Monday Blues

We had a nice weekend but didn't do anything particularly exciting. I had a bit of a lie-in and went for a later than usual run. I hadn't run all week so felt like I must get one in, and I knew that if I left it later in the day - it would not happen. So I did a really easy Double Hill in 1h06m. I saw Ngae in the Bukit Aman car-park and he told me about his off-course Ironman swim where he took 30mins longer than planned!

Later Lucas & I had a nice lunch in Bukhara in KLCC while J had her hair done. Then we took him to the playground and for a swim at home in the evening.

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The posters for Horton Hears A Who are up now and I'm more excited about it than Lucas! This story is one of his favourites and I've read it to him in bed a million times - on 13 March it'll be time to see the full-action technicolour movie version!

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Not a great Monday. I thought I'd cheer myself up with a likely 5km run PB, so I headed off to KLCC after work and was duly rewarded.

6:50-6:54-6:54-6:48 = 27:26 (5.2km). New PB by 56secs.

5k time was 26:24.

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I'm taking Wednesday off work as I have one million personal matters to sort out, which can only be done M-F 9-5.

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Shimizu (and other bidders) will be submitting their bids for the Pahang Selangor Water Transfer Tunnel by midday today. I hope that the upcoming election, and change of KTAK Minister, doesn't delay the bid appraisal and award process too much!

Can't Think of a Title

Random nice pic, illegally copied from cyclingnews.com...

David Zabriskie's Tour of California Felt TT-bike

Tour De Langkawi

A pat on the back for me please! I kid yee not - Ruslan Ivanov was one of my tips for TdL success and he brought home the beef-bacon - well done to him - and me!

PB

I did a Double-Hill run again last night, and despite not really going for it, I managed to knock about 50s of my personal best to set a new record of 58:17. Starting from my usual spot in Bukit Tunku, my splits were approx 22:30 at Bukit Aman lights, 27:30 at the right turn before Bang Negara KTMB station, and just under 50:00 at the final left turn before the final killer hill.

Langkawi

I wish to offer a huge amount of GOOD LUCK to everyone I know (too many to list) who's taking part in Ironman Langkawi this Saturday - I'll be following your progress all day online, from the comfort of my desk. And on Sunday a.m. when you're all in bed, or up but unable to walk properly, I'll probably be off to the Lake Gardens for the 2nd KLIM circuit training run - although I don't quite fancy the idea of running 2.3km laps for over 2 hours!

Traitor

Someone who I wish was in Langkawi - so I could ask one of you to punch him - is Mohamed Al-Fayed. Al-Fayed, who was born in Egypt and who has been refused British citizenship due to his dubious character, has the bloody cheek to question the nationality/citizenship of Prince Philip (The Queen's husband) and say that he should be sent back to where he comes from. Well I tell you what Mr bloody Al-Fayed - just because you own a shop they frequent doesn't mean you can insult the British Monarchy - why don't YOU f*** off (sorry Mum) and go back to where YOU came from!! That's the last time I ever go to Fulham FC (which he owns).

How many countries in the World would put up with rich foreigners going on and on and on ad nauseum about Diana's death, conspiracy theories etc... and then insulting senior Royals - OFF WITH HIS HEAD I SAY!!!!!!!!

Swim Lesson #21

2/1/08 @ Bukit Jalil.
Coach Peh + Azwar, Simon, Michelle

Warm-up 5 x 100m

2 x 100m KOS drill
5 x 100m
4 x 200m (new PB = 3:49)
3 x 300m
2 x 400m

Cool-down 1 x 100m

TOTAL 3,800m NEW WORLD RECORD!

Rotation not so good tonight. I tired badly towards the end and was doing 300's in 6m30s-ish and 400's in not much under 9mins. Heartburn caused by juice n choc on the way to the pool didn't help!

2007 Swim Times

My 2007 swim times...

(0:00) = current PB

50m

0:54 (26 Apr)
0:53 (12 May)
0:50 (16 May)
0:47 (14 Nov)

100m

2:45 (13 Apr)
2:18 (21 Apr)
2:15 (16 May)
2:05 (6 Jun)
1:49 (27 Jun)
1:41 (19 Dec)

200m

5:55 (5 Apr)
5:02 (21 Apr)
4:56 (16 May)
4:04 (22 Aug)
3:54 (19 Dec)

300m

6:27 (22 Aug)
6:06 (28 Nov)
6:05 (19 Dec)

400m

11:36 (13 Apr)
10:17 (16 May)
8:40 (22 Aug)
8:08 (28 Nov)

500m

10:24 (14 Nov)
10:20 (28 Nov)

1000m

28:50 (16 May)
23:45 (25 Jun)

Coach Peh reckons that Azwar and Simon had better watch out! I'm getting faster!

Swim Lesson #20

Bukit Jalil, 19/12/07
6.20-8.20pm
Coach Peh, Jasmine, Michelle, Christopher n me

9 x 100m warm -up [varied 1:54 with effort, to 2:01 easy] = 900m

2 x 100m 12KOS/rotate drills (alternate 25m drill 25m normal) = 200m

3 x 100m (25m drill-75m normal) -100m normal -100m normal, = 900m

100m-200m-200m-300m [6:05=PB by 1sec] = 800m

1 x 100m cool-down.

TOTAL 2,900m

This session included a 100m in 1:41 - a PB by 8 seconds at less than 100% and a 200m in 3:54, a new PB by over 6 secs.

NOTE: 12KOS/rotate drill = on side with arms by side, use kick to rotate body every 12 kicks for 25m, then 25 normal...repeat until 100m reached. Try to rotate using one full kick.

Rainy KLCC PB

My second wet Thurday evening KLCC run in a row.

The plan - 4 laps of the 1.3km KLCC loop, at or above race pace, rest, then home, total 11km.

The result...5.2km in 7:36-7:00-6:57-6:51 = 28:24 @5:28/km - new PB by 0:30!

then home.

ta ta for now!

Swim Lesson #18

Bukit Jalil, 28/11/07
Peh + me, Jeffrey, Azwar, Michelle

Warm-up: 6 x 100m on 2:30

Main Set: 2 x 500-400-300m (1st set - 10:20-8:08-6:06, 2nd set - 10:40+,8:30+,6:17).

Cool down: 2 x 100m easy + 2 x 100 mixed crawl/b'stroke.

TOTAL: 3,400m.

The longest and most satisfying session since my recent return to action. 2 weeks of arm and shoulder stretching seems to be behind a great improvement in body position. Now I just need to stretch my pecs a bit more.

I did all of the main set at a comfortable pace, focusing on technique in an effort to maintain quality to the end rather than running out of steam. I did tire, but not dramatically. The first 5-4-300m's were all PB's. I now seem able to comfortably average a shade over 2:00 per 100m.

I plan to go all out in the swim in Phuket on Sunday (1,800m)!

Swim Lesson #17

Bukit Jalil, 14/11/07, 6.30-8.10pm

Coach Peh + Azwar, Michelle, Jeffrey, Jasmine, Christopher

Warm-up 6x100m (1:56 - 2:05)

Main Set

3 x 500m (10:34 - 10:24 (PB) - 11:48) [last 500m slowed due to foot arch cramps.]

3 x [ 5 x 50m ] Each set of 5 = slow medium fast fast fast

My "slow" was a little over 1:00 each, "medium" just under 1:00 and "fast" varied 0:52-0:47, the latter being a new PB!

Cool-down 100m

TOTAL 2,950m

Speed depends on the application of power through a good technique. Even when my arms felt very tired, my speed didn't slow much as I concentrated on maintaining my technique rather than just applying maximum power.

S'pore 70.3 Race Report

First of all, here's a video of the course. My official result is here.

Lots of photos of me (BIG THANKS to superstar photographer Tey Eng Tiong), and photos taken by me, are here.

Tey's photos, including some of Shahrom and lots of others, are here.

Pre-race:

Preparing all the kit is one of the joys of triathlon!! -

Up at 5am, drinking lots, munching bananas, Powerbar & energy drinks...off to ECP in a taxi at 5.30am. Arrived at T1 with an hour until transition closes. Did body numbering, set up transition. Managed to get hold of a great pump and put 140psi into both tyres. Paid a visit to the mens room (an important pre-race job) and plastered sun cream all over. I tightened up everything on the bike, including the hydrotail that had come loose the day before, and was all set at 7am - perfect timing!

Gunter was buzzing, jumping up and down - excited about the start!

With Shahrom (L) and Gunter (R) at the start.

My wave was one of the last so I got a chance to see the pro's and a few others dive off into the water.

Swim:

The waves were smaller than Desaru and the current was weaker, so I managed a much faster swim. The whole swim was fine except the main outward leg which was directly towards the rising sun which made navigating difficult. I went a bit left then a bit right so perhaps lost a wee bit of time. I reach the furthest point in about 25 mins against the current so looked good for the planned sub-50min swim.

The return leg was fine and I pushed it a bit towards the end and emerged from the water in 47:47.

Teh snapped me during the 250m run from the beach to T1...

Heading to T1.

T1:

All OK except I started running towards where BIKE OUT was shown on the T1 plan, not where it actually was. So I lost a few secs - but only a few.

Bike:

Cranking it up at the start of the ride.

Away smoothly, everything working. Managed a good pace along the East Coast Service Road heading towards the 4-lap city course. Started overtaking a few of the stronger swimmers. Saw a crash victim after only 5km or so on the uphill approach to the ECP bridge.

Onto the city loop I was loudly cheered by an unknown female (Melody or Adele I thought) but on lap 2 I noticed it was Cort Prois' wife Sandy - she's a great and very vocal supporter! Into Marina area for the first lap another crash victim with bandaged arm spotted, then lots of puncture victims - I was praying for no punctures for me!!

The ride was great. The bike was super-smooth and I was cruising at 33-34kph on the flattest course you could wish for, with some nice sharp adrenalin-stimulating 90 degree corners. The pros were pushing the drafting laws to the limit - at one point a pack of them passed me with them all in single file, 3-4 bike lengths behind each other. Was impressed to see eventual Womens winner Belinda Granger cycling together with the leading men.

I went a bit too fast on the bike in the first 2 laps and my lap splits slowed, something like 33-35-36-37mins for a 2:40 total. I tired on the last 2 laps but my time was still good, averaging almost 32kph for 85km. Are these races ever the correct distance? I'm sure my bike computer is correct.

Left quad feeling a bit sore towards the end - it the same muscle that goes first every time!

T2:

Jumped off my bike in my new style, saving 2 seconds in the process, handed the bike to a catcher, got my run bag and changed for the run, just about finding a space to sit on one of the changing benches. Out of T2 in a reasonable 2 minutes despite struggling with socks onto damp feet as usual.

Run:

First 5 mins ok but for the next 10 mins my quad was seriously threatening to cramp. I stayed relaxed and thank goodness it went away. After nature called, I was off again on the riverside paths at a fairly slow place but was happy that I had 2h45m to beat my target time.

Then disaster struck. I had to walk and felt like I had no energy. I just couldn't run for more than 1-2mins at a time. Even PowerGel didn't seem to help. I kept running-walking-running and I was only halfway into 1 of 2 laps. There were people cruising past me all the time and I was NOT looking forward to walking for another one-and-a-half-hours to cross the finish line way outside my target. My first 11.5km took 1h25mins. From my HR readings it looks like I stopped to walk about 12 times and my HR dropped to around 140bpm from hovering around 160bpm on the bike.

Then my saviour appeared. I was inspired to drink Coke (flat Coke) and it tasted soooooooooo good! That lifted my spirits and my energy and somehow I managed to run the rest of the way with very little walking. I was drinking like a trooper though (electrolyte-Coke-water every 1km in that order) - goodness knows where it all went as it didn't come out the usual channel!

This helped me do a negative split (a faster 2nd half). I managed the final 10km in a more reasonable 1h10mins, with little walking. In the final few km I began to pass a number of runners which raised my spirits a bit more...

Plugging away on the run.

My finish - through a damp lens!

Swim - 0:47:47
T1 - 0:03:18
Bike - 2:40:25 (85.43km @ 31.95kph)
T2 - 0:02:04
Run - 2:35:21
TOTAL - 6:08:55

Another medal and number for the collection!

The all-important data!

Swim Lesson #13

Warm-up: 900m (including 200m in 4:04)
Main Set:

• 2,000m (400-200-400-200-300-100-300-100m) @ above race pace with 30s breaks.
• 100m - easy/loosen-up
• 6 x 50m - sprints with buoy & paddles
• 50m - easy/loosen-up
• 2 x 100m - 50 touch shoulder drill/50 normal

Cool-down: 100m easy
TOTAL: 3,650m

A fan-dabby-tastic world-record breaking 3,650m session! I'm getting faster too! PB's set during main set were...

200m - 4:04
300m - 6:27
400m - 8:40

Desaru Long-Distance Triathlon 2007

Friday

I met Bernard and Adeline at Bike Pro at 9am, racked up their bikes on the back of the car and we hit the road at 10am after some kopi and makan at a nearby shop.

'Twas nice to have good company for the journey and the time flew by quite quickly. We stopped for a late-ish lunch in Kota Tinggi and arrived in Desaru at about 3.30pm. During the journey 3 cars/lorries moved over to let us overtake! WOW! - must have been Courteous Driver Day or something like that.

Cruising...

We checked-in and registered and I gave my Fizik saddle to Razani to sell (hopefully) and got new fittings for my unstable hydrotail from the BB boys.

The race briefing turned out to be a bit later than we thought so the three of us went for a swim (recce for the race and for Adeline in particular to get an idea of what the swim would be like). Lots of irritating "sea lice" in the water and I emerged from the sea after a good 4-500m recce with some unusual cuts on my foot - perhaps a sting of some kind. Nothing major though.

Evening makan - we headed off on a 30min drive to Restoran Makanan Laut Telok Sengat with the imcyclist.com gang and many other pals.

I slept surprisingly well for the night before a race! Bernard's bike also slept well after being lovingly tucked-in...

Bernard loves his bike very much!

Saturday - Race Day

Up at 7-ish - satisfyingly late for a race day - and prepared. Tightened-up bike fittings and prepared kit and race nutrition. 1 bottle of 100plus & 1 bottle of ORS to last the entire 90km ride and 1 bottle of water to be replaced each 30km lap. 2 gels for the run.

Brekkie at 7.30 giving 2.5hrs for digesting. Then off to transition. Lucky I had string to tie my bike as I couldn't hook my saddle over the rack as usual (tall bike).

With Jason before the start.

Ready to rock 'n roll!

Swim

Forgot to start my stopwatch! Remembered after 20s or so whilst still running through the waves. My recently serviced HRM wasn't reading my HR either - makes you wonder if it is worth having them "serviced".

We had 2 triangle shaped loops to look forward to, with a short run on the beach in between. The loop legs were 300-350-350m. This was a tough swim! On the first loop the 2nd and 3rd legs looked very long and seemed to take a long time. On the 2nd leg we were swimming with the waves coming across us and diagonally on the last leg. Sighting was difficult due to the waves but my navigation was ok and I didn't go off course much. I did a bit of breaststroke only for sighting and when I got caught up with other swimmers.

I was back on the beach in about 27mins - terrible!! - my target for the whole swim was 43mins so I was already more than 5 mins down!

2nd loop here we come!

2nd loop - goggles still fogging up! still lots of swimmers around me, but feeling good, breathing ok, was quite well warmed up and my improved timing made me feel my strokes were quite powerful. However my time was almost an hour as I hit the beach - nearly 10mins down on my target!!

One ray of hope was that I finished at the same time as Ironman Sam Pritchard.

Swim time - Lap 1: 28mins, Lap 2: 30mins, TOTAL: 58mins.

Bike

A steady 300m jog then an uneventful T1 and I was on the bike - time to see what benefit I would get from the "Stealth" in race-mode!

The first speedy section came after the first u-turn at 1.5km. I managed to pick-up a good pace and started passing a few riders. After another 5mins - a rear wheel flat!!! SH*T!!! Oh no it isn't - its vibration from the road surface and a slight incline - phew!

Out onto the exposed road (main part of the loop) there were quite strong crosswinds. On the inclines I sat-up and kept my cadence up and seemed to maintain a reasonable speed. After 7-8km of the first loop I was past by a bunch of cheating drafters who I swiftly reported to a marshall, who whizzed off whistle-a-blowing to break them up. Before I got to the 2nd u-turn I spotted Ironman Sam still not too far ahead, and Jason also a couple of minutes ahead of me. Also Steve Lee, who always seems to be just ahead of me in triathlons.

I settled into a pattern - whizzing along in aero-mode most of the time and sitting-up and spinning up the few inclines. For the 1st/2nd laps I spent some time in the close (but not drafting) company of Carmen Leong and Saiful. I spotted Shazly ahead of me too. Bernard was a short distance behind and I expected him to catch me.

Lap 1 time - 57mins (wow! thats around 30kph!!)

Carmen, Saiful and I exchanged places for a lap or so before I eventually pulled away (a little bit). May Senn and Patrick were also spotted on my travels, but no sign of Arif.

On lap 2 I caught Shazly. He managed to fend me off for a while but eventually I overtook him. I was surprised that Bernard hadn't made up any time on me - maybe my bike was helping!

Lap 2 time - 56mins (faster than 1st - wow again!)

I think it was towards the end of lap 3 that I caught Raymond. The mid-section of this lap was great as the wind had changed to give us a great tailwind, however this also made the last few km back to the final left hand turn at the roundabout a bit tough. A this point I pushed a bit hard with my left leg and my quad gave a tiny hint of cramp. This prompted me to get into spinning mode earlier than planned to get my legs ready for the run, so this lap was a few minutes slower.

Lap 3 time - 58mins

TOTAL Bike Time - 2:48:59 (my goodness gracious me! that's >30.5kph for 86km!)

Nutrition - 1 banana at the start of the ride, then a PowerGel every 45mins (total 4 i think)

T2:

I seemed to take forever in T2, but I was deliberately taking it calmly. Trying to put wet socks on quickly always ends in disaster!

Run (only 20km according to Google Earth):

Easy-does-it for the first 10mins and no sign of cramp - hooray! After 5 mins I came across a walking Jason - still trying to find his running legs. We ran together for a while before he dropped back, but glad to say he found his running legs and was close behind for the remainder of the race. After 1.5km (first u-turn) I could see a string of "rivals" breathing down my neck - Raymond, Shazly and Dicky Z. Only a minute or two behind me after the bike, Saiful cruised past me quite early on in the run. Carmen had passed me in T2 i think and was flying on the run. Sofian was spotted many times too - looking very calm & collected.

I ran all the way except the steep hill before the roundabout. My legs were tired, but ticking over, and I did the first 10km in little over an hour.

Run Lap 1 - 1:04:43

Running past the crowd at the end of the first lap provided some much-appreciated company and support, and part of me wished I could finish - anyway only 1 lap to go - no more after this one! One PowerGel left and I was slowing down so I drank as much energy drinks as I could. There was good support from one particular fan standing outside The Pulai Resort, and seeing numerous familiar faces who I knew had further to go than me was keeping me going!

Ray caught me about 5km into this lap and Dicky Z got me at the roundabout. However twice Dicky let me catch him by going to "water the daisies" - he pipped me by 36s in the end! With 1km to go I saw room-mate Bernard for the 3rd time on the run. The first 2 times I saw him (Lap 1) he looked very serious - "in the zone" I thought - running and listening to music - so no response to my greetings. This time he was still looking very stern, and didn't reply even though the MP3 player was off. Little did I know why he was not a happy-chappy! (see later)

I crossed the finish line in 6:07:09, well inside my 6:30:00 target, and was well-pleased, even getting slightly emotional (but only for a sec, and not showing it!).

Run Lap 2 - 1:09:39

Run Nutrition - 2 PowerGels (3 would have been better)

A Finish line smile with a hint of tiredness! - Photo By IronmanSam

Aftermath:

I was welcomed by Sam and Carmen and a few others at the finish, got my medal and refreshingly freezing cold Powerbar towel and a drink. Lizi was there and asked me if I'd seen Bernards bike. It then became apparent why he didn't look too happy. He'd cycled into someone who'd stopped in the middle of the road (idiot!) to vomit. Bernard's bike frame was therefore in three pieces instead of one. Luckily Bernard was still in one piece!

RESULT:

60th out of 112 in Mens 34-39 category.

S - 0:58:01
T1 - 0:03:39
B - 2:48:59
T2 - 0:02:08
R - 2:14:22
TOTAL - 6:07:09

Finishers Makan after the race

Sunday

We watched the Sprint race. If I hadn't have already packed I might have raced. It was great fun to watch a whole race and there was a great atmosphere.

Team 225 (our room no.) - Bernard, Adeline et moi.

We joined the post-race lunch but didn't hang around for all the prize-giving and headed home at 1pm. Back to KL by 6.30pm, where I managed to top the weekend off by watching the MotoGP and the crappy Red Devils lose 0-1 to City! ha ha!

If you're interested in what the pro's thought about this race, you can read the Team TBB (The Bike Boutique) race report here.

I will upload all my photos to a photo-sharing website soon. I have snaps of Willy, May Senn, Adeline, Azmar, Omar, Jeffrey, our evening seafood dinners etc...

Adidas King Of The Road

On a course confirmed as almost exactly 20km (1km shorter than it was supposed to be) by driving the route and also Google Earth, I somehow managed to shatter my 20km PB by about 8 minutes to finish in 1:52:53.

Struggling a bit up the final "hill" with 300m to go -
photo by the ever-reliable Tey

It's also the first 20km or longer run where I've managed to stay completely injury-free - no blisters or chafing and my left knee seems to be getting better as I continue to use a support tube thingy.

This was a good run with a good turnout by triathletes with half a mind on Desaru in 2 weeks - Arif, May Senn, Gunter, Bernard, Adeline, Jason (maiden run >10km for him - well done mate), Karen Galnexdor, Jaja, Eugene, Jasmine, Wendy Wong PCC TT Winner, the Pacemaker gang etc...

Shame there wasn't actually any water at the "water" stations, only 100+, and the distance markers were inaccurate.

Namedropping time - I had a nice chat with Kimbeley Yap after the run. She's off to Hungary on Tuesday and will be racing there next Saturday (ITU World Cup Race). It's a shame that races like in Singapore last week, where drafting on the bike is allowed, eliminates any advantage gained from being a strong swimmer like Kimbeley. You could beat the rest by a minute in the swim but then you have no opportunity to draft and are likely to get caught by riders who have put in much less effort.

Home at 10am-ish. Its great to do a long and satisfying run (and get a "Top Finisher" medal too!) and get home before the morning is over!

My blog is 1-year old and today's a good birthday - a 20km PB and a posh new toy!

No race next weekend. I'm due a long flat-ish bike ride to gain some endurance and get myself used to the new saddle, riding position and pedals.

PD Triathlon Race Report

Did I take part even though I was still ill? Of course I did!!! (sorry Mum!)...here's the story...

I woke-up at 0330 but managed to get back to sleep for an hour. I met Gunter at the Sungai Besi toll and off we went to PD, where we added to organiser Samantha's stress levels by pestering her for our numbers.

I forgot my camera and tape to attached powergels to my bike - must remember next time!

After meticulously setting-up in transition (one of many exciting aspects of triathlon!) I went for a swim warm-up. I was not looking forward to the swim due to my tiredness, but this feeling was masked by the usual pre-race excitement, which for this one was greater than usual as there were hundred's of participants including overseas Elite's - and almost everyone I knew was there, including a few Olympic-distance first timers.

Swim

The Elite's started first followed a few mins later by the under 29's. The wave start meant that we'd be spread out on the course according to age/category rather than ability. The swim was quite chaotic, with lots of swimmers and I was clashing with people until at least halfway! I actually really enjoy battling with others in the water! However I didn't suffer any damage nor dish any out really. My 750m time was about 16mins. Shortly thereafter someone kicked my HRM and stopped it - lucky I checked and restarted it. I reached the shore in under 32mins (PB), at the same time as Simon Cross and Don Khor. I managed crawl all the way except a few seconds of breaststroke for navigating or when obstructed.

T1

All OK except the exit that I had been told was "Bike Out" was clearly not in use yet and it took me a few secs to work out where the bike exit actually was. Time for my favourite bit - the bike ride...

Bike

I wasn't feeling my illness at all and felt quite good all the way. I overtook a fair few folk and seemed to be passed only by the leaders of the waves behind me. I was pleased to overtake and drop a guy with an unusual 'V' shaped aero frame and a rear disc! I 'cheated' a bit by drafting but only for a few minutes and was chuffed to reach the u-turn in well under 40mins. I'd seen Gunter and Bernard pass me just before I got to the 20km point, but at this point I didn't know where Arif or May Senn were. I was expecting Karen to catch me at some point but so far so good.

On the return leg Arif whizzed by me in a big pack. My objective then was to not give Arif too much of an advantage before the run (I am pleased to announce that Arif is my official triathlon target-man as he's a very similar standard as me!!). I managed to spot Adeline, May Senn, Karen and Kate in my last 20km. Arif & co. slowly gained 500m or so on me but similarly to the May tri clinic, I managed a late burst of speed in the last few km and thought that my target couldn't be too far ahead! As I approached T2 I saw Shazly on the start of his run. He was having a good race as I overtook him on the bike in Kenyir, but this one was a different story.

T2

Mmmmmm...wet shoes and socks! (It had rained) but no probs and into the run.

Run

I didn't feel great for the first 10minutes and I was hampered slightly by the threat of a stitch. I also needed a "natural break" but really didn't want to stop! As always my running legs came around after 10mins or so and I caught sight of Arif after a few km! Still no sign of Karen - either I was fast or she started waaaaaaaaay behind me.

The run was good fun as it was an out-n-back course all on the same side of the road so it was one-handed high-5's with all my Tri buddies! At the u-turn I'd just poured a cup of water into my lungs (not a good idea) and as my body vigorously attempted to eject the water, the u-tun marshall must have thought I was going to vomit all over him. Fortunately I got over it and plodded on. Shortly after the u-turn the inevitable happened and Karen cruised past me.

The u-turn was further away than at the Tri clinic so I suspected it was a full 10k run, but my time of 53mins+ is a bit too fast for that , so maybe it was 9km+.

Aftermath

A very enjoyable event. The rain in the first half of the run cooled things down nicely, and I'm well pleased with my 2:45+ time. For once I remembered to eat and drink soon after the finish to feed my muscles so come Monday my legs felt fine.

Swim - 31:27
T1 - 2:18
Bike - 1:16:05 (40km PB! - out 38:00, in 38:05) - mr consistent!
T2 - 1:52
Run - 53:33 (out 26:28, in 27:05)
TOTAL - 2:45:15

Here's a few snaps (thanks to Tey and Gunter)...

Must remember to look up next time!

Happy, with another medal!

With Gunter, Karen & Bernard

Nice event t-shirt too!

Finally, a big shout-out to this man...

...who put in an incredible effort to finish the Olympic Tri. He put in so much effort in his finally sprint to the line that he almost collapsed and needed some help for a while to stay upright. Well done to you!

Ipoh International Run

I was ill AGAIN in the run up to this race - that's twice in a month I've been struck by something. By Friday lunchtime I'd had enough so I went home for a rest, unsure of whether I'd make it to the weekends race or not.

Sat a.m. I was feeling better so I drove up to Ipoh. By the afternoon I was feeling quite good but somehow became worse in the evening. I felt fine except the feeling that someone had taken a blowtorch to my windpipe.

I look forward to these races SO much it takes a hell of a lot to force me out, and even at 4am the next morning, after a poor nights sleep and with the blowtorch feeling still there, I still held out hope.

I woke at 5.45am but didn't rise until 6.10am, only 35mins before flag-off! I decided that I would get to the point of no return before decided to run or not. I arrived with 10mins to spare. As I made my way to the reporting point, still 8 mins to go, a swarm of runners came past - I'd missed the start - they started early! (or so I thought). I reported and got my black wrist tag and started running - then I realised the swarm was just running to the start from a holding area. Phew!

By now I was caught up in the event and was all set to go. Somehow I managed to spot Ah Fook in the crowd and met up with him. "See you in 2 1/2 hrs" I said, giving myself an extra 30mins for this run.

This was a BIG run so the first 4km was a bit congested. At one point I punched a rather petite girl in the back of her shoulder (sorry 'bout that). After 4km or so the 10k route split from ours and it was a bit more calm. At 5km the 1km markers started which gave me a good idea of pace.
I was doing 6:00 per km and tried to stick to that.

It was a flat route and after 7km I started to become rather familiar with the runners in front and behind as we all ran a similar pace. Its funny how in long races like this these people become a big part of one's life for 1-2 hours as all one thinks about is the race, and the only people around are those who overtake or the ones you catch up.

As usual I slowly began to reel people in as the race progressed, and even managed to overtake a few who'd passed me earlier. I don't like being overtaken at the end but today there was one Vet. in a saggy yellow top who got me right at the end. He'd passed me at km5 but I caught and passed him at about km19 only to lose it in the end.

As in PD, my left knee (outside ligament?) gave me a bit of trouble in this race but not as bad as before.

Wow! 1km to go - check the muscly legs!

To my great surprise and delight I got a medal for finishing in 100th place, in 2:08:05, a couple of minutes outside my mid-race target of 2:06:00. Due to the seemingly accurate km markers I'm also awarding myself a PB for 15km - 1:30:43.

More run photos of me here.

There's another 3 Half-marathons before the Desaru & S'pore long-distance triathlons but I'm beginning to think I should give at least one a miss as I'm missing out on bike time - these days I'm cycling only 30-60km a week and will need to get some 100km+ rides in before August.

Swim Lesson #11

Bukit Jalil, 6.15-8pm+

• Warm-up 800m
• 1 x 100m with paddle + buoy
• 1 x 100m with paddle
• 1 x 100m with paddle + buoy
• 2 x 100m normal
• 3 x (4 x 50m) hard with 20s rest after each 50
• 3 x 300m normal
• 1 x 100m (race) in 1:49 (new PB!)
• 1 x 100m cool-down

TOTAL = 3,000m

Breast Is Not Best

Well well well!

I surprised myself last night by managing to swim 1500m front-crawl at Bukit Jalil in 35:29, a mere 17 seconds slower than my best breaststroke effort! As you can see from yesterdays post I was only aiming to beat 40 minutes! This was the first time I'd done 1500m continuously in a pool. The only other times I've managed to do that was in the Kenyir Tri and the recent PD Tri Clinic.

Coach Peh was spying on me as he was coaching others, and he said that in 2 weeks I'd be able to do 34 minutes.......so that's it......new target....same again but in under 34:00 by 9 July 07. (That's 2:16 per 100m)

I now think that the Kenyir swim might actually have been the full 1500m. At the time I thought it was short as my time was 37mins-ish, but judging from last night perhaps it was about right.

I must admit I'm pretty impressed with my week-by-week improvement, but I guess that's because I'm still on the steep bit of the learning curve and my improvements will begin to slow done. Anyway it's great that I'm already only 29s away from a 2-month old target that I only planned to achieve before the end of 2007. I'm now thinking about improving to 30:00 by the end of the year.

That's enough time to beat Bernard in an Olympic Tri!!! Watch out Bernard, here I come!

New Double Hill PB

Sat. 14/4/07
6.30am
10.8km in 0:59:13 @5:29/km

Lack of motivation on Thursday and heavy rain on Friday postponed my return to the Double Hill after alomst 2 months. As I have done hardly any running in the last few weeks except in events, I was determined to run this week, so I modified my usual Saturday a.m. routine to squeeze a 10.8k run in...0:59:13 - a new PB by 3m58s!

I suspected that I might be able to dip under the hour for the first time and seemed quite quick in the first 3km. After that I felt ok and reached halfway a few minutes up on previous times. In the second half I felt tired and even walked for about 40s, but the long slight downhill to Bukit Tunku helped me recover and I reached the turn towards the final hill in 50mins - 5 mins faster than usual. At 55mins I knew I'd get a PB so took it easy up the final hill and downhill to the car.

PD Half "Swim"athon 2007 Race Report

Breakfast - 1 PowerBar Triple Threat at 4.30am
Race Start - 7.05am
Weather - constant rain, sometimes heavy. Windy.
Race nutrition - water @ 5, 10 & 15km, 1/2 PowerGel @ 10km and 1/2 2 or 3km later
Average HR - 158bpm (same as KLIM 21k 2 weeks ago).
Post-race weight - 78kg (after re-hydrating and food)

Thanks to Ronnie & gang for this photo taken before the start...


I finished in a suspiciously fast 2:01:09. That's over 13 mins faster that KLIM 2 weeks ago. Even if KLIM is 21.9km as reported by der pacemakers, it still would have taken me 2h9m for 21k. So todays run would still be an 8 minute or >1km improvement. I'll keep it as an unofficial record until I see what der pacemakers have to say about the route distance.

The entire run was done in rain, mostly heavy, with rivers of water in the road - hence "swimathon" post title. So I carried another 0.5kg of water with me, mainly in my shoes. Last 5km I had a bad non-muscular pain in the outside of my left knee. This left me limping a bit at the end, but fortunately the pain went completely after the run. Interestingly enough it actually disappeared in the last 100m of the run, which was on wet grass or sand, as opposed to the tarmac for the previous 20.9km.

Ronnie, Ah Fook, Nezz and Azman were there. I started seemingly slowly, as planned. I passed Nezz after 3km. There weren't too many runners so even after only a couple of km there was no pack - just individual runners now and again. This was very good for me as I tend to keep the same pace for entire races, meaning that I overtake lots of people and rarely get passed by anyone - this feels good! At the u-turn at about 7.5km Ah Fook was 2m10s ahead of me and my target was to catch him. For the next 8 or 9km I kept going, passing other runners every few minutes. At 16km I finally caught Ah Fook! Just after this my left knee began to hurt and my pace slowed. At 18 or 19km another carrot appeared before me - it was one of Pacesetters "cover girls", walking and running. She's normally faster than me so I was pleased to be in sight of her. I struggled on for the last 2km, limping a bit, but in the end the Finish line came quite soon and it was all over. Half-marathon #2 - been there done that!

I felt good throughout the whole race, even the usually difficult first 30mins. I think that the rain helped by keeping me cool. Also, I haven't run at all for the last 2 weeks so perhaps my running muscles were relatively fresh, but my fitness still kept in shape by cycling and swimming.

I spoke to Nezz after the race - first time I actually spoke to her for more than 30s, which was nice. Good luck at A'Famosa next weekend Nezz! I saw Azman finish towards the end of the prize-giving ceremony. I think that Azman deserves a bigger medal than everyone else for having the balls to do these 21k runs. Well done Azman! PB today??

Here's my cert. and particularly heavy medal! It's not often I get a medal so I'm well pleased with this one!


My travelling chums Wendy (in red) and Bee Hoon (yellow). They were 4th and 2nd respectively in their category of the 11km run.

More to come!