Good times

After much drama, my entry to the Busselton Half Ironman was finally confirmed. *Phew* and YIPPEE!!

There were 1,100 individual entrants and 300 team entries altogether, including over 90 participants in my 25-29 age group category. Hmm, let's see if I can finish within the top half.

And there's nothing like a confirmed registration to keep me going. Saturday's bike ride got me clocking a 80.79km distance in 2:45.09, which is a 29.6kph average!

But it wasn't without it's hiccups. I suffered a flat tyre somewhere around the 38th km. I pumped some air into the tube and it didn't seem to be leaking. So, me being stingy decided to re-use the tube but I broke the pump after that (darn those plastic adapters!).

I approached two lady cyclists who were having their cool-down walk. They were nice enough to walk back to their cars and get their pump for me. I thanked them gratefully and continued my ride back, but just after 10 minutes, the tyre went flat again. My selfish decision to re-use the tube seemed like a really foolish one!

Luckily, there were many cyclists that morning, so I managed to flag down a group and use their pump. This time, with the new tube! Anyway, I've changed my tyres after the ride. The old ones were goners, filled with holes and specs of stone. I was just delaying to use my new tyres for the race.

My 6km brick run after that went pretty well too. Maybe it was due to the rest I had while fixing flat tyres, or the cool weather with minimal winds that day. Finished the run in 25.47 (average 4.18 per km) my best ever brick run since I can remember!

Sunday's 20km run caught me by surprise again. The winds were slightly stronger but still pretty mild. The sun was really glaring though. Ran the first 10km in 44.31. Thought I could run the second 10km with just a minute slower to finish under 90 minutes, but felt slightly fatigued and dehydrated from 11th km onwards.

However, my legs somehow regained it's strength after the 15th km and managed to power home the second 10km in 45.10, finishing the 20km distance in 1:29.40 (average 4.29 per km)! My first ever sub 90 minute effort since tapering for Langkawi Ironman! Maybe it was because I had breakfast before I did my run.

Then, in the afternoon, I spent it chilling out at Supreme Court Gardens for Buddha's Birthday Festival with one third of our SLB friends. Had some vegetarian food and performed prayer rituals.

As it was a hot day, we adjourned to Northbridge for some Icey Ice. Do you know that the owner of this franchise is one of the top 50 corporate clients of Commonwealth Bank?

Something to think about when I start the work week tomorrow...