Swiss Alps

Hey gang,

well it has been a month to the day since my jaunt around the island of hainan. Right after the race I headed back to Aus to settle or the odds and ends and pack up my goodies for the second third of my race season.
just a few days ago Marilyn and I arrived in the beautiful little village of leysin high up in the swiss alps.
I am going to be based here for my full prep up to Challenge Roth. I will be doing several tune up races so I will keep you updated on how things are coming along.

The pic above is from last years race in roth.

Cheers Chris

IM number 22

Hey Folks,

Well it is about 5 am the morning after IM china and as per usual I have slept about three hours and now I am sitting here just staring at the ceiling.

Wow yesterday was one of the most bizarre days I have ever had in my IM racing. I will be honest ... I came here to win and felt I had good enough form to give it a good crack.

After all the same old pre race rituals we lined up on the beach at 7 am and waited for the canon. I never did here the canon though it was just creep...creep and then it was on one person took one stroke and we were off.

the swim...well... it sucked for me...this was the start of my very interesting day... I got a decent spot in the group but just ended up drifting off the back and swimming solo... there was CRAZY current flowing sideways through the swim course and it took me so far of course it was almost ridicules ... I hit the beach for the first lap around 100m down from the turn around... back out for the second lap and now it was pushing me to the wrong side of the course....to not make a long story longer I ended up swimming what felt like 5 k and had the worst swim time I have had in 4 years....onto the bike...

Sweet! this is my game now... I jumped on and just felt awesome from the first pedal stroke.... thee major group was 5 min up and by the 20 k mark it was down to three min and I really felt in controll.... 21k Boom flat.." that's OK Chris you can get this thing changed in about 90 sec... Tyre off Tyre on C02...EVERY WERE but in the Tyre.... my co2 had just gone very were and here I was on the side of the road with about 50 psi in the Tyre... so I jumped back on and rode standing to the next aid station were I could get it pumped with a tracky... OK game on again .. I got back into my rhythm.. rode past the people that had riddin by me... caught the group ..rode through the group and was making great in rodes into the lead guys..... as I finished the last climb through the villages of Haikou I made the turn for home at 160k ....onto the free way and ...BOOM .. flat 2 ... so here I am 160 k no spare no tech support in sight ....I did a little run through... stand on the side of the road for 10-15 min or ride it flat , anyone who knows me knows I hate waiting so I just kept going .

that last 20 k was really tough mentally and scary to boot. so I hit T2 with a split of 4:43.

Onto the run ....what can I say HOT.. HOT ..HOT... I was told it got to 38deg and 80%humidity....no real storeys on the run other than it was basicaly 21 x 2k reps aid station to aid station .... this was one of the toughest mental runs I have done... I just kept thinking of what could have been and how god dam hot it was...

I crossed the line in 4th place in about 9 :20 and change ,I can say in was harder to go 9:20 today than any sub 8:30 time I have ever done.

Thank you so much for all you support, and thanks to my sponsors:


Rotor bike

Fuelt belt

Spiuk

Jaggad

Cervelo

Hed

Newton running

Team TBB

Blue Seventy

DCMsport

Above is a pick of my new tattoo thanks to the sun in Haikou :-)

Why I am tired

Hey guys,

it has been a long time since I have posted ( Sorry ) Things are coming along well , I am back in Albury now and training hasbeen coming along well. To be honest other than boulder I would say little old Albury hasthe best training we have found and the groups are awesome.

you will notice the title say why I'm tired...... I have been reading this on the back of thte toilet door since i was a kid and I just think it is great.

WHY I"M TIRED

Boy I'm Tired!
For years I have blamed it on middle-age , poor blood, lack of vitamins air polution and other maladies that make you wonder if life is worth it.
But I found out it's not that - its becuase I am overworked.

The population of this country is 51 million. 21 million are retired, that leaves 30 million to do the work.
There are 19 million in school. That leaves 11million to do the work.
Two million are unemployed and four million are employed by the government.
That leaves five million to do the work.
one million are in the amred forces,leaving 4 million to do the work.
Three million are emplyed by councils leaving one million to do the work.
There are 620,000 people in hospital and 379,998 in jail. That leaves two people to do the work, You and me. And you sitting on your arse reading this --
NO WONDER I'M BLOODY TIRED!!

I hope your having a good week.

CHeers C

for a cause

Hey guys,
I was lucky enogh to meet this guy in Malaysia and then agian in NZ he is a really nice guy raising a family of 6 and then is raceing 18 IMs in one yeat to raise money for Kids.

he sent me this e-mail below.

Hey Chris,

I hope this note finds you well. I just wanted to thank you for the great suggestion on using Balance for my nutritional needs during the race. It worked out spectacularly! I avoided using them on race day by going for a big 5-mile ride on Friday and used them on Saturday and figured it couldn’t have been worse than the meltdown in Langkawi. The socks worked out very well and especially for recovery. I must be the sexiest middle of the packer tri-geek trying to break a world record with by the way six kids. Thanks and good on ya!!

I was going to bug you about being my coach since I’ve already had about half a dozen turn downs but it looks as though Mr. “I did 11 Ironmans last year as a professional” Vanbrousek (an amazing feat in of itself) is going to take a stab at it. I’ve got so much to do getting our non-profit foundation off the ground to help needy kids besides caring for my growing family and lovely bride. I’m sure you’ll meet them up in Louisville when you defend your title if not sooner. We’d love to treat you to lunch or dinner or something if you have the time. It’d be a real hoot (fun in Texas talk). In the meantime, please feel free about being my PR tri-geek pro and spreading the word about our little non-profit foundation http://www.ironmanforkids.com/ seeking to help those kids most in need. I was very touched that you took the time to tell folks about me and our mission of mercy.

Chris, you are fine example of a humble champion of our sport that looks to build others up instead of inflating one’s own ego. Keep up the good work my friend and trust that you and your sweet wife are in our prayers. Until we meet again train hard and I’ll look around for a US dealer for your Balance product. It’s great! Maybe you can mention me to them if they’re looking for a feel good story for their product in the US with the ultimate weekend warrior/family guy helping needy kids while chasing the world record for most Ironmans in a year. You were just a young pup when I did my first Ironman in Hawaii at age 18 and then took 20 years off to start several businesses and have a busload of kids and don’t think we’re done yet.

Thanks again for all your help and I look forward to hearing from you when you get a chance.

PIMP, BIG SEXY!!

LOL :-)

todays pic is from my bros wedding as well , we were horseing around before we had to leave and I thought rocking the white oakleys on the white leather counch was the perfect pimp look :-)

I am currently back in New Zealand after last weekend working hard on a new bussiness venture I am in with one of my bros (More news soon )

from here it will be back to Aus and it is head down bum up time agian with the training.

Cheers Chris

a day I would like to forget

well I am in the KL airport at the moment on my way home from a disaster trip to aisa, as I wrote in an earlier blog I got quite sick before IMM but thought I would give it a shot anyways.....let me tell you this race is not the kind of race you can do at 60%.
to cut a long storey short I was unable to finish the race ...this is the first IM I have not been able to finish in 21 IM and let me tell you it is the last ..the feeling of unfinished bussiness to me is the worst feeling in the world.

I will keep you posted to what my plans are from here. lets keep our fingers crossed I get beeter and bring in home the same as last year.

see you at the races
Chrispy

langkawi

todays pic is from the Auckland half back in 04 this race was half way through epic camp.

well another year has pased and I find myself sitting in the sea veiw hotel in langkawi agian. I promnised myslef last year I would not put myself through this death march agian .....but I just can not help myslef and here I am agian. as they say if at forst you dont sucseed try and try again...well I am trying :-)

to make this trip a little more interesting I caught a bad cold about a week ago and have not been able to break it so I will be racing at about 60 % :-) hey we cant make it to easy:-)

I will drop in after the race and let you know how it went.. I have no real expectations other than a solid training day in the heat .


be good to your mother
Cheers C