A FAMOSA INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON 2008

After 3 sprint triathlons last year, I finally debuted in my first O.D. triathlon ! My first sprint race was in A Famosa Triathlon 2007, and this year kicked off the season in A Famosa again. I must admit, training for triathlon can be quite costly to some (me included) especially when your training areas are scattered here and there.. Run you could do it mostly anywhere .. field, track, road, treadmill , just name it..  For cycling, Klang Valley offers various favoured routes. Putrajaya, Genting Sempah, Hulu Langat, Broga, LCCT and more. But still, its quite a drive up to the Putrajaya . Anyway, if your intention for training defeats the costs,burdens and hassles which may come in your way, than you’re on the right track.

Training for any races for that matter, requires some extent of sacrifice. J I’ve another year in uni, targeting for the dean’s list, so time is precious. And so is money. LOL.. ya la, gotta balance the time and cost for training ! As for my friends who are working (most of my triathlete friends are working anyway..), they too have to manage the time between work, family and training..  Basically, its entirely up to you how you choose to train despite the various responsibilities tied to you. I know a few who don’t really train, who trains weekly and those who haven’t touch their bikes/helmet since Ironman Langkawi in February. Anyway, them with them ways, it all comes down to race day !

 

 

Pre-race DAY

For the last time went through my checklist what to bring to A Famosa. Spare swimming cap, sunglass, shampoo and conditioner (considering the extra green lake I will re-encounter on race day!), spare tube, pump, etc.. all fitted in  a backpack  Not so heavy. Thank God. Hitched a ride in Siok Bee’s car before transfering to Ah Thiam’s car after the Sungai Besi Tol Plaza..Journey to Melaka that morning was quite tiring.. with the hot weather and traffic. I wished we left KL much earlier than 10.30am !A trailer overturned on the highway to Melaka and we were stuck for over an hour. Luckily they opened a lane on the other side. Spared us around 20 minutes.Lunch at a stall near A Famosa resort together with the my friends who are also taking part, Suye and Esmen, both making their debut in triathlon. I had rice, chicken and some vegetable. Air suam. They don’t have barli suam in Melaka.. went to 2 other restaurants and they don’t serve air barli.. how come ah..

By the time I registered it was nearly 3pm. So tired ! Collected the goodie bag.. humm… no fancy necklace this year.. they had colourful traditional necklace last year (Tahun Melawat Malaysia). Met Nurina and her kids, Salman and some familiar faces at registeration. Nurina taking part in both sprint and O.D..!  Checked in the apartment, and terus tido.. I wanted to save the excitement for tomorrow and not by chatting away, or wasting time jalan here and there.. I slept a bit, then around 4pm woke up, watched the sprint race from the apartment.  Reminded me of my maiden triathlon here last year.. Sprint it was.. haha.. I came in 8^th in my age group with the time 1:05 :34.  Around 6pm did some running with Li. Carbo-loading was okay except for some complains regarding participants not able to enter because they didn’t take the coupon during registeration…I had a plateful of pasta, some meshed potato, salad and banana. Many familiar places, but more new faces. Ngae, Siok Bee, Emma, Abu, Fairuz, Azmar, Iwata, Karen Siah.  Ike (pronounced Ee-kay), cousin to Esmen said I was eating too much.. ‘ Julie ! Kenapa banyak sangat makan! Berat nanti!’ (Julie! Why are you eating so much! You’d be too heavy  for the race !) haha… Ike , first time in triathlon is taking part in relay(cycling). He teamed up with Dr.Khairudin and another guy. Well, I don’t think I was eating too much. Just nice lah! A short briefing by Mr Chan Chee Seng followed.

I slept quite early after making sure I’ve got all my things geared up. Don’t want to wake up kalut and rushing to do things. Tyre, check. Goggles, check. Running/cycling shoes, check. Cap, check. Vaseline, check. Powergel, check. Etc… check, check, check!

RACE DAY

I accidentally woke up around 4.30am.. haha.. slept back.. and woke up again around 5.30am.. body marking starts at 6.30am. Looked down from the window, could see the transition area from my room. windonw. And COULD see there were a few participants already warming up.. uhmm.. Race starts 8am. Seems like ample of time. Tapi dengan back tyre buat halnyer.. , I was only down at the transition ½ hour before race. There goes my plan for a warm up .. Did the body marking. 516. Nice.. Karoline accidentally put her bike at my place.. I didn’t know it was her bike.. tgk bike number 513.. so, had to put it at her place lah..and when she finally came, tengok her number also same like mine pulak ! 516 .. adoi na.. advised her to quickly change her body marking ..

 

Made my way to the swim start. There were so many people packed at the start line, cramped up(as usual) , all waiting for the instruction to enter the water. A water-start.. as usual made my way to the back f the pack.. We were gunned off at 8am.. I was aiming for alternate strokes through out the 1.3km swim course, at least a 50-50. But the kicking and jostling around by faster and stronger swimmers made my swim harder (other than my poor swimming technique and speed..!). Swam behind Major Kalam and Abu mostof the time. Abu did free style, and Major Kalam did breast stroke. But it seems Major Kalam was faster than Abu ! I swam my miserable pace.. ayaa.. 2^nd loop already tired, but vacuumed my thoughts and just swam ! I wasn’t the last out of the water. Around 30 more behind me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transition was smooth. After 3 sprint tris last year, transition has to improve ! Could have been better if I did transition training for my 1^st O.D. (which I did not). Once on the bike, I slowly caught up with other triathletes. Don’t really recall those I overtook . Lemme see.. oh ya, there was my dear friend,Nurina. Over took her at one of the slopess..Wasnt’s exactly hilly.  Nurina is a fast swimmer !( Which makes me jealous and motivated at the same time !!!) Want to be as fast as her ! Or faster lah ! She always come out of the water before me. Oppzz..correction.. .. out of the water much earlier than  me ! Than a few other familiar faces,  Major Kalam, overtook him before the u-turn before turning into the road to Gadek. Gadek.. 1^st time dengar nama ‘Gadek’.. Gode, adek pernah dengar lah.. but Gadek ? Baru 1^st time dengar.. ye la, last year sprint mana bother nak tengok route map sangat..  Depend on the briefing je. So this times O.D. , kenalah dengar briefing and study the O.D. course before race day. Tak nak berlagak pandai ma..! Anyway, I was finally caught up with Esmen somewhere along that straight road towards GADEK. Half of the way we were overtaking each other until I passed Suye, Esmen’s wife.  I tried to keep the speed constant uphill, and faster at long flats and downhills. Overtook quite a lot of people. I didn’t feel tried. Much more energy from the much slow swim.. ahakzz… My Ironman friend Siok Bee was ahead of me.. wasn’t really chasing her, or anyone else for that matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But looking through the fotos taken by PM Tey, I was less than a minute away from her during the cycle towards transition point. Esmen reached the transition seconds before me, but I managed to quickly put on my running shoes and proceed !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Li was kind enough to pace with me. Thanks Li ! I felt less tired after running 1km. (like wow….! hahah) But then.. bladder getting full,, couldn’t bear any longer.. had to go..had to .go.. and I went. Li tolong cover line. ‘Lagi laju la nie?’ he said to me. ‘Mesti lah!’ Li didn’t race as he lost his bike.. (his car got stolen, with the brand new bike in it..). less than a week later, car retrieved, but no sign of the bike.. L The run was smooth.. no cramps..  Nice weather, mild breeze, and most of the triathletes ‘seem’ pretty relaxed to me. I’m not sure if it was an exact 10km..but my rought estimation is that the running course is slightly below 10km.

Anyway, potong Abu masa lari ! Abu kata Abu sakit perut.. kesian Abu.. but you did well ! Next O.D. make sure takde sakit perut. Overtook Siok Bee here too. Shazly was already on the other side of the road as I made my way to the round about in front of the A Famosa Clubhouse. After this point I realized there were many 51_s ahead of me.. alamak.. terlebih sudah ! Terlebih estimate la tuh. Hahha..

Lost sight of Li after that.. nak cuba laju..overtook Akey  and a few other guys(he was doing relay. Runner didn’t turn up..so he had to run..)..  Kept on looking to my right.. pass the houses etc.. bila la nak sampai ni.. Straight up the apartments came to sight.. phew.. laju lagi..sikit lagi.. if ada orang depan, senang sikit nak tarik myself to go faster. (I usually sprint towards finish line).. but even without  anyone in front of me, managed a quicker pace.. And walla.. finished my first O.D. !

 

 

 

 

 

Total Time : 2:59

Swim – 45:00

Cycle – 1:21:00

Run  – 53 :00

Position : 8

Thank God.. my maiden O.D. is over..now can concentrate on my next O.D. ! To all my friends who motivated me during the training sessions and also towards race day, THANK YOU ! Love you all. And a special Thank You to Dino for the endless support and advice. Couldn’t do this without you ! Eric, thank you kasi pinjam helmet. Need to replace my cracked helmet soon !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

-missJeweLz-