Ironman 70.3 Singapore is finally over.

Results:

I finished. But I was too tired to really see the time. Think it was something like 5:12. Well, I guess I'm supposed to be satisfied with the timing, but human beings are just weird. It's a relative thing perhaps. My ex-hallmate trai ned minimally due to injuries and turned up a 4:58. Some SAFRA army blokes also blew me away. (These guys are real lucky as they are sponsored their race participation (cost me $321) and a full set of Pearl Izumi Tri top and bottom (think total about $200).) In fact, 40+ year old women and 55+ year old men also got the better of me... Needless to say the pro women were all ahead.

Race report:

I got a cab and arrived on-site 1.5 hours early and had everything set up within half an hour. It was good to reach early, as the majority came half an hour later and the queue became really long. Sat/stood around doing nothing/talking to a few friends for 1 hour. Anyway, I realised that I forgot to bring my tool kit... which meant I could make no adjustments to my bike nor fix any flats. But I simply shrugged it off as I was mysteriously confident about my tires and rim tape. (Later I it dawned upon me that a puncture would have actually cost me my $321. Luckily I never puntured). It was weird how I subconsciously started sizing people up and wondering how fast they were. Most people were busy with their bike set-up, but mine was all set since yesterday (only needed to attach my cyclo comp and powergels and shoes prerace), and they were queuing for bike pumps and fixing flats and test riding their bikes. Weird people. Just as I was about to leave I saw a friend looking frantic.... He had left his bike shoes at home! So I lent him my handphone and he called his mom to bring the shoes in time for the bike after the swim...

Anyway, I was soon off to the swim, and the water was choppy such that I wouldn't have wanted to be in it in a K1. It looked kinda like ubin water. And it was initially cold. Oh yes, the skies were at first turning a little cloudy and red, but that soon cleared to my relief. So the pros went off first and then the women and well, it was my turn. I started slightly behind the middle of the pack and well, just swam. Blindly. I probably zig-zagged the whole course and swam into peoples feet and someone nearly swam over me etc... It was kinda chaotic but as long as you don't get kicked in the face I think it's not that bad. The waves were quite strong and the literally smashed into my face a few times. And my stroke was really uneven. I kept pulling harder and longer on the left side as that was the side I breathed from. So I constantly drifted to the right.... It was a struggle and I was expanding more energy than I intended to. My ankles felt weak from a good deal of kicking (which I now realise is totally wrong in a triathlon). It felt real long and I was afraid my race would be over due to the swim. Luckily there were still some yellow caps from my wave still around so psychologically it didn't feel that bad. It felt like perhaps 1 hour but I was relieved when my watch showed 46min once I was done.

Transition to the bike from the swim was quite ok. Legs felt heavy after the swim as I strode to the bike racks. Damn, most of the bikes were gone, but there were still some at least... Better than Osim 2 years back. Quickly equipped, pushed the bike out and off I went... I picked up speed suprisingly fast and even though my legs were a little strained the speed was there... And then I took out my Gelbot bottle and to take my first dose of powergel and water, and that was when I screwed up again... I dropped the bottle while trying to get it back into the bottle cage! Once it dropped I knew it was gone... It was too troublesome and dangerous to attempt a stop and turn around to retrieve the bottle. Lost $25. Damn. Ok, so I proceeded to get into the mode and started driving it forward. The speed was a little unreal, as I was moving along mostly at 40kmh. Until I was out of ECP service road and onto the expressway. Where it was between 43kmh and 38kmh! Wow, I'm riding like a pro, I thought...

Hmm, didn't see any of my supporters as I made the first pass past the grandstand. This began the start of my 4 laps. I continued supplying the power to the pedals along the way and it felt great, moving at 43 kmh on the flats, 35kmh on the slight upslopes. I was flying..... My average speed was 38kmh++ And I was passing nearly everyone infront I saw. There were 2 guys who I played cat and mouse with though. At the aid station I finished up my remaining water, disposed of my bottle and picked up a bottle of gatorade. Only picked it up on the second try as the first was a miss. I spotted my friends at the grand stand on the second pass! This was also when I thought that one round was rather long...

And so I began my second round, and the power was still there and I was still going strong (or so I thought). I dropped the 2 fellas who had gone ahead of me and finally saw my ex-hallmate exiting marina south as I was entering it! Man, he must have been a good few minutes ahead still, despite my effort. Must have lost more than 10 minutes to him on the swim... Well anyway, along the bike route there were quite a lot of people fixing flat tires etc. Poor fellas. Think some crashed out too as i saw an ambulance. Well, things were going well until I came to the aid station for the second time.... And this time I made a double miss!!!!!! ARGH! No water for the next round!!! And as I approached the grandstand area for the 3rd time, I was losing power and was shouted at for blocking the pro women who was charging from behind.... So pai seh.... Sigh, end up becoming an obstacle to a girl while on the bike... I was also thinking that my friends would be clueless seeing people just keep passing, so i signalled to them that I still had 2 more laps.. And alas, at this moment, my legs muscles gave way! Both legs, quads and hamstrings at the same time!!!!! It was unbelievable, but I had to stay on the bike of course... I struggled to take out my electrolyte tablets (also called salt tablets) and great, I had no water... So started accumulating saliva for the next few minutes and managed to swallow 1 out of the 3 I put in my mouth... So what about the other 2? I decided to heck care and chew the capsules. Bad idea as I nearly choked at the taste and spat it out... I had already consumed like 3 powergels since the start of the bike leg so it escaped me why I was cramping.... And yes, once I cramped my speed dropped dramatically.... I was moving at 33kmh. It was sad. I momentarily stopped over taking people. After some more time of slow cruising and being over taken (sad right), I started to slowlt put back the power and was able to do 36-38kmh. Still over taking people but slowly, and sometimes still being over taken. Average speed was reduced to 36++kmh. Sad... And on the 3rd pass of the aid station I made it a point to go real slow... And got myself 2 bottles (so I can keep after the event =) )

The 4th round was a continuation of the 36-38kmh, and I saw that I had long stopped gaining distance on my hallmate / friend. He was well ahead by about 5 mins or more. Skipped the 4th aid station and went in the for the transition... Yes, my legs were actually still crampy for the 4rd and 4th rounds just that the cramp was less as I was moving slower.

At the bike to run transition the volunteers were most helpful with giving me my bag and helping me keep my helmet and pour out the shoes etc... But alas, I could feel the crampiness in my legs... It was not going to be a good day starting a half marathon like this... But I checked my watch and was amazed! I have 2 hours to run half marathon and come in at 5:00. Steady lah, I thought. How wrong I was...

True enough, once I was out my legs were dead. They were tight, tired and most of all crampy... I tried to remove the cramp by walking but that didn't seem to help 1 bit. So I just ploughed along at a snail's pace... Even my supporter friends were asking me to hurry up -_-''. Bu xing lah... any faster and I would have been on the floor in pain..... Yup, it was going to be a painful run... As I trotted along, people started passing me, girls passed me... And I did nothing.... I drank isotonic at every of the many aid stations and ate powergels etc but not much better... 5k into the run and I could actually transit to slow running. But that was it. Just slow running. First round was done in like 1hour 10mins?! I was like: .... . On my 2nd and last round, I started picking up speed and following some people who were passing me. Was thinking if I maintained the speed perhaps I could do the next round in 50 mins, since there was like a lot less crampiness. It was initially ok, but then my legs started to fatiuge the crampiness was back again... I had lost it and it was like a drag race to the end... I tried to motivate myself with 16 minutes to 5:00, and picked up the pace as I had believed I only had 3km left... My morale was destroyed and I literally gave up the effort when after just 800m, I saw the sign, 3km to go. It was impossible. And I was tired. So I just moved at a bearable pace with the slowest of the crowd and finished...

Bleah. It was a lot of pain, and I was thinking to myself that I would NEVER do a full Ironman if it was to be done with such pain... Cramps suck!

Yup, so I found out that I was kinda weak after all. There are quite a few reasons to my cramps though when I now think about it, but I shall leave it for next time (if there is one) to sort it our bah....