TRIP TO KOTA KINABALU

4 August - 7 August 2007

Arrival @ KK Airport

Chill Out At Hotel Pool

River Cruise @ Klias - Probosic Monkeys & Fireflies

Kinabalu Park

Canopy Walk @ Poring Hot Springs

Poring Hot Springs

Lady and The Tramp

DESARU HALF IRONMAN 2007

18 August 2007 - I entered the race without much expectation due to various reasons. Firstly, my training has been unsystematic and inconsistent during the last few months. Furthermore, the painful memory of last year's DNF(http://cheekaimun.blogspot.com/2006/09/dnf-at-desaru.html ) was still fresh in my mind. Hence, my only desire this year was to finish the race as comfortably as I possibly could and no more sub-6 hour target!!!

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Save for the disastrous swim and the heavy rain during the bike leg, my race unfolded nicely and I came home with a new PB of 6:00:28 (2005 - 6:05:40), thanks mainly to the cool weather during the run and a shorter bike course.

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Unofficial Splits:-

Swim - 1:01:30

T1 - 0:04:17

Bike - 2:49:19

T2 - 0:03:15

Run - 2:02:06

Overall - 6:00:28

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Swim 2.0 km - The swim was particularly challenging due to the rough sea condition. And I thot last year was bad (I logged a 48 mins split), this year was worse and I breached the 1 hour mark for the first time at Desaru. As a comparison, my best time at Desaru was around 41 mins recorded in 2005 when we had calm sea (and when the race was held in September). My lap times this time around were 29:36 & 31:51.

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T1 - Felt disorientated when I came out of water. A little discouraged when I saw my swim split but reminded myself that timing was not important. Took my time at the showers. Mr Chan was there and asked humorously if I needed shampoo. As usual, I took my time to make sure I had enough sunblock but it later turned out that I had wasted not only the lotion but precious time as well because the typically baking hot sun was absent for the rest of the day.

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Bike 90km - Or was it 86km??!! There were some scary moments due to strong cross wind and slippery road but overall its was a good change from the usually hot and sunny ride at Desaru. Just a mere 5km into my ride, I saw the race leader, Pete Jacobs, riding in the opposite side of the road. He was about to complete his 1st lap on the bike (30km lap) while I had just started mine. He lapped me during my 2nd lap and eventually won the race in 4:00:25 (according to Team TBB website). My lap times were pretty even in the 1st 2 laps, 54:31 & 53:57 respectively. But I slowed down to 1:00:50 in the 3rd lap. Had 1/2 PBar, 2 PGel and a Saltstick on the bike.

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T2 - My shoes and socks were soaking wet when I got back to the transition area. Glad I brought some vaseline for my toes, which made sure I had no blister after the run.

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Run 21km - Probably my most comfortable run in Desaru due to the cool weather (which I think was truly a luxury). For a change, my legs felt light from the start. I ate another 1/2 PBar and a PGel at the start of the run to make sure I wldn't screw up my nutritional plan and bonking in the closing stages of the race like I did last year.

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Did not think of sub-6 at all until I saw my 1st lap time was 58:56 and my overall time was 4:57:18. Made a quick assessment of my physical condition at the start of the 2nd lap and thot I felt great - no cramps or even the slightest sensation and energy level was still good. At that moment I thot to myself that if I was ever gonna dip below 6 hours, THIS WAS IT!!! I was still in good shape and the weather was simply perfect. I walloped another PGel and went on. I didn't push any harder though. Somehow I was still worried about bonking and I really didn't have to because I still had some 3 minutes to spare by simply maintaining my pace.

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Then, I started to feel week at about km14. It was so sudden and I found myself slowing down. Wacked another PGel but felt nothing. Luckily, I found some bananas at the nearby aid station (the one outside the official hotel). Took one and felt my energy coming back less than 1km down the road.

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Had another PGel when I got to the roundabout. I must have lost a lot of time when felt weak earlier because by the time I got to the roundabout, I was left with less than 20minutes to run the remaining (probably) 3.5km. I pushed hard only in the last 500 meters but it was a little too late. I finished 28 seconds outside 6 hours. I slowed down by almost 4 minutes in my 2^nd lap and logged a lap time of 1:03:09.

PD INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON 2007

22 July 2007, Good to be racing again after a long break. TT and Iain were there for me.




Iain walked me to the starting line.


With Carmen and Ah Kun

Don, who started 5 minutes later, was right behind as I entered T1.

Drafted with this tall guy (almost) thru out the ride - strong rider.

Back from the ride.

Aik !!! Finished already.

SIMPLY GOOD TO BE BACK!!!!!!