Peter Reid Audio Interview

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Peter Reid Interview Transcript
Interview with Peter Reid � January 19, 2005

«Tim Bourquin»: �Welcome back to www.EnduranceRadio.com. Thanks for joining us again for another interview today. My name is Tim Bourquin.

Well the gentleman we�re going to be interviewing today actually needs no introduction. It�s Peter Reid. He�s the three time Ironman Hawaii champion, and finished second this year in 2004, so we�re going to be talking to him a little bit about Hawaii, but then also about some training camps he�s got coming up next year, his philosophy about training and his role as coach as well.

A couple of things; make sure you check into our audio comment line. You can leave a comment by calling 206-309-RACE, that�s 206-309-7223. Leave us a comment, you may just hear your voice in an upcoming interview that we put it into.

Our Race of the Day is the Muscleman Triathlon. It�s on July 17 th, 2005 in Geneva, New York. It�s a half Ironman, a sprint and a kids� triathlon as well, and you can find out more information about that by clicking on the Race of the Day link below the link to this audio.

So we�re going to be right back to speak with Peter Reid in about 30 seconds.�

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«Tim Bourquin»: �Peter thanks very much for taking time to talk to us today, I appreciate it.�

«Peter Reid»: �Thanks for having me.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Well we�ve gone a few months now past the Hawaii race. My first question for you is how did this race compare to previous years? There were a lot of people that seemed to drop out.�

«Peter Reid»: �Yes, it was definitely the race of attrition this year. Pretty much the race of attrition of the favorites. A lot of the guys that were getting a lot of billing going into the race crumbled, and a lot of people were like, �Ah man, you know, sorry to hear that you placed second.� You know what, if I look at all the guys that were supposed to beat me, I was the only who finished, or finished in the top. I was pretty happy with it went. I made a big mistake. I let Norman go and I let him get too much time on me. He deserved it. He worked it out. He planned it out and he executed perfectly.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Winning that first time, does it almost put more pressure on you for the next year to continue that great performance?�

«Peter Reid»: �I�ve never been able to defend. It seems like every year I�ve either come back the following year to place second, or I have one year where I didn�t finish. I always have trouble with that second year after I win. A lot of it is time commitments. My sponsors have me on the road a lot more. I�m doing a lot more functions. I�m doing a lot appearances. I actually enjoy doing that, but then by the time Hawaii comes I�m a little bit in the hole with my training.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �So you really don�t feel like you can make sure that Hawaii is your peak because you�ve got so many other obligations, that sounds like what you�re saying.�

«Peter Reid»: �It�s kind of hard. Most of my sponsors leave me alone. Actually they all leave me alone for September and October, but August is the most important month. This year there was a lot of personal stuff going on in August and I just didn�t get my training in, and then for Germany I was on the road way too much, but I was like, �You know what, I�ll sacrifice Germany just to keep my sponsors happy.� That�s why I do this. They help me to get ready for Hawaii and I help them get their products out there.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Do you see triathlon continuing to grow and the fact that more and more folks will be able to turn pro and actually make a living at this with the increased prize money and more races?�

«Peter Reid»: �Yes. Its still really top heavy. A few of my friends are definitely just struggling to get by and they�re good triathletes. To earn a good living and it�s tough to say but you need to be in the top ten in Hawaii. If you�re not in the top ten in Hawaii you�re not going to be making a good living, not even a good living, just making a living at the sport.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �What do you think about the coverage that NBC gave it this year? Did you like it?�

«Peter Reid»: �I haven�t watched it yet. I do a couple of these functions where they�ll show the race and then they�ll put it on pause and then I�ll add my comments. So rather than getting burned out by watching it over and over, I kind of save myself for watching that time, plus I don�t really like watching myself race that much, because I end up picking myself apart. I�ll be looking at my race set up or the way I�m running. It�s my off-season right now; I don�t want to be focused on all my things I need to work on.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Are you are able to take a break over the off-season here and refresh for next year?�

«Peter Reid»: �Yes, I just took one. Basically I�m on my first week back, which is very very very light training, low heart rate stuff, something I�m a really big believer in, and I�m just getting going right now.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �You�re got some training camps coming up next year; specifically you�ve got one in Tucson in March. Is it an easy role to switch from being athlete to coach?�

«Peter Reid»: �Yes. I train more with the people than I am a coach. I�m doing it with two other business buddies. They�re coaches, they�re professional coaches. That�s what they do.

I�m not a coach. I know it�s not in me to be a coach, but I like training with people, that�s what I actually put on these camps. We�re not going down there to make a ton of money; we�re just going down there just to cover our costs. We get to escape the Canadian winter, and I get down there to train with some really fun people. There�s a lot of age groupers from all around North America that come. You get to hear their stories and I can train with them. I�m in the water with them in their lanes and I�m doing the bike rides with them. Some days I go with the fast group, some days I go with the slow group, and I do that with the run, just trying to give them as many tips as I can throughout the week. For me it�s something really fun. It�s completely different and you actually get a ton of energy from hanging around these people. That�s kind of what I use it for. I go down there and I see these people and they�re so excited about triathlon, and you get a lot of energy from it.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Well the fact that triathlon is so unique in the fact that you can do this. I mean Peter being one of the heroes of the sport; you can go out and train alongside your hero of the sport. Theres not many other sports where you can really do that.�

«Peter Reid»: �Yes, exactly, and that�s why we put on these camps. People want to do a run with me or a bike with me, you know I�m there. A couple of days we crank it up a little bit and it�s like, �Alright, let�s see what you got. See if you can take me down.� So it�s a kind of neat way of doing it.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Now you�ve got two different separate camps. I want to ask you about how someone should decide which area they would fall into, but we need to take a quick break. We�re going to be right back to speak to Peter Reid.�

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«Tim Bourquin»: �Peter I noticed on the website you�re got a week for the beginner to intermediate, then you�ve got one that�s a little more elevated. How should someone decide which one is appropriate for them?�

«Peter Reid»: �Well the first weeks really about Ironman training, so we�re putting in a lot of miles on the bike and some pretty good miles on the run. That camp is really about if you�re going to do an Ironman, even if it�s your first one or if you�ve done many of them, that�s the week you want to go to. We�ve got all different groups, all different levels, but it�s basically mileage. We�re going to be doing a lot of aerobic miles and watching our heart rates and getting the mileage done. If you want to do an Ironman, or an Ironmans in your future, that�s the camp you want to do.

The following week is more for people doing half Ironmans, short course, thinking about doing Ironman. The volumes a lot less than the week before. We got a lot of comments after last year�s camp. Last year we only had a one week and people were like, �This is great, but it was just a little bit too much,� and so that�s where you kind of focus on the second week.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Talk about your philosophy of using that high volume, lower heart rate like you said you�re doing right now. How does that work for you?�

«Peter Reid»: �Well I�m a big big believer in aerobic training, and if you go above aerobic you�re not teaching your body to burn fat. Ironman, you can only last so long on carbohydrates. You want to really be able to burn all that fat that�s stored in your body, and it takes a really strict regime to stay in that aerobic level. I think some studies have said that if go a minute above that aerobic level a switch in your body happens and you start burning carbohydrates, and even if you go easy the rest of the ride you can�t go back, you have to stick to very very low heart rate. So I do about two months of training, just low heart rate, staying in that aerobic zone, and then about six weeks out from any big race then I start incorporating intervals and I do only three interval workouts per week, one on the bike, one on the run and one on the swim. Everything else is aerobic. I see all these people killing themselves in the training group that I�m here in Victoria with. They�re got red faces all the time, they�re just giving it, you know. I�m always at the back, except for that one day of the week. Yet on race day I�m in the leadpack and they�re in the second pack and they�re like, �How did it happen?�, and I�m like, �Because I learn to train properly�.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �How do you find that balance between staying aerobic but working hard enough that you�re not going over the line? How do you determine that for yourself personally?�

«Peter Reid»: �I�ve worked out with Mark Allen over a couple of years what those aerobic training heart rates. I�m constantly monitoring that. I really don�t need to use a heart rate anymore because I know what perceived effort is. Let�s say I�m running and it feels like a seven out of ten, well I know seven out of ten is pretty much my upper limit of aerobic zone, so on perceived effort I know what that heart rate is. As much as I can I do put a heart rate monitor on to really keep an eye on what those zones are.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �So for someone who�s a lot more experienced, you know your body well enough to know thats happening. For someone else, they probably should absolutely stick to the heart rate monitor.�

«Peter Reid»: �Exactly. You know its taken years. I�ve been doing this for a long time.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Do you use anything else like VO2 max, or any other kind of testing to help gauge your workouts?�

«Peter Reid»: �No, the only testing I do is a max heart rate test on my trainer. I�ll do some timed 400�s in the pool and I�ll do a couple of tests on some bike groups I have, and I�ll gauge what my heart rates and my speeds are. But I don�t do a whole lot of testing. I do some local run races and compare those from year to year. That�s pretty much it. I used to be very anal, very systematic. Now I�m more into balance, just keeping it general and simple from year to year.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Well talk about 2005. Any goals? What do you have specifically ahead?�

«Peter Reid»: �Well my two biggest races for next year are Ironman Germany and obviously the Hawaiian Ironman. The Hawaiian Ironman is why I race from year to year. It�s the one reason. It�s the one thought in my mind. When I�m out there training right now, I�m thinking Hawaii, I�m not thinking Germany. For me it�s what I do well at. Hawaiian Ironmans my thing. I�m good at it, so I focus on it every year. I wish I could be like Chris McCormick or Simon Lessing and win everything, but I�d rather not win everything and do well in Hawaii. Hawaii is everything to me and so that�s what I focus on.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �What was your reaction when Nina Kraft was found to have used the EPO?�

«Peter Reid»: �It was a shock, but it wasn�t that big of a shock. Don�t get me wrong, Nina�s a great person. She�s one of the few female triathletes that I really get along with and I really get along well with her boyfriend. For that part of me I was in shock, but you know you can actually check my webpage. I wrote a journal every day in Kona, and when I ran into her in Kona I was like, �I have never seen Nina this ripped.� She looked scary. I�m like, �No one�s going to beat her,� just by meeting her, and so when I found out afterwards I was kind of like, �Well, you know, the signs were kind of there before the race. She just looked like a killing machine.� It was unbelievable. I remember I was staring at her. I was doing this NBC interview with her and she was in her bathing suit and I was looking at her and going, �Nina looks like a runner now.� I�ve never seen her lean out that much.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Did it enter your mind that that was why?�

«Peter Reid»: �No, no not at all. I remember telling her, �Man, you changed your body. You changed your body. Nina, you�re going to win this year.� She�s like, �Oh, thank you. I don�t know, you know. It all depends on the day.� And I was like, �No, I�ve never seen you look like this. You�re going to win.� And then afterwards you like, �Oh, okay�. I get it now�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Right, it kind of all fit together. Well we�re running out of time, but I want to ask you about the race day itself, because I know for, and its not just about this past Hawaii, but you do all this training, you get ready all year, especially for someone like yourself who is focusing on one event, and yet there�s are lot of variables to come on the day you wake up to determine what happens. How much of that is under your control do you think?�

«Peter Reid»: �A lot of it is. A lot of people say luck is a product of really good training. You look at a race and what you�ve done in training can open up a lot of doors for you. I was not expecting that so many guys would have gone off the front like that. That�s not the way I envisioned the race and that�s not the way I trained, so when that situation developed I wasn�t ready for it. I was ready for an extremely fast marathon and I had the fastest run for the day but I was too far back. I was way too far back off the bike and so you make a decision that�s the way you train, and I made a wrong decision in September on how to train for the race. Next year I think it�s going to go back to exactly the way the race was run this year. Guys are gong to go for it on the bike and see happens on the run, and that�s what it used to be like. When I used to do well in Hawaii in 96, 97, 98 even, that�s the way it was won. You hammered on the bike and whatever you had on the run you did. That�s how I�m going to train this year.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Any changes you�ll make do you think before the race in terms of what you�ll do there?�

«Peter Reid»: �Pretty much knowing that I�ll pretty much stick with the same plan. Go train in Hawaii for three weeks, come back for two weeks and then head back there, but I�ll definitely be putting more focus on my cycling next year.�

«Tim Bourquin»: �Well of course listeners can go to Peter�s site, and we�ll also link to Peter�s camp in Tucson in March. Peter thanks very much for taking the time. I really appreciate it.�

«Peter Reid»: �Thank you, my pleasure.�

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Posted: February 9, 2005