Port Dickson International Triathlon 2010

Well the PD race has come and gone. It was a fabulous weekend. Rain threatened to ruin the race. when we convoyed up to PD on saturday, it had drizzled and at some point threatened to deteriorate into a formal tropical storm. The clouds were low and heavy with rain and we drove slowly; mh with daddy and mummy( the 3 bears minus goldilocks), cs and family and hp with me. We drove at a leisurely pace and were at PD by 12 where we had a relaxed lunch. Place reminds me of radiator springs from movie "Cars" where Lightning McQueen found his true love. In fact we joked over lunch that the place is so laid back and sleepy as a town that when you got in, your resting heart rate automatically would have dropped to 33/minute like Alberto Contador's!

We got up really early and checked in our bikes after a quick breakfast at 5 am; then settled down to enjoy the atmosphere. It was high tide at 2.1 meters so we didn't have to duck dive or do any other fancy stuff. We just had to dive into the water on the gun. It was to be a one loop L shape swim out into the open sea before making a left into the marina where the waters would be as calm as a swimming pool, cs assured us.

From the beach start, i tried to get in with a faster swim cadence and then started to draft as much as I could. I was a bit worried about swimming the full 1.5 without touching dry land as i have never done that before. Even at the Aviva 70.3 race, it was 2 loops of 900 m so this was going to be a first for me. I was getting comfortable and was swimming well although i had the occasional kick and the usual prat who held on to my feet. Got out of the water at 35 minutes on my watch and then made the slow run on sand to the T1 where i took about 3 minutes thereabouts to get out on the bike.

It was to be a fabulous ride. I had to stop to retrieve my profile design aero bottle when it fell out of the harness. I could ill afford to lose a bottle, particularly one that would set me back $60! haha so i back tracked slightly and grabbed it; with the excitement, I noted with amazement that i had a tremor that made it difficult to fasten it into the contraption. Thank God I don't get this on my day job! I was careful to look for potholes and the fact that it was draft legal made it risky for me to get onto my aero bars for fear of ending up in one of them particularly when u have riders on both sides of you! After 3 to 4 km on the hoghway, we banked a hard right and that was when the rolling hills began.I was using my Orbea and i dropped 2 gears to help me climb the first hill. Felt good and strong when i started to catch a few guys. Then it was a long downhill run and i got down into an aero position and felt my speedo go up to 50 km/hour; By that time, my Garmin started going wonky and i realised i had run out of memory. There were a few more hills and by the 4th, I was slowing a lot because I was pushing pretty hard. I relaxed a little and thought i should keep at a steady pace of 30 to 32 km/hour( by feel i must add!). There was traffic and one needed to stay alert. I was so alert i started to notice fallen hand pumps, CO2 gas canisters , Bidon's, gels and was tempted many times to stop and pick up stuff. After Bintan where Literally drop everything from my Bike, I thought it should be time to recoup some of my monetary losses from repeated purchases of all these supposed essential stuff. I was moderately grateful that the back spasm that plagued me at Bintan  did not rear its ugly head.

I got into T2 and then got out pretty quickly i think. I was halfway out when i realised I forgot my sunnies and had half a mind to turn back. By this time, I had actually no idea what was my bike split timing but resolve to put in a solid run. I got off at a decent pace and felt strong. I remembered Lloyds words the day before to keep my cadence high and steps short and felt like had a lot in my tank. we turned left and I remembered the run course would be hilly and would take us through at least 5 hills. I thought I should count it. Another game I played was to see how many people I can pass and i concentrated on passing as many people as i can.  on home leg I counted I caught 89 people on the run. I probably pushed a fair bit but was pretty fresh when I finished the race> i glanced down at my Garmin stopped it and the time was 2:50:56. I was incredulous, a pb certainly for me.

Official Time:  2:50:56

Swim 38:18
Bike 1:19:26
Run 52:02( !!) course must be shorter than 10 km! haha

a PB for me!

next question: can I do better?? should aim for 2:45 for next OD( haha! my memory for pain is certainly short!)

The week before the Port Dickson Race

Well its not quite the eve. there are some more days to go. Its not a race that is quite on my personal A list but its there to spice up the racing calender of the year for me. I was pretty miffed with the weather in Munich. Was to have done 2 glorious days of cycling with Nils but we were rained out. Throughout the week I was there, it rained trhoughout and I was left wondering if I was truly experiencing summer in Germany. Well at least there was the World Cup and I spent the afternoons and nights watching footbal.. Managed to clock 40 km during my stay there which was small consolationfor not being able to cycle.

It has since been a fruitful month; and this week because of unforseen work committments decided to join YF's monday's class. Swam 3.2 km; twas hard but great sense of satisfaction. WOke up this morning same ol same old and did a bike/run/bike/run which feltgood. Legs were not too heavy and managed a decent 5:20 pace at heart rate of 140/min.

Suppose will do another ride tmrw( God willing) and possibly a swim if i have the time and do another run on thursday before heading up to PD on Saturday; but not before a night of gastronomic fellowship with sake and japanese-chinese fusion at xi-yan!