Bintan Triathlon 2010

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!