OSIT 2011 Race Report

The day finally arrived! After 13 weeks of preparation since my previous race, and 104+ hours of training, my A race of the year came! With a 10.45am flagoff for my wave (M18-19, 20-24 AG), I didn't have to wake up at ungodly times and crept out of bed at a more humanly 7.40am. Ate my breakfast, packed my everything and made sure I didn't miss out anything essential.

We reached the race venue (boring East Coast Park) at around 935, giving me just enough time to set up my transition area and swim a few strokes. The waves were incredibly choppy and I knew the swim wouldn't go well. What an understatement.

At approximately 1045am I found myself at the start line of a multisport race for the 3rd time this year, hungry for another podium spot.

The last photo of the CC...

When the horn went off, everyone rushed in and it was chaos all the way until the first buoy. People were climbing over me, kicking me, groping me...I tried my best not to do the same to others, tried being the keyword.

Just after the first buoy, some hand grabbed my left ankle and the next thing I knew my ankle felt a little empty. The worst thing had happened - my Championchip (the thing which records your timings as you cross the electronic mats and makes sure you actually complete the required number of laps) had come off. Immediately I was faced with a decision to make; try to find my ChampionChip amidst the murky waters of ECP with tons of other swimmers who would try to swim over me, or just swim on, do my best and not worry about it for now. Within that split second I decided the sensible thing would be to swim on because I didn't even know if the ChampionChip would float or sink. With hopes of podium slipping away from the first 5 minutes of my race, I wasn't really happy with how things were turning out at that moment...

From the start till the second buoy we were swimming against the current, which was really difficult and the choppy seas made it worse. I came out of the first lap feeling fine physically but mentally I was in quite bad shape. As I came to the first buoy of the second lap I contemplated asking the people on kayak if they had seen my ChampionChip, but decided that it would probably be futile. This lap was much worse and my lack of swim training showed. After the first buoy my left foot started cramping a little and I had to swim breaststroke once in a while so as to not aggravate the cramp. I was really afraid it would explode into a full blast cramp which would end my race before I even got to the bike, but thankfully the foot held up and I completed the swim, albeit very slowly and with a stomach full of sea water.

I ran into T1 and my dad signalled to me that I was about 5 minutes down on the first person in my age group. I found my bike in the transition area pretty easily, and ran about 200m to the mounting line. I hammered hard on the bike to make up time on my competitors and caught quite a few of them on the first lap of the bike. I was going at around 37+kmh, which was in line with what I wanted before the race. My stomach didn't feel that great probably because of the sea water, and the extremely strong sun made me sweat buckets. I was thirsty but couldn't drink too much 'cos my stomach might not be able to take it.

Notice the missing CC :(

While the bike course wasn't ideal, it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There was enough space to pass people, and there was only 1 sharp turn at the turnaround point per lap. Throughout most of the bike I was passing people and few were passing me, none of them with bib numbers starting with a 6. Starting the last lap, I passed another guy in my age group (bib 6010 if I remember correctly) who I think was the leader up till that point, which meant that I was leading! Coming into T2 I didn't see any other bikes racked at my row, but I can't be 100% sure when there's so much adrenaline in me and the heat just makes everything fuzzy. But I was pretty damn excited to see so few bikes!

Bike time (according to cycling computer): 1h08min. Amazing!

The run didn't feel that fast, and I walked quite a bit to drink/dump water on myself to cool off. The heat was really terrible and I think everyone suffered quite a bit. I was a bit conservative because my stomach still wasn't feeling that great and my suit was too tight which hampered my breathing. I reached the 2.5km mark at around 11 minutes or so, which meant that I was still on pace for a sub 45. I think I must have slowed quite a bit coming back because I only completed my first 5k in around 23min. My dad told me that I was still in the lead, and I certainly didn't see anyone in my age group anywhere near me while running. The second lap didn't go as well as the first. I was a little dehydrated because of the excessive sweat loss, but couldn't drink much if not I would vomit. I felt like barfing a couple of times on the second lap and had to walk to make sure that didn't happen. I don't think anyone would like to see my race nutrition by the side of the running pathway.

Just starting on the second loop

With about 1.5km to go, I sped up slightly and still didn't see anyone from my AG ahead of me, so I was pretty sure I had this race in the bag (disregarding the CC issue). I completed the 10k in around 46:50, which was a decent timing considering the terrible heat.

Volunteers also need to makan...and sms

After rehydrating, I went over to enquire about my situation and whether there was anything that could be done. Along the bike and the run there were volunteers who were recording the bib number of participants as they went by, so there was a little bit of hope for me. Thankfully they have manual timing, so I appealed for them to check that (deposit of $50 which will be forfeited if appeal unsuccessful). I'm still waiting for the results of the appeal which would take a couple of days, but I know that I finished in around 2h30min.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

MR25 5k Time Trial

Went for my second ever MR25 5k TT. The first time I went was last December and I managed 21:38 for it. That was before my injury and few months off of running. My main goal was to PR in this, and also to see where my fitness is relative to December.

The day didn't start well, with heavy rains starting from 6am and even though it eased off around noon, there was still slight drizzle here and there. This was bad as it meant that the course was going to be mean and muddy.

Did a slow jog to the start point from school, and got myself registered with bib number 130. There was quite a big turnout in spite of the rain. Did a bit of warmup and mentally prep-ed myself for 20 odd minutes of pure torture.

At around 5am the horn went off and the front runners took off. I knew the start was going to be fast, so I made a mental note to go slow and not let my ego ruin the race. Tons of people overtook me within the first 10s, but I didn't let it bother me and just ran my own race. The first few 100m were still on concrete, and we reached the fitness station and the terrain turned into loose gravel. Someone stepped right on a puddle and made everyone around him wet, including me. However that was just a teaser for whats to come. After that, we turned off into the trail and the madness begun.

Another guy and I was pacing off some guy who's singlet said Keith, so I suppose he is Keith. The trail was muddy and there was small puddles here and there. After the first somewhat big puddle, I decided it was pointless to avoid them and just embraced the water in my shoes. The route was pretty undulating, and Keith stormed on the downhill. With our constant and quick pace we slowly overtook runners who were too ambitious at the start. About 1.8km in, we came across this huuuuge puddle that was ankle deep, and all 3 of us ran right into it like real men. After a few more puddles and mud, we reached the female turnaround point. The men continued on left, and after 100m was our turnaround point.

As we ran around some guy who was literally the turnaround point, he asked Keith what the time was, who replied something like "10:30, shit." I knew if I could keep up the pace, I was going to PR and possibly even sub 21. At this point I still felt quite good and was not struggling much.

We continued on at around the same pace, and was still overtaking people, but more slowly this time. After a while my lower left calf felt a bit tight, and the uphills became a bit of a struggle. I still managed to stay with Keith although he upped the pace a little.

Soon we came back to the huge puddle and everyone's shoe got soaked again. The wet shoes made it a bit hard to run fast. I was almost reaching my limits, but told myself to just stay with Keith no matter what. We ran out of the trail, which meant that there was only a short distance more to the end point. At the fitness station, Keith and I caught up with 2 other runners and it was going to be down to a sprint finish. Keith accelerated and no one could stay with him. One of the other guys couldn't keep up with me and the other guy and dropped back. With 50m to go we sprinted and I edged him out by just a little, crossing the line in 20:58.

I was so glad that the race was over, as were my legs. I think I paced the run perfectly, and couldn't thank Keith enough for it. The 40s improvement over December's race was a great confidence booster, considering proper run training only began 2 months ago or so. The course also wasn't ideal, meaning I could probably have shaved off another 5-10s. A 20:58 on trail without proper taper would likely mean that I can run a sub 20 5k.

Although the next TT is after my race, I will probably still go for it and try to break 20 the next time.

Tribob Sprint Series Triathlon Race Report

The day started at 540, and drank some coffee to boost the system and some ham and cheese bread. By 630 I was out of the house and on the way to Changi Beach Park, with my parents sending me there and to support me.
 

The Mercury all ready to rock and roll!

Reached the race venue around 7am, and went to the transition area to set up my area. Chose quite a prime spot in the transition area, and one point race directors can improve on is to make the transition area more fair, and the position of bike racking wouldn't make any difference.

 

Met Ben Khoo, who got the best spot in transition. He was in the elite wave, and ready to own the race.

At 740, half an hour before my wave start, I went to do my swim warm up and get used to the salt water. Water was murky as usual, but thankfully there was no sea bugs who would give me hell for 1 whole week and make me look like a chicken pox victim.

At 8am the elite wave was flagged off, and next would be my wave. 10 minutes later, my first proper triathlon started!

 

You can just spot me at the right side of the picture

The Swim:
I ran into the water, and scrambled for position for about 100m or so. After that I settled into my rhythm and focused on a high elbow catch and high cadence. However my sighting was quite off and I was swimming quite far off from the line. The course was 1 triangle loop and the sea was very calm. Thanks to the small wave start, my body did not face much abuse from the foot of other swimmers.

After around 15 minutes (which I found out about after the race) I emerged from the water. Saw my dad and smiled for the camera.

 

Took off my cap and goggles while running to transition. Entered T1 and did not have a problem finding my spot. Put on my race belt, aero helmet, unracked my bike and off I went. The run to the mount line was a good 100m away, and I was so thankful to not be running in my cycling shoe.

The Bike:
The bike course was 2 loops of Changi Coast Road, pancake flat. This was my first time cycling after a swim, and thankfully there was not much difference. Was going at speeds faster than 37kmh pretty easily, although there was not too many people to overtake on the 1st round. Compared to races at East Coast Park, this bike course was much much better. Roads are much wider and there was nothing to focus on but to keep my speed above 37. I was taking in quite a lot of sports drink on the bike, which on hindsight was not a good thing to do.

Clearly my cornering skills needed more work.

At the halfway point, the distance was around 12km (!). Lost some time whenever there was a turn, but overtook quite a lot of people on the whole. Nearing T2 I slipped out of my cycling shoe and my practice paid off.

Dismounted at the line and ran past the crowd into T2. Racked my bike, took off the Specialised TT2 helmet, slipped on my Zoot and zoomed straight out for the run.

The Run:
Starting the run my abdominal area started hurting, and I knew things wouldn't be good. The trisuit was too tight around my torso area, plus the whole bottle of Gatorade slushing in my stomach didn't help things. The stitch was getting quite bad and after the 1st km which I ran in around 4:15, I had to stop and walk for a bit. After around 30s I felt much better and could continue my run, but I knew trying to achieve a 5k PB was not going to happen today.

I took the second km quite easily to ease off the pain, and was not that surprised to see 5:15 on my watch. The 3rd km went by much better, although breathing was still hard due to the tight suit. And my race tag kept slipping to the back and I had to keep adjusting to keep it in front.

The 4th km was pretty slow and I just couldn't push hard even though my legs weren't feeling tired. Somehow
managed to up the amp in the last km, and ran down the finishing chute with a 4 min flat last km.

 

Final race results:

Swim (750m) - 14:46 (5/18)

T1 - 1:20 (3/18)

Bike (25km) - 42:19 (4/18)

T2 – 1:06 (2/18)

Run (5km) - 22:46 (5/18)

Overall - 1:22:19 (2/18)

Went to check my results on the computer right after the race, and couldn't believe it when I saw "2" under Category position! Lost out to Ben Khoo by a good 7 minutes, who had a blistering fast race. Stayed around the race venue until 11.30 for the prize presentation. It was only when my name was called out before I believed that I got 2nd with my mediocre timing.

 

First time on the podium (or stage in this case)!

Overall the race was pretty well organised, with a great race course. However, there was one major problem: the bike course was 5km longer than supposed to be! Thats 25% more and clearly not accidental. Also, the transition area could have been set such that it would be more fair, and the mount/dismount line could be closer to the transition area.

It was my first proper triathlon, and I'm stoked to place 2nd in my AG, even if my timing wasn't excellent. I could have pushed much harder on the bike and run. And I learnt that I should not drink too much before the run, but rather just rinse my mouth and spit out the water.

I already can't wait for my next race!