Well this is the second time i am taking part in the bintan triathlon od race. I had gone into this without much expectations; i trained minimally after the dreadful bout of fever and was careful not to over exert my self. besides, i had a niggling backache all week; which i felt started during the bout of illness.
This time we stayed at Nirwana instead of far out and as the bus took us to the resort, memories of last year's race came flooding back. The cobblestoned entrance of the resort, the slow climb all the way to the hotel lobby, the humid weather and of course the route from the ferry terminal to the hotel was part of the last 10 km of the route too.
This year was a big mass start for males and a separate for females and teams. As usual I started slow and the clear waters allowed me to draft quite effectively. I chose a chap in red( because he was so obviously easy to spot) and sat on his feet pretty much for the whole of the first loop. I concentrated on checking out the corals which were intriguing with its population of small fishes. Did i really miss this last year??I cam out of first loop and saw the girls. Gail commented that I was amongst the last to get out of the water. I glanced at the back and realised that there weren"t more than 20 chaps in the water! I swam with a little more urgency this time round and got out of the water and glanced at my watch only to find i had not pressed start! what a buffoon i was! i gathered lated i was probably about 38 minutes out of the water. T1 was quick 1:05 and i was off on my bike. i powered ahead at 35 km/hour and caught KL at the 4 km mark and felt pretty strong. I caught a lot of chaps on the bike as well.The undulating hills were great and i was enjoying it but m back started to act up again. I had downed some neurofen before the race but it was probably too low a dose and i could feel with each pedal stroke my right paravertebral spasm getting worse. in the last 10 km, i was getting pains in my right leg every time i pedaled and i had to move into the small chainring which slowed me down a lot. I got in at 1:26. along the course I dropped my pump, pitstop as well as my mouthpiece from the speedfill probably as a result of me trying to bunnyhop the speed bumps. T2 was another speedy affair 1:54 and then i started the run. The back pain eased a bit and i could go at a 6:15 pace; i focused on breathing easy and stopped to stretch my back a couple of times. the first lap split was slower than the second and i actually picked up to 5:45 in second lap and finished the run with a 1:01 split.
The official results at the end of the day did not have my name in it. Must be another timing chip failure again! happened to me at the tribob aquathlon and now here at the bintan race. a bit exasperating!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
my very meaningful birthday present
i received a card from my good friend last night with well wishes for my birthday. I am 44 today. Its something I would instinctively recoil at: more than halfway or if you are traditional chinese( its die die!).
well i would have assumed i should be living life to the fullest; some parts i would do it all over again if I was asked to; like wl and the girls or my job. i truly discovered myself when i started running again after a long hiatus. As i have mentioned before, i have never been much of an athlete and running was my way of keeping fit( to build cardio fitness was the aim); ok ok as other close friends will tell you its when i was chasing after equally old friends on a beach in phuket and getting dropped when i was thought i was relatively fit that jolted me into the mode that has takne me to today.
the running got more serious and longer, though not naturally faster. i just wanted longevity in my running experience; not push myself to the point where i bust my knees and will spend the rest of my days with my legs prooped up on a ottoman gulping beer and downing chips in front of the telly.
back to my card because of i am digressing. its an article by kristin armstrong entitled "the wall" which appeared in Runner"s World which was shared with me adn want to share this with you:
The Wall
04/29/2010 3:07 PM
Marathoners know the proverbial wall.
The wall is typically located someplace between miles 20 and 23, but it can sprout up anywhere. It can even begin as a simple, unassuming speed bump, but can grow up faster than kudzu in Atlanta. Suddenly you find something massive, directly in front of you, blocking the path between right here and the finish line.
The wall is constructed of many bricks; things like fear, pain, loneliness, hopelessness, burdens, doubt, guilt, exhaustion - physical, exhaustion-mental, exhaustion-emotional, exhaustion-spiritual. It is a black hole in our psyche, a gap in our fence, a riptide in our reservoir with the potential to carry us away. The wall becomes nearly physically tangible to a runner, but the same wall exists in other areas whether we choose to recognize it or not.
Maybe part of why I run is to get a good, hard look at that sucker. There is a part of me that likes to know, every once in a while, what I am up against on the inside. If we get up close enough, we might spot some loose bricks, wedge our fingers in and yank them out, revealing a rectangular shaft of light from the other side. Other times, we get up close enough and spot some handholds, footholds, a way up and over. How much time and mileage do we waste each time we try to go around our wall, instead of facing it head on?
There is even an expression which has become somewhat cliched, "hit the wall." People use this all the time in a non-running context, signifying reaching the end of the rope, an empty tank, a point of frustration, no return, giving up, turning back.
What does it mean to you to hit the wall? What kind of bricks are you stacking?
When you reach your limit, your wall, the end of yourself - what happens next for you? What do you find there? Release? Relief? Grace? Do you have a breakdown or do you break it down? Do you make a plan or an excuse? What gives - the terrain, or you?
I wonder if it's possible to imagine drawing a new starting line just when we think we can't muster another step. Some experienced runners say the race doesn't even begin until mile 20...until the wall. That's when you really find out what you are up against, and in that same sweet moment, what you are really made of.
For all of us who are interested in long distance runs, isn't this what its about?
happy running and training!
well i would have assumed i should be living life to the fullest; some parts i would do it all over again if I was asked to; like wl and the girls or my job. i truly discovered myself when i started running again after a long hiatus. As i have mentioned before, i have never been much of an athlete and running was my way of keeping fit( to build cardio fitness was the aim); ok ok as other close friends will tell you its when i was chasing after equally old friends on a beach in phuket and getting dropped when i was thought i was relatively fit that jolted me into the mode that has takne me to today.
the running got more serious and longer, though not naturally faster. i just wanted longevity in my running experience; not push myself to the point where i bust my knees and will spend the rest of my days with my legs prooped up on a ottoman gulping beer and downing chips in front of the telly.
back to my card because of i am digressing. its an article by kristin armstrong entitled "the wall" which appeared in Runner"s World which was shared with me adn want to share this with you:
The Wall
04/29/2010 3:07 PM
Marathoners know the proverbial wall.
The wall is typically located someplace between miles 20 and 23, but it can sprout up anywhere. It can even begin as a simple, unassuming speed bump, but can grow up faster than kudzu in Atlanta. Suddenly you find something massive, directly in front of you, blocking the path between right here and the finish line.
The wall is constructed of many bricks; things like fear, pain, loneliness, hopelessness, burdens, doubt, guilt, exhaustion - physical, exhaustion-mental, exhaustion-emotional, exhaustion-spiritual. It is a black hole in our psyche, a gap in our fence, a riptide in our reservoir with the potential to carry us away. The wall becomes nearly physically tangible to a runner, but the same wall exists in other areas whether we choose to recognize it or not.
Maybe part of why I run is to get a good, hard look at that sucker. There is a part of me that likes to know, every once in a while, what I am up against on the inside. If we get up close enough, we might spot some loose bricks, wedge our fingers in and yank them out, revealing a rectangular shaft of light from the other side. Other times, we get up close enough and spot some handholds, footholds, a way up and over. How much time and mileage do we waste each time we try to go around our wall, instead of facing it head on?
There is even an expression which has become somewhat cliched, "hit the wall." People use this all the time in a non-running context, signifying reaching the end of the rope, an empty tank, a point of frustration, no return, giving up, turning back.
What does it mean to you to hit the wall? What kind of bricks are you stacking?
When you reach your limit, your wall, the end of yourself - what happens next for you? What do you find there? Release? Relief? Grace? Do you have a breakdown or do you break it down? Do you make a plan or an excuse? What gives - the terrain, or you?
I wonder if it's possible to imagine drawing a new starting line just when we think we can't muster another step. Some experienced runners say the race doesn't even begin until mile 20...until the wall. That's when you really find out what you are up against, and in that same sweet moment, what you are really made of.
For all of us who are interested in long distance runs, isn't this what its about?
happy running and training!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Sunday FOTR ride
well we had the biggest group yet for a FOTR ride, 11 in all and for the first time we had 2 persons of the fairer sex join us. we did our usual mandai route and then climbed RRR before coming out of bukit timah and up 2nd avenue. no takers for the 5th Avenue ride though.
After our customary breakfast i noted something wrong when i got out of the shower chattering. on dear, i am coming down with something. the bug really hit me with a sledgehammer. one minute i was well charging up RRR the other minute i have been reduced to a "sick chicken" with myalgia and headaches . My pores were emitting heat and i was running a 40 degree temperature. After going for a ward round, all i couild do when i got home was lie in bed with chills and rigors. Throughout the day I drifted in and out of sleep; waking up to drink water and take some meds before crashing again. I got up for lunch and dinner and basically slept till 10 am today. it was so bad i did not turn up for work , my first no show since like forever.
I am feeling better now but worry about the bintan triathlon. I should still go but its unlikely i shall be able to train much this week. i should still do the swim and bike route for the fun of it but sit out the run if i am not up to it.
After our customary breakfast i noted something wrong when i got out of the shower chattering. on dear, i am coming down with something. the bug really hit me with a sledgehammer. one minute i was well charging up RRR the other minute i have been reduced to a "sick chicken" with myalgia and headaches . My pores were emitting heat and i was running a 40 degree temperature. After going for a ward round, all i couild do when i got home was lie in bed with chills and rigors. Throughout the day I drifted in and out of sleep; waking up to drink water and take some meds before crashing again. I got up for lunch and dinner and basically slept till 10 am today. it was so bad i did not turn up for work , my first no show since like forever.
I am feeling better now but worry about the bintan triathlon. I should still go but its unlikely i shall be able to train much this week. i should still do the swim and bike route for the fun of it but sit out the run if i am not up to it.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
TriBob Sprint Triathlon
There was an air of expectation this year with the event not least because CH, JT and JN have agreed to do the mini. Was an early morning start for me and I arrived at carpark 4 at 630 am. Decided to use my orbea with the zipp 1080 wheels. ARrive got a vantage spot at transition and met CH first, had a banana and chit chatted a bit. The atmosphere was very carnival like and after the body marking i went out to the beach and got a bit of a warm up. The tide was amazingly low and you could literally walk to the first buoy which was not good. Current was minimal. My wave was the 3 rd one and I did my usual last in the water and went to the right. I had learnt some valuable lessons from yellowfish swimming and was looking to put into some serious test. I swam strong and confident and was for the first time actually overtaking some chaps. got out of the water at 17:00; a pb! got out on the bike and rode decent averaging 33-35 km/h. thefinal average was 32-33km/hr i think because of the time spent going round the hairpin and mounting and dismounting not that i was really bothered.the run was where it all went pear shaped. i was hoping to do a 5:15 to 5:30 but the lack of airtome in the runs was telling, i managed just under 6:00/km barely. all in all a 1:27 time which was an improvement from last year. JN, JT and CH all did sensationally and I was secretly pleased they completed comfortably.maybe i can persuade them to go one level up and who knows, they may be travelling with me for ironman events?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
