I just realised the really bad grammar that this report was written and i was almost in pain reading my own report. Apologies for the bad grammar. So, here is the corrected versionLast Year's Formosa report :
HereUnlike last year, I went to the race alone on the morning of the race. Waking up at 4.30am and making sure I got everything I need. I can't afford to miss out anything important as that would be disastrous.
Last year was the first time I used a road bike for a triathlon race. This year, I took the same bike for the race...with some "upgrades" la.
Well compared to someone's new bike...mine was certainly only as good as my old trusty mountain bike...
A Formosa usually attracts loads of newbie to the sports. Due to the venue proximity and the fact that it is the first tri race of the year. Everyone comes with a renewed hope and wish to better their PR or do their first tri.
A Formosa was when Shazly and Kam debuted last year. Think of it as a prom or something, but Formosa is known for creating loads of IronMan.
The race course was slightly different this year. The swim did not take us around the 2 islands like last year. It was definitely a larger loop. We are to swim 2 loops around the lake. As usual, the lake has loads of TDS (Total Dissolved Solid), which I believe some major water filter company could make millions if they were to filter the water here.
I learnt my lesson last year when I entered the lake in my spanking new trisuit. Never again will I do so. Not only the white on the trisuit turned brown upon exiting the water, your Gastrointestinal (GI) tract and system most probably worked overtime to kill off some of the bacteria.
Yeah, but that did not stop the hundreds of crazy triatheletes and wannabes.
expelling the bacteria from the noseSwim time last year : 38:00
Swim time this year : 40:00
I took a leak near the shower area and pretended to be showering with bucketful of water...I don't think it was morally right to pee in the water and let the swimmer
behind swim through them urine. :P
Running up the slope towards T1 was quite tiring as it was well, a slope! There, I saw Azmar almost finished prepping himself for the ride.
The absolutely last time I rode a bike was during IM. I'm serious. I opened the card box to retrieve my helmet and cycling shoes. There were spider web between the spokes. That speaks volume that my previous apartment is a thriving place for a diversified faunas (yes, there were cockroach eggs at one corner, which I took and threw out before they hatch).
I did not wear any cycling shorts for the cycling section and instead opt to just go with the trunks I wore for the swim. I had the Nike Pro top on and my race number, which I collected before the race from Upiq. It did felt awkward on the bike the first 3 minutes.
Funny as the geometry was not the same as I remember it (after I got the Dream, this steel Colnago was basically cold-storage). I did struggle with the gears a bit as the STIs from Shimano differs a bit from the Campags.
As I strolled along the biking route and struggled to a certain extend to maintain a high 30km/h (wishful thinking) but I only managed a slow 27km/h average! Damn!
Abu coming from behind and overtakingBut of course la, struggling or not...must take pic of myself posing...
Last year bike : 1:22
This year bike :
1:10 to be confirmed tomorrow.
As I finished the bike, I took my time to wear a short as I did notice the trunk was a lil obscene. Wore a pair of socks and don on the same shoes I wore for KLIM 08. Took a gamble and wore a thinner socks as I could not find the right pair in darkness (did not want to wake wifey up at 4.30am). Thank goodness I got the same colored socks!
The final run should be easy considering that it will be slightly less than 10km.
But not having any training since Iron Man and the last I ran was the BHP Orange run, the condition is less than ideal to even think about posting another PR for the run. Took it really easy and had the Nano playing some songs. Zoning out, as some top class athlete would call it.
Struggled a bit on the first 2km of the run as the Bike-Run (lack of) transition often requires a high degree of muscle memories. I still remember my first Bike-Run transition in my first ever multisport event; I almost crawled after I dismounted the bike. No joke.
I had Mejar Kalam with me throughout the run. Chit-chatting and exchanging opinions on general and training matters. The run this year was longer than last year as we had to take a left towards the resort's main office and then towards the finish line, that should pack in another good 1km (last year's run was only about 9km!).
I finished the race in 3:13 (my own stop watch, the clock ran continuously even during T1 and T2) and I believe I did a
3:30 3:07 last year. Meaning I’m 6 minutes late...must be those time is spend in transition!
Last year run : 1:05
This year run : 1:04
Finishing with MejarI don a Nike Pro top, which worked really well throughout the race by wicking off the sweat. In fact, the top did not even feel drenched by the time I’m done with the whole race! I will write about that later. :)
Despite not training and taking things way easier than what I used to be (as Bacin would say...the IronMan's blue), I’m quite happy that I managed to finish the race in a much better time compared to last year at the same venue. But of course, having to post a PR at PD Tri last year, I had certain level of expectation for myself, and that is to try to dip below 3 hours...
Sometimes, we just have to let our own ego rest at home. I'm glad I did not bring that along to the race yesterday or I would be crying for not being able to do close to my PR.
To all of those that did their first OD Tri race yesterday, well done, you guys and girls deserves rounds of big clap. To those that did their PR...Well done too! Now all you all need to do (me included) is to train harder, longer and smarter to post better PR in the future!
