Accidents…

07 Feb Accidents…

When something as unfortunate as an accident occurs mid race season, it can be difficult to bounce back to training and racing. We caught up with athlete Tim Beasant who recently raced IM 70.3 Tuaranga after almost a year out.

“In early January I raced 70.3 Tuaranga New Zealand which was my first competitive effort since March. Last year’s plan was to race a PB in July at IM Vitoria. Unfortunately, my plans were ruined at the end of April in an accident which resulted in a break to my upper tibia, ruptured ACL, MCL, strained PCL and torn meniscus.”

“Following surgery where 3 bolts were inserted in my knee, I spent the rest of 2019 in rehab and trying to resume swim, bike and run. Fortunately, with the support of a fabulous surgeon at Mt Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, a focused program of physio with UFIT Singapore, a very specific and managed recovery training program from Chris and then subsequently an S&C course from Pedal Strength, I ended the year with swim and bike essentially back towards normal and run around 60%. Chris was brilliant in designing the program to get me back safely and he coordinated closely with my local physio. I was absolutely obsessive about getting fit and strong again and so hit every session prescribed by my physio in the gym and then with Chris and Pete. You can count on one hand how many sessions in my program I did not complete!”

“Race prep was also less than textbook because of a full relocation for the family from Singapore to New Zealand in December followed by a 4 week long holiday where I Christmassed very well(!!), worked on my run but had no access to a bike or swim consistently. However, having had a really solid 10 weeks of training into December with Chris, I clearly was able to hold a lot of form to the start line at Tuaranga.”

“The goal was to shave a couple of minutes off my PB and go sub 5 hours for 70.3, to try and create a platform for some solid racing this year when my prep will be more orthodox. We were pretty confident pre Christmas that the bike and swim were more than there (assuming I didn’t eat 14,000 mince pies) but the run was still in its early stages with an appropriately conservative approach from Chris on this discipline. “

“On race day, the swim didn’t go brilliantly in that it was a mass start and I got caught in the washing machine which made me really uncomfortable and took a long time to find any kind of rhythm. Learning here for my next race is to do more open water swimming and go a bit more conservatively for the first minute or so to find calmer water.”

“I nailed Chris’ target number for power on the bike on a really windy day, so actually went a little bit slower than expectations for that effort. Given our uncertainty with my run and the fact that I hadn’t exceeded 11KM in run training in 9 months, the plan was to burn more matches on the bike than would be normal. Looking at the power then my average speed, Chris has given me some choice feedback regarding working on my aero position which is currently a big focus. Nonetheless, I did end up with the second fastest bike split in the age group.”

“Part of the run had 2/3km undulating, off road gravel sections around Mount Maunganui. The first 8km of the run far exceeded expectations with an above expectations pace, controlled heart rate and the knee feeling really good. But that tough section elevated my heart rate and the last 10km was a case of holding on. I focused on trying to hold a pace that would bring me in sub 5hrs with a little to spare and so I was delighted with the 4:57 which brought me 17th in the age group.”

“Overall, versus the competition, my swim was a little below par, bike was well above par and the run was down there.”

“Going forward, the goal is to have a crack at 70.3 World’s qualification at Taupo 70.3 in March. Focus is working on strength and conditioning with Pete to improve my run strength, and then on all 3 disciplines with Chris. Finding consistency on the swim, building on the bike and making a few leases with the run.”

“We expect that the competition will be strong in Taupo given that Worlds are also in Taupo in Nov, but failing there will see me have another crack in Cairns in June.”

“Big thanks to Chris and Pete for their help over the last 10 months to get me out of a bit of a hole with the injury!”