Today I embarked on my first Olympic distance triathlon… this is what happens when I spend too much time with people who do triathlons and even ironman races.
Getting to Port Dickson itself was already pretty exciting. We were supposed to depart on Sat morning, but I just arrived from Penang late that morning, and had a seminar to attend in the afternoon, b4 I could make my way down to Port Dickson. Fortunately for me, Robert, our Ironchef, was driving down and was planning to depart in the afternoon. He was nice enough to wait for me, and picked me up from town.
Before I left for Penang, Desmond has kindly helped me take my bike, so that it can be take the bus to Port Dickson with the other crazy friends of mine.
So on Sat afternoon, a chef and a penguin was zooming on the Malaysia’s North-South highway towards Port Dickson. We reached there just in time for me to join the rest for dinner, while Rob went to check out the race route. He is more serious. I am just going to figure out the route as I race *_*
That night, after hanging out and chatting in one of the rooms, we went back to our room, got our bikes and gears ready, and slept immediately.
The next morning, my roommate, Teryn aka Dino, and I (yes..a penguin and a dinosaur stayed in the same room) just refused to wake up until almost 6am…haha…race starts at 7am.
Anyway, we are fast. So after washing up and changing into our trisuits, had the bfast we brought along, we immediately brought our bikes and stuff to the transition area.
It was pretty crowded by then, and there were long queues for body-marking.
We put our stuff at our designated area, got our body marked, then headed towards the beach. So many people were there doing their warm ups…but the tide was sooooo low, we had to run out at least 100m or more b4 it was deep enough to swim. Darn… not fair to the swimmers…we are going to swim less than 1.5km :p
Anyway, the guys started first, so we were hoping the tide will be higher by the time we start off....haha…fat hope :p
The moment we were flagged off…everybody was running, and running, and running for a while b4 we started swimming…I think that was the point where my heart rate was highest throughout the swim leg...the water was very calm so it was like swimming in a pool with a lot more people around. It was a simple L-shape swim x 1 lap. As expected my swim time was pretty fast @ 26:38 (mean = 33:32; median = 32:24; 8th out of 64) though 6 mins slower than the fastest :p I am still very happy to as fast as the Dino :)
Next step is to get to the transition area, put on my running shoe (I wasn’t using clipless pedals), shades, helmet, race belt, have a drink and off to “bike out”.
Many triathletes like to participate in Port Dickson triathlon because the bike leg is just one 40km loop (instead of multiple loop routes the Singapore races offer). The route had some slopes but they were manageable. However, it definitely wasn’t helpful to be using regular platform pedals :p My bike leg was pretty slow @ 1:26:17 (mean = 1:24:47; median = 1:21:33, 43rd out of 64), but I am still happy to have completed it. It means I have more room for improvement next year ;)
After the bike leg, I just needed to remove my helmet and put back the bike (no need to change shoes..haha) and off I go to “run out” for my 10km run. On the way out, I saw Sanae with the camera. Had time to smile to the camera and continue running. Actually I was smiling at all the cameras that were aimed at me :p
Apparently, this year’s run route was different from previous year’s. Since this is my first PD, it doesn’t matter to me…haha… but most of us did not really like the new run route as a third of it was running on sand/trail. However, I was happy that it was shorter than 10km…haha :p
My run was pretty slow too @ 53:43 for about 8.5km (mean = 55:42; median = 54:10; 30th out of 64), but it’s better than the average and I actually still had the strength to sprint and overtake a few people near the end point…haha :)
Overall, I completed the race in 2:49:14 (mean = ?; median = 2:50:14; 29th out of 64). There’s definitely plenty of room for improvement here, but I am extremely happy to have completed my first OD tri, feeling strong ;)
Until the next race…
