PD International Triathlon - 24th July 2011

Yes...better get on with blogging about this while I still have that teeny weeny bit of remaining endorphin left over from yesterday's race, coursing through my blood vessels!

Before I get down and dingy with the details, I'd like to point out that NONE of these pictures that I've posted in this blog post belonged to me.

Not even ONE!!!!

Well, remember the check list from before I left for PD?

Yeah....the camera battery.......sigh

Anyway, the pictures came from a variety of sources, so I'll mention the camera person/source just below each pic.

The Olympic distance race starts on Sunday.

But having nothing better to do (and also because Winnie and Andrew were already planning on heading down earlier), drove down to Port Dickson early Saturday morning...just before the start of the Sprint event.

Matthew (Terence's second fruit of his loin) was participating in the sprint.....an upgrade from the kiddie event of the previous year.

Driving down the highway to Seremban and then to PD brought back tons of memories from uni years......then absolute feelings of dread when it subsequently reflected upon self that I've aged. But that's another story altogether...

* Trixie (Terence's 3rd offspring) and I.....waiting for the flag off for the sprint event, trying to spot Matthew and Terence (who was swimming as personal lifeguard to son).

Photo courtesy of Maybel.....whom I can always count on to bring her camera!!!!

* At the beach waiting for Matthew (and Terence) to return.

Again, picture courtesy of Maybel.

There was a bit of screw-up at the sprint event's cycling leg....where there was no marshall to tell the participants to turn back.

Thus plenty of them actually rode more than the supposed 20km.

(Matthew unfortunately fell into that "cycle-more" category.....and when he didn't emerge at appropriate timing, we went driving around the cycling route in search of the lost boy. Thankfully found him cycling around town aimlessly and alone!!!)

Well, no harm done. Terence reckoned his son is now ready for Powerman since he had already cycled 40km....his longest ride to date!

* Trixie and I posing for the Timex peeps.....photo courtesy of Timex...(which I took the liberty of plagiarizing from Facebook....although since I mentioned the source, it cannot exactly be considered plagiarizing!)

Anyway, will skip through all the nonsense that was done on Saturday.

(and thank you Andrew for pumping air into Tobias' tyre...I'll get around to buying a pump soon)

Woke up at 5.30am on Sunday morning.

My roomies went down for the complimentary breakfast. I ate my kiddie brekkie in front of the TV watching Disney channel.

Changed into race outfit...slathered on humongous amount of sunscreen.....waited for roomies to return post-prandial and off we go with our bikes to race site.....which happened to be at right where we stayed.

I already had my pre-race warm up by running back to the hotel room to retrieve my timing chip that I've forgotten to bring down with the bike.......

* Me, Winnie, Leon, and Weng.....thanks to Leon & Weng for the support.....photo thanks to Tey-da-man!

Participants were released in batches for the swim leg.

All women categories start their swim with all the uncles.

Lots of time to watch those really hot, young triathletes running into the sea and swimming off into oblivion.

Gotta love this sport for the people, really.

Before we started the swim, someone asked me what my target was for this race.

Hmm....I didn't really have enough time to conjure up some thought provoking answer to that question, but replied in plain, "to finish faster than Kenyir would be good..."

Suddenly the blow horn went off and everyone in front of me started running into the sea.

It was low tide and there was a lot of running before any swimming could be done.

Like 100m dash......

I find myself trying to gain rhythm to my swim and trying my darnest to ignore the horrible taste of sea water in my mouth.

Kicked loads of people (I'm sorry.....), touched tons of people (thankfully it was a tri or else I'll be in for molestation!), got hit a few times but not as bad as those I've kicked, and swallowed quite a few gulps of horrid tasting sea water.

Yes...breaststroked it the entire way...(try not to laugh out that loud)

And before I knew it, I was running towards the beach and onto transition.

Glanced down at watch. 33 minutes. Wow...I broke 40 minutes (my usual 1500m swim time at the pool)......which means, high likely under distanced!

* Running out of my swim leg. I actually thought the running in water part was more physically exhausting than the actual swimming part. This picture reminded me that I should really consider going on a diet. Yeah, that word....DIE with a T!!!!

Photo by Tey-da-man.

* At T1, trying to not get confused and to hurry out for my cycling leg. Photo by Stupe-in-skirt!

At the first transition, I was really tired. I really hated the running after the swim and I could feel my heart pounding so rapidly that I felt like I've just completed a sub-5 marathon! (yea yea, I'm slow....have a good laugh!)

Drank my isotonic-redbull concoction to rid the sea water taste in mouth......put on my bib number, gloves, helmut, favourite yellow shirt.....tell Tobias he better behave or else....and off I went!

* Photo from Stupe-in-skirt.

Cycling went off without any hitch.

Very happy that Tobias behaved.

The hills didn't seem to daunting.....the distance felt alright.....legs felt great.....but tummy felt empty and was playing some gaseous symphony in there. I was very hungry, y'see.

Overall I'm very glad I actually put in some cycling work prior to this race.....unlike at Kenyir (or any other race that needed me to cycle, for that matter)

And since I lack the balance to drink and ride at the same time, I did stop once after the 20km turn around to chug water down throat...but that's about it.

Everything else went really really well.

* Completed my cycling......and thanking my common sense to put on tons of sunscreen!!!

Photo thanks to Maybel!!!

At T2, quickly stash Tobias on the rack.....downed more isotonic-redbull, offed with the helmut and gloves, donned my running cap and off I went.

* Just out of transition......photographed here with Khoo (who was doing a relay).

Photo courtesy of Maybel...again!

The running part....was hot.....and tiring.

My legs felt fine in terms of no-jelly-leg-issues....but I was tired, my tummy was still gurgling (should have downed a powergel....sigh), and I was still hungry.

I tried to run as much as I could.

The running route led us to the path beside the beach, away from the main road.

It was kinda funny running on the sandy beach.

In a nutshell, I don't like it.....

But it was a great excuse to walk!!!!!

The route led us to some park next to the beach.

It was beautiful and I wished I had a camera with me to capture the view....the moment....and some obligatory camwhored self portraits!

As we exited the park, there was a water station but it had ran out of water.

Very disappointing but there was nothing much we could have done.

The volunteers looked very embarassed but it wasn't exactly their fault.

The participants returning told us to keep running as there will be another water station at the final turn around.

With that, kept on running. I really wanted some water.

I rephrase myself....I really NEEDED some water!!!!!

It was hot....my mouth was dry.....and I'd really like to have some ice cold fluid dunked on my head!

As we were approaching the turn around, returning runners signaled that the water station had run dry as well!!!!

My heart sank.

I saw Terence returning. He said there was no water at the next water station. Told me to run there and back and he'll try and get some water for me.

But I had to keep going...with or without water.

As I approached the turn around, a pick up truck came carrying bottled water to that station.

They were back in business!!!!!

Downed more water....thanked the volunteers profusely and went on my way.

(silently thanked God for His good timing)

Caught up with Terence and he handed me a bottled water.

Gotta love friends like that!!!!!

Together we ran back.

David, whom I've passed by cycling finally caught up with me and Terence.

And we headed back to finish line together.

* Me, Terence and David. Photo by Maybel!!

I told David jokingly that I needed to finish before him coz I overtook him on the cycling leg.

He said he'd give chase coz he didn't want to finish behind me.

For the last 100m, he literally gave me chase!!!!!

* Running ahead.....with David right behind me.....argh!!!! Photo by Reza Ali.

The last 50m was like an absolute dash!!!!

I really didn't want David to overtake me.....(yea I know, totally petty....but I'm oestrogen-powered and therefore is totally normal!)

Finished in 3:09:42.

Woohoo!!!!!!

Totally PB-ed considering my timing for Kenyir OD tri 3:55!!!!!

(ok ok so I didn't train for Kenyir at all and there was a reason why I decided to do Kenyir last minute....please refer previous post on reason)

* Almost crossing the finish line!!!

Photo by Tey-da-man.

* Me, Andrew and Lee Yong who came all the way to PD to support us.

Remaining photos by Maybel.

* Me, Andrew, Terence, Chee Kee and Winnie Thor.

Anyway.....since I'm still in the competitive spirit, here's the breakdown of my timing:

Swim: 33:11

Bike: 1:31:22

Run: 1:01:07

Compared to my Kenyir tri timing:

Swim: 37:46

Bike: 2:08:34 (yea yea...I see hill, I push bike)

Run: 1:09:33

Overall timing: 3:55:53

After reviewing the differences in the two events.....I've decided to give myself (and Tobias) and huge pat on the back!!!!!

Anyway I mentioned my timing to Mr. Anonymous and he reckoned that he did contribute to my "success" in achieving PB thus promoting himself to being my cycling-sifu.

Alright then...if it makes you happy......

He also reckoned that I should stop cam-whoring that much to improve my timing.......

(totally unacceptable!!!!)

By the way....I sorta agreed (tempted/coerced/however-you-wanna-put-it) for Desaru tri in 2 months time.

....so I guess Tobias better buck up for the tumultuous journey that lies ahead of him...

And I better get back to training!!!

Later!!!!