Post-Race Recollections & Ruminations

Congratulations to John Cooke for his strong finish at the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore. Also, my big bow to Kevin Siah of Perth for his 5:00 hour completion time [Banyak kuat, kawan!]. Both residents of Perth have been training hard to make the field of competition deeper and wider – for which we are grateful for.

In spite of a disappointing swim, Hui Koon also did very well scoring a 5:23 for his half-Ironman. He looks on-track for his assault in his Ironman equivalent race in Australia in the mid-year. I’m sure that our Coach is proud of his achievements.

Today’s race was a B-race for me, in that I did not focus on it to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September in Las Vegas. After earning the privilege to participate in the 2008-2009 editions in Clearwater, Florida I was keen in treating today as a training day. I had a very bad swim, escalated by an undercurrent and nasty swimmers. Engaging damage control, I rode harder which led to a series of mild cramps. Having eased those tight moments, I ran at a moderate pace of 1:55. The main goal was to complete the race with sharper and tighter transitions, which I did. I was reasonably pleased with my ride which was hampered by witnessing many drafting episodes; I rode my own race, mindful of the accidents I saw on the road – including an unconscious rider with severe bleeding to his head and face.

I knew that with my mild cramps that my run would have to be compromised. I decided to take the higher limit of my run, holding a 5:30 minute/K pace instead of a stronger and more challenging 5 minute/K. Kua Harn Wei texted me later and observed that I looked relaxed – which he was spot on. My aim was to keep moving, overtake as many participants in front of me (that’s for allowing you to swim over me!), and finish my race with a memorable chute experience. I was pleased with my transitions, ride and run.

I was amazed by the large library of action photographs of me, which I received from my friends including sports photographers. Unfortunately, my greyness is beginning to rear its ugly head. Fortunately, my renewed fitness seems to shade my silvery character well. Because of my chosen attitude to have a no-pressure race, the photographs forwarded to me by photography-passionate friends – Richard Leong, David Tay, Julian, Tomoya, Grace, and Agatha – had me in smiles, instead of my usual serious, constipated facial expressions.

In a nutshell, yestrday’s 70.3 race was my measurement of my readiness for my second attempt at Ironman Lanzarote (first in 2007 where I did it with Don Ng in 14:40!). Looking back, I was not fully ready for the rolling profile of the beautiful Canary Islands. After today, I still have my work cut out for me, albeit more on building my strength and power on the bike and run. Note to self: write a post-race report to Coach ‘Fox’ to tweak my race preparation.

I will be conducting two public running clinics (for two organizations) in April and May; each will be focused on running techniques and training for a marathon. I will share my approach to training with less mileage but with more intensity. Meanwhile, it is back to training for a 3:15 at the Gold Coast Marathon and a sub-13:00 at Ironman Lanzarote: exactly 12 and eight weeks (respectively) to go!