With prize money that seriously needs an upgrade, there certainly wasn’t all the top Aussie guys there. A $10 000 prize pools looks particularly poor when 30th place at U.S 5150 Championships pays $1000 more then the win here. TA- Maybe cut the $500 000 on coaches (well some are actually called development officers because they are not actually suppose to coach) and build young athlete depth in the sport through re-creating what Australia had through the 1990s- An exciting, sponsor attractive televised series that gets thousands of kids wanting to try triathlons as opposed to the very small number that a talent ID program based around useless individual sport time trials. Wow, two coffees and I’m off topic and ranting already.

However, there were some very good guys competing indeed. Joe Gambles is widely recognised as one of the best in the world at this distance and recently finished 2nd at the ITU Long Course World Championships. Luke Bell has had more 70.3 and long course wins then all but one other (I think..), Mitch Anderson, is an Ironman champion known as one of the best bike riders in the sport with a run that ain’t shabby and a swim that is. Also in the field was bronze Olympic medallist Jan Rehula and Noosa triathlon winner, Dave Dellow.

I tried to warm up but the 13-15 degree water was inflicting a fairly heavy ice cream head ache. The gun went as did any sufficient amount of oxygen as I was quickly reminded that we were racing at 1500 metre above sea level. I was dropped early from the front pack but as I warmed up I rallied to get back onto the feet of the front guys. With 400m to go Ben Allen, an exceptional swimmer with a competitive surf life saving background lifted the pace and I popped off the back into no mans land. I did what I could to minimise the damage and took advantage of my numb feet through the stony transition run to end up only being 20 seconds down on the main group.

Onto the bike and I was relieved to note that the legs were there. With quite a few casual teaching days the past two weeks while taking on a lot more coaching clients I had been forced to cut back the training and after a heavy block it was probably exactly what I needed for this race though not desirable for the fast approaching Ironman New Zealand.

I could see Luke Bell had already made his move with Gambles pulling away also. I put my head down passed the main pack and over the next 10kms gradually pulled Gambles within about 30-40 metres. Luke Bell was clear and with some minor assistance from a TA  lead motor bike, he was not going to be brought back. That’s not to say that Luke wouldn’t have ridden away anyway regardless as he is an amazing cyclist, however the lead vehicle needs to understand that a motorbike even 20-30 metres ahead does provide an advantage to the leader.

The course was tough. While there are no real killer climbs, you are always descending or climbing with a nice altitude induced burn in your lungs and my electrical tape shoe warmers not quite doing the job. My heart sank as I realised I had made a very rookie error. I normally mix my SIS energy gels into my speedfil bottle and suck them as I ride to avoid the hassle of opening gels while trying to remain aero. While this normally works brilliantly, the current temperature had meant that they were close to solidified at the bottom of the speedfil container and were not coming out despite my best sucking effort. I was carrying one emergency energy gel in my back pocket and had one in transition for the run which meant I was going to have to race off two gels when I normally have about 8 for a race of this distance.

Gambles was putting time into me on every descent while I would hold my own on the flats and make back a little on the climbs. Gradually he would extend his lead to about 40 seconds with Luke Bell jumping off the bike 2 minutes clear.

The 2 loop run is completely off road climbing up the main ski slope before running on a reasonably flat out and back trail. It didn’t take long to see something was wrong with Bell. Word is that he had given his ankle a roll on the ascent up the mountain and when I passed him he was coming out of the bushes. We ran together for a few hundred metres before he dropped off. Gambles had a clear lead however I felt relaxed, fluid and comfortable and I could see that he was slowly coming back to me.

I kept the breathing steady and by the 10km turn around I had closed the gap. You can’t beat this situation. Joe shouldn’t be beaten by me so I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I decided to really rest up before I made my move and let Joe lead the next 2kms. As we climbed up the mountain section I felt my inner thighs cramp and I let out some silent screams of frustration but was grateful I was behind Joe so that he couldn’t see my awkward stride. Thankfully they subsided as soon as we stopped the upward climb. Back on the flats I listened to Joe’s breathing and was disappointed to note that he was breathing fairly easy. I figured that he was probably cruising for a bit waiting for me to make my move. I decided to opt for the dummy surge, lifting the pace for 100m  just to see how he where he was at with a quicker pace. I lifted pace to 3.20/km and came around Joe. After 100m at that pace I turned to note that a decent gap had opened up and it was a dummy move no longer. I went hard for the next 2kms building a reasonable lead.

From there, I was returned to a comfortable pace and felt the goosebumps arrive at the idea that I was going to win an Australian title. At 18kms with only two gels on board my body was really craving some sugar to fight the growing light headed sensation, thankfully the finish line arrived in time and I was able to lift the banner in disbelief that I had won an Australian title. Gambles finished 2nd with Mitch Anderson blasting the bike and run to finish 3rd.

Since sorting out my gluten intolerance/anaemia issues September last year I’ve felt a drastic transformation in how I feel when racing.  It’s as if someone handed me back 5th gear. There has been a big mental improvement too. Knowing that Monica and I have a baby on the way has also increased my all round professionalism. I can’t keep doing this if I can’t justify it with financial benefits. Many people look from the outside and accuse me of having an amazing lifestyle and while I wouldn’t argue against this I wouldn’t say it’s all smooth sailing. Coaching 25 athletes, teaching and trying to be of some assistance to my amazing fiance (who makes what I do look like a stroll in the park) means that I rarely get more than 6 hrs sleep and certainly makes for a lot of 4am zombie training sessions. The worst part is that Monica doesn’t always get the day to day support she deserves as I try and train sufficient hours and then use my free time to support my racing income.

I’m more motivated then ever to keep racing well because if it works out it would allow an amazing family life. I didn’t leave full-time work on a complete gamble. A good friend paid for me to go and get as much laboratory testing as I could before I made the decision. The testing showed that I had an exceptional aerobic engine at the very upper ranges of elite levels so I was confident  that if I could put in the training and remain injury free physiologically I could be successful.  I’m training with and beating guys earning 2-3 times what I would get with full-time teaching salary so while there is definitely a part of racing that is all about ego, I’m also motivated by what I think could be very good for my new family. For now I’ll keep my head down and legs ticking over and hope that 2012 is a very good year.

As always,  biggest thank you to Monica, her family and my family.

Huge thanks to my sponsors: Zoot, Vision, Rudy Project, SiS, Speedfil, Aeromax Team and Budgy Smuggler.

Top photo courtesy of www.trizone.com.au

I’m almost certain that highs of triathlon such as winning races, magic days in training belting along a bush trail, enjoying a Sunday ocean swim, riding breathtaking mountains in Colorado, having the flexibility and time to spend quality time with loved ones or friends  and much more is cancelled out by the lows of triathlon. Constant travel, pushing your body to the edge of sickness, dealing with injuries, financial insecurity when you’re racing poorly, the extra pressure it puts on partners, staying motivated to get through 20-35 hour training weeks, non-triathlon friends and family just not getting that it’s your job and much more. So when you iron out the hills and valleys the triathlon experience is possibly completely neutral. I hope this doesn’t sound negative because I think neutral is great. I can’t think of many other jobs that are neutral. When I weigh up most other occupations the negatives far outweigh the positives. I’m sounding pessimistic but grant me a few more lines to further clarify or confuse.

Big high’s and big lows allow a full spectrum of feelings and emotions. It’s true living. I wouldn’t give up the last couple of years for anything.  This is a job I truly love for the entire experience it provides and geez I hope I can keep doing it for quite a while.

Canberra 70.3  was a complete contrast to how I felt in Phuket. I had trained so hard to peak for Phuket and it paid dividends on race day. In a relative sense, everything felt comfortable. Obviously I’m disappointed that I lost 5 minutes on the bike with a puncture and a crash but to get back into fourth, against some of the best over this distance makes it by far the race I’m most proud of.

Canberra on the other hand was up there with some of the most difficult hours of racing I’ve done. I felt horrible in the swim but decided early that I was going to stick with Ollie Whistler for the first two laps of the bike so I tucked in behind him. When Ollie’s head is right, he can push some incredible power through those pedals and back it up with a very solid run so I wanted him to be my target to stay with on the bike. I swam up alongside him twice to try and share the load and to minimise the time to the small group of front swimmers who got away but he didn’t get my hint and we just ended up swimming side by side slowing each other down so I settled in behind him and let him do the work. We exited a little over a minute down on four guys including a major threat Joey Lampe who despite being only 22 years of age is rapidly improving every race and is a threat over both short and long course racing.

I was fairly relaxed about the time gap as I’m confident about my cycling form. Prior to Phuket, my functional threshold power was up 40 watts from where it was when I returned from injury in March this year. My confidence was instantly dashed to pieces as I put in my first few pedal strokes. They felt tired. However the main issue was my head would not shut up. I take pride in being able to quieten my mind into a state of  calm focus but my brain would not stop throwing up reasons why it didn’t want to push the body through another 3.5 hours of racing.

At about 5kms into the bike leg my saviour appeared in the shape of a course marshal who directed Ollie and I down the wrong road. We had only ridden about 30 seconds before a h0nking van pulled up alongside us and told us we were going the wrong way. Another extremely slow 30 seconds ticked by until we were back on the correct road. I had calculated that a week after a 70.3 that I could afford to lose a minute in the swim to Joey and hopefully get off the bike together or a little ahead to try and hold him off on the run. I hadn’t factored in two minutes, hence I was pissed off. All of the excuses dried up. I could handle pulling out if it was my own fault but I didn’t want a course marshall ending my day.  In a weird way the marshall reignited my competitive nature and saved my race from my uncooperative brain.

I started crunching the pedals with rage and thankfully my average speed came up. I soon calmed down and was able to get back into a good mental state and maintain the average speed I knew was required on this tough bike course. Ollie was struggling in his new bike position (he had never ridden his new bike before) and then his Shimano Electronic shifters wouldn’t go up to his big ring ending his day.

At 30kms I passed Joey who was on the side of the road with a puncture. I didn’t feel any relief, only disappointment as I had pictured a good battle between myself, Ollie and Joey.

I gradually reeled in the other front guys. I guy I really like, Michael Fox gave me a thorough briefing on where everyone was so I yelled at him to stick with me and he did for quite some time. Former ITU athlete, Josh Maeder was having a good 70.3 debut but was lucky not to cop the wrath of the draft busters as he really pushed the permitted drafting distance. I predict a big future for Josh over this format as he matches his speed with greater strength endurance. I was shocked at one point when Monty Frankish, a super friendly bloke whom I  first met in Boulder this year,  powered past me with his thundering thighs forcing me to lift my pace a little.

I hit T2 as the highly talented swim/biker Matt Bailey was putting on his running shoes. Having backed up 70.3 events before I know that I have about 10-13kms of good running in me before the accumulated fatigue of back to back races starts to really set in and the spring in my step disappears. So I went for it, holding a good pace for the first 12kms. I didn’t feel good but I knew I was moving well enough to put decent time into the other guys. From 12kms onwards it was war between my legs and mind with my legs winning and slowing my pace every kilometre that passed. Some people asked me if I switched off during the last 10kms because I had enough of a gap for the win. I absolutely didn’t. I didn’t trust my legs to carry me the entire way and was simply looking at the ground as I ran, willing off impending cramps.

The burn in my toasted legs quickly evaporated as I jogged down the finish chute to my first 70.3 win. It was so special to have my beautiful fiance Monica and my great friends Phillip and Michelle Whistler waiting at the finish line. Phil and Michelle introduced me to the sport and have been incredibly supportive as I’ve steadily progressed. Fittingly, Canberra Half Ironman was my first race in the elite/pro category where I finished 3rd a minute behind Pete Jacobs. Now, a few years later it is the race where I had my first win over this distance. To have so many podiums at this distance but never quite being able to get the top spot made this race almost a relief to tick that goal off.
My finish line speech was fairly composed until I went to thank Monica and got a little choked up as she has really ridden the rollercoaster with me over the past c0uple of years and has provided amazing support and belief.

Thank you to my sponsors. Zoot have helped me out from the start and as I’ve progressed have steadily increased their level of support. It’s a literal pleasure to wear their shoes, wetsuits and clothes.

Despite Steven from Kestrel bikes, not being in the best of health of late he still does all he can to look after me in the bike department with the slickest, quickest bikes on the market. Thanks Steven and the other people behind Kestrel.

Budgy Smugglers are still the most comfortable item of clothing to race in. There’s no argument. Old school is the only way.

I’m excited to now be working with Vision/FSA. Their marketing manager is second to none doing everything he can to ensure I’ll be riding pure speed, with everything from race wheels to chains to bars to head stems to cranks and more. I just received many crazily fast Christmas presents from them which I’ll be posting pics of up on facebook soon.

Thank you also to my most recent sponsor SIS sport nutrition. I always hunt down the sponsors with the best products and these guys certainly are the leaders in sports nutrition.

To my coach- Grant Giles, my US parents- Pam and Warren Shuckies, my real parents, Karl from www.trizone.com.au, my manager Chuck Dender (www.dendersports.com) and the people I coach. I owe you guys big time. Thank you very very much and Merry Christmas.

Cheers, DD.

After a couple of days of suffocating humidity, race day was relatively cool with some ominous clouds teaming up to bring on some interesting conditions.

The Phuket course needs to be raced to really appreciate how different and entertaining it is. The swim starts with approximately 1200m of ocean swimming before athletes jump out and hit a fresh water lagoon for the remaining 700m prior to hitting the swim to bike transition. Having spent hours swimming in the ocean at Lord Howe and being a tad on the runtish side I always prefer true ocean water swim for floatation and skills required to swim in swell. I was able to stay within a reasonable distance to the front couple of guys. By the end of the fresh water segment I had only lost about 30 seconds to Raelert, Matthews and Matty Reed which is good going for me.

Ambrose, Josh Mchugh, Chris Lieto and nuggety French chap, Roman Guillaume got out onto the bike together and started riding hard to get back that 30 seconds.  Almost immediately the precarious nature of the course became apparent with Ambrose, Josh and I narrowly missing a wandering dog only to hear a thud as the Frenchman went into the pup, going down hard finishing his day. 5kms later and a there was a second thud as Lieto took a corner a little quick, losing control and wiping out also sending him back to the dressing sheds.
Ambrose and I pushed the power up until a bridge where you have to dismount and carry your bike before remounting. Soon after the bridge we caught up to the Barney Matthews, Matty Reed and Richie Cunningham with Michael Raelert and David Dellow a hundred metres ahead. I went to the front and slowly closed the gap only to realise immediately after that it was a pretty dumb move and I had probably spoilt the other guys plan of leaving Michael out on his own but within sight, to try something (anything) to slow down his rediculous run speed.

From there the ride takes you on the steepest climbs I’ve encountered in a race. Ambrose and Matthews were riding really strong but with madatory slow down zones on some of the wet and slippery descents it was always going to be very difficult for anyone to get away.  I felt comfortable and was really happy with the current situation as often I’de be chasing these guys off the bike so to start the run with them would have me nicely positioned. 

Soon after the climbs the tropical rain started to get so heavy it stung your eyes. It didn’t last too long but left the roads even more slippery with puddles so big they had their own tidal patterns.  

On the final climb of the day at a bit after the 80km mark I felt the heart sinking feeling of a tyre getting very squishy as glass had sliced the tyre and tube. I signalled to the vehicles behind calling for the support vehicle that had been behind us most of the way which I knew was carrying spare wheels. However they were nowhere to be seen. It turns out that both the support motorbike and the race official, Jurgen Zach, had crashed their motorbikes. With the race media closely filming my tirade of abuse at the world I tried to put the latex sealant foam into my front tyre. However as I experienced at Challenge Copenhagen when it’s wet, that stuff does not work at all. I couldn’t bare the thought of just standing by the side of the road so I decided to just ride slowly on the flat tyre until the support vehicle caught up.

No vehicle came so I kept riding slowly. There was a minor descent where I was able to pick my speed up a little more despite the sickening sound of an expensive wheel on road. As soon as I hit the corner at the end of the descent I came down hard stupidly forgetting that I wouldn’t be able to corner with a flat tyre. I picked myself, examined the grazes, decided I was fine and kept bumping along.  During the last period of very slow riding I started to think back to the many discussions I’ve had with my main mentor Grant Giles on the perfect mental state for racing.

Grant has always been a huge advocate of being able to ‘let go’, forget the past or concerns of what lies ahead and simply make the most of the present moment. So I did that. I fully relaxed, accepted that I was probably now sitting outside the top ten after dropping from the front few guys but I figured I could make the most of a bad day, run really hard and get 8^th place to pay for the cost of the flights. I know a lot of people reading this will think it sounds like some weird hippy shiz but I swear, once you find this quiet place of focused calm in your mind, it’s the best feeling in the world. Whatever happens will happen, you only have to worry about maximising the next run stride.

I soon caught Massimo Cigana who was running well and by about 5kms Matty Reed who was not looking at all like the Matty Reed anywhere near his best. Matt continued to really rev me up every time we crossed paths telling me who was up ahead and how there were looking which was much appreciated. Fellow Aeromax team member, Josh Mchugh was next to fall. Josh was having a stellar debut long course race but being quite a bit younger and not having the thousands of kilometres in the legs that some of the other pros have was starting to fade in the last ten kilometres.

At about 15kms I was able to catch Ambrose and finally at about 19kms Dave Dellow crossing the line in fourth place. It was great to have my old man there to watch and I was hugely proud that I had kept my head together despite losing 5 minutes on the bike.

Big congratulations to Michael Raelert for winning. He made my 1.13 half marathon look slow. It’s so unusual in sport to have someone at the top of the game who is also so bloody likeable. Commiserations to the casualties of the race. Guys that I really look up to were taken out of the mix. To name a few, Chris Lieto with the crash, Chris Leigh with major mechanical issues and Christian Kemp with gastro.

A  huge thanks to the race organisers. They did a superb job under very testing conditions. This race is truly an epic event and a perfect choice for an Asia Pacific Championships. I really hope to be back there next year. I really want to be the one running down the finish chute with the elephant.

I sat in a shuttle bus post Hy-Vee this year still coughing my lungs up after falling fairly ill prior to the event but not feeling too sorry for myself as I was stoked to be able to chat to Greg Bennet about how he won the race. It became instantly clear that it’s not by chance or pure talent that Greg wins the big races. He strategically analyzes his competition, the course, his equipment choices and his tactics. He follows a very well rehearsed mental plan. I’m sure all the greats do. I’ve tried to learn from this and have made a lot more effort into following a race plan since I’ve got back to Oz.

I knew I didn’t want this one to come down to a running race. I had run a hard 21kms only 7 days prior digging deep to try and catch Clayton Fettell at Port 70.3. I figured Mitch Robins and Cam Good could out run me by about 30 seconds if I stayed with them on the bike and saved my legs. So after studying the course maps and noticing how technical the bike course was I decided that my best chance for a win was to take some risks on the technical corners coupled with maximum effort acceleration and fingers crossed I would start the run with some breathing space. I also had one person in mind that I wanted to come with me, young Matty Williams.  Karl, from Trizone had given me the heads up of this guys prowess on the bike,  I wanted him on my team as having one person to take some of the air resistance load 7 meters ahead of you, even for short respites is very refreshing.

I got out of the swim where I needed to be. My transition wasn’t too bad but sloppy compared to the guys that have been racing the ITU format races. A strap on my shoe broke so I rode with one foot not strapped in but I soon caught the main group and stayed near the front for the first few kilometres. As soon as we hit the corners I went for it, as did Matty Williams. I didn’t look back, I have had more seconds then a clock, I wanted a win or to at least go down happy I had taken a chance.  Joey Lampe, the nicest man in triathlon, was up the road by a fair margin but by about 8kms we had reeled him in and at the U-turns I tried to really rev up Matty and Joey to really work to keep the dieting ITU pencils from gaining an time.

I saw the gap was growing so on the 2nd lap I tried to lift the pace even more and Joey dropped off leaving Matty Williams and I entering transition with a small gap on Joey and fair gap on the other contenders. I hit the run and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. I felt heavy and my breathing was laboured. I’m not sure whether it was the hard ride or the race last week but despite the margin, I knew if Mitch was running well it was going to be very close. Finally at about 5kms I started to find some bounce and felt my pace start to lift. Mitch passed Joey who was moving well. Joey has the fastest run pace per body weight of any BFG (big friendly giant) I know. Mitch then further closed the gap on me but thankfully the finish line came soon enough and I crossed in first place. I wasn’t even slightly bummed to miss out on the bonus $2000 for beating the first female (Nepean has a handicap start based on the average male and female finishing times for previous years) because as soon as I knew Melissa Rollison was racing it was going to be near impossible to close an 11 minute gap especially since Mel normally outruns many of the elite men, which she did. Big Congrats to Mel, it’s scarey how good she is.

I’m very proud to have pulled off the race I wanted and even prouder to look through results online and see that my race stacks up as the quickest of the available results (goes back to 2000). Special thanks to my great friends Wicksy, Pyza and Ky making a surprise journey out to the distant land of Penrith. To my greatest love, the Moncat,  thank you also for your constant love and support.

My great friend and training partner, Tim Berkel often talked to me about how young athletes needed to  ’do their time’ and ‘have respect’ for the older or more experienced athletes. Initially I scoffed back with “what are you talking about, you’re only a year older than me” and didn’t really agree with what he was saying. After 2 seasons in the States however, I now think I have a much greater understanding of his meaning. Many age group athletes are unaware of  the many sacrifices you make.  Having to travel with a bike every second weekend, sleeping in your car before races or staying in cheap hotels,  the constant pressure of turning up to races when you know you’re not 100% because you have to turn a buck or you’re going to be lucky to afford the flight home. It’s about dealing with the massive lows of racing poorly and dealing with injuries.

However, I still argue that this life is a fairy-tale compared to what most other people have to do and I draw on my experiences as an age group athlete to really get me ready to battle on race day. While on the start line I take immense pleasure in thinking back to the my first years in triathlon where I would finish University and then wash pots for six hours in a restaurant before going for a run at 11pm. I think back to training for Hawaii while working full-time when training at night was the norm.  Age-group athletes do this sort of thing every day and many pro athletes don’t realise how lucky they are. I have this time racing age-group to thank that I still wake up at 4am an hour before my alarm goes off excited to get out the door to go training.

Since getting back to the melanoma fertile shores of Byron Bay it’s been a solid few weeks of really enjoyable training with the Aeromax Team. It’s been a nice change to have some casual teaching work to take the financial pressure off my cash flow but most importantly I’m so happy to be back with the Moncat who is so amazingly patient, loving and supportive.

I was confident about Port Macquarie 70.3. I know this course really well. I knew my competitors strengths and weaknesses. I knew that physically I was in good shape but more importantly, mentally the desire to hurt was there. There were some big names racing but I wasn’t fazed as it’s been a long season for the US based athletes and I knew my forced lay off at start of the year should leave me in good form while others are counting down the days until their end of season break.

Both Matty White and Tim Berkel withdrew from the race with ailments and Mitch Robins copped a puncture in the first 10kms. Normally I might feel some relief that quality athletes like these guys weren’t on the same starting line however when I’m fit and healthy I want to race the best and try and beat the best so I only felt disappointment that they were out. Hugely impressed with Mitchy Robins who put the disappointment behind him and still seemed genuinely happy that the other Aeromax boys raced well.

Clayton Fettell and Josh Amberger are easily the two best swimmers in long course triathlon. By the end of the 1.9km swim they had put close to two minutes into the main group. I exited the swim at the tail end of the a fairly large group  and after an awkward wetsuit removal dance was onto the bike about 40 seconds down from the main chasers.

Immediately I knew the legs were working and closed the gap passing Luke Mackenzie on the way who after showing what a world class athlete he is in Hawaii was understandably nowhere near his best.

To remedy my previous poor technical bike skills I’ve spent a lot more time on my mountain bike, raced Xterra and rode the long winding Colorado descents a lot harder then I find comfortable through the season. Hence, I went to the front heading out of town to try and shell some of the athletes looking to hang on for a cruisier ride. I went for it heading out of town and thankfully by the time we got to the flat section the group had whittled down to Ambrose, Lampe, Kemp, Bell and Hackett. All guys that I wanted to be riding with, who I knew would keep the pace high throughout the 90kms, hopefully minimising our time loss to Fettell who would be giving everything to get onto the run with as much breathing room as possible.

From there the ride was fairly uneventful. Luke Bell dropped himself by going to the front, lifting the pace and then when rolling to the back he proceeded to continue to lose time. While I felt a little bad for Luke I was quite relieved that he was evidently not on his game as he has been ripping people’s legs off all season.

On the final climbs heading back into town Kemp attacked and Ambrose and I hung on splitting the group futher so that we entered transition a little ahead of Lampe, Hackett and Amberger.

The three of us hit the run course close to 6 minutes down on Fettell. Ambrose soon pulled out leaving myself and Chris Kemp running side by side. Kempy has some serious pace so I figured it could be a long and painful 21.1kms.

I didn’t want Chris to have any mental ground so I stayed one step ahead despite the disadvantage of taking the wind. The course change now means that over 80% of the run course is up and down hills which normally I would detest. However, when I heard of the course changes several weeks earlier I switched my long run from the flat cane fields to running up to Byron Bay’s light house and down so that I could give my quads a weekly pounding like they were going to receive at Port Mac. I also chose to switch from the more minimal Zoot Ultra Speed which is needed to get the responsiveness to run a in the 31-32 minute range for Olympic Distance racing to a more cushioned and comfortable  Zoot Ultra TT 4.0 which would allow me to really attack the down hills without decimating my final 5kms with micro muscle tears. The choice paid dividends and I dropped Kempy on the first significant down hill but not before he gave me some wise advice about Fettell who I had figured was too far up the road to catch. He said something along the lines that “he only has to have a walk for a 30 seconds and we can catch him”.

So I went for it, going through the first 10kms extremely hard. I started to to eat into Clayto’s lead so that by 11kms it was down to 3 minutes. Right about that moment I got the split I could feel my muscles grab as they reached the point of cramping and knew I had to back it off or risk being reduced to a walk however I kept my pace as high  as possible hoping that Clayton may be suffering from his courageous bike effort. No such luck, with the closest split I got being a minute and fifty seconds I had to settle for second.

The crowd in Port Macquarie is so amazingly supportive. It feels like everyone is yelling out your name along the entire run course. The finish chute is packed which made for a truly special run to the line. A huge thanks to the people of Port. I was very proud of my race  despite falling slightly short. I left it all out there having the 2nd quickest bike and fastest run.

Thanks to my main sponsors Kestrel, Zoot and Vision/FSA. I’de like to also announce a new sponsor.  Following meeting the SIS crew who sponsored the race, I’m excited to be working with them going forward to help promote their incredible sports nutrition range while their products help promote my performance.

http://www.nbntv.com.au/index.php/2011/10/09/reed-runs-away-with-maitland-triathlon-title/

After the ripping swim pace of Olympic Distance racing I was surprised to find myself at the front of the swim over the first few hundred metres and having been too cool for race briefing I had no idea where to go and lead everyone in the wrong direction until a jet ski rounded us all up and corrected where were heading instantly putting me from the front to near the back of the swim pack.

I steadily progressed towards the front of the swim again until near the end I surged to try and get some free time should I have a sloppy transition. Unfortunately I sat on the Hungarian swim leader Balasz Csoke. Unfortunately both Balasz and I separated from the group and swam an extra buoy meaning we got out at the back of the group. Thankfully with a 1km run to transition I was able to move back into the mix and hit the bike where I wanted to be.

Andy Boecherer, European 70.3 champion was incredibly strong from the outset sitting on the front of the group and really drove the pace. It would seem that Mexican non-drafting rules are far more lenient then the U.S although I was proud that Andy recognised after the race that I did my best to keep 12 metres behind him throughout the ride. With such a flat ride and rather small gaps between bikes I knew it was going to be hard to get away from everyone on the bike. I noticed on the first lap how much everyone slowed picking up drinks as to have even 30kms without adequate hydration could end a day with the way the temp and humidity was rising.  With my speedfil hydrations system holding more than enough fluid to skip an aid station I knew this was an opportunity to really split up everyone. Thankfully Andy had the same thinking and as we hit the aid station Andy took off, I quickly swapped the lead with James Hadley also drilling the front until and we were away.

The final 30kms only five of us were left, Andy, Hadley, Balasz, a pleasant Colombian chap and  myself.  While I felt like I still had another gear on the bike should Andy try to get away I was also getting very hot. Wearing black aero helmet with the air vent blocked for superior aerodynamics was not a smart option.

1kms to go and James Hadley moved to the front and hit an unidentified object sending him veering straight off the road flipping straight over his handlebars. I was torn as to whether I should be helping him as he is a great mate but I saw the gleam of his whitened teeth appear as he stood up out of the bushes so I pressed on.

Andy and I gapped the other guys early out of transition and I felt strong but hot. The aid stations were not really ready for us as we cruised through and after much yelling and explaining I found it easier to go over to the tables and select whatever I could hold.
By 8kms I knew my core temperature was too high. I was breathing heavily despite a pace that I should find very comfortable. Andy steadily started to gap me while I desperately tried to cool myself at aid stations however with only warm water and gels it wasn’t really helping and my pace continued to slow. By 10kms I was desperately trying to keep jogging between aid stations and I could see that everyone had made a lot of time up on me. I resigned to the fact that I had to get my core temp back down or the rest of the run was going to be a creeping jog so I spent a good amount of time walking through the next few aid stations running as much water as I could over my body. I ran carrying 3-4 small bags of water (an alternative to cups offered at some races) steadily trickling each back of fluid over my head.

Finally at about 15kms the aid stations had now been delivered ice. I was amazed that only one athlete, Olympian Daniel Fontana had passed me and I was still in the mix for a decent pay day. So with the ice stuffed into my hat, down my top and budgie smugglers I was finally able to get back up to pace and finish in 3^rd place. I was proud and relieved that despite feeling like my day was done at 10kms I had toughed it out and held on for a pleasing result. Andy Bocherer had shown that he is in tremendous form for Hawaii World Championships winning with a run that would have been fast for cool conditions. Fontana finished 2^nd and amazingly James Hadley recovered from a big crash to finish 7^th place only fading from a potential fourth right near the end of the race.

I learnt once again the importance of heat acclimatisation and hope to come back to Mexico next year post 70.3 World Champs and enjoy a little less suffering.

I love training in Boulder and I do believe that the altitude have some very positive effects on performance. However it is at a risk. It is super easy to overtrain, very hard to recover well and and quality sleep is difficult to achieve. While altitude can help boost your red blood cell production it can also tip you the other way with a strong link between altitude training and low iron levels. Additionally I’m not sure whether it’s the dry air, the altitude or allergens but I’ve never had more asthmatic complications then when I’ve trained here. The last two seasons I’ve pushed it to the back of my mind as a small price to pay for the amazing daily training experiences the Colorado mountains and friendly people of Boulder provide. However after several races where I’ve been left gasping like an emphysema suffering 80 year old on viagra, I may have to reconsider.

I was pretty down about the race leading in as I was struggling to swim or jog easily without coughing my guts up. When you are racing 29 of the best triathletes in the world, you can’t be even 5% off your game or guys like Andy Potts, Chris McCormack, Greg Bennet etc will get out a big paddle and give you a spanking. Anyway as the race turned out, I swam very badly having to gasp for air after a coughing  a lot early. As the race went on the lungs relaxed but I was never really in the mix and couldn’t even get my run happening until the final 3kms after 12 puffs of Ventolin. It’s hard to watch guys that I had beaten this season finish top 10 while I was struggling away to finish 23rd.

In saying that even if was breathing well I still think that I would have lost a lot of time in the swim which would have put me out of the mix regardless. The river current was seriously intense and the pace the front guys set was incredible. My focus has never really been short course racing but I’ve had such a blast racing the shorter Olympic distance this season that I want to continue mixing it in. That means that there is going to be hell of a lot more swimming thrown into the training program. You can get away with 15kms a week of swim training in long course racing but to make the pack with the calibre of these guys you need to be swimming at least 30kms week in week out, nailing close to a minute per 100m around the first couple of buoys.

There was some amazing positives to take away from this race. Hy-Vee did an absolutely incredible job making this the most professional race I’ve competed in. Monica and I enjoyed 5 star accommodation with a nice spread of presents on the bed to welcome us to Iowa. The crowds were phenomenal, the course exciting and the prize money for simply making the top 30 qualifiers extremely rewarding.

I truly hope that I can be here next year. WTC are really onto something with this series. Huge thank you to Hy-Vee and to Monica who put up with my gloominess the whole week prior to the race.

With the announcement of the 5150 Series for 2011 culminating with the Hy-Vee Triathlon which included over 1 million buckaroos in prize money, I knew I would have to have a crack at making one of the 25 qualifying spots.

New York 5150

After a 2^nd place at DC 5150, I was particuarly confident about my chances of racing well at Boulder Peak 5150 which had extremely good qualifying points for Hy-Vee. I did a ballistic 10 day training block. I tried to fit in a swim squad every day and then would often include a 2^nd afternoon swim session, punched out a good 500-600kms on the bike and while keeping a relatively low run volume (compared to the other pros) of around 70-80kms, I was including a lot of intensity really trying to work on being able to hold 3 min/km pace with my running. The result- I was completely overtrained. My comprimised immune system allowed my athsma come back strongly and I was rediculously tired but couldn’t sleep. I raced like a dog, swimming minutes slower than last year, riding minutes slower and struggling to breathe the whole way until I got hold of my ventolin on the run.

So the pressure was now on to perform at the last qualifying race, the New York 5150 triathlon. I had doubled my asthma medications and felt my lungs open back up, particuarly when I hit the humidity of New York several days before the race. The vibes wer positive, I was well rested and had Monica on my side. I haven’t had a bad race with her as the support crew so far.

New York has a down river swim which is ideal for the not so strong swimmers like myself. I exited the Hudson a little off the pace but with a long run from the swim exit to our bikes I was able to pin back some time to the back of the front group.

As always I can tell whether I’m going to ride well from the first few pedal strokes and the pegs and Kestrel Kev 4000 felt great. Unfortunately I was stuck behind Andrew Yoder who is an exceptional cyclist but possibly not so confident in the technical sections rolling the first 200m technical section out of transition and with no space to overtake I was stuck behind and watched Greg Bennet and others ride away. As soon as we got onto the open road Andrew proceeded to drop a 400watt average and rode away also. Still, I rode hard with a group of guys close behind and was delighted not to get the usual glute pain thanks to a professional bike fit from Boulder Centre for Sports Medicine.

I hit the run in 6^th or 7^th, my legs felt fresh but more importantly my lungs felt open. The run is tough winding through Central Park with quad crunching undulations and an oppressive New York humidity. In saying that, the vast number of people cheering on the race cancel out the slower aspects of the run course.   I soon pulled away from several others and settled into 4^th place. Bennet and Collins were too far up the road to catch but on a longer straight I caught sight of David Thompson and just zoned in on his back willing him to come back towards me. As is the common technique I hung back a little behind him for about 30 seconds before putting on a surge as I went to pass him to ensure that he didn’t follow. Unfortunately he did follow and I knew that I was going to have to slow which might give him the confidence to stick with me. David is a strong guy, I didn’t want to have a sprint finish with him. Before I slowed I decided dig one more time and give one more kick up a hill. I had accepted that if I didn’t drop him on that hill that I was going to have back it off and wait for a sprint finish. Thankfully he broke and I was able to cruise to the finish a happy boy.

Ben Collins had ridden incredibly well and held on in the run for the win, picking up a nasty stress fracture on the way whilst the ever consistent Aussie Olympian Greg Bennet finished 2^nd.  My run split was a high 31 minutes, the fastest of the day securing 3^rd place and enough points to qualify for Hy-Vee Triathlon. Who Hoo.! Huge thanks to the beautiful Monica who made racing so easy by looking after everything before hand.  I’m forever in her debt.

Tim Reed & Paul Matthews Washington2011

After a very literal pain in the butt that turned out to be a sacral stress fracture I got the all clear to resume training in March. Instead of going back to aerobic base building basics I decided to test out the ‘old school’ method of training that is racing a tonne to get strong and fit. Back in the Aussie triathlon glory days while I was running around thinking I was going to be the first 5ft NBA basketball player utterly oblivious to triathlon there was a time when you didn’t have to travel abroad to be a professional Australian triathlete. However those that did including the legends Welch, Bevan, Macca, Stewart etc had a crazily busy race schedule and off the back of the Australian season would go on to dominate internationally. I wanted to see whether that method would work for me, hence from March to May I tried that philosophy and did five 70.3/Half Iron distance triathlons in three months. By the last couple of races I was starting to find my form again. Disclaimer- I only think the ‘racing to get fit’ method works for those that have several years of aerobic base work and sound running technique under their belt.

My plan for the States was to take advantage of the speed my youth sometimes coughs up and focus on Olympic Distance racing. It’s taken me a good 5 years of learning how to swim to finally consider this option (huge thanks to Grant Giles). Additionally prize money is normally better than 70.3 and Ironman racing yet and it’s only two hours of suffering so occasionally I can even afford to get a motel before the race instead of sleeping in my hire car.

The hitters of the race included Paul ‘Barney’ Matthews (multiple 70.3 and Olympic Distance Champ) , David Thompson (Rev 3 Series winner and serial podium finisher) Tyler Butterfield (70.3, ITU and Olmpic Distance champ), Stephen Hacket (Aussie who can swim and bike with the very best), Andrew Starykowicz, Eric Linkemann and Andrew Yoder (15yr old with a very good fake ID that lets him  win many a short and Long Course race). There were many other U.S guys that were dangerous and a few more that would never get a pro licence in Australia. Aussie Michael Fox also towed the line but after having made the same mistake myself at Rev 3 Quassy of a long flight then only a week at altitude I knew that he was going to have a very tough day. One week at altitude kills, if you survive 3 weeks you’re stronger than ever.

I knew the swim was going to be key to a good race so I was pretty annoyed that the officials let half the pros in the water to warm up and then blocked the other half including myself from entering the water. I’m 62kgs, I need to warm up or I turn into a small ice sculpture. I found Barney for the swim and went hard to stay on his feet for the first 500m. Then he surged and dropped me and I realised I was way wide of the main pack and all by myself. Strangely enough I actually started singing ‘all by myself’ in my head. Talk about an inability to focus! Thankfully with the help of my Zoot swim skin and a dangerously high lactic acid level I was able to only lose about 20 seconds to the main pack. I got onto the bike and was relieved to know that my legs were going to work for me. I always know whether I’m going to ride well within the first 20 metres.

The 40km bike course was surreal. I weaved my obedient Kestrel Kev 4000 through a completely shut down Washington city with many spectators cheering us on and many more wondering what the hell was going on. The course was a U turn buffet and guys gradually got shelled with the fast accelerations out of these turns. I hit transiton with Dave Thompson, Jordon Jones and a Russian guy who got third at Eagleman 70.3 last week, Stanislav Krylov.

Barney had ridden amazingly. He has been in tremendous form in the last 3 weeks picking up $10 000 big ones at Rev 3 Quassy and winning Kansas 70.3  by 5 minutes with his tradmark deceptively fast troll like run (1.12 half marathon!). He had now had put about 2 minutes into us on the bike. When I was doing my 5th triathlon battling out my age group at Gold Coast Half Ironman Barney won the race so I always get a little awestruck when I get to race guys, Barney included, that I thought were invincible when I was racing age group.

It was evident that it was Barney’s race and I just had to take to care of David Thompson and Jordon Jones to secure a nice pay day. I really only opened up to max effort between the 6 and 7km mark which dropped off the 2nd place contenders and I could then run more comfortably and keeping my legs a little fresher for next week’s Philadelphia Triathlon. I was surprised to have the quickest run of the day and very happy with 2nd place securing good points towards qualifying for the best paying triathlon race in the world Hy Vee Triathlon. However if I had backed it off ever so slightly Barney would have backed it off much more getting a very comfortable win.

A huge thank you to my homestay Toby Mandel. So hospitable, generous and kind and I hope you come to Australia so I can repay the favour.

For my Aussie readers, enjoy winter suckers!