Myself and a few others from the tri group last night were fortunate enough to spend some time with the 2 time Ironman World Champion (It rolled off his tongue so fluently last night!). Through a lucky set of circumstances and a few phone calls I spent 1 hour running with Craig asking him questions and advice about the Hawaiian Ironman. Now this guy has some credentials.
When we first arrived to run with him, I made it sure that I had many a question to ask regarding training advice, race day advice and a few other things. Firstly, this guy is one of the most down to earth people that I have ever come across, not only on a sporting sense, but also in every day life. Throw in the fact that he has won the toughest race of all, not once, but twice would give this guy some reason to think that his shit doesn't stink.
He has a balance in his life, but he sure knows when to flick the switch. NO weighing food, no crazy diets, nothing bizarre or unusual about what he does, he just gets the job done. He was so accommodating with the questions that I had for him relating to training, race day and even Hawaii. I thought that he would get sick of the questioning, however he not only answered the direct question that I asked him, but then went on to give advice and unbeknown to him, answer the follow 5 questions that I had in my arsenal.
Just to listen to him speak was something that I really enjoyed, some of the inner sanctum stuff that he told us about different races. He even asked a few specific things about what I did and gave me advice relating to this. Now I am pretty happy with my setup and race day plan, but after talking to him last night, I am happier that he has contributed to make things a little easier (if that could be possible at Hawaii) and less stressful come race day. The only regret that I had from last night was that I could not record everything that he said, so once I got home, I madly wrote down as much of the advice as possible to remember for future. I thought that I was struggling to remember, but after 2 full pages of notes I think that I have it covered.
Some of the things that were said, you cant read in books, you cannot pay for, this stuff was straight from the horse's mouth and things that I can use to my advantage to give me a more accomplished race/training regime.
After spending the hour with him, I had one final question.....A bit of a funny one, but one that I am glad that I asked!! "Can I please have your visor?" I think this startled him for a second because his response was more shock, "This one??" "Yes please." "No problem" So just like that I have added a souvenir to my collection and the reminder that I had quality time with an All time champion!!
A few photos below show how accommodating Craig is as he was happy to get some photos done before we ran.
I have to put this one first as Billy was the instigator of getting me down there last night. An absolute champion of a guy.
I think that I was still in shock standing next to the 2 time World Champion!
Benny was smiling from ear to ear (as was I) from this moment until we got home.
I thought that I would include this one, as Mark Renshaw is the best lead out man in the world and one of the fastest. His calf muscles would make any triathletes quads look small.
I have to put this one first as Billy was the instigator of getting me down there last night. An absolute champion of a guy.
I think that I was still in shock standing next to the 2 time World Champion!
Benny was smiling from ear to ear (as was I) from this moment until we got home.
I thought that I would include this one, as Mark Renshaw is the best lead out man in the world and one of the fastest. His calf muscles would make any triathletes quads look small.For now...
X-Man
ps. I am going to jot down the advice and use it as a motivation tool/training reference that I received last night so that I can test it out come Kona time.
crowie was probably shitting himself standing next to you, you look like a giant x-man!!
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