Guy Avellon came to TRIATHLETIX last October no stranger to triathlon.  In the late 1980s, he completed several sprint and Olympic races and even pulled off a sub 2:40 at the international distance.  But it had been awhile since he’d raced swim/bike/run and he wanted to get it right.

Armed with a pre-season program, Guy went to work focused on improving his limiter – running.  With a program of progressively lengthening run workouts, and with an attitude that nothing could stop him, Guy put in the time on the streets to get stronger.  With the ultimate goal of Ironman Florida in the fall of ’06, he set his sights on the Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon as a nice barometer of his progress.

In the two months before his half marathon, Guy worked swim and cycling workouts into his run program and the cross-training helped him.  As the race approached his pace improved and he felt ready to P.R.

With a goal of finishing under 2 hours, Guy’s strategy was to hold a 9 minute per mile pace for the full 13.1.  He started the race a bit fast and at the 10k mark, he’d set a personal record for that distance.  But with 7 miles to go, he knew he had to budget his energy to meet his goal.  In the end, he allowed himself a few miles of recovery running before blistering the remainder of the course and finishing with 3 minutes to spare!

 
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