Timothy O’Donnell story – Part 3

March 4, 2010

Once he decided to leave the Navy and commit to a pro triathlon career, US Naval Academy graduate Timothy O’Donnell found a run and fought his way to a few major race wins and a world championship in 2009.

The third and final part of the Timothy O’Donnell interview covers the lead up to and breakthrough win at St. Croix, his first world title at Perth, the disappointment at Clearwater, and how he met Mirinda Carfrae.

ST: It seems as if the 2009 edition of St. Croix 70.3 was your true breakthrough race. Did you have any idea you were really that primed going into it?

Timothy: Going into that race, my early season bike fitness wasn't there. So I was questionable. I was coming off a disappointing St. Anthony’s. The one thing I had to my benefit was my run at New Orleans in March.

ST: At New Orleans you ran 1:15:45, fastest of the day, better than winner Brent McMahon (1:17:14) and second place Chris McCormack (1:21:00) and ahead of the legendary Luc Van Lierde who finished fourth behind you and ran 1:18:32.

Timothy: That run in New Orleans was a breakthrough for me. It was a huge confidence builder. I came off the bike 11th or 12th and finished third. That changed my whole perspective. I was no longer the guy that was going to get run down.

ST: Then you had a setback at St. Anthony’s.

Timothy: So I went into St. Anthony’s and got a crazy penalty. Fraser Cartmell turned around and cut me off. I don’t even know what happened. But apart from that mix up, I really disappointed myself in that race. I was having a great run at first. But I quit. I called Cliff [English, his coach] after the race and told him I quit on that run. Sure I was 11th or 10th. But it doesn't matter. I could have gained a lot in terms of my confidence in my running. I told Cliff I was disappointed that I gave up. Cliff said ‘Yeah. I don’t like to hear that you gave up in a race. But the fact that you understand that is what’s important. You remember that in your next race.’ And I did.

ST: At St. Croix, you set a course record in 4:02:36 and ran the day’s best half marathon in 1:17:05, better than runner-up Igor Amorelli and veterans Richie Cunningham, Bryan Rhodes, Stuart Hayes, and Michael Lovato.

Timothy: At St. Croix, I was riding down the back of the Beast [the super steep 600-foot climb at the 32-mile mark of the bike]. I was hanging on and Stuey Hayes was right in front of me. He flew right off the course and I was following his line before I realized: ‘Oh man he just went off the road!’ So I came out of it and I rode off the road a little bit in the grass but didn’t crash. When I got back on the road I’d lost the group, so I hammered back and was able to catch up with everybody. With five miles to go on the bike, Rhodesy [Brian Rhodes] and a couple guys went on a break. But at this point, I was confident and didn’t bite. It was probably the first strategic race I ever had where I said ‘You know what? I’m gonna stay here and set this up for a running race. I know I can run.’ Richie Cunningham was with me and he was the guy I was really worried about. When he is on, he is an unbelievable runner. So I came off the bike a little behind Richie and when we started to run we were running time into guys like Dirk Bockel and Rhodesy.

Then in the first steep hill on the golf course Richie popped me. And that was the moment where I needed mental toughness to stick to my plan. So I just held his margin at 20 meters. Then, coming to the end of the first lap, I started to pull back up to him. I said ‘All right! I’m not out of this.’ From there I kept chasing and waited to attack,

ST: When did you break into the lead?

Timothy: I think I caught Igor with about two miles to go — coming out of the golf course.

ST: What happened to that one lens you lost in your sunglasses? You looked like a pirate.

Timothy: You’ve seen the pictures with one lens. I didn't know I’d lost one lens. My mind wasn’t there. I was in the zone. That was a hard run to win,

ST: You set a great time – 4:02:36 with a race best 1:17:05 run?

Timothy: Yeah it was a course record.

ST: You may still not realize how huge that was. People from Mike Pigg to Crowie and other greats had done that race. When you began to understand what you had done?

Timothy: When I crossed the line I let out a scream like a battle cry. My eyes were on fire and I remember seeing race director Tom Guthrie smiling and clapping and I let out this roar. Then I looked at him and thought: Maybe that was a little too much! But it was so natural. It was such a culmination of everything I put into this sport over the years. It was so emotional for me, a realization that it had all been worth it. If I didn’t win another race last year it still would have been an unbelievable season for me. It never even crossed my mind that I broke Crowie’s course record [4:04:52] until later.

ST: The rest of the season wasn’t bad either.

Timothy: I had a great race at Pan Ams and made the podium against Matty and Hunter. All of a sudden I am running with Hunter on the short course. I think ‘Maybe I’m getting up to that level. I’m not there yet but I’m going in the right direction.’ After that, I got another podium at Rev3. A little disappointing. Then Kansas 70.3 was the race I regret the most last year. I almost won but I was too confident. I remember two miles into the run I had a gap. I saw a friend in the crowd and I was kinda smiling. I wasn't where I needed to be in my head.

ST: Luke Bell ran 1:13:15 and won by 51 seconds. You ran 1:14:14, a few seconds faster than James Cotter who was 3:21 back in third place. At what point did Luke get you?

Timothy: The last two miles I wasn't running well. I just hit the wall.
He passed me at 12 miles and put a minute into me in that last mile. I was really hurting. I think I was maybe a little too complacent after my win at St. Croix. So that’s when I put this picture hook up on the wall in my apartment. I had a poster of St. Croix on the other side of the wall and I told myself there needs to be more of the St Croix type posters hanging on my wall. Because I am not going to be a one hit wonder.

ST: That resolve paid off almost immediately.

Timothy: I re-focused and raced Boulder Peak, Calgary 70.3, and 5430 long course and won them all.

ST: On the other hand, there are some races called world championships. You had two runs at world titles and the first one went very well.

Timothy: The ITU long course World Championship in Perth was a very strategic race for me. That race doesn’t get much credit here in the States but the European guys take it very seriously. It was a top field.

I had a horrible swim and lost two minutes, but I stayed in control of my race. Cliff reminds me that these are long races and anything can happen. So keep playing. Kieran Doe and Clayton Fettell were riding strong and Paul Ambrose, Sylvain Sudrie and I were chasing. Paul Ambrose is a fantastic cyclist. He just hammers. So the three of us gained back maybe 1:00 or 1:15. Then the last lap Paul hammered up to those guys but I stayed back and said ‘OK. I am going to be patient. ‘

ST: You had more and more confidence in your run?

Timothy: Exactly. So Sylvain and I came off probably a minute down. And I set the pace right away on the run. I was confident. Sylvain has outrun me in ITU races many a time. But I had new confidence. We pulled in the leaders in the first lap and halfway through the second lap, Sylvain just attacked and got 20-30 meters in me. That was a test for me. It was 33 degrees Celsius and I was going through a battle in my head. One voice said: Second is pretty good. But I didn’t give in.

When Sylvain attacked me, it was a tough battle just to keep him in check. Then we hit a section with a headwind and I pulled up back on his shoulder. Then my strategy was: Sit on him. I was hurting but I thought: Just stick it out, sit on him and see if I can win a sprint finish.

A few miles before the end of the run, I just felt stronger and pulled away and won by 1:07. It was a world championship, but it didn’t sink in immediately.

ST: Then you had three weeks to recover and build up for Clearwater.

Timothy: At Clearwater in ‘08, I started the bike strong, but I looked back and saw a pack of 50 guys. Then I got caught off guard and some of them went past and I missed it.

ST: This year you were stronger and must have had ambitions?

Timothy: Yeah I had a good block of training. I came back to the US, got acclimated again. I have a tendency to let my training pile up a lot if I am not racing. So I was happy with my buildup. But it’s Clearwater. Everybody knows what it is.

ST: You mean it’s flat and packs inevitably build up. But somebody can win it. Why not you?

Timothy: I fully believe I could have won it on a certain day. Not that day. And I know there are a handful of other guys who could have done the same.

ST: What happened on the bike?

Timothy: I had a good swim and started with the top five guys on the bike. Then Luke Bell came around me pretty close and I got a drafting penalty.

ST: You and Luke had fates intersecting last year?

Timothy: When I got that penalty I was livid. If you keep your 10 meters, someone cuts in on you because everybody is pushing the envelope to 7 meters. So if you are legit, somebody will be cutting in on you and just dropping in.

ST: If you are really polite, 30 people will be doing that.

Timothy: I was just trying to stay up front. At some point on the course was I drafting? Yeah. It is impossible to avoid. At some point every single person in that race is drafting. So, I don’t think it is reasonable to take a player out of the game for something you can’t monitor properly. But I was very proud of my run. I didn’t give up.

ST: You ran 5th fastest 1:13:06 – 4:01 behind Michael Raelert’s 1:09:05. But you had to spend four minutes in the sin bin. Maybe 5 minutes with stopping and starting. That put the podium out of reach.

Timothy: My problem is that there were referees who were overzealous and don’t understand the dynamics of a professional race. I saw the guy that gave me a penalty two minutes later gave a female a penalty after a guy passed her and cut in front of her. I am sitting there watching and thinking: Are you serious? When this guy gave me penalty; It was like, “Number so and so…. You did this and you did that. And the red card is…” You can tell they were new to the game. But I respect his intent, his attempt to have an honest race. But it's people’s careers. Riccitello does a great job. He understands the dynamics of the race. When you have girls in your pack, when you pass a girl and she pops in on the pack, something is wrong.

ST: The bike course is very narrow and the cones blocking off lanes leave little room.

Timothy: I’ve gotten more into all the media following everything on Slowtwitch. Checking out everything on the forums. Stuff you don’t do in the ITU because it is a different world. But I ignored all that stuff for several weeks after Clearwater because I was so upset. And when I went on it someone random person on the forum said that ‘It is ridiculous that a guy like Tim O'Donnell and the guys that can actually ride to that ability are getting a penalty.’ So I thought: “Yessss!”

ST: What can you do in 2010 for an encore?

Timothy: I want to go to Kona some year. But not yet. I don’t want to sacrifice my proper development. I want to do Kona right whenever I go. I don't want to rush to it just to go to Kona. There is definitely pressure from different sources to go to Kona. But I want to be a contender there. I don’t want to just show up for the party.

ST: A lot of excellent people end up 20th to 40th there. That could be you if you are not completely absolutely ready.

Timothy: It was a great season for me last year. But I am looking forward to races like St Croix where I hope to battle Crowie.

ST: Abu Dhabi and its prize money seems tempting?

Timothy: Nope. Cliff and I talked about it.

ST: It has a longer-than-Ironman bike? Perfect preparation for Kona – this year or next.

Timothy: It is a 200k bike. In one sense, it is good to get the Ironman length bike under your belt without a full Ironman run to beat you up. On the other hand, I have a game plan here and I’m sticking to it. It is 50 grand to win. But sometimes cash isn’t always king.

ST: Why is Full Metal Jacket your favorite movie as you wrote on your blog?

Timothy: It is one of those movies you have to watch when you get to the Academy. That and Top Gun. People were always quoting the lines.

ST: Viscerally exciting wow movie. It is also a dark and frightening movie. Why did you like it? What was the best line?

Timothy: Gunnery Sergeant Hartman says: How tall are you, private?
Private Cowboy says: Sir, five-foot-nine, sir. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Five-foot-nine? I didn't know they stacked shit that high.

ST: OK who's the girlfriend?

Timothy: Mirinda.

ST: Carfrae. Tough to be apart — she is in Australia now. What drew you to her?

Timothy: She has great life balance. Great perspective. Her values are great. I was planning on going out to Australia to do some training. But with buying a house. I couldn’t get caught up in a trip now.

ST: Why are you two a fit?

Timothy: I think we have very similar values. Family values, our senses of humor are pretty similar. Yeah I just think we are both positive people and we have a positive outlook.

ST: How did she relate to you about your two most recent disappointing finishes at Clearwater? Actually you both had 12th place finishes one year apart.

Timothy: She came to Clearwater to watch this year after Ironman Hawaii. She didn’t realize what had happened to me at the beginning of the race. She thought I was in the front group. Then when they all came by the bridge on the run, she wondered ‘Where is Tim? What happened?’

Yeah we had talked about her race the year before. I think it was a little different. Just because she was worn out and I was ready for a race – until I got that penalty. But it was great to have her there in support. Nice to see her out on the run course.

ST: What was it like cheering her from the sidelines?

Timothy: I was out there watching her in Kona. I was pumped. I knew she was going to have a great race. There was no doubt in my mind. Her form looked great the whole time. When she was closing on Virginia [Berasategui], I was a bit slow giving her splits. Mirinda gave me this look, this stare, as she was running by. It meant something like, ‘Spit it out, O’Donnell!’.

ST: Where did you two meet?

Timothy: At St. Croix, everybody who had a home stay stayed in one neighborhood. And we had we a pasta party the night before the race. I was sitting at her table and I ate this huge fudge brownie. Everybody was looking at me like ‘You’re crazy!’ At the after race party I looked at her [she finished second to Catriona Morrison] and I said ‘If you had one of those brownies, it probably would have helped that last mile and a half.’

So she laughed.