Injuries are playing a big part in the 2010 Triathlon season.  Some unstoppable triathletes like Chrissie Wellington and Emma Moffat fall off their bikes and are out for an extended period. ITU World Champion Alistair Brownlee and Hunter Kemper suffer stress fractures that interfered with their season.  Brownlee and Hunter are two athletes going in different directions this week.  The subject of our 20 Questions this week, Leon Griffin, has also had to battle injuries this season.

Hunter Kemper cannot catch a break.  After coming off an injury plagued 2009, he looked ready to do some damage this season when he broke off the rest of the field on the run at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon last month.  Now, just a couple of days before the Hy-Vee Triathlon, he finds out he has a stress fracture in his pelvis!  Ouch.  On Tuesday he was musing about his research to find out if eating fish (a fast one) before a swim workout would make him faster.  He said he felt faster on his Wednesday workout, then he gets the results of an MRI on Thursday and he’s out!  Let’s hope he comes back stronger after some rest like the other injury victims earlier this year.

How about those Brownlees!  After a spectacular coming out party in 2009, dominating the ITU Triathlon circuit and capping it with a World Championship, everyone thought injuries this year might slow Alistair Brownlee down.  However, he came back last weekend to the same spot he left us at the end of last year – in front.  The guy is quickly becoming the most dominant Olympic Distance Triathlete in the world.  If he shows up, everyone else is racing for second!

His younger brother, Junior European Champion Jonathan, isn’t much of a slouch either, winning his first race in the French Grand Prix Series.  Now if I could just get either of them to stop long enough to answer 20 Questions!

…and, Wellington is back, right where she left off.  After sitting out a while with a broken wrist, she defended he title at the Ironman Kansas 70.3.  All the other girls going to Kona in October better plan on putting some extra miles…

Regarding the Hy-Vee Triathlon this weekend, I couldn’t make the race, but I’ve dispatched my trusty cub reporter (my sister) to cover the event.  I should be posting a report in a couple of days.

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NEWS

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(click on the headlines to go to the whole story)

USA’s Hunter Kemper Sidelined for Hy-Vee Triathlon

Top American Triathletes in Acton at Hy-Vee Elite Cup

Alexander, Carfrae Top Stellar Field at Rev3

Wellington, Lieto win Ironman Kansas 70.3

DeBoom, Granger Finish Big at Rohto Ironman 70.3 Hawaii

The Challenge of TRISTAR111 Germany – MACCA Wins Again

Exclusive Image Gallery from Ironman Lanzarote Available

Olympic Champion Jan Frodeno wins the City Triathlon in Paderborn

Thrilling Race in St. Polten – Ospally Upsets the Field to Take the Victory

German Triathlon Bundesliga: Double Victory for Whitten!

Brownlee Back on Top in Madrid

Nicola Spirig Wins the WCS in Madrid

USA Triathlon and the US Anti-Doping Agency: Together Preserving and Protecting Clean Sport

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Tweets of the Week

jarrodshoemaker What time does the 5PM meeting start? 515PM

GregBennett1 Almost kicked this sickness… Still got 48hrs till race. Congestion is starting to break… If I can breath Sunday it will be a good day!!

dirkbockel no internt in my new place yet. Praying that the bank will agree to the loan. Back to normal training again. Running volume ahead!

JennaShoemaker 30-1 odds for me to win in Iowa. Hmmm.. guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

amandalovato Fed-Ex’d my bike home after REV3 so that I wouldn’t have to worry abt driving home with it. Still not here …fingers crossed it comes today

tollakson Just received my new Tyr 2011 race kit for the weekend. Important to look cool when I’m being fast, and look fast when I’m being cool. TYR!

dedegriesbauer 3:30 traffic…..doesn’t anyone work for a living anymore?? http://twitpic.com/1vwj7j

ConradStoltz More good news about caffeine http://bit.ly/a0gjeT

laurentvidal Back from a ride, Des Moines is getting warm when you are not in the shade. http://tweetphoto.com/26693213

janfrodeno Next classic: Sitting at doping control and being “wheeled” in a chair so my heartrate doesnn´t rise (or so I think??). Cracks me up…

lancearmstrong Made it to Lugano w/ the entire Armstrong posse. Whew.

janfrodeno So I ask the lady what “fat-reduced” (banana bread) means: “oh, it’s got less sugar in it!” American nutrition 101;)

juliedibens @linseycorbin just bought me this! She knows my weaknesses damn it http://twitpic.com/1vup99

juliedibens Great 2 meet Olympic gold medallist Kristin armstrong at dinner.lot of smack talking about how some triathletes can’t tt 4 toffee.

hunterkemper It’s been a rough day and a half…so disappointed.http://bit.ly/boLjWf

ConradStoltz Pre rode #XTERRA Bama with #Shonny, and got stung by yellow jacket on steroids! HUGE swelling

JennaShoemaker i love ducks. especially “oddly friendly, perhaps slightly slow” ones that hang out on covered patios.

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20 Questions With Ironman Triathlete Leon Griffin

Leon Griffin is an Ironman 70.3 specialist who is looking toward one day challenging for the Ironman World Championship.  He came on to the scene after winning the ITU Duathlon World Championship in his first pro season in 2006.  He’s another Australian (aren’t they all?), but unlike most of his countrymen who thrill us with stories of how they were on Baywatch or a surfer dude before taking up triathlon, Leon came from the sport of Australian Rules Football (Footy).  That means my money is on him in a fight.  It’s a rough sport.  I played rugby before I got into triathlon, and footy looks too rough for me!

Leon is coming off a great start to the 2010 season with a 2^nd place at the Ironman Geelong 70.3 and he finished in the top 10 at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships at the end of ‘09.

(This Week in Triathlon)  How did you get your start in multisport?

(Leon Griffin)  I was looking to get extra fit in my football (Aussie Rules) off-season, and having swam a little on the school summer holidays through my youth, and been a paper delivery boy growing up, I had always swam, biked and ran sub-consciously so put them together when I was about 16yrs old for my first race. I won the race, (for my hard work a gym membership and a purple speedo) and so was hooked!

(TWiT)  Can you tell me a little about you Footy career.

(LG)  I was a bit of a rough-and-tumble type of player rather than having fantastic skills..much like I am as a Triathlete – a bit rough around the edges.

I played for about 7 years as a junior and that brought 3 Titles (we call them Premierships or Grand Final’s here) and a few other runners up, so I was part of a successful group of guys moving up through the ranks. I had to decide at 17yrs old whether I wanted to keep going (I wasn’t going to make the top grade – or get drafted to the big league’s) or get a little more into multisport and triathlon as I moved into college age.

(TWiT)  When you decided to take up triathlon at 16, did you know what you were getting into?

(LG)  Not really. But I like suffer-fests so it probably suits me. I didn’t think I’d be doing them full-time at 29yrs of age either.

(TWiT)  What is the biggest advantage and biggest disadvantage to being a triathlete in Melbourne?

(LG)  Ex-Melbourne as I just moved away from there last week back to my hometown of Bendigo, about 85 miles north of Melbourne. But being an Australian southerner, it gives me some nice time away from the hustle and bustle of triathlon hot spots like the Gold Coast and Noosa…I already get my fix of mixing it with the who’s who of Triathlon when I spend time in Boulder, Co through the US summer, so it’s nice to have my own very competitive age-group mates to train and hang out with through our summer. Without being disrespectful, places like Boulder wear me down after a little while b/c its all tri, tri and more tri to some people there. I have so many interests outside the sport that sometimes I wonder if I deserve to get some of the good results, and even a world championship, b/c I just don’t eat sleep and breath it like some others.

As for Melbourne…I’m yet to come across a city anywhere in the world that has as an amazing cafe scene like Melbourne’s.

(TWiT)  Every other pro triathlete is from Australia.  Is it due to Vegimite or training in shark infested waters?

(LG)  Unlike most Pro Aussie Triathletes, I live inland more than 2 hours from the coast so maybe I ate double quantities of Vegimite! Might also explain why my swim leg is my weakest leg.

(TWiT)  You have a World Duathlon Championship and you’ve raced ITU and IM.  What guided you to do predominantly IM 70.3 races?

(LG)  I felt I had more freedom to choose my own program than the restrictions placed upon you to get the necessary National program support if you go down the ITU route…plus I was not a great swimmer. With a lot of work I was very more than capable of being competitive at the ITU level because my criterium style cycling is very good and I’m a very solid yet unspectacular 10km runner…but it comes down to the fact no interest was shown my way by the powers to be here in Australia to give the ITU 100% of my energies…even after winning a world championship in 2 of the 3 legs!

Australia has a policy to throw all the support behind good young swimmers and try to turn them into winners…but these young kids are woeful bike riders and none of them will get close to a Brownlee…once the Atkinson’s and Kahlefeldts move on at the end of their career’s, Australia is going to be very uncompetitive whilst they continue with the current policy which is a shame.

(TWiT)  Regarding ITU racing.  It’s good for the spectators and TV, but hasn’t it really become a 10K road race with a swim and bike warm up?

(LG)  It has, but its still exciting to watch. I think I touched on ITU a bit earlier in the interview and I didn’t feel I gave this much go, but I still like to be an ‘arm-chair’ expert watching it and think I could do this or that to make it a little more exciting for the fans.

(TWiT)  Not much good has come out of post race comments from the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.  What needs to be done to fix the problem.

(LG)  Do you mean at the Pro level or in general regarding the draft-fest? My solution would be to increase the draft zone to 15m or choose harder courses. Maybe they could group the wave’s alphabetically so you don’t have similar level athlete’s all racing together which ends up with packs of 20-50 blokes and ladies…It’s a tough one.

(TWiT)  I’m the Ghost of Triathlon Future.  I take you 15 years into the future.  What is Leon up to?

(LG)  I reckon I’ll be making my age-group comeback and telling all the young kids in the sport who will listen that back in the good old days I was actually a pretty handy athlete! I’m looking forward to the 10 years off being lazy between the end of my career and when my kids are old enough to look after themselves..then I’ll get some time back for myself on the weekends.

(TWiT)  Australian triathletes have cool nicknames.  You have Crowie and Macca (here in the US we have Potsie – come on!).  What is your cool Aussie nickname?

(LG)  Mudguts! For more than just a few reasons…either b/c I’m a little bigger (more solid) than most other Pro’s and I can get a beer belly pretty easily without much trying…and for the reason I can put so much food away.

(TWiT)  What’s on the schedule for 2010?

(LG)  I have a crazy March..It will be my own March Madness – the new Abu Dhabi International Tri and then 2 weeks later IM Australia. I’ll be in the States through May/June banging out a heap of 70.3′s before a brief holiday back home in Australia to celebrate my 30th B’day with my family and friends. Not sure what the second half of the year entails just yet.

(TWiT)  Kona, Ironman World Championships, Under Pants Run, Boxers or Briefs?

(LG)  I think we call briefs ‘jocks’ here in Australia..not sure why. I’m a briefs kind of guy, but not sure about wearing them around in public. Boxers a little less revealing unless you accidentally slip out there side…..

(TWiT)  What would your significant other say is your most annoying habit?

(LG)  Probably picking my toenails in bed..amongst many others. “Stop fluffing around on the net” is also another one that’s trotted out quite frequently!

(TWiT)  What is the biggest challenge you have faced outside of triathlon.

(LG)  Getting through my University course whilst trying to balance 2 jobs and obviously training for the 3 sports.

But I think trying to get a footing there in the States has been a pretty big challenge for me…not being part of a National Academy or Institute that hands out funding means every expense comes out of my pocket…this is when you understand if you’re in it for the right reasons or not.

(TWiT)  When will we see you in Kona?

(LG)  I can’t get these stupid Ironman things done yet…I’ll be pulling out of IM Australia today with an injury, so thats about 3 in a row I’ve signed up for and not started. I’m trying my best but my body is not agreeing with me. I hope to be there in 2011. If I’m not, I’ll be working a real job!!!

(TWiT)  Do you still have those purple speedos? (maybe Faris al Sultan can borrow them.)

(LG)  Funny – I raced Faris this w/e in Abu Dhabi and as good as an athlete he is, these things look friggin ridiculous, especially with the drink bottle down the back. I know its his style, but if I was a sponsor I’d tell him to shelve them for another day!

(TWiT)  Please finish this sentence. If I wasn’t a pro triathlete, I would be…

(LG)  …a middle class dude working a regular job that would be comfortable and not financially stressful like being a pro triathlete. I’d probably be a fat little bugger also! So nothing special. I’d be playing some kind of sport though for fun…once a competitive person always one, so would need to take it out on something.

(TWiT)  What Winter Olympic sport is your favorite?

(LG)  I think half of them are just having too much fun so shouldn’t be included at all…like snowboarding – come on, where’s the pain and sacrifice in this one?

I like the speed skating - these guys look unreal in full flight gliding around the track. I took particular interest in the Yanks getting done in the Ice Hockey also

(TWiT)  When you are not swimming, biking and running, what are you most likely to be doing?

(LG)  Either eating or sitting at the computer trying to organize everything for the year ahead…i.e sponsors (albeit a bit less now that Franko Vatterott has taken me on – Crowie’s manager also), race and travel itineraries, interviews like this one etc…

I love spending time with Merridee when she’s not working, and playing with our 2 dogs also..Keiko and Rufus. We are in the middle of building a house that will be complete by year’s end so that’s going to keep us pretty busy too.

(TWiT)  I have two Australian Sheppard’s, but I hear they don’t even come from there.  Ever see them there?

(LG)  Maybe they are German…a ‘German Sheppard’ is a very popular breed here…I couldn’t even tell you what an Australian Sheppard looked like!

Rocky The Wonder Dog, Australian Shepard