Had an oversized dinner just before sleeping so it's either that or lack of water that caused me to wake up in the middle of the night. The other reason could be that I've slept the whole Sat and Sun away in the bus. So here I am blogging my race at KL International Triathlon held at Titiwangsa. Meanwhile been jumping around other people's blog too; and wondering whether to sign up Angelfire Plus to dump in my own mp3s. :p
27 Sept (Sat)
Travelling Up With Tribob
Packed and weighed the bag at 9.3kg with helmet the night before. Totally overweight. I definitely can't cycle to Dempsey Rd with that bag, so it's down to cab. Morning I have breakfast outside; won't have to leave home until 9.30am earliest. Managed to come out and catch a cab before 10 but there was a terrible traffic jam along Adams Rd. Still, managed to get to Dempsey Rd carpark by 10.20, saw some people including Yusran who is a new triathlete also - and the only other non-ang mo on the bus (although Miko can be considered non-ang mo also). Later I would get to know Cynthia and Miko, professional athletes. Marco Grillo, Singapore's top triathlete, is on the same bus but Bob is missing. Andrew Hirst, Nik Tymms and the Kenyan runner John Kelai (10km 27 mins - this guy eats 2.4km at five and a half mins). I chat mostly with Yusran mostly, then after the checkpoint, listen to my mp3 player and sleep. Break for lunch, and all the way to the race site where I registered first coz Eric is kinda missing in action and Huang was still waiting for him. At the race brief I caught sight of Huang and Eric; they made it in time. Cost of race: RM$90 for team. Got t-shirt, water bottle, cap... I think a lot of us going to boycott the Singapore triathlon already, which is charging S$90 per athlete even for relay team. Even Marco thinks it's silly - having an ITU rated race with not enough cash prizes to attract the true pros, yet having to raise the race entry price enough to deter the casual triathlete. Relay runners like us will definitely skip it - S$270!!! Crazy.
Huang left after briefing for his dinner appointment, and Eric joined me in the Tribob bus. The whole gang was dropped at Bukit Bintang to eat pasta; nice but quite ex. Actually it was cheap except for the "extras" like water and garlic bread. Nice chat especially with the two pro ladies Cynthia and Miko. Cynthia is better on the bike while Miko flies on the run. We talk about Desaru and Batam and Bintan cycling among other stuffs. After that Eric, another Bernard (new triathlete also) and myself headed back to hotel while the rest had coffee at Starbucks. Chatted a while with Eric before sleeping.
Apparently I slept quite soundly - Eric didn't sleep until 3am. My snoring must have been quite bad. Nowadays I just can't be bothered. I'll just sleep like a pig regardless, especially if it's two separate beds.
Still my HR is exceptionally high. I am not recovered for this race. Sat morning I could only get a 64bpm resting HR, and by evening it has dropped to 54bpm. This is way off from my totally recovered below 44bpm HR.
28 Sept (Sun)
Gentlemen... Start Your Engines...
Short race. 1.3km swim (2 laps), 37km cycle (10 laps) and 9km run (3 laps). 10 laps of cycling is crazy. There is no way to keep track of how many laps one has gone. There were a few ideas; sticking 9 tapes and pulling one off every round. Not a good idea if I'm planning to follow the National boys. Malaysia's best - the National Team - will be there as usual, doing relays and I intend to grab a good ride from them. The course is bad; it's totally flat and lots of turns. Good thing is that there are 10 laps so I figured I won't be needing my aerobars. I saw Marco going without his aerobars and after scouting the race course, took off my aerobars. Most of the time I'll be either going into a corner, coming out of a corner, accelerating or drafting so figured it'll just be in the way. There are a number of tight turns, plus potholes. Even the course is not closed totally yet - the organizers must have had a hard time getting the place closed down for the race - they could put up certain things only after 8pm the evening before and worked till after midnight.
My heartrate is way off, even for a race day adrenaline charge - 100bpm while waiting for Huang to start his swim. Could see Mr Chan the race organizer still running around looking for airhorn, failing which looking for a flag. Whistle and the swimmers go out... the group has a lot of first timers and can see from the swimming that on the second lap, the first group is almost catching up to the back of the last group. First swimmer out; relay team. Huang is out around the 5th or 6th swimmer!!! I'm the third guy out of the relay area! So much for being off-form, swam only once in the past month... and all his bullshit. This guy is a submarine in the water! I agree he is off-form though because he is normally first out of the water otherwise. I started off slow, and checked behind... soon there is another cyclist coming up already. I slow down, checked my speedo. Going at 35kmh already?! It still felt pretty good. I wait for the guy to catch up but he takes a while, prob because at 35kmh I'm still pretty fast. We work together, then another fast riders comes up and we get into the train. The speed moves up when the first disc wheel rider joins in the group from behind. I think we must be doing at least 42kmh around the windy course, but I don't have time to look at my speed. The worst thing were the turnings. I was at the back of the group and the rubberband effect was terrible. I dreaded going into the turns because it means having to accelerate really hard - 100% effort - just to get back into the train.
The rubberband effect is caused by the front riders slowing down for the turn and every other person behind slowing down a lot before his own turn, then as the front riders accelerate normally, the back riders are left to accelerate much harder to catch back into the group. It's the same reason why it's so difficult to overtake in Formula One. And it takes it's toll on me. I'm not really recovered and I can push only a 170bpm, but I can still keep up with the group. On the third lap, the second disc wheel joins up and the speed increases even more. I knew I would be dropped within the next few turns, and I did. Trying as hard as I can to catch up for one round, pushing 42kmh alone, I could only see the pack in front of me, slowly disappearing away. I thought I could take the turns dangerously but they went even further away. So for the next few laps, I ran from 39kmh to 36kmh, but there's not much help.
So much for my plan on catching a draft from the people we overlap. These guys are going between 30-33kmh. That's no help to me who, going slowly, is still running at least a 35kmh on the straights. I can recover as well at 35kmh than slow as I can when getting a draft at 33kmh. So I just go at it alone. Finally a solo tri (not relay team) came by at 41kmh and I sit on his wheel. We work together, taking turns pulling at 41kmh - nice speed to maintain without burning out. At the turning of the second lap with him I asked if he was on the last lap. Yes he was, and so was I. We work nicely together, when I can't pull anymore, I'll motion him over and he's glance back at me when he wants me to take over the pulling. I let him pull with 3 straights to the end, then being a relay runner, I pull for the final 2 straights. I keep glancing back to make sure he's still there, and our speed goes up to 43.6kmh. I give it all I have after making sure he's still hanging in there.
That was it. My job was done, 58 mins for a short 37km. My speedo had gone to zero reading twice on the course and I had to adjust the reader to be closer to the wheel. I went in at 35km, because running another loop will bring me to 38.7km (each loop is 3.7km) and past the 37km. My final reading for the course is 35.4km over 58mins. Max speed was only 46.3kmh and avg 36.4kmh. Huang lets me know that apparently the first pack had gone an extra loop and I was the 4th relay guy to come in! Then the pack comes in, about 2 mins after I was in. It was a huge pack, later I was to find out that Nik Tymms and Marco Grillo were in the same pack, and doing an extra lap.
Eric did one of his best run, according to him. We came in good timing, but with the Kenyan and Indian runners, two mins won't be enough to give him enough lead. The first relay team had given his runner a 6 mins lead though, and will eventually take first position over Nik Tymms and John Kelai, who took second. Razani too won the individuals over Marco. The controversial number of laps was discussed over and over again, even after prize presentation and on the bus.
I had a chance to catch up with Marco during prize presentation and lunch. Cynthia, who came in second after doing an extra cycling loop also, was still faster than Elizabeth Yeo - Malaysia's top female triathlete who is going to Ironman Hawaii with Razani later in October. Miko, strong on the run, took first. I talked about Powerman whom I think Miko will do well. Later on she asked me about it again on the bus. I just realized I had sabotaged my own team. Hahaha. She's 42 and will be in direct competition with Joyce age category! Arrgh. Hopefully she's in the elite and not age-group category. A run and cycle is definitely her cup of tea. Just checked the website. Phew, there is a 40-44 and 45-49 age group category, so Joyce is safe... at least from Miko and her main competitor.
Rain had started right after lunch but luckily stopped soon. Then it was back to the hotel and headed for home.
The Profile Design Aerolites that I am using. When one is on aerobars, one is in a thinner and lower position, thus more aerodynamic. Reducing the drag and air resistence allows one to either travel faster or at the same speed with less effort. Aerobars are not allowed in pack rides like normal cycling competitions, except in Time Trials.
The S710i that I am using
Nope, I don't have one of these, but they are the fastest things to get you moving on a bike. Because they are far far more aerodynamic than normal wheels. heavier but more aero. And they cost a bomb. The above pair will cost in excess of S$2000 (with discount).
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