It wasn't the organiser's fault, but rahter, some technical error that caused the cycling part to include the Powerman Route PLUS a Hill route at Alamanda.
I kept thinking it was my meter wrongly calibrated, but no matter which wheel diameter setting i set to, both shows a plus minus 2 km differences. Nevermind then, the racers all got more than what they paid for yesterday!
Pics courtesy of Anna
Looking fast - thanks to Anna for the *fast* effect
I ran my fastest 10km this year yesterday. OK, not that i've religiously done any 10K races at all this year, but well, you get my drift.
I felt strong on the run, i do not know why, maybe because everyone seems to be running fast. I started from the back and started overtaking everyone i could and after PCC, Ajeep caught up with me and i decided to pace with this one particular ATMA boy. Well, he is fit, i culd only draft him for a good 1km and then i dropped back and still maintain what i thought was a 5:00 pace.
I think i stopped my watch at 52mins as i step over the timing chip's mat. I then slowly took my time at the bike, ensuring i didn't missed out on anything. I decided to just wear the same runing vest for cycling.
I was happy, again, as on my left and right of my bikes, were, err...the participants' bike...one a full carbon Cervelo which i could never imagine to buy/get one. One more anohter expensive roadbike which i don't think i could afford as well. To simply put it, both the bike value, combined, could had been able to buy my kancil over with the current second hand car price.
I was wearing my helmet when one of the biker shouted at me "Nice bike!!" i really thought he meant MY Fuji...but...heheh, he must had thought i own that Cervelo PC2/PC3. Oh well...
But the owner of that P3 carbon was nice enough to chat with me that morning, he was wearing a NB 15km running vest. He told me i got nice bottle carrier on my handle bar. Well...that's very humble of him! hahaha...his bottle carrier could most probably cost half my bike's price..so, participant 132...thank you!
SO, there was i, with my el-cheapo bike pump stucked between my butt crack and a spare tube with tyre lever poking on my cycling pants and pressing against my bare butt. I never like saddle back because it sorta brushes against my inner thigh on the downstroke.
The first round of cycling was good, i managed a decent 30km/h average and completed the first round in an hour. Wait. 30km/h in one hour and i covered 30km?
That was also when i realised i was right about the biking route.
The marshalls must had mixed up the biking route with last year's route, which, in the begining of this report, confirmed we did the POWERMAN route AND the extra hill climb in Alamanda.
I seriously thought i wrongly calibrated my meter and i set it to anohter setting.
5km to the finishing, i had a cramp on both my calves. Looking down, i could see the muscle hollowed out on the inner calves, denoting the muscle was spasming and was pulling and struggling to relax.
My second round was a slow 1hour 20minutes to complete the final 30km. But looking back, it was however, faster than my PDIT 40km bike ride! (more excuses for calves' cramping).
But seriously, i think i wasn't properly hydrated. My sweat tasted so salty i swore i was a walking salted fish. My own sweat stung my eyes so badly that i need to pour water onto my eyes to ease the sting.
I wasn't prepared properly where hydration was concerned. One lesson learnt. Don't be overly confident that i'm properly hydrated.
I pushed the bike into the transition and again, stopped my watch. Hey, whadaya know...both 130 and 132 hasn't come back from cycling. :) Fuji full sus beat two road bike again!
I pushed for my final 5km run. Legs felt fine the first km and i maintained a 6:00 pace. Then, the inevitable happened. My calf seized up and my inner thigh muscle started aching.
That's it. I was basically taking small steps and i do not want to walk the rest of the 4km. It was painful especially on the calf. I had visions of my calves exploding because the muscle became so tight and tout. I am not kidding.
Blocking out the pain and then a friend, Lee, which is trying to get back to racing after a torn ligament surgery, ran with me for a good 2km before stopping at the last water station to wait for Ben, anohter friend, which was racing his loingest ever race yesterday.
My final 1km was joyous, i picked up speed maybe because of the adrenalin rush.
I crossed the line in one piece, yet again, this time, with my calves aching.
No one i knew was there at the finishing line this time. But a familiar face in Hin Toong and his girlfriend was a welcome sight as he said "Well done" to me.
Zabil ran a good race, despite having to change a tube in transition, he managed to finish the race in slighty over 3hours. I on the other hand, took a good 50 minutes to finish my final 5km. That was my personal worse time for 5km as well...
Jojo, me, Gary and Soon - posing for food.
Thanks Anna for the pics!
By the way, PDIT 06 results are out. I did a slow 3:05:38 compared to a PB of 2:46 last year. maybe i'm just getting Old. The time is inclusive of transition, so, in actual fact, i'm hoping the real race time will be further reduced to SUB 3 hours. hahaha....
Keep on Wishing Stupe!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment