Tim Berkel

About a month ago, I had a rethink of my season, and made some midseason alterations to my calendar, and my focus for the remainder of 2013. Rather than bore you with the details of the next six months, I’ll try to cover these races as they happen.

Several weeks ago I began my preparation to do an Olympic distance race (i.e. Port Douglas 5150) on one weekend, then back it up the following weekend with the Cairns Ironman 70.3. The reason I decided to do these races is that it had been such a long time between races and also coming off a chest infection, I just wanted to see where I was at in terms of fitness. The 5150 was mainly a hit-out event, and I was preparing myself to have a good crack at the Ironman 70.3.

So the 5150 race was great, I felt good and enjoyed it, I got a 6th place there, which was what I expected for the field of athletes, and my ability in short course racing. I spent the week in Port Douglas (about an hour drive north of Cairns, Queensland) training with Clayton “Clayto” Fettel and Joey Lampe. I had recovered so well and was feeling on top of my game. Clayto was racing the full Ironman, while Joey and I had booked our start for the Ironman 70.3, which was being held simultaneously with the full distance event in Cairns.

Then, in a moment of sheer stupidity, the thought came into my mind to give the Ironman a crack. With no proper Ironman-build in my training, and only six days from race start, I tossed out the idea to my Team. Weirdly enough, I got the support of my coach, manager, and wife, which mutually supported the idea, and with less than six days to go, I got the go ahead to do Ironman Cairns. My preparation for this race was not what I usually do, as it was all about the 70.3 distance, so it was to be interesting to see how the body would hold up.

Race morning/wife’s birthday, I was lucky enough to see a nice clear ocean , which I was told was infested with Croc’s (the reptile, not the fluorescent foam shoes) and only a little whisper of breeze. My swim was pretty crappy and I came out further back than I normally do due to missing two weeks of swimming (as I had a chest infection leading into this race). So after a quick transition I was onto the bike and looking forward to a scenic ride up the coastline and seeing the gorgeous tropical North Queensland …I wish!!!

It was “balls to the wall” to play catch up to just get back onto the main pack of riders I was expecting to come out of the water with. So I caught New Zealand ‘s Cam Brown, Matty White and Todd Israel around 15km mark. Knowing that Luke McKenzie, Clayto, and Chris “Macca” McCormack weren’t in that group, I knew I had caught onto the group riding in equal forth.

Another 15km up the road we caught Macca. Feeling quite good, I was driving the group up into Port Douglas. Macca took a turn up front and I was sitting second with Cam, Matty and Todd still intact. We approached a bit of a tight spot on the road, and we naturally bunched up, and there was a Technical Official sitting off the back of our group. He rode up to me and issued me a drafting penalty. It was a silly mistake, where I wasn’t able to drop back quick enough in a technical section of the course. He might not have had the best angle to see it, but he made the call, and I had to cop it.

It was a little disappointing as I felt I had been off the front of my group for most of the ride and this happens in such a silly spot. So I then decided to surge forward and haul a$$ up the road as I had to get into the penalty box, knowing I didn’t want to lose the ground I made to even catch these boys in the first place. Plus I knew I still had Luke and Clayto out front, which is a scary combination, as they both are strong cyclist. In my angered state, I was able to gain around 2 mins by the time I jumped into the penalty box (…with a gorgeous view might I add).

When I saw the boys go past, I might have uttered a few choice words, and I apologize to the Technical Officials which were staffing the Penalty Box. My emotions may have gotten the best of me in that situation, but I had already worked so hard after a poor swim, to have to claw myself back again. After my penalty was served, I was out of the box on a mission. I caught the boys back at around the 130km mark.

On the ride back into T2 us boys were having a little friendly banter when Matty White decides to pull a turn… Coming past me, he says “I’m a #@%ing cheat”. LOL. Makes the ride a lot more enjoyable when you have good guys out there, keeping you motivated, and talking a bit of smack.

Back into the transition I was told a few splits and McKenzie was 21:58 up the road. Geeeeezzzz, I thought to myself – I’ve got a bit of work, and it was going to have to happen quick smart. So Macca and I ran together for a bit, before he took off. I let him go, but soon caught back up to him. Macca didn’t seem his usual self, which was understandable due to him being in hospital at the start of the week with a Kidney infection.

We ran together for around 4km and Macca was feeling worse, telling me he was pissing blood (…maybe that’s too much information), poor guy. I then dropped Macca and whilst running I saw McKenzie on the way back from the Yorky’s Nob loop, and it was pretty clear to me he had a massive lead. I thought to myself the only way I was going to make time up was to run hard into the head wind.

I overtook Clayto which put me in second place. I kept getting splits from the awesome spectators lining the course. It’s a long run into town, then multiple loops along the foreshore, so the end of the race is full of spectators. I was consistently reducing the 21:58 deficit that Luke built on his Swim/Bike combination.

I ended up crossing the line in second, and was only 4:38 back, taking over 17 minutes of Luke’s lead at T2. I ran a 2:44:24 marathon which was over 10 minutes faster than the second fastest Marathon of the day. I guess looking back now the results it could have been a little different if I didn’t get my drafting penalty. As I could take 4 minutes off my time, and possibly fresher legs at not having to play catch up twice during the bike leg. But all-in-all, I can’t complain and I have lived and learned from my mistakes …until next race!

Well done to Luke McKenzie on a champion effort. Also, I take my visor off to Macca – legend, and tough as nails!

So for me now the game plan is a few easy days then back into it as I head back to the states for a couple of races in a few weeks.

Thanks again to my wife-Bel, family and supporters, my Manager (Mike), the doggies. Sponsors; Scody, Giant, Newton Running, Daikin Air Conditioners, Endura, Shimano, Oakley, Garmin, Blue Seventy, Altitude Training Systems, Continental Tyres, Hypnotic Zoo, Scicon.

Special mention to my coach-Grant Giles. Thanks for always believing in me and pushing me to succeed when I thought I possibly couldn’t. He is a great mentor, friend, and supporter and the number one coach. Go Team Aeromax!!!

Galveston 70.3 Ironman
I arrived Friday into Huston, Texas to then be picked up by Mitch Robins and his home-stay family The lovely Gibbons. I firstly wanted to thank them for making me feel so at home and looking after us Aussie boys over the weekend at your beautiful property.

So game day went like this. I had a reasonable swim, coming out in the middle of the second pack. I then went onto ride the fastest bike split of the day with a 2:07:58 helping me ride myself into 2nd position. Many thanks to Ivan From Retul for getting me dialled back onto my stead (Giant Trinity).

Earlier during the week Andrew from Newton gave me the opportunity to test the a prototype of a newton shoe that they gave to the Olympic runners to wear. I found the shoe to be very light weight and fast but also stable enough for me to have the confidence to go hard. I went on to post the second fastest run time being 1:14:24. Overall I had to settle for 2nd place, not a bad result considering I only got to the states 2 weeks earlier.

New Orleans 70.3 Ironman

Following Galveston 70.3 Ironman I had two weeks to prepare for New Orleans 70.3 Ironman. So the weather in Boulder hasn’t been ideal for training due to the sever cold and constant snow, I also had a niggle in my hip that was not 100% come race morning.
The swim went to my usual swim standard of around front of the second pack, I was happy where I was positioned thus far in the race. Onto the bike I wasn’t feeling the way I did in Texas, my hip was pinching me but still managed to do a 2:08 putting me in 4th position off the bike. My run was damaged due to my hip, I didn’t have my usual spring in my step, in turn causing me to fade to 8th position. Lets just say I was happy to see the finish line!

Now I’m back in Boulder and I’m getting some much needed treatment done on my hip. I will be here up until I my next race back in Australia at Busselton 70.3 Ironman.

I also wanna give a big shout out to my boy Mitch Robins for his come back after a year of racing getting 6th and 5th and posting a Smokin 1.12 at Nola.

Big thanks again to all my wonderful sponsors: Scody, Giant, Newton, Daikin, Endura, Altitude Training Systems, Shimano, Blue Seventy, Oakley, Garmin, Continental Tyres, Jet Black Cycling and of cause my Coach Grant Giles from Team Aeromax.

Looking forward to getting back to Australia.

Missing my girls!

See you all in Busso

Arrived on Thursday to Mandurah, after a long 6 hour flight across to WA via Sydney. I was in Sydney for a few hours and was able to catch upfor lunch with the black prince (aka Dwight), thanks to the prince for my awesome new rockstar aero helmet, Love it! Thankyou also to Virgin Blue for the upgrade to Business class, made the flight across a hell of a lot more bearable. I settled into my Sebel accommodation which was nice.

Friday was a busy day with the usual media commitments, press conference, tv interview etc… Saturday I went down to the iron kids event and handed out medals to all the cute little kiddies. Saturday afternoon I dropped my bike into transition, ready for a big race day.

Race day! The swim was a down current 1.9km, in saying this I was red lining still to keep up with the pack. I came out of the water at the end of the pack and had quiet a bit of work to do to chase down Clayton Fettell.

The start of the bike saw the pack contain at least 16 strong guys, which soon was to be strung out by Paul Ambrose, Tim Reed, James Bowstead and myself pulling off the front and making a gap across to Clayton Fettell by the 50km mark. Then James Bowstead and I made contact with Clayton Fettell on the way back into town. Hats of to James Bowstead and Clayton Fettell who had me balls to the walls sitting on 290-330 watts! I was “Boxed”. The bike course was a flat fast course which worked to my advantage. The three of us rode into transition all together, it was great to see “Giant Trinity’s” 1,2 off the bike (speed machines!).

The run leg consisted of 2 laps. To start off with Clayton Fettell took it up the road storming off, I was feeling a little worse for wear and it took me 2km’s to catch Clayton Fettell and then by the 5km mark I had found my run legs. Reports were that Tim Reed was within 55 seconds of me during the run leg at some stage. But in the end I managed to be 1 minute 45 seconds ahead of him to take the win and be crowned Aussie 70.3 titles champion.

Thankyou to the City of Mandurah for having me, also a special thanks to Geoff and the Ironman Asia Pacific team on a job well done.

And of cause thankyou to my team who I couldn’t have done it without there continued support; Scody, Daikin Air Contitioning, Rockstar Racing, Giant, Newton, Urban Hotels, Shimano, Endura, Oakley, Garmin, Blue Seventy, Continental Tyres, Hypnotic Zoo and also thanks to Mike (my manager), Grant (my coach, Aeromax Team) and also my amazing Wife and our Pug (Poppy) for all your love and support which is always greatly appreciated.

See you in Port!

Just a quick recap as a lot has been going on in my life. Sorry for the slackness on my blogs.
The Japan 70.3 was a great, hot race, where Macca tested me and I ended up with a 2nd place.
Then I went off to the US where I picked up a virus which knocked me for a six. I did end up going to Munice 70.3 where I was still experiencing the effects of my virus, I got a 10th place there.

Once back to Boulder I was trying to get on the mend so I could get a full block of solid training in for Challenge Copenhagen. Two weeks later I was off to try and make it a three peat at one of my favourite races Challenge Copenhagen.

Race morning started off well having a typical swim of mine. Onto the bike course, I rode up to Jimmy and Fredrick by the 20km mark and moved into 2nd place whilst Aaron was up the rode in 1st place. I dropped the boys and tried to close the gap on Aaron, but he was riding like a demon and kept putting time into me. I got off the bike 9 minutes down and knew it was going to be a long day as I immediately felt sick. On the run I was unable to hold any nutrition down and it was coming out both ends! Thanks to the crowd who encouraged me the whole way and helped get me to the finish line. I was upset with not being able to three peat but glad to give it a shot.

I wanted to thank the boys from Challenge Copenhagen for putting on a great event as always and maybe I might have to give it another shot.

I am now back on the Gold Coast to look after my wife, who was diagnosed with Cervical cancer just three days before my big Copenhagen race. She has now had her operation and is on the mend and I’m having to be her slave and do all the house duties…..

So my Aussie season is going to be big. First race for me is Port Douglas long course race, with a few others in between. My next big Ironman race will be Western Australia in December.

I’m disappointed that I wont be at Vegas 70.3 worlds but family comes first and there’s always next year.
Onwards and upwards from here!

Here is a quick video that Newton did with me after Ironman Japan 70.3.