Bermuda's Butterfield is no One-Trick Pony

Tyler Butterfield is best known for his protagonist role on the long distance racing scene but the talented and hardworking Bermudan has also represented his country on the international stage in two Olympics and three Commonwealth Games as well.

Slowtwitch: Can you tell us about your recent experience at the Commonwealth Games? You competed in three events: men’s triathlon, mixed relay and men’s marathon.

Tyler Butterfield: Commonwealth Games was amazing! I don’t know if it was because I didn’t see it coming a year ago, or if it was that it was in Gold Coast Australia, where I did one year of school, met my wife Nikki and lived for almost six years, or what. But it was awesome.

It might have also been, seeing Flora (Duffy) win a Gold medal in the first event of the Games, the younger Bermudian triathletes Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith do amazing with also such visible potential for even better results. But as a Bermudian, I was proud.

The team event was a first for all of us and no practice racing together and finished 5th ahead of Wales, Scotland and South Africa. Wales rested their males from the individual two days before and South Africa had an athlete injury on the day. Nothing is guaranteed in racing.

ST: How did you manage your expectations, your training and execute the racing and recovery for each event?

Tyler: The individual was always a warm up and I just didn’t want to embarrass myself. My parents came down as this was probably my last Games, though I said that four years ago, and now the team is looking at Tokyo. And, hey, didn’t even think I was racing the individual race till a week beforehand.

Priority was always the team event. You never want to let other people down. So most of my training was for super sprint racing, but as a 70.3 and Ironman athlete that made the individual fall in line.

When you have trained for 4-8 hour races for the last four years, 3-4 months of short training was different. But training for a 20 minute race with speed, still made an hour individual and 2hour 30min marathon run possible.

The hardest of the three was the Marathon, simply because it was last but I took a long enough taper for the triathlons to be fresh and fast, then had a week to wait till the Marathon.

I did my last real long hard run five weeks out from the Marathon which was too long away, but that was the only way I could do it, without showing up to the triathlons tired. I did an easy 15 miler the Sunday a week out, the day after the mixed team relay. Flora and JP, the Namibian triathlete that trained with Flora in South Africa and did awesome in the individual triathlon, joined me just to not totally detrain the long running I’d done.

Everyone in the Marathon was legit with the slowest seed times, other than my at 2:27, being one guy at 2:21, another 2:19, another 2:17. Everyone else had seed times ranging between 2:05 to 2:15. I knew not everyone would run close to their best, but still I was coming in with a six minute gap to the next guy. The fastest seed was this funny Kenyan guy who I sat next to at the briefing. He ended up having cramps early on and I actually passed him around halfway and he cheered me on.

ST: There was a great photo of you giving a high five to your countryman Tyler Smith out on the triathlon course. It must be rewarding to see younger athletes from Bermuda competing on a world class stage now?

Tyler: I really just wanted to encourage him. He had a great swim and was with the main pack and some big hitters out of the water and first lap of the bike.

The bike course was technical with four u-turns per lap and he got excited and took a pull in the pack a little too hard, then quickly found himself on the back foot and dropped a little while later. I caught him on the bike towards the end, and trying to keep him in the game a bit. But he knew he made a rookie error. We all went hard on the run to catch others that were blowing up from the main group, but his run was off due to the hard bike.

It’s a jump from junior racing to elite, and it’s the horsepower on the bike that’s hardest. The younger kids are so fast, especially swim and run, but the bike normally takes a bit longer.

So basically, I knew Tyler was a bit disappointed. I could see it in his face, and I figured a high five, might make him realize it wasn’t so bad and another day he would have been getting off the bike with the hitters going toe to toe.

ST: During the marathon, was there any chatter or awareness amongst those you were running near of what had happened to Callum Hawkins out there on the course?

Tyler: No, I knew nothing other than a crowd of medical people around one person on the course at round 40kms and another at 41kms. But I couldn’t see the person. It was hot and everyone including myself was pretty over the race by that point.

ST: Your marathon time set a new national record. Was that on your mind during the race? It looked like it was close.

Tyler:I was hoping for low 2:20’s and was a little disappointed at the finish, until I saw other peoples' times. The winner was a local Gold Coast boy, Michael Shelley, and he won four years ago in 2:11. This year was 2:16 so not a fast day at all. Then to hear that the long-time leader collapsed, made me realize how good a performance it was to have a PB out there.

ST: You have now competed at the Commonwealth Games in three different sports: cycling, running and triathlon. Can you share any memorable highlights from each of experiences?

Tyler: Each one is memorable for different reasons. The cycling and running obviously more so as it was a novelty. In 2006, when I did cycling at the Melbourne Games, I was racing on a French amateur team in Europe and did Tour of South Africa as a prep race. But I got to race some of the best guys and even beat a few big names now. Ever heard of Chris Froome, LOL. He was just starting out and racing for Kenya and was in the early breakaway which forced team Australia and South Africa to work hard to catch the breakaway and the last man standing from that group was an unknown Kenyan rider (Froome).

I was 38 seconds behind the winner, Matthew Hayman, and in a small main group sprinting for fifth place which had Gord Fraser pipping out Mark Cavendish. I finished 11th.

The Marathon was cool, just to start with the big shots. I will never have another opportunity to start front line off the gun. Mixing triathlon and run training leading in made it a fun yet nerve-wracking challenge.

So, 11th in the 2006 cycling road race and 12th in the 2018 Marathon is pretty cool. Not paying any bills with those results, but good fun, and great experiences and proud to fly the Bermuda flag.

ST: You finished 7th at last year’s Ironman 70.3 Worlds. You proved you have a lot of speed and strength in your legs with your Commonwealth Games performances. What is next for you in terms of your upcoming season?

Tyler: Not really sure, I’m get close to the end. The head isn’t what it used to be years ago. I am getting softer. Not totally soft, but softer. Fortunately experience plays a part in training and racing, and my silly ideas keep life interesting.

To be honest, I love Kona. But the last two years have been rough. Last year I hadn’t done the miles. For 70.3 that works fine, but not an IM World Champs. Sticking will come undone there, and it did. It was also a long season in 2017 starting with Dubai in January.

This week, I’ll sit down with Julie and pick some races. Maybe Frankfurt, always a cool race, 70.3 Raleigh as I won it last year, and Kona if it works. But, life goes on if not. I’ve committed a lot of years to that race for good and bad. Still love it, but my fifth there might be the best I’ve got.

The only year I went in super confident was 2013 and ran 7th, but training was great. I knew I was going to have fun that day. And to be honest, it’s that feeling I miss. Just knowing you can hold your own quite nicely.

That’s why I have paired with Julie Dibens this year, to help with that. I’ve always raced well fresh, so I rest into races and back down training, but eventually that times out and you lose too much base fitness. So we will see.

ST: You won the Bermuda Marathon earlier in the year. Do you have further running goals in your career?

Tyler: In Bermuda I ran 2:27 and felt comfortable negatively splitting 1:14 and 1:13 halves. At the Gold Coast Games I ran 1:11 and 1:15 halves for a 2:26 and it wasn’t comfortable at all. The start felt a bit sluggish and the finish hot and I was done and dusted. So for 45 seconds faster I had to kill myself and had done three times the amount of training for it.

Back in January in Bermuda I wasn’t swimming and biking as much, as I didn’t do a major triathlon the weekend before. Plus after seeing other runners times, it made me happy with my race in Australia. I might like to run another marathon like Berlin for a fast time. I’m interested to see what I can get to.

ST: There is a cycling stage race named after your family taking place in Bermuda this weekend. Will that route cover the same roads that will be used in the triathlon next weekend?

Tyler: No, the stage race in Bermuda is what used to be the old Bermuda Gran Prix which used to run in September or later in the year. I think it has Butterfield tied to it as the company my brother and Dad own helped out as a sponsor. Bermuda has so many great sporting events during the year it’s hard to keep up. Open water swims, cycling races, smaller triathlons, and running events like the one I did in January.

Especially the more local ones, but internationals are welcome to all Bermuda events, except for a select few. It really is a great sporting hub off the east coast of the States. That’s why it produces such great athletes for a country of 65,000 people.

ST: Do you have any recommendations for age-groupers traveling out to race at WTS Bermuda this upcoming weekend?

Tyler: Enjoy it and live it up! Bermuda is awesome as it’s so small, you can fit so much into a day if you want to, or relax on the beach if down time is what you want. Beaches, water sports, golf, open water swims, explore the island on the bike. The far ends of the island are cool to ride around. St George’s and St Dave’s to the East and Somerset to the West. With the town Hamilton in the middle. It really will be a great weekend.

On race day, for equipment advice, just make sure the brakes are working well! It is a fun place to ride, but lots of little corners, with lots of up and down hills. Road bikes and clip on aerobars are fine or a well working TT bike if you are comfortable on it. But it’s full of little hills, so remember that.

ST: What post-race excursions around the island are not to be missed? Extracurriculars, favorite restaurants or coffee shops, etc?

Tyler: I love it all, and restaurant and coffee shops are all pretty good. My favorites are: Devils Isle for coffee and smoothies and eating, Rock Island for coffee and Tribe Road for coffee and cafe. But so many to pick from. Dinner restaurants in town are amazing too with plenty to pick from. I’ll be down there, cruising around the roads and coffee shops.

Thanks Slowtwitch for your time and coverage as always.

You can follow Tyler on Instagram at @butterfieldracing.

Photo credit @koruptvision.

Let's block ads! (Why?)