Desaru LD Triathlon

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/simsps/DesaruLDTriathlon1Aug2009#

Pre-race (Friday 31 Jul 2009)

It was our annual pilgrimage to Desaru for the long distance triathlon. Supposedly a half-ironman, but the distances were mostly estimates (ie. shorter this year). Swim 1.9km (think it was only 1.5/1.6km), Bike 90km (~85km), Run 21km (~20+km).

We drove up on Friday afternoon with Kahan, Winnie, Richard, Henry, Lucille and Kam Meng's family. 4 cars convoy. It took us about 2h to reach Desaru, with a pitstop at Petronas to buy water and snacks. Henry and us stayed at Pulai Resort, whilst the majority of YF folks were at Golden Beach. Pulai's a lot nicer.

Had dinner at our favourite Good Luck restaurant (instead of the usual bigger place at Jade, where cyclists normally stopped to load up). The steamed garlic baby lobsters, ooohh!

Race Day (Saturday 1 Aug 2009)

It was one of those races that started late, 9am. Ample time to sleep in and prepare. The morning sun was bright and strong, oh-oh, heat wave. We cycled to the race site, did body marking and set up the transition area. Uncle Chan (organizer) announced that the swim distance was shortened. The sea still looked like the washing machine of last year, but the currents were not as strong. I actually enjoyed the swim a lot more than last year, and after a while, caught the rhythm of swimming in the waves! Swim time & confidence had to improve, after all the YF classes I had been taking! 2 loops of swim and I was much surprised by my time. (Post-race comparison saw many of my swim-mates clocking much faster times, well-done! But hey, I was happy with my swim. *pat pat* :))

Bike was 3 loops. It went ok except that my speedometer was not sensing anything. Oh well, just had to keep pedalling. I changed my bike setup and tires a week before the race. I had to keep reminding myself to watch my pedal stroke and style. The new tires were thinner and more responsive. The winds (cross & head) were strong (although Khina said last year was worse). On the downslopes, I could literally feel the bike 'swaying'. Eeeks! Mental note to self not to waste money on fancy Zipp-like wheels with deep rims, and get blown off by the crosswinds! Needed a strong rider to balance that sort of bike setup. The rolling slopes were quite a killer, though still managed to hold on to the big gear combination for majority of the ride. I ate 2 powerbars during the ride, usually on the flat or slight upslopes, and stopped at the water point during every loop to refill my aerobottle. I saw so many friends in the opposite direction, inspiration to continue and finish the ride.

Run 2 loops. I reached the transition point and Alber was there putting on his shoes. I asked him to wait and run together. We started off and I went on the high cadence shuffle. But felt the abductors threatening to cramp up. Alber passed me half a Nuun tablet to suck on. Shem shared that little tip with our runners and Alber tried it once. It worked quite well, the cramps dissipated very quickly. We ran together for a while. Last year, it rained during the run and I could do a decent run. This year, the heat was such a killer, I stopped at every water point to drink and get a wet sponge and stuffed it down my back. At one point, I went into a public toilet and just poured water over myself. And I walked up the steep killer little slope. It was too much energy wasted to run up. I kept stopping, took a few steps, and ran along, and stopped again. For some reason, my run was bad, I could not find the right rhythm. When I did, the cramping sensation reappeared, and I had to slow down. I saw friends in the opposite direction, but could not close the gap. :( Sadly, of all disciplines, I died on the run. Sigh.

Still, happy with the overall race. About 6:22h in total (way down from my 7:03h last year). Swim improved the most by almost 30min (given the shorter distance and weaker waves). Bike and run went down a little.

Everyone gathered for a massive dinner at Jade Restaurant. We booked 16 tables. It was such a rowdy affair, it was almost like a Chinese wedding dinner! Everyone went around talking to everyone else, and pouring drinks for one another. The party continued after that at Kat's command centre. Whoa, super well-stocked support crew! They had almost everything that one could think of!

Post-race (2 Aug 2009)

Slept in late. Woke up with aches all over. Especially the abductors that were cramping up yesterday. Ouch. And foot, seemed like an old injury. Had a lazy breakfast. It was funny how everyone at the buffet breakfast was checking out one another. You know because you could feel the eyes on you even as they continued their meals, and vice-versa! Haha. You could almost see the thought bubbles in the air - This one did the race, this one looks like triathlete, wow that one wearing Busselton-IM tee, over there a China-IM shirt,...

Checked out and joined the convoy to Kota Tingi for bah-ku-teh. I think we wiped out all the BKT soup in the shop. They served out the last portions of innards, trotters and meat etc to us!

Safe drive home. Had a great weekend, but was tiring. Would need to lay off and recover.