Putrajaya Ironman Simulation

Thanks to Lee for the ride and Tony for his effort in organising a successful tri simulation for ironman wannabes last sunday.

Was surprised at quite a number of turnouts of people. We had Hugo from Surinam, and Ben Swee from Singapore.

As for the swim, managed to do 2.2 km in 45 minutes. The pace was ok, but I was really hoping to dip below 2min/100m pace. It's pretty darn slow. Haven't been swimming for quite some time, and the last time I swam, I knew it's rusted. However, I was pushing above moderate pace. Not so fast but at times sprinting. Hugo, who was an olympian breeze the pool doing 1.5min/100.

Then it was cycling. I got myself a new helmet from Edwin's shop. Had been trying to find a smaller helmet because the previous one was for mountain biking. Luckily he had an S size. I had also fitted the front wheel with a racing tyre Vittoria. Was a bit nervous about it because I just can't seem to pump more air into it, and it seems to be leaking?...(I later found out it was indeed leaking, because the valve, even though screwed, still leaks air).

I knew the route, so I blasted away fast. 1 loop = 25km. I wanted to know how long I could go aero, and how long I could sustained almost max effort without losing it. After 2 loops, I was still going strong, but come the third and after, it was slower.

I was wondering where the rest were. Only did manage to catch up with Hugo on the last lap, and made it back with 129km. I had calculated the average speed hovers around 28km/h. Still slow...I was hoping to make it 30km/h.

As for running, this is actually my first Brick (cycle & run). At first, it was a bit tough, not because it's hard to run, but I was kind of lazy. But seeing the rest puting it up on the tarmac, had me laced up and did a 30 minute run. At the end of the run only did I finally got the legs moving correctly.

Finish the whole thing in less than 6 hours, and still feeling kind of ok afterwards, albeit hungry.

Lesson learnt: Nutrition is important. Eat before training, and eat regularly while training to keep up the energy level. Fatigue is mostly due to inadequate hydration and lower energy level. After 3 hours pushing it, I was beginning to slow down. Eating some powerbar from time to time, did boast things up, but I had only brought one Power bar for the whole thing.

Ironman would require double this effort.