Archives for 2012

Back to one of my favourite races on Sunday, Australia’s oldest triathlon, the Nepean Tri. The organisers of this event achieve something special every year with no real thought of personal gain in their minds except the buzz of once again creating a special event.  With $3500 on the line for the win with a bonus $1000 if you beat the first placed female (who have approximately a 10 minute head start) it’s potentially a nice pay day for less than 2 hours of suffering. Last year I was able to win the race by attacking early on the bike and building a nice lead. However I had a feeling this year people weren’t going to let me get away so easily and that it might come down to the run. With 2 x Olympian Courtney Atkinson racing and ITU athlete Cam Good in the mix coupled with soreness still in my legs from last weekend leaving the race to the run was not something I wanted to do if I could help it.

As it turned out, I didn’t have much of a choice. I positioned myself poorly at the swim start, perhaps a little over confident in my swimming ability and quickly saw there were two groups to the right and the left and I was solo in the middle. For those unaware of open water swimming tactics, if you’re swimming behind a group of other swimmers with your hands almost touching their feet the moving water pulls you along and you are often able to swim at the pace of the guy leading the group who in reality is a far better swimmer than you. For someone like myself, in short course racing it’s imperative I make that group in the first few hundred metres or it’s very easily to lose a lot of time swimming solo or with only one or two others. Which is exactly what ended up happening.

30 seconds down out of the water and 40 seconds down by the time we were out of transition, with Courtney showing how important transition time can be I spent the first 15kms riding flat chat to brige to the group who are allowed to ride very close together, approximately half the space of long course. Joey Lampe and Michael Fox were playing it smart and really trying to drive the pace. Not only to try and keep me out of the race but also because they had guys like Courtney on their wheel and Cam Good close behind mine who can run 30-31 minute 10km run splits.

Onto the 2nd lap and I caught the group and waited in the line of riders for a while to get my breath back. I then tried a few feeble attempts with Joey to get away again however they were quickly shut down and I waited for the impending burn on the run.

Onto the run I was once again impressed at the speed of Courtney’s transition. I spent the first 2kms getting back up to Courtney, Michael Murphy and Michael Fox and then the pace really dropped off for a while. Everyone was letting Courtney dictate the pace because we knew at some point he would switch the after burners on and we would all be hanging on for dear life. At this time Cam Good had caught us which now had me worried. As he joined us I sarcastically thanked him for taking his turn on the bike not because he had done anything wrong at all, he had played it all within the rules and smartly saved his legs to battle against Courtney on the run but more because the thought crossed my mind that if I could get into his head and make him feel bad he might think I’m really pissed off and willing to dig deeper on the run then he is willing to. Plus I had to live up to my new reputation as the angry gnome in these shorter races. Something that I know needs to be wound back. ‘LMS’ or little man syndrome is a true medical condition. I’m raising money for it’s research and treatment so please send all cheques directly to me 🙂 In all seriousness, I wasn’t actually angry at all, I love Cam. I was simply trying to get an edge over a guy who I think is a superior runner.

At around 5kms Courtney started to build gradually pulling away. I started to click up some gears too with first Murphy dropping off, followed by Fox. Cam took the lead so I followed in his draft deciding that my best option was to surge with 4kms to go and then try and hold on. I pulled away 10m from Cam and then worked very hard to extend it until about 15m and then kept the gas on all the way to the finish line finishing 2nd. Courtney outsprinted the lead female by less than a second to win the bonus money on offer. Cam finished 3rd, Michael Fox 4th and Kieran Roche 5th who despite having a shocker swim for him, riding solo and then running brilliantly to get into the money. A name of the future, along with Michael Fox. The BGFG, Joey Lampe had a stinker run. However knowing Joey’s consistency that means he’ll probably win Noosa next week. You can never pick his form but when it’s on he is a real force.

Huge thanks to Warwick and Gordon for once again putting on another stellar Nepean tri that really supports pros racing over shorter distances.

Big thank you also to my non-triathlon interested friends that made the surprise trip out to Penrith to give some whole hearted, pants down support. Very different but very entertaining.

Courtney sprinting for the overall bonus..

I was nervous. 10 long hours squished between the BGFG, Joey Lampe and Luke Martin. Our beat up $800 Commodore station wagon with one of those stupid mufflers that actually amplifies the sound of your engine bellowed it’s way into the car park of the Yeppoon Mecure Resort. A sigh of relief all round that the old beast got us there.

Despite our best efforts to learn the language of the Queensland people, we had to resign to the fact we were too highly evolved. Thankfully, we understood enough of the hand signals and grunting to find our rooms and I was pleased to be sharing with the mayor of Adelaide, the honourable Matty White.

In a sport that requires a fair degree of selfishness, it’s hard to beat this race for winning back some brownie points as it’s a definitely a family friendly race with great pools, a beautiful beach just a lazy stroll away and a resort that doesn’t leave you wanting for much more. I rang my wife back at home and told her all about it.

My last race here was in 2009 where I raced in the open/pro category. While I was still racing age-group for most races the prize money was low enough that anyone could jump into that category. It was on that occasion that I first met Matty White 7kms into the run, when we were running side by side, at the front of the race. Still fairly new to the sport and an arrogant little turd, instead of focusing on how I was going to beat the fine specimen next to me, I started planning my winning speech, running through all the people I was going to thank, including Tim Berkel, who we were just ahead of, and who had really taken me under his wing in the early years helping me out with equipment, training advice and much much more. By 8 kms, my balloon sized head quickly deflated, I could barely run and both Matty White and Tim Berkel dropped me like a bad smell as I slunk home well off the pace.

Fast-forward to 2012, a lot more training and respect for my competitors and I was ready to give it a really solid nudge to see how my prep for Vegas 70.3 was coming along.

Light winds had whipped up some chop and swell for the 1.9km swim making things slightly more challenging for competitors. However, any nerves that the pros were feeling were soon quelled as Mitch Anderson looked across at Joe Lampe on the start line and repeated the timeless line from ‘Anchorman’ “I love lamp”. Instead of thinking about the race, I started thinking about how good the Anchorman sequel is going to be.

On that note we sprinted into the swell and I’m not sure whether it was the irregular nature of the waves or the sand surface underneath but it was like a reverse war scene where my fellow soldiers were charging the water (instead of the land) and dropping left right and centre. Bemused at every body falling over themselves, I just went on my merry way and started swimming. Within a few strokes I noted that Joe Lampe and Sam Better were still running and only up to the knees so I tried to do the same only to find that I was chest deep bringing up a rage of small man syndrome for years of midget torment. Sam, Matt Bailey and Joey were off. I raged my way through the first few hundred metres bringing back a couple of faster swimmers and started to relax as the main pack settled into a rhythm.

After suffering punctures in both Phuket 70.3 and Racine 70.3, where I felt I was poised to have very good days, I took no chances for this race and had wrapped up a bundle of tyres, changing equipment, sealant, a disc adaptor, scalpel, Swiss army knife, matches and a one man tent. While I was tucking all that up the front of my tri jersey the chase group got away. I got on the bike and was relieved to know that my pegs were going to work for me. I caught the group, rode to the front and set about winding in Joey Lampe and Matt Bailey. Joey, being one of my major concerns in the race as he has the potential to seriously dominate when he is healthy. Within 10kms we had reeled them in and the pace became leisurely with the usual tactics being played out that are so common in Aussie races.

As the ride progressed I was growing concerned. Sam Betten was riding really well and putting time into us on every lap and I knew if the bike was easy, guys like Johnny Poulson have the running pedigree to run away from everyone.  I was planning an attack at the turn on the 3^rd of the 5laps and thankfully Matty White had exactly the same mindset. As he passed me he yelled “we need to get rid of Poulson” to which I replied “let’s whack them at the next U turn” which got me thinking about why I used the expression ‘whack’. I decided to blame FOB’s ‘Tripod’ podcast where the term is thrown an average of 96 times an episode and must have subconsciously seeped into my brain. Strange term considering that when I was a gangster it meant to kill somebody and when I was at high school it meant something completely different. While my annoying brain was considering all this, the Mayor had launched and I reeled in my thoughts and did the old sling shot 2^nd launch and the group was split with Matt Bailey the only guy coming with us. Joey Lampe then pulled the pin, weeks of a cold and not much training catching up with him. We kept the speed high for the remainder of the ride gaining some good time and stopping the time loss to Betten.

Informed in T2 that Betten had about 3.5 minutes, I did the maths and figured that big bugger should be pretty tired after riding superbly and 90 seconds each 7km should have me near the front. The bike course is not ideal, with very rough roads and multiple loops, however what the bike course lacks the run course makes up for many times over. With about 50% of the run on sandy trail and dense bushland either side, I felt like I was back at home running over the trails of Lord Howe Island with my brother from a much taller, red headed mother, Ollie Whistler, revelling in the pleasure that trail running provides. I went fairly hard the first lap bringing back over 2 minutes and from there was able to relax a little more. Matty White had not come with me, I suspect his 5 days in Vegas partying playing some part in that.

I was able to catch Betten in the early stages of the 3^rd lap and to make sure that he didn’t try to come with me. I gave him a smart arse pat on the bum and told him how impressive his bike ride had been and then ran away a lot quicker than I had been running, away from him. Of course once we were back in the bushland and he was out of sight, I slowed back down to a pace where I could breathe again. For a 70.3 debut the guy was seriously impressive.

I was extremely happy to take the win, pleased that the hard work for the 70.3 World Champs seems to be paying off. Sam Betten held on for second with Matty White coming in third.

As always, thank you to my wife Monica.
Big thanks also to my sponsors Zoot, Vision, Speedfil, Rudy Project, Budgy Smuggler and SIS.
Cheers,

Tim

This was my final race in the States before heading home for a serious training block for the major championship races. While my racing had been solid, it hadn’t been fantastic and I was getting pretty hungry for a performance across the swim/bike/run that I could go home very content with. A week away from Monica and Oscar isn’t easy but if I can come home with a great result and some nice pay cheques it does make my time away somewhat easier to bear. I also would really have loved to have raced more 70.3 events on this trip as I feel the distance suits me better than Olympic Distance with my relatively late start to swimming and ability to maintain a good speed for 4 hours however I had promised myself last year to have another go at Hy Vee 5150 (Olympic Distance Championships) and so stuck to the plan, chasing points for qualification.

After being dropped from the swim pack immediately at Boulder Peak 5150 a week prior I made sure to complete a far more thorough warm up and be ready to go from gun in the swim. Thankfully, I felt a lot better and exited the water alongside Craig Alexander and Paul Ambrose, who I perceived to be the favourites in the race.

Crowie put down some solid power throughout the first 5kms and I went with him giving us a gap to Paul and the rest of the guys that exited the swim with us. However Jordon Jones who won New York 5150 a week earlier is a brilliant cyclist and passed us early on. I soon passed super fish and big friendly giant Joey Lampe who was not quite at his best after racing really hard and well at Boulder Peak 5150 last week. Not a minute after I passed Joey I heard a bang and felt my front wheel moving all over the road. I slammed on the brakes as I knew it was not so much a puncture as a complete blow out and didn’t need another bike crash like Phuket last year when I punctured. I managed to dismount just before the rim slid out on the road but I couldn’t control my back wheel from whipping out nearly taking out Craig Alexander as he whizzed past. At first I wasn’t too worried, more thinking how bad it would have been if I’de taken down and injured Crowie,  the biggest name in our sport. However as I stood there waiting for a support vehicle to get a new tyre  my heart started to sink with every minute that passed. I swore at the road for a while then came to terms with my situation figuring I was out of the  prize money but as I was going to be sitting on a plane on my way back to Oz it would be good to still get in some hard training. So the plan was to bike my little legs off back to transition and then run to my home stay’s house. A good 7-8 minutes passed before a van came through and fixed my tyre.

From there I actually started to have fun. Pressure was off, it just became a hard training session which I’ve always enjoyed. My average speed was above what I’ve ever done in a 70.3 before so I just started racing myself to see if could keep the average around 42km/h. Soon I started reeling in a few guys including Crowie who was having either a very abnormally off day or suffering some other issues that he didn’t let on about.

I got to transition with my bike computer saying 2.07.56 (automatically stops when my bike stops) and put on my run shoes ready for a hard 10km run back to where I was staying, the quickest way being the race run course. I was going a little too quick for the heat but as I didn’t think I was running the full 21.1kms so ignored my usual race instincts. I saw the lead guys running back from the first turn around and saw my good mate Joe Lampe in 4th. I started hollering to him that he was only a minute down on third and to hang in there. Then I saw the turn around and realised I was only a minute down on Joey and wondered why the hell was I encouraging him, when I had a chance of getting back into this race!

The race was back on. By 10kms I had bridged to Joey and we ran side by side for a while I expressed my distaste for the heat. Joey didn’t talk back too much so I knew he wasn’t feeling great and pushed on opening up a small gap and starting to believe I could catch Paul Ambrose who was in 2nd after  Jordon Jones who was leading had pulled out, I’m told succumbing to the heat and possibly fatigue after a great win the week before.

Then hypoglycaemia punched me right in the face. I completely bonked. Riding harder then normal and the hot conditions had obviously left my blood sugar levels decimated and I went from dreaming that I might be able to come back for a 1st or 2nd place despite a puncture to just hoping I could stay in the top 5.

Amazingly Joey was in a similar place to me and couldn’t bridge back up to me so that we both ran about 8kms unable to switch up a gear surviving from aid station to aid station and holding the same gap.  After plenty of coke and a couple of caffeinated SiS energy gels my energy levels gradually returned and I was able to at least feel I had another gear for final 2 kilometres should Joey start really apply the pressure. I came home third, disappointed it hadn’t worked out as well as it could of but proud I’de hung in there to bring home a little bacon.

Huge thank you Jon and Tiffany Behrends who was so incredibly hospitable and to both Marko Albert and Paul Ambrose  who also stayed at the Behrend’s household making the weekend much more enjoyable. Both guys got 1st and 2nd respectively, not bad to get the whole podium staying at the one house. Says something about how we were looked after! Found it particularly funny this week when my favourite triathlon podcast, ‘tripod’  called Paul ‘angry Ambrose’ considering I don’t think I’ve met a more cruisy guy in my entire life. A tough, old school style racer who I wish I could be as half as relaxed as.

Special  shout out to my U.S based sponsors who through their support make it so much easier for me to continue racing in the States. Zoot, Vision, Rudy Project and Speedfil.

Next few races, Yeppoon 70.3, Hy Vee U.S 5150 Championships and Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships.

Cheers for reading!