Well in earnest the weekend started on friday; SE and I went to collect our race packs and then attended the race briefing. it was raining a fair bit on Friday. Met up with Albert and old friends William and David from the days of the bintan triathlon and sat in the main mega tent amidst pouring rain for the briefing.
Saturday did not start well. The heavens opened and emptied lots of water on us. My koi pond was full to the brim. The pipe in the pond that was supposed to maintain constant height of water was overwhelmed. The rain abated slightly at 3 pm and i was there to check in the bike. When i reached the transition site, there was a queue about 400 m long! it took us 1 hour to check in our bikes and another half hour to collect our timing chip. not stellar organization i must say.
On race day I got up at 4:30 am had a hearty breakfast before going down to ther ace venue. After body marking it was time to set up my transition.The weather was looking decent but given the overcast sky, i thought i will dispense with the sunblock. bad mistake.
My wave started at 0725 hours and I resolved to use the same strategy from last week. I tried to stay aerobic and develop a nice rhythm. Alas it was not to be, I was kicked a number of times, once smack on the right side of the head and another squarely in the chest. Never did find a rhythm after all these rude shocks but at least i stayed aerobic. finished the first loop at 22 minutes and got out of the water at 5 minutes. There were very few yellow cappers around by then. I surmised i was probably 90th centile in my age group; pretty much unruffled by this now.
Got my bike out and maintained a decent pace on the start. The sheares bridge climb was tough and OKC overtook me then. Gosh he was in a later wave( 5minutes) and had already overtaken me at such an early point. I was making pretty good time and on the return leg of lap 1, my chain came undone again. Had to stop to re-postion the chain but had difficulty getting the momentum going as it was on the bottom of the viaduct climb up ECP and I almost developed cramps. I was worried, given the early problem of cramps i was worried I will have difficulty with the run later. Decided to slow down a little to rest the legs and spin a little. did the first loop in 1:05; the second loop was a lot faster and my cramps had abated so I put in a very decent 2nd loop. The 3rd loop was probably where it went pear shaped a little. My back and my bum was starting to hurt; my quads were also cramping up and by when i neared vivocity i could feel my calves acting up. The crosswinds were getting stronger and i was slowing down to 25 km/hour and by the time i was descending fort road, my bum was getting really sore. i could not get out of the saddle as i was worried my cramps will overwhelm me so i kept myself in the saddle. It was to turning out to be a true sufferfest and i was so glad to be done with the bike leg.
The run leg turned out to be even more painful. The sun was now out in its full glory and I wilted under the heat. It would not be an under-estimation to say i literally gritted my teeth to get through that. I could only take small steps and was not managing more than 7.30/km because any faster and i would go into a state of "status cramiliticus", a state exemplified in cramping of muscles in sequence in areas you least expect that would literally stop your run cold.
Saw my two little girls flying their little banners cheering me on and that picked me up. You always read about the feeling that you get when you cross the finishing line and i was wondering how would i feel. Would i be overcome with emotion and have tears welling up in my eyes, or will i be surveying the crowd savoring the moment or would i be awash with sentiments of accomplishments. In truth I was just so damn glad it was over.
Swim 51:16 min
T1 4 min
Bike 3:15:32
T2 4:50
Run 2:34:35
6:50:13
Overall ranking 691
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