Earlier this year, Aussie Joe Gambles was sidelined by an Achilles injury. Last week, he returned to the game with a successful defense at Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens. This weekend, he returns to action at the Ironman 70.3 Timberman in New Hampshire. LAVA sat down with Gambles after his Lake Stevens win to talk about his return to the game. 

LAVA: This race represents a comeback of sorts for you, at least from a bit of a layoff. 

GAMBLES: Yeah, I’ve had a bit of a niggle in my calf back in the summer in Australia, but was still putting in the mileage. I came over and went to Wildflower and six miles into the run, it was killing me. I went back to Boulder and didn’t think anything was seriously wrong, just that I needed some work on my calf. Going into Rev3 Quassy, I had a little bit of tightness, but nothing major. But there, everything tightened up on me; my calf and Achilles. I went back to Boulder. 

There’s no shortage of good PT sources there.  

For sure. But I ended up seeing Mark Plaatjes. He’s from South Africa, but won World Marathon Championships in 1993 or ’94, for the U.S., beating Alberto Salazar. He’s very well-known in Boulder for his physiotherapy.  

I guess it takes an athlete to know an athlete. 

Yeah. And he’s brutal—but you need that. He goes deep, like ASTYM, but he doesn’t use tools, he uses his hands. He was very aggressive in his treatment and thought I could be back running in four to six weeks. He was right. Here it is, my sixth week and there’s no pain. 

That must have been frustrating though, not knowing how the leg would pull up, all the while seeing the season float by for a couple months. 

Watching Boise and Vineman go by was frustrating. I hadn’t finished a race since the beginning of May—but that’s alright. Every athlete has to go through it at some point, and I think it helped me, and allowed me to get to the bottom of a few issues. Matt Steinmetz at Retul did a full analysis and we learned that I have a true leg length discrepancy. Now I feel balanced and like I’m ready to step it up again. I’m fresh. I’ve trained hard. I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing where I am. 

Do you think that very fact may be to your benefit at the end of the year for Ironman 70.3 Worlds, where you don’t necessarily have the volume in your legs that a guy like Terenzo Bozzone or your teammate Michael Raelert may? 

I hope so. If you started racing in March, it’s a long year. The fresher you can be, the better. I think Raelert is a perfect example; last year he had a quiet year, then blitzed us all in Clearwater. I do want to get some solid results in advance of Clearwater though, and am looking at racing in Phuket at the 70.3 Asian Championships. It’s got an amazing history in triathlon and now it’s a great excuse. Plus with the new series points chase, it’s important.  

How does that points system suit you, as someone who mentioned that full-distance Ironman, and Kona, are in your crosshairs, perhaps for next year? 

Now that I’ve sorted out those problems with my calf and hamstring, I feel like I can be more resilient for a longer distance, so I’ve been thinking about an Ironman for next year. I’ve gotta think soon about the points process. Speaking to other athletes, I think if you’re a full-distance athlete, there’s more points on offer, so those guys are rewarded for consistency—and maybe are going to be leading in points going into Kona next year. And they certainly deserve to be leading the world series in points. But for those looking at doing maybe one, two, or three 70.3′s, you may not get a spot. It’ll be difficult, but it’s the world championship—it should be difficult. Fifty guys, 30 women, why not?  

This spring one of your old training buddies from back in Tasmania made some big news in Italy, wearing the Maglia Rosa for a few days at the Giro d’Italia before claiming the white jersey and finishing seventh overall. Talk to him lately? 

Ah, Richie Porte. Naw, haven’t aside from a few messages back and forth. Tasmania has some of the best riders in the world in this tiny area. We’ve got Richie, Matt Goss, all these guys. I go back home in December and ride with these guys. It’s good getting back and talking about our sports. It’s interesting how different they are. They travel to some pretty amazing places, and they’ve got the support. 

Not to say we don’t get support! Trek/K-Swiss has provided the best support I’ve ever seen, anywhere in triathlon. Like even today, (Trek engineer) Mark Andrews posted new Bontrager tires to me, to the hotel, so I had fresh ones for the race. I’ve never had that kind of support before. And at Wildflower, Mark was there, making sure all Raelert, Julie (Dibens) and my bikes were dialed. It’s hard enough traveling. It helps tremendously. 

You also recently picked up your first coach, getting councel from Kona podium finisher Torbjørn Sindballe. 

Aside from getting advice from and bouncing ideas off some Triathlon Australia coaches over the years, I’ve been self-coached my whole life. But I’d been on the lookout the last three or four years for a coach that can do better. We get on well and I trust him completely. 

I saw Torbjørn at Rev3 Quassy and we got to talking, and we talked while I was letting my Achilles heal up. In the last month we’ve formally started working together. He’s in Denmark, but we’re in contact three or four times a week.  

How have things changed in your program? I’m sure everyone would wonder if it was bike-heavy. 

I’d probably been doing too much training and not hitting the key sessions, which is often the mistake of any athlete, pro or age grouper. You always question yourself: could I be doing more, could I be going harder, look what Craig Alexander’s doing, look what Matt Reed’s doing. You hear all these things floating around—and everyone’s talking. 

As to my program, it’s definitely very balanced. It’s about hitting those hard sessions, and going into them not fatigued. In the past, I’d just go out every day hard and keep backing up, backing up. His philosophy is that the big days are very, very big, and the easy days are very, very easy. And he gives me one or two days a week when I’m doing maybe one thing, and I can just enjoy Boulder and relax. I get a normal life, twice a week! So instead of beating my body up every day, I’m actually getting to recover. I guess that’s the science behind the sport, eh? But a lot of people, myself included, have tended to ignore it. 

I guess that’s the potential downfall of living in the Boulder Bubble, though, is being preoccupied with what everyone else in town is doing. 

Yeah, it’s overkill in Boulder, and it gets in your head. Now with the pressures, I just hand it over to Torbjørn—and I’m happy to do it. I trust him completely. He’s more scientific than anyone else I know. His attention to detail is very high. And especially if I step up to Ironman soon, that’s the right guy to have on your side. I’m excited to be working with him. I want to keep progressing, and change is a good thing.