twy’s blog!

First of all, Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers. Gong Xi Fa Cai

I haven’t been updating much here. Acutally, I was secretly training for the Ironman Langkawi. Yes, I made this crazy decision around September last year. With about 6 months training, I thought I could do it. So, began my journey to swim 3.8km, cycle 180.2km, and run 42.2km.

But I faced a lot of obstacles along the way. Among them sickness (I fell sick a few times in January), bad weather, even flood. I was forced to go on leave for 2 weeks in December, so I went back to my parent’s place in Melaka. It started raining and then the whole place got flooded. There goes one week of my training. Anyway, to the exact opposite, I was confident of my swimming (my weakest) and was so worried with my cycling. I only managed the longest distance of 125km during my training. Furthest on the run was only 20km. So, booked the hotel and boat ride from Penang to Langkawi.
Fast forward to race day eve. Checked in my bike. Drooled over the TT bikes with disc wheels. Woke up at 4am at race morning. Had my meal (Milo, Powerbar and banana), and went to the transition area. The place was already buzzing with people. Had myself numbered and then weighed by the medical staff. My gf asked why they have to weigh ourself. I remember reading somewhere that if the competitor loose a certain amount of weight during the race (5kg is it?), the medical team had the right to pull that competitor out.

It was still dark. Warmed out and drank some water. I am not very good at threading water, so I just waited at the pontoon. Then around 7.20am, bang. Most were caught by surprise although official starting time is 7.15am but it was still quite dark then. So, took my own sweet time swimming. A bit of knocking here and there at the beginning. As I was quite slow, swimmers started to leave me behind and I got my space. Difficult to see the buoys (one competitor commented during the briefing that the buoys were the smallest he had ever seen in any ironman competition). Well, just swim towards one buoy at a time. The flag on it were alternating between red and yellow. Finally I saw one big buoy with both yellow and red flag on it and I was overjoyed. Saw my watch and I was about 55 mins at the U-turn. Right on target, so I thought. The return leg was the toughest. I wasn’t tired, but it was difficult to sight as the sun was right ahead. The current was against us, and some bloody people were zooming here and there on the jet-ski as I was told. Luckily, there was a nice guy on the canoe guiding me on the way. Some flags on the buoy were missing as well. I later saw some pics and the buoys were zig-zagged! I looked at my watch, and I knew I was approaching the cut-off time of 2hrs 20mins soon. I saw the hard I could, and finally reached back the pontoon. I heard the announcer mentioning my name, and the crowd was cheering for me. What a wonderful scene.
Swim time: 2hrs 18mins 10secs (!!!)

I later found out I took almost 11 mins in the transition. Dont know what I was doing. Most of the time, I was just sitting down staring into space. I forgot to re-apply sunblock, although the volunteer did apply some on my shoulders. As expected, not many bikes left in the transition area.

So, started by bike portion. Just took it easy at the beginning. Then reached the Lisram highway, where there were really steep hills. At least 2 of them, where I was at a near standstill. Downhill was the best part, where I went up to 60km/h. Then reached the U-turn point. The front runners were already finishing their first lap, and I was only starting my first lap. I was cycling really slow, averaging about 22km/h. One particular hill was a killer. I had to push up my bike on all 3 laps. I think I was the last most of the way, as there was a marshall to guide me along the way! I really thought of quitting during the 2nd lap. But I just pushed on. Anyway, I pulled out just after the start of the 3rd lap at the 130km mark aid station. I was already getting cramps, and based on my calculation, I need to cycle 40km/h to finish inside the cut-off time of 10hrs 30mins. Waited for the crew to arrive, and followed them back. Those not far ahead also pulled out of the race.

So, how do I find this race? It was quite an experience. Although I am quite disappointed not to finish the race, but it was already quite expected as I didn’t train enough for it. Will I do it again next year? Yah, I think so. But I think for now, I just stick to shorter distances: Olympic Distance Triathlon, Duathlon/Powerman, and maybe up to half-marathon running races.

My plan for this year:

1) Triathlon OD: Most likely A Famosa, Bukit Merah (finally one nearby) and PD, not so sure about Kenyir, definitely not Miri, and most likely not Desaru. Half-Ironman Singapore looks quite tempting, but it is also quite expensive and logistics is quite a problem.
http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com
2) Duathlon/Powerman: Will try to take part in all of them, especially Powerman. Going back there with a vengeance. Heard that the first one will be on the 1st of April, but venue was not mentioned.
http://www.powerman.com.my

3) Running races: Support local races, like Penang Bridge run, Tanjung 10k (if held), Peace Run, City Run, and the Cendana Hikathon.

Till next time, Train Hard, but most importantly, Train Smart