It's almost a year since I last blogged!
Seems like I only blog when I have just completed a race.. Haha.. Since I haven't really raced since last Dec.. I haven't blog either!
I was actually signed up for OCBC cycle and S'pore Biathlon this year.. But in February, my vet advised me to stop training for 3 months so I had to get someone else to take over my slot instead.. That must be for taking over someone else's slot last year.. Haha :p
While I was stayed away from my usual swim/bike/run.. I got myself occupied with yoga and pilate instead.. They were interesting initially.. Haha.. Everything new is always interesting to me.. But 3 months later.. Zzzz.. I was getting totally bored!!! Haha.. It became a chore to get myself to class on time..
In June, when I was "released" to restart training.. I was happy like a bird (pun intended).. I started with alternate day and at low intensity.. actually low intensity pretty much how I train half the time b4 I took a break anyway :)
After abt 2-3 months of easy trainings, I started increasing the intensity... at the same time I decided to sign up for a couple of races..
Firstly, the Yellow Ribbon run which starts not too far from home (and one which I signed up last year, and on the event day, I woke up and got changed, but never left the house as I was so tired I went back to sleep! Haha..) and...
Secondly, the Desaru long dist triathlon relay (with my uncle, Sai Keong as cyclist and Danny as runner)
A week b4 the Yellow Ribbon run, I developed a cough.. Initially I ignored it and went ahead with training.. however, as it starts to affect my sleep and I started to develop sinus congestion, I decided to take a break... with the Desaru relay coming up the following week, I also decided to skip the Yellow Ribbon run...
A week later, it still hasn't gotten any better, vet's advice was to rest until I fully recover... but I have the Desaru relay that weekend!!
Since we were signed up for mixed relay and the cyclist and runner are both male, the swimmer has to be a female... and our team happens to be a strong contender for podium position because my uncle is a fantastic cyclist (bike leg is usually the most impt), Danny and I are not bad runner and swimmer respectively... so I decided to try asking a couple of female swimming friends of mine, who swims about same pace as me, whether they can take over my slot... unfortunately, their answers are no...
So after 8 days of rest and no sign of the cough going anywhere, I told my vet I couldn't bear to dump my team and decided to go ahead with the swim :p
That morning was really exciting...
First I woke up late because my phone shut down after I upgraded its OS (haha... lesson learnt... make sure u dun need to rely on your phone for anything if u are planning to upgrade its OS).. fortunately, it wasn't too late... but instead of me picking Danny at Serangoon and heading to my uncle's place at Punggol to transfer over to his car... we have to meet at Danny's place and head straight to Desaru instead..
Just when we think that's enough excitement for the morning... at the checkpoint, the immigration officer look at Danny's passport and asked him, "Do you know your passport has expired?"
Since Danny was the runner, which is the last leg, expected to start 3 hours later... we decided Danny can go back and get his passport and take the ferry over, while the 2 of us head to Desaru first..
Fortunately, from there, we reached Desaru rather uneventfully.. first we had to head over to Pulai Hotel reception to get our race pack as Teryn has helped to collect the pack, and I got changed up there.. then we went to the transition area to put the bike and our stuff... then I headed straight to the start point... after a quick warm up, it was almost time to start the race... as usual, I like to start at the outer side of the swim course (which means I may have to swim slightly more, but there will be less hands and legs around)... Teryn came along to join me... hehe... last year PD we came out from the water at the same time... let's see whether this year will be the same :p
The swim was 2 triangular loops that are 1km each... the first loop was typical of an open water race, plenty of hands and legs... the second loop was less hands and legs... but I think I lost my legs too :/ I meant my feet became numb, and then it went up to the ankles and calves... it's not the first time I had this experience, it seems to happen everytime I do a long continuous swim that's exceeding 1.5-2km... my vet thinks it's vasoconstriction from sympathetic overdrive... hmmm... but how do I prevent that from happening again? I wonder if the neoprene swim socks will help... it seemed to help this fella :D
Anyway, I managed to complete the 2 loops in 42:25.. not too sure that's considered fast/slow (there are way too many factors that affects an open water swim eg wave, current, actual distance swam)... but Teryn's time was 40:59... darn... I must have gotten slower!! :p
From the swim end, I had to run another few hundred meters to the transition area, where my uncle was waiting and he helped remove the chip from my ankle and strap it on his own and off he went!
I estimated he would take under 3 hours to complete the 90km... so I went to soak myself in the pool, took a shower and changed...
Danny sms-ed me to tell me he was taking the 9:30am ferry, expected to arrive 35 mins later and the shuttle from the ferry terminal to the hotel is abt 20 mins... that's about 10:30 to 10:45am .. assuming the journey time is quite accurate and the ferry departs on time...
My uncle started cycling at 8:15am and is expected to be back around 11am..
I decided it was too stressful to leave Danny to take the shuttle bus since as he will be in a rush when he arrives... so I told him I will drive to the ferry terminal and pick him up.. the journey there actually took 30mins, and I was driving beyond speed limit!!! How can the shuttle bus possibly take only 20 mins??
Anyway I arrived at the ferry terminal early, so decided to eat something at the canteen :D Met another person there who also just completed the swim leg and was there to pick up a friend, except this friend is just a supporter :p
When Danny arrived, I quickly caught him and drove back towards the race site... we arrived before 11am, so I thought we had plenty of time... but while we were walking towards the transition area, my uncle called!!! He's back!!! We quickly ran towards the transition area and Danny took over the chip and off he went...
Later I found out my uncle's bike time was 2:35:00 inclusive of the transition time! Wow! That's super fast!
From there it was another 2 hour wait for Danny to be back.. the route this year was not very spectator friendly, so we just hang out at the hotel lobby and my uncle washed up and changed..
At about 12noon, the first men's relay team finished, followed by another few relay team (including 2 from the mixed category)... but no sign of Danny yet... I know we were among the top 3 for mixed relay when Danny started the run leg, so we were hoping to maintain our position...
As I was getting rather bored sitting around, I decided to walk out and see if I can catch a glimpse of Danny running in... as I walked along the path (within the hotel compound) where the runners have to run in by, I realized it was a pretty long route, probably another kilometer just within the hotel compound... reminded me of the 2.4km team road race in Penang I used to do during secondary school days... the last 300m or so felt like eternity... I think my PB for that race is abt 11mins... dun think I can do anywhere near that pace nowadays... actually, it's more like dun think I want to :p
Anyway, while waiting for Danny, I saw quite a number of individual participants still cycling... it's going to be a long day for them...
Just when I was starting to get bored, I saw Danny from afar... yay he almost done... except for that kilometer around the hotel compound :p Since I did not see any other mixed relay team runner since the first 2... I told him to just maintain his pace and warn him of the long stretch within the hotel compound...
After 2:03:53 (inclusive of the ~8mins waiting time by my uncle), Danny crossed the finish line! Yippee!! I think we got third!!
As the prize presentation will be in the evening, we were not planning to hang around for it, so we left after Danny had a shower...
We had a quick stop to fill our stomachs, then it was time to head back to Singapore...
Back in Singapore, I sms-ed Teryn to help me collect the prize if she were staying back..
Later that evening, I found out via facebook that our team got 2nd place instead of third... one of the teams that I thought was a mixed relay team (because they had the 90xx bib for mixed relay instead of the 80xx bib for men's relay) was actually a last minute entry for men's relay! Yippee!!
So it was a worthwhile trip despite all the initial hiccups, from the persistent cough (which is still persisting now more than 2 months later...), to waking up late, to wrong passport... hahaha... it will indeed be a memorable race!
We got a trophy each and RM200 each...hehe :D Thanks to Teryn for carrying them back to Singapore for us!
Anyway, with the cough lingering for so long, and no vet able to figure me out yet, or rather it's more like no agreement between the vets on what's up with me (haha.. can't help to find the disagreement amusing even though I am the one that gets to suffer :p)... I have kinda lost hope in the possibility of participating in any race again soon... so I have signed up to be a volunteer at this year's Standard Chartered Marathon :D
It's not my first experience as a volunteer since I used to volunteer in adventure races quite a fair bit, some triathlons, and even YOG and SNG... so this time round I signed up as a volunteer leader and I was assigned the role of baggage supervisor (sentosa)... which means I oversee the baggage deposit area for the 21km race, and I will have 3 leaders under me who will handle a group of volunteers each... I'm not sure what exactly I will need to do, but I do know that I get to roam around :D
