I soaked up and relished my much needed end of year break. By the end however,  I was itching to get back into some hard work. The extra kilos and the drop in fitness doesn’t bother me. I’ve enough experience now to know that that the form comes back fast and often better then if I hadn’t rested. Rather, it’s the lack of purpose that’s taken out of each day that starts to wear me down. There’s something satisfying about fitting 3-6 hours of training, ticking off micro objectives around life’s other daily commitments.

The plan from my coach at Purplepatch Fitness, was to rebuild but keep a lid on how fit I would get so early in the season. Despite the plan I was surprised at the rapid fitness gains post break. With exception to my swimming, a stubborn beast that takes months to get up to scratch, my bike and run were showing numbers not far off my peak period from 2013 on minimal training hours. I wasn’t complaining.

I got to Auckland for the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships aware that if I got a little lucky in the swim and outperformed my current aquatic ability, then a podium position was very possible. Should I not get out with the front group, I was still very motivated to simply go hard and lay down a solid race.

The New Zealand federation made a positive change to extend the drafting gap from 7m (effectively 5m as it’s measured from wheel to front wheel) to 10m (effectively 8m). 8m still dictates that unless your Seb Kienle, it’s necessary to try and pace ‘legally’ with a group to stay in the mix. Hence the fact that in two years of this race no one has finished in the top 10 who didn’t ride legally in a group formation. Getting out with a group in the swim is crucial.

Race morning and Auckland sandwiched an absolute ripper day in between some not so great days. So with clear skies and no wind, many of the best triathletes in the world started zig zagging around the harbour swim course.

I had a great start and was comfortably within the front pack after a few hundred metres. A quality field often means a less rough swim with the guys a lot more aware of not making progress inhibiting contact. I probably wasn’t as aggressive as I could have been at the buoy turns, steadily losing 2-3 spots at each one. I gradually drifted more to the back third of the group but halfway through the 1.9kms only a couple of guys had blasted off the front, most of the group was together and I was confident that it couldn’t split too much from here. Incorrect assumption. The guy in front of me dropped the feet in front and 1metre became 20 in about 2 minutes. I knew I didn’t have the raw grunt to swim around and catch up to a group of that calibre and while a couple of other guys tried, most of the group accepted it was going to be catch up on the bike.

Heading into T2 I was delighted to see that the main group in front was only just heading out, thinking that we should pull those guys back no problem. It turned out to be quite a problem. That lead group contained guys like James Hodge who ride as hard as they can, for no tactical reason except he just likes to hurt and seasoned smart racers like Terenzo Bozzone who knew that there were guys that could threaten him on the run in our chase group and so make sure the speed is kept high to force us to have to really dig deep to bridge up.

With Craig Alexander, Michael Poole and myself doing the vast majority of the heavy lifting on the bike we were closing on the group at times but then the gap would extend again. It’s a tricky game; you don’t want to completely go for it on the bike knowing that you’ve got 2-3 guys of similar running ability in your group legally saving precious wattage as you are grinding the ‘zip’ out of your legs.  The outcome likely being to get outrun by many of the guys who played it smarter. If we had just one more guy willing to put their hand up I believe we would have got back into the main podium game.

Despite the suffering you couldn’t help appreciate what an amazing bike course this was. To ride over the harbour bridge and through hilly Auckland suburbia was refreshingly interesting. It’s rare to get support on the bike in a triathlon but Auckland, similar to the NZ Ironman seemed to throw up little groups of people hollering and clapping much of the 90kms.

We jumped off our bikes about 2 minutes down on the lead crew. I had Cam Brown and Craig Alexander by my sides and figured that immediately was as good a time as any to get away from these never-slowing veterans. So I took it out hard averaging just under 3.15/k pace. I soon had a gap and started reeling in guys from the front group. By 10kms I had ticked off many and was back within the prize money with a top 5 in sights. I then took a brief wrong turn. Not enough for any significant time but it threw me mentally. I screamed in frustration at my stupidity as the course was clearly marked, turned back and panicked at the sight of Cam Brown and John Polson rapidly closing in on me. I tried to turn the disappointment into gnome rage. I had fought so hard on the bike and in the run to get back into the top 5 and now it appeared that these guys were going to relegate me to 7^th.

I always respond well to a crowd and the Auckland crowd was as good any I’ve experienced. When Cam Brown pulled up alongside me it quickly became much more intense then anything I had experienced. Of course it was all for Cam but it fired me up regardless and I sat in Cam’s draft admiring his smooth metronomical rhythm and out of sight so he couldn’t see my suffering. I figured I just had to suffer a little longer and then basic physiology should dictate that I with a few hundred metres to go, being 14 years younger, I should be able to out-kick the 10 x IM NZ champion.

Thankfully Johnny Polson dropped off as Cam and I played a few games. I didn’t want to dwell on it too much at the time but I was really proud of Johnny. He’s battled for the biggest underperformer title in triathlon for a few years despite amazing athletic potential. We started working together October last year and I’m hugely excited by his improvement and what he will achieve this year. My only concern is that I think he will start beating me regularly.

We hit 400m to go. I surged, Cam didn’t come with me and I was able to hold a small gap securing 5^th place. It ended up every close with only a minute between 2^nd and 5^th. The Olympic gold medallist Jan Frodeno had put on an impressive performance to take the win.

Brief interview post race from www.firstoffthebike.com

Last year the Las Vegas course crushed me without the slightest hint of sympathy. Crushed, but not dead, I took what I learnt and vowed to come back and at least give a worthy fight in 2013.

Photo Courtesy of www.trilounge.com

I realised that to successfully survive this course I needed to make some big changes. First, unlike 2012, I would skip Hy Vee 50150 U.S Olympic Distance Championships the week prior. With a couple of exceptions to the rule I noted how many guys, including myself, drastically under-performed last year trying to back-up from this event. Even with a flatter course this year, the same problem proved to be true. Some of the guys who I think could dominate on this tough course such as Greg Bennet, Barney Matthews and many more were not where they should have been across the finish line. It’s a tough predicament. The money at Hy Vee is hugely enticing, but for me, the dream of winning world titles will always win over cash.

Next, I needed to try a new coaching direction to make me stick to my plans, not get enticed into over-racing and build my training to peak for the races that count. Enter Matt Dixon. Some changes were made to the program and in-line with my training logs and results from the past, less training with greater quality is proving a good recipe. While I don’t believe this works for all athletes – in particular those guys with more diesel-type engines – I do think that combined with the large aerobic base that I have built up over the years following the Grant Giles/Arthur Lydiard principles coupled with my inability to lie on the couch between sessions, that it’s the right formula for me. I’m not necessarily racing much less as I still have to race a lot to make a living at this stage of my career. However the races were often built into the training program and race tactics were followed to get through some events with as little damage as possible. Finally, we recognised that the strong guys prevailed on this course and so my training leading in was built around handling hot conditions and very hilly terrain at steady but very sustainable speeds.

Race morning and bloody hell I was nervous. The field for this race was the best I’ve lined up against. It’s the great compromise between the ridiculous duration of Ironman and the ridiculous speed of ITU (Olympic format) and nearly everyone who is or was dominant in one of the formats had qualified and looked in peak shape.

Adding to the nerves, Vegas pulled a swifty on race day providing steady rain throughout the morning. I was confident I could make the main front group  in the swim. Historically I tend to swim much better non-wetsuit relative to wetsuit and I had enough adrenalin pumping through me to not take the soft option when things would get uncomfortable.

Despite the first few swim freaks taking off early the other major players seemed to be together. The pace settled in the swim after about 750m once the group leaders realised that there everyone was hanging on and the lead few including, Amberger, Potts and O’Donnell et al were not going to be caught. Onto the bike things were immediately sketchy in the wet. I steadily made my to the front of the main group on the first big climb as I hate descending in the wet and knew I would lose some places given my inappropriate gear ratio.

I’m fairly anxious about bike penalties so was leaving a little more than required distance to avoid creeping into the draft zone which so easily happens on big undulations. Unfortunately with so many quality athletes, as soon as anyone opens up a gap more then 10m someone else will go round and slot in. Steadily as I started being pushed backwards through the field. By the 40kms I was in the back third of the main pack and not enjoying the style of riding at all. My power was alternating from 350-400watts at a very high cadence, to 200 watts over and over. I now understood what Pete Jacobs was talking about when he said he found it easier riding at the front of the group in Hawaii then sitting in the middle. Sure, your average power is lower then being at the front but you’re constantly dipping over anaerobic threshold and then recovering in a series of sprints. I found it difficult as my training involves so much time sitting just below at threshold at steady state power.

At approximately 60kms there is a big long climb out of the National Park back on to the main road and I knew I had to get back to the front where I could ride the way I like to. With the length of the group hitting transition at the back would result in a 30-60 second deficit starting the run. I started a long grind, going way deeper into reserves then I would have liked. I knew that I was harming my run to get back to the front of the group but saw that as a better alternative then starting the run in 35th place. With the rules stating that you have to go all the way to the front if there is no 10m space to slot into between riders I knew I had to continue to the front of the group or I would be penalised. It’s a tricky rule which I think discourages riders from overtaking, as it becomes such a risky process should the front guys speed up and you’re left having entered the overtaking zone but not completing a pass with 25 seconds. Thankfully Championship races have officials like Jimmy Riccitello with vast professional racing experience who also take into account ‘intent’ which is hugely important.

Back at the front I set about enjoying steady state power again and started to feel good. Hitting transition at the font of the group proved hugely valuable as I exited with former 70.3 World Champs Terenzo Bozzone and Andy Potts, Olympic gold medallist Jan Frodeno, Swiss Olympian Rudi Wild and one of the best in the business, Joe Gambles.

Photo Courtesy of www.trilounge.com

The run course is 3 loops of one gradual climb. So you’re either running up or down a big, long gradual hill. Having run side-by-side with Terenzo twice this year already, he showed he was a better hill runner than me, whilst I felt I had a very slight edge on the flats. So when Frodeno bolted off at 3 min/k pace with Terenzo in tow, given the hilly terrain I figured it smart to stick to the game plan and run my own race.

I stayed fairly relaxed and moved past Gambles early with Rudi pulled alongside me. As soon as I hit the turn around at approximately 3kms and started going up hill I had the hugely frustrating inner thigh cramps that have been plaguing me all season. I had to back off the pace and Gambles bounded ahead on his way to a beautifully paced run. Thankfully with these cramps I can still keep running I just can’t sit in 5th gear or they totally seize up so I hung tough in 4th gear. As soon as I got to the down hill several kilometres later they disappeared. This process continued for the entire run. I would make up a lot of time on the gradual descent and then try and hold on for the long uphill with my inner thighs twitching in and out of a cramped state. By the second lap Frodeno had pulled out with cramps and I had overtaken Rudi.

Onto the third lap and I pulled up along side Andy Potts very excited about the prospect of 4th place, but yet again had to slow down with cramps on the uphill as he eased slightly ahead. The third loop the cramps were the worst they had been and I could see a bunch of guys pulling very close behind including Leon Griffin and Kevin Collington. I knew I just had to get to the downhill again and then the cramps would go and I could keep the gap to hold onto a top-5 finish. As I turned at the top of the run course for the final two kilometres down to the finish I gave Collington and Griffo, who had closed to within seconds of me, a big cheeky smile of relief as I knew I could go back up to full pace and hold on for 5th.

Thank you to my sponsors who continue to support and believe. Also huge thanks to my family and friends who came and watched or sent nice messages.

By far the biggest thank you goes to my amazing wife, Monica.

Cheers!

Tim

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 2^nd 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 4^th 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 2^nd 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

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..