Crazy?

As some of you are aware, I have made a last minute decision to make a trip back home for Desaru Long Distance Triathlon.

I would be departing from Perth at 9.35pm, Thursday 30th July via Tiger Airways, arriving at Singapore at 2.50am, Friday 31st July. Will then be joining the Singaporeans and other overseas competitors by ferry to Desaru. I'm flying back to Perth via Air Asia at 12.05am Tuesday midnight, 4th August. The total cost of my flights is A$316 including sporting equipment fee, which I think is a pretty good deal.

The temptation of racing in the local scene with familiar people and enjoying the camaraderie of my tri crazy friends is too hard to resist. That, and another reason why I'm making this last minute trip, which I would devulge later...

Many thanks to the people of THG for helping out with my last minute call for assistance with logistics etc. Everything has been sorted. My supportive family would be making a holiday trip down. I can't be any more grateful for them!

And of course, my ever wonderful girlfriend, for putting up with this crazy, last minute decision of mine. I won't be dragging her along in this rush trip, but I would be thinking of her constantly throughout... pre, during and post race.

So... me, being someone who's obsessed with proper planning, has signed up for a race at the eleventh hour. Although I have been consistently logging in my training, they were somehow lacking in focus and sometimes, less driven. That doesn't mean I don't have a race target, as I always do!

Hmm... I supposed 5 hours 15 minutes is a reasonable target for 2km swim, 90km bike, 21km run... given the infamous choppy waters of Desaru and temperamental cross winds on the bike course - 35 minute swim, 3 hour bike, 1 hour 40 minute run reasonable?

Guess who's in town?

I apologize for the poor picture quality taken with my camera phone.

Without having this blog turned into a political one, here's a short clip on the man's take on last year's September 16th issue.

I was lucky enough to be roped in to help my friend out with this informal luncheon for Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim to meet the Malaysian community in Perth. The main event is the Interfaith Conference organized by Perth Lighthouse tonight.

Personally, I don't want to get myself too involved in politics. But I give the man credit, he definitely can speak well... a trait which is pretty rare amongst our Malaysian leaders these days.

...I'm attending my friend, Natasha's (the same friend whom we helped for the luncheon today) birthday celebration tonight. The theme is Caribbean Cruise and there is a murder mystery game involved! Sounds like fun!

...darling has been in Sydney for the past week with her brother on holiday. Maybe that's why I'm lacking a bit of drive in my training these days. Can't wait to bounce back on track!

Race report

*Edit* For race pictures from official photo website.

This is for this morning's Perth Marathon 2009... yes, I don't procrastinate, I like to jot them down before I forget :P

The night before, darling and I had a great carbo loading pizza dinner at Little Caesars, Mundaring, which is 45 minutes drive away. Great is an understatement... it was definitely worth the drive, and also worth the wait (the place was packed full, mainly with Asians. I tell you, Asians REALLY love their food)

We had great company - Eric, Renee, Brendan, Mindy and her mum, Li-Ann's brother came along as well as we brought his friend visiting from Melbourne. We ordered NINE pizzas - 6 large ones and 3 dessert pizzas. We were all stuffed and had to take some home. I, myself had about TEN slices of pizza!

Race morning... I woke up at 5.30am, had my usual pre race breakfast - Nutrigrain cereal and a banana. Did some stretches and mandatory toilet visit. Picked darling up at 6.30am and we headed to WA Marathon Clubrooms in Burswood.

Once arrived, I downed a Powerbar Performance bar, flushing it down with Powerade. Did some warm up jogs for about 10 minutes and did some more stretches - yes, I'm an overkill with the stretching.

As I was doing my stretches I met race buddy, David Tan a.k.a. Mythos. We met at my first Perth Marathon and he was at Langkawi Ironman 2009 too.

Did one last toilet visit, kissed darling farewell (like going to war, hahhah) and lined up for the 7.30am start, with the hope of achieving my 3:20 target, or 3:17 if I played my cards right.

The start wasn't too chaotic. This year's turnout was just over 400 full marathon runners, compared to last year's of 360. I restrained myself from getting too caught up in the adrenaline of starting off too fast. But somehow upon reaching the first km marker, I clocked a time of 3:55! Hmm... something is not right here.

Anyway, as we went up Windan Bridge to East Perth, approaching the 2nd km marker, I did a time of 5:08, giving 9:02 for those two kms. Now, that seems more about right!

I couldn't have asked for a better weather! It was really fine conditions, with some very light winds, the river that we passed was very still. My strategy was to start the first 10km in 45 minutes (average 4:30 per km) and slow down a minute for each 10km onwards (about slower by 5 seconds per km). Because I knew that no matter how slow I started the race, I would still be hit by fatigue in the later stages. I can't do negative splits!

But I found myself averaging between 4:20 to 4:25 per km in the first few kms. Slightly worried that I was going too fast too early, but I was feeling comfortable at that pace, so I kept on. My timing at the 10km mark was 43:44.

I was more flexible with the water stations this race, and not just sticking to the carbo drinks. I drank whenever I felt thirsty, taking whatever was available - be it water or electrolyte. I was also feeling slightly bloated, not sure whether it was last night's pizza or the Cookies N' Cream flavoured Performance bar. So I avoided taking Powergel up until somewhere near the 19km mark.

I amazed myself by keeping about the same pace since the 10th km. I reached the halfway - 21.1km in a time of 1:33:00! That's less than a minute slower than my half marathon PB last year! Just after that, I crossed paths with the top runners making their way back. The turnaround point is somewhere between 23-24km

I realised that in all these running races, I always seemed to be running alone! Too slow for the front pack, too quick for the back pack. Well, I work best alone anyway, don't really like having to pressure myself to keep up with a pacer. I slowed down at the upslopes at the bridges, as I knew there was no point overdoing the extra effort just to keep the same pace.

My pace slowed down slightly after the turnaround point. Dropped to about average 4:30-4:35 per km. I was still way ahead of my target. At the 30km mark, my time showed 2:13:29, that's over a minute quicker than my PB I set in my training 4 weeks ago!

I did a mental calculation that if I averaged 5 minute per km for the remaining kms, I would actually do 3:13 for the full marathon distance! ...and I did just that! Hitting the wall after 30km is DEFINITELY not a myth!

From then onwards, I went from averaging 4:40 to 4:45 to 4:55. From the 36th km onwards, I was struggling to keep under 5 minutes. My legs began to feel tight, the stitches in my sides were getting more severe. My 2nd Powergel helped slightly but I still had to run conservatively to prevent cramps. Ben Swee, if you are reading this, it was your 3:13 at last weekend's KL Marathon that pushed me through the last remaining kms!

Last 1.2km at the 41st km mark, my watch showed a time of 3 hours 7 minutes. If I could still maintain the 5 minute per km pace, I could still clock under 3:13. So I picked up my pace a bit... I could hear the announcer loud and clear...

Last 100m, darling was cheering by the side... there was one guy right in front of me... I didn't want to share my finishing picture with him, but he was slowing down... so I sprinted and crossed the finish line with my arms in the air... finishing in 3:12:40 (average 4:34 per km)!

Here are my splits and lap times.

5km 0:21:56 (21:56)
10km 0:43:44 (21:48)
15km 1:05:50 (22:06)
20km 1:28:08 (22:18)
21.1km 1:33:00
25km 1:50:37 (22:29)
30km 2:13:29 (22:52)
35km 2:36:54 (23:25)
40km 3:01:53 (24:59)
42.2km 3:12:40

I hobbled around a bit before getting changed and queued up for a sports massage. The masseur took me by surprise by asking me to remove my track pants, good thing I was wearing presentable underwear! He also said that my right quads were more developed and seemed stronger than my left one. Maybe that's why I seem to get cramps more often on the left leg. Hmm... maybe I need to do some single leg squats!

While waiting for the prize giving, we helped ourselves to the free food - muffin, hot dogs, hot soup and drinks. Although luck wasn't with me this time, no draw prizes for me. But it was great to see the winners accepting their prizes, and hearing out for their amazing times, especially the older age groups! The last runner was an 80 year old man, he was the only one in his category and he came in under 6:05!

Another finisher's medal, the 31 up there is for 31st anniversary, not 31st placing! I'll probably not run for the next 6 days... maybe I'll start next Sunday. Of course swimming and cycling would continue as normal, hehheh.

Tragic light

Many thanks to the free invites given to our organization by Lotterywest, darling and I were treated to a wonderful ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet at His Majesty's Theatre. It was the final dress rehearsal and apart from our people from St Bart's, there were many Lotterywest staff members there as well.

It was a bit awkward, as I was on the Lotterywest audit team when I was with KPMG. There were some familiar faces but I don't think they'd recognize me. Auditors aren't exactly very popular!

We enjoyed the performance very much. It was pretty lighthearted with comical, slapstick antics. Romeo and Juliet were played by very young casts. It was set in the modern times rather than in the classical era. I've forgotten my Shakespeare. I was confused as to how did Romeo die in the end. Was it the priest's fault for giving him the wrong poison?

Li-Ann had a great time too. I was finally able to introduce her to my work colleagues. They've been eager to meet her after tasting her tasty cakes, which I bring in for morning tea every now and then.

...Perth Marathon, T minus 2 days.

Storm

The stormy conditions during the week resulted in low running mileage. Skipped my usual Wednesday morning run, and replaced it with some strength exercises in my living room. Friday morning's weather was slightly better, managed to squeeze in a 10km run in 42:38 before it started raining again.

It continued to pour during the weekend, with squally conditions and gusty winds. It has been two weeks since I rode my bike due to the rain. Next week would be my 3rd week off the bike, as I taper for the Perth Marathon.

My final 20km run planned on Sunday had to be shelved. I did two sets of 20 minute runs on the treadmill instead, averaging 14.4kph.

On the fun side, we played bowling with some work mates on Saturday as part of our social club event. Response were pretty poor though, the organizer had to invite some family friends and their children to make up the numbers. I just realised how bad I am at bowling. Li-Ann played much better than I did.

We watched Transformers 2 on Sunday. Very visual movie. Slightly lacking on the script. After a while, the action and the camera works got a bit tiring on the eyes. Shia LaBeouf is a pretty good actor. I still don't see what the big deal is with Megan Fox.

I've received my race bib in the mail, for this Sunday's marathon. It seems to becoming a trend for me to be getting less auspicious numbers from the organizers, WA Marathon Club. Looking forward to a sub 3:20 finish, despite the slight damper of the past week's low running mileage.

The gloved one

As we all now know, the tragic news about the death of Michael Jackson hit us just before the weekend. I was quite a Michael Jackson fan since I was a kid. I grew up to many of his songs. Smooth Criminal was my favourite.

My dad recalled vividly that when I was a child, at pasar malam, as the cassette tape sellers played his songs out loud on the radio, I used to dance up and down, along the congested pasar malam street. Trying to mimick his moves (though not very successfully).

And in high school, we staged many dances and plays based on his songs. I remember performing the following at our Leo Club installation. I also tried to mimick his moves then. This time slightly more successful. But there can only be ONE Michael Jackson.



Long live the King of Pop!

36 months...

Darling and I celebrated our 3 years anniversary...

We had lunch at The Essex, Fremantle. The place was quaint and cosy. Feels like a house, with a fireplace and decorated by relics.

I had fillet gabrielle - beef fillet with scallops, which I was very happy with. It was crispy on the outside, but tender and juicy on the inside. Hehheh, sounds like an ad for Pizza Hut's stuffed crust pizza!

While Li-Ann had entree sized Tasmanian salmon, which she was equally pleased with. Good thing she ordered the entree size, as otherwise we wouldn't have any place for dessert.

...because for dessert, we went to the much talked about... San Churros!

They REALLY make you salivate, don't they? Move along Max Brenner, this place is da BOMB!

We left Fremantle with stuffed stomachs, burping all the way, mainly from the azteca - rich hot chocolate with cinnamon and chili.

Oh, and look what darling got for me!

A long sleeve Brooks Equilibrium top. No longer she has to worry about me catching hypothermia from cycling in the cold with my sleeveless jerseys.

Love you darling! These three years have been great... and it will only get better ;)

P.S. - My dad's bib for SCKLM has been sold, thanks for all the enquiries!