Ironman 70.3 Canberra - 3rd

Since the Noosa Triathlon a few months ago I have been training hard and getting the big kms into the legs in preparation for the fast approaching 2013 season. Post my 7^th place at the Noosa Triathlon I have strung together some solid races with a 1^st at the Gatorade Series and another 1^st at the Kingscliff Triathlon a week later. I knew that for Canberra Ironman 70.3 I would be going into the race quite tired after coming straight from 2 weeks away at the Queensland Academy of Sport’s training camp in northern NSW. I arrived in Canberra late on Friday night so that I had the full day on the Saturday to familiarize myself with the course.

Race day fast approached and after setting up in transition and going through my warm up the race start quickly arrived. I positioned myself towards the far right side starting next to gun swimmer Joey Lampe. The plan (as always) was to get away in the swim with a small group and build on this lead into the cycle leg. Nothing new for me really as it’s the way I love to race. Hard from the start and off the front!

I pushed hard from the start but found myself dropping off the front pack of 3 swimmers within the first 500 meters of the swim. Not good and something that I am really unfamiliar with as I am usually the one pushing the pace in the swim. I was just having one of those days in the water where I just couldn’t get comfortable and find a good rhythm. I emerged from the water slightly in front of the chase pack in 5^th place and a minute down from the 3 leaders.

Going onto the bike I worked with Tim Reed, John Polson and Ben Allen to push the pace and try and catch the front 3 leaders. After the big weeks of training I felt really flat on the bike and while I managed to do my fair share of the pace setting I felt like I couldn’t get into top gear and really lay down the pace like I usually do. The bike was really quite fast and during the later half I struggled to get down all of my nutrition due to stomach cramps.  

With a fast T2 I set out onto the run still with the stomach cramps that plagued me on the bike but feeling ok in the legs. In recent months I have been working really hard on my run in training so I was confident I could produce the goods over the final half marathon of the race. Some of my competitors from the chase pack went onto the run quite fast but I knew from experience that I was best to run at the pace I knew I could hold for the entire run rather than go hard from the start and try and hang on for dear life in the final kms. My tactics paid off and I found myself running through the field and eventually into 3^rd with 7km’s to go. I crossed the line in 3^rd place unable to catch 2^nd place, having the 2^nd fastest run split of the day.  

I was really happy with a podium finish after having a less than ideal swim and having to work my way back throughout the race. The thing I love most about 70.3 events is that if you stay strong mentally when you’re having a less than perfect day you can still put together a great race like I managed to on Sunday.

I also improved my run time from my last 70.3 in Yeppoon by 2minutes 10 seconds for the half marathon which shows me that I am moving in the right direction with my training and am looking good for my next race in early 2013.

Next on my race calendar is the 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships in Auckland, NZ on January 20^th.

Results 

Name	Country	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish	Div. Rank	Overall
REED, Tim	Australia	0:24:00	2:00:43	1:12:06	3:40:13	1	1
LAMPE, Joseph	Australia	0:22:31	2:00:02	1:16:56	3:42:57	2	2
BETTEN, Sam	Australia	0:23:45	2:00:44	1:15:08	3:44:19	3	3
PRINCE, Michael	Australia	0:24:01	2:00:38	1:17:58	3:46:15	4	4
WALL, Lindsey	Australia	0:23:57	2:00:47	1:19:27	3:47:33	5	5
HODGE, James	Australia	0:22:35	1:59:38	1:22:20	3:48:24	6	6
REITHMEIER, Alex	Austria	0:23:59	2:00:31	1:21:05	3:49:11	7	7
CRAWFORD, Guy	New Zealand	0:23:54	2:00:42	1:21:56	3:50:11	8	8
ALLEN, Ben	Australia	0:23:41	2:04:50	1:20:06	3:52:08	9	9
SKIPWORTH, Todd	Australia	0:23:52	2:08:47	1:16:22	3:53:25	1	10
WADDINGTON, Ryan	Australia	0:26:07	2:08:03	1:16:33	3:55:23	1	11
POLSON, John	Australia	0:24:01	2:04:32	1:23:44	3:55:45	10	12
WHISTLER, Ollie	Australia	0:25:31	2:04:52	1:22:23	3:57:32	11	13
BELL, Ben	Australia	0:27:42	2:10:09	1:17:43	3:59:18	1	14
WRIEDE, Ben	Australia	0:26:11	2:06:43	1:21:51	4:00:09	2	15
MCKENZIE, Paul	Australia	0:27:03	2:06:12	1:23:38	4:00:55	2	16
VAUTIER, Blyth	Australia	0:24:33	2:08:24	1:26:54	4:03:42	1	17
NORTH, Nicholas	Australia	0:25:55	2:09:09	1:25:10	4:04:26	3	19
SWINDALE, Ricky	Australia	0:26:05	2:14:24	1:19:36	4:04:45	2	20

Kingscliff Triathlon - 1st

The Kingscliff Olympic distance triathlon is undoubtedly one of the most scenic courses you will find in Australia. The swim is held in pristine waters where you can quite literarily see the fish beneath you and the ride and run course is right next to the white sands of Kingscliff beach. With previous winners such as Courtney Atkinson and Craig Walton the prestige of winning this race, adding my name to the honour role next to these champions is something that I hoped to achieve.

Race morning started early for me making the driving down to the race after staying the night about 15 minutes away at Tweed Heads. Being that the race was in a different state I played it smart by booking a hotel closer to the race saving myself from a 2:30 am drive on race morning due to the time difference with daylight savings and woke up at a more reasonable 4:45am.

Upon arriving at the race I jumped aboard my Specialized S-WORKS SHIV to get the legs going after spending the previous day racking up 125 kms on my road bike including a cycling race. Honestly its been a big week of training and I was really unsure on how the legs would respond so getting in a decent ride warmup was a must for me. Even warming up I could feel the wind building which I knew would be a telling factor and make for a hard 40 km ride.

Training partner Sam Speechly and I warming up

With an 8 am start for the elite men I gave myself plenty of time to walk the 15 minutes from transition down to the swim start to ensure I could get in decent swim warm up. I positioned myself towards the outside of the pack on the start line with the intention of pushing the pace early and keeping out of the way of the carnage usually associated with the swim start.

 Sam and Sam in HUUB SKN-1 swim skins

Training partner Sam Speechly and I swam towards the first swim turn side my side with ace swimmer Bryce McMaster. The pace felt really easy (this might have been due to the fact that I was swimming in my new Huub SK:1 swim skin) so I pushed forward after the first turning buoy taking up the lead. I emerged from the water in front with Sam Speechly and Bryce McMaster along with a few others.

 Leading the swim

A quick transition and I got up to speed and pushed the pace early and after lap 1 of 4 my lead had grown to 30 seconds over 2nd place. From there I really struggled over the next 30 kms of the bike especially with all the wind along the coastal roads. After such a big training week and the 125 kms on the bike the day before my legs were quite unresponsive. Going onto the final lap of the bike New Zealand's Callum Millward (winner of multiple Ironman 70.3 events) overtook me. I pushed hard and played it smart, letting him push the pace and sitting 10 meters behind being careful to keep my distance and not risk getting a late drafting penalty.

I overtook Callum leading into T2 and went out onto the 10 km run at what was a stupidly quick pace straight up the steep hill from transition. My plan was to really push the first few kms of the run to crack anyone else who tried to come with me. The first 4kms were ultimately my quickest and once I hit the sandy section of the course just before the run turn going onto lap two of the run I really hit the wall. However I dug deep and kept pushing my body right to the finish line taking out the 2012 Kingscliff Olympic distance triathlon and what was my 2nd win within 7 days of racing.

Thanks to all my sponsors, coach, family, everyone out supporting today and those who sent me text messages and twitter messages post race. It really means a lot.

Post race. Shattered but happy

NBN News report

Gatorade Triathlon Series (Race 2, Robina) - 1st

After spending a few weeks doing some light training post Noosa Triathlon 2 weeks ago I set my sights on race 2 of the Queensland Gatorade Triathlon Series at Robina on the Gold Coast. The race distance was a 400m swim, 15km ride and a 4km run over what was a very flat and fast course. In addition to the race I was asked to present the medals to the kids triathlon participants at the finish line. It really was great to see how hard all the kids raced and helped add to my motivation minutes before my race start.

After a short warm up I positioned myself on the start line next to training partner Drew Box. After leading the 200m swim to the first swim buoy Drew Box and Byrce McMaster took the lead and kept up a solid tempo for the rest of the swim.

On the run into transition I lost a little time and really pushed hard to make up the seconds lost on the first straight towards the bike turn around. After passing the riders ahead over the first 2kms of the ride I pushed hard aboard my Specialized S-Works SHIV and established a solo lead of 1min 20 seconds by the time I hit T2. I knew that the run would be a real battle after pushing as hard as I did on the bike but kept cool under the pressure of the quick runners moving their way through the field. After the first of two laps on the run I could see eventual 2nd & 3rd place finishers Drew Box and Matt Brown pushing the pace but knew that the gap I had established on the bike would be too much for them to overcome over the 4km run. I enjoyed the final finishing shoot jogging the last hundred meters to claim the win in event 2 of the 2012/2013 Queensland Gatorade series.

Mens and women's race winners 

These events have become quite competitive in recent years and winning one of these races is by no means easy so I was really happy to take the win. Congratulations must go to my training partners Drew Box & Matt Brown for their 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Its great to share the podium with these guys as I know just how hard we all work in training pushing each other each and every day.

NBN News report & interview 

Results 

Pos	Athlete	Time	Cat	Cat Pos	Swim	Cycle	Run
1	Sam Betten	0:44:09	Open-Male	1	0:04:56	0:25:54	0:13:18
2	Drew Box	0:44:30	Open-Male	2	0:04:48	0:26:59	0:12:41
3	Matt Brown	0:44:45	Open-Male	3	0:05:01	0:26:47	0:12:56
4	Bryce Mcmaster	0:45:01	Open-Male	4	0:04:50	0:27:00	0:13:10
5	Christian Wilson	0:45:29	Open-Male	5	0:04:56	0:26:53	0:13:39
6	Angus Gibson	0:46:18	Open-Male	6	0:04:53	0:27:01	0:14:23
7	Giles Clayton	0:46:19	25-29-Male	1	0:05:11	0:27:46	0:13:21
8	Michael Hooper	0:46:36	Open-Male	7	0:05:28	0:27:40	0:13:27
9	Darren Westbook	0:46:36	Open-Male	8	0:05:25	0:27:43	0:13:27
10	Jamie Laverty	0:46:45	Open-Male	9	0:05:03	0:28:14	0:13:26