One of our Men at MDS writes...

Hi my guru: Thanks for all the tips and pointers. That really help us here. Just finished the marathon stage in about 7 hours or just under. I was so carried away that for the first time I took out and flew the Malaysian flag in the last 500 metres.

Thank you also for your emails and sorry for not queuing for to send you a reply earlier. Pls say thanks to Mike Steven for his email.

I as stupid enough to incur 1 hour penalty on the second day for check in 5 min late on the second day morning. Otherwise I like it so far. I also waited for Dr. Tan in check point 5 during the long leg to finish together in the nite and he owed me a favour for that.

Can you also forward this to may@hospismalaysia.org and pacesetters club to let them know our status.

Another 11 k tomorrow and we are done. Hurray and see you real soon. Cheers!!

Various

Here's Hayley collecting her "Woman Runner of the Year" award 2007. It was sponsored by Adidas and for some strange reason they thought making her wear a Men's LARGE tracksuit would be a good photo op! You look great Hayley but Adidas you need to get your act together. (By the way it was a cowboy theme for the evening which explains the dude on the right).

A group of us the day before the Langkawi Ironman. Sam and Carmen on the extreme right. Dr. Tan 3rd from right and Ngae 4th from the left (they are currently competing in the toughest foot race in the world - Marathon Des Sables - 240km ultra-marathon, carrying all of your own provisions across the Sahara Desert!!! Awesome Guys). Then there's me in green next to Dr. Tan and Joo Ngan at the front (the man that got me back into triathlons).Next is Japanese Sam - never to be seen without a smile on his face - doing his first Ironman.

Sam and Tom just before the 2007 Langkawi Ironman - both looking extremely cheerful. Sam had never managed to conquer this Ironman (although he has many others) and this was Tom's first attempt. Tom and his partner are soon expecting their first child - good luck Tom.

Sam with a gong around his neck and a Langkawi finish under his belt looking fresh as a daisy and just seconds away from Hawaii qualification. AWESOME!

18th March 2007 - 41 Years Old

Today was my birthday and to celebrate it I did the KL Marathon. Having survived that, my lovely wife had invited a few friends to celebrate with me for a champagne brunch at the Westin KL.

John and Emma were there.

Emma had also completed the half marathon.

Mike and Bella too.

Bella and Shilpa had completed the 10k run.

The final members of the team were Ian and Siti.

Ian had completed the half-marathon.











Everyone else that had ran all seemed fresh as daisies (and I pretended to be too).

John, Mike and Siti think we're all bonkers by the way. Having said that, John did mention that he had managed a PB (personal best) that very morning - he'd made it to the bathroom and back to bed in a new record of 30 seconds - Well done John!

THE OFFICE
Monday in the office was a bit tough, I arrived late and felt like I'd been hit by a bus (and I know from experience how that feels). As is the office tradition on everyone's birthday, we have a cake and sing Happy Birthday, while the birthday boy/girl try not to get too embarrassed.

Lovely! And that's another birthday for another year.

KL Marathon - 18 March 2007

Having somehow struggled through the Langkawi Ironman I embarked upon a crusade to Twickenham to watch England do what they have done for centuries and ravage the French. A fitting encore was a pilgrimage to the Guinness Factory in Dublin. You can imagine how "tired" I was by the time I got back!

Shilpa reminded me that in two days time I had the KL Marathon to complete. I was a tad surprised as I'd been following one of my favourite training regimens - "Denial". Oh well it's never too late to start training, so on Friday night Shilpa and I went for a 6.25k run. Unfortunately after 4.4k I had to stop because my Achilles tendons were hurting too much. NOT A GOOD SIGN.

Sunday soon arrived and I woke up at 2:40 a.m. to see England lose the rugby to Wales, India lose the cricket to Bangladesh, Pakistan defeated by Ireland and sent packing from the world cup (very significant to Shilpa and I, as you will see in later posts) and Leeds United yet again fail to win a game. Not a good day. Oh yes, I almost forgot it was also my birthday.

The race started at 4:30 a.m. so after a visit to the loo I made it in good time 4:31. Actually it worked out well as I intended to start at the back anyway. I started off gently intending to do negative splits (doing the second half of the race faster than the first), this is the only way to run a marathon, so say all the books and I can't agree more.

I managed to get to 21k relatively unscathed except the pain was setting in the legs and pelvis. At this point I took a salt table and a gel which helped considerably. Soon after I ran past my office and towards the start line; this is a little cruel as the course then turns away and you have another 17 kilometres to do before you see the finish again.

At 30k I got the much talked about but seldom experienced "runners high", a first for me. I was running along considerably faster than I had been, still in pain but singing "I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky..." with a big silly smile on my face. That lasted for about 8k and then the wheels temporarily fell off. I had 2k of misery doing the Ironman shuffle, head down shoulders hunched - not very pretty. The last 2k were a little easier for the simple fact that it was almost over.

I finished in 4 hours 4 minutes and 13 seconds which was over 7 minutes quicker than last year. I was also in a far better state at the end of it. So all said and done a great result.

A few mentions: -

MARATHON
John Gilchrist stormed around the marathon in 3:16 and 18th place - nice one John.

I met Hayley before the race and she could hardly talk. She'd got some sort of cold and fever, not to mention the swollen throat. She really should have been at home in bed - can you believe it she still did 3:22 and came 4th! WOW!

Hairul Azwar (pipot.com) completed the marathon in a very credible 4:51 just 3 weeks after Ironman.

HALF-MARATHON
Julie continues with her superb form and came second in her category - AWESOME JULIE!

















Emma had a tough day but still managed 2:01 and 25th place.


















Ian did his first half marathon in a few years and knocked out a very worthy 2:16.

10K
Joey did the 10k and achieved a personal best of 1:30. I met her at the finish and she was deservedly and proudly wearing her medal. Well done Joey, great job again.










Shilpa and Bella also did the 10k. They had a ding dong battle all the way through, each taking turns overtaking each other. With 1k to go Shilpa made her move and Bella just couldn't respond to Shilpa's blistering final kick. Shilpa achieved a personal best of 57:57 and Bella was a second or two behind.

Christopher did a great job in the 7k and Asha was awesome in the 3k.

England vs France - 11th March 2007

Back when time forgot, Ian and I were at a rugby dinner in KL hosted by Austin Healey, the ex-England international. During the evening they had an auction for a hospitality trip to Twickenham to watch England against France in the 6 Nations.

It all sounded great but our glasses were empty so we let them get on with it while we tried to get a waiter's attention. It took ages and much gesticulation, we were a bit frustrated (not to mention thirsty). When the waiter eventually came, you can imagine our surprise when he turned out not to be a waiter at all but was the auction guy asking for our credit card and congratulating us on winning the bid!!!!! Oops! (A bit of poetic license here - but who am I to spoil a good story by the facts).

We arrived in England, got to the hotel and went straight out for a 10k run around Hyde Park - an excellent way to get the body going after a long plane ride.
















Later we met up with one of Ian's police buddies who is one of the principle fire arms instructors for the police force (and special forces). He took us to one of the Police firing ranges and unleashed us on the firing range with some serious hardware.

First off with a MP5 SMG and then a Glock 9mm pistol. We shot off about 250 rounds - it was awesome - thank you John.











Then it was off to the theatre to watch Mamma Mia. Interestingly the tickets were no where to be found and we had to blag our way in. A bit stressful but we made it (in fact the tickets got delivered to Ian's room the day after!!!). The show was excellent and afterwards we met up with Ian's buddies John and Steve in the evening and also my buddies Andy Brown and Sean Murtagh. It was really great to see them. A few beers were downed and old times reminisced.











The next morning was shopping day and also Chris and India came up from deepest darkest Kent to catch up. It was great to see them and we also met up with Ed, one of our old sailing buddies from college. Lots of shopping and a big lunch later Ian and I were left to our beer drinking exploits - we're obviously getting old though as we ended up having an early night (we justified it as preparation for the big day tomorrow).





We arrived at Twickers with plenty of time to spare, we got our passes and dived into the souvenir shop (which was huge). I thought Ian might not leave anything for anyone else and eventually I dragged him away – after all there was Guinness and Champagne to be drunk.

True to form we were first to our table and Ian introduced me to the delights of Black Velvet (Guinness and Champagne cocktail).

















The rest of the table eventually arrived including Austin Healey. You can only imagine the surprise on our faces when two of our table members turned out to be French (they'd won the auction from Austin's Hong Kong dinner). Oo ere we thought, France were the favourites to win and there were a couple of Fenchies here to rub our noses in it! As it turned out they were great company (and England had a surprise or two on the pitch as it turned out).

The weather was amazing, not a cloud in the sky and Fortress Twickenham has an electric atmosphere. The players came out, we sang the national anthem and the game was on. I've never known 40 minutes pass so quickly and we went in at half time a few points behind but looking strong and the better team.

During the second half England really started to play with some flare, whereas the French looked flat and out of sorts. Two awesome tries later and a few kicked points, the victory was ours! Icing on the cake (I'd expected a French win). Icing on the icing on the cake was that I won the table sweep-stake for predicting the time of the first try. 55 quid - thank you ladies an goodnight!

Back to the Players Lounge and it was buzzing. Mike Catt the England captain and three players came by for a Q&A session. Very cool.

Just as he was leaving Mike begged me for a photo with him, he said it was for his Mum so how could I refuse.

The rest of the evening became a little hazy and there seemed to be no end of Frenchies around - I have to say what a good spirited, friendly crowd they were - every last one of them to a man.

Big respect guys.

The next day we somehow dragged ourselves out of bed and to the airport. We had arranged to spend a couple of days in Dublin as neither Ian nor I had ever been to Ireland. We met up with a buddy of Ian's, Mike McAndrew who looked after us royally.









We stayed in an area called Temple Bar which is the hub of Dublin night life. An early night was had and an early morning (very chilly) run was embarked upon. Ian abandoned ship after a couple of kilometres as it was very cold and he was running in his best tropical running kit. I managed to keep at it for 12-13k and got back very invigorated.













Later we took a bus tour around Dublin and one of the stops inevitably was the Guinness Brewery - fascinating.

A few Guinness were had and the rest of the tour completed with a warm glow in our bellies.

Not much else to report. The next day we flew back to London, then Malaysia. AN OUTSTANDING TRIP!!!

Ironman Langkawi - You can't be serious!

"You can't be serious!" Is what most people said when I mentioned that I was thinking of doing the Langkawi Ironman this year. Naturally this response removed any doubt that I might have had in my mind.

So here's the picture - I got hit by a van while training on my bike in early September, I got the expected lacerations but also four fractured vertebrae. The next 10 weeks I wore a body brace to isolate spin movement, spent several weeks off work and wasn't allowed to do any exercise. Gained 10 kilogrammes and a bad temper!

Come the end of December the brace was off but a fever had set in and on returning from a trip to India I developed severe food poisoning followed by a very persistent case of bronchitis. After three courses of antibiotics (that had no effect) I decided to let the body's own immune system do the job and in the meantime I'd start training for Ironman Langkawi.

Most people thought I was joking especially when they saw me retching and struggling to breath at the beginning of every run or ride. What they didn't realise is that I had a plan (and after all, Ironman Langkawi was a full 5 weeks away).

Step one in my plan was to gather all the knowledge from my best endurance, marathon and long course triathlon books and throw them in the bin - no time for the "only increase your distance by 10% per week" rule. I knew this rule was flawed anyway because increasing nothing by 10% still equalled nothing and that's a couch potato's training manual!!!!

My first run was 8.5k, the next day 21k, the following week 30k, a week later 21k the next week 42k and then another 42k one week later followed by a 21k and then it was Ironman. There were also a few 5 to 12k runs thrown in mid week but not too many as I didn't want to over do it.

Each long run listed above was preceded by a long ride the day before; starting with 100k and building up to 213k (the Fraser Hill ride). All this time the bronchitis was getting better but at an almost imperceivable rate, I felt like it was improving by about 2% a day. Therefore I stayed out of the pool and didn't swim until a week and 2 days before the race.

On the Thursday I swam 2k, Friday 1k, Saturday 3k, Monday 4k and that was my swim training - at least come Saturday I knew I could do the distance without drowning. This is quite important because drowning leads to a very slow finishing time and I'm told may even lead to disqualification.

So that was that, my rather inadequate crash course (pun intended) training in my lead up to the race. Amazingly I had no injuries and the bronchitis, although still there, was no longer impeding my breathing too much.

So the race itself; the swim was gorgeous, flat calm, no jelly fish (I didn't find any at least). An out and back course, just like a super long 1.9km swimming pool. Got to the turnaround in 37 minutes and back in 1:23, I'd got to be pretty happy with that!

I saw my buddies Sam and Don getting changed, had a quick chat and then strolled out to the bike. The plan was to keep my heart rate at about 124 and my cadence over 100. The bronchitis put paid to that plan though and it soon became clear (even after the hills) that my heart rate was going to be awfully high today - a sure sign of trouble later. The temperature reaching 41 degrees didn't help much either.

Three laps of the bike were OK albeit a little slow for me (as expected though), kept it all together and finished in 6:15. Again I got changed at a relaxed pace and even had a pee (the colour of highly toxic nuclear waste though).








On to the run and it became a run/walk within a few hundred metres. So that was that, run a bit, walk a bit, run a bit, walk a bit, get to an aid station (every 1k) and drink something (I can never eat anything on the run), have an ice water shower and then off again. Unfortunately my feet had started developing blisters in one of my training runs and with the very wet feet from the ice water showers the blisters became the leading feature of my pain sensors as the run progressed.

I got within 8k of the finish and realised if I picked up the pace I'd have a sub 14 hour finish time. So off I went trying to run the rest of it - walking through aid stations, get a drink, taking and ice water shower. The fact that it was dark now and the temperature had dropped helped somewhat.

1.1k to go and 6 minutes to the 14 hour mark, I felt like I was sprinting, I was now within 700 metres of the finish and the blister on my right foot exploded AGGGHHHHHHH! Golly, that was painful let me tell you. It didn't slow me down though and as I rounded to the finish my watch said 14 hours and a handful of seconds - oh well eh! They're just numbers and at least having the sub 14 goal made the last 8k pass a little quicker.

So that was that another Langkawi, I'll be back next year, hopefully infinitely better prepared. I may do another IM before then but let's wait for the blisters to heal first (actually I've already decided which race to do later in the year - watch this space).

What got me through the race was probably the fact that I've got quite a few tough Ironman's under my belt now (this was my 11th), you learn a lot about how to manage yourself through a race over time and if you only step back and ignore "Mr Ego" and listen to the experience it can be invaluable. With my back injury, bronchitis and lack of training I had no choice but to try to think my way around the course rather than go too hard until I fell over.

Additionally I re-read a book called the UltraMarathon Man by Dean Karnazes, when you read this.....well rather than me try to explain it I strongly advise you to read it - it's inspirational.

Dedicated to all those that had the courage to start Ironman Langkawi 2007

Some of my buddies had a good race, some had an amazing race, some a disappointing one, I for one was just lucky to get away with it, while others were positively unlucky not to finish - most of us probably thought there were things we could have done better but hey, that's why we'll be back next year!




Here's a list of my dedications, if I've forgotten you it's not personal just give me a nudge and I'll put the record straight.


Don Khor M 45/49 11:44:06 - You looked totally in control and fresh from start to finish - awesome!

Mohamed Sofian Ismail M 45/49 16:51:10 - Even with a long-term injury this man confronts Ironman every year and can always find a smile however bad it gets.

Sam Pritchard M 55/59 12:56:59 - 5 Ironman Langkawi's and this is his first finish - just seconds away from qualifying for Hawaii - now that is commitment and a never say die attitude.

Tom Vigors M 35/39 D.N.F. - The unluckiest man on the course, he trained harder than most but came down with a fever a couple of days before the race - he still managed to get within 20k of the finish before being dragged off the course by an ambulance crew (he managed to take a couple of them out first before they strapped him down though).

Fiona Lim F 35/39 12:23:18 - An icon and an Ironman legend!

Joo Ngan Ng M 55/59 D.N.F. - 3rd in his age-group in 2000 but a puncture ended his 2007 Ironman - next year he's thinking about carrying a spare!

(Dr) Tah Ming Tan M 50/54 D.N.F. - In fact he did finish but after the cut off in 17:15. Without doubt the athlete with the strongest mind and will power I've ever met. Good luck in MDS.

Randy Tan M 30/34 D.N.F. - Saw him in the medical room afterwards - not sure what happened but he did what most people wouldn't even dream of - he gave it a shot - next year dude, next year!

Edwin Ng M 30/34 14:45:29 - I was surprised to see him there also very pleased - one thing you need as you struggle round the marathon is a cheerful and friendly competitor - awesome job Edwin and thank for the encouragement.

Koh Hieng Ngae M 50/54 N/A 2007 14:49:24 - Now this is a man to look out for in the future, he only gave it 80% effort as he's training for MDS. A real gentleman!

Ah Thiam Wong M 30/34 N/A 2007 11:20:00 - Another Malaysian Ironman Legend, only a puncture stopped his Hawaii dream for this year.

Hairul Azwar Hashim M 25/29 14:17:24 - This man could hardly walk due to a hip injury let alone train most of last year and here he is completing his first Ironman (and Langkawi is probably the toughest one). He was having a bit of a low point towards the end of the marathon as he had to walk sections of it (as did some of the Pros by the way). Ironman Azwar what you have just achieved was the unthinkable 6 months ago and now no one can take it away from you. I hope the quote below puts it into perspective for you.

When interviewed after completing the Hawaii Ironman in 24 hours Michael Collins, (the son of John Collins, the founder of Ironman), was asked to define a bad day. He said: -

"A bad day is when you're walking the marathon, and you're walking through town and you see the paperboy and he's delivering the paper with the results of the race your still in. That's when you know you're having a bad day."

Finally, this is for all of us that finish Ironman in the dark: -

A quote by Tour de France legend Greg Lamond "It never gets easier, you only get faster."
A quote by Ironman struggler Simon Cross "Shut up Greg"

Sebastian, Siddhart and Daddy playing horsey

Sebastian walking at 13 months

Kapil and Ritu's Reception in Bangkok

Having celebrated Kapil and Ritu's wedding with them in India, we raced back for Christmas Day in Malaysia and a birthday for the boys followed by a New Year's Eve party later.

Back to work for a couple of days and then off to Bangkok for Kapil and Ritu's Bangkok Reception at the Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit (where Shilpa and I had our reception).

The place looked gorgeous as did Ritu, Shilpa, Meenu, Mum and Mom too.

We'd ordered little three piece tuxedos from the US for the boys for the occasion. Unfortunately Sid had already grown out of the shirt but they looked adorable anyway.

Our friends Mike, Bella, Christopher and Asha also came as did my Mum and Dad of course but they were feeling a bit fragile (as were many of us) after all the partying, traveling in India and the inevitable Delhi Belly.

Julie Moss - Ironman 1982

This is a classic piece of Hawaii Ironman footage. This unbelievable fight against exhaustion and dehydration really sums up what the human spirit can accomplish. It's got to make you want to do an Ironman hasn't it?

This few minutes of drama brought the Ironman race to the masses.

You are awesome Julie!

Training Again

The back brace is off, Kapil's wedding and the eating marathon of India, Christmas and the New Year is over. As usual I've stopped drinking until my birthday in March and now I must start the long, slow, painful and frustrating path back to fitness and hopefully competitive triathlons again.

I'm 10kg heavier than I was this time last year, I've just got over food poisoning but am currently suffering from a terrible chest cold and having finished my second course of antibiotics I feel no better.

All that said I have a desire and some would say a foolish goal of competing (completing) in the Langkawi Ironman (3.8k swim, 180k bike, 42.2k run) on the 24th of February.

I started my long runs on Friday the 12th January with an unconvincing 8.5k run around Country Heights. The next day I staggered around our usual 21k run course but started early so that there were not too many expectations. Sam and Julie came by just before half way with some great and friendly support (thanks guys).

I got home feeling grateful that I'd survived and jumped into an ice-bath in the hope that I could stave off some of the impending stiffness. The next morning I embarked on a 140k cycle to Bentong which was equally tough but I survived it again. I met a really great English guy called Tom on the ride, who's planning to do his first Ironman in Langkawi. He and I chatted our way through the worst of the ride which helped enormously.

The following weekend (19th and 20th) I decided that if Langkawi was to be a reality I needed to push the envelope still further. To this end I embarked on a 150k hilly ride to Titi on Saturday followed by the Great Eastern 30k run on Sunday morning.

Once again I survived both (although I did think I was going to die in the first 10k of the run as I couldn’t breath).




Harro, one of my good running friends helped me through the worst of it and we paced each other for the first 20k.



One of my regular running partners Julie was on fire and won the women’s race with what appeared to be ease (and a big smile as she raced past in the opposite direction already more than 5k ahead of me).

Sam, Carmen, Cecil, Freddie, Mon, Dino, Marianna, Eugene, Goh to name but a few were all having awesome races and were great inspirations to me as I trotted around. All of them took the time to encourage me on which means a lot when it's such a tough day.










One of my staff also did the race, Joey. She’s not what you would call a natural athlete but has done a few 10k runs and entered the 20k option of this race. I was a bit concerned that I hadn’t seen her during the run but then I came across her with a big smile on her face and several kilometres further ahead than I’d expected – Great job Joey, I was really impressed and pleased for you.

I passed Hairul going in the opposite direction - he was about 3k ahead of me - he couldn't stop laughing as I waddled past. I was starting to feel good by then though and was moving faster, I wondered whether I might see him again later in the race! As it turned out I caught him with about 3k to go and he laughed again (all in good spirits I must add - I can't begin to tell you how friendly, supportive and fun the running/cycling and triathlon community is in Malaysia - everyone is so friendly).

I finished in 3:05 feeling pretty good and very satisfied. I had an ice-bath again when I got home and can now harbour hopes of Langkawi being a realistic possibility.

FOOTNOTE: Woke up the next morning without too much muscular soreness but chest cold had got 10 times worse and I had to spend the day in bed - oh dear!

TriTwins First Birthday

At about 5:45 a.m. December 31st 2005 I was just rousing from my slumber to do my usual long cycle when the phone rang and Shilpa said that it looked like she was going to have to have the twins today so would I mind not going for my ride and coming to the hospital. WOW, I was taken aback but she reassured me that all was OK but for the twins health it was decided to have the caesarean now. Don't worry she said we'll wait for you.

So I shaved, brushed my teeth, showered, had my breakfast and then made my way to the hospital. It turned out that all was not quite as "OK" as Shilpa had expressed an breakfast at least should have been skipped - I arrived to be told that it was already happening and was told to sit in a chair and not watch through the little window at what was going on - I watched anyway.

Minutes later two very premature babies were whisked out and to the NICO ward - that was 12 months ago now and it seems like only yesterday and yet lifetime ago too - it may not make much sense but I know what I mean.

Anyway a year of highs and lows, tears, scares, joy and laughter have passed by (not to mention a fair share of pooh, vomit and sleepless nights) - it has been a rollercoaster alright but now on December the 31st 2006 it's Sid and Seb's first birthday.

Shilpa had organised a little party for them with balloons a gorgeous cake and of course lots of presents.

My Mum and Dad were here too so that was an added bonus for the party.

Sid and Seb were still a bit under the weather from their bout of food poisoning (Sid had even had to spend two days in hospital - poor little lad), they put on a brave face though and did their best to enjoy themselves.

Today was truly a landmark in all our lives - Sid and Seb, thanks for coming to join us; we love you - HAPPY BIRTHDAY.