Hillarys Sprint Triathlon

While others are either racing the inaugural Ironman Melbourne or the Kenyir Lake Olympic Distance back home, I had a sprint distance instead. The last time I did a triathlon shorter than an Olympic Distance was probably the extra sprint at the Power Station triathlon in November 2009. But a sprint distance of 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run... I must say, I don't think I have done this distance before. I signed up for this race as I was participating in my friend, Sam's sports science experiment. I got a couple of cool gadgets on loan as a result.

SRM Powermeter Crank

Garmin 910XT watch

I did a ride with the BYL group in the hills the day before. A ride which had me toppling off the bike as I was pedalling too slowly up a very steep hill on Hadrill Road. Nothing major, just had to do the walk of shame up the remaining of the hill. At night, Li-Ann and I were treated to a very nice Korean BBQ dinner at Hwaro Northbridge, to celebrate our friends' registration of marriage - congrats Kiez and Justin!

A late 8am race start meant that I was able to sleep in that morning. I met Sam at the registration and did a pre race weigh in as well as take a urine sample (for the purpose of the experiment! Not all participants had to do this). Then, racked my bike in transition and got down to the beach for a bit of a warm up.

The water was pretty cold but many, including myself didn't have a wetsuit on, so it was still manage-able. The water was calm and the winds were pretty light, with a bit of overcast - perfect racing weather! We were released in waves according to our age groups, there were just over 60 people in my age group. I felt really comfortable in the swim, found a pair of feet to draft. It helped that he was wearing a pair of bright compression calf sleeves!

But when I came out of the water, I was a bit disappointed that my time was over 15 minutes! Obviously, I was too comfortable during the swim! Had a pretty slow transition, guess I'm too used to having transitions in the change tents in Ironman races. Had a really embarrassing bike mount, I tried the fly mount but totally failed! Didn't fall though, just awkwardly had to kick off the ground several times before I could get going.

There were lots of cyclists on the course from the previous waves but thankfully the road was wide enough. At the turnaround point, Sandy who probably finished her long run that morning, was giving us a cheer, thanks! Surprisingly, I caught some of the guys in my age group, which rarely happens in the bike leg as it is my weak link. I must have swam really slow then!

Rode back to transition in just over 38 minutes for the bike split, didn't bother with the fly dismount this time, just slipped my feet off one-by-one with the shoes clipped in. But I had a quick T2 and got into the rhythm soon enough. Was clocking about 4:05 average, the overcast weather helped. Managed to catch a couple more guys in my age group before finishing the run split in 20:34, and overall finish time of 1:14:13. Missed my target by just over 4 minutes! I had the swim to blame but I felt strong on the bike and run. I finished 15th in my age group and 114th overall out of over 600 participants. Full results here.

After the finish, I had to weigh in again and take another urine sample. I lost about half a kilo from the race, which I'm unsure whether is a lot or not. Other than the slow swim, it looks like my training is heading in the right direction and I'm feeling tired but good at the end of each week. I have the Coogee Olympic Distance in 3 weeks' time, another new course for me.

Fallen

It has been just over a week since the announcement of Challenge Cairns to be replaced by Ironman Cairns. This was as a result of a fallout in agreement between several parties involved, after World Triathlon Corporation - owner of the Ironman trademark and rival company of Challenge, bought over USM Events, the event organizer various multi sport events in Australia including Challenge Cairns.

The official press releases can be read here and here. If you are after the more juicy details of the fallout, Slowtwitch released a few articles and interviews here and here. As a participant affected by this change, I am somewhat disappointed as I was looking forward to the family oriented atmosphere of a Challenge series event. However, as the event organizer stilll remains the same, I'm sure a good show will put on as with most Ironman events.

Picture taken from Slowtwitch.com

There had been a couple of disturbing news from the road lately. A cyclist in Malaysia was died in a hit-and-run accident on Sunday. My heart goes out to his family and friends. May him rest in peace. Fellow Perth triathlete, John Cooke, had a massive fall over the weekend. He required stitches and an overnight stay in the hospital. Not the most ideal situation given that Busselton 70.3 is less than 7 weeks away. We wish him the very best and a speedy recovery.

I guess each time we hit the roads for a ride, there are always risks involved, which we are willing to take. I've had my fair share of falls, but I'm grateful that none of them were serious and I'm able to come home in one piece, to my lovely wife. Ride safe, everyone.

Wife's birthday

Our first time celebrating Li-Ann's birthday as a married couple.

Thursday night dinner at Blue Waters Cafe, Cottesloe. Food was good, prawns were nice and fresh, pork belly was tender and crispy. Portions were a bit small for my triathlete stomach, unfortunately hehe.

As always, Li-Ann bakes her own birthday cake. Don't look at me, she likes doing it! Chocolate brownie cake, yummz...

Sunday brunch at Little Caesar's Hillary's Boat Harbour. Post 2 hour ride and 30 minute brick run for me.

Wandi 40km bike time trial

Two weeks on and I have another bike time trial. The weather in the past few days have been absolutely hot! I started my 4.5 hour ride yesterday just before 6am, went down the Freeway South bike path. It was pretty cool at first - just under 20 degrees, but soon after I made the turnaround, the temperature must have rose about 15 degrees and another 5 an hour later. It didn't help that there was a slight headwind on the way back. My legs were pretty empty towards the end of the ride, the return journey took me 5 minutes longer.

So come this morning, race day, I wasn't sure how well my legs have recovered. I had a late seeded start time of 8.32am. I planned to drop Li-Ann off at UWA on the way, but the roads were closed for the BRW Corporate Triathlon, so I took a detour to South Perth instead, where she could work on her laptop at the cafe while I had my ride.

I got to the race start with about 20 minutes to spare, quickly collected my number bib and timing chip from the registration. Luckily the rubber band for the timing chip was more flexible today, otherwise it always takes me ages to fit them on! It was also the State 40km ITT Championships, so many were in their skin tight time trial gear and disc wheels. I avoided using my aero helmet and disc wheel as I didn't want to attract unnecessary attention, quite often I end up in the bottom half of the results list!

A quick warm up and soon, it was time to go. The course is just under 10.2km and we go through it 4 times, making it a total of 40.9km. The winds were blowing from a North East direction, not very strong, but enough to pose a challenge. Plus there is a slight incline in that section of the course, which breaks the rhythm a bit. But that section is only about 3kms, and soon we'll be back in the tailwinds again.

The thing with time trials, is I always use the first lap as a gauge of what times to target for each lap. I did the first one in 17 minutes and I tried to keep it under 17 minutes from thereon. A pleasant surprise was the average speed kept above 36kph throughout, which exceeds my 35.5kph at Herne Hill two weeks ago. Coming into the last lap, I grit my teeth and just mashed the big gears, and passed the finish line in 1:07:48, an average speed of 36.2kph - a new PB for me!

Totally stoked with my results and can't wait to do another race. I'll be down for the Hillary's Sprint tri in two weeks. It's short races like these, all between 1 to 2 hours, that go a long way in keeping my progress and confidence in check, without smashing your body too much and leaving it ready to get back into training quickly.

P/S - Someone I met passed away during the week after a long battle with cancer. Her name is Yeoh, I met her at Ironman Malaysia 2010. She was there to support us, a nice and bubbly lady. Very sad news. Yeoh, may you rest in peace.

Nature's fury

I had an easy week of training last week. Well, easier week anyway. I still had over 13 hours of training but at lower intensity and with little to no hills on my rides and runs. That ended pretty quickly and Monday soon came and it was back into a full week of training.

It was a public holiday on Monday - WA Labour Day. I had 4.5 hours ride on the program, in the Perth Hills. I slept in that morning, and by the time I started my ride from UWA, it was nearly 8am. The sun was already out and the temperature was rising quickly. There was quite a bit of shade in the hills, so it wasn't that bad. I went through the climbs alright and stopped by IGA in Kalamunda to fill up, bought 2 litres of apple juice and topped up my bottles, while I sat down in the shade and finish the remaining litre!

As I got back to the city, my cycle computer showed over 40 degrees and I was running on empty. There was nothing left in my legs and I found myself spinning lightly. As I got back to UWA, I had 4 hours 10 minutes and 110km on the clock and decided to end my ride.

That's Mother Nature for you, sometimes you just have make a judgement call as to whether to keep fighting or give in. In the grand scheme of things, the 20 minutes that I missed probably won't have a significant impact on my overall training plan but would have probably adversely affected my health if I continued.

Mother Nature also showed it's fury at Lake Taupo for Ironman Zealand last weekend. There was severe gale and winds were blowing over 120kph. I'm sure many felt frustrated and disappointed when organizers decided to call off the event on Saturday, replacing it with a half Ironman on Sunday. But participants' safety and well being is paramount and should not be compromised. Well done to those who persevered with the revised race distance in still very tough conditions.

Herne Hill 40km bike time trial

I always feel a bit anxious when it comes to bike time trials. Simply because cycling had always been my weakest leg in a triathlon. But lately with the added bike mileage, I'm slowly gaining some confidence in my cycling ability.

With the time trial on Sunday, I skipped the hills ride on Saturday and rode 4 hours on Freeway South instead. It's always nice to greet fellow triathletes ploughing through the path on both directions. I had two big dinners on Friday and Saturday (thanks Jasmine and Michael for having us at your place!), which probably gave me more than enough carbs for this race.

I met up with Bill and Shao at East Perth in the morning, had a quick coffee stop at MilkD Maylands and then we rode to Herne Hill. Riding for over 50 minutes before my time trial got me even more nervous as to whether I would have any energy left, but the boys were great, they towed me for most of the ride.

Got to Herne Hill primary school for the registration, a quick toilet break and soon it was time to start. Shao then went home. Despite the name of the venue, the course is pretty flat - rectangular shape with four 90 degree turns and we go through it 4 times. The wind was pretty calm when we started but it soon picked up towards the last couple of laps.

I was aiming for 70 minutes, which is just over 34kph. But I was averaging just over 35kph, which made me quite happy. I even passed two of the cyclists who started just before me, which rarely happens. I'm beginning to enjoy riding with the big crank, I rode with it throughout the course. At the end of the last lap, I moved to an even bigger gear and tried to hammer towards the finish, in hope of clocking a higher average speed.

In the end, I clocked 1:07:37 - an average pace of 35.5kph, really happy with the result! One area which I need to continuously improve on is taking the tight corners with more speed and confidence. Although, after the race, while we were chatting with one of the marshals, we saw a girl took a corner, skidded and fell. Luckily she wasn't hurt too badly.

With tired legs, I rode with Bill (actually behind Bill for most of it) back to East Perth. I'm beginning to enjoy these bike time trials. So much so, that I have another one in Wandi in two weeks, see you then!

John Forrest Cross Country... plus a bit

Something fun and different... was the description for this race in my program this week. I have never ran off road or trails before. I've done nature hikes but all at a walking pace. With my poor eyesight and motor coordination, I get too worried of tripping, twisting an ankle, rolling down the hill etc.

So I was pretty nervous as to how this would turn out. In the morning, my legs still felt a bit like jelly from the long ride in the hills with the BYL group a.k.a. the epic Wusa hills ride. One good thing was the trails in Perth are pretty dry, compared to the muddy, yucky ones in Malaysia. Although, some might prefer the latter...

I met up with Shao, Sandy and Bill at Bilgoman Aquatic Centre, had a quick warm up and then walked across the Great Eastern Highway for our race start. The race director briefly explained the course and told us to follow the pink ribbons - basically, the onus is on us (no pun intended!) to run the right course! Here's the course map taken off the WA Marathon Club website.

From the start, Bill and Shao took off with the front pack. Myself and Sandy stayed in a group of our own just a bit further back. I was actually enjoying the run, though I made a mistake of wearing my Saucony Fastwitch racing flats. I could feel the pebbles and twigs poking through my feet. I wore our Louis Garneau BYL running singlet for the first time, which felt really comfortable and light - and it dries really quickly too. Going through the ascends and the descends of John Forrest National Park, I surprised myself more than anyone else at the pace I was going. Agility was never my strong point and there were moments when I was leading our group for quite a fair bit. Running up the boulders was quite an exhilarating experience.

It was just after then, around 2/3 into the course, I was a bit further ahead of our group and chasing a girl in red just a bit further in front. She soon disappeared into the horizon and I kept going, not knowing that I have taken the wrong route! I knew something was amiss, I was running alone and there were no more pink ribbons! But I decided to keep going, even if I have gone off course, at least find my way back to the finish. It wasn't long until I met up with Bill who was walking back from the opposite direction, he too took the wrong route. And very soon the group from behind caught up with us. So we all back tracked and finally found the intersection, where we took the wrong turn. We continued running... back on the right course this time! And we came to the infamous Faithful Hill. Boy, did it live up to its expectations! It just kept going up, and up, and up!

After that, we got onto the main road and it was about 2-3kms left to the finish. It was main road all the way until about 200m from the finish line. And then, guess what? We took the wrong turn again! Quickly back tracked and got onto the right one - myself, Bill and Sandy were all running together and each of us got into a sprint, finally finishing within seconds of each other.

According to Bill's Garmin, we did 17.6km - 5kms more than the race course. I had a time of 1 hour 22 minutes. Taking off that 5kms should give me a sub 1 hour race but I guess we'll never know... until next year. Although it was a pity not to have a true official time, it was still great fun. Hey, it's not everyday you get to finish a race with your coach right? Shao (the only one among us who ran the correct route) met up with us after that. And my post race nutrition was well taken care of - Bill brought lovely florentines baked by his wife, and Shao made these delicious chocolate tarts. Thanks guys!