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!

In case you’re not into reading:

Apologies for the blog delay. The time after New Zealand was fairly frantic with the two happiest days of my life taking place.  Monica and I got married and then soon after welcomed our baby boy Oscar James Reed into the world. In an effort to keep on topic and not make this a personal diary I’ll leave it at except to say I’m the luckiest man in the world to have such an amazing wife and one of those overly proud Dads.

It was always going to be tricky training for an Ironman whilst including a house move, preparing for a wedding and including a fair amount of teaching and coaching to keep the bills in check, however I did what I could and while I certainly didn’t feel my prep for an Ironman was ideal I was confident I could still have a decent result. When the race was delayed a day  and cut to a 70.3 distance race due to the crazy ”weather bomb’ that hit NZ I think I was the only one internally cheering. My efforts to train for an IM had me at least in good shape for half the distance.

Race morning produced a stark contrast of conditions from Saturday with clear skies and only a light breeze. With Terenzo Bozzone returning from quite a break from training I took the gamble that he wasn’t in his best form and positioned myself on the shoulder of Marino Vanhoenacker who I saw as the favourite for this distance. My thoughts being that Marko Albert, Terenzo Bozzone, Guy Crawford and Marino would make a break from the rest of the field and I wanted to be dragged along as far as I could with these guys. To my surprise Marino disappeared early on and I ended up on Terenzo’s feet and noticed there wasn’t the usual urgency in the swim pace possibly with the great swimmers realising that the calm conditions weren’t conducive to a solo 90kms time trial. At 1 km I looked back to see Marino several swimmers back, weaving his way through the field steadily moving back up to the front after losing his goggles early on. When he went pass I jumped into his massive wake and didn’t let anyone push me out of it exiting the swim near the front with the main players.

Terenzo must have drilled transition because we got out on the bikes and he was already a few hundred metres up the road. I put my head down and bum up closing the gap. As we hit the first climb on our way out of Taupo there was quite a group of riders. I was probably 3rd or 4th from the front when I bumped my shifter by mistake causing my chain to come off. This can be quite a bugger in this sort of race as sometimes you are forced to get off and fix the chain, losing the pack who riding and pacing together at 7 metre gaps become very hard to catch. Astonishingly, first Terenzo and then another super nice bloke of the sport Aaron Farlow gave me a big push as they went past allowing me to keep my momentum, remain upright and get the chain back without having to dismount. I’m still amazed and hugely thankful that guys who rely on these races for their living did that.
The ride was quite tactical with Marino and Cameron Brown putting in solid turns at the front and then the pace really dropping off as people conserved their legs for the run. I felt comfortable throughout and was quite enjoying riding along with a bunch of media vehicles and a helicopter over head. Towards the end of the ride I was a little concerned that someone would attack in the last 10km so I moved to the front and lifted the pace a little to ensure I was where the action was. Then, as I anticipated Terenzo put in an attack with myself, Cam, Marino and Aaron following closely opening up a small gap on the others.

Into transition and I ripped on my new Zoot Ultra TTs, the laceless shoe once again allowing me the fastest T2, and hit the run in second a few metres behind Terenzo with Cam and Marino blowing gel flavoured breath down my neck. Terenzo was going a fair clip however having had a similar amount of time out with injury a year prior I knew that the speed comes back fast but the strength for the final 10kms takes a little longer so I wasn’t too stressed. What I was fussed about was how strong Marino and Cam are. I won’t go through these guys credentials as anyone reading this most likely follows the sport and knows they are amongst the very best in the world. I knew I wouldn’t run the last 5kms as quick as them however being close to 10 years their junior I knew my first 10km speed should be better.

With the incredible crowds that this race draws and a lot of people screaming “Go Terenzo”,  I slowly pulled away running sub 3.15/km pace for the first 8kms before trying to find a steady rhythm. Unfortunately that rhythm didn’t come. I got to 11kms with a 1 minute 30 lead but I was feeling very nauseous, a feeling that I haven’t had before in a race, perhaps from going too hard, perhaps nutrition, I’m not really sure. Either way I was forced to back things off to bring my guts into check but by 15kms I knew Marino was getting ever closer. I was starting to feel good again but Marino was obviously feeling much better as the big Belgian belted past me at the 17km mark.  Someone told me after the race that he ran the final 5kms in well under 16 minutes.

Of course I was extremely happy to finish 2nd and to celebrate with my sister Catherine who had flown over as a surprise with my Dad. Unfortunately my Dad had to shoot back to Australia Sat night and missed the race with the weather issues but I appreciated the massive effort all the same.

Cam Brown was just starting to warm up and was pulling back time coming in close behind for third showing how good his form would have been for the full Ironman distance. Now with Ironman Melbourne passed Cam once again proved why it would have been near impossible to beat the human metronome. So strong! It was an honour to race such a legend of the sport.

Hats off also to the Ironman New Zealand organisers. They did everything possible to ensure that a race went ahead despite everything  mother nature threw at them. As expected, all aspects of the organisation were brilliant.

Anyway, off to change nappy, thanks for reading and big thanks to my sponsors.

Men

1. Marino Vanhoenacker: 3:55:03
2. Timothy Reed: 3:55:51
3. Cameron Brown: 3:56:38
4. Romain Guillaume: 3:58:03
5. Aaron Farlow: 3:58:57
6. Marko Albert: 4:00:43
7. Terenzo Bozzone: 4:01:51
8. Guy Crawford: 4:03:29
9. Jamie Whyte: 4:12:05
10. Shanon Stallard: 4:14:46

I nearly pulled the pin completely. I was already a little unsure whether I should desert Monica on a weekend when we were suppose to be moving house when I read Mitch Anderson’s tweet that race day temperatures were suppose to reach a high of 9 degrees. I’m small and runtish which I blame completely on my twin sister for stealing precious nutrients while fighting for space in Mum’s womb. Hence, I hate the cold and have never raced well in the cold. Thankfully that size thieving twin, Liz, was incredibly generous and offered to fly up from Sydney and help Monica make the move. That sealed the deal. I was off to Falls Creek to see whether I could not embarrass myself and hopefully be in the mix for an Aussie title.

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 it was obvious he was not going to be brought back once again demonstrating his dominance on two wheels. There was nothing I could do except to try to minimize the damage his power output was causing.

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