try it ... try triathlon ...

"...i think for the start of 2010 i was suppose to blog something about what i wanted to do and how i never managed to do it .. how i wanted to do stuff for 2010 which will only be hot air come 2011 ..."

better late than never ...

my new found interest in triathlon

triathlon is just like travelling ... msut have distance .... stamina ...

output ?

whole lotta fun ... personally ... experiencing something new is the only reason i think makes people grow ... just like babies ... every day is a new sensation .. new experience .. first steps ... first everything ... and that's why babies i guess .. is always smiling ...i have a lot of routines in my life ... but when it comes to races .. i alwasy feel fresh ... always something new to learn ..to experience ...maybe i'm an adrenaline junkie ...maybe ..

distance for me doesn't necessarily mean the race distance .. of course to some it's overwhelming .. but it can't be done .. with my head firmly gripping to that principal ... i'm going to prove to myself that it can be done ...the distance is also the years/journey it takes to finally land me at Langkawi for a full ironman ...

and stamina .. is to finish it off ..not to blow up half way ... give up half way ... but to arrive to that destination ,....where you see yourself when you started .. begin with the end in mind ...


starting it?

I must thanks Fox Mulder for me being in triathlon ... he introduced me into this business ...he was wearing this really cool timex watch with the "indiglo" feature on x-files... and i really wanted this watch because i wanted to be cool like fox mulder ...and i finally got a timex (years later and a current model).. and it has this little ironman logo on it (under the timex wording)... timex is the offical timekeeper for IM....

fig1: my wife bought me this watch .. life changer ...thanks dear ..

With that watch ... i was obssesed about chrono-ing evertyhing ... how much time i spent from home to the office ..how long do i have to shit before i'm late to work ... how long for a person to order mcdonalds ... and of course how fast i can finish the serdang course which was only 6 km - my longest running distance then ...unfortunately ..the watch is currently under repair .. (never ask a watchshop that doesn;t sell timex to change you the battery .. the next thing you know .. your watch is filled with water .. idiot!)

after that .. i have purpose to running ... i wanted to a) run non-stop b) maintain or break my personal best .. before i know it ... 6 km became fun .. running thru sri serdang . .watching kids coming back from school ... thru the pasar malam ... watching factory workers coming off work ... bangla's and people watching me like i'm running away from something .. the UPM chicks ...but honestly serdang is a great course to run.. a lot of things to see ...and the time keeps getting better ... so gradually i increased the distance .. but the course have to be interesting .. luckily my new housing area has scenic routes also ...

now ... i manage to finish 20k non-stop (almost half-marathon) ... and it felt good .... to be able to finish something i thought would be impossible ...

but i didn;t want to just be a runner ... i wanted to do triathlon ...

fig 2: my first 10 k ... felt good afterwards .. and automatically hooked on running races...

then come the swim ...

swimming is the discipline i enjoy the most .. training or racing .. it's basically swimming man .. it by default fun ... but triathlon swimming is difficult ... 3.8km ... open water ....i know doing 1 hour per week in the pool would not cut it .. so i decided to step it up ... but how .. efficient swimming requires technique ... who is going to teach me that ..?

answer: dave scott .. with good clips on you tube .. has a lot of tips and drills to perfect the art of triathlon swimming ... for the first 3 months i became obssesed with swimming ... hitting the pool averaging 4 times per week ... spending around 6 hours per week correcting my techniques... and at home .. i watched re-runs of countless swimming tips downloaded from you tube and practice in front of the mirror where and there were time i have to convince my wife i'm not nuts ..i'm just looking at my stroke baby...without a proper teacher to guide and correct my faults... i have only myself to count on ... i also spend a lot of time at the pool watching proper swimmer doing their stuff and learning fthru that as well ...

and now i manage to swim 2k non-stop ...practice does makes perfect ...

fig 3: body marking prior to my first open water swim at desaru (500 m) .. survived ..

2 out of 3 ... i told my self if i can swim up to 1 km .. i would buy i bike .. because i can compete in a sprint triathlon consisting of 500m swim ... 20k bike .. and 5 km run ... and after i completed my first 1 km at the pool .. i called up kadir and alin .. for some bike tips .. which bike to buy with my limited budget ... and i bouth a merida 901 .... around RM2k ... it's ok i guess ... it got me through races ...

i still don;t feel physically comfortable compared to running/swimming when training on the bike .. until now ... for me .. the bike portion of the triathlon is the time to fuel up for the run ... but 180 km man .. i really can't just ride through that distance .. i must practice so i would not struggle as much or even worse drop out... so that's what i'm gonna do ... after the DPA 6 months .. gonna get me an aerobar ... upgrade a few components ... and ask dave scott for some bike tips ... via you tube of course ...

and with help from some interseting routes suggested by kadir .. i can hopefully enjoy cycling ...

fig 4: cycling at powerman 09... that smile says it all "40 km ...i'm screwed dawg"

with that .. i can conclude that ... triathlon serves up my hormones quite well ...

it has the adrenanline factor, distances, challenges ... and most importantly it provides me with new experiences and a whole lotta FUN ...

and all the things that people say about how practice makes perfect ... to be patient .. basically work to get what you want...

.... it is true

... i mean ... of course it's true la.... but to literally realizing those captions .. it's an awesome mind boggling feeling.... i figured if i incorporate it in whatever i do and keep the faith ....with time.. it will come to me ...

annex1 : results 2009 - personal best

1. 1ok run - 50 minutes - top 100 out of 400 runners
2. 20k run - 1 hour 50 minutes - top 50 out of 400 runners
3. powerman 09 sprint- top 20 out of 200 participants
4. triathlon 09 sprint - top 20 out of 40 participants

annex2 : targets 2010 (conservative) - you will do this .. i hope

1. 30 k / half marathon (marathon - unlikely due to DPA)
2. olympic distance triathlon
3. half-ironman
4. be able to ride for >120km (bagan lalang or PD)
5. be able to ride to pedas
6. 4 km swim .. pool pun ok la ..
7. wife to join in some fun run races