Turned 36 today.
Just spent a simple day at home, clearing up the huge pile of mess and rubbish.
I guess as one ages, one will learn to appreciate simplicity more
Had a dinner celebration with the family at Ju Shin Jung again.
Just happy to have the kids and family with me on this day, compared to the awful lonely birthday spent at US a few years ago
Will be bringing Ryan on an All-Boys trip to Hokkaido in 18 days time.
Looking forward to some quality Father-Son time with him.
It was a spur of the moment decision - I had extra annual leave to clear before the end of the year, and I had always wanted to bring either kid on a solo trip to bond with them.
A cheap budget air ticket was available so Bam and we are booked.
Challenge Iskandar Puteri 2017 Race Report
It's becoming a recurring theme, that I'm spending less and less time preparing for my races. Either I'm too busy or can't really be bothered while I know I'll be able to survive and complete the race.
Swimming prep is never an issue
The single longest session on bike was just around 60km
I doubt I covered more than 12km in a single run session too.
And all these were done in the final month of preparation.
I had booked the rooms to bring both FIL and MIL along for this trip, but MIL was hospitalized 2 weeks prior to the race for intestinal problems, so all of a sudden, the race was in peril of being abandoned.
Luckily MIL recovered fairly quickly, but still couldn't make the trip, and Shan was torn between staying back to take care of MIL or traveling with me and a heavy heart.
I had 3 choices then
All choices were bad.
I was calling and reaching out to friends, to see if anyone was interested to go together, or if they wanted to take over the room. It was too last minute and nobody took up the offer even if I gave it for free
Things turned for the better, and MIL was feeling a lot more better days before the race.
Mum agreed to skip a wedding dinner on that weekend to follow me and Shan.
So we were still going, just that the confirmation was a few days before the race.
D-1
It was a relatively short drive from SG to Iskandar. Probably less than 30 minutes from the Tuas customs. We had to get Mum to close shop early and pick her up from the school at around 4+, so that we could make it in time for race pack collection and bike check in
Reached the hotel around 6pm, and rushed to collect the race pack for bike check in.
I was short on power gels and was banking on buying them at the race expo.
The expo was closing when I just collected the race pack, and the vendor had already packed up their stores and was going to leave. Managed to get the vendor to open up his wares and make a final sale to me. The race will be horrendous if I had missed this
Missed the race brief since I checked in late, and decided to give the pasta party a miss and bring the family for a proper meal. Wasn't planning on doing proper carbo loading but ended up eating pasta anyway at the restaurant.
Race Day
Woke up early for bread and kaya breakfast, and ensure that I had enough time to clear the bowels as usual. Set up the Transition early when TA was open and went back to the hotel room. Stayed until the Pros started before rushing over to the starting point.
Swim
Harbour swim with a Deep water start, going in anti-clockwise direction, 1 single loop and return to the starting point.
That was what I read from the race brief.
However, when I got on to the pontoon, I realized that the earlier wave turned left instead of right at the first bend.
The race direction was reversed.
Oh well, I'll just stay at the back of the pack and follow the crowd, and slowly overtake people.
The first 200m was a check on how I was maintaining a straight swim, and it was pretty decent since it was a harbour swim without undercurrents, so I can afford to do bilateral breathing and sight on the 8th stroke.
Towards the 2nd half of the swim, I got confused by how the others were moving around the buoy, ended up almost missing it until I collided with another person, realized that I was going off course.
Turned back and swam a little extra to cover the buoy.
It was a fairly easy swim and I was conserving energy
Exited the water in a very fresh state, before I realized that I took it too easy.
Clocked 45 minutes.
T1
Knowing that it will be extremely hot, I took my time to slowly put my gear on and slather some sunscreen. And before I knew it, my swim student (whose race number was coincidentally next to mine) came running into TA as well.
Oh well, I didn't make full use of the Swim advantage that I had.
Bam, and I started running off with my gear and cycling shoes on - Not going to do flying start and wear the shoes on the bike.
Bike
Hopped onto the bike and started to put on my arm sleeves and.... where's my right glove?
Turned around and saw it 100m behind on the road.
Oh well, just forget it and go, and start eating the gel and salt stick
Since I have a proper Garmin bike computer now that allows easy reading, I stuck to the strategy of maintaining my heart rate below 140 to conserve energy, so it meant going easy on uphill and hitting it downhill. This worked pretty well.
Go safe and go slow or stop at water stations
It was 3 loops of 30km, and it started to pour at the end of the 1st loop, and stopped by the time I finished the 2nd loop.
The rain is probably a good relieve on the supposedly searing heat at Iskandar.
Managed to complete the bike leg in around 3h17m.
Not too shabby for minimal prep!
The final tuning that I did on the bike worked extremely well in making sure that the shifting stayed buttery smooth. I reckon that helped a lot this time
T2
Socks were totally soaked in rainwater, so I took my time to change to a dry pair of socks for the run.
Good decision to wrap my running shoes in plastic bag so that it wasn't drenched by the rain
Run
2 loops of 10.5km
It was starting to get hot, and without having done any Brick training, I knew that I had to go slow on the first few km to get over the lactic acid build up from the Bike. By around the 4km mark, I was slowly getting back to a slightly improved pace at around 7:15.
Held up a continuous run for the 1st loop and I was on the lookout for porta-loo.
No luck on the toilet and had to take it out behind the bushes.
Went totally flat after the toilet break though.
Probably taking in too much water without peeing, so I got into stitches whenever I tried to restart the run, and that lasted throughout the entire 2nd loop
One good strategy that worked well though, was to keep my arm sleeves on, and watering the sleeves to keep my temperature low. Worth reusing this in future races
Finished the run probably around 2:54
Finish
6h 57m!
Just below 7 hours!
Nothing spectacular this time. Took my time to slowly run through the finishing gantry so that I wouldn't get into my usual finish line cramps.
Conclusion
Given the circumstances going into this race, I didn't have any expectations except to complete the entire race. Smart strategies helped to temper the poor physical conditioning that I had, but I wouldn't count on that to survive future races though.
This is a wake up call for me to take my race prep more seriously the next time.
Waiting for the next race!
Just spent a simple day at home, clearing up the huge pile of mess and rubbish.
I guess as one ages, one will learn to appreciate simplicity more
Had a dinner celebration with the family at Ju Shin Jung again.
Just happy to have the kids and family with me on this day, compared to the awful lonely birthday spent at US a few years ago
Will be bringing Ryan on an All-Boys trip to Hokkaido in 18 days time.
Looking forward to some quality Father-Son time with him.
It was a spur of the moment decision - I had extra annual leave to clear before the end of the year, and I had always wanted to bring either kid on a solo trip to bond with them.
A cheap budget air ticket was available so Bam and we are booked.
Challenge Iskandar Puteri 2017 Race Report
It's becoming a recurring theme, that I'm spending less and less time preparing for my races. Either I'm too busy or can't really be bothered while I know I'll be able to survive and complete the race.
Swimming prep is never an issue
The single longest session on bike was just around 60km
I doubt I covered more than 12km in a single run session too.
And all these were done in the final month of preparation.
I had booked the rooms to bring both FIL and MIL along for this trip, but MIL was hospitalized 2 weeks prior to the race for intestinal problems, so all of a sudden, the race was in peril of being abandoned.
Luckily MIL recovered fairly quickly, but still couldn't make the trip, and Shan was torn between staying back to take care of MIL or traveling with me and a heavy heart.
I had 3 choices then
- Travel alone for the race without the kids (and with 1 extra hotel room wasted)
- Travel with the kids but skip the race
- Stay home
All choices were bad.
I was calling and reaching out to friends, to see if anyone was interested to go together, or if they wanted to take over the room. It was too last minute and nobody took up the offer even if I gave it for free
Things turned for the better, and MIL was feeling a lot more better days before the race.
Mum agreed to skip a wedding dinner on that weekend to follow me and Shan.
So we were still going, just that the confirmation was a few days before the race.
D-1
It was a relatively short drive from SG to Iskandar. Probably less than 30 minutes from the Tuas customs. We had to get Mum to close shop early and pick her up from the school at around 4+, so that we could make it in time for race pack collection and bike check in
Reached the hotel around 6pm, and rushed to collect the race pack for bike check in.
I was short on power gels and was banking on buying them at the race expo.
The expo was closing when I just collected the race pack, and the vendor had already packed up their stores and was going to leave. Managed to get the vendor to open up his wares and make a final sale to me. The race will be horrendous if I had missed this
Missed the race brief since I checked in late, and decided to give the pasta party a miss and bring the family for a proper meal. Wasn't planning on doing proper carbo loading but ended up eating pasta anyway at the restaurant.
Race Day
Woke up early for bread and kaya breakfast, and ensure that I had enough time to clear the bowels as usual. Set up the Transition early when TA was open and went back to the hotel room. Stayed until the Pros started before rushing over to the starting point.
Swim
Harbour swim with a Deep water start, going in anti-clockwise direction, 1 single loop and return to the starting point.
That was what I read from the race brief.
However, when I got on to the pontoon, I realized that the earlier wave turned left instead of right at the first bend.
The race direction was reversed.
Oh well, I'll just stay at the back of the pack and follow the crowd, and slowly overtake people.
The first 200m was a check on how I was maintaining a straight swim, and it was pretty decent since it was a harbour swim without undercurrents, so I can afford to do bilateral breathing and sight on the 8th stroke.
Towards the 2nd half of the swim, I got confused by how the others were moving around the buoy, ended up almost missing it until I collided with another person, realized that I was going off course.
Turned back and swam a little extra to cover the buoy.
It was a fairly easy swim and I was conserving energy
Exited the water in a very fresh state, before I realized that I took it too easy.
Clocked 45 minutes.
T1
Knowing that it will be extremely hot, I took my time to slowly put my gear on and slather some sunscreen. And before I knew it, my swim student (whose race number was coincidentally next to mine) came running into TA as well.
Oh well, I didn't make full use of the Swim advantage that I had.
Bam, and I started running off with my gear and cycling shoes on - Not going to do flying start and wear the shoes on the bike.
Bike
Hopped onto the bike and started to put on my arm sleeves and.... where's my right glove?
Turned around and saw it 100m behind on the road.
Oh well, just forget it and go, and start eating the gel and salt stick
Since I have a proper Garmin bike computer now that allows easy reading, I stuck to the strategy of maintaining my heart rate below 140 to conserve energy, so it meant going easy on uphill and hitting it downhill. This worked pretty well.
Go safe and go slow or stop at water stations
It was 3 loops of 30km, and it started to pour at the end of the 1st loop, and stopped by the time I finished the 2nd loop.
The rain is probably a good relieve on the supposedly searing heat at Iskandar.
Managed to complete the bike leg in around 3h17m.
Not too shabby for minimal prep!
The final tuning that I did on the bike worked extremely well in making sure that the shifting stayed buttery smooth. I reckon that helped a lot this time
T2
Socks were totally soaked in rainwater, so I took my time to change to a dry pair of socks for the run.
Good decision to wrap my running shoes in plastic bag so that it wasn't drenched by the rain
Run
2 loops of 10.5km
It was starting to get hot, and without having done any Brick training, I knew that I had to go slow on the first few km to get over the lactic acid build up from the Bike. By around the 4km mark, I was slowly getting back to a slightly improved pace at around 7:15.
Held up a continuous run for the 1st loop and I was on the lookout for porta-loo.
No luck on the toilet and had to take it out behind the bushes.
Went totally flat after the toilet break though.
Probably taking in too much water without peeing, so I got into stitches whenever I tried to restart the run, and that lasted throughout the entire 2nd loop
One good strategy that worked well though, was to keep my arm sleeves on, and watering the sleeves to keep my temperature low. Worth reusing this in future races
Finished the run probably around 2:54
Finish
6h 57m!
Just below 7 hours!
Nothing spectacular this time. Took my time to slowly run through the finishing gantry so that I wouldn't get into my usual finish line cramps.
Conclusion
Given the circumstances going into this race, I didn't have any expectations except to complete the entire race. Smart strategies helped to temper the poor physical conditioning that I had, but I wouldn't count on that to survive future races though.
This is a wake up call for me to take my race prep more seriously the next time.
Waiting for the next race!
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