Braden Currie is leaving no stone unturned as he aims to win back the New Zealand Ironman title.
Currie endures a torturous weekly schedule that also saw him send his family away over the Christmas break.
“I'll do somewhere between 20 to 25km of swimming, so that’s probably four to five sessions,” he said of his weekly schedule.
“On the bike I ride five days a week, a couple of them will be long rides, so getting close to 500km a week and running wise, somewhere between 60 to 80km a week of running.”
So far, the results have been positive with Currie putting on a clinic at the half Ironman Challenge Wanaka two weeks ago.
After that result, the goal quickly turned to next week’s New Zealand Ironman in Taupo.
Currie won the race as a first timer just three years ago, but has had mixed fortunes since.
“It's quite a key to the flow of my year in a way, I’ve got a sort of busy year and if I don’t quite get the result I want here, it's going to make my year even harder,” he said.
Despite the NZ Ironman being his immediate focus, Currie admits everything in his calendar is tailored to competing at the famous Kona Ironman in Hawaii later this year - a race he knows his body is capable of winning.
“I feel in a way I’ve had a great swim, I’ve had a really good bike ride, I’ve had a really good run, I’ve just got to be able to put all three together one the same day, and that’d be the best chance I’ve ever had,” he said.
The biggest factor he thinks will come down to mindset.
“You soon learn when you race against some of the world’s best people, that physically there’s only so far potentially the human body can go, there’s only so fit someone can be or training we can do and a lot comes down to how committed we are.”
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