IMNZ + Team Timex camp

Well all my new team mates at TeamTimex have been in New Jersey USA at a little pre season camp getting to meet each other, do some testing and sponsor commitments . Me, well I have been head down training, with IMNZ coming up in ten days time. I have seen some of the photos on the net and I cant wait to get hold of some of the new kit though....

I have been having my own little training camp for the last week, with Hiro and Maki from TeamTBB staying at my place, they are both competing at IMNZ. You can see below Maki's JUMP photo, she has a selection of these from all around the world. It a few of the guys after a open water swim last weekend.

At this years IMNZ Timex have a stand and myself and Jo Lawn will be there 11am Thursday and Friday if you want to come by and say hello, you can also check out some exciting new products from Timex.

Time to go, got to fit in another run and bike today....

New Plymouth Half Ironman - 1st place

Well, Saturday morning Tracy and I drove down to New Plymouth which is about 3hrs from Cambridge for the Inaugural New Plymouth Half Ironman. Selwyn and his team put on a great event with the best race pack I think I have ever seen at a race in New Zealand, it wasn’t full of advertising but stuff you could actually use, some goggles, chocolate, squeezys and even a towel + more

Sunday was race day, and it was an absolute cracking Taranaki day, lots of sunshine and quite a strong wind. The race started at the very reasonable hour of 7.30 so we got a little sleep in. Pre race favourite Mark Bowstead took off like a rabbit at the start of the swim and we were all left chasing right from the start. I ended coming out of the water with Brodie Madgwick and another athlete about 1min40sec down on Mark. Up through transition and we even had change tents! Just like Challenge Wanaka or IMNZ, Brodie decided he wanted to check out the action in the girls tent and went in there.....

So onto the bike and it was basically a big tail wind out to the turnaround plus the numerous hills to negotiate, I think the longest piece of flat road was about 3k so it was a definite testing course. At the turn around Mark had increased his lead by about 20sec which I was very happy with as he and his brother James are well known for their biking ability. And Brodie was about 10sec back from me.

We all struggled back in to the head wind and over the hills, I remember going past a sign with 27k to New Plymouth and since I don’t use a speedo thinking “man this is a long long ride” as I thought I must be only 10-15k from home. The last 3-4km is basically all downhill so you can roll down the hill and into transition, I had opened up a small gap to Brodie of 30 odd seconds and Mark had increased his lead out to 3mins.

A pretty slow IM transition for me, straight up Bayley road and Brodie was on my heels, we ran the first lap pretty solid and cut Marks lead down to 1min30sec and I started to feel very confident we would catch him and me and Brodie would fight it out. The 2^nd lap we eased up and ran up to Mark at the about the 12 kilometre point. Running along the esplanade it was pretty sheltered and it was getting very hot and sticky. Going into the last lap I made a little dig going over the top of a hill and felt Brodie slide off the back and then ran through the last lap pretty controlled to take the win. My first for TeamTimex.

I was pleased to get the “Monkey off the back” after my disappointing day in Wanaka a few weeks back, so next up is IMNZ in 3weeks where I hope to improve on last year’s performance.

My athletes from www.Vo2coach.com had great days, with Candice Hammond demolishing the womens field for the win and Grant Tuffery 2^nd in his age group by only 10secs

Again a big congrats to Selwyn, a very well run event which is excellent timing for anyone who is lining up for IMNZ in 3 weeks time.

Potential

Over on the TBB forum there has been a nice little thread about training in Kenya/coaching and I thought I would paste here a few thoughts on athletic potential I wrote there

I will give you another little Lydiard story, in his joggin book I think
He talks about a runner he helped out when he was in his teens, he said he had no
talent, any was only midpack and thought he was destined to be there his entire career
Now this young runner obviously liked running and kept at it, kept at it, kept at it
And 15years later he ended up winning the New Zealand Marathon title in a 2hr15min
Not a bad time for someone with no Talent

So thats a big people cant get over in todays society, the NOW factor
we need everything NOW, not in 2 year time or 10
I think every athlete is guilty of it

And the above just shows you,
No one actually really nows how much aerobic potential to improve your body has
Everyones rates of improvements are so different
Some fast and some slow
Just like children, some grow faster younger, some older, but they end up the same size

New Plymouth Half Ironman

Next weekend I have decided to have a little hit out for Ironman New Zealand at the New Plymouth Half Ironman. Its perfect timing being three weeks before the full distance and its set over a challening course which will be a good strength workout.

I have a couple of athletes I coach racing from Vo2coach, Candice Hammond in the womens, Candice has come from a rowing background and another years time I am sure she will be suprising a few people, she is also lining up at IMNZ in a couple of weeks
Grant Tuffery in the older mens category, who is looking to build on his big PB from Tauranga. And finally Ogrady is also lining up, fresh from his win at the New Zealand Half Ironman Championships, again this will be a good training race for him in preparation for Abu Dhabi early next month.

Its a sunday race which is not very common in New Zealand, but I think a good idea as you can work friday as normal then have a relaxing drive on saturday to the race rather than late friday night. It also means the traffic is normally a little less on the course which is always a good thing when racing.

Out

Keegan

Freddie Fresh Legs

Since Challenge Wanaka I had the first week pretty cruisy, as even though my legs were not that sore after having a long walk home the immune system needs a little rest.
So these past few days I have had good legs, freddie fresh to be exact, like they have been on taper again. But I am sure the feeling will not last to much longer :)  

I am in the process of finalising my race schedule this year, but Ironman New Zealand then Ironman Brazil are next up. My twin brother Bevan is marrying his Brazilan girlfriend the week before IM so that works in well. It will be my second time to South America, my last time was to visit Dad when he was working in Equador, so I got to have a look around Equador and a little bit of Colombia.

The highlight of that trip was buying a old school Balsa wood surfboard, getting access into the local point break which was inside a Army base! and then the surfing with no wetsuit, only boardshorts, good times...
My surfboard was worse for wear when I got home though, the US customs had decided to drill about 5 small pencil diameter holes through it to check if I was importing cocaine to NZ, I wasnt impressed.
I only realised what the holes were from when I was watching a Border Security program a few months later, and it showed them drilling holes in Timber products (they didnt tell me they drilled it, I got home, unwrapped my board to find these holes for the first time!)

Time to work the legs over
K

Wanaka

Challenge Wanaka is done and dusted for 2011. It ended up being a super tough day for everyone involved from the spectators, volunteers and athletes. All down to one factor the WIND, it was super strong, I got woken in the middle of the night before the race with it hammering the roof. Race morning dawned and it was still blowing very hard creating some good chop in the lake.
I think I swallowed a good proportion of the lake in the swim and came out of the water a couple minutes down on the front group. On the bike and out to the first turn around and myself, Thompson, Mckinnon, and Johnsen ended up in a small group chasing the front guys. We were moving along at a decent rate with a big tailwind on the downward leg to Cromwell, some sections we were moving along on the flat at close to 60km/hr. I never really felt the comfortable on the bike, my stomach quesy and for some reason my eyes felt like they where going to explode out of my face. Turning at Cromwell and back up the other side of the lake the speed dropped alot, with a massive headwind we were crawling, probably around 20km/hr for quite a few sections. Belinda Granger told me after she was down to 14km/hr on this flat section!
At about 40km to go Bevin started to put the pressure on and our group split and we all ended up riding solo to T2. I rolled in to transition, took my helmet off, felt my head for some reason, I am not sure why, and I still had my SWIM CAP on! 180km with my swim cap on, thats a definite first for me. I think thats why my eyes felt like they where exploding all day, the heat was coming out through them!
Out on to the run and I still felt pretty confident of laying down a good marathon and challenging for the win even though I was 9min down on Jamie. My stomach was quite unsettled running, getting really sore every time I drunk or ate something, but nothing I couldnt work through. Running up Gunn Road I could see Courtney Ogden just ahead and I caught him running up Plantation road, then Bevin come into sight only 1min up the road and I was about 4min down on Jamie at the half way point. Normally my second half of the marathon is my best part of the race, but not on this day. I got back down close to the single track section and my stomach started getting really bad, next thing I new I was spewing quite badly and lying in the grass. I got up started jogging again but felt really really weak so was reduced to the long walk home. I was very tempted to DNF but was determined to finish the day even though I was not in the race anymore. After a bit of a walk Tracy came along the track the other way, Courtney had let her know that I was not in a good state as he had a pretty good view of my dramas which was really nice as he was still fighting for second.
So we had a walk home, and I crossed the line a few hours later.

Congrats to everyone who finised the day, the winds where like nothing I have ever raced in before, it was definetly a testing day. And good to see the Kiwi boys taking the number 1 and 3 spot in Jamie and Bevin. Thanks to Victoria and her team for putting on another great event, it gets bigger and better every year, but still has that relaxed yet exciting kiwi atmosphere.

Obviously the day was pretty dissapointing for me as training had been going really well, posting my best numbers in training I have ever seen before, but all I need to remember is there is plenty more races!

Wanaka Countdown

Well, about 10 days to go to Challenge Wanaka, the body is feeling pretty good and I am looking forward to another Ironman distance race. I haven't raced a full distance race since September so I have been getting some itchy feet......

One more two hour run and long ride to tick off in training, then its alot of couch time :)

Below are some photos of my previous races in Wanaka