked to be getting my fitness back and I’m looking forward to seeing how this planed double goes.
Thanks for all the support and messages team. You’re the best.

From there it was off to Memphis , Knoxville and on to Augusta. But that’s another epically long blog…I’ll be sure to post some photos and race report on 70.3 Augusta in the next few days.

G

London

Alot has Happened Since Ironman CDA

Came home ( Boise ) then within a few days we flew to Boulder for a few days .
Hung out with the Daerr's and got a bike fit...
Then back to Boise and into some training again, unfortunatley for me my left foot was really sore and this would continue for the next 5 weeks ( no running for me )

After a few weeks of some serious bike miles and racing the swim and bike portion of the Les Bois Triathon it was time to hit the road for blueseventy.
Off to London for the 2012 Olympic Games.

It was another awesome experience, watching the mens and womans triathlon races was epic. The crowds were out of controll, there wasn't a section of road that wasnt lined 3-4 deep with people. To watch one of blueseventys athlete's dominate was also pretty cool ( Alistair Brownlee is really setting a new standard. )

I also traveled around the country visting old friend and retailers which was pretty awesome... tiring but fun.

See pic's below of our trip . Nottingham, London, Bath, Manchester, York, London, Brighton , NYC

Then it was off to New York City to watch the US IM championships.
It wasnt to be Kates day. She had a great start to the day but unfortunatley ended up in the medical tent ..( catch up on the details at (www.katebevilaqua.com) She'll be back stronger for the next one.

now im sitting in the Hilton, Time Square writing this before we head back to Boise and our Cat tonight.

it will be nice to get into a routine again and start getting back into some hard training.
Next up is 70.3 Muskoka in 4 weeks.

Thanks team

laters

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

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

Update So After 70.3 Busselton we packed up ship and headed to the USA. We've been in the USA a little over a week. Training has been great, moving into the appartment was quite smooth, we even adopted a cat.. Still yet to find out where he came from. Seems like we have just settled back in, had all our gear arrive (including my awesome new race suit ) and now it's time to depart again. Honu 70.3 is just around the corner and Kate and i are heading out a bit early to get some sun and training in out there for a few weeks.

Honu 70.3 is turning into the world championship of triathlon. With Lance on the start list it has attracted a stella field... Not to worry though i'll go to max and see what happens... After Honu we have IM CDA which im actually excited about. IM use to scare me ,but im looking forward to this one..( fingers crossed it doesnt scar me internally , haha )After that its time for a small mid season break. I feel like we've been racing and training hard since IM NZ. So unlike last year when i totally cooked myself, ill take a small break and then refocus. Next update from the island. Pic's below My fighting Kiwi logo on the back of my Shorts.. Thanks flag makers. Kate fixing up dinner in the Apartment The new addiction to the family "Mr Cat" and yeah he probably needs another name. Any ideas?

Cheers Guy

BUSSELTON 70.3 Wow what a big few months. All starting with IM New Zealand, followed by 70.3 Singapore, Karri Valley Triathlon, WA State 80K TT, Kalgoorlie Olympic , Thailand Samui Long Course Tri and finally 70.3 Busselton. It's been a fantastic start to the year and now the body has 4 weeks to get ready for Honu 70.3 then IM Coeur d Alene in Late June. Back to Busselton 70.3 Race morning rolled round rather quickly, i felt like we'd just gotten off the plane from Thailand. However even with all the travel i felt mentally and physically strong.

We got in for the swim warm up and it wasn't like swimming in a pool AT ALL. The chop was quite servere and once i came in from my warmup i had a quick chat with Paul Newsome ( super swim coach ) and he told me to "Swing baby Swing"...I feel i should define that further. That means when its choppy you need to swing your arms over more and recover with more of a straight arm. His words rang through my head for a good portion of the swim and i got myself into the perfect spot behind Luke Mckenzie and Luke Bell, All and all i had a great swim and was happy with the way i felt and my positioning. Onto the Bike and Luke Bell put in huge effort to close a 25 sec gap to Mckenzie and to say my legs were screaming is an under statement. I tried to go with Bell, but had to settle into my own rhythm after a few K's. I ended up being caught by a few guys and riding the remainder of the cycle leg with them. We Came off the bike 2mins back from the Luke's, White and 3:30 down on the leader. I wanted more from my cycling legs, Not quite sure why i didnt have the legs i usually do but happy i felt strong towards the end of the bike. ( good sign for IM )

Out onto the run and i was on a roller coaster ride, i felt great then i felt crap, then great, then crap.. At the end of the day i felt like i ran strong, unfortunately it wasn't as fast as i would have liked. I ended the day in 7th place. A happy 7th, i gave all i had today and while i wanted more i am happy in the fact i gave 100% of what i had.

It's time for Kate and i to pack up our gear and get ready for our 6 month stint in the USA. Thanks again for all the support. I'm looking forward to kicking off my US season in a few weeks time.

Cheers Guy

Koh Samui

Well Kate and i have had a busy few weeks. Last week we drove 6.5hours to Kalgoorlie where we raced the Goldfields Olympic distance. A great race put on by a great club.. A big thanks to Geoff and team for welcoming us and putting on a great race. After Kalgoorlie it was a quick ( not so quick ) trip home and then we packed and jumped on planes to Thailand. I've never been to Thailand before and the experience so far has been awesome. It's a busy busy place and the scooters are Crazy..I never knew you could fit 3 people about 100 litres of water, fruit and containers on one scooter... economical... Im hot all the time... We are now just chilling out at an awesome resort courtesy of Samui Triathlon.. A big thank-you to Gerald and the team for putting us up and for this great experience . Looking forward to sunday and hoping the heat doesnt get the better of me... Check out my facebook page for loads more photos. Guy