Runners and triathletes had the opportunity to run together with an Ironman World Champion, Tim Reed, in an event which had been organised by Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore and Ironman Asia-Pacific.
A professional Ironman athlete from Byron Bay, Australia, Reed, aged 31, has several accolades to his name, including victories in the recent 2016 Ironman 70.3 Thailand as well as the 2016 Ironman Australia earlier in the year.
Runners had the chance to run with Ironman 70.3 champion Tim Reed.
Clinched victory in Thailand by 16 seconds
In the Thailand race, which had taken place last weekend, Reed had clinched the victory by a mere 16 seconds over Germany’s Michael Raelert.
Reed said, “16 seconds is nothing when it comes to the 70.3. I let him (Raelert) pass me in the early portion of the run and sat back, waiting for him to slow down. It paid off; he slowed down, I surged ahead of him and he tried to get closer but I managed to hold the gap and finished on top.”
Evening 10km run at Marina Bay
During the 10km evening run, which had started at the The Float @ Marina Bay and headed towards the Sports Hub and Tanjong Rhu before returning to the starting point via Marina Barrage and Gardens by the Bay, Reed also took the time to chat to runners along the way.
Reed is in town for the Standard Chartered Marathon
Reed is currently in town to take part in the 21.1km race at Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore this coming Sunday.
Said Reed, “I haven’t run a pure half marathon since I was 19 or 20 years old. Before my triathlon days, I had been excited to be a part of this ‘mass movement of humans towards the finish line’ and after Sunday’s race, I am looking forward to spending a week touring Singapore and seeing this part of the world.”
We ran around the scenic Marina Bay.
His first time in Singapore
This is also Reed’s first time in Singapore, and throughout the 10km run he had been mesmerised by the sheer man made beauty of Singapore’s city skylines, the Gardens by the Bay and the Art-Science Museum.
During his time in Singapore, Reed also hopes to try a few of Singapore’s iconic dishes, including chilli crab, laksa and durians, laughing that his diet would be going completely out of the window in the build up to Sunday’s 21.1km race.
Reed is in off-season mode
But then again at the same time, Reed also reiterates that he isn’t in Singapore to win the race; the Thailand race had officially marked the end of his triathlon season and now, he’s in off-season mode for the next three to five weeks.
To recover from his races, Reed will not go near anywhere near a triathlon training schedule, but he will stay active by engaging in other sports, such as mountain biking, gym work and tennis. A couple of days ago, he also went out on an easy open water swim.
He said, “I plan to focus on hanging out with my family during this time; I will resume structured training again on 3 – 4 January.”
Typical training schedule
Reed’s typical training schedule can be about 20 hours per week, and involves roughly about 15km of swimming, about 300-400km on the bike and anything between 30-100km of running, depending on the focus of each training plan.
A group photo with Tim Reed.
This, he added, is actually a lot less than what many of his competitors are training. But then to make up for the lower mileage, what he does instead, is to do his key workouts at a higher intensity.
But at the same time, he also understands the importance of doing easy sessions at a slower pace, so that the body has time to recover and does not get completely smashed.
Tips for newbie triathletes
Reed also gave a variety of tips to runners and triathletes present, on a variety of topics ranging from training to cramping during races.
For general advice for newbies to triathlons, Reed says, “Consistency over craziness is the best thing. It’s one thing to do drastic training and forget about all other areas of life but that won’t pay off in the end. And success takes time; you need to put in some regular hours over the years to reach your athletic potential; but you should not need to give up your life too.”
Age group triathletes have it harder than professionals
He also shared about how age group triathletes, who have to juggle their hectic work commitments together with training, often have it much harder than professional triathletes – who have the opportunity to purely train, eat and sleep.
As he mentioned that he used to be an age group triathlete before he turned pro, he says that he understands such struggles.
According to Reed, age group triathletes have it harder than the pros.
After the run…
After the run, there was 100PLUS and mineral water waiting for the runners, as well as a lucky draw. I didn’t win the grand prize but at least I still got a cap!
We also got to chat some more with Reed and take some pictures with him after the event.
Overall it had been a fun filled and rather interesting evening.
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