Desaru 113K Triathlon and Family Vacation

Picking up my race pack with my Amanda Sophia

Where do I start? So many things to say and I need to start somewhere. Well here I go. We arrived at Lotus Desaru, Friday morning around 11am. After checking in to the hotel I fixed my bike and me and my family went out again to see what the hotel had to offer. The hotel is a sea side hotel they have 2 restaurant and a bar. Anyway, i took lots of photos of my family never even bothered to test an open water swim or ride the bike to check the bike course, oh the reason why is because weather was dismal no sun around 12 noon and it was always drizzling from 12noon to 4pm. So around 4pm we went back to the sea side so that my kids can play. That is when I saw my friend Roi trying out the water, anyway I was feeling confident that tomorrow I can still do some warning up and it will be a fun swim.

Woke up around 5 am, really can’t sleep at all, ready all my stuff last night and pick them up and ask my daughter to come with me to the event area so she can take photos of me and my friends. Ready all my stuff in the transitions area and since there are only around 400 athletes competing today the organizers had setup the transition area in a big covered garage of the hotel.

 My Argon 18 E112 and gears all set-up

After setting up still have sometime to talk to friends who came late last night around 11 pm. After that we all went to shore to warm up before our 2 kilometer swim. The swim was a mass start, not what they say which was a age group wave start, well maybe there was not to many athletes that why the organizers has decided to go with the mass start. I told all my friends that I was only going to finish one of the two loops, because I am afraid that I can’t make the 2 kilometer swim but during the first 500 meters of the swim i felt very happy and i enjoyed the swim so much and when i was going to the first loop i saw no one exiting the sea, if i exit now i might get embarrassed and people might think I am faster than the actual pros or i cheated hehehe. So i took the second loop and finished strong. I finished 4th among my friends (there were 7 of us).

After the swim I looked around for my family and saw my 2 daughters on the shore and my wife taking pictures of me. Run towards the transition area where my friend Roi just left and my other friend Melvin about to leave the area. Quickly put on my shoes, helmet, gloves and walk towards the bike mounting area where my family was waiting for me. Picture time again.

During the first loop of the 3 loop bike course, i saw my friend Roi about a kilometer ahead of me that is when I knew I have a good place in the swim. I was always a good kilometer from him on the U turns of the bike course until the last loop where the last 3 friends I left in the swim actually pass me on the bike, I have no more power in the legs due to the lack of training during the past few weeks. Finished 3 hrs 22 mins for the 90km bike.

Into the bike to run transition, were I felt my legs have no more to give, I was thinking of giving up after the first 3 kilometer of walking, my legs really would not start up, whenever I start to run it would hurt badly or may be it was just in my mind, though I having bad stomach cramps whenever I tried running. Its my fault as well I never give enough time to train. I did not have any bike to run training so this is what happened to me, until the last guy in my group catch up to me in the run (or should I say “walk”). He encouraged me to to walk faster and never give up, we targeted to finish before the cut of time of 8 hours 30 minutes. So we did a run walk session for the next 15km of the half marathon course, we would walk 100meters and run 200 to 300 meters until my stomach cramps hit me again. This is what we did for the next 3 hours. And when we were on the last 500 meters I saw my eldest daughter now waiting for me and encouraged me to run the last 500 meters to the finish line, I said thank you and good bye to my friend and run with my daughter towards the finish line. Around 50 meters i took my youngest daughter carried her and run towards the finish line.

I finished my first Desaru 113k triathlon with a time of 8 hrs 24 mins (wow that's my birthday August 24 hehehe) not bad for a guy actually got no training time at all :)

Wanted to thank my family for the support, but i think next time i will need to tell them where to look for me on the run because i need more support there hahaha.

I like to thank all my friends who competed together with me, I assure you guys next time you will not take over me on the bike course hahaha.

Thanks to the organizers for such an awesome event, though next time maybe you can ask the trucks on the street to stop their work first because its really scary when you saw them pass by you or when they're on the opposite side.

Thanks to our driver Mr Alan Teng such a nice guy, if you need to travel from Singapore to Malaysia you can contact him here, +60 16-770 4745

My first Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya Malaysia

First of all I wanted to say thank you for all the volunteers who have stayed in the heat of the day to support all atlethes. Especially the girls who stayed in the middle of the street during the bike leg to help with the traffic, your all awesome.

On to my race blog, this Ironman 70.3 is my first half Ironman race. The race was last April 13, 2014 and it is situated in the Hot and Humid wheather of Putrajaya Malaysia, it was a good experience for me I think all races will be much easier hahaha.

 

Anyway the race starts with a deep water age group wave start. This was a very good move on the side of the event organizer as a lot of the triathlethes are noobs just like me, it gives me the confidence to swim my own pace without worrying that a lot of people will swim over me. Our wave started an hour after the first wave. I got kicked once on the side of my leg and after i think 1.5 km of swimming my leg started cramping I called a support boat and grab onto it. The crew ask me if I wanted to the get a medic, but if I did i will definitely get disqualified so I told him no and that I can still swim. So after resting for a minute or two I started swimming again only using my arms and one good leg so that I wont irritate my cramping leg. I finish the swim at 55 mins plus and started to run walk towards T1.

On the bike transition I have taken my sweet time to put on my tri shirt (as I have swam without it) my arm warmers, gloves, helmet, socks and shoes, and walked towards the bike mounting area. After a few meters I shifted gears and boink my chain got off my chainrings I had to stop and fix it and test if all gears are working properly after that off i started to pedal. The course was really nice it was a two loop course with 3 aid station positioned at the correct place to give atlethes support and a long the way a lot of young girls and guys are giving additional instructions on where to turn aside from the big sign boards that where located in the streets. On my second loop I saw a lot of atleathes fixing their flat tyres and started worrying about mine. I started to feel that my tubular rear tyre was somehow peeling away from the wheel and so I stopped and check on it, it wasn't I think what I am feeling is that the sidewinds was blowing into it and giving me the feeling that it was moving away from me.

After 3hrs and 25mins I finished the bike leg I went into transition finding a friend who just got in as well. I put on my running shoes and my race bib and before I can run to the exit me and my friend took a selfie picture hahaha and off we go walking out of the transition area and started jogging to take a feel of my legs. On the first few kilometers I feel quite good but after kilometer 5 the heat and humidity started to take its toll on me and the cramping I felt on the swim came back to me eventhough i gave my best effort to stay hydrated and take in nutrition. I began a run walk prosession, I kept thinking to my self I have trained to run not to walk and so on the 16th kilometer mark I started to run my pace and finish my run walk 21km in 3hrs 15mins with an overall time of 7 hrs 48mins which is below my expected time of 8 hrs and I'm very happy about it. Surviving the swim, the bike and the run without any major body or bike problem.

Again a million thanks to all the volunteers who supported all of us racing the Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya.

Thank you to my family who have supported me during my training and racing in this event. I love you all.

 

 

Here are some more pictures before the event.

 

My Bike bag from CRC

 

After assembling my bike on the hotel

 

The Man himself Crowie checking the swim course which I did earlier

 

After we have check-in our bikes

 

excuse the red eye :)

Setting up my gears in the transition area

 

 

And so my triathlon training has begun

Yes I have signed up for 2 Ironman 70.3 races for next year, Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya in Malaysia and Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines. I wanted Ironman 70.3 Philippines as my first 70.3 event but when 70.3 Putrajaya open up for registration and the price is quite low it was very tempting and since its much nearer to me I registered for the event.

I have started my training regimen to get back in shape for the 70.3 Putrajaya. I'm following a training plan that i got from www.triathlete.com its a 4 month training plan and even though its a 6 day a week training plan I think I can still get enough time to spend with my family. I'm planning to buy those recovery drinks so my body can adjust more faster with the hard training that it will receive in the weeks ahead.

I have started the other day with a 1 hr bike trainer ride with 30 second sprint scattered along. This morning i swan 800 meters with 20 seconds rest interval every 50meters.
Though i will be starting to follow my 4 month training plan by December 1, I wanted to get some base aerobic fitness in before that day.

Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya Malaysia

I been staying here in Singapore for the past 6 years now and I have never traveled anywhere else, maybe its lack of budget or maybe I was too lazy to travel my butt out of this place. The farthest I have ever been outside of Singapore was Johor Bahru in Malaysia though I was just a bridge away from my house.

I would always see pictures of friends standing in front of the Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur enjoying there vacation there.

When Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya open for registration I quickly register for the event and they have a special opening price of $199 which was to good to miss out. Now its my time to get pictures in front of the Petronas towers together with my Argon 18 E112 and of course another excuse to get some much needed R&R with my wife. I dont think so I will be doing the 70.3 event though it will still be a blast to get a vacation there.

Ironman 70.3, its a good excuse

Last October 1, 2013 the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines opens its website for the hundreds of triathletes waiting in front of their computers to register for the event. Around 9:30 I was contemplating whether I will register or not for this event. But since I came here to Singapore last 2007 I never got the time to enjoy myself in a vacation, never went to Thailand, Batam, or any Island resort where my wife and I can enjoy a much needed R&R.

And so I took my credit card out, fill out the online form and made my payment for the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines, boom here's our chance to get a vacation and yes it will be at the beautiful Cebu City in my home country, The Philippines. Yes at long last a well deserved vacation, though it will still be another 8 months more its still worth the wait and the preparation for the event I have signed for.

Assembling my Argon 18 E112 Triathlon Bike

After a few weeks of riding, cleaning and admiring my new Argon 18 E112 I finally got the
time to write a short review/story on how I got this fast and stiff but comfortable Triathlon bike of mine.

During the last quarter of 2012 after finishing my first Triathlon (mini) I finally decided
that I would get Triathlon specific bike so I went back on reading Triathlon forum (www.slowtwitch.com, www.tririg.com, triathlon.competitor.com) to know more about TT bike, I went to some Local Bike Shops (LBS) to get the feel of the bike and know the local prices as well.

After much research I've grown to like the design of the Argon 18 E112 TT frame, I have
researched the internet for an LBS whose selling Argon 18 bike and found Entro Cycle
(www.entrocycles.sg). I quickly visited their shop and talked to MC (this is the short
version of his name I forgot his name, sorry MC), upon entering their bike shop I saw that
they are carrying quite a few brand of bicycles such as FOCUS, Mcipollini and Argon 18
just to mention a few. After that I have noticed that they are having a sale on Argon 18
2012 frames (it must be my lucky day).

I quickly browse through the prices of the Argon 18, they have all the Argon 18 TT models on sale E80, E112, E116 and their E118. The most affordable TT frame on sale is the E80 an aluminum frame which is very great TT frame for those in a tight budget, next is their E112, this frame is made of their new 5655HM Carbon Composite and has the same geometry as their high-end E114 (discontinued) frame which carried Torbjørn Sindballe first off the bike on the 2007 Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii. Next are their high end frames E116 and E118, these frames eventhough on sale was still over my limit of SG$2,000 dollars for the frame and fork only.

The price for the Argon 18 E112 2012 model was $1,699 while the E116 was $2,399 I know
that it is a big difference eventhough I still contemplated on getting the E116 though, but 
because I was on a tight budget I have opted for the E112 model which I don't have any regrets of buying it.

On that same day I asked MC if they have the small size for the E112, but before that he
roughly estimated my body to the frame that I am suppose get, after some measuring with
the measuring tape he told me that the frame size I should get is an extra small for the
E112 which they don't have at the time, the only extra small size they have was the E116.
At the time my dream of getting an Argon 18 E112 collapses, I went home thinking what to
do.

When I got home I quickly research all forums that have Argon 18 TT bikes asked questions
to forum members and emailed some of them to get a quick response. Because most of the
information was already on the internet I kept reading the for my height I am suppose to
get an extra small size. And then I saw a post on www.slowtwitch.com a guy posted his
wife's Argon 18 E112 I quickly emailed him about the bike and the height of his wife. The
next day he replied to me and told me that his wife was somewhere around 5 foot 6 inches
and he added that before they bought the frame his wife got a professional bike fitter and
recommended them that bike size. He told me that her wife was very comfortable on the bike and that has given me the confidence to go and buy the frame and so I did.

This is her bike

After buying the frame, It took me 3 months to buy all the required parts and components
to build the bike. And since I was on a real tight budget I buyed most of my bike parts
online (www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk, www.chainreactioncycles.com and www.wiggle.com) with the help of some of my friend who ordered together with me so we can save on shipping cost.

Shimano Ultegra 6700 Rear Deraileur and Deda 70mm Stem from wiggle

Profile Design Carbon T2+ Aero Bars, Wing2 Bullhorn and Carbon Break levers from

Treknology (LBS)

Ultegra 6700 Crankset, Ultegra 6700 BB, Prologo handlebar tape, Smart Lunar 10 light

(front and rear) and a clarks water bottle cage from CRC

Dura ace TT shifters, Ultegra 6600 front derailleur and Shimano 105 chains from CRC

Shimano RS30 wheelset from planet x

Shimano Gear cables, brake cables and pedals from CRC

Stuffs i got second hand
Ultegra casette, Profile Design Saddle from Roi and Carlo and my Ultegra 6700 brakes.

After all the parts has been delivered over the past 3 months of ordering I got two of my
buddies (Carlo and Von) to assemble the bike. And for a very affordable fee you can have
your bike assembled by these two very nice guys.

Here are some additional accessories that I got for my Argon 18 E112 TT bike;

XLab Torpedo

XLab Turbo Wing

PRO Carbon bottle cages from Planet X

All in my Argon 18 E112 cost me around SG$ 3,400 which is still very cheap considering all the parts are quite on the highend compared to Tribikes sold here. I think the same bike with the configuration as what I have would cost somewhere around SG$4,500 to to SG$5,500

Thanks for reading.

 Blog Update

I have changed my brakes to Magura RT8 Triathlon specific Hydraulic brakes, I got the brakes from the same shop where I got the E112 frame they were on sale during the time and it was around 65% off which was to good to pass off.

I got a set of Planet X 80mm/60mm carbon wheels which was (you guessed it) on sale on Planet X website.

Here is what my bike looks now

I bought the Lazer Tardiz II too for 65% off or more if I'm not mistaken.

Sundown sun up

And yet my second Sundown Marathon here in Singapore, but instead of the boring, barely lit streets of Changi Coast Road, this years run is through the busy and crazy city lights in the heart of Singapore.

This years Sundown Marathon have seen another record breaking registrants at 12,000+ for 10km, 8,000+ for the half-marathon and 9,000+ for the Marathon. People are really digging in running during nighttime since it will definitely be more cooler than running daytime here in Singapore.

The start time for the 10km run was at 10:30pm and because I hitch a ride with a friend whose actually running in that category I was already at the venue around 9:00pm. And the time for the 21km and 42km flag-off was 12:30 am. So I have to wait for anther 3hrs more. Anyway it was to my advantage as there are less people on the baggage counter for the 21km booth. And so I deposited my bag there and waited for our turn.

I ran the half-marathon category as I'm trying to see whether I can beat my last year time at a lousy 3:40 which was really more than a 21km walk rather than running. Well this year my target was below 3 hours since I wasn't  focusing my training on running but mainly on swimming I just wanted to get below 3 hours. When I do run to train I would run for 10km and would get a time of 1:15 for that. I have not had any long run before this half marathon so I'm just aiming for below 3hrs.

Another good thing of being early I get to line up near the starting line since both half and full marathon will be starting at the same time, just imagine if you're in the middle of 17,000+ bodies you can't really sprint out if the people in front of you are walking.

Anyway during the more the 2 hours of waiting it seems like I have developed a upset stomach or It was just in my mind something of what you call jitters before a start of a race. Anyway after the start I began feeling better I started picking up speed in my run.

The run through the city was quite engaging as the road was very lit up by the lights of the lamp post and all the buildings around. Though after km 15, after the Marina barrage I think is a kilometer of very poorly lit and uneven road/pathway I think I have walked that whole kilometer or less because I dont want to get a sprain ankle or whatever I may get if I got into an accident. Anyway after that another kilometer of a good run path and then another kilometer of a 1 meter wide walkpath (sigh) either I run on the grassy field which I wouldn't know if its uneven or not. And so I end up walking if the person in front is walking ang running if his running as well.

After the walkpath has ended the road begun to widen again, back to the main road again. After kilometer 18 it started raining, and not just drizzling it poured on us with a bit of lighting and thunder and a lot of strong head wind. But the rain was a sign of relief for most since here in Singapore its very humid so eventhough its nighttime its still very hot.

The rain gave me that extra boost that I needed so with the 2 remaining kilometers I made a mad dash towards the finish line and seeing the clock at 3:00:24 I know I was below my target under 3 hours time and yes my result was 2:59:10, YES 40 minutes off my previous sundown marathon and I'm so happy about it.