Matty White

One More To Go!

New Hampshire again and that means more rain and grey skies, I raced here earlier in the year at the Mooseman 70.3 where I had a great race to finish 3rd and decided to venture east again for the Timberman 70.3 which is held about 60 miles from Boston in around the same area as Mooseman. I travelled with my friend Josh Rix and the trip was not without drama, crashing our hire car within the car park lot but that is another story altogether. So we started our trip not quite to our expectations, but we were still positive as we were apparently staying at a “resort” near the race. After missing the turn off we managed to find our resort and much to our amusement it turned out to be a trailer park with resort a resort price tag especially for the city folk! Our cabin was smaller than a caravan and for the resort price tag we were a little disappointed to say the least.

The race field was stacked with great names like Potts fresh of his win at Boulder 70.3 and in devastating form, Gambles who was off a win in Lake Stevens 70.3 the week before, Raynard Tissink, TJ Tollakson, World Long Distance Runner up Tim O Donnell, Richard Allen, Josh Rix and myself. Not to mention Chrissie Wellington where I wouldn’t be unjustified as naming here as a legit contender in any mens field overall, so all the talk amongst the pro athletes was not getting “chicked” especially with Chrissie just coming off an 8.19 ironman win in Germany with a 2.48 marathon.

The race started fast with noted swimmers Potts and O’Donnell clearing early leaving a 2nd pack containing the rest of the noted athletes in their wake. Personally I have been swimming the best of my career lately and was confident of being comfortable in the pack, but in saying that I have had a huge week training as I am preparing for REV 3 ironman in 3 weeks, with 150km running week under my belt this week and a long 250km ride the Wed before I guess something had to give and I really struggled in the swim, I came out with the 2nd pack with Tissink, Rix, Gambles and Tollakson but I was on the rivet the whole way, but once on land I found my legs and hit the hilly bike course hard.

Potts was 2.30min up the road and TO (O’Donnell) was 1 min up the road, we reeled in TO quite quickly leaving Potts out in front. The bike leg was another fast one with Tissink driving it with a bit of help from Rix and myself. I could see TO and Gambles biding their time and on a few occasions a large gap would open up indicating they might be struggling, but they hung tough and stayed in contact. At about the 70 km mark Tissink attacked and quickly rode out of sight eventually putting a quick 2 minutes on the chasers, I broke away at the end and gained a quick 30 seconds on Gambles and TO and was feeling good.

On the run I decided to run my own race and concentrate on the back half of the race. TO, Gambles and Allen came storming passed me at 2 miles and I hung tight. At about 6 miles I had to make a quick toilet stop as I was having stomach trouble, dropping to 7th place on the road. After my break I felt fantastic and really put the hammer down on the 2nd lap eventually grabbing 5th spot and the last paycheck behind Gambles in 4th, TO in 3rd, Tissink had a great race to get 2nd and Potts who I think is a legitimate Kona contender took another freakish win.

On a personal note I just scraped under 4 hours on a tough hilly bike and run course which was satisfying and to get in the money is always good! This was my 5th top five performance this season in five 70.3 events with a 2nd, two 3rds a 4th and now a 5th. I just need a win to complete the sequence, bit that is not as easy as it sounds especially when there are at least a few World Champions in every field over here. I have one more race and that is the REV 3 ironman on Sept 12th and the signs are good with the legs feeling great and the training volume picking up. I am really happy with my season over here so far as I had aimed to place top 5 in most of my races, a lot of people thought that was unrealistic considering that I work full time but am happy to prove people wrong and hopefully give some age groupers some inspiration in that you don’t have to be a full time pro to achieve your goals whatever they may be and whatever level you race at.

I must give a big shout out for my Boulder room mate Tim Berkel who won Challenge Copenhagen last week in a huge effort, Tim has had a great season so far and our mantlepiece in Boulder is running out of trophy room! Also congrats to everyone who raced Yeppoon last weekend, well done Tiff and Stef from the Oz Tri magazine and Tri mulit sport for practising what they preach especially Tiff who cranked out her first half ironman, a huge effort on a tough course in the heat coming from a Melbourne winter and everyone else who raced, I am sure to be there next year. Anyone else looking for a hot half ironman to do, go up to Port Douglas for their annual race, its great Hawaii prep as it starts at 11am! Plus there is nothing better in a half ironman than running along the beach at Port Douglas jumping over backpackers in bikinis! Speak to Guy Bisley from the Tri club and tell him I sent you, he is sure to look after you as he is the “man” in Port.
Thanks again for the great support from back home and will update again soon for my prep for REV 3, only one more to go then its HOLIDAY TIME!

Matty

Ps here are some great photos courtesy of my mate Sean (Wattie) Watkins! enjoy

On the Hilly Run Course

Dismounting into T2

Getting focused for my last 70.3 race this US season

Boulder 70.3 Race Report – Into Thin Air!

I found myself on the start line of the Boulder 70.3 race, backing up after a 3rd place at Steelhead 70.3 only 7 days before and was thinking to myself abouyt what effects the thin air and lack of O2 will effect my race. Especially when there is a gun field at the start line. Potts, Betterfield, Hackett, Deboom, Cunningham etc were all up here in the high mountains for this race so it was going to be an uphill battle for a top 5, in saying that I was still confident that if I had recovered well I could pull something out of the hat, but so far this season with 5 half ironman races and an ironman under my belt I really wasn’t sure. Hey the race was in my backyard and was not costing me anything so why not!

My swimming has been going great recently and I felt comfortable after a great start, I came out in equal 4th place with Ambrose, Deboom, Hadley, Butterfield and Rix we were about 3 minutes down on Potts and a minute on Hackett. The riding up here in the mountains is fast as the air is so thin so you can really slice through it, so we set about catching the guys up front. 2 hours and 4 minutes later we exited the bike with my legs screaming and lungs burning. That was my fastest time ever for the 90km and exited the bike with a group of athletes with a minute deficit to Potts and Hackett up the road.

The run started out ok for me as I ran with Richie, Ambrose and Rix in equal 4th spot with Butterfield smoking the course up in front. Tyler was having a great day as I knew he would and he is one to watch at kona this year for sure. I really started to feel the effects of last week and started to suffer between miles 7 to 9. I have lost a bit of legspeed since ironman and the racing schedule was catching up with me. I managed to come good in the last 4 miles and feel great which is a good sign as I have an ironman coming up in mid Sept. I managed to grab 7th place just behind Deboom in a time of 3.56 which is pretty amazing as usually a time like that would seal you a top 3 in most races over here, the bike was fast and it was my 3rd time under 2.08 for the bike ride I my last 3 half ironman races. The bike rides are getting quicker and quicker over here in the US which suits me just fine.

For me now it’s a matter of complete recovery for a few days then ironman prep start for REV 3 on Sept 12. The last 4 weeks have all been about easy light training and racing so am looking forward to getting some long miles in. I am racing Timberman 70.3 on 22nd August which will be fun. Also a big shout out to my roommate Tim Berkel who is racing Challenge Copenhagen ironman next weekend along with Adam Holbrrow and Tim (big letters) Reed.

I will update again soon, thanks for all the messages
Matty

Photo Courtesy of Paul Phillips / Competitive Image.

Steelhead 70.3 courtesy of Sean Wattie Watkins

Homeless in Chicago – Steelhead 70.3 report

Hey folks,
Another day another half ironman 70.3 completed and more importantly another podium! I decided to race Steelhead 70.3 while I was in Breckenridge last week, as I wasn’t feeling too bad and I felt that the ironman fatigue was starting to leave my body, plus getting a 2nd place at Racine 70.3 the week before boosted my confidence a little. I also managed to convince Josh Rix to join me on this trip which was great as I hate travelling alone.
Race day was on a Saturday which is always good as it means you can celebrate on Saturday night, especially given the fact that we were staying in Chicago so we were pretty amped to make the most of the weekend. The race is in the state of Michigan at Benton Harbor which is a 2hr drive from Chicago, and we passed through 3 different time zones to get there. The course layout was much the same as Racine 70.3 with a point to point swim, then a 1 lap 90km bike and a 2 lap run. Race morning was not the most ideal conditions you could imagine as it poured down while we were setting up our bikes in transition, add to that there was no lighting in transition it so made for an interesting start to the day.

There was a decent field for this race with internationals such as Graham o Grady, Will Smith, James Cotter and Michael Lovato. Add to that a few Australians such as Rix, Holborrow, Shortis and myself it shaped up to be an interesting race. I was quite confident with my swimming and managed to lead out to the first buoy before noted swimmers O Grady and Cotter moved up beside me, I managed to stay with them for half the swim until I dropped off and was caught by the 2nd group which contained Rix and Holborrow and a few other US guys. We were about a minute down on the lead 3 of cotter, Smith and O Grady which was not too bad as I knew I was riding well enough to bridge that gap.
I managed to get away from our swim group with Rix, who was motoring and I made contact with the lead 3 at the 15 mile mark of the ride which was satisfying. The main front guys all stayed together throughout the remainder of the bike and with O Grady puncturing and Smith getting a penalty I knew I had a good chance of a solid podium, that was until I got a penalty with 1 mile to go for urinating on my bike ( Yes it can happen over here) luckily for me the penalty was a yellow card which meant I just run into the penalty tent sign my name and then keep going so I lost about 20 seconds, I managed to get that back in transition and hit the run in 2nd about 10m behind Cotter.
I took out the run pretty hard and could not shake Cotter who was running well, we ran together for about 5 miles before my stomach started to give me some grief, I had to back off the pace for a while, then Rix passed me who was having the race of his life, after a quick toilet stop I manage to feel better again and hold Rix to about 40 seconds and finish 3rd in 3.55 with Cotter winning in 3.53. I was really happy with my race as I certainly didn’t expect to be this high on the podium only 4 weeks after ironman. It was also good to nail a 2.08 bike split. After the race Josh and I had to pack our bikes and hit the road to Chicago, which I was pretty keen to check out and it didn’t disappoint. As we drove in to our hotel they were shooting Transformers 3 right outside on the main street, it looked like a world war had broken out and people were everywhere with flames and upturned cars.
Due to a few online booking problems we didn’t have a reservation at the hotel so we had to find elsewhere. We drove around for an hour, and made about 30 phone calls meaning that the whole of Chicago was booked up for Saturday night! This left us with no option but to make the call to have an all nighter, I liked this idea as Chicago was crazy busy and the atmosphere was awesome, so we parked the car in a valet park, got changed in an old toilet (check the photo) just like homeless people and bearing in mind we had not had a shower after the race and headed out on the town. We managed to stay out until 4am which was epic then drove to the airport and check in before our flight. As I am writing this I am a shell of a man after a half ironman, no shower and hangover and no sleep, but it was worth it and we had a blast. I wouldn’t recommend doing this for recovery though, but when your in a big city and have a good race on a Saturday night you have to make the most of it.
I definitely feel the season is taking its toll especially with the doing the ironman in late June but I am hanging in there. So far this season in my 70.3 races I have 3 top 3 places and my worst race is 4th so am really happy.
Next up for me is Boulder 70.3 which means I am just recovering until next weekend. I am currently getting looked after by Café Of Life massage and Chiro in Boulder which has been essential for my recovery.
Hope everyone is training well and having a blast and I will check in again soon.

Thanks
Matty