twy’s blog!

Results are out!

My official time: 5 hrs 01 mins 12 secs, almost exactly my own timing. But no position. Guess I am good as DNF.

Details:
Date: 11 Nov 2006
Venue: Lumut, Perak
Distance: 10km run – 60km bike – 10km run

I have been looking forward to this race since early this year. Wanted to du the earlier duathlon in the MMDS series, but somehow had other agenda on those days. This is my first duathlon, and chose the long distance race instead of the shorter sprint distance. My training was ok. Been doing long distance run and cycling. But I didn’t do any training under the sun, and a combination of the disciplines. That turned out to be disastrous, and you will find out soon.

Left Penang early Saturday morning with my gf. She took part in the sprint distance. Had breakfast, and drove straight to Lumut. Got off the highway at Changkat Jering, drove pass Pantai Remis to Lumut. Passed by the cycling and running route along the way. Looks quite flat, except for one bridge which has a moderate slope. Not too bad, so I thought.

Many roads were closed in Lumut, which made driving a little bit harder than expected. Luckily the car in front of me was going to Orient Star Hotel as well, so I just followed it. Reached Orient Star. Collected the stuff and timing chip. Bought 1 pack of PowerGel. Called up DJ Hotel (formerly Harbour View Hotel) to get directions, and found out it was right in town. Checked in, had a light meal, get ready, last minute bike check, and off we went into the transition area.

Initially, it was cloudy. I thought it might be my lucky day. Then the clouds just disappeared and it was hot! Met Abdul Haris who was just a few bikes away only. Warmed up, but it was so hot that it was more than just warming up. Everybody was just trying to get as much shade as possible. Around 12.45pm, we were asked to go to the starting point. Chit chat a lititle bit with friendly strangers. The MC announced the elites, and at 1pm sharp, we were off. Took my own sweet time. Didn’t want to push too much. I think I was running maybe 8+ km/h. It was blistering hot! Drank as much water as I could at each water station. Stopped a few times. Made it back in around 1 hr 15 mins. I targeted slightly faster, but nevermind.

Transition was smooth. I thought that it wouldn’t rain, so I didn’t keep my shoes in the plastic bag. Drank 2 cups of 100 plus at the exit. Then, the disaster started. First one of my calves started to cramp up. Then the other. Ok, nevermind, maybe I didn’t rehydrate myself properly during the run. Drank more 100 plus that I had on my bike, ate power gel, and cycled slowly. But the cramp just didn’t go away. Tried to stretch with my feet on the pedal, but it didn’t help. I don’t know how many times I stopped to strech, or stretched while on the bike. At one point, I saw a cyclist on the opposite side of the road just fell down and was shouting in pain. I can see that his cramp was pretty bad. His feet was still stuck on the pedal. I stopped and wanted to go over to help him. But the crew came and managed to helped him. I continued, but the cramp just didn’t go away. Then, I saw dark clouds in the distance. Wind started to get stronger, and the next thing, it started to rain quite heavily. I was only wearing my spectacles, and I was cycling into the wind. The rain was poking my eyes, and it was pretty painful. I could barely keep my eyes open. Reached the u-turn, and I was probably among the last few then. At one point, I thought I would finish the bike portion in 3 hrs, when my target is 2 hrs.

From then on, nothing but cramps. Finished the first loop in about 1 hr 10 mins. Then, another problem was about to happen. First, I couldn’t shift from the smaller chainring to the larger chainring. Fine, since I wasn’t going to cycle so fast anyway. Next thing, I noticed by crank was wobbling. Damage control. Reduced pace, and the cramp was still present. Then, wobbled even more. Stopped to check. Looked like my crank was falling apart. Gave it a strong kick to push it back. Luckily I had my multi-tool with me, and tightened everything that was loose. Seems fine, but still couldn’t shift. On the return part of the 2nd loop, the head wind was so strong, that I was almost on my lowest gear. Finished the bike portion in just under 2 hrs 20 mins.

At this point, I had about 1 hr 15 mins to finish the 2nd run to make it inside the 5 hrs cut-off time. OK, difficult, but if I continue running slowly, I might just make it. Cramps was still present, but I kept pushing. I was racing against the clock! I knew that it was pretty much on the borderline. As I approached the finish line, the MC announced my name. But too bad, finished just over 5 hrs. Unofficial time: 5 hrs 01 mins 11 secs.

Most gruelling race of my life. The bag that was given during registration was written “Rain or Shine, I DU!”. Well, all of the participants can claim to that! But it was fun and was a great experience. At least now I knew even more about my body. Not sure if there’ll be any duathlon next year, but if there is, I’ll be there and see you there!

This is way overdue, and lazy to write about it.

Date: 10 Sep 2006
Distance: 6km
Time: 37 mins 26 secs (slight improvement over last year)