Pre-race:
The entire big splash area at ECP was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the big race last weekend. From the setting up of the expo tents, to transition areas etc, it was a fairly large logistics operation.
Went down with Weiloong to collect our race kits on Friday. Wrong, I collected my race kit, he collected a free dinner. Bummer. Anyway, we were just commenting on how pretty some volunteers are! haha plenty of chiobus eh?!! Not to mention that the yellow event volunteer tee shirt's darn nice too, lol. Collected the race kit and got wrist tagged by some pretty lass.(plenty of these all over the place, the babes that is, not the race kits)
Saw plenty of big names in triathlon around! The reigning 2008 Ironman World Champion was signing autographs, damn for the lack of initiative to bring a poster or a camera!! And just nice we were sooooo lucky to bump into the 2007 World Champion too! and also the fastest woman on this planet over e Ironman distance. And this was just at race kit collection, even before the carbo-loading dinner.. OMFG starstruck.
Proceeded to dinner. This was where I realised my primary reason for never being able to do well in races. The food is soooo carbo, so blardi bland!! I would never be able to have such diet 3 days in a row, never mind long term. But credit to them lar, it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Still, pass me the chilli crab or the char kway teow over tofu, chicken breast and pasta man.
Went back home feeling uber excited about the race:)
Sat was bike check-in. Security was super tight, especially with the recent tribob incident (someone got a P2C stolen.) Weather was bad though, or rather, I chose a bad time to deposit my bike, such a dampener.
Sunday! Woohooo! Woke up at 4plus in the morning feeling pretty pumped up. Had a big big breakfast before moving out. Was on the car when the skies started drizzling again. Happening! Reached big splash and proceeded to body mark. Babes galore again. hahaha a great way to start a great day! hehe. Set up transition and proceeded to do a lil warmup before lining up.
The first wave were the pro triathletes. OMG super cooooool! It was a staggered start and they had a 15mins headstart before our wave. Ridiculous is the word. Ridiculously fast!! They were already in their 2nd lap (~950m per lap) before we were flagged off!
Swim:
2nd Open water race swim. The currents were IMO stronger than the Singapore Biathlon. Choppier waters means bodies crashing and pulling apart. Alot alot more wrestling matches here too. Relatively to Sgp Bi, not for the weak hearted man. But that was just the start lar. It got better actually after the 1st buoy. While stroking at my own pace in the water, that was when I realised, I am finally in the race! Oh anyway Singapore Biathlon wasn't a good prep for this race. Relatively, the nuts in 70.3 were faster. Like way way faster than those NS navy boys forced to take part in Sgp Bi, haha! Back to the race, Laps 1 and 2 passed by without much incident. And it wasn't long before I exited the waters for the bike leg. A BIG HI TO WEIZHEN AND YIHUI!!! and off i went into transition:)
Bike:
I UNDERESTIMATED the bike leg. GROSSLY. To those tri nuts and the race organisers who mentioned that the bike leg is generally flat and fast, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! Of course, 1 year from now, ill be saying 'oh, its just a ride in the park' but for a noobie, I will summarise how you will feel in 2 words. Farked up. The climb up sheares was ok in lap1, shagged in lap2, %$#@ painful in lap3. Not to mention that theres a series of ups and downs again all the way till the turnaround at pasir panjang! Lucky though that I didn't have to dismount and push, super lug seh, haha. With no time expectations or targets whatsoever, I enjoyed the ride though. It helped that the skies were overcast and weather rather cool and breezy. How often will u get to zoom(read crawl) past the city scape on a bike on the expressway?!! The feeling was really good man. Oh, and while in our 1st and 2nd laps, the pros went zooming past us!! It was as if the slopes weren't there. They were incredibly fast!! Incredibly cool too. OMFG. It'll take years, probably eternity, to be able to ride like them man. Anyway, a painful but pretty enjoyable 3hrs plus later, I pushed the bike into transition for the run.
Run:
Took a snail's pace in transition, and an even slower time for the run. 1st 70.3, chill lar! Enjoyed the aid stations, ogled at babes, both competitors and volunteers. haha. Walked more than ran actually. The legs couldn't get fired up. I will do more bricks for next year. 1st lap was still ok, but the next 2 laps were disastrous. Every few steps, the leg muscles kept seizing up. Calves, hamstrings whatnot. It was irritating, knowing that you are still relatively full of stamina actually but just cant run properly. Saw YUWEI, WEILOONG, YIHUI and WEIZHEN on the later part of the run leg. Quite gekgian right?! Other ppl dying liao, I still can shout at you guys, talk cock with ppl, lobo. Lungs got breath, legs got cramps, lan lan. Anyway, the 3laps weren't as bad as I had expected it to be. (likely due to the inability to induce a sustained run at all, tmd) By now, the sun had came up, and Singapore's East Coast Park was basking in its full glory! Hot + Humid = Steamroom for angmos. Haha. Came to know quite some people here. Managed to chat with a lady from California, and later, a local tennis coach for a good portion of the run..
It was 2plus pm in the afternoon when I crossed the finish line! Woohoo! Been on the move since early morning 7plus!! HIGH AH!!! I cant really put into words how I felt at the finish line man. Pardon the language, but it was uber farking good. haha. And a big big thanks to LINNA:) for being there in my glorious moment:)))
Some After thoughts (in a totally random irrelevant order) :
Now I can understand why there are crazy ppl willing to pay thousands of dollars on a bike, hundreds more on apparel and accessories, and countless hours training for events like this:)
Same here, I can only write so much, you would have to tri to find out. Its good. Really really &%$@ good.
I am so gonna do it again next year.
Triathletes are pretty HOT. Both babes and hunks. Coupled with large numbers of pretty volunteers, spectators and supporters, it makes for a VISUALLY impactful race. HAHAHA
There are those who put triathlons in their travel plans. Eg travel to a place for a week, do an ironman, just a day in the park kinda thing. HOW COOL IS THAT?!! Endurance sports travel. NICEEEEE. Busselton beckons, hehehe
How often can u play in the same pitch as Ryan Giggs? Or on the same court as LeBron James? Or same course as Tiger Woods? Here in triathlon, you are in the same race as some of the biggest names in the sport! (Of course, they only take half the time you needed to finish, but thats besides the point.) Same race course, same time! And you can even try to better them, that is IF you can.
My last point is to those people who think they wana tri, but are either scared to do so, or think they cant.. I started out not being able to swim freestyle (those who swam 1/2lap free, wana die, u know u know??), no fierce looking tri bike, alien to clipons 105 ultrgra profile aero helmet, cant run for nuts. And grossly overweight.
Learnt freestyle using some video downloaded from mininova.org, drank copious amounts of pool water, scrimped and saved to get a better roadie (I still don have a tri bike), Got my fatass out and swam,biked,ran.
A few months, with a tighter ass, 2shirt sizes down, couple inches off my waist and 70.3miles later, I am half an Ironman. (Fark half, Next year, Im gonna do the blardi full thing)
Now now, whats your excuse?
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