DNF at Bukit Merah 113 triathlon

Bukit Merah 113 triathlon, the third and final triathlon of the 113 triathlon series in Malaysia. What was meant to be my major lead up race in preparation for Ironman Malaysia, Langkawi in November. As the title suggests, I did not make it to the finish line. Sure I'm disappointed but I always believe in moving forward. And in order to do that was to accept what has happened and move on from there.

I arrived into Malaysia on Friday, two days before the event. Mum cooked us a nice bak kut teh dinner and then we adjourned for ice cream at Inside Scoop. The next day, we left for Bukit Merah, which was about 3 hours drive up north. We went in 2 cars - myself with mum and dad, my sister Karen with her fiance Gary. We stopped by Taiping for nice hawker food for lunch and shortly after, arrived at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. As we drove up the winding and steep roads towards the resort, my heart skipped a beat. I have been struggling with descending at tight corners all this while and though I have been working on it, there is still quite a lot to do.

After we checked in, I suggested to Karen that we do a test ride, so at least I know what to expect on that steep descent on race day. Gary who wasn't racing brought his bike along so he joined us as well. The road out of the resort started with a steep climb about 1km in length and then a fast winding descent about 700m all the way out of the resort. And true enough, I came off my bike coming down the second corner. I wasn't going very fast so I wasn't hurt too bad and my bike was slightly scratched. I walked my bike down the remaining of the descent and get on my bike and climbed back to the resort. I was pretty disheartened and contemplated not starting the next day as I'm still unsure how to get through those corners.

Anyway, after collecting my race pack and meeting up with friends at the welcome dinner, I felt a bit better and decided to give the race a shot. Speaking to my wife Li-Ann on the phone gave me the extra encouragement as well.

Race morning came and to start the day off, I accidentally peeled off most of my race number tattoo as I stuck it on. Luckily the organizers had marker pens as back up. Having the transition area right outside the hotel rooms was handy. I was able to get on with my pre race routine in the comfort of my room after racking my bike

Photo credit: Gary Fong

Photo credit: Sean World of Marathon

The swim course was 2 laps and took place in the resort lake. The flag off started at 7.30am, about 30 minutes later than scheduled to allow for more light. There were about 200 age groupers and we started about 1 minute behind the elites. As the announcer was counting down to the age group start, those in front began swimming already! I wasn't sure whether to hold back or to start along... in the end I decided to get a head start as well, about 10 seconds into the gun off. I accelerated to get ahead and within a couple of hundred meters, I overtook the lead swimmer. What I was pleasantly surprised with was that he didn't latch on after and soon I was swimming on my own. About three quarters into the first lap, I overtook Shahrom, one of Malaysia's top triathlete who started in the elite wave. After that it was pretty uneventful until towards the end of the 2nd lap where there were a handful of swimmers finishing their 1st lap and I had to zig zag between them a bit. There was a bit of chop too by then.

Photo credit: Sean World of Marathon

Photo credit: Ang Wan Theng

Towards the last 100m or so heading into the boat ramp out of the water, Rupert indicated that I was leading the age group race. I was pleased that the second age grouper was over 1.5 minutes behind. I clocked just over 37 minutes, I then knew the swim was a bit longer than 2kms. The Dare2tri swimskin slipped off easily and I was on the bike and ready to go. The first 1km of climb was okay and I pedaled through. Once it got to the crest of the hill, I braced myself for the fast descent. I got through the 2nd corner this time... but not the third. I fell off my bike again but luckily I wasn't going very fast, so I wasn't seriously hurt. As I was already in the middle of the descent, I decided to walk my bike down those couple of hundred meters. Two age groupers overtook me at this point.

Photo credit: Ang Wan Theng

Photo credit: Y C Tan

I pushed on but I noticed something wasn't right. Each time I shift towards a lower gear cog on the rear cassette, there would be a loud rattling sound. I slowed down a bit and a few more others overtook me. There was a slight incline as we crossed a bridge about 5km into the course. Once I crossed it, I shifted towards a higher gear and then it happened... loud rattle and then the whole rear derailleur fell out. The rear hanger came apart, must have been the impact from the fall. Once it was safe, I crossed over to the other side of the road and flagged down a marshal vehicle. An athlete whom I mentor, Fadzil stopped to offer me his bike. But I was worried I would do the same to his bike so I urged him to continue with his race. Shortly after, my sister passed by, she looked worried but I indicated I was okay, so she pushed on.

The damage done

So that was a very early end to my race. The medic treated my wounds when I got back and luckily they weren't too deep. Another participant was at the medic tent and he needed stitches and had to be sent to hospital for further observation. He was keen to continue racing but was advised against doing so. I met up with mum and dad, had a bit of breakfast and decided not to waste the day. After seeing Karen finish her first lap of her bike, I waited a bit more for the elites to start running before I started my run. Boy, these elites are in a class of their own. Despite me running on fresh legs I could not bridge the gap.

I ran the first lap and then waited a bit for Fadzil, and I paced with him for most of the first lap. It was nice as we never really had a face to face conversation prior to this. My sister then came in the opposite direction and I did a U turn and paced with her then. Being a local race, there weren't any rules against outside assistance or pacing. The poor volunteers at the turnaround point was so confused and wondered why I kept on refusing to take the lap bands. I ran with my sister until the end of her first lap and that was enough for me, a total of 25kms of running in the heat!

Photo credit: Enaikay

Photo credit: Enaikay

After that, I took my time cleaning up and then gathered at the finish line awaiting for Karen to finish. It wasn't long until she came through, winning her age group with a massive PB! Well done lil' sis!

Photo credit: Enaikay

I was pretty tired on the trip back home but dad did the driving. Sure I was disappointed for not finishing the race but I had a great time spending time with family and catching up with friends. And again, it highlights how much more I need to work on my bike handling skills. I flew back to Brisbane the day after the race, it was a very short trip. I haven't quite got back to full swing of training routine as I've been feeling pretty tired in the mornings. From the bike accident, I have a few things that I need to sort out - either the insurance option or the warranty option. But hope to get this sorted soon so that I would have a tri bike to ride for Ironman Malaysia, Langkawi.

Photo credit: Kental Fan Club

Keep moving and move forward!

Greater Springfield Duathlon 2015

I generally don't do duathlons. I'm a fairly decent swimmer and I like starting my races with a swim. My running isn't bad either but my strong point is running on tired legs after the bike, not to hitting the gas as soon as the gun goes off. But I signed up for this race anyway. In my lead up to Ironman Malaysia in mid November, I've been scheduling a race every 4-5 weeks just so I can drop the weekend volume in the race week but still keep the intensity fairly high at the race. Plus, it's good practice as we don't always get the opportunity to put race pace efforts into our training.

Springfield Central is located a good 30kms from home. It was a cold morning and I could see the temperature drop from 9 degrees Celcius as I left the house to 5 when I got to the race site. The venue was held in the campus grounds of University of Southern Queensland. When I arrived just before 6am, the roads into the campus were already blocked and I had no idea where the detour was. I parked at the nearby residential area, about 1km away.

Picked up my race pack and racked my bike. With only 125 participants for the full distance and another 127 in the sprint, it was a fairly quiet and low key affair. I met up with the others at the Reddog tri club tent, everyone was wrapped up with gloves and beanies from the cold! There was a long queue for the portaloos but luckily someone pointed us to the public toilets a few hundred meters away. Then it was time to start.

The first wave was at 6.50am for the males over 45, mine was the second wave, 2 minutes after. The first run was 10km broken into four 2.5km laps. We went through the park and there were a couple of twists and turns. There was steep descent before the turnaround and we climb up that same slope. The final few hundred meters of each lap was a slight descent as well. From the start, everyone sprinted forward and very soon I was towards the back of the pack! Though I would have liked to clock a sub 40 minute 10km, I kept it in control and maintained just under 4:06 per km pace. Even then, it was still pretty hard work!

Reached the transition area in 40:50, it was good that my body was beginning to warm up. My transition wasn't as quick as I would have liked but there were no major dramas either. I even overtook a few as I got off the mount line. But here's where the wheels came off.... not literally, but it might as well! The bike course was 6 laps, each lap about 6km or so. We started off with some climbing and then a descent, a u-turn, sharp corners, small climb, another u-turn, small descent, another sharp corner and repeat. My bike handling has been an issue in the past and with a course like that, this issue stood out like a sore thumb! I ride past Springfield Central regularly in my weekend rides but I never did these laps within the town.

The longest straight line was probably about 1km or so, and that's probably the longest I stayed in my aerobars. It was embarrassing for me to be braking until almost a complete stop at each turn. I rode like a novice and Coach Trent did have a word with me after. I did get better after a couple of laps but the damage has already been done. The course was meant to be 40km but each lap was measured short and by the end of the 6th lap, it was just under 35kms. In fact, I doubted myself and almost went for another lap but I noticed there weren't many others left on the course and I took note of those who lapped me before.

I wasn't prepared for the dismount line, so my feet were still strapped in the shoes. Running into transition with the bike shoes slowed me down even further. Bike split was 1:17:45 with a slow average of 27kph. To be honest, I was glad that the course was under distanced!

I did still find my running legs and managed to keep about the same pace as the first run. And happy to be able to start overtaking a few in front of me. The second run was 5km and we did the same laps as before but only 2 laps this time. I was aiming to be my Olympic Distance triathlon PB and especially now, with the shortened bike course. I was close but after the 2nd run lap there was an extra 200m we had to do before we go through the finish line. 21:43 was my second run time, giving me an overall finish time of 2:20:19, about 2 minutes shy of my OD tri PB. I was 10th out of 17th in age group, enough to add 3 points to my tri club tally as there were some non TA members before me. Overall, I was 60th out of 125.

A nice non alcoholic Erdinger beer in the recovery area followed by a painful but effective massage. I didn't quite get the result I wanted but it's pretty obvious which area I need to keep working on. Coach Trent was very kind to give me a one on one bike skills session a few days after the race and passed on some very useful tips for me to put into practice.

Next race - Bukit Merah 113 triathlon! Would be making a quick trip back home for this. Let's hope there are no more than 3 laps for the bike course this time!

Some guidance on Saucony Guide 8

I've been racing in Saucony shoes for a while now. In fact, I did my first sprint triathlon in a pair Saucony Jazz, about 14 years ago. But it was really when I was training for my first Ironman when I got hooked on the Fastwitch series. I now have a collection of Fastwitch-es from the 3rd edition to the 6th, which all I had great racing experiences with.

Having Saucony Malaysia come on board this year to support me in my lead up to Ironman Malaysia 2015 was a true honour. I've been a massive fan of the brand and I feel really grateful and rewarded to be picked. I guess sometimes, it pays to be loyal to the products that serve you well!

Enter the Saucony Guide 8. I've been using the Guide 7 for my tempo and long distance runs over the last 7 or so months. The shoes have clocked well over 1,000kms and it's time to give them a well deserved retirement. The Guide 8 is nearly identical to it's predecessor with some very subtle changes. So for those who have been using the Guide 7 and wishing to upgrade, have no worries transitioning into these pair of shoes.

Contrasting colour scheme of the Saucony Guide 8

The Guide 8 comes under the guidance or stability category of Saucony running shoes. Tipping the scales at 10 ounces or 280 grams, these are often labelled as lightweight stability shoes. Perfect for those wishing to get some cushioning from pounding the tarmac over the longer distances but not sacrificing the agility and responsiveness, that tend to be lost in heavier shoes.

As I have close to no arch (you should really see my flat... and I mean, REALLY flat feet) so I tend to look for shoes with arch support. On the medial or inside of the shoes, the Guide 8 has a Dual Density Saucony Super Lite (SSL) EVA system that supports the mid sole area. While on the lateral or outside of the shoes, they have the PowerGrid feature, which absorbs impact and re-distributes pressure around the feet. Saucony uses PowerGrid instead of gel for cushioning because gel is heavier and so it can only be used in small areas. Whereas PowerGrid cushions the entire surface area, and minimizing weight at the same time.

Dual Density SSL EVA arch support

PowerGrid technology for impact absorption

Saucony's Injection Blown Rubber (IBR+) technology is 33% lighter than and more durable standard rubber. Perfect for my staple mileage trainers! 

For those running in tropical climates, Saucony has got you covered as their shoes are well ventilated. The Guide 8 is no exception with it's honeycomb textured mesh on the outside and on the inside, it uses it's patented RunDry moisture wicking material. Even the inner soles come with 24 tiny holes on each, improving the ventilation inside the shoes.

Honeycomb mesh for maximum ventilation

Even the in-soles are well ventilated!

One notable update from the Guide 7 is that the SRC Impact Zone on the outer heel area of the Guide 8 has been extended further into the mid sole, increasing surface area of it's crash pad. Again, designed and engineered to minimize the ground impact on the runner. The heel drop ratio or offset is 8mm, which is not surprising given the extensive support the Guide 8 gives and it's similar to shoes that sit within this category with other brands.

SRC Impact Zone marginally increased from the Guide 7

8mm heel to toe drop

The Guide 8 also comes in a wide range of colours to suit different tastes and in two widths - regular D or 2E wide.

Pick one that tickles you fancy! Source: www.saucony.com

I've ran in these shoes for a few times now, the longest run being 22km. So far the experience has been great. My feet feel well cushioned and supported from the impact. But still very responsive and not sluggish. I was able to put in some good pick up efforts and the shoes responded well to the increased leg turnover rate.

Looking forward to putting many more miles in these babies, thank you again Saucony Malaysia!

Visit Brisbane

Just a week after my friend David left Brisbane to return to Malaysia, my parents came to visit. This gave me the opportunity to see Brisbane and it's surrounds as a tourist as we barely have time to do that on our own.

Mum and Dad arrived on Wednesday morning at the Gold Coast airport. I was meant to take the day off but had a meeting which I could not miss. Luckily, my brother Keith was visiting from Sydney as well and he was able to pick Mum and Dad up from the airport. I was able to get off work by midday and we did a brief sightseeing tour then.

A short tour of the UQ campus. Keith made the comment that, from this picture, people may think he studied here.

Mt Coot-tha summit overlooking Brisbane CBD below

The next two days, we parked at Kangaroo Point (as it was free parking!) and did a long walk to South Bank and Brisbane CBD area. It was especially windy on the second day and with the low temperatures, it felt very close to the single digit temperatures! So much for being in the Sunshine State!

 

South Bank - Keith's favourite place in Brisbane!

We walked from Kangaroo Point along the Story Bridge (shown behind) to Brisbane CBD

The Liverpool football team were in town doing their tour

Roma St Parklands

Another visitor rescued this baby possum from the birds and placed it in the tree

Li-Ann then joined us for dinner at the Eat Street Markets in Hamilton. Pity it was so cold and windy, otherwise it would have been a lot more enjoyable!

On the weekend, we took a drive to the Sunshine Coast. First stop, being the Glass House Mountains area. We took a hike up Mt Ngungun, which was 2.8km return trip up to the summit which was 253m above sea level. And after checking into our accommodation in Caloundra, a nice relaxing stroll along the beach.

Steep climb to the summit

I'm on top of the world!

Awesome view from the summit. That's Mt Tibrogargan

At the lookout viewing point

Low tide at Bulcock beach

After a nice dinner at Hog's Breathe, we went to bed with a good night's sleep. I got up early for a 12km run along the beach before we checked out. We then headed to Mooloolaba harbour for a whale watching cruise. It was pretty windy that and the skipper gave the tour group the option of re-scheduling our respective bookings to another day. As my parents weren't local, we decided to go ahead with the cruise.

Well, as we got out to the open water, it got a bit rough and more than half of the tour group got seasick. Myself, Li-Ann and Keith included. There was a point where I could feel my legs turning into jelly and I was feeling as though I was going to pass out. I sat down and tried to sleep, which helped pass the time. Mum and Dad were okay though. We didn't manage to see any whales and the cruise company offered a refund as part of their guarantee. We did however, manage to see a few dolphins.

All happy before the boat left the harbour

Mum and Dad flew back to Malaysia that night. It was quite a long drive from Sunshine Coast back to Brisbane and then to Gold Coast airport. We did have a good few days though, it's nice to have some family bonding time, which we often take for granted before. Now that we're in different parts of the world, we can't wait for the next one!

100 x 100m swim

To be honest, when the club first announced the Day for Dani Fundraising Swim, I didn't take much notice at first. Coupled with the fact that it was on the same day as the Gold Coast Marathon, which I would be doing the half distance. When I found out that there were two sessions, one later in the afternoon which I could still make it for, I was pretty keen.

Dani (short for Danielle) was a member of our Red Dog tri club and was involved in a cycling accident couple of years ago. Her injury was permanent and she is now in a wheelchair. It was great for the club to put on this initiative each year. And hopefully, with the proceeds raised, it will help make Dani's life a little bit easier.

I thought I would give the solo 100 x 100m a shot. The furthest I have swam during my competitive swimming days, way back in my late teens, were 2 to 2.5 hour sessions and these reached just over 7kms at most. Most of the time they were about the 5 to 6km mark. If I am successful, this would be something nice to tick on my bucket list.

It was nice and sunny when we started at 2pm. There were about 30 or so of us at the pool at the afternoon. We were allocated to the lanes according to our respective speeds. The lane I swam in held  the 100m cycles of around 1:50 to 1:55 including rest times. And after every 1km or so, we took extra rest to refuel and some lollies were brought around to give us extra energy! There was a young boy, about 10 years or younger, who put in a massive effort and did a fair bit of leading. I took over towards the later stages to take the pressure off him a bit.

It was hard at first. By the 3rd km, I thought I was about done. But I kept pushing. Having a few others in the pool definitely helped. After the 5km mark, it got a bit easier mentally as we were halfway through. But here's when many began to stop swimming and getting out of the pool. So it got a bit quiet. A handful of others stayed on, so they kept me company.

Towards the final km, there was only myself and another girl who were still swimming. Some of the faster ones have already completed the solo 10km. It got a bit scary as the sun was beginning to set and the pool was being prepared for closing. The pool covers were being put on the lanes next to us so they were all dark except for our lane. The meme below kept playing at the back of my head!

C'mon... I'm sure you had this fear too... that a shark will magically appear in the middle of the swim pool!

But we finally got it done. Finishing the last lap was a bit anti climatic as most people have left but it was no less satisfying. The time I recorded was 3 hours 9 minutes. My arms were sore and I had chaffing on my armpits. But I think the longer lasting effect was the dry skin from being soaked in chlorinated water for so long! Until today, I'm still scratching myself despite applying heaps of moisturizer! Having said all that, I'm proud I did it and it was my small contribution to Dani.

Hope that any upcoming Ironman swims would feel much shorter now in comparison!

Gold Coast Half Marathon 2015

For the past few years, I've always used a half marathon as a lead up race early in the season. It's the perfect distance to dust off the cobwebs and I don't need to worry about racking up too many training miles in order to prepare for it. Because of this reason, I haven't been breaking PBs over the half distance for quite a while. My previous best time was 1:27:32 in 2011, race report here.

But I was keen to break that cycle and after some solid speedwork at the track sessions the past few months, I knew I have a good shot at it. Just the Tuesday before the race, we did a 5km time trial and I was only 10 seconds slower than my 5km PB despite holding back a bit.

Couldn't bring myself to give it a 100% with the upcoming weekend's half marathon in mind

Race eve was quite a relaxing but fun day. We took a drive to Surfer's Paradise, about 50 minutes away. My friend, David is visiting from Malaysia and doing the half distance as well. So we decided to stay the night. We each booked a one bedroom apartment at Islander Resort Hotel, the building is a bit old but the rooms are clean and spacious. An evening stroll along the majestic beachfront followed by some street food at Miami Marketta was just what the body needed to unwind and prepare for the race the next day.

The Expo At the Gold Coast Convention Centre. There were many more stalls than at the usual Ironman expos. 

Next morning, an early start to catch the 5am tram to the race precinct in Southport. The trams were packed and we were lucky that we were able to squeeze ourselves in without having to wait for the next one. Upon reaching the venue, I did a last minute visit to the portaloo. The half marathon was to start at 6am, about 80 minutes before the main event, which is the marathon. So it was still pretty quiet (and the portaloos were still reasonably clean!). Did some warm up jogs for about 10 minutes, then we deposited our clothing bags and lined up for our respective start zones. David gave me a wager that if I did not break my PB that day, I needed to drink 3 pints of beer that night!

Here's where a little bit of drama ensued. I was in the A start zone (less than 1 hour 45 minutes) and with the massive crowd, I could not locate the entry point of the gates to get there. There were a handful of runners in the same boat and we decided to climb over the gates. Then as I was inching my way towards the front of the A start zone, I could hear the announcer counting down to the gun off - great! Quickly turned on my Garmin but it was taking forever to locate a signal. Never mind, I'll just run with the timer mode then.

The race gun went off and there was still a sea full of people ahead of me. I was trapped in and had no choice but to follow the pace until I had more space to do some overtaking. I lapped my watch to the first km marker and to my disappointment, it showed 4:37! I had a lot and I mean A LOT of work to do if I wanted to break my PB. The second km wasn't so bad and I clocked 4:09. And I managed to go a bit quicker for the next 2kms, both at 4:04.

Still keeping it in control

The course was fairly straightforward. Just out and back with short detour at the 6-7km mark and the turnaround point just after the 11km mark. It's virtually flat with some very subtle inclines when going up the bridges. The weather was great - it was a bit chilly early in the morning in single digit temperatures but when the sun came up, it was nice and crisp. Very low humidity and minimal winds.

I managed to overtake the 1:30 pacer just after the 5km mark, so I knew I was in a good place. It was still fairly crowded at this point and I had to weave in and out to keep pushing the pace. It was only after the 11km turnaround point where I had plenty of space to myself. There were a few guys and a couple of ladies around me, we played cat and mouse for a fair bit and there didn't seem to a clear breakaway. My pace started dropping to the 4:10s and I was unsure how long more I could hold on. I was still on track on breaking my PB but it was going to very... very close.

Now I'm out of control!

The home stretch couldn't have come any sooner. As we approached the start of the finishing gantry with about 200m to go. I started kicking but I am clearly no sprinter as those around me surged past me, leaving me in their wake. As the finishing clock was in my sight, showing the gun time rather than the net time, I had no idea what I'll end up clocking but I gave it my all, crossing the line with 1:27:25 on my watch - I knew it was a PB, just not sure by how much!

Pity I couldn't get a GPS measurement. Would like to know how far or close it was.

I limped around the recovery area, drinking a few cups of Endura as I ran the whole race without any drinks. Collected my medal, finisher T shirt and my clothes bag. Once I settled down to wait for the massage, I was able to check my previous best time on my Athlinks account and delighted to see that I broke it by 7 seconds. Was even happier when the official results showed my net time another 3 seconds quicker!

Happy to keep my pace fairly consistent!

Coincidentally, I found David as we were making our way back to the trams. With 9,000 participants and their supporters for the half marathon, we initially planned to meet back at the hotel. After a brief wash up and hotel check out, we had breakfast by the Surf Club to cheer the tail end of the marathon runners going past - and, we get to catch a Spiderman marathoner in action!

A very well organized event with minimal hassle getting to and from the race precinct. Barring any upsets, I look forward to doing this again next year!

Being a side event, it's not surprising that our medal is a little bit smaller.

Anniversary

Can't believe that it's been 3 years already since our wedding and 9 years since we officially became a couple (according to Friendster... Yes, it was during THAT time!). One of the perks of having our anniversaries just one day apart, it helps me remember!

We celebrated early on the weekend by taking a 35 minute drive to Raby Bay and then having lunch at the Grandview Hotel at Cleveland Point. The weather was gorgeous, barely a cloud in the sky. The restaurant had a nice ambience in its heritage building. The food however, was pretty average though.

So bright we could barely open our eyes!

Rump steak and pork cutlet to satisfy our inner carnivore!

Happy anniversary darling! I'm so glad to have you in my life and looking forward to sharing many more happy moments to come!