A'Famosa Target

Believe it or not, this time yesterday there was a serious possibility that I'd be jetting-off to Dubai for an interview this weekend and missing the long-awaited season-opener in Malacca. Somehow I managed to get away with a phone interview so I will be lining up for both Tri's at the weekend - hooray!

Last year I did the Oly race in 3:02 but the bike and run routes were short (37km / 8km according to me). Assuming the same route - I want to finish in under 2:40.

My plan is to put a lot of effort into the swim and take it easy on the bike to make sure I have a good run. Last year was my first Olympic tri and I remember really struggling on the run even though it was less than 8km.

I am really looking forward to this weekend as I haven't seen all my tri buddies for a long time - and for the first time ever I have Jackie and Lucas with me!

Phuket Target

A decent swim...1,800m in 0:45:00 (2:30 per 100m)
T1 = 0:03:00
An easy ride...55km in 1:58:00 @ 28kph
T2 = 0:02:00
A decent run...12km in 1:24:00 @ 7min/km (a little slower than my current long-distance pace)

TOTAL = 4:12:00

My plan is to really go for it in the swim to see what my best is, then have a leisurely ride, in the hope that I can save myself for a reasonable run (i.e. no walking, and at a reasonable pace).

Fingers crossed. (FUN is top priority though!)

Just When You Thought It Was Safe...

...to rest and think of a nice relaxing Ramadan...the Powerman website is updated with details of this years race on Nov 11th.

It's on the Sunday, it's 11-64-10km, and it's in the morning!

See you in Lumut!

70.3 Target

Following a 6:07:09 Desaru race, with a difficult swim, a 4km short ride and a 1km short run, my target for Singapore is a faster swim (depending on conditions) and same speed bike and runs = 6:16:30. Round down to add some spice to the proceedings =

6:15:00

Fingers crossed!

Home Run

As part of my ideas to squeeze more training into my time without sacrificing time for other things, I ran from the office to home last night, along Jalan Bangsar and through the heart of Friday rush-hour KL, to Kg. Baru and Kg. Datuk Keramat - 14.2km in 1h30m+. Not a bad time considering all the stops at junctions, and the dodgy pavements. I walked a couple of times early on too.

It would have taken me 45mins to travel by LRT, so I effectively got 1.5hrs training into 45mins. I must admit though it wasn't the most pleasant run route in the World - perhaps a Friday evening isn't the best day to do it.

Here's the route...


An easy 16km ride to work this a.m. aboard the new Stealth, which is off to Edwins today for a bit of work to be done in preparation for the biggie next weekend - Aviva 70.3 Singapore.

Subang 10k tomorrow a.m. Hope to set a new 10k PB and be home by 10am!

Seeya!

Subang or PCC?

I'm not sure what to do this Sunday - Subang 10km or a PCC ride. I'll decide once I know what ride is planned. It's the Singapore 70.3 race the following weekend and a 10km run isn't great training but its hard to resist a crack at at 10km PB and getting a medal that I missed out on last year.

In 2006 I clocked 1:05:23 in Subang. My official 10k PB is 57:47, set a few weeks ago in the KOTR, but my best Double Hill (10.8km) time would suggest that I have done an unmeasured 10km in about 54:50.

Mmmm... what target to set for this weekend then?

Desaru Target

10 days to go so it's target time again (us Engineer's love to analyse things). Here goes...

I reckon...

• swim at same pace as PD Tri...
• 3 mins per transition (1 min each more than usual)
• ride at a conservative 25kph = 3h36...so make it 3h30m allowing for posh new bike
• run...could do 2hrs on its own, so guess 2h15m after swim n bike...
• then shave a bit off here and there to give a "nice" target time...
  

giving...

Swim 2km - 0:43:00
T1 - 0:02:30
Bike 90km - 3:28:00
T2 - 0:02:30
Run 21km - 2:14:00

TOTAL - 6:30:00

well thats sounds nice but I've never done an event like this. i reckon the swim n bike will be ok but what remains to be seen is how my legs can handle 21k of running after a 90km ride!!

fingers crossed!

Star-Studded S'pore 70.3

This news is getting me pretty excited for this race. I'll be rooting for UK Tri-couple Stephen Bayliss and (fellow-Jock) Bella Comerford...

The reigning Ford Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Craig Alexander, will headline a star studded field entered for the inaugural Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore the exciting debut event for Ironman 70.3 racing in Asia set for September 2nd 2007.

Number one seed for the race, Alexander joins three other athletes to have won world titles in triathlon. Bella Comerford of the United Kingdom was the 2006 World Long Distance Champion and a four time winner of Ironman Florida while Dutchwoman, Yvonne van Vlerken is the reigning world long distance Duathlon Champion and winner of the 2006 Ironman 70.3 Antwerp, Belgium. The international duo are joined by Australian Olympian, Rina Hill, the 1998 World Long Distance champ and the first woman ever to win an Ironman swim (3.8km) outright enroute to a fifth place in Ironman Switzerland 2000.

Alexander, a US based Australian athlete, remains unbeaten over the Ironman 70.3 distance, but his entry in Singapore sets up a 'battle royal' between himself and one of the sport's fastest stars, Australian Luke Bell, already a winner of Ironman 70.3 races in Lake Stevens, Buffalo Springs and California and second placed in Ironman New Zealand this year and Ironman Brazil last year!

The Aussie duo will be also put under pressure from Swiss number one, Ronnie Schildknecht, the remarkable triathlete who has just completed an impressive double in winning both the 2007 Ironman Switzerland, and the 2007 Ironman 70.3 Switzerland!

The Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore elite field features a total of 34 of the world's top triathletes - all heading to Singapore for what will be arguably be the best international field at an Ironman 70.3 race this year!

Attracted by the first ever Ironman 70.3 in Asia, the largest purse outside of the USA, and the excitement of preparing in Singapore for both the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world champs in Hawaii and Florida (Singapore conditions closely emulate those of Florida and Hawaii), elite athletes have been drawn from the four corners of the world.

There's also the added attraction of the Aviva Excellence Awards that have boosted the prize money for the pro racers by $12,000 SGD to close to $38,000USD!

From Europe, the entries are led by Schildknecht and the Swiss No# 2, Mathias Hecht, joined by Germany's Uwe Vidmann, a consistent performer in European Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races, and Denmark's national Champion, Oyvind Johannessen. Stephen Bayliss from Great Britain was fifth in Ironman Brazil and two time British Olympian, Andrew Johns, second in the 2007 Ironman Malaysia event join the Euro based athletes.

In the women's field the Netherlands's van Vlerken is joined by two UK stars in Comerford and rising star, Chrissie Wellington, fifth at her first Ironman 70.3 start in the UK just weeks ago.

From the Americas there's Canada's Michael Simpson, 5th in the Ironman 70.3 World Champs last November, and Brazilian superstar in the making, Reinaldo Colucci, second in this year's Ironman Brazil, plus a team of US based Australian athletes in Alexander, Bell, Mirinda Carfrae (third in the 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Champs), and New Zealand's Bryan Rhodes who has twice won Ironman Malaysia and the Ironman UK once...

Add in an Anzac invasion of New Zealand and Australian based stars from the global Ironman 70.3 series, such as Australian Ironman 70.3 winner and four times Ironman Korea winner, Belinda Granger, reigning Ironman Australia champion Rebekah Keat and Ironman West Australia winner, Jason Shortis, plus Olympian, Maxine Seaar, top five finisher in Ironman Switzerland, Ali Fitch, and top Aussie internationals, all regulars on the Ironman 70.3 or Half Ironman podiums in Peter Jacobs, Cameron Watt, Tim Berkel, and young guns, Tom Jepson, Josh Rix and Aaron Farlow.

New Zealand will also have some rising stars present in Hamish Johnson and Scott Larsen!

The remarkable race through the CBD of Singapore has also attracted the biggest challenged athlete field of 2007, with five individuals and a trio of PC athlete teams taking on the awesome Ironman 70.3 challenge and the organisers and field taking on an an assistance program for the SDSC.

And behind the flying pro athletes will be over 1200 age group triathletes and team swimmers, cyclists and runners - the individuals competing for 75 qualifying slots to the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship and all competing for the unique Ironman Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore finisher's medal.

Entries for this ground breaking event have grown to represent 44 countries from around the world, meaning Singapore on September 2nd will the global sporting focus of the Ironman 70.3 world!

Entries remain open for the spectacular Singapore event; but with the field nearing capacity, it's time to act. Enter now.

Further event information is available through the official website at www.ironman703singpore.com.

Desaru Pengerang Long Distance Triathlon

Details are up...

Page 1 here
Page 2 here

Accommodation sorted, might do the Sunday a.m. Sprint also. Will need another 1.5days off work, my boss will wonder what on earth I do with my weekends.

I plan to unveil my new weapon of mass destruction in this race!

The Build Up

It's a big weekend coming up for me! (Try not to get too excited in case things go pear-shaped!)

Posh bus trip to S'pore on Friday afternoon. Lucas is SO excited about being able to play computer games on the bus!

Sat 9am I have an appointment at the Bike Boutique to be fitted for my new bike frame. Its a Planet X Stealth Pro Carbon and a big lanky streak like me needs a 57cm XL. I'll have to make do with black as that's all they have in my size. I'll probably also pick up a stem, spare tubs, a hydro-tail and maybe even a new tri-suit.

Sunday 11am-ish is triathlon time and my target will be...

Swim - 31:00
T1 - 2:00
Bike - 1:18:00
T2 - 2:00
Run - 1:00:00
TOTAL - 2:53:00

Its Rasmussen vs Contador on TV for 2 hours tonight. No doubt whichever one took the most drugs or blood transfusions yesterday will be the winner! Oops - that could be libelous!

Due to being supplied with copious amounts of fine Japanese food and sake by my colleagues from the Land Of The Rising Son on Monday night I was to "ill" to ride on Tuesday night and am still pretty tired today so my training is not exactly high-intensity...and there's only 3 weeks until Desaru! That has crept up quietly!!

Back To It

Poor old Vino! - look at the state of him -

15 stitches in each knee and a lot less skin on his right elbow. His mate Kloden has fractured his coccyx. Both are in my fantasy team. The day before Friday 13th was bad luck for them, and me!

I fully back into training mode now.

Wed - turbo sesh
Thu - 5km run in gym
Fri - 5km run in gym
Sat - 26km ride to work
Sun - Seremban Half Marathon

My target for tomorrow is to beat 2:06:00. I'd better sleep early tonight. I've been up until 12am every night keeping an eye on Le Tour live on the internet. I am gutted that Eurosport showed the Giro and Dauphine live every day but not the Tour De France. They had Beach Soccer on last night instead - ?!?!?!?

In other news, the S'pore Tri schedule has been announced and my race doesn't start until 11.15am!!!!!! It'll be super hot - I'll be racing until about 2.45pm! Although it means I don't have to get up so early and can watch the Elite race, it totally messes up my plans to leave S'pore by bus at 4.30pm. I thought I'd start racing at 7-8am, and I've already paid for the bus tickets (non-refundable, and not cheap!).

Kenyir Lake Tri

I'll be off to Lake Kenyir by bus tomorrow night, for Malaysia's "toughest" triathlon. My goals for this race are a bit different following my disappointing non-crawl swim in the Bukit Merah biathlon. My plan is as follows:

Swim - as long as it takes using front crawl. If that means 45 minutes, so be it!
Bike - enjoy my favourite bit as much as poss, and save legs for a good 10k run. Time under 1:30:00.
Run - run the 10km in a decent time (say 1:05:00) and only stop for drinks.
Overall - allow 4 mins for T1+T2 = finish inside 3:24:00.

I'm off for a 5k KLCC run tonight and plan on some leisurely exercise on Saturday.

Fakawi Uphill Race Series

Click on the image to go to the event website. Please pass word around regarding this event series. I have posted links to this post on the way2ride and swimbikerunmalaysia forums.

RM30 entry (per 'stage' I think), individual riders set-off at 1 min intervals. Max. distance is 20km. There are off-road and on-road stages - these are the on-road stages:

17 June - Batu 14 Ulu Langat (possibly the Tekali hill)
1 July - Genting Sempah (HOA - Sempah I presume)
5 August - Batang Kali (Ulu Yam towards Genting perhaps?)


This series nicely fills in the 2 remaining gaps in my event calendar, which now has something on every Sunday from now until 9 September!

Duathlon Target

My target for the Duathlon this Sunday is to finish in under 3 hours.

Run 10km - 1:00:00
Transition 1 - 02:00
Bike 40km - 1:26:00
Transition 2 - 02:00
Run 5km - 0:30:00
TOTAL - 3:00:00

Big Swim-Run-Bike Weekender!

This weekend will include plenty of cycling and driving, some swimming and running, and hopefully enough sleep to suit!

I'll be driving up to Ipoh on Saturday morning to check-in for Sunday's 160km Century Ride (see route map below). I'll leave my bike at my Aunt Malar's house and then it's off up a bit further North to Bukit Merah for a late afternoon Biathlon (1km swim and 6km run). Carbo-loading dinner afterwards then back to Ipoh for the night.

My plan for the biathlon is just to do as much front crawl as poss, get some experience of sighting properly, and enjoy battling in the water with the others. I'm not too bothered about speed. For the run I'll be taking is easy - my only desire is to test if I can run without socks and still avoid blisters and chafing.

A nice target for me is...

Swim 30:30
Transition 1:00
Run 36:00
TOTAL 1:07:30

I'm saving myself for the big one on Sunday, 160km around Ipoh. It's not a race but I really want to finish in less than 7 hours. If I'm feeling super-fit, or if there's any paceline action , it'd be good to do it in 6h24m at an average speed of 25kph.

Singapore 70.3 Tri - Route Announced

Click on the image to enlarge it.

OSIM Singapore Triathlon 2007

They're coming thick and fast now...bring 'em on!!!


Registration is open for the 2007 OSIM S'pore Tri and you've guessed it..I've registered already!

Swim Power, Lesson #6

Swimming:

I went to Bukit Jalil again last night for swimming training. I swam at least 2000m all front crawl! 700m warm-up (not all at once) then 3 sets of...4 x 50m + 2 x 100m. Then 2 sets of 2 x 50m + 1 x 100m.

Rotating my body/shoulders more and aiming lower with my leading hand makes a big difference. For that session one other thing I was working on was maintaining the power in my push right until the end of the stroke.

Power Run

It's the Power Run this Sunday. Officially it is 10km but I think it is actually 10.7km. I don't plan to do 10k events this year (I want to stick to 15km or 21km's) but seing that I have some days coming soon where I can go for long rides before the 100-mile ride on 6 May, I thought I'd do this run to compare my time to last year.

In 2006 I finished in 1:19:04 but considering my recent sub-hour 10.8km hilly run my target for this weekend is also to break the hour barrier. In fact I'm going to push it a bit and say...0:58:40. Hopefully the crowd wont slow me down at the start.

Singapore City Duathlon

What a way to cheer me up on a Saturday lunchtime (stuck in the office!) - registration for the long-delayed Singapore Duathlon is open! The website is HERE.

I'll be there!

My New Toy

This is my new toy (the saddle) to make me feel faster this weekend! We (rather - Lucas) finally got paid for the Dutch Lady modelling so Mum & I pinched a bit of cash from him (management fee!?!?) to buy toys for us!

I've put the bike rack on the car, F1 parking sticker in the windscreen, packed...clean bike in the morning then off to A'Famosa!!! Hooray!! I can't wait to get in the water!! 3.5hours of madness on Sunday here we come!!