Tim Reed

70.3 World Champion & Professional Triathlete

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Phuket Asia Pacific 70.3 Championsips

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I made a very late call to race Phuket 70.3.  Thinking that surely at the end of the season with Thailand being a fair hike for any Western athlete the pro field would be a little low on quality and an easy race to turn a buck. A nice thought in theory but straight after I booked the flights I found out I was very wrong. With great points for both Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world rankings and a $75000 prize purse some real legends of the sport were not missing out on racing and kicking back for some down time at some of Phuket’s nicest resorts.  Chris Leigh (multiple 70.3 and Ironman Champ) , Faris Al Sultan (former Ironmman World Champion), Paul Matthews (70.3 Champ and Podium finisher in everything other race that counts), Matty Reed (US Champ and Olympian), Chris Lieto (Ironman champ and Ironman World Championships runner up) ,  David Dellow (fresh off winning Noosa Triathlon) , Paul Ambrose (70.3 and Ironman Champ) , Richie Cunningham (See Matthews)  and 2 x 70.3 World Champ Michael Raelert were all racing.

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 8th 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.

Nepean Triathlon

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I’ve been forced to face the facts. I’m a bit of a tri geek. Not a tri-tech geek, or an avid reader of the brutal triathlon forums but I certainly do love the history of the sport. The Nepean Triathlon is one of only a few races where the organisers truly recognise and respect the history of their event. The website clearly promotes the list of athletes that have won this race some of whom are true legends of the sport such as Greg Welch, Brad Beven, Tim Bently, Spot Anderson just to name a few. In recent times there have also been some successful current guys- Sexton, Jacobs and more, names that have really built on the prestige of the event. Due to my tri history nerdiness I really wanted to put up a fight in this race not just to race the guys this year but because of the well documented results of past races to also see how my times compared to the many other athletes that have raced around the Penrith arena.

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.

Port Macquarie 70.3

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I can’t quite put my finger on why but something about this race ignites levels of motivation to win that are unequalled by other races. It’s easy to motivated to win on race day, I’m sure ever pro athlete feels that desire. However, it’s not so easy to be motivated many weeks prior when the motivation can really make a difference to your training.

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.

 

Maitland Triathlon

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http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/news/local/sport/triathlon/reed-runs-to-glory/2317665.aspx

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

Cancun 70.3

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  The beginnings of Autumn had brought some chilly weather to Boulder that would have been mild for Boulder locals but had me putting on every item of cycling clothing I owned as I shivered out the door. Getting out of the plane in Cancun, Mexico felt like I had I had stepped out of the freezer into the furnace. In reality I’m sure that I’m greatly exaggerating the  Cancun heat and humidity however I find that if I haven’t done specific heat training I tend to really suffer.

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 3rd 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 2nd and amazingly James Hadley recovered from a big crash to finish 7th 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.

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