Port Dickson Olympic Distance Triathlon 2009

(Photos courtesy of Ivie and ??? let me know who else, I feel it's important to recognise people's efforts in supporting us with photos - it makes such a big difference and helps to keep the wonderful memories alive - a big thank you).

So I got home at a reasonable (ish) time and straight to bed. Sadly I didn't get a great night's sleep, my injured foot was playing up and a lot off searing pain in my ankle. Anti-inflammatory/painkillers eventually helped me sleep, albeit fitfully. (I should have iced it but I was too tired and I couldn't be bothered - silly boy).

At about 2:30am Sid paid us a visit and that was the end of the sacred pastime they call sleep. The alarm was set for 5:15am but I gave up pretending at 5:00 and dragged myself into the bathroom.

Got sorted, kissed Shilpa and Sid and then to the coffee machine (via a kiss for Seb too of course). A quick buzz back down the highway and I was at transition and all set up with loads of time to spare. Black Beauty was looking particularly gorgeous in the morning dawn light.

I was in the third wave to go and despite yesterday's efforts I was determined to give this race everything. The gun went and it was back into the washing machine. Biggish swell again which made things slow going - and then a first, I got my goggles totally knocked off (I've been kicked before and felt like my eyeball was going to be sucked out but not this). I struggled blindly for a few metres and then stopped and fitted the right lens. I'm pretty blind in my left eye so I didn't bother with that until the saltwater nearly burnt the eyeball out, so I stopped again and all was right with the world again.


As with the Sprint I was determined to "compete" in the swim rather than my usual "complete". I can't express to you how enthused I was when I went around the turnaround buoy next to Iwata-San. Sure he must have been having a bad day but things felt good for me too.

















I came out 10metres behind Iwata-San and made a point of running past just so he knew I was there. A super fast transition and that's the last I expected to see of him. However, great credit to him, I looked behind after about 5k and some sharp accelerations and small hills and he was right on my tail - also the pack was getting bigger and bigger. Things didn't look good, I needed to blow it apart otherwise the pack was going to get too big to shake.

The rolling hills started getting bigger and longer and I kept driving the pace as hard as I could without blowing up. I came across Yip and Meng and encouraged them to stay with me but sadly they couldn't hang on for long. Soon after that I looked behind and there was no one there - WOW, perhaps my legs weren't that cooked after all.

A few minutes later my "PD Strategy" kicked in. The relay guys start in the waves behind us in PD so I always try to put a half decent swim together (half decent for me I mean) so that I'm on the bike before all the good teams have gone. As they started 10 minutes behind today it was only now that the first relay guy came through. He was strong and it took all my resolve to stay with him up the last part of a long hilly drag.

After that it was great, we shared the work and picked up a couple of other strong guys along the way culminating in an Aussie guy in my age group at about 30k. Coming down to the last few Ks we picked up another big group of the earlier waves and headed towards T2 with them. Not wanting to get caught up with them I went to the front and entered T2 first. Another swift transition and I was out ahead of the Aussie guy.

I was very quickly into my stride, fast cadence, short strides, forefoot striking, I felt remarkably good. I heard the guy behind closing me down but I knew it must be hurting him - it was all a mind game now - the pain was to be acknowledged later but not now, not now, NOT NOW, send it on a little holiday, concentrate, fast turnover, light steps, smile, take the shortest straightest line, I'm here because I chose to be, the more I hurt the faster I'll go - the better I'll do - the more satisfaction I'll feel - ahhhhh yes, I remember more pain equals more satisfaction...And so the thoughts travelled through my mind...I hadn't even hit the main road (500metres) at this point by the way.

Then I heard the Aussie guy make some sort of painful grunt...the sort of noise you hear people make on the bike when they know you've got them beat on the big hill...Maybe I imagine such things but anyway I was pretty confident that provided I kept this pace all would be good. I went past one other guy in my age-group and was pretty happy with the progress. As we'd hit the main road Iwata-San hadn't come in on the bike yet so I assumed he was at least 2-3 minutes down. The big question now was where was my other big Nemesis - Ip Chin Nang from Macau. He's an amazing swimmer, solid biker but has been known to blow up on the run (but then haven't we all?).

Not long before the turnaround I saw him, he was looking strong - I didn't realise how strong until I saw the results today, he actually ran a 39:58, a full 1min1sec faster than me!!!!! Anyway, back to the race, I knew it was going to be a big ask and would likely come down to the last few hundred metres but I was determined to have a shot of beating him.








At the turnaround I picked up the pace and was surprised to see the Aussie guy less than a minute behind. Blimey I thought, I need to pick up the pace regardless, soon after I saw Iwata-San coming along at his usual express-train pace. I was still feeling very strong so I was pretty sure I'd hold them off but where was Ip? The course was running out, I saw Wong At Thiam just in front of me (not bad, he started 5 minutes ahead in the 2nd wave).




Alas, it was not to be, Ip had already finished 3mins and 6secs ahead of me (IF ONLY I COULD SWIM). I have to say though, Ip Chin Nang is a deserved winner, he said a couple of years ago that he needed to work on his run and WOW, has he ever!!! Talk is cheap, actions (and training) win races. Great job buddy, huge respect to you.







Never mind, second place and the body responded amazingly especially considering I'd pushed the Sprint yesterday and the KL Marathon 2 weeks before. I have no complaints, the weather helped enormously though I may add, it was bordering on cold for us wimpy tropical types - very unlike Malaysia. Hopefully I can now hold it together long enough for Alpe d'Huez and then the body can have a proper rest for a couple of weeks.

Oh yeah, Shilpa reminded me, I won another pair of Crocs and RM700 (US$200). I kept the Crocs but as usual shared the money between Shilpa, the boys and the maids. Looks like everyone was happy.