Desaru Long Distance Tri 2010

My 3rd triathlon and the 2nd half ironman distance for 2010. Between Aviva and this, this had to be the more difficult of the two. The weather conditions, the terrain, basically the elements were much tougher than Singapore. Although I have trained in the heat, the so called rolling terrain and the hills at Faber and NTU, the bike leg in Desaru will win hands down and the shelterless run, cannot make it any worse.


I did the same race last year. Then they discounted the swim leg because of the low tide in the morning. This year, I believe the swim leg was about right. But the bike was about 5km short and the run was 3km short. Nonetheless, it was a race that was definitely nice to come to.


The swim start was at the beach and not at the banner. Probably because there were just too many people. I found the swim pretty alright. Water was gentle lapping away, unlike last year - which I thought there was an incoming storm. Again, I could not find anybody to draft. I am just so tired of having to do this swim leg all the time by myself. I did feel somebody touching me feet which meant that somebody was sitting on my draft. Oh well, you take some, and you give some. I asked my wife how my swim went and she said I was one of the top 50 maybe? Hmm? Really? I didnt realise I could go that fast. I was gliding more like I did in the pool. So the pool training had helped for sure. Julian said he thought I passed him on the swim. Now, Julzz is a strong swimmer but me passing him? I am not too sure. He was quite confident because he knew how my legs always sunk while swimming. Damn! No wonder I cant seem to press down my timing in my swims!

I ran pretty strong out of the swim. No sense of dizziness like I usually have after swims. And out of transition perhaps in 3-4min because of the distance from the beach? The usual stomach cramps came in after the swim. Wasted 15min trying to get it out of the system by spinning away. Just could not get onto the aerobars at all. The moment I bent down, the pain set in. Coach had said that this is likely due to the long time spent in horizontal movement and sudden onset of vertical motion. Whatever it is, I really have to get use to it really soon. Hope that it will not come in when I am doing WA.


As I mentioned, the bike was a mess. I was following a couple of blokes initially. But the moment they uturned, I lost them. And I just could not get myself to play catch up. So I decided to just go at my own comfortable pace and not blow myself up on the bike. The stronger cyclists were catching up on me despite me having a good swim leg. And yes, it just goes to show triathlons are not won at the swim leg. The rolling terrain just would not allow me to go fast. Everytime I hit a good speed, the slope loomed ahead of me. According to my Polar watch with bike reader, I averaged 28.8kph. Sigh... At Aviva, I averaged more than 32kph and that was despite the Sheares Bridge and other bridges to climb. So yes, Aviva is considered a flat course now...


But some how I also felt that my legs were not up to the mark? My ITB started to feel strained after 40km which would not usually happen. Somehow this has been coming up. Maybe its the past week of training. I can only hope that this sudden loss in power will go over the crest soon. I have but 9 weeks left for training for WA.


So in short, for a 85km ride, I took 2:52.  Not strong, but I lost all my "lead" in the swim. I dont know my swim time. Probably 40min? Will have to wait for the official time to be out.

T2 probably took another 2min. Weather was scorching hot. It was just insane. My watch actually had a maximum temperature of 39 degrees. I dont know which part of the leg it was, but the bike had a reading of 38 degrees, the run leg had 35 and 36 degrees. I had not trained for this. And I thought Singapore was hot riding and running in the afternoon?


My run took 1:57 for 18km. This was a far cry from my AHM. But that was done without the crazy rolling bike terrain, in the crazy hot sun. And I concluded, even though I am training for the IM, the half ironman was no walk in the park either. Then again, any sport is no walk in the park the moment timing is taken into consideration.


I estimate my total time taken to be in the region of 5:35 to 5:40. Compared to last year's time of 6:08, I think it was a good effort. Discounted distance or not, it was a good race. Not to mention the seafood I had with my family. For both nights, I just could not wait for the rest of the tri blokes. My family and I were starving too badly to wait for them. My family had a good time at Desaru... while I was getting beaten up in the race by the elements.