I will try to keep this short   , for once ! (yeah right !!)  😛 Enjoy !

Intro

This is my 2nd Powerman Malaysia race, the first one last year when I manage to dip into the sub 4 finish with a time of 3:59.

Time split (Powerman Malaysia 2008)

RUN 1 ,11KM = 00:54:55

T1 = 00:01:03

BIKE , 64KM :2:02:08

T2= 00:01:13

RUN 2, 10KM = 01: 00 :14

TOTAL : 3:59:37

Pace average(Powerman Malaysia 2008)

Run 1; 4:59 min/km

Bike ; 31.4 km/h

Run 2 ; 6:01 min/km

Position (age group) =7

This was last year’s result. This year ?? Read on..

To Du or not to Du + Training for Powerman Malaysia 2009

The training was kept to minimal, and err..too minimal? Busy with academics and a not-so-good left knee left me in doubt whether to take part or not. Confession : I signed up for this race 7 hours before the closing date, thanks to The Star reporter (who has interviewed me before) who rang me up after the Powerman Malaysia 2009 press conference. He asked if I am taking part, I said .. ‘I haven’t decided’. A series of annoying questions followed, particularly when he asked why don’t I join the Elite category. Seems like Mr. Reporter doesn’t know what it takes to be in the elite category. All I could tell him was that , ‘Look sir, it doesn’t go that way! You don’t simply join that category because you want to.’ Anyways, I spoke to Mel after the reporter called, and asked for her opinion, of whether I should take part or not. I convinced myself that I would go and support this event by taking part. And I promised myself that I WOULD NOT push myself in training or during the race itself. In other words, I promised myself to take it easy.

The 5 weeks training which I was suppose to follow didn’t go exactly to plan as I was very much tied up with my academia. But I did manage to do a few rides. Training for this year’s Powerman was nothing like last year. I dare to say, I wasn’t much of a preparation either. But the training had to go on, eventhough it was very, I must admit, minimal. But that justified the promise earlier on, where I said, I am going to take it easy, I don’t want to bust my knee..and it was exactly what I did.

The last 1 week to Powerman I didn’t do much. I ran around 5k or less the weekend before the race, and around 6-7km with Arif a few days after that. Thanks Arif. You’re right, we need to go slow in order to go fast !

I did some core workouts too, and hope it will help me during the race. 🙂

Pre Race

The race week was incredibly ..busy. I had my final exams on Friday and Saturday before the race. Paper on Saturday was 9-11am, making me not able to join any friends for convoy to Manjung. And only manage to pack my stuff after my exams. So, it was kinda rushing.. Drove to Manjung just in time for the race briefing at 5pm. I was tired and exhausted alright.. But was happy to meet up with fellow triathlete/duathlete friends. Was happy to know that some of my friends are doing Powerman (the full distance) for their first time. There was Ezer,Fairul, Shakhir, Bahri and the gang, and other regular faces; Mac, Adeline, Yusran and Alwin. The Team Elite who I saw and met; Razani, Don Khor, Cecil, Ngae and Awe (Shahrom).

Anyways, I had a good dinner with some friends at this seafood joint in Manjung, or Setiawan..sorry I am not familiar with the place ! Slept around 12 (friends, please sleep EARLY night before race!) after preparing my race gears for the big morning, my last race for this year.

Race morning

Surprising I took it easy the race morning. I wasn’t rushing or getting too anxious for the race. I had in mind that it was going to be a hot day. I hydrated myself well before race day. Was hoping no cramps too. My race number is #517. By the time I got to the stadium, the transition area was already packed with the racers. Again saw many familiar faces, and other new ones too, there were simple too many. So I didn’t bother to talk much or say Hello! to everybody. The mood have sort of shifted to FOCUS on surviving this race.Since I didn’t prepare much for it, especially for the run.

I parked my bike at the bike rack, next to Jiha, who is doing her 3rd Powerman. She too had an injury,she got 5 days prior to race day ! I am not sure exactly what happened but I read from her blog that she had knee pain, and ran on the concrete pavement.

I blocked out partially the madness that morning at the stadium. Manage a quick warm up run with Badrol (Bad), my team mate at the Perhentian Island Challenge 2008. Badrol just got a baby boy. So congrats dude!

Some stretching at the start line while catching up with the rest. Any races you go to Malaysia, chit chatting and hoo haa, posing for the camera with friends, its normal ! Stupe arrived that morning with Aileen, his wife. Jason was there too to support his girlfriend Wendy, and served as a guest photographer ! 😛 Thanks for the great fotos Jason. I believe the camera he was using belongs to Stupe.

But this year tak banyak foto from my camera .So, minta maaf ya..my camera battery went flat before race day !!

Run 1

” Ni training ke racing ? ” LOL. Major Kalam asked me this question less than a kilometer after we crossed the start line. People was overtaking me. Ok, fine. I didn’t have problem with that. I had a promise that I had to keep to. 😛 All smiles looking at the likes of Zabil, Kabi, Laif, Azmar, Shakhir and gang passing me. Go ahead guys. We’ll see if I can overtake you guys. Well, I didn’t have that in mind when they passed me. Generally it was my strategy anyways for most of the races that I do. Start slow 😛 The 11km took me 62 minutes, thats 1 : 02 . An 8 minutes extra added to the 54 minutes 11km I did last year (10KM PB 49MINS). I wouldn’t say it slow. I also ran on grass ! Yeap, the whole way every time I see a strip of grass which I can run on. Avoided the tarmac as much as possible. But at certain times I had to skip the grass because the surfaces were not flat. I didn’t run with any water bottle. So, the water station was not an option. If I didn’t hydrate now,I would suffer later on. The sun was already UP at 7.30am and it was HOT okay people.

Transition

One thing if you finish your first run around the 1hour window.. traffic jam at bike out ! I was like.. ‘Excuse me, excuse me…tumpang lalu..’.haha..so used to go for a quick transition. But this time since habis lari lambat, traffic jam boleh tahan.. fly mount was useless coz i) i did not prep the bike for a fly mount at bike out since the grass was wet..basah kang my socks.. ii) i was expecting that traffic at bike out.. i don’t want to be DQed for domestic violence against fellow racers. Hahah ! I can’t recall who I passed during transition. But i think I passed Jason Thiang of Pacesetters. He was doing relay with his family.

And there was Upiq, Jaja and the gang who sat at the shaded area behind the stadium stand to cheer for their fellow friends ! Upiq has a tagline for me, especially for me and its called ‘Anak sapaaaa ni..?’ since he and I knows that I (well not really really dread but to a certain extent) dread the tan lines every time it develops after training /race, and the overall tanner and darker skin..

Bike

2:06 ! It was a great bike outing. Yes it was HOT on the bike course. I was careful not to draft, I don’t know how to draft and I took the center of the lane so that I do not have to slow down everytime I cycle into a slow cyclist. I kept looking to my right and check out the faster cyclist a.k.a.the Elites..! I saw Shahrom, Emma, Don and Razani. I was wondering where in the hell were those guys who overtook me on the run.. or at least some other familiar faces. Bee was strong on the bike.

So, last year time kayuh was 2:02.. this year tambah 4 minute… there’s not much to complain there.. I overtook AJ and Laif on the 2nd loop after the u-turn after the water station. Wanted to splash the water on both of them but Laif mistook it. Hahah..i was tryina ‘chill’ you guys. No seriously, water on a HOT day is not ONLY for you to drink but to also cool yourself down by pouring it on your head, your neck, and your legs ! Thats what I normally do. The only thing missing on the bike course is iced water/sponge.

To add to the suspense, my extra water bottle which I (am not sure exactly why) placed at the rear rack decided to jump out of my bike after I overtook the 2 guys after hitting a bump on the road. People, make sure your bottle racks are ‘water bottle jump proof ok..’ make sure the metal rods/plastic grip thingy is not loose ! And if you don’t want to waste time grabbing the bottle everytime you need to take a sip, go get an aero bottle. That too doesn’t mean you’re 100% free from water bottle jumping annoyance. My friend, Azmar , said the sponge holding the straw decided to jump off after he hit a bump/hole on the road. Every time the front wheel hits (even a minor) bump on the road, the water will come splashing out.

The bike course at Powerman Malaysia is all flat, straight, nice and all, but the road quality is not 100% good. So you really gotta put your eyes on the road.

Ok, here’s the interesting part. I was actually drafted for 5km. I am not sure when I passed Zabil, during the run , or bike (missjewelz so focused la konon..hahaha)..but.. I heard Zabil shouting behind me ‘Julie, tarik !!’, I tried looking behind, but couldn’t see him. He must have aligned his bike already behind my bike. I just gave a general laugh. I wasn’t ready to pull anyone, and I know I don’t want to get caught drafting and what more, allowing other racers to draft. I am not sure at what speed I was doing that time as I’ve decided earlier on  during the bike to take out the meter and place it in my pocket. The thingy which was suppose to tie and fix the meter to the bike was loose, and I can’t afford to drop and lose it.

But anyways, that gave me the advantage of getting my focus on the race course, and not busy checking out my speed. No I am not a techny-technical geared person..but strategy-wise, I am a bit technical. Zabil shouted to me again , ‘Julie ! Ko laju sangat lah!’, meaning ‘Julie, you’re cycling too fast’.. I am not sure how fast, maybe I’ll check with him tomorrow. LOL.. It was minutes before a draft-buster passed by warning my friend not to draft. I saw the shadow of his bike behind mine as the sun was shining from our left, as we headed back to finish the 2nd loop.I saw Kabi fixing his punctured tyre, and Badrol WALKING. He tore his tyres. Don’t ask my how. The bike course wasn’t that smooth..

The 2:06 bike leg finished quickly and I was glad it did.I need to get back to the ground for the final test on my legs and knees..

T2

I think I did push a tiny bit on the bike and my muscles were getting minor cramps that I didn’t dare to sit or bend my knees to put my running shoes on. Imagine how hard it is putting your shoes standing up. I can afford to waste time if I wanted to. But doesn’t mean when I decided to ‘take it easy’ in a race I have to drop off all the competitiveness. Nay… I already dropped a a few guys which I know were ahead of me on the 1st run, and a few girls from my age group. In fact, I over took Stephanie Wang (Singapore) on the bike as well as Saya Lau Pui San, another close buddy of mine. Out to the 2nd run !

Run 2

I saw someone wrote that the temperature was 38 degree celcius. I’ll describe to you how hot it was.. The water which I pour on my head at 1 water station totally dried up by the time I reach the next water station (which are around 1.7km apart from each other). Talk about over dehydrating, but I made sure I drank at all water station. I peed even at 1 station. Last year okay lagi, I jumped into a drain to pee..this year, ahh..no time..dah lambat dah !!

Still, there’s no wet sponge on the run course. I might suggest this to the race organizers too.. and Manjung, I believe setiap tahun pon, memang HOT despite the race director ‘comforting’ note during the race briefing day before that it was going to be cloudy the next day !

I was just lucky my flu subsided 2 days before the race day or else it would be more uncomfortable.Again, I ran on the grass. Already tired and suffering on the 2nd loop. Panas !!!!!!! I know I was slowing down but I had to keep on going. Surprisingly, my knees did not complain, alhamdulillah. Only once I felt something, but it disappeared. At that point I was scared I might get worse but it didn’t. I slowed down a bit realizing that I will/am being overtaken by some girls from my age group.

So it wasn’t surprising when Saya Lau overtook me, well, she’s a bloody fast runner that one.. and than towards the middle of the 2nd loop Stephanie Wang overtook me and a few other gals. Hahaha..but still, I’ve nothing to lose. My beloved knees need me and I know a smart racer KNOWS what it takes to take care of situations like this. Its easy if you have made a choice (and a promise) that you will not push because you already know what you’re putting yourself into. A less smart racer will go on racing and pushing despite knowing that their training wasn’t sufficient, that their health and fitness wasn’t at optimum..and still want to compete with the much much prepared racers..just to puke during the race and ending up DNF.. I am not this type, and will never be one. What’s there to loose, I’m not even a national athlete, and there are plenty of races which I can go for in the future. I did a sub 4 for my maiden Powerman and manage a 10k personal best on the 1st run, so that humbled me down in the sense that I have nothing to lose.

My 2nd run took me an hour and 9 minutes. I sprinted with Ngae (Team Powerbar Elite) towards finish line, our finishing announced by Melody. Thanks Mel !

So there… my 2nd Powerman .

Timing splits (Powerman Malaysia 2009):

RUN 1 : 1:02

BIKE : 2:06

RUN 2 : 1:09

TOTAL : 4:21

POSITION : Again, #7

Post race

Water, Ice, iced towel, finishing medal, finisher t-shirt, watermelon, air-cond, hang around to wait for other friends to come in, posing for the camera..tired, exhausted, collected my gears from the transition and biked to the hotel. Serious, penat ! Mandi-ed, packed my stuff and back to the stadium for the awards lunch. Manage to catch up with friends.. I ate a bit.. pasta, soup, and some noodles.

A long drive back home, unpack , wash up the gears..and then zzzzz…. A tiring weekend it was but certainly a memorable one. There may no be many fotos which I took but some friends brought their camera and supporters with camera, and I believe PM Tey took a lot of fotos. Last year I did not have any finisher foto as the people , and maybe the photographers were focused on the 3:59 tick tock to see me coming in the finishing shoot 🙂 . But this year got finishing foto. So, yeah.. it was a good race and I thank God I had no physical obstacles, pain or injury during and after the race.

I kept my promise, and it did me good. Still figuring out how to celebrate this one..hahaha.. Anyways, some fotos here 😛 Will upload later if there are more 😛

Race analysis

Last year the top seven ladies from my age group did a sub 4, me being the #7. This year, only 1 lady manage a sub 4. Overall observation of the timing results shows that there’s a drop in the time for most finishers including that off the Men Elite even though some athletes showed a marked improvement in their time.

Joerie Vansteelant (the current #1  Duathlon World Champ)dropped his water bottle somewhere on the bike course thus withdrawing himself from the race. You see how important sports nutrition are! No wonder I didn’t see his name in the results sheet. Another friend of mine DNFed due to dehydration, he skipped 1 water station, (he thought he could survive to the next stop), but boy was he wrong. He passed out ! (pengsan) and was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital.

Another friend puked like 3 times on the run course..(yikes..)

Top 3 results for Men Elite , Female Elite, and top 4 for  Age group.

Men elite

1. Andy Sutz (Switzerland) 2:45:47 (2008 result :-2:55:48)

2. Brice Viegas (S. Africe) 2:51: 08

3. Jason Spong (S. Africa) 2:54:36 (2008 result :- 2:43:13)

Female elite

1. Radka Vodickova (Czech Republic) 3:08:55

2. Camilla Lindholm (Sweden) 3:11:11

3. Caroline Koll (S.Africa) 3:16:12

Men (20-29)

1. Mohd Amran Abdul Ghani Malaysia 03:14:53 (2008 result :- 3:27:54)

2. Abdul Rahman Abu Hassan Malaysia 03:17:12 (2008 result :- 3:26:00)

3.Laurence Gerang Moses Malaysia 03:24:49 (2008 result :-3:32:58)

4.Cecil Cheong Malaysia 03:27:38 31 (2008 result 3:41:51)

Women (20-29)

1 Lim Baoying Singapore 03:49:57  (2008 result :- 3:46:16)

2 Natcha Painprasobsuk Thailand 04:02:45

3 Saya Lau Pui San Malaysia 04:10:48 (2008 result :-3:56:59)

4 Angela Huang Singapore 04:12:00

5 Lin Zhiyun Singapore 04:14:41

6 Stephanie Wang Tingxi Singapore 04:18:10 (2008 result:- 3:53:39)

7 Nor Juliana Ali Malaysia 04:21:37 (2008 result :- 3:59:37)

8 Chin Yee Mun Malaysia 04:27:16

9  Teryn Tham Singapore 04:31:54 (20 result:- 4:27:55)

Men (30-39)

1 Patrick Poetzsch Singapore 03:12:28 (2008 result :- 3:06:30)

2 Chaikamjorn Chadarak Thailand 03:15:52  (2008 result :- 3:13:51)

3 Danny Feng China 03:19:52 20 (2008 result :- 3:18:03)

4 Adrian Mok Singapore 03:22:53

Women (30-39)

1 Emma Bishop United Kingdom 03:33:38  (2008 result :- 3:31:40)

2 Ong Siok Bee Malaysia 03:58:31 (2008 result :- 3:53:22)

3 Lesley Tan Li Lian Malaysia 04:07:36 (2008 result :- 3:50:47)

4 Oon Lisar Malaysia 04:10:10 (2008 result :-3:56:25)

Men (40-44)

1 Simon Cross Malaysia 03:11:49 (2008 result :- 3:19:40)

2 Yong Chin Cheng Malaysia 03:17:53

3 Muhamad Razani Husain Malaysia 03:24:37 (2008 result :- 3:16:11)

4 Charoen Khangkharo Thailand 03:26:00

Women (40-44)

1  Carmen Leong Malaysia 03:54:39 (2008 result :- DNF)

2  Lau Soh Wai Grace Singapore 04:04:49

3  Sabrina Stahl Germany 04:19:53

4  Tan Shih Ming Malaysia 04:43:17 (2008 result :- 4:20:48)

Men (45-49)

1  Iwata Takatoshi Japan 03:30:54  (2008 result :- 3:22:29)

2 Yap Boon Kheng Singapore 03:34:27 (2008 3:36:30)

3 Bunrit Deerod Thailand 03:42:25 (2008 result :- 3:37:42)

4 David John Spence United Kingdom 03:43:22 (2008 result :- 3:58:33)

Women (45-49)

1 559 Jacqui Saffery United Kingdom 03:54:15

2 560 Mika Kume Japan 04:09:12

3 558 Agnes Tee Yoke Loi Malaysia 04:19:57 (2008 results:- 4:14:47)

Men (50-59)

1 Don Khor Ngee Leong Malaysia 03:31:42  (2008 result :- 3:25:00)

2 Lok Chan Chuen Malaysia 03:41:10 (2008 result 3:39:12)

3 Victor Chan Singapore 03:46:08 (2008 result 3:38:46)

4 Sam Shinichi Matsunaga Japan 03:53:58

Women (50-59)

1 Yvonne Yip Yuet Yong Singapore 04:32:50  (2008 result :- 4:14:53)

2 Ayeshea Ching Abdullah Malaysia 05:36:48 (2008 result :- 5:06:31)

Men (60 & above)

1 Kapt(B) Abdul Hamid Aris Malaysia 04:30:57

2 Loe Hock Guan Malaysia 04:32:35

3 Dr M Sharkawi Jaya Malaysia 04:55:32 (2008 result :- 4:34:25)

4 Abdul Rahim Anuar Malaysia 04:56:50 (2008 result :- DNF)

National athletes (both raced in the Elite Category):

6 Shahrom Abdullah Malaysia 03:04:22 6 00:38:49 00:00:42 01:40:33 00:01:01 00:43:15 (2008 result :- 3:00:34)

9 Muhammad Hafiz Wong Abdullah Malaysia 03:17:03 16 00:43:27 00:00:51 01:42:14 00:00:56 00:49:33

Other friends’ results :-

Full distance

Naresh Kumar Panjimanadan Malaysia 04:09:58

Raymond Ng Chow Kiong Malaysia 04:13:11

Zabil Ihram Zainol Malaysia 04:28:56

Ong Poh Seng Malaysia 04:30:05

Michelle Looi Mei Yan Malaysia 04:30:29

Zulkifle Hassan Malaysia 04:31:20

Azmar Mohd Nor Malaysia 04:31:35

Khairul Ariffin Ibrahim Malaysia 04:34:07

Laif Ahmad Fisal Malaysia 04:38:13

Ahmad Jauhari Yahya Malaysia 04:40:47

Shakhir Ishak Malaysia 04:51:40

Mohamad Fadil Abdul Shukor Malaysia 05:01:12

Fairul Mizam Zamani Malaysia 05:03:04

Badrol (DNF) (tayar meletup)

Omar Yip (DNF) (punctured tyre)

Sprint

Men

Ahmad Lamchannak Morocco 01:51:10

Cyril Loo Malaysia 01:57:50

Muhammad Fitri Saharil Malaysia 02:21:20 (adik Fitri, which I mentioned in previous posts)

Bahri Mohd Aris Malaysia 02:26:09

Nur Danial Kalam Malaysia 02:33:37

Rafiq Khan Malaysia 02:34:55 (#67 out of 109 !!) Congrats Upiq !

Mahizzan Mohd Fadzil Malaysia 02:47:47

Azly Ahmad Anwar Malaysia 03:02:58

Women

Lynn Guan Yoke Ling Malaysia 02:11:43 (#5 . Congrats !)

Tan Chin Chin Malaysia 02:17:25 (#9. Congrats !!!)

Lydia Tan Shenh Ai Malaysia 02:33:59 (#18)

Chang Kim Siew Malaysia 02:39:20 (Uncle Bo. Azmar’s oldsters friend)

Wong Yit Thing Malaysia 02:41:26

Cheryl Hawkins USA 02:43:22

Future (races)

As I mentioned earlier, this is going to be my last race for this memorable year. My 1st 2 races this  year was the GE 30k and my maiden Ironman Langkawi (3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run). The Ironman being the more memorable one.. 😛 I’m typing these lines while listening to Sungha Jung’s playing the acoustic version ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ (sorry iklan kejap..) 😛 I will be on break from racing till  next year. Hoping to start a fresh one next year. My next humongous  race will be Ironman Langkawi 2011. Anything in between (meaning 2010) I will sure share it here in my blog. I am not doing Ironman Langkawi 2010 but will be there to support for sure. 🙂 Mean time, I will be chilling on the beaches and the big rocks watching the sunsets and sunrise. Oooh I miss em beaches. TC here I come !

Fotos courtesy of PM Tey, Stupe, Jason, Victor, Lee Puh Heng and Shakhir.

FULL RESULT

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>>Individuals<<

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