Tim Berkel

Yesterday was the Urban Hotel Group Ironman Australia here in Port Macquarie. For those of you who were not following the lead up to this race, there were a few of the top competitors that withdrew over the last few weeks. The race lost Leon Griffin, Mitch Anderson, and Pete Jacobs (who was last year’s second-place finisher).

While losing some of these top competitors, there was still Patrick Vernay, Scott Neyedli, Olivier Marceau, and Jason Shortis as well as a few others that could upset the mix. I didn’t have the best preparation, as I came down with The Flu about 3 1/2 weeks out from the race. I got myself on some antibiotics, which was great for the Flu, however, it zapped all my energy, and effected my guts in a bad way, but won’t go into those details…

It was frustrating to not have the energy to do the big blocks of training that I needed for the race, but I needed to let the antibiotics take their course. Once I felt that I was over the infection, I got out of town, and headed up to Alstonville to do some training with the boys up there. I stayed at Clayton Fettell’s place, and we got some really good training in. I really like training up in that area, because we are able to push each other in our training sessions, and the roads are better, with a lot less traffic.

I stayed away from town until Monday, which only had me dealing with the media frenzy for four or five days, which was a good thing. After coming in third at Ironman Australia last year, and considering that last year’s second-place finisher, Pete Jacobs, had withdrawn due to a broken collarbone, there was a lot of local media that were making this a showdown between Patrick and me.

Patrick is strong, and he has the experience, but I knew there was a lot of other guys in this field that were capable of winning this race over Patrick or me. I had several media commitments throughout the week, and all of the questions were geared towards how I would race against Patrick, or how I would go compared to last year…

I tried not to get too caught up in the focus on Patrick, and tried to focus on keeping my head clear, so I could race the race, as it unfolded.

The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, was doing his first Ironman event, and that took almost all of the media attention away from us professionals. I’ve never seen so many cameras, or reporters covering an event, and fortunately for us, they weren’t in our face while we were preparing ourselves for the race.

The race start was going to be slightly different from last year, so the race organisers were going with a mass start.  Also, in the pre-race briefing, we were told there would be a Canon firing to signify the start of the race.  However, once they had positioned us to form a floating start line, we all began to drift forword, not wanting anyone to have any advantage over the rest of us. We were all jockeying for positions, when someone on the shoreline sounded one of those “air horns”. I saw a few guys make the jump, and suddenly there was thrashing water all around me. I started swimming with the rest of them, but could faintly hear the announcer on the sideline, trying to stop us and call us back to the start line. I could see that no one around me was willing to stop, so I wasn’t going to be the only idiot to swim back. After about another 5 to 10 seconds, they decided to ignore our false start, and the cannon went off. It was a bit unnerving to have a start like that, but I was trying to find a quick rhythm.

Several of the faster age groupers made it quickly up to the lead pack of professionals, and I could see on the one side of me a few swim around the outside to move ahead of me.  we were moving along at a pretty good pace, and as we came around to start our second, I slowly started drifting back out of the draft zone coming off the swimmer in front of me. I tried to get back up to him, but eventually gave up, and swam the second lap on my own, with about seven or eight guys off my feet.  A little frustrated,  I led the second group out of the water, and made a quick transition to get to my bike. I needed to find out who the guys were that were out ahead of me, and I would only know that once I got the Pro bike racks.  Unfortunately for me, that group included Vernay, Olivier, Paul Ambrose, and Scott Neyedli. I led the second group out of the water, but we were already one minute 30 seconds down from the first pack.

Once I got out on the bike, I try to settle in to a good rhythm, and most of the groups that came through the transition area with me were all hanging off the back. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to see what the time gap was, until I reached the turnaround at the southern end of the course. I felt we were holding a pretty good pace throughout the southbound leg, but when we pass the leaders on the Ghost Road, I knew they were putting some more time into us.

When I saw the pack was being driven by Olivier Marceau, I was concerned because I know how good of a cyclist he can be. I tried to get the pace increased, but some of the other guys I was riding with didn’t seem to have the legs on the day. So it was frustrating to see the leaders continue to pull away from us at each of the turnaround points.

By the time we reached T2, I think that group had 6 1/2 minutes on us. I had a quick transition, and set out on a pace to run them down. Just after I finished my first lap, I was able to overtake Olivier Marceau. Then halfway through my second lap I overtook Paul Ambrose. And on the latter part of that second lap, I was able to catch Adrian Cominotto along the break wall, but I also was starting to feel the effects of the pace that I had been holding.

Very quickly, I had a feeling of sluggishness come over me, and as it passed through the carpark at Town Beach, I was dreading the hills that were ahead of me. Just as I was hitting the first big climb up Windmill Hill, I had Matty White overtake me. Up until that point, he had pretty much been holding pace with me, but running about 150 m behind me. So I felt a bit demoralized as I realized that the sluggishness I was feeling in my head, had passed on to my legs, because Matty flew by me, and I soon walked part of the way up the hill.

I got some inspiration from the Team Berkel supporters that were camped out at the top of Windmill Hill, so I was able to get into a decent rhythm again coming back in through town and all the way out to Settlement Point. I was feeling quite crook as I was approaching that turnaround point, and I ended up throwing up In a Portaloo (Toilet). It must have been while I was sitting on that fiberglass thrown, that Paul Ambrose overtook me again. But with my body back on track I was able to finish my third lap, but unfortunately I was not able to make up ground on any of the leaders ahead of me, so I ended up finishing seventh on the day.

Not one of my better outings, and I’m still a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to stay with the lead swimmers back in the earlier stages of the race. But it’s all a good reminder to me that I need to stay focused at all times. I would have loved for this to come down to a running race with Patrick, Scott, Courtney, Matty and me. It would have been interesting…

But it’s no longer time to dwell on the past, and put all my focus and training into racing the Half Ironman in Busselton in early May. After that race I will be heading to the USA for six months of racing in the northern hemisphere. Looking forward to that, but I will keep you all posted on my website, and twitter.

Cheers for now,

Tim

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Well it’s February 7th, and I’ve just finished my second race of the year. Two third-place finishes to start off 2010, but there was a top field today so I’m really happy with my result.

I decided to travel on Saturday, for a Sunday race, so I didn’t have many distractions with any of the media commitments. I arrived in Geelong in the early afternoon, so I quickly needed to put the bike together, register, and get my bike into the compound, as soon as I arrived. After I finished all of the necessities, I went and had an early dinner with my mate Clayton Fettell. It’s always good to kick back with him, so I was pretty relaxed leading into the race.

As I said earlier, it was a top field, and they gave me number “2″, and I felt pretty honoured to be given a number so low. I had two time World Champion Craig Alexander (number “1″), on my left, and former World Duathlon Champion Leon Griffin on my right. I was also racing with Triathlon Legend Jason Shortis, as well as Olympian Bronze medalist Jan Rehula. I was also racing against my mates Matty White, and Adam Holborow as well as a host of other Australian pros.

I wished I could’ve done this race last year, however my training wasn’t up to scratch at the same time last season. The race has really good atmosphere, and there were nearly perfect conditions when we started the swim. I expected Clayton and Michael Murphy to go out hard in the swim, so my focus was to just stay with Crowie and Griff. When the gun fired, Clayton took off, and Murphy was trying to hold onto his feet, but that didn’t last long. I would guess that we were only 200 m from the shore, and Clayton was already away on his own. I was swimming well and in the group that I wanted to be with, but when we turned at the first can, we got hit with a lot of chop, and it was difficult to see. I could tell that I was swimming side-by-side with Leon Griffen, but I couldn’t tell who the others were. By the time we turned toward shore, I had fallen back a bit, so I was about 15 seconds behind the group that had all the main contenders in it. I wasn’t concerned, and I had a good transition as we led out on the three-lap bike course.

I was able to catch up to the main group within the first 2 km, so I tried to make it up to the front of that group (which now had about nine guys) just in case anybody was going to make an attack. By the time we reached the turnaround, I could tell that it was only Clayton out in front, and he was looking really strong. As we were coming back into town at the end of our first lap, Matty White seemed to surge ahead a little bit, so I went with him thinking that everybody else was with me. As we made a few of the turns going into town, I saw that we had already created a gap of 20 seconds or so, so we tried to make the commitment to pull away from that group. Unfortunately, the group rallied together and hooked back onto us a few kilometers later.

Somewhere along the second lap, we were joined by the second group, which included Jason Shortis, Adam Holborow, and a few others. So other than Clayton who is out in front and appeared to be pulling away from us, we seem to have the entire men’s pro field stretched out in one long group. Throughout the rest of the three lap bike course, a few others tried to surge ahead, and the only one that looked like it was going to last was when Jan Rahula made a move in the third lap, but that also was in vain, because we caught him before we made it back to the transition area.

I was about the fourth one into T2, but we were all within seconds of each other. I normally have a quick transition, but I decided to put on socks, whereas Crowie and a few others chose not to, so I was about eighth place going out onto the run course. I couldn’t seem to find my run legs straight away, and I could see that a lot of the other guys were going flat out from the beginning. I learned my lesson and Busselton, so I decided to run my own race, and ease into the faster pace when my legs were ready. This paid off for me, and as soon as I was feeling stronger, I started to run down some of those that had shot out of the transition area. I first picked off Rahula, then a few of the other guys. Crowie took the lead from Clayton in the second lap, and Leon was next to overtake him. By the time I made it up to Clayton, he was running side-by-side with Peter Schokman, which represented third and fourth position.

It was early in the third lap, and I was feeling pretty good, so I just eased ahead and even though they tried to stay with me, I think the heat had taken its toll on Peter, and I think Clayton was feeling the effects from smashing it in the swim and bike. I could see at some of the turning points, that Crowie and Leon were uncatchable due to their lead, and the blistering pace they were setting. I was pretty confident that Peter and Clayton weren’t going to get a second wind, so I cruised home to take third. I was really happy with my result considering the quality of field that this race attracted. This race really came down to the run, and even though Crowie had taken a whirlwind trip to the US the weekend prior, he was still able to back it up with a 1:11:57 half marathon. Likewise, Leon ran a 1:13:21, and I clocked a 1:14:51 half marathon. So the three fastest runs of the day represented the top three positions of the race.

So now I’m back to Port Macquarie to continue my training for Ironman Australia, as well as doing the Australian Long Course Championship in Huskisson, NSW in two weeks. I’ll keep you posted with my results.

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Well, it has been a  few weeks since Ironman Western Australia, and I guess I’ve been avoiding writing this race report. Physically, I had good preparation in the lead up to this race, and mentally I was feeling quite strong after some decent results in my last four half Ironman races (one first-place, and three second-place finishes). Unfortunately, I picked up a case of the flu about 2 1/2 weeks out from race day, just as I was returning from Shepparton.
It zapped all of my energy, so I wasn’t able to do any hard sessions. It’s hard to say whether that affected my race day, because some people believe that it forced me into some much-needed rest. Either way, in the week leading up to the race, I felt that I had my strength back, and I was feeling mentally tough for the challenge of defending my title. I had a lot more media commitments over in Busselton this year, due to my winning the event in 2008, but I took all of that in stride.
I was no longer under the radar…
There was a lot of hype in town that the race was going to come down to a run between Patrick Vernay and myself, but I also knew that Über cyclist, Jimmy Johnson was going to give the bike leg a crack. I knew that on race day, I had to be aware of who was going to go up there and work with Jimmy on the bike, and I suspected it was going to be my mate Adam Holborow.  But regardless of the talk around town, I knew that all of these theories were going to be thrown out, once we hit the water, because things rarely go the way of the “experts” predict.
Even though the event had more competitors than last year, there seem to be less of a buzz around the event. Even in the warm-up to the swim, it appeared that the media, and spectators, were giving us a lot more space. The conditions look perfect, and the water was flat as we started to swim. It started smoothly, but I soon swallowed a big mouthful of water, which upset my rhythm. I could see that two guys went off the front in the swim, and I was in the second pack of six. I was happy to stay in the back of that group, and let the others set the pace. The two leaders out front never seem to get more than 100 m ahead of us, so I wasn’t concerned, as it is a long day…
As many of you know, the swim goes straight out alongside the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, then turns around the point and come straight back into the beach. What appeared to be dead flat conditions while we were sitting on the beach, was not the case as we made it out to the turning cans. The swell was quite strong, and I started feeling seasick just after we turned to come back to the beach. As we got closer into the shore, the swell flattened out, however, my belly was still feeling the effects of that mouthful of sea water I swallowed at the start.
Not much changed as we hit the shore, but as soon as I started to run on the sand, I could feel my stomach churning. When I got into the change tent, I spewed up all the water I had swallowed on the swim. Not a pretty sight, but I was glad to get it out of my system, and I felt a bit of relief at that moment. We got onto the bike, and we quickly chased down the two leaders. As predicted, Jimmy shot off the front, but nobody went with him. I had Patrick Vernay riding a few meters behind me, so I knew that if I stayed with him throughout the bike, he and I would be able to push each other through the run.
The ride was pretty uneventful, and I was feeling good. I didn’t think the pace was too difficult, and we always had Jimmy about 3 to 4 minutes ahead of us, but knowing that Jimmy had some issues with his Achilles, I felt it was safer to leave him on his own, and stay as close to Patrick as I could. There were about five or six guys that were riding along with me and Patrick, but it was mostly the two of us that were setting the pace, and the rest of the boys were just hanging off the back of us.
When we made it into T2, I was one of the first into the transition area, and I ran by Jimmy’s bike which was already racked. At that stage I did not know how much of a lead he had, but I made a quick transition and got out onto the run ahead of the rest of the guys in my group. I had only gone about a kilometer before I was joined by Matty White, and Patrick. I knew it was inevitable that they were going to join me, and I was hoping that we could settle into a nice rhythm to set up a good marathon. However, they had other plans, and the pace quickly grew, until I looked down at my Garmin watch, and saw that we were running at a three-minute/kilometer. That is way too fast for a marathon, but I tried to hang on for as long as I could.
Even though I felt strong on the ride, the nausea that I had just after the swim, was coming back to haunt me. At first, I only gave them a few meters, but then I really started feeling sick, and I had no strength. They pulled away from me pretty quickly, so I tried to ease into a pace that I was more comfortable with. Unfortunately, the pace that I was most comfortable with, was walking… and at this stage I only had 37 km to go. So things weren’t looking too good. I don’t think I need to write much more regarding my run/walk. I strolled the marathon in 4:07, where I was hoping to come in somewhere closer to 2:45-ish.
I was amazed with the encouragement that I was getting from the crowds, as well as the other age group competitors who could see I was struggling in the conditions.  So all-in-all I am happy that I finished the race, but still disappointed with my result.  I’ve taken a two week break, and am now training for Port of Tauranga Half Ironman in New Zealand on January 9th (Saturday race…).  I’ll keep you all posted with that as we get closer.

Yesterday, I did my last Half Ironman race for 2009. Only one race left, and that’s the big one Ironman Western Australia…

With only three weeks until Ironman Western Australia, I thought it was good to do a final hit out the Campbell’s Half Ironman in Shepparton Victoria. This race will always be one that I tried to squeeze into my schedule, because it is the place where I did my first Half Ironman years ago. I won this race in 2007, but was unable to go back to defend my title in 2008, due to my preparation/recovery in the lead up to Busselton last year.

It was a busy weekend for triathlon around the world with the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater Florida on Saturday, then the Campbell’s Half Ironman, and the Compressport Long Course Championship in Foster, NSW. I’m glad that I chose the racing Victoria, because several other guys racing here, will also be facing me in Busselton, so it will be a good gauge to see how my training is going.

After racing in Port Macquarie two weeks ago, I knew that Jemani Francis would be one of the early ones out of the swim, but I wasn’t sure how the rest of the guys training has been going. As it turned out, there was a group of four that exited ahead of me, but I was only down by about 20 seconds. I came out of the water with Matty White, and I saw Jimmy Johnsen in the group ahead of me. Jimmy is an incredible cyclist, and a very respectable runner, so I knew that I was in with a chance if I could stay with those boys.

I was able to make up the slight deficit, to keep Jimmy in my sights, but he was riding like a madman. The course is dead flat, but when I looked down and saw we were maintaining 50 km an hour, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sustain that for the entire race, so I chose to let him ride away, in hopes that I’d have fresher legs on the run.

Jimmy had company with Michael Cupitt, and they were just out there to hammer it on the course. I felt we were riding pretty good, and I was riding with my mate Nathan Stewart, and Matty White, but we also had swallowed up Jemani, as well as having Ollie Whistler and Richard Thompson for the duration of the ride.

When I arrived into T2, I was surprised to find out that Jimmy and Michael’s lead was 4:59 at the start of my run. I have raced against Jimmy many times, and I can typically outrun him, but giving up five minutes is too much over a half marathon course. My goal was to carve away as much time as possible, so I set out with a cracking pace. After all, this race was meant to be a hit out for Busselton, so I needed to test my body to see what it was capable of.

By the time I completed the first 7 km loop, I was only 5 seconds behind Michael, but I was told that Jimmy was still 3:15 ahead. The course is quite open, so you can see across the lake, to see who is chasing you down. I felt my second lap went okay, however, I was told after 14 km that Jimmy’s split was still 2:59, so with only 7 km left I knew that Jimmy and I were running at close to the same speed. I picked up my pace, to see how well I could finish, and I ended up placing second to Jimmy, and only 43 seconds back.

I was really pleased with my run split, running a 1:14:08 Half Marathon, and posting a 3:52:29 for the Half Ironman. This is my third Half Ironman that I have done in the last six weeks, and each time I have been able to post the fastest run time, and my margin has been 4 to 4 1/2 minutes to the second fastest run of the day at each race.

So now I have two weeks of hard training, before tapering for Busselton Ironman Western Australia on December 5th. This race will be covered on Ironmanlive, so I hope you all have the time to log on and see how I progress on the day.

Cheers, Tim

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Well it’s my fourth race since my less-than-ideal performance at Roth.  In August I went into the Capricorn Half Ironman in Yeppoon Queensland ill-prepared, I surprised myself with a second place finish.  That was a good confidence booster for not having done any real training for the 5 weeks prior to the event.  I then went up to Port Douglas and won the Long Distance Triathlon up there for my second year in a row.

I came back from that race with some focus, and started to put in some good training sessions, which got me another second place finish in the Gold Coast Half Ironman on October 4^th.  I was a little disappointed that I let such a large gap form with Clayton Fettell on the Gold Coast, but he just put together the perfect race, with an awesome swim/bike combination.

I knew I was going to up against some good cyclist in the Scody Half Ironman here in Port Macquarie, so I had to be aware of the time gaps. So on race morning, I was feeling pretty good, and I was getting a lot of good feedback from the local crowd. I love racing, but racing in Port Macquarie gives me that added buzz.

I was figuring that Cam Watt and Boyd Conrick were going to be the early leaders out of the swim. But I knew with cyclists like Bryan Fuller, and Adam Holborow racing, it would be likely that their lead would get taken back in the bike. I just wanted to be in a position to keep pace with those boys. But as it turned out, Boyd didn’t have the swim I expected, and a relative newcomer named Jamani Francis came out of the water with just over a minute lead over my pack. I still felt that I was in a good position, because I had Joshua Rix, Adam, and Bryan Fuller in there with me, as well as the new young gun, Mitch Robbins and a few other boys.

I had a good transition, and I was hoping that I could keep with that group for the first few kilometers as we rolled through town. We had only gone about a kilometer into the ride, and Adam went off the front as we rolled through the center of town. Just as we started the slight rise up Clarence street, when Brian attacked. I was still struggling to find my legs after the swim, and I wasn’t able to go with him. By the time I reached the top of Clarence Street, I could see Adam and Brian were together a few hundred meters up the road.

I knew that they would be focused on trying to catch Cam and Jamani, and I was hoping that the group that I was riding with, we’re going to work with me in not letting the gap blowout to the race leaders. When we passed the boys on their way back from the first turnaround, I could see that they had opened up a gap of a few minutes. There were a few guys riding with me that weren’t willing to do any work, and maintaining the pace, so I had to drive the group for the majority of the race. Although I was happy to see Mitch Robbins up there in the front with me, and having a go.  Mitch, being a local Port Macquarian, and racing in his first major event in the open category was pretty cool to witness. We were both getting huge cheers from the crowds as we passed through the course.

I think we did a pretty good job of maintaining the pace, because by the time we made it into the transition area after the bike leg I was told that Brian and Adam were just under four minutes ahead of us on the run course. I knew that if I was going to have a good day, it would be my run that would make the difference in this race. I quickly went to work of trying to chase down the boys. With the new three lap run course, it was easy to see if I was carving any time into their lead. I saw them for the first time about three quarters of the way through the first lap, and I knew I had already ran some time into that four minute lead. By the time I completed the first lap, I had already run down Adam, and I had Brian about 45 seconds up the road from me.

I was running a little too hard, and I could feel the pace taking its toll on me, but the crowds were spurring me on, so I maintain my pace until I passed Brian to take the lead. As I passed him, I felt that he didn’t have enough left in the tank, to respond to my attack, so I surged ahead, and I immediately felt much more comfortable with my run. I was only halfway through the run leg, but I was able to relax a little bit, and focus on my turnover. I had a nice smooth rhythm and it felt great, so I was able to appreciate the crowds, and I think I even smiled a few times. On the three lap course, I could see that I was running away from the other boys, but I could see my good mate Mitch making his way through the field. Adam struggled a bit on the run, but once he found his rhythm he was able to hang in there for fifth place. Mitch ran his way into second, so it was incredible for Port Macquarie to have the winner, second place, and Adam rounding out the top five. I ended up posting the fastest run of the day with a 1:15:30, which was four minutes faster than the second fastest run of the day.

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