“I suffered big time in the marathon with heat and stomach problems but managed to stay strong and hold onto second place,” Van Berkel said. “And with that I was able to pick up my Ironman World Championship slot for 2021.”

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/global/news/van-berkel-lands-podium-at-ironman-cairns/25599

Pro triathlete Tim Van Berkel typically has a busy schedule, traveling around the globe to train for and race Ironman events all year long. With the world on lockdown due to COVID-19, the Australian has been finding new ways to stay motivated, fit and ready to go whenever racing resumes. We caught up with Tim at his home in New South Wales to talk about how he’s been spending his time.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/nz/mixing-it-up

Modex is a big part in my daily dietary regime. I use it daily and also when racing. I’m one of those people who can get sick pretty easily as I’m always pushing my body beyond its limits, so without supplements like modex I feel my body wouldn’t feel as good as it does each day. 

https://www.modexnatural.com/blogs/modex-blog/tim-berkel

Well, I came in fourth. That pisses me off. I’m a pro triathlete. In larger regional championships, getting on the podium matters. It’s how I feed my son. It’s too bad there aren’t very many of those championships.

Competing with the Best Athletes is a Great Motivator

The field was red hot in The Woodlands. Lots of really amazing athletes. That’s how regional championships are. You go there to race against the best. It’s very motivating, and I seem to race better in those conditions.

The Swim: Freezing Cold but Easy

The swim was a little easier than I expected in Texas, but it was freezing. I trained in Boulder, which is about 1.5km above sea level, and the mountains nearby are much higher than that. Training with far less oxygen than you’re used to is the way to do it. When you get to a race at a lower altitude, it’s easy. Freezing your cajones off doesn’t help, though, but everyone else was freezing with me. After the swim, the weather got hot. I wished the sun would hurry up and heat things up a little earlier.

I was in the front pack during the swim, maybe third or fourth. There was no current, and that helped make the swim pretty simple. There was one challenge other than the cold.

Suit Problems Out of the Swim, Then a Great Ride

The bike course wasn’t very exciting. It was just a highway. Going into it, I was having problems getting my suit off properly. It was frustrating after being one of the first out of the swim. Instead of starting with the front pack, I started with the guys in the back.

The chase was on during the first 20 minutes of the ride. I was doing no less than 300 watts during that time. The pace really picked up in the last 50km. I think I was in fourth then.

Smooth Run Until the Last 3km

I think I was one of the first in the run. The beginning felt good. Matt Hanson and Ivan Tutukin were there with me. Then they picked up the pace and sped ahead of me. I needed to pace myself, so they left me behind. They won gold and silver in the end.

During the last 3km, I ran a lot with Will Clarke and Brent McMahon. It was a pretty smooth run until then. Will ended up with bronze, about 1:40 ahead of me. I’m still happy with the run. It was one of my best.

See You in Cairns

Last week, I was wondering whether to do Ironman’s Asia-Pacific Partnership race in Cairns this year, and I’m definitely going to. Training for that will begin really soon, once I get home from Boulder.

Images by Talbot Cox.

Hawaii’s the big one. It’s all about the Ironman World Championship in Kona this year, however, right now I’m focusing on the podium in Texas this weekend. I’m definitely not going there to blow it. If Texas goes well, I might be willing to miss Ironman Cairns in Australia and focus on building up for Hawaii.

My Current Rocky Mountain Headquarters

Training here in Boulder has always been great for me – I’m really dialled in here. Boulder’s on the edge of the Rocky Mountain foothills, where the plains end, so the mountains are nearby. There are great places to ride, run, and swim. It seems like I get a lot of benefits from the altitude.

Training has been sporadic the past couple of weeks, but I got some solid work done – some solid blocks and long rides. It’s a mixture of training and rest. I put in a little over 20 hours last week. Nothing too intense. The day normally starts with changing nappies and feeding Hendrix, my baby. Then comes some training.

2018 is All About Slowly Building Up Toward Kona

In general, this year hasn’t been very intense either. I’ve been keeping up a little bit of physical intensity and taking rests when needed.

After December’s Ironman Western Australia, I rested for a while. After taking two solid weeks off, I did some casual swims and rides for the rest of December.

Structured training began in early January. I put in 20 – 25 hours per week leading up to the big Husky Festival in Huskisson, New South Wales. That was in February, and it was the first race of the year. That was just a training race, with no real goal other than to keep the body moving.

The big challenge before Husky was a cough. It just kept getting worse and worse as the race approached. Luckily, there was no pressure with that race. After some rest, the cough got a little better. I decided to make the trip, and at least do a meet and greet with Shimano, a sponsor.

The coughing continued during training, the day before the race. I was still coughing during the race. Instead of making it worse, and finishing the race, I just pulled the pin early. The second half of February, just after Huskisson, was rest and antibiotics.

Two Medals in the Philippines & Taiwan

Even with some setbacks, the slow build up served me well for the double in Taiwan and Davao, Philippines. They were Ironman 70.3’s on the 18th and 25th of March. Some sponsors, Giant being one of them, wanted me to do those, and I made the podium in both.

My power metre didn’t work in Davao, but I knew during the bike leg that I’d do well. It was time to go for it, go for the win. The legs were working much better than in Taiwan a week earlier. My best mate, Tim Reed, and I led the run after passing Kyle Buckingham from South Africa. Then came the Mexican guy in the second half, Mauricio Mendez. He took the win, but I was very happy with 3rd place.

Those two races weren’t the biggest priority of the year, but I still wanted to do well in those. They were also good for training. I like to do a lot of racing instead of just doing long training blocks, mixing it up a bit. It seems to work better that way.

More Asian Adventures

The Asia trip was fun in a few ways. I did a Q and A at one of Giant’s concept stores. There were 30 or 40 people asking questions and snapping photos. Giant later gave me a tour of a manufacturing plant and their Taiwan headquarters. I was able to learn how our bikes are made.

I saw where they weighed the carbon, where they put it in the mould, and where they painted them, assembled them, and put the stickers on them. The whole process.

The Momentum Continues This Weekend

I’ll be heading from Colorado to Texas on Wednesday, and then back to Colorado on Sunday. I’ll probably see some of you there, and some of you in Kona this October. In between the two, I’ll be building the momentum toward Kona on most days, after my son’s breakfast.

Kona: Not a bad, but not a great result

Preparation in Australia was a welcome change

I did my preparation for Kona at home this year in Australia because I wanted to help out and hang with my new son. While this was a definite plus, it also meant my recovery wasn’t quite what I’m used to. The support I had at home from Bel and my family was amazing though, so I’m really pleased with my decision to prepare at home.

Swim didn’t quite go to plan

The swim was the key for me, I really needed that, but I missed the front pack this year. That’s never happened for me in Kona and I was really disappointed with the way I swam. Unfortunately, it pretty much broke my race. From there, the bike was OK and the run was OK most of the way. Once I came out of the Energy Lab though, I kind of fell apart.

What would I do differently next year?

It was really, really hot this year at Kona, and even though I’d prepared in Australia I wasn’t quite ready for the temperatures. Next year I’m going to do a heat camp. Last year I used a sauna in the lead up to Kona and I didn’t feel the heat at all in the race.

Thailand 70.3 and second place

I worked on my swimming non-stop after Kona, and it worked for me in Thailand. I had a great swim and because I’d rested a bit after Kona I felt fresh and ready. I exited the water just one second behind the leaders and got stuck into the bike.

As you may know, some of the bike course in Asia is pretty dodgy, and after a few stacks in the past on these courses I am often a bit cautious. This race was the same, and I wasn’t willing to take risks in case of injury. I lost contact with Markus Rolli who German flew by me on the bike.

I rode as hard as I could safely ride, and worked well with Brazilian Fernando Toldi who ended up placing third. Luckily we had more cloud cover than last year, so it wasn’t too crazy hot, which enabled me to finish the run in 1:13 which I was happy with.

In total, I finished Thailand 70.3 in second place in 3:52:49.

Solid Third-Place at Ironman Western Australia

After Kona and Thailand, I was so relaxed going into Busso. It was so nice to race with no expectations. I’d been working on my swim, so I was surprised when they cancelled the swim because of a shark sighting. But as I say, since I was relaxed, I was OK with it and got straight into the unique start. We all started on the beach, 20 seconds apart, and had to run into T1 to start the bike course.

My goal was to catch Luke Bell and Callum Millward on the bike, and I hung out with them for a while during the race, until Kiwi Torrenzo Bozzone flew by. I decided to go with him, and we went through the first 90kms at 305 watts which I don’t even do in a 70.3! The pace was on. I got off the bike in 4th position, just 3 minutes down.

In the run, I was doing really well up until the 14km mark when the wheels fell off. I knew I just had to back off. At 21kms this was getting really tough and I then lost the lead, and Dougal and Bozzone passed me. My goal was to finish on the podium, so I was happy to hold onto my third place finish, with a time of 07:27:08.

Thank you so much for all your support this year, whether you’re a fan, stumbled upon this page, or you’re a keen young triathlete, I’m so grateful to have you as a reader of my blog.

Have a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Before I get to that though, here’s what I was up to leading into the race.

The Prep: Vietnam and training in Boulder

I did exactly what I did last year, I raced in Vietnam except this year I won. Then I went to Boulder to knuckle down to train for a solid five weeks. The trip from Vietnam to Boulder is a huge trip and it knocked me around a bit. It took me a few weeks to get settled but after two solid weeks of training I was fine.

I love training in Boulder because I have nothing to do except train and rest. I have no distractions. Boulder is easy too, I live just one kilometer from a great squad. It’s just so easy to get out the door and get working.

The altitude in Boulder works well for me. I was doing better than last year; my data and my numbers were better.

A niggly rib/lat/shoulder was annoying my swim prep

Two weeks before the race I was barely swimming because I had a really annoying niggle in my side. The doctors and physio aren’t sure if it’s a stress fracture in my rib, or a tear of my lats (latissimus dorsi) but I’m working on getting it fixed now. I was lucky the swim pace on the day wasn’t red hot….but more about that in a sec.

So race week was pretty relaxed. I’d flown out of Boulder on Tuesday night, and landed in Australia on the Thursday morning and thankfully the team at Flight Centre (Active Travel) made the trip super easy and smooth for me – I slept around seven hours. I was feeling pretty good and settled back into the time zone at home easily.

I met up with my partner Belinda in Brisbane and we flew up to Cairns together It was her 30th birthday on the Friday, so we spent some time together which was nice.

Race day – the swim

It was actually a pretty cruisy swim and I was glad to be in the front pack despite my niggly shoulder/rib. The chase group I was in was 2.5 minutes behind Amberger and Clayton Fettell, and I was either 6th or 7th out of the water.

Race day – the bike

I rode 11 minutes quicker than last year which was awesome. I stayed up near the front and did a lot of the workload. Gambles and Bowstead did a lot of the work too, and Braden Currie did some at the front.

Cam Wurf, he’s quick. I tried to go with him at the start. I was doing 350 watts trying to keep up with him, but I just couldn’t do it. It was only 20km in and I just couldn’t keep it up. I remembered there was a lot more race to come!

Race day – the run

I was third off the bike; Amberger was in first and Wurf was next. I was ten minutes down though, but that was definitely better than last year when I was 14 minutes down.

I felt really good when I started the run. I felt like I was in control. Near the start Dellow and Braden caught me and they were going to fast, running 3:35. I went with them for a while but at the 7km mark I knew the pace was just too quick so I let them go. I kept them within striking range though.

From 10kms to 30kms I powered on and ended up catching Dellow and Braden and running them down. I was doing well, when all of a sudden at the 32kms mark…well…shit hit the fan….literally. I felt really sick and, yeah you can guess the rest. I stopped off and went to the portoloo and I started running again and I was feeling OK.

By about the 33km mark though I hit a huge wall. I went from running 4 min/km to 4:45 min/km. I honestly thought my day was done. I felt really sick; I just had nothing left in me. Braden passed me, then Gambles passed me. Man, he ran a great race. He was way back at the start and he just stayed at 3:50 min/km and chipped along. He raced a really smart race.

Race day – from nearly dropping out to 4th place finish

When I’d hit that wall, I just felt like I couldn’t get on. I started stressing I would fall out of the top 5 and not make it to Kona.

I was having a huge battle with myself. I was worried I’d have to cram in another big Ironman before Kona, which I knew couldn’t go well. I felt like I was done, then I pulled myself out of that mental black hole and I set a new goal – All I needed was to finish in the top 5. It was about re-establishing a new goal.

After a few more kms, I was back running 4:05 and 4:10, which was reasonable. I just knew I had to keep Dellow at bay, which I did.

Overall, yeah it was definitely not my best placing at Cairns, but it was the best time I’ve ever gotten and I’m proud of myself that I kept going. Yeah I did get caught up going a bit too quick with a few guys when I shouldn’t have, but I had a crack. I learned a valuable lesson, and now it’s done.

I’ve booked my ticket for Kona. The end!

What’s next on my calendar

I’m home for another two weeks, then I’ll go to the States to do another month in Boulder. Then I’ll head to the Philippines and race Cebu, then home because little Berks is due. (my partner Belinda and I are expecting…in case you didn’t know).

After he comes along, then I’ll head to the Sunshine Coast for the 70.3, then back home to do my Kona prep.

Before I get into my recent results though, I want to recap my last eight months, and how I got to being on top of my game again.

Kona 2016 recap

Kona in 2016 wasn’t my best, mostly because of my bike. I was at the front of the race, the front of the Ironman World Champs, but maybe being light made me struggle on the descent. I didn’t get the result I wanted.

After Kona, I slowed down with my training, I was doing a bare minimum of around ten hours a week. I just needed to slow everything down, but I still did some late season races. I was third in Thailand, and 4th in Ballarat.

After Ballarat, I had a good break. I needed it.

I had a great Christmas with my family, then I did Geelong 70.3 in 2017, and considering the field was so strong, I was happy with my result of 7th place. The race was the first for many after the holidays, and the swim, bike and run were all really fast. I was ready to dig my heels in and work hard.

2017 is the path to Cairns and beyond

After Geelong, it was Subic Bay 70.3 in the Philippines, and I probably rode a bit too hard in the heat. I came 6th, which was OK, and it was great experience working hard in the head. After the Philippines I went to Taiwan for Giant. We did a big bike ride and some promo stuff for the brand, it was great. In the swim in Taiwan, I missed the lead group, but the bike was OK and the run was OK, and I came 5th overall. It made me realise I had to work on my swim this year.

By the time Challenge Melbourne came around, I had Kona on my mind. I was training for Ironman, not 70.3. I had two key Ironman training sessions with Dan Plews on Monday and Tuesday, and by the weekend, I just wasn’t quite ready for the shorter distance of Challenge Melbourne. It was cold and rainy and wet, and my swim wasn’t great. I didn’t finish the race, and got a DNF.

Vietnam Victory in 2017

The field in Vietnam was really solid, and there were plenty of top guys as it’s known as a great race. The swim was really fast and Sam Betton started with a cracking pace. I was just behind the lead pack, and stoked with my position as we started the bike.

Luke McKenzie started out the front of the bike, but he didn’t seem his usual self, and I got to the front quickly. Michael Raelert was away and was riding really well with about a two minute lead ahead of me. On the 2nd lap he got a flat tyre. It was a real shame for him because he was riding so well. You always hate to see a great competitor not get through the race due to a mechanical issue.

Amongst the motorbikes and spectators that go along with large scale races in Asia, I stayed at the front and Mike Philips was just behind me. By T2 I had around a 1:46 lead. The transiting was pretty disorganised though, and as I grabbed my gear bag for the run and opened it, I saw it was the wrong one, so I lost my lead while I was trying to find my correct bag. That was a real bummer. The bags were all just kind of thrown together in one pile so it made it pretty tough.

Luckily though, my running was strong, and I was able to stay out in front without pushing myself too crazy hard. The first part of the run was great and I felt so strong, but by the end I was really melting in the heat. It was crazy hot! I was pretty excited to get to the finish line, and see I was the only guy who finished sub-four hours with 3:45:19.

Plews has the plan

Throughout this year though, I’ve been working really hard on my swim. Working with Dan Plews, we look at everything from my diet to physiology of my body and how I train.

Now, i’m really excited for this next block. I’m in the mix now, and am feeling on form. I want to be in the mix at Kona and Cairns. On June 11th, the Asia Pacific Championships are in Cairns, and I’ll be defending my title. I had the fastest run last year, and if I can run the same or a better time, that’d be great.

I’ve just got my eyes on Cairns. Check back in to what happens at Cairns 2017.

Chances are also good that you know that this year’s World Championship in Hawaii didn’t work out quite the way I wanted it to. To be honest, it’s tough to write about this stuff. For what it’s worth though, the most valuable lessons we learn in life are usually the toughest. That’s unfortunate but true. So here’s my reflection on Kona 2016 – the good, the bad and the educational.

Chasing the dream

Everyone needs to have a dream that they’re chasing. A goal that drives them forward, that motivates them. That they think about constantly and which makes hard work and pain worthwhile. For me that dream is Kona.

It was watching the World Championships in Hawaii as a teenager that first got me interested in triathlon. I can remember being in awe of these super-athletes as they tackled the harshest conditions on the planet for a chance at being the best in the world. And I remember thinking, “I want to do that.” And that desire to win a World Championship at Kona has driven me ever since.

In 2014 I made my Kona debut and surprised myself and everyone else by coming in 7th. That was a huge confidence boost for me and a reassurance that I was qualified to compete with the world’s best and take my place on the start line of the toughest race on the globe. In 2015 I went back to Kona wiser, feeling better prepared and keen to take my racing to the next level. I came away disappointed. More than anything, I was beaten by the conditions on the day. The Island won.

My dream to conquer Kona has been my primary motivation in 2016. In my mind, everything has been leading up to that race. There’s no doubt 2016 has been a great year for me in so many ways. I won the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Cairns, Australia. I came a very close second in the IM African Championship in South Africa and I had two top-four finishes in 70.3’s (Vietnam and Subic Bay) along the way. I’ve had a fresh focus and energy and been more fired up than ever this year. I’ve certainly been enjoying racing and training too. As I headed to Boulder, Colorado for altitude training and my World Championship preparation I was in a really good place physically and mentally.

Ten days out

My preparation for Kona was perfect – in my mind it’s the best preparation I have ever done. The Plews (my coach Dr Dan Plews) joined me for the stst two weeks leading up to the race. It was great to have a training partner and someone to push me harder and help me mentally prepare as well.

Ten days out from the race I did my last solid session and that was when I felt the first twinges of pain in my back, hip and hamstrings. If you’ve followed my story, you’ll know that I’ve struggled with these issues (IM Melb 2015) before. I pulled up sore after training and that pain continued right up until the race. Despite getting treatment every second day the problem remained, just sitting in the background.

In that situation, what do you do? When you’re pursuing a dream, but problems appear? As tempting as it is to whine and complain, all you can do is put your head down and give it your best shot, so that’s what I did.

The big day

On race day I lined up at the start feeling that I was as well-prepared as I could possibly be. I had a good swim; in fact it was the fastest I’ve ever done at Kona – 48:57. There were about 10 athletes in the front group and then a small gap to us. There were a lot of serious contenders in my group. I was out of the water in 20th place, but whenever I’m only a minute behind someone like Jan Frodeno, that’s a really good swim for me. Bottom line – I couldn’t have swum any harder.

And that was fine, because we quickly caught the front guys on the bike. The pace at the start of the bike leg was intense, but I felt pretty comfortable. At about 40km I started moving up and then found myself leading the race, which boosted my confidence. The view from the front in a World Championship is pretty good!

However, my back and hip had started hurting as soon as I got onto the bike. I thought perhaps I could ‘ride it out’, but the pain increased as we headed up the hill at Hawi. I was averaging 320w for about 30 minutes, which gives some idea of the intensity of the competition. That’s going over my threshold.

At the turnaround I was in 9th place but as we started the descent I lost contact with the front group. It’s hard, it’s windy and the pace accelerates rapidly. At that stage the rubber band always starts to stretch a bit. The group goes from 26 or 27 guys down to 10. I made the initial cut but then got dropped at about the 116km mark. At that point I struggled to push another pedal straight. I was digging as deep as I could, but with the combination of pain and loss of power I knew I was in big trouble. There was no way that I could get back into the race and I knew my hopes were dashed.

Coming back into town I was feeling very disappointed. For the whole ride my NP (normalised power) was 256w. That was worse than the last year. But it just wasn’t enough and the back/hip pain was intense.

Over the line

When you’re out of the competition and out of the money, it’s very tempting to pull the plug and say enough is enough. But in my mind, you don’t go to Kona unless you intend to finish the race. I completed the race with a good run – 2:53:14, but I felt incredibly disappointed as I finished in 19th place.

What do you do when you work hard to achieve a dream but problems prevent you from succeeding? That’s not just an issue for athletes – that’s an issue for everyone on and off the course. Really, there are only two choices – you either give up your dream or you learn the hard lessons, change your strategy and try again. Once again, I learnt some hard lessons at the World Championships. I need to work harder on my cycling. Refine my body position. I need to focus more on strength and conditioning so that I go into the race in peak physical conditioning.

And my dream? Morale and self-esteem took a bit of a beating in Hawaii this year, but the dream is still burning and it will keep motivating me to give 100%. I’ll go back to Kona, stronger, wiser and more committed. I’ll go back to Kona and challenge the Island once again.