Maiden Triathlon - PD 2009

Apa ni? semuanya 'Maiden'. Well, its better than saying 'lost virginity' kan? as I lost my virgin in triathlon-ing. And did it joyfully.

This event came 2 weeks after KL Marathon, where I struggled to complete. So this time, I dont want to get hard done by again. I vowed to prepare myself better this time.

The real training only starts the Sunday, a week before the race. As this race intially, was supposed to be a warm-up for the half ironman(IM) end of July(postponed to Oct) , I planned for a heavy duty training sessions, fully knowing the risk that I might not be in peak condition for the PD race bcos I would only be in the middle of my 1/2 IM training.

That was also add on to the fact that my feet was still hurting from the Marathon. So the Sunday a week before the race, Bandit was kind enough to accompany me for an 80K ride in Dengkil/Sepang. Chipang was there too. Was sluggish after the first 50K, but was not worried bcos will be doing Olympic Distance (OD - Swim 1.5K, Bike 40K, Run 10K) in PD.

The week leading up to the race, did double sessions everyday. Gym during lunch followed by run/swim at night. By Friday, I think I'm at 60-70% condition. Good enough to pull me thru the race.

On Sat, checked in to PDGC. Then when straight to register for the race, took me bloody 45 minutes. I was actually intimidated a little bit, looking at all the well defined and toned body of most of the athletes, and the bikes, talk also no use, semua power2. But re-grouped my thoughts, I need to focus abt me only, dont get physcoed by this.

Had a trial swim in the sea with Bandit before the sprint event, which was really a good move, cos now I know how it feels to swim in open water. Needed some time to get to use to, as the water was quite choppy.

Later at night, had the carbo loading dinner and briefing at the hotel. Tesa, Noah, Cyrus and Alisha came arnd 9.30 pm. Went for another round of sea food dinner, and joined by Mantat as well.

Woke up at 6am on Sunday, do my usual stuffs, kubab 2 kali. Biked out from the apratment with Stupe and Bandit. They helped me a lot on how to organise my stuffs in the T area. Did the body marking and went kubab again as usual.

Went for a warm-up swim with bandit 30 mins before start. Tesa and Cyrus came to see me start-off, and I told them to wait 45 mins, cos Ill be out of the water by then. Confident je nak cakap mcm tu.

I was not really nervous at the starting line, even when I dont fully know what to expect. Maybe its because I was confident that I did enough training, and the fact that I've done distances more than the OD in my trainings, cuma tak pernah buat continously je la. The only thing that troubles me was how would I react if I have a puncture. Only had that once during training, and itupun Bandit yg tolong. Well, too late to back out now. Belasah je lah.

We were flagged off at 8:15, and what Stupe said was entirely correct, It was a contact sport. Ppl keep on sepak-ing, pelangkung-ing and shoving me left right up and down for the first 200-300 m. And the choppy water was not doing any favour either. It was very hard to keep my strokes, end up that I need to lift up my head every 3-4 strokes to look to where I was going. After the 1st bouy, as I was entering the marina, the strokes were getting smoother and the traffic clearer. Starting to enjoy it.

As I made the U-turn, tried to relieve myself, kencing la...Ok, now I learn 1 thing, susah nak kencing while swimming, kena stop jugak. The route back was excellent, really enjoyed it. I think I did the fastest in this section. But it gets harder again when I'm back at the last bouy as we were faced again with the strong waves. To my surprise, I clocked 47 min to finish the swim and Tesa n Cyrus were still there, keeping to my words that I'll be done in 45 mins.

Ran to T1, takkan nak jln kot, tak macho la. But at T1, relax gile, pakai kasut slow2 and jalan tolak the bike out. As I started pedalling, I remembered Bandit said not to push too hard for the first few K. Did just that. But after 5K, I've been passed by a lot of cyclist. Lembab sgt ke aku ni? Bila ada org potong je, I will look at the crank position they were using and try to emulate that. Tapi tak laju jugak. I even stopped to pump my back tyre as I tot it doesnt have enough air, a reason I was slow. Shdnt have done that.

I wanted to enjoy the ride, but looking at so many ppl passing me, on the route back I tekan sikit. Maybe shaved 5 mins off. But total bike time was 1:37. Terrible. Need to improve. Especially on the techniques.

At T2, sama jugak mcm T1, took my own sweet time to pakai kasut and tukar bib to my running vest. Leceh betul la nak kena pin2 ni. Shd have bought the racing belt the day before. Started off running behind Upiq and passed him few hundred metres after that, and saw Tesa and the whole family there to cheer me on.

Felt my legs very heavy for the 1st 5k, effect of cycling. Kam told me to do bricks to teach the muscle memory not to have this effect. Walked at all the water stations. Probably was doing 6-6:30 in the first 5K. But hit my strap turning back. Maybe it was like 5:30/km. Enjoyed it very much. Passed by all friends during this leg.

As I was entering the finishing line, wanted to sprint, tapi kaki ada rasa keras2 mcm nak cramp, so just maintained the pace. Greeted first by Chipang 30 m from the line, and then by Tesa, Noah, Cyrus, Alisha, and Mantat. Crossed the line in 3:31. Still in a very good spirit, and enjoyed it very, very, very much. Will come again next year.

Timing:
Swim 1.5K = 47 mins
Bike 40K = 1 hr :37 mins
Run 10K = 58 mins
Total Transitions = 9 mins
Total Time = 3hr 31 mins

Target was 3:30. Lari seminit.

*I want to say special thx to Bandit, Stupe, Mantat, Kam, Upiq, Chipang, Cyrus, Alisha and off course my beloved Tesa and Noah.