Friday, March 23, 2007

POST IRONMAN

I did not do much since Ironman EXCEPT this:-











16 MARCH 2007 - THE DAY I MARRIED MY LONG TERM SWEETHEART !!!

PRICELESS

Priceless photos :-






Don Khor at Ironman Langkawi 2007

Monday, March 05, 2007

IM LANGKAWI 2007 - RACE REPORT

TARGETS & ACTUALS

2006 Actual
2007 Target
2007 Actual
Swim
1:37:55
1:35:00
1:31:45
T1
0:07:00
0:06:52
Bike
6:28:44
6:40:00
6:29:32
T2
0:07:00
0:09:41
Run
5:47:18
5:00:00
5:28:05
Slack
0.30:00
Overall
14:07:56
13:59:00
13:45:55

My targets for 2007 were based on my 2006 race experience. I targeted a slower bike due to the change in the bike course, which had more hills this year. I also incorporated a slack allowance of 30 minutes for the unexpected.

PRE-RACE
It was so tiring getting to the starting line. The travelling and all the pre-race chores had really taken a toll on me. There were just so many things to do – re-assembled the bike, registration, a test ride on the bike (to make sure that every thing was OK), the race briefing, bike check-in, a short swim at the actual swim course and some last minute shopping. The night b4 Race Day, I slept like a baby and woke up at 3.45 a.m.


Teresa & I after bike check-in

Simon Lau, Don Khor, Oo Weng Chong & I
I had a heavy breakfast at 4.00 a.m., left the hotel at 6.00 a.m., got my body marked and set up my bike by 6.45 a.m., kissed my baby Teresa good-bye (see you tonight), said a silent prayer and jumped in 2 minutes b4 race start.


Body Marking On Race Day

SWIM - 3.8KM
The 3.8km swim was an out & back 1-lapper. As usual, it was a deep water start and the start line was some 50 meters out from the pontoon. I jumped in and started breast stroking towards the start line when Whit Raymond announced it was 2 minutes to race start. It was good warm up and I got a negligible head start from those guys who were still on the pontoon. Swimming out was a lot quicker than I thot (circa 38 minutes) but coming back felt like forever (circa 52 minutes) – probably due to current and swimming into the sun. I completed my swim leg in 1:31:45 (target – 1:35:00).


T1 was on target 0:06:52 (target 0:07:00). I took my time at the showers & at the changing tent and made sure I had enough sun block b4 I continued.
BIKE -180KM


The 180km bike leg was a 3-lapper. It was more challenging than last year’s and had a good mix of steep hills and flats. For the first time, I raced with my HR monitor during both the bike and run legs. Target HR zone was 130 bpm – 144 bpm (144bpm being my max aerobic HR). My HR was very high at first but it settled in nicely within my target HR zone after 10 - 15km on the bike. Did not push too hard and took my time with all the hills and focused on maintaining the lowest HR possible thru’out the bike leg.
The professionals lapped me when I got to KM70 on the bike (KM55 last year). I could only remember seeing numbers 8, 2, 4 and 18, which turned out to be Reinaldo Colucci, Byran Rhodes, Lothar Leder and Xavier Le Floch (who won the race that day).
From far I could hear them coming...WHOOOOP...WHOOOP...WHOOOP - sound of their disk wheels. I was doing about 35km/h at that time but these guys came and ZOOOOMED passed. Before I knew it, they were all gone.
We had clear blue skies thru’out the bike leg and its was bloody hot but the iced water at the aid stations made my ride quite bearable. My 1st and 2nd 90km splits were pretty even at around 3:11:00 and 3:18:00 respectively. Overall bike time was 6:29:32 (target – 6:40:00). The end of the bike leg was a big relief to me. I had this recurring dream every night for the past few days prior to Race Day that I had a puncture during the bike leg.

T2 would have been on target but with the long pee stop, my T2 split was 0:09:41 (target 0:07:00) (I can’t bring myself to pee in my shorts while on the bike – like what some of my friends did). Again, I took my time at transition and made sure I had enough sun block b4 the marathon.

>
Adzim was there and he shouted out my name in full “CHEE KAI MUN!!!!!!” the moment I stepped into the changing tent. Steve was there too and asked “What took you so long?” “Well Steve, I wasn't in a hurry”, I should have answered him. Anyway, it was really good to see my friends there looking eager for the marathon.

>
RUN - 42KM

The 42km run was a 4-lapper. I started my run at around 3.30 p.m. under the scorching sun. My plan for the run was to adhere strictly to my HR monitor. Although my legs were light at the start, I did not allow my HR to breach 144bpm. I think the plan worked because I did not have too much problems during the run except for a minor pull on my left hamstring at the start of the 3rd lap and on left thigh ½ way thru the last lap. On both occasions, I recovered quickly.


Don Pushing Hard
Oo Looking Cool
Again, the iced water thru out the run helped a lot, especially during the 1st 2 laps when it was burning hot. The conditions got milder by the 3rd lap and as usual I ran the 4th and final lap in the dark.

Can't Smile Anymore - 3rd Lap
Dawn To Dusk, That's Ironman For Most Of Us - Last Lap
FINISH LINE
Overall run time of 5:28:05 had eaten up my entire slack provision of 30 minutes (run target – 5:00:00). Perhaps, I was too optimistic to target a 5 hour marathon (my last 42km practice run with fresh leg took me 4:22:21). Anyway, that did not matter too much. At the end of the day, I came home under 14 hours – a target that has eluded me in IM2004 and IM2006.




I lost 4kgs finishing an Ironman. Average HR during bike and run 140 bpm. Nutrition for the day - 2 litres of water, baked beans, bread & jam, sausages, orange juice, some fried noddles and 2 PowerBars for breakfast + 2 PowerBars, 4 PowerGels with lots of Gatorade, Enervit & water on the Bike + 2 PowerBars, 6 PowerGels with Coke & water on the run.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

WE ARE GONNA BE IRONMEN

“We are gonna be Ironmen” I said to the last guy I passed a few hundred meters from the finish line. He didn’t mind me passing him, not a bit. He was all smiles (and a true gentleman) and said to me “You are running faster, please go ahead”. From the accent, I knew he is Japanese.

“Never As Good As The First Time” (Sade) was dead wrong…it certainly felt so much better this time. I found myself laughing out loud from the heart. I walked the last few meters, not wanting it to end. Then, I saw Whit Raymond (the race MC) flipping the name list and announced over the PA system “Two…….Six…………….Six………….Kai Mun Chee……from…..” Before he could finish, I screamed to the crowd “FROM MALAYSIA!!!!!!” I was damn proud to be a Malaysian at that very moment.

I crossed the finish line a few seconds later in 13:45:55, with almost 15 minutes to spare from my target of 14 hours.


Full race report coming up.