BECOMING A TRI-GUY

24 May 2008
Bintan Island, Indonesia

Swim: 1.5km Bike: 40km Run: 10km


Gin and I went to Bintan Island to escape the hustle and bustle of Singaporean life and left little Chloe in the good care of Grandma Oon who was more than happy to spend quality time with her.


Actually, the real point of us going to Bintan was my participation in this year's 4th Bintan International Triathlon. This year saw about 1000 entries participating in both the Sprint (short distance) and Olympic Distance (OD) events. I already completed my first Sprint Distance last year in the OSIM Corporate Triathlon and did alright in it. This would be my first OD event. Most people would have completed a few sprints before embarking on an OD but I thought I'd just skip that and go straight to doing the OD instead.

The swim went relatively well, all 1500m (1.5km) of it. The only thing that gives most triathletes the jitters is probably the swim because of various reasons:

1) Fear of swimming in the open sea.
2) Fear of many other competitors swimming and ramming into each other.
3) Fear of inhaling seawater, or worse drowning.


Swimming has never been a big problem for me considering my school national competition days but still one must respect the power of nature always. Masses of people charged the ocean once the horn signaled the start and it was go go go ! The guy next to me smashed into me, I smashed into another person, people swimming over people. From my first experience in the sprint event, I gave way, got knocked about but now I knew better. I rammed, I shoved and I pushed myself forward. After 33 mins, I made my beach landing and headed for the transition into the bike phase.

A quick sip of electrolytes and munch of my peanut butter power bar and I was off again. The bike leg took us through undulating hills of the Bintan countryside that I have never seen despite my numerous visits there. Some of the hills were a little tricky but the downhill fast ride was really fun ! Along the way, I actually wished I had a camera on me to take some photos but that would totally defeat the purpose of joining the race in the first place ! The sun was relentless and beat down on everyone. At least, it was an incentive to keep moving so the cool air could take off some of the heat. An hour and half later and I was back in transition ready for the 10 km run.

Waved hi to friends and Gin who were there as support team on my way out of transition. About 2 km later, the quadriceps above my left knee cramped up real tight and hurt like crazy. I started hopping on my right leg and then my right leg cramped as well. I was in absolute pain and in a desperate situation. If it was a 5 km run, it would have been alright as I would probably have to walk off 1km and run-walk the rest to the line. But at the 2 km mark struggling with cramps left me with about 8 km to contemplate about the finishing line. The cramp just didn't seem to give up and kept tensing and crushing my legs. I limped for about 3 km before I could start to run-walk and then cramped again. After embarking on my 2nd lap, the skies turned dark. There were less competitors on the road now (which meant they were well ahead or finished) and it nothing for morale when the heavy down pour came.

It was a pitiful sight. A crippled guy inching along the roadside in the heavy downpour. Shoes were all soggy and squiggy. Total discomfort. There were moments that the thought of giving up crept into my mind and the big horrible words DNF (Did Not Finish) on the score sheet at the end of the day just made things worse. The rain was very refreshing and brought down my core body temperature. I looked to the dark skies and asked God for renewed wind in my legs to finish this race. A while later, I realised I was walking pretty normal although the pain left from the cramps was still ever present. But I could run. I saw the beach stretch ahead, and a 3 km sign indicating the end was near. I started to run and quickly too. I passed people who cheered me on, little kids, strangers, security guards, road sweepers all waving. It felt like taking heroin on the fly.


In the distance, the noise of the leftover cheering crowd got louder as I approached the blue mat. And then moments later, it was all over. I looked above me and the clocked showed 3hrs 52 mins. Nothing impressive but in such a race as this, all that mattered at the end of the day was that I completed it. My first Olympic Distance.

I have only my wife Gin who stood there in the rain and sun for 3 hrs waiting for me to cross the line, taking photos of me whenever I came into transition for the next phase. And also to all my friends who competed alongside me (and who disappeared way ahead after a while) and  cheering me at the finish. I could have looked absolutely ridiculous hopping to the finish line with a cramp but God heard me in the dark, wet and lonely painful moments and gave me strength for one last burst to finish strong.

Well, I bought these runners about a year ago, a week before Milk Run in July '07. Since then, it's chalked up a fair amount of mileage and looking like grumpy old men unlike their former zesty selves ! Put it this way, it probably sounds gross, but these boys have never been in the shower once ever since they came out of the Adidas store. I can't even tighten the laces anymore as somehow, the eyelets have fused with the shoelace, how I have absolutely no idea. I tried forcing the laces through on my both sides only to rip the eyelets completely out of their sockets and still, they are stuck to the laces. At least I can tighten my shoes now. Only thing I suspect is that I am getting some sort of recurring shin pain every time I run in them. They don't seem as cushy as they used to be. I will take them for one more tour of duty this weekend and if they end up being instruments of torture rather than comfort, than I think they might just have seen their last days.

Well, I have finally registered for the Bintan Triathlon. Having gone through the tedious hassle of registering, I realised that the Bintan weekend is nothing more than a big money making scam. I mean who the hell charges for bikes on the boat !? Not to mention booking yourself on a ferry and booking a bike slot for your bike also for $20 each way !? Originally we planned to catch the 1105 ferry and everything was booked sui sui, then I realised after confirming the ferry booking there was no more bike slots on that ferry schedule to accomodate my bike so we had to re-book ourselves on an earlier ferry at 0905 ! Anyway, it's all done and I am actually looking forward to it.

The other day I popped down to Bike Boutique and picked up an ADAMO ISM Gel Seat as I discovered that after 30 clicks on the bike, I couldn't feel my ass anymore and after 50 clicks, I was wondering where my nuts were. This seat is a lot more comfortable and I took it for a test spin the other day.

Here are my goals for 2008.

Hopefully, barring no sudden incidences or work commitments, I'm hoping to complete 3 ODs (Olympic Distances), 2 overseas and 1 local.

I just discovered that Tri-Bob were organising a triathlon in Vietnam and that is definitely going down on my calendar !!

1) Bintan Triathlon 24-25 May 2008

2) Osim International Triathlon July 2008

3) Hoi An Vietnam International Triathlon 23-24 August 2008.

Wish me luck !

Well, the last time I blogged was the end of January.

Nothing much has happened besides eating and trying to find time to keep fit. Well now, tri season is open for 2008 and it's time to get back into the regime of training.

Ever since Chloe suffered from a chest infection, most of my time has been spent coming home and nursing the poor little one who was crying out all her discomforts. Many nights spent keeping her temperature down which was soaring above 39 deg C. And than, I got stuck in reservist for an entire month so training was out of the question. Towards the end of February, my slave-driving boss overloaded me with tons of work, most of which were really the work of the first 2 chicks who resigned before I arrived. They didn't do their due diligence so suddenly, it became my problem. Coming home at 10-1030 pm for 2 weeks was really getting to me and I swore I will never do someone's crap again.

Anyway, having been out of running for a whole month, I decided to start slow on my usual route. It felt great getting back on the road, a surefire way of sweating all that office stress out. So far I have run the 5 km route about 3 times. At the same time, I am back in the pool, completing 1.5 km distances comfortably, and sprinting the last few hundred meters.

Yesterday, I decided to push my endurance up a notch and went for a 10 km jog. It felt ok. Rather than running slowly for all 10 km, I am making myself go into 1 min bursts of fast paced running and then back to 1 min of slow jog. Today, having not cycled more than 5 times and 10 km after my bike accident in November, I woke up at 730 am and enjoyed a quiet Sunday morning by myself at the West Coast MacDonald's car park, eating a sausage mcmuffin and downing an orange juice before heading towards Tuas and back.

The morning air was cool and welcoming but on the return leg, the sun was relentless and poured it's solar power straight down on me. But I made it back in one piece. It was more of a trip to rebuild my confidence but having rode 40 km worth of tarmac after so many months, my baby P2C and I are alright again.

I can't decide, Bintan or Bali Triathlon ? Hmm...

Well hello people ! It's been a long time since I posted anything.  Anyway, this might be on some interest to some of you. Later amigoes !

No I didn't buy this Cervelo P2C all carbon fibre race bike for Chloe. But I do dream that perhaps one day, she will be as sporty as I am but still possess all the lady-like characteristics at the same time ! So here's a starter photo. She looks like she is driving one of those industrial sized JCB tractors. I don't think she liked the seat very much. Totally understandably, if it rides up my butt, I'm sure she can feel it right through her pampers too. Hehe !!

After one week sitting at home getting my body repaired from last week's crash, I finally ventured out on to the roads again. Took my bike out at 830 this morning and felt a little phobia of riding fast. Some of my wounds are still scabbed over and I just can't imagine taking another tumble and ripping those old wounds open again ! Moreover, I had removed one rung from my headset so that I'm in a more aero position but it was kinda scary being so low profiled going fast with all that fast moving vehicular traffic. At least last week, the roads were devoid of cars when I crashed. If I fell now, it would be a whole different story.

Anyway, it was good to be back on the bike, feeling the smoothness of the ride, listening to the pure sound of carbon on road. Awesome. It was a beautiful morning, no wind and clear open skies. 20 km and back at the apartment, racked the bike, put on my running shoes and went off for my 5 km run. Jelly legs wobbling all over. Taking small sharp steps, I made way down Holland Road. It's amazing what one week of inactivity can do against your endurance levels. Lungs haven't been getting their expansion practices all week and it felt all compressed. But 1 km into the run, my wobbly legs were gone and my lungs opened up. But stamina had dropped a little but I didn't bash myself up over it.

Hooyah to Training Day !

It is now 7 days later, almost exactly 168 hrs since I crashed boom bang somewhere along the West Coast/ Jurong area. Many painful days later, the wound has finally scabbed over, by a few layers that is. My palms look normal now unlike it's mummified form a few days ago. But my left arm is still a little sore. It's much more manageable now and I have been resting out a lot. But I'm getting itchy to get back on form, and I can't wait to this Saturday to give my myself a good work out.

My bike has been sitting pretty waiting for me to get my act together. Perhaps I shall her out on this weekend for a slow spin to get things slowly back up to speed. Legs have been itching and my body has been thirsting for the pool. I want to feel the euphoria of being totally worked out and blown out again !!

Come on ! Come on ! Come on !

Here's the post-doc TRI:RAMBO pic of me, all nicely patched up but still very much in a lot of pain !