Kedron Brook run post floods

Brisbane has taken a battering in the last few days with epic winds and non stop rain. I ventured down to Kedron Brook, where I usually do most of my runs while I'm at home in Brisbane to see what the flood waters had done to the bike path. GoPro video evidence below

Open water swim camp

Less than 24 after landing back in Australia after racing Auckland 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships I headed up the coast to join the rest of the squad for some camping and training. The camp had a strong swim focus component with a few rides and runs thrown into the training schedule for good measure. Over the course of the week we seemed to have a stark contrast in weather with very hot temperatures for the first few days, then pouring rain for the last 2 days. I'd ordered a GoPro Hero 3 and it turned up less than an hour before I left home so I used the camp to try it out as well. Stay tuned for more videos.

A few shots from the around camp

Open water session 

 Put together a little video as well

Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships - 6th

In the quest for WTC 70.3 and 5150 world ranking points I made the decision late last year to add the 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships to my 2013 race calendar. Another big draw card for me to enter this race was that I wanted to challenge myself to race some of the best athletes in 70.3 and Ironman game. In the weeks before, seeing the names on the start list like Bevan Docherty, Paul Ambrose, Luke Bell, Cameron Dye, Cameron Brown, Tim Berkel & Terenzo Bozzone admittedly I was a little star stuck. These names amongst others on the start list have had numerous 70.3, Ironman wins along with 2 Olympic Games medals in their résumés. I knew that this would be both a challenge as well as an opportunity for me to establish myself as a true contender over the 70.3 distance.

With the USD 75,000 pro prize purse on offer I was very keen to claim a share along with the aforementioned WTC ranking points. Being a young pro athlete my financial situation is less than ideal at this point in time and thus there was also the added pressure of being able to pay for my return international flights and accommodation in New Zealand.

Simply put, I was hungry for a good performance, prize money and world ranking points.

Having the weather being stupidly hot where I live in Australia in the weeks before I left, stepping off the plane onto New Zealand soil was a welcome change with the temperature being around the 20 degrees C mark.

Race Day:

Race morning soon approached and the body was feeling good. After setting up transition and heading down to the swim start I completed a quick warm up before the start. Soon enough the gun went off to begin 4 hours of racing against some of the best names in the sport of Ironman 70.3 triathlon. I attacked the swim start quite aggressively and found myself leading the 40 or so pro mens field. Unfortunately I spotted the wrong swim marker after the first swim turn heading towards the second turning can and by the time I corrected for my mistake I slipped back into around 8^th spot. My goal for the swim was just to emerge with all the main contenders so rather than pushing hard to get myself back in front I played it smart and sat on a good set of feet emerging from the swim only 15 or so seconds off the lead.

After a quick T1 the front group started pushing the pace over the northern part of the course, out and back over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. With 40 or so kms in the bank we heading back towards transition to complete the 2 southern loops of the bike course just as the rain began to fall. This is where the pace really started to heat up and I noticed that we were hitting 50kph consistently despite the rain and very windy conditions. Others in the group really started to hurt at this point and riders in front of me started dropping wheels, which forced me to bridge a few gaps that opened up. Add this to the many athletes receiving drafting penalties, flat tires and a few crashing on the wet roads and by the time I hit T2 there was only a handful athletes left from a group that started out as close to 15 athletes.

As I started the run I played smart and held a pace I knew that I could hold for the 21.1 kms. Admitted it was slower pace that I had planned to run but I knew that because of the tough bike course my legs were not capable of running the pace I had in my head before the race. I let a few other athletes escape up the road knowing that if I played my cards right I would bring some of them back in the closing stages of the run. The run ended up being closer to 23kms than 21.1kms (I found this out at the finish) and this played into my hands well, as I was able to lift the pace towards the finish and catch a few runners who had started to blow up in the final kms. I crossed the line in 6^th place, $2000 richer (paying for my trip and then some) and claiming 560 ranking points towards the WTC 5150 and WTC 70.3 ranking points.

It’s easy to forget that I am new to the game of 70.3 racing only having raced 3 times over this distance. But with a 2^nd at Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon, 3^rd at Ironman 70.3 Canberra and now a 6^th at Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships I can see that I’m heading in the right direction.

The other good news is that I now move into 15th on the WTC Ironman 70.3 world ranking points table. 

Thanks to everyone who sent me messages on twitter and facebook after the race. Its really means a lot and I love reading them.

Next up for me is Ironman 70.3 Geelong in 3 weeks time.

	Name	Country	S	B	R	Time
1	Kemp, Christian	USA	0:24:20	2:10:46	1:19:41	3:56:03
2	Docherty, Bevan	NZL	0:23:49	2:11:39	1:19:55	3:56:37
3	Ellice, Clark	NZL	0:23:36	2:11:49	1:21:42	3:58:24
4	Ambrose, Paul	AUS	0:24:47	2:09:30	1:23:53	3:59:27
5	Hodge, James	AUS	0:23:31	2:10:31	1:24:26	3:59:58
6	Betten, Samuel	AUS	0:23:43	2:11:46	1:23:59	4:00:56
7	Appleton, Samuel	AUS	0:23:34	2:11:56	1:25:01	4:02:01
8	Reed, Timothy	AUS	0:25:20	2:16:48	1:18:38	4:02:22
9	Bell, Luke	AUS	0:24:14	2:15:04	1:21:48	4:02:28
10	Cartmill Frazer	GBR	0:23:40	2:11:44	1:25:50	4:02:46

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