State Duathlon Championships

I think it was meant to be held at Point Walter originally... but it was changed to John Tonkin Park Reserve, East Fremantle. Anyway, they are both pretty close by.

Distance: 2km run, 30 km bike, 6km run.

The weather was a bit showery and windy. It didn't help that daylight savings started this morning either... so I actually lost an hour of my precious sleep.

6.25 am was the rego... 7.00 am was the start. Darling sacrificed her sleep too... hence, she helped me take some pictures... with my NEW tri-suit...

Ultraman Dua Tria

There were not many participants... I would say, about 50. Guess duathlons are not very popular here... remember the last one that was cancelled?

I started the run quite steadily... although I felt slightly bloated from the Cookies N' Cream Powerbar I had 30 minutes before the race. Maybe next time I should eat earlier.

There was a slight uphill at the end of the turnaround... my watch already showed 5:19. Hopefully I would pick up the pace at the downhill to meet my 9 minute target.

Run lap 1... 10.08... hmm... maybe it is longer than 2km... I'll just accept it at that.

I came in somewhere around the middle pack. Hmm... not as syiok at triathlon... where I'm normally in the front pack in the swim finishing.

Li-Ann caught a butt picture of me coming into transition...

Haiya... looks like got gain weight lah...

As usual, people started overtaking me like nobody's business. The juniors on the short course distance, who started 10 minutes later also smoked me in the very beginning... There were also some leisure cyclists who were riding the same route... and guess what? They overtook me TOO!

It was 6 laps of 5km... originally supposed to be 2 laps of 15km but some parts of the course were too wet and covered with tree branches... so had to be modified. I was happy to maintain at about 30kph average, despite the slight winds, occassional showers and the uphill at the end of each lap. I noted my timing was slightly under 10 minutes per lap... I worked at reducing the times at each lap.

Bike monitor showed 59.48 for 30.35km (average 30.4 kph)...

Li-Ann braved the rain to cheer me at each lap... she also got another picture of me coming into T2. Thanks so much, darling!

All RED...

I fumbled a bit getting the helmet off. My fingers were slightly frost bitten.

Going out on the run... there were already several people finishing the race. Yup, triathlon really more syiok lah. I managed to overtake some people... but there were also quite a few who overtook me. I decided not to eat the Strawberry Banana Powergel since I was still feeling bloated.

1st lap was 10:33. Yup, the jelly legs did get to me a bit. And it got to me slightly more on the 2nd lap... 10:39. My race belt kept on shifting its position... *mental note to myself*- need to tighten it for next race.

Last lap, I picked up the pace a bit but after the turnaround point, I felt some tightness around my left knee. Slowed down slightly... made longer strides... finished in 10.28 to give overall time of 1:42.05 including transition.

Li-Ann got me a cup of hot chocolate for my finishing... she's a real gem, isn't she?

Prize presentation... guess what? I got second place in my age group category!

Well... there were only 3 participants... and the 3rd guy DNF... but hey, I'm still technically 2nd best in the state championship! Don't play play!

The medal ribbon is RED too!

Considering that there were about 50 participants and there were about 20 draw prizes... so the chances were quite high. I got myself an Adidas water bottle.

We went looking for a place to have breakfast around East Fremantle, as it was quite nice by the Canning River. But the restaurants didn't really seem too appealling. And we weren't in the mood for buffet either.

Ended up eating at BookCaffe, Swanbourne. It's a combined bookshop and caffe... how cool is that?

Li-Ann's smoked salmon bagel

My banana milkshake and big breakfast (which wasn't THAT big). Bring on Fast Eddy's!

Overall, quite happy. Good outing... good race and good pak-tor time too!

My SLIGHTLY belated birthday celebration

Lunch at Giardini's, Leederville

Birthday cake baked by darling...

Back: Jasmine, Michael; Middle from left: Eric, Brendan, Jer Sie, me, Jessie, Tasha; Front from left: Shirley, Marc, Li-Ann, Jer Kie, Renee...

Birthday prezzie... Amart All Sports gift voucher and neck tie from Frangi Collezioni....

Congratulatory prezzie for completing CA... see the COOL wordings engraved on it!

Thanks heaps, peeps! You all really made it special... really appreciate it...

LAP IT UP!!!

I CANNOT run on treadmills...

That pretty much summed how I did at the Foxtel Lap. I spent the first 1 minute restarting the machine several times and fumbling the buttons to find the right pace.

I got to know that one of my colleagues, Glen did 80 laps (8.0km) in that approximate 30 minute slot. Yeah, I was foolish to try to beat his record... went out too hard in the beginning... was clocking 18kph... then 16kph... then 15kph... and then kept at 14kph, which I thought would be just right to achieve my 70 lap goal anyway.

Running on treadmill is so boring... I don't know how you guys do it... our machine was positioned on the bottom far left (see picture below), so we're kinda blocked by a TV screen. Li-Ann had to come to the side to watch and cheer me (thanks, darling!)


I think I over-stride... Look, BOTH my feet are AIR-BORNE!


As I was the final runner for my team... my colleagues came down to cheer me on! Me being quite low-profile at my workplace... getting all this attention is quite nice actually...

Again, I fumbled at towards the end... the emcee said "That's it..." and started counting down "10... 9... 8... etc." Well... I misunderstood and pretty much stopped the machine when he said "That's it..." Couldn't get it to start back again after.

I clocked 6.891km in total in that 28-29 minutes or so. The marshals recorded it at 68 laps.

Our team whipped the others in Perth to come up tops with 1263 laps in total for 20 people. Although the top team in Sydney beat us by 12 laps. See results *here*.

I got to know that our partners also won the Chief Challenge... with both partners clocking 78 laps each... They're some REALLY fit bosses.

What did we win?

A medal each...


A Sports Fever gift voucher... hmm... 2XU compression leggings? What do you guys think of men in thights?


Some other stuff... including a pink Puma bag... which is going to Li-Ann.


I guess I shouldn't complain too much about my run... After all, the MAIN cause was for charity... and I had LOADS of fun!

A big thank you to all those who generously sponsored me!

Doing it for the kids...

No... I'm not singing on Australian Idol's Charity Event...

Believe me... my singing would be the LAST thing ever for kid's charity! Haven't those kids suffered enough?!?!

The Foxtel Lap... is a fundraiser for Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Corporate teams are represented by 20 people per team... and we each have to run as many 100m laps on the treadmill in 30 minutes.


Yup, team KPMG Cruisers... not sure who came up with the corny name... but it's quite catchy also! And the T-shirt is a bit flashy but it's dri-fit!

We are running this Tuesday, 23 October 2007 at Forrest Chase, Perth City. We are each allocated time slots... I'm running at 4.30pm. Not sure whether the treadmills would be indoor or under the sun....

Of course, any sponsorships are most welcomed! Click here and select my name from the scroll menu. You can choose to donate a nominated amount or per number of laps I'm expected to do. Amounts in AUD though...

Thank you!

Invincible... NOT!

Got my CA results for my final paper on Friday... passed... didn't get merit though... But this time I missed out by quite a lot... 6 marks... hehheh, maybe I was over confident lah...

But who cares? I'm a CA! (although I still have to wait until May next year when I fulfill my 3 years work experience before I qualify)

Jiun got ANOTHER merit AGAIN... that's FOUR in a row, man....

It was Renee's birthday treat for all of us at Seven Seas Restaurant, Mount Lawley. The food was EXCELLENT! Thanks, Renee!

Check out my seafood platter!


It's been a while since I've posted anything triathlon-related...

Well, Sunday's gym session was INDEED an experience.... first of all, it opened late. So I had to cut down one of my spinning sessions to make it in time for BodyPump.

Then, after my weights session after BodyPump, I tripped over the rower machines and cut my right shin against the rower bars.

The damage...


It hurt quite bad... and I decided to skip my extra spin session for the day.

It's all dried up now... my run this morning wasn't affected at all. In fact, I clocked my second fastest time ever! 36:07.05 for 8.5km (average 4:15 per km)...

Oink... oink...

You know you're getting old when you have crossed your Zodiac year TWICE... (in my case, it's the year of the pig)...

My birthday weekend was a BLAST... mainly spent with darling...

Friday... curi-curi watched fireworks at Perth Royal Show from the outside. Then, we had coffee and cake at Terrazza near our place.


Saturday... we watched Ratatouille at Grand Cinemas, Warwick. I found the movie fun... a bit fairy tale though... and rats are just so geli... whether they are real or animated...

We then went to Hillary's Boat Harbour for buffet lunch at Jetty's. The selection was a bit too Asian for me... I've always felt that Asian food is best eaten at home.


We wanted to try out the Nothern beaches (i.e. Trigg Beach, North Beach, Marmion etc.) but they all seem so rocky...


In the end, we went to Scarborough Beach, slightly nearer... The waves were REALLY strong. There were lots of surfers... we were only allowed to swim in designated areas.


Sunday... we had lunch at The Cross at Applecross. Ambience was good... food was unfortunately... average.


We then watched Hairspray at Hoyts Garden City. The singing and dancing was a bit over the top. John Travolta is so weird in drag. But entertaining nonetheless.

For the ceremonial cake blowing... since there were only 2 of us... Sara Lee's frozen cheesecake had to do...


Darling got me a bathrobe and a duck feather quilt... must be thinking that her skinny boyfriend was freezing throughout winter... hahhah...


And I received running socks from home... as I implicitly mentioned... hehheh.


THANK YOU ALL... for the well wishes, SMSes, e-mails, Facebook wall posts, Friendster comments...

Queen of a weekend...

It was a long weekend... we had Monday off as a public holiday... Queen of England's birthday...

Saturday arvo was Jessie's birthday treat at Sizzler's with the gang. We each ordered a main (I had the pork cutlet) and was given entry to the salad bar buffet. Ate until very full... the food was good, the company was EVEN BETTER! Thanks, Jessie!

Today, we went to Perth Royal Show. It is an annual event at Claremont Showgrounds... with carnival games, rides, showbag stalls, food fair, animal exhibitions... yeah pretty much EVERYTHING! A bit pricey. Entry was AUD22 and each game was about AUD5, the rides were AUD8 each... we didn't bother going on any rides... the ones at Genting are more chi kek.

But it was fun doing something with friends on a day off... Shirley had her hands full taking care of her cousin's kids...

Chocolate castle... can you count how many chocolate bear soldiers? Not from this distance, you cant...

Frozen chocolate bananas... somehow this picture looks a bit obscene... but they were delicious!

Eating lamb shank with Jer Kie and Jessie

Butt picture of me climbing the The Ladder

Another one with brother Eric Siah...

From left: Jer Kie, Eric, Myself, Renee...

Another group picture with Shirley, her cousin's kids and Benny

Got some macademia and cashew nuts for my nutty darling