The 6th edition of this race at Kenting, my fourth half ironman triathlon. I expected a stronger performance and chasing another PB, especially this could be the last 70.3 at Kenting such a challenging course!
The race venue had been stabled in the last 5 years and we thought everything should be remain.
The frustration began when the swim course change to 20km away from South Bay, and then 1 week before they change from 2 loop swim to 1 loop swim. Sometime things not always going as planned. This is how the story began.
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| New swim course at 車城海口, 1 loop swim 800m to the middle of the ocean |
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| Usual Kenting loop, the small segment got removed due to high wind, mostly flat with a bit of rolling |
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| Run all the way south, after Yoho, 4km to the turning point, fully exposed to the heat |
Race Day - 1
The wind started picking up, we arrived at the swim course, rode the first 5km and back, the crosswind and gust wind was so strong that could blow you away, it was stronger than 2010! We had to ride very carefully at some point, oh my god it was going to hurt a lot! It was also a long T1/T2 about 1km stretch out. Looking at the swim course, the wind blow the buoys and picked up a lot of wave, it even took me some time swimming to the 2nd buoy! In fact the wave was stable and not like the wild one in Shek O! 10km ride, 2km jog around the T1/2, 300m swim, not having any 'feeling good' but start worrying if the condition may go worse...race briefing in the afternoon also announced the contingency plan if the wind speed is too strong the bike course will cut short to 77km. I tried to relax but I couldn't.
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| not really a washing machine but didn't know what it's like outside |
Race Day
3:45am alarm, not relax not sleeping well, washing up and get on the van at 4:15am! Eating breakfast on the way, arriving at 4:30am. Very windy, and start raining and dark during the setup, I have no mood to smile and have a short chat to the man next to me, he just agree it's an awful situation to start the race, he's also stress I can feel. Imagine that you only wearing a thin trisuit to brave the weather, I just don't want to catch cold!
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| Rolling Start arrangement |
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| massively diving into the water |
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| Focus, buoy after buoy |
Swimming out of the comfort zone
6am we are on the beach waiting for the start. No swim warm-up, don't want to get wet and caught cold by the wind, instead we stay together and keep moving our arms and legs, rain stopped, wind became mild, sky started clearing up, the sea condition looks better than yesterday, I exchanged encouragement with our team, started focusing, empty my mind, queuing up for rolling start, 3secs next, my turn, started my watch, run to the beach, wave was mild, dolphin dive one and two, heading to the first buoy to do my job! I swim conservatively in the first 800m out, slower stroke rate, focusing on the next buoy, keep my route straight. Rolling start give me some space to swim instead of too much fighting, however it's still a joke when I overtake a lot of breaststroker as they don't follow the guideline. Farther from the shore it's some swell, I catch a few right timing to calibrate, swimming back is sweet, able to do a few bodysurf, exit the water in 37mins wow! A PB! Running into T1 with Brian, hearing Fanny, taking off my swimskin, meet Eric already in T1, feeling good feeling strong!
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| Exiting the water feeling good and strong |
Ride at my pace, strictly no drafting
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| Bike split as expected, just dropped some gels... |
Since I started riding over the two bridges I don't feel the strong wind as we did in prerace, instead it was sweet tail wind into the village, catching up Janice wow she swim fast and then learn that she got penalty by drafting?! I estimate the bike split should be within 2:30hrs. 2 gels 1 snickers should do the job. 45mins later I felt a bit empty stomach and a bit sleepy, I took one small bit of my snicker, and adjusted to 45mins per gel, last 30mins I only have half Snicker bar to wash down, 2:28hrs back to T2, that's alight. Slowly jog thu T2, telling myself don't walk in the first 5km.
Jog, run, jog, zombie walk
The plan was to skip the first 2 aid stations but the first 6km is a segment of fully expose to the Sun and the heat, I carry my bottle of sports drink, solid bonkbreaker bit, and I need water from aid station. After 3km I was able to run, from 4km - 13km I was running at 6:30 pace, Janice, G and Paul catch me up around 10km, I take one salt tablet at 10k, I was a bit weak after Yoho, and here came to slope to go up, I was exhausted and started turning into zombie mode, at around 13/4km I find that my bonk-breaker and another salt tablet got drop, start getting hungry, and my mind wasn't there, I can only hang in with a bit of banana from aid station....I know it's 2km to next village and then 2km to turning point, but my mind was spent, lot of walking thu the village even how hard people cheering, exactly a zombie....another failed run, how difficult to make it to the turning point and there's a few more up and down slope at the time I want to try running again...good thing on the way back was the tree shaded, I got no more feeling, just hang in there, very weak in the last 500m, I know all my friends are waiting my G are waiting, just couldn't pick up, slowly jogging, heart beat is bumping hard, crossing the finish line in numb, even another competitor took my finishing shot! WTF! 2:40hrs is just another very ugly run off bike given all the training I took this year. I feel sorry to myself and my wife and my coach who support me.
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| Very weak...WTF! |
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| Finishing weak... |
Looking back, my body prepared just I missed the attitude and the fighting spirit this year. The resiliency not there! So I lost everything when a lot of changes going on. From the change of swim venue, the change of loop and the change of weather, I spent too much energy to worry about that lead to the bad sleep, dehydration and bad performance.
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| Training all year long, just not the result I want |
I still need to learn how to climb over that wall at 13-15km mark during the run.
And I need to always toughen up myself at the time of training 'give me the wind I will take it, give me the heat I will take it, give me the wave I will take it!'
On positive side, that 1 loop swim in the ocean enrich my race CV, it's very difference from swimming 1.9k along the shore from Repulse Bay to Deep Water Bay, unlike the Taitung lake where is the protected-water.
I also know what is missing in the preparation, it's the mind and soul.
I once again thank you my coach Kenneth for all training and guidelines, my G all the sharing and support, and nothing better than sharing the postrace with all my friends at Sonic!
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| We just having a lot of great time at this B&B! |
I still have that target in my mind, have a really 21k run off the bike without zombie walk! That would definitely be my PB!
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| Finish! But mission not accomplish! |
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