Desaru - Personal Best Timing

I survived yet anohter round of Desaru Long Distance.

Suffice to say that i clocked 6 hours 15 minutes. I'm estatic. As i crossed the line carrying Ryan in my arms. Shazly finish just ahead of me.

That is a good 1hour 30 minutes minimum from my last 2 outing in Desaru which i happily clocked 7 Hours 45 Mins.

Swim 2K
The water was ultra choppy. "washing machine" as some would actually call it. My hope of doing the full 2km in freestyle was shortlived as it was almost a 60-40 affair (60 Breast stroke and 40 Freestyle).

The waves must had been almost 1.5meters at some point as i recall i could see everyone from the top of the wave at those intances.

Not helping with th fact that Zabil was stung by jellyfish a day before, with his whole right arm still showing sign of the stings. Obviously i was afraid! I did feel some minor burns all over the body from time to time. Thinking it was actually my sensitive skin which were reacting to the salty sea water. But i was wrong as Heckler told me those are jellyfish stings...abeit the smaller baby jellyfishes la!

I got out from the water in 1:04. Running to transition was a slow stroll as i was really worn off from the swim! I swear i still had motion sickness when the cycling finished!

Bike 90K
Feeling really really sick from being thrown around in the water, i drank a full 500ml of water to replace the fluid lost in the sea. It was easily one of the harder swim i had.

Bike 281, which was parked next to be (Kuota Kalibur) already left the transition. Lonely was my Colnago.

As i reached the first U Turn point, i saw Zabil, Steve, Puzi, Jun Shen, Shazly, Saiful and Heckler. I'm a good 2km to 5km behind them. Stronger swimmer will sure have the advantage in the sea that day.

Then, rain started falling. Sorry, not rain, storm came. The rain was so heavy that some of us has to pedal while going downhill. I pushed really hard on the bike.

Then, the knee started acting up.

MY average dropped from 32km/h to 31km/h and by the time i finished the cycling in 2:46, it was a low 30.3km/h. The cycling course wasn't exactly 90km, more of 85km at best. Maybe due to some course alignment where the second U Turn was.

At the first U turn, i saw Dickie, Azmar, Bacin and Mejar Kalam.

The rain finally slowed down towards the end of the cycling league. I entered transition, limping slightly due to the knee pain.

Run 21KM
My greatest fear happened on the bike, with the knee hurting, i know it won't be a pleasant 21km. I tried to put a straight face and keep looking out for wifey and Ryan. They are my source of energy.

I completed the first 10.5km run in about 1:10. Wifey ran to me and snapped a few pics while Lizi's friends offered me some jelly beans, which i took without feeling any shame.

As i completed my 13km, i caught up with Shazly. I decided to run with him. His fitness level has been about the same as mine, only mine is sightly lower than his. SO, running with him should, technically, pull me through.

At the 15km mark, i know i will be in for more hard time as my knee started to ache badly and my calf started to scream for some relief. Maintaining a low 145bpm average heart rate, which was less than 70% effort but my left knee was killing me.

Anyhow, i completed the 21km with Shazly in 2:25max.

While he surge forward with his son, i looked for mine, and ran with Ryan in my arms to the finish line.

It was a great finish.

Plus, complains about knees aside, i managed my Personal Best timing.

It would had been better if the sun was scorching down and tearing up the road instead of it raining the whole race.

Official results were posted up the day after.

Am i ready for IronMan? Not quite yet. But slowly, i hope i'm getting there.