I planned to arrive in Lumut at 11.30 but stopping for some food, and having to stop at about 15 sets of red lights between Ipoh and Lumut delayed my arrival until 12.30pm. I was not happy! I wanted to cycle a bit to try to adjust my slipping rear gear, warm up, take some photos etc...
I got everything ready but had to run back to the car to put my contact lenses in and wolf down a melted powerbar. I got back just in time for the start of the main race.
...this is the Elite's waiting for the start of that main (10k-60k-10k) race...
Off they go!!!...
Once they were off I went back to transition to plaster sun cream all over me and do a final check...everything seemed ok. I then ran around slowly for 5 mins as a warm up.
At the start line I cheekily went right to the front (as if a true pro!) but only to make sure of a better chance of having someone take a good photo of me! I was quite irritated that my HR was about 147bpm. Before the start I'd expect it to be about 100bpm - must have been nerves. Don't know why I get nervous but I do!
We set off and I was engulfed by a flood of runners who must have thought that you get a special prize for doing the first 100m in 10 seconds. The run was fairly uneventful. I made the u-turn in about 11-12 minutes - suspiciously fast. In my last (illness-affected) duathlon there were only 3-4 people behind me on the 1st run but many more this time! Got to the transition - change shoes, helmet on, gloves on, jog out with bike...
Wait a minute - the rear of my bike is running a bit roughly - surely not a flat tyre! Indeed... it is a FLAT TYRE! ARRGGH!!!!!! ***expletives***!!! Yep - totally flat.
So I kneel down at the side of the transition area, rear wheel off, tube out, new tube in, tyre back on ok, my right shoe feels like the velcro has come undone but i ignore that for now...time to try super new compressed air cannister that avoids me having to carry a pump. By the way this is the first time ever I've changed a tyre with an audience! I think "I've never used this air canister before - hope I get it right!" - ok valve on, screw in air cannister - nothing - screw harder - nothing - unscrew?! - ok unscrew - air is coming out!! - if i lose the air i'm totally bug#$red! - can't borrow anyone's pump! - eventually I twist the valve correctly and my tyre inflates instantly - PRAISE THE LORD!!
I turn to check my show velcro - THE RIGHT SOLE HAS ALMOST COMPLETELY DETACHED FROM THE UPPER!!!!!! Nightmare!! Luckily it is still attached at the toe so I jog out of transition with my shoe flopping around and climb on my bike and off I go (8 minutes lost). I must NOT pull up with my right leg during the ride (shoe will come off).
Was chuffed to start riding as it is my strong point. I was sure I was last at this point and was pleased further still to start overtaking some fellow sprinters quite soon. My legs felt ok and I was cruising at about 30km/h. After 2.8km I dropped my water bottle and had to turn to collect it, losing another 15s at least. That disrupted my rhythm but I got back into it again and managed the first 15km in about 30mins. It was breezy with a slight tailwind off the sea. I slowly but surely overtook quite a few sprinters. It started raining after about 10km. This was nice as it cooled me down, but made visibility rather poor.
My rear derailleur was slipping a bit (due to being bashed around a bit as I squeezed my bike into the back of a pick-up recently) which meant that I had to keep changing gear, negating the effect of my 'aero' bars. My bum was becoming increasingly more painful as I went on. This was because my aero bars made me sit further forward on my seat, where there's less support.
As I approached Lumut I eventually passed a full-distance rider who had been a few secs ahead of me for a few km. As he had a Team PowerBar skinsuit on I was quite chuffed to overtake him! The final couple of km of the ride was good, with a tailwind and slightly downhill, I could rest a bit before the final run whilst maintaining a good speed.
After an uneventful transition I went out for the final run. My legs were fine but by stomach and chest felt a bit full. I definitely ate too much too close to the start in a effort to fill up with carbs. In the last 500m I sped up a bit to gain another place and finished in 2:02:11.
Here's my times...(OFFICAL)
Run 1 - 23:06
T1 - 10:19 (1:59 transition + 8:20 fixing a rear tyre puncture!)
Bike - 1:01:25 (out - 30:23, in - 31:02. dropped bottle = lost 0:15!)
T2 - 2:15
Run 2 - 25:01
TOTAL - 2:02:06 (actual)
TOTAL - 1:53:46 (excluding 8:20 lost due to puncture)
I beat my target time by almost 8 minutes. This was mainly thanks to a respectable 29km/h+ bike ride. My runs were each 3 minutes faster than targetted, but I think that the route wasn't a full 4k. Even if I ran to target pace, I still would have beaten my total target by 10 minutes thanks to the bike ride.
Here's my bike. Notice the sole of my right shoe still clipped onto the pedal. When I got off my bike it decided to stay behind!
I finished just in time to see the Elite's finish. This is the World Champion and pre-race favourite Benny Vansteelant winning. He didn't look remotely tired!
These are the two winners, Erika Csomor from Hungary, and Belgian Benny on the right.
Here's some local Malay girls in traditional gear to spice up the awards ceremony.
...and here's yours truly on my way home. I hope to find more photos of me on the internet in the days/weeks to come and will post them in this blog.
As usual there were some fantastic bikes on display...this is a Cervelo frame with Dura-Ace components and HED Alps wheels.
This is Benny Vansteelant's Gianni Motta bike. His brother's bike is 002 with the Zipp disc wheel.
2 comments:
You are a STAR finishing like that in spite of all the traumas!! Keep up the good work! Mum.
u did so well gosh!
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