The fine year of Sam Appleton

August 4, 2015

Aussie Sam Appleton started 2015 with a series of great results and he is now in Boulder, CO prepping for the 70.3 World Championships in Austria. He spent some time with Callum Millward to do a Cupcakes with Cal episode, but apart from that fun diversion it is full focus on Zell am See. Appleton recently won 70.3 Vineman.

Slowtwitch: Thanks for your time.

Sam Appleton: Thank you Herbert. I’ve been a long time slowtwitch lurker so it is an honor to be featured!

ST: You have had a superb 2015 so far. Have you wondered if you might wake up and it turns out it was all a dream?

Sam: To be honest I never expected to be in a position in the middle of the year where 2nd would be my ‘worst’ placing. I just take each race as it comes around and make sure I am in the best possible shape to produce a good result. It definitely has given me a lot more exposure, which I am now aware of, and starting to get used to. It’s a nice change of pace!

ST: 70.3 Geelong was your first 2015 race and that is where you were runner-up behind Crowie.

Sam: Yes, Geelong was a fantastic result for me. Going head to head with Craig Alexander, who has been a childhood idol of mine for so many years was a great experience. To be able to push him for most of the race was really satisfying. Craig is a true champion on and off the course and I was humbled by his kind words after the race.

The confidence I took from that race was pivotal for me going into 2015. The back half of 2014 was extremely lackluster. My results started to suffer from a long season and with that I lost a lot of motivation for training and racing, and my mental state also started to deteriorate a little bit. I wasn’t able to get the most out of my body so I took a bit of time off towards the end of the year to come back a better athlete.

ST: Do you think you are a bit star-struck when you are racing head-to-head with folks like him?

Sam: It definitely crept into my mind in Geelong. I think I made the mistake of thinking that Craig should beat me given his very exclusive resume and me being a young upstart. I never expected to run with him for as long as I did so I was always waiting for him to make a surge ahead of me, which was probably not the best mindset to have.

ST: So what was the lesson you learned in Geelong?

Sam: I think in Geelong I might have made the mistake of letting Craig dictate the terms to me throughout the race. I got a little overzealous on the bike and was keen to impress him and flex some muscle. When we got on the run I just followed his pace instead of running my own race and backing myself when I felt good. I took a lot of confidence from the performance and learned to back my own abilities and not become complacent, which I have been able to use in other races this year.

ST: Next for you was the Husky Long Course race, and I think you are fond of that event.

Sam: Huskisson was my first long course race back in 2012, so it holds a bit of sentimental value to me. I remember finishing and not being able to walk for a week after the race and promising myself I would never do that again! But I guess you forget pain pretty quickly and over the past few years I have had two 3rd place finishes and a 2nd. It’s a really scenic area, about 2 hours south of Sydney on the coast, that takes in some classic Australian scenery. It's not a huge race for me in the grand scheme of things but has a very rich history of athletes that have competed there. It was nice to join the honor roll of past winners such as Tim Reed, Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs to name a few.

ST: Did you feel good going into the race?

Sam: I actually felt pretty flat leading into Husky. Geelong was 2 weeks prior and I was still feeling a little tired from that race. I was committed to racing though and I had a strategy that I wanted to execute which was to push the bike really hard, because I didn’t want to get into another running race!

ST: On the bike I believe you planned to push 300 watts for as long as you could.

Sam: That was the goal based on my power meter. I started out hard to establish a break. The nature of the course at Husky very much plays into the hands of breakaway on the bike. It’s an undulating and looped course and I had hoped to get out of sight and out of mind. I am not huge on sharing/comparing power files and numbers because I have since learned that there is so much variance between them. So saying I averaged 300w for this ride might actually be less on someone else’s power meter. I know my current power meter reads slightly high, but if the numbers are consistent, then I can still make sure I am training and racing to my own power zones.

ST: What kind of power meter do you use?

Sam: At the moment I am using Garmin Vector pedals but I am switching to an SRM in the coming weeks. I have found with the Garmin pedals that they need to be torqued at exactly the right tension for accurate readings. I’ve estimated mine to read about 20w high, but I just adjust my sessions accordingly. High readings are good for the confidence though, I might get a rude shock when I switch to the SRM!

ST: Once off the bike your lead was substantial.

Sam: I rode really hard because I knew my legs wouldn’t be up for another running duel. Thankfully I had a nice buffer on the chase guys and was able to run within myself to take the win. Being able to back off the run by that 5-10% really helps with recovery after the race and I was able to resume training fairly quickly.

ST: That was followed by a victory at Challenge Batemans Bay.

Sam: You’ve done your research! I followed almost the exact same tactic at Batemans Bay as I did in Huskisson. It’s a brutal bike course with some steep climbs. I knew it would favor a strong bike, so that’s what I trained for. I raced it the year previous and knew where the big time gaps would be made and structured my race around that. It was nice again to get off the bike with a little breathing room for the run. Although I think I needed it because I lost all my nutrition out on the bike course and my run legs where absent for the day!

ST: After that win you had a bit of time to get ready for Busselton 70.3. What did you do?

Sam: I actually got a bout of food poisoning after Batemans Bay from a dodgy burrito – the ultimate betrayal. It knocked me around for about a week! It took a lot out of me but I actually think the forced rest did me good. I then had a really solid three weeks' training where I was nailing all my sessions. I think Tim Reed and I have found a really good formula that works for me. In the past we have tried the big training weeks back to back but I just don’t respond to that. My success this season has come from more rest incorporated into my program, with a lot of specific work building into a race to get me firing.

ST: Why would you even touch a dodgy burrito or dodgy anything?

Sam: I didn’t know the burrito would be dodgy! It was delicious, but I feel the trade off wasn’t quite worth it. Mexican is my favorite cuisine so that makes it even more heartbreaking.

ST: Terenzo Bozzone and James Cunnama were some of the competitors you faced in Busso. How confident were you?

Sam: Lining up against names like Terenzo and James you know you’ll be in for hard fought race. I had a really solid little block leading into the event and I knew my form was good. I had gained so much confidence from the previous three races I had done so I formulated a plan that would compliment my strengths. Fortunately the race played out almost exactly as I had envisaged. My experience in Geelong with Craig taught me to run my own race and not just follow, so I stuck to my guns and was thrilled to come out on top!

ST: Your most recent win was at 70.3 Cairns, and this time you held off both Crowie and Tim Reed.

Sam: To be honest I didn’t expect the race to pan out as it did! Tim and I had a crafted this plan to get away on the bike, but due to some unfortunate mishaps with Tim’s bike he never joined me up front. I never planned to ride away from the field, but I was committed and gave it everything in that last 30km to squeeze as much time as I could out of the chasers. I knew I would need it with the caliber of runners chasing. I had just over 2 minutes to Craig and Tim in T2, which is an awkward time to have. 2 minutes is enough if you’re running well, but if you’ve cooked yourself on the bike the lead can be wiped out very quickly. Fortunately I felt good on the run and was able to hang on for the win, and at the same time getting some redemption on Craig!

ST: Was this one the best win so far this year?

Sam: It was definitely a really satisfying win. If I had to choose then I would probably say it’s been the highlight of my season so far. There was a lot of social media attention built up around the event and being able to deliver a good result with the hype build up was great. Even being mentioned in the same breath as guys like Tim and Craig is humbling and something I am getting used to.

Back home in our training environment in Byron Bay there was also a lot of banter thrown around in training between myself, Tim Reed, Tim Berkel and Clayton Fettell, so to come out on top of those guys and get bragging rights is also a nice touch. I’ll make sure they don’t forget it easily.

ST: Bragging rights are nice, but they don’t pay bills. Along those lines, have you seen any of that money you won this year yet?

Sam: I have seen most of it! I am still waiting for a little bit of money to come through from some races earlier in the year though. Luckily I am not currently living from race to race otherwise I might be on the phone asking for an advance! My sponsors are great at getting bonuses paid and I understand doping control can delay the process as well.

ST: You are now in the USA. How well do you deal with being homesick?

Sam: I think homesickness is something that every travelling athlete has to deal with. I have had a pretty bad experience with it in the past but made some necessary changes within myself as a result of that experience. This time around I am a much different person and athlete and I think that has contributed to my success this season. I’ve made some very close friends within my triathlon circles and having them involved in the journey is great. At the end of the day I am hugely appreciative of the opportunities I have and I am very fortunate to be able to travel around the world and do what I love as a profession.

ST: Do you think you can run still a bit under the radar in North America?

Sam: I was hoping to fly under the radar, but I have been in Boulder for just over a week and people are recognizing me so I’m not so sure. It’s my goal over the next few years to really build up my resume as an international athlete and convert my domestic results into being competitive at some international level fields. Having a presence in the USA is something that I want to work towards in the near future. The prize money is now similar between countries but due to the triathlon market size in the US there does still seem to be more opportunity for support over here and I want a piece of that pie!

ST: Talk about your sponsors.

Sam: I am really fortunate to be involved in the Bahrain Endurance 13 team for the year. The team has provided me with great support so far that has opened so many doors for me this year. It’s a great movement in triathlon and I am really excited to see where it heads in the near future. Scody is a great Aussie company that provides me with race and training kits and Rudy Project takes care of my lids and shades. Giant Bikes, Shimano and Shotz Sport Nutrition also help me out with product, although locking things down in contract is something I am still working out. It's great having the backing of these companies, so being able to repay them with some race wins this year is nice! I still have a lot of growth and improvement ahead of me over the next 10+ years and I really want to be able to build long-term relationships with the companies that I work with.

ST: Is there anything else we should know?

Sam: I consider myself a bit of a nerd. I really enjoy reading a lot of fiction and keeping up to date with current movies and TV shows. I also spend far too much time playing Xbox.

You can follow Sam Appleton on Twitter via @sam_appo