New Year, New Team

I am pleased to annouce that I am joining the Timex multisport team for the 2011 year. TeamTimex is different from other triathlon teams in that is has a amateur and professional component. With athletes male and female from around the world ranging from spring chickens to old men. This means I get some exciting new teammates from all walks of life, it also means some exciting new sponsors and equipment changes.

So in 2011 I will be using the below products, keep an eye on my blog as I review the gear throughout the year:

• Timex Timepieces
• Orbea bikes
• Orca Wetsuits
• Shimano groupset and wheel set
• Powerbar nutrition products
• Native Eyewear Optics
• Nathan hydration belt
• Compressport compression socks

So my next race at Challenge Wanaka will be in the new red blue and white Timex kit, I have had a 2nd, 3rd and 5th placing in the past at Wanaka, so you know what I am aiming for this year :)

Training has been ticking along well, I have been helping out Graham Ogrady and doing quite a few sessions with him aswell as a local Cambridge girl who has the potential to go far, so watch this space. "She has the time, now she just has to give it" as one well known aussie coach says

Over and out
Keegan

Team TBB Reflections

Well, the past two years have gone pretty quick, this past season has been alot better with some constant improvements as coach and I have figured out what I need.

Before I joined TeamTBB I was in 9hr IM shape, and had never

• Run on a track (well maybe twice when I was 13 and 14 for the yearly school athletics meet)
• Used my paddles for more than 1k in a session
• Split my sessions in two
• Raced overseas
• Trained at altitude

And I am leaving having ticked the boxes above, with probably the highlight being going 8hr12min at Challenge Copenhagen with some Dramas thrown at me in the race to keep me honest.

Some of highlights with the team for me where

• Watching Bella turn up and win something like 4 or 5 Ironmans in a row, each time coming back to training quietly contented, but wanting to and giving it to herself in training again and again
• Watching the Filipino boys do some 400's on the track, coach asks for 70sec laps, first one is a 58, next one a 68, then a 90sec!....... bad pacing = angry coach :)
• Getting called Sheep F#$%&r until I had a decent race by coach, thankfully it didnt take to long
• 4hr run day in the Phillipines with the Zach attack
• Meeting some really nice team mates/people along the way

Now, for the coach review, and I am not "trying to piss in his pocket" as we sometimes say in New Zealand
but I am really pleased I got not only the chance to be coached by Brett but be able to watch him motivate and train the others in the team. I am not sure how he did it with the Dogs and Horses as I don't think his talks (some people call them "rants") would work as well on them :) Also a big thanks to all the sponsors who helped out over the last two years

So next year, training wise, I just need to keep on doing what I have been doing, increasing my speeds and trying to hit some better numbers in training. I am getting a little tired of 2nds, 3rds and 4ths so hopefully 2011 I will change the numbers!

Taupo Half Ironman Race Report

Yesterday I competed in the Taupo Half Ironman, I have done this race every year since it started with a win, 2 seconds and a DNF crash out last year.
This year was a slightly new course because of the huge growth with over 1200 particpants, so they shifted the transition upto the same location as IMNZ, so this meant a 400m run after the swim and a slightly different run and bike course.
Race day dawned, got up, had some breakfast, went back to sleep for another hour then drove down the start. The wind was already blowing at 5.30 in the morning so I new it was going to get pretty wild later on in the day and it did :)
I had a good swim and came out in the front group with Bozzone, Burgess and a few others with Andrew Mackay off the front by about 1min. Through the run and transition I lost contact, and wouldnt see the above two for the rest of the day. They had a good battle with each other, with it coming down to the last couple of kilometers of the run the deciding factor, Terrenzo using his experience to take the win.
Jamie Whyte soon rode upto me, and Bevan Mckinnon also, Jamie then dropped off about 10k later. It was getting very windy, and once we hit the turnaround back into town you could really feel it, I dont have a speedo but I am pretty sure I would of been under 30km/hr in some sections on the flat battling into the wind. Bevan got a gap going through t2 and good friend Brodie arrived in T2 not long after. I was down about 3min on the lead two going into the run.
Out on to the 2 lap run and I was really struggling on the first lap to get going, near the end of the 1st lap I took a pit stop and then the legs came right. Brodie closed to with in 10sec, and I was waiting for him to run up beside me but thankfully I started running strongly and opened up a nice little lead which I held to the end for 3rd place.
So a good day training for my next IM distance race at Challenge Wanaka

This was my last race for TeamTBB

I will write a blog shortly to explain what I am up to next year.... keep tuned in

Taupo Half Ironman

This weekend is the first hit out since Rev3 back in September, so its been awhile, at the Taupo Half Ironman. This year they have a new course, with a massive increase in numbers they have had to shift the transition upto where Ironman NZ is situated

Training has been ticking along with the major focus this summer being Challenge Wanaka in January then IMNZ in March. I have been doing a bit of training with Gog (Graham Ogrady) which has been good, as the past year I have essentially done 95% of my training solo.
The solo training is good, as Coach Brett Sutton says, "the more boring the better" but it is nice to have some one to push you along sometimes

Now I think this blog must be a record for the number of links per words written.....


Over and out

Married Man

Well, the past two weeks have flown by and I am now a married man!
Tracy and I got hitched on Ohope Beach near Whakatane, now there has been very little rainfall in New Zealand in the last 6 weeks, only 40% of the average but on the friday night before our big day the heavens opened and it started hosing down. Saturday morning and it was still raining and some heavy fog was rolling in. Lucky for us though the rain eased off for the afternoon and we had our beach wedding but in the fog! we really enjoyed it though, as it was quite different to the norm.
Onto our honeymoon and we got to spend 5nights in Rarotonga then back to NZ for another friends wedding, I have also got another one this weekend, so busy times.
Rarotonga was very warm, and it brought back memories of the phillipines, 20min run and I was drenched. The food was great, alot of fresh seafood and tropical fruits, unfortunately they didnt have any of my faviourite mango's as all the trees got damaged in a storm they had earlier this year.

I dont have any photos from wedding yet as photographer got them still.... but have got a couple from Rarotonga

Slowtwitch Interview

Ok, I did this interview awhile ago but its a good insight into who I am and where I come from

Check it out at this slowtwitch link

The below is a photo from Challenge Copenhagen, riding through the middle of downtown Copenhagen in the rain

Basic Training

I wanted to share a quote from Arthur Lydiard who was the master coach, which sums up the basic principles that all athletes and coaches should follow

"The fundamental principle of training is simple, which may be why it needs repeating so often: it is to develop enough stamina to enable you to maintain the necessary speed for the full distance at which you compete"



Lydiards boys on the Waitaks



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