My first triathlon of the year...the last (and, if I’m not mistaken, only) one was 6 years ago!!
How did I end up doing this triathlon was quite interesting...
I started training with the Mon tri swim bunch at Buona Vista some time in December or January this year...and subsequently Tanjong Beach swim...I have been swimming regularly b4 this but decided swimming with others is more motivating as I still frequently find that I m dragging myself to swim even with a 50m pool at my condo…
Anyway, with so much influence from these ppl, a couple months back, I started considering doing a triathlon again before I embark on my Ironman dream :)
4 days before the event, a Thur, I was at NUS and decided to drop by a very nice Prof’s room to have a chat with him…somehow our chat ended up with his kids participating in some kids triathlon event as they regularly run with him, and occasionally swim and cycle too. I suggested he bring his kids to go watch some triathlon especially those with kids event. So I told him I will go find out what are the events coming up that he can bring them to.
When I got home to check, I found out there was one coming up that Sun at Changi Beach Park...and various Trifactor events in the coming few months…so I informed him about it and decided to sms my uncle to see if he and his family are participating in that event (haha…I din know they are so active too until this year)...as I was thinking of going over as a supporter…
Instead he asked me if I wanted to take my aunt’s slot since she just recovered from an illness and was planning to skip the event. Fortunately she was doing the mini distance, and had a bike to lend to me…so I said ok! How impulsive heh :P At that point I din even have any plans to sign up for any triathlon this year yet…since I haven’t run in years and my bike was still with a fren (for the past 3-4 years)! But I figured…250m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run…can’t be that hard right? :P
On that day itself…although I arrived pretty early (8am; when my wave starts at 950am, and my uncle’s one starts at 850am, my little cousin’s one 1020am), I din check where exactly is the start point, other than knowing it’s at Changi Beach Park…so when I saw some participant parking some 2-3km away from the start point…I blur-ly decided to park there too…the difference was...they were cycling to the start point…I was walking!!!
I walked and walked and walked until finally I found the start point…haha…just before my uncle’s wave started!! At least I can cheer him on too…together with my little cousin, Samuel :) After my uncle came out from the swimming leg, we tried to catch him at the transition area for a photo before bike out…but he was too fast!! Or the spectators route was too long…hehe…so we decided to wait at the u-turn area for his 2nd loop…by 930am, he was not back yet, so I decided that I need to get my race kit and go to the transition area to check out the bike (for the first time!)…haha…it’s always more exciting to do things at the last minute :P
Luckily all I needed to do was shift the seat height, get all the bibs/stickers pinned/stucked, take off my shoes and clothes, put on the champion chip, swim cap, goggles (it has prescibed lense, otherwise I will be "blind")…and run barefooted to the swim start :)
At 950am, our wave started...as usual, I swim further away from the line so that I dun have to fight with everyone else…it was just a 125m swim out and u-turn back…by the time I reach the u-turn point…I had this feeling I am the fastest swimmer (since I was participating on behalf of someone else, I was wondering whether to slow down or just go ahead and be the first swimmer since it’s unlikely I am going to keep up in the cycling and running leg and end up top 3)…I just went on swimming hard…when I got out of the water, my aunt told me I was the first…heh…timing was 5:05
After that, it’s off to the transition area…run run run…get to my bike…as usual, took my time to put on my singlet, cap, helmet…hmm…shall not use shades this time…not very sunny…finally, shoes…and off I go!! Took a total of 2:51 for transition 1…haha
My fastest speed on the flat roads of Changi Coast Road was only 30km/h and I can’t even maintain that :P I think my average was only 20-25km/h…even though my heart rate was maintained at 150-160! Oops…
Got overtaken by quite a number of ppl here…and later I found out I was still the 11th fastest cyclist out of 29 participants…with a timing 29:51…not too bad for someone who has not cycled for years :P and I think the bike speedometer recorded a distance of more than 10km :P
After that it’s back to the transition area, put back the bike, remove helmet…not using cleats so no need to change shoes…and off I go…but I was so dead already…my heart rate was 170-175…the highest I have seen…although theoretically my max heart rate is 190 :P
I ended up walking/slow jogging the first 500m or so to get my heart rate to a more manageable rate of 140+ before I start running at a heart rate of 160-165 again…at the water point, I walked again to enjoy my sip of isotonic drink…haha…I am a super slacker!! :P
Again I got overtaken by more ppl…and in the end my run time was 8th fastest…from behind!! 17:22 for 2.5km…thinking of the 10min 2.4km I used to do in JC…hmm…no comments...
Anyway, overall my placing was 9th for the female (16-39yo) category…in hokkien I would say…bey hiam :) But gotta start training on the bike and run liao…especially since I have gotten back my bike! :)
Now which should be my next tri…Trifactor or should I go for PD too?? Sprint or Olympic distance?
Proof of slacking can be found here
