MMDS2 2006 - Putrajaya

By the time I arrived in Putrajaya at about 6.30am, after getting a bit lost, I realised that my nose was still not quite right, but anyway I didn't have a headache and I didn't feel physically tired, so on we go!

I registered, had "502" drawn on my upper arms in permanent ink markers, and parked my bike. I realised that I had no tyre levers so I decided to ditch all bike/tyre repair kit and hope for the best. I did some stretching and a bit of very light jogging to warm up. Was pleased to observe an almost completely flat run-course. One thing that really struck me was the vast number of incredibly-expensive looking bikes on view. I really thought that if the quality of the bikes was reflected in the class of the competition then I'd be last for sure, apart from the two under-10's on BMX's! As it turned out later on, rider speed and bike cost are totally unrelated, as I managed to pass and overtake about 19 fellow Sprint Duathletes, many of whom were on bikes that wouldn't look out of place in the Tour De France peloton.

You can see me in the second photo, just above 578's head. Already at the back before we even start!

We set off at 7.50am sharp and I wasted no time in being 2nd last. I remained 2nd last for about 1k until I was overtaken by a cheerful Farah Merican, pushing me into last place. I vowed to catch her on the bike section. However my slow start experience tells me that I will always start to catch those who start too quickly, and indeed I did. After 3k I had overtaken 3 people. Still about 4th last though!! I was running noticeably slower thatn I'd normally do 5k and finished in a little under 40 mins, some 5-7mins more than usual for that distance.

Happy that my least favoutire section was over, I got on my bike and settled down at a reasonable pace. I felt pretty good on the bike and was going up the hills about the same speed as most others. I caught Farah after about 15minutes. I was pretty pleased to progressively overtake more and more Sprinters, but needed until most of the way round to catch up some young lad on a BMX! I really enjoyed the downhill bits, crouching into an aero position and freewheeling, yet managing to overtake those who were sitting up and pedalling - really shows you how important aerodynamics is.

I ran out of water just as I got to the water station - good timing! I had driven up the final climb whilst lost earlier in the morning - and it looked pretty tough - but wasn't too bad in the end. I swept back down towards the main Boulevard and thought that was it, although I should've known better as I'd only been cycling for 50mins or so. I kept plugging away for the final 3-4k and finished the 25k in a respectable (considering illness and lack of training) 1h 8mins.

Here I am (crouching next to my bike - no. 502, the one that's 6" higher than everyone elses) putting my runners on for the final 3k, closely followed by a kid half may age!!

The final 3k run was a bit slow and I really just wanted to get it over with. About 1k in I noticed Farah on the other side of the course, about 5 mins behind me. I got caught by one guy in the final 0.5k but as I had just watched another Sprinter run off into the distance after missing the u-turn, my overall placing was unaffected.

I finished in 2:14:26, outside my target of 2:00:00, but never mind, I did well to get out of bed! On the way home, after drooling over some nice Cinelli frames that were on-show, I cheered on Patsy Yap as she embarked on her final 5k run in the full-distance race.

Now looking forward to the Lumut Duathlon in November, that has an even longer 30k bike ride - hooray!