Tim Reed

70.3 World Champion & Professional Triathlete

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New Caledonia International Triathlon

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A few weeks back into training and I figured a cherry pick might be in order to rebuild some speed and replenish the bank balance after the disappointment of Ironman Melbourne. New Caledonia International Triathlon was the perfect fit. All expenses paid, deep paying Euros in hand and when I accepted their offer I didn’t know of anyone else racing. Little ripper.

 

As often happens with ‘cherry picks’ there are always a few other pros looking for a quick buck and several days out and I found myself arriving in Noumea only to be welcomed by 2 x Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Brad Khalefeldt, pedal stomper from NZ Graham O’Grady,  Jesse Featonby, defending champ John Polson, some other international ITU racers.
With a slight calf niggle that had limited my run prep after Melbourne I quickly realised that there was only one game plan that could possibly lead to success against the currently superior runners. Saturday morning I went out scouting the course with Matilda Reynolds identifying where I was going to attack on the bike to try and get onto the run with enough of a margin to hopefully save the calf but also to give me a chance of a decent result.

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Race morning, a different sort of warm up was required. In my tribal skirt I went down to the beach and performed a vigorous tribal dance evoking the wrath of the weather gods. They were surprisingly short tempered at the short white intruder insulting them with blisteringly good dance moves. An onslaught of rain and gusting winds immediately started belting into Noumea. I was delighted as it would mean the 5m drafting gaps would become nearly irrelevant.

 

Dropped at the first buoy in the swim, I kept the gap fairly steady gap getting out of the choppy swim 30 seconds back. With my usual sluggish transition I got out on the bike and set about getting back to the front of the race. After approximately 8kms averaging close to 350 watts I was back behind O’Grady and Khalefeldt and feeling great. It was immediately evident that whoever was at the front of the race was going to get a big advantage from the lead motorbike who was way too close, sitting approximately 20m ahead. So I waited until the first small climb and then launched the planned attack telling O’Grady to come with me whilst rudely neglecting to make the offer to Brad who can run a 30 min flat 10k most days of the week.
O’Grady followed but I could tell he was struggling coming off the back of a lot of travel and too little training so I figured I need to get rid of him too if he couldn’t’ help the Reed cause.

 

Keeping the power high and with the help of my lead motorbike ( despite me indicating that he needed to go further ahead I swear 🙂 I gradually gained about 2 minutes over the other guys and was able to settle into a comfortable pace on the run. Brad was closing but I felt like it wasn’t going to be quite fast enough. Then he suddenly he was quite a way back after running the extra 300m drafting loop punishment which it turned out post race he hadn’t needed to do and was a miscommunication between the official and himself.

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I was pleased to take the win, Brad cruised in for 2nd with Johnny Polson showing his ever increasing strength on the bike and run taking 3rd.

 

I can see why this event has drawn a host of top pros over the 28 years it has been run. A technical, hilly bike leg, a crowd friendly multiple looped run course and island surroundings second only to Lord Howe Island.
Huge thanks to the event organisers for the invite. I hope the schedule allows me to return next year.

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Asia Pacific Ironman Championships

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Melbourne Ironman and the Kona Dilemma

After a nice break over Christmas I made the late call to switch from Ironman New Zealand to Ironman Melbourne. I made the decision to give me a few extra weeks training and in the hope that a decent day, given the 4000 ranking points on offer, would allow qualification to the Ironman World Championships.  The decent but not deep prize purse but deep ranking points would mean a stellar pro field would turn out and it certainly didn’t disappoint with what I’m sure will be one of the stronger fields outside of Hawaii assembled this year.

Wind whipped up the swim course into an angry swell making the original 3.8km swim course unsafe for the age-group competitors and as a result it was shortened to a 1.5km loop. Full credit to the organisers for doing everything they could to ensure there was a swim at all.

Unlike some of my fellow U.S. and Euro competitors, but like most Aussies I enjoy a true open water rough swim and found myself having a good time out there.

“Going to the toilet on the bike is certainly a fine art and something I need to seriously work on. Tough one to practise in training though without your cycling buddies thinking you’re a freak.”

Joey Lampe and Clayton Fettel got their usual lead in the swim but interestingly another group of guys who I was right with were suddenly way ahead in a very short space of time. Perhaps they went up a gear that I didn’t have. There have been rumours of a missed swim buoy. If there was any missing of buoys I don’t believe that for most of those swimmers it was intentional. For myself, I rarely know where I’m going in races because I just windmill along following the closest pair of feet, rarely looking up at all if I can help it.  It’s a luxury I can afford racing with professionals as in general whoever I’m following doesn’t go off course. That combined with large swells made for some tricky navigation.

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Photo Courtesy of www.jimmyjohnsen.com

Onto the 180km bike leg and the power was set high early by Joe Gambles. A really strong headwind on the out loop didn’t make for easy riding. Butterfield launched at the turn around with an all out effort to reach the smaller front group, which included Craig Alexander, Marino Vanhoenacker, Luke Bell, Eneko Llanos, and Fettel. Soon after the 45km turnaround point I passed Gambles who yelled ‘Reedy you’ve got to commit mate’ and so I put down a little more power. However, when I looked back and I had 150m on the large chase group and was feeling good so decided to give myself until 70km to try and bridge up to the front of the race. Steadily I clawed them down knowing full well that I was above my desirable power output holding approximately 5 watts/kg, however my desire to be up the front was stronger then pre-race targeted intensity zones.

Once there, life got easier until Marino attacked into the head wind. After busting a nut to be where I was I had no intentions of chasing him too hard but did my part of pacing with Clayton and Crowie to minimise the damage. At 120kms my spanking new Garmin Edge 810 was showing an average of 290 watts which I knew would mean I would be fairly depleted for the marathon without some slower riding. So with 45kms to and a huge tail wind home I let Clayton, Crowie and Eneko ease ahead and desperately tried to go to the toilet and digest some nutrition in the remaining time left of the ride. Going to the toilet on the bike is certainly a fine art and something I need to seriously work on. Tough one to practise in training though without your cycling buddies thinking you’re a freak.

Off the bike after 4 hours and 29 minutes and onto the marathon. I felt great in the legs but not so good in the stomach, with a lot of sloshing going on.  I was under the illusion I was running a steady pace but at 9kms running in 4th  with Crowie and Eneko in sight I was given the split of 33 minutes which made me give myself a quick uppercut and turn on my Garmin Forerunner 10 to slow down to a more realistic marathon pace. My stomach cramps didn’t ease however they certainly weren’t enough to slow my running too much but I knew that if my guts were in trouble it was likely I wasn’t absorbing calories too well. By 16kms I was likely paying for a lot of surging on the bike and idealistic pacing on the run as the first of many cramps brought me to a halt. My left hamstring just wouldn’t let go for long periods and I was reduced to standstill for 30-40 seconds at a time wishing the cramp away. In that time, as I ran/walked/cramped until 24kms, I was steadily getting passed. Despite the shouts of encouragement from older, stronger athletes passing me I just couldn’t get the cramps to ease and thumbed down a passing car to go and find my family and hide my face. Perhaps it was nutrition, probably pacing to some degree, but I think the biggest factor is I simply wasn’t strong enough. Ironman is not about speed, it’s about strength and I have some work to do there.

A lot of thoughts go through your head in these moments. My triathlon income is almost entirely prize money.  When you’re only working part-time and have a family to support it’s really important that triathlon brings in some money or it’s very hard to justify the extent that I train and race. I knew that if I pulled the pin right there that I could be back racing in 4 weeks and paying bills. Push on and get through the marathon I may be out for much longer especially given the cramping.  The upside of finishing, money aside, is that points were still very possible to get to Hawaii however I did the maths and quickly realised that I would most likely still have to do another Ironman to ensure qualification. 3 Ironman events in one year in my twenties is not something I plan on, nor can I afford. Firstly, the top Ironman athletes are in their mid-thirties so I want to preserve my body where possible. Additionally I’m at the point now where I know I can make a pay cheque in most 70.3 Ironman races I do. However Ironman racing takes a lot of time pre- and post-event from my bread-and-butter races (also making racing in Kona a stretch financially). So, in summary I’m unsure what the plan is from here. I do know that a U.S. based Ironman will happen this year as I’m hungry to try iron out my mistakes from Melbourne, however whether it will be for this year’s Kona qualification or next years is yet to be decided.

Big thank you to my beautiful wife Monica. Ironman preps aren’t easy on partners when you’re gone for 7 hours training on Saturday and come home a zombie. Thank you also to Monica’s family and mine for taking time out to come up and mind Oscar while my wife worked during key weeks of my prep. To Matt Dixon, I like where we’re heading, thank you!

Finally, thanks to Craig Alexander for all the words of encouragement and advice during the race and to Tyler Butterfield post race. It means a lot.

Next up, some fun at New Caladonia Olympic Distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husky Long Course Triathlon

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Husky Tri festival seems to grow every year and for good reason. The family friendly event really captures everything most athletes yearn for. A beautiful scenic course that including a snorkel worthy swim leg, some nice undulations on the bike and a scenic coastal run. Other winning factors are the multitude of events on offer, the easy drive from Sydney, a decent pro prize purse and a terrific racing atmosphere brought about by a supportive community and easy spectating.

Matt Dixon and I eyed-off the start list and formulated a plan to try and win this race without taking too much away from my Melbourne prep. The plan being to swim well getting out with the front group, (always easier said then done for me), sit with the group until the 2nd of the 3 laps and then attack for 2 laps to build a little buffer for the run given that the world class dual Olympian Brad Khalefeldt was racing.  In retrospect this would have been a fantastic plan if I could have stuck to it. I swam well, exiting with the front group spoiling some of the boys well-formulated plan to drop me from the swim pack with some solid surges at the buoy turns. After 5kms of piddling around on the bike I knew the group couldn’t ride this speed and have a chance against Brad in a running race so I put in a very long sustained effort over the next two laps. Not necessarily trying to get away but pushing the speed enough that I could induce some level of fatigue in Brad’s 30 minute 10k running legs.

The gap would waver from 12m to 150m throughout each lap and Sam Appleton was really impressive, dragging the group back towards me although I was a little bummed he wasn’t thinking like Michael Fox and trying to force Brad to close the gap. On the third lap Foxy came past me and told me Brad had received a penalty and with a mixture of relief and feeling a little bad for Brad I was content to let Foxy help set the pace (15m ahead ‘Vic’ from www.firstoffthebike.com ) of which he did great job.  Brad ended up running back into 4th place despite the penalty. It was a real honour to race with such a legend of ITU racing. I hope he continues to mix up his race calendar with non-drafting events as I’m sure once he gets use to riding crunched over a TT bike at steady state power he’ll be very dominant. About that time we picked up one of the truly nice pros, Benny Allen who I had no idea was out in front. Ben focuses on off-road Xterra racing so doesn’t spend that much time on his time trial bike however he really should. With his incredible swim background and cycling potential it’s in his DNA to punish speedy runners.

After my usual sluggish transition Ben, Sam and Foxy had a gap. I wound them in and they dropped off except Sam, who despite stacking it and losing some skin in the process ran along side me. The pace was fairly high but I could hear Sam’s feet kicking the ground a lot and he was breathing heavily. I wasn’t comfortable either and really didn’t want to run this pace for 20kms so at about 6 kms I lifted the pace more and thankfully he dropped off. I pushed until 10kms and then at the turn around I liked the gap and was able to relax and enjoy the 2nd 10kms far more.

A few years ago, racing as an age-group competitor Husky was far and away my favourite event. I remember watching in absolute awe when Leon Griffin, Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs belted around the course to win in different years, so to be able to win is very cool. Thanks to Emo and the team at Elite Energy, to Karl Hayes for a bed to sleep in and to all the people hollering out on course.

Cheers!

Reedy

Ironman Canberra 70.3

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You can read Tim’s report on his victory at the 2012 Canberra 70.3 Ironman on First Off the Bike

Nepean Triathlon

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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..

 

                                                                          

 

 

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