TRI-swim 1 km

The first of four TRI factor series organized by The Orange Room, this swim only event comprised three distances - 3 km, 1 km and 500 m. The venue - good ole Tanjong beach lagoon at Sentosa.

Started off early while it was still raining, but the rain stopped by the time I got to Sentosa. Not many people about at 7:30 am, so got my body marking done quickly and took a few pictures.


Plenty of time to kill, as the 1 km event would only flag off after all the three waves for the 3 km event were completed. Started talking with other early birds - Wong (veteran marathoner and swimmer contemplating cycling), Sam (left KPI and now a personal trainer) and Ong (Ironman!). Later met up with Carrine (who was also at Tangjong in Jan this year), Alvin (first open water swim). Then there was Lawrence (also new to swimming) and KL (enthusiastic beginner aiming for OD) and wife, John (also aiming for OD this year) and wife, Perry and several others. Also caught up with two Indian chaps - uncle and nephew - who were also at the TriBob sprint triathlon. Both were also beginners setting their sights on an OD and full marathon this year.

Oh, yes... this is about the swim. The 1 km route comprises two loops (the 3 km route would be four laps of a longer loop), with a beach run up through a timing mat and water point.

The 3 km participants went off first, and here're the briefing and first wave.




Wong and I deposited our bags and proceeded for a warm up swim. I was planning to warm up at the sheltered end of the lagoon, but Wong went to the open, choppy part. The reason was to get an idea of how the current would affect the swim. We tried both directions, and along the way, I accidentally went into the paths of the 3 km swimmers. Sorry, guys!

Wong gave me some very useful tips on how to ride the waves - to come up with the up wave, and down to pull when the wave goes down.

One interesting observation was that some swimmers would slow at the narrowest stretch of water directly in front of the start/end area. One swimmer, I noticed, was not moving forward, hard as he stroked. After several minutes, he went to breast stroke and only then did he move forward! Wong and I concluded that there could be strong currents around that point and made a note to swim closer to the buoys. And as you might have guessed, I swam right into that spot, and had to treadmill for several minutes! That was not very pleasant. And I had to breaststroke out of that "bermuda triangle".

That was the most exciting part of the swim. The other stretches were not very remarkable, except for the choppy waves around the second turn.

First loop completed in about 13+ minutes. And caught in the bermuda triangle treadmill on the second loop to round up with 29:44 (unofficial time).

After dechipping and getting a BOOST drink, I bumped into Jodan. Have been following his blog for some time, and it is good to meet up with him in person. We chatted some, in particular he gave me some good advice on how to tackle the bike course in Bintan.

So all in all, this was a good swim. In particular, met up with fellow participants and received valuable advice and tips.

Official time: 29:48
First loop: 13:51
Second loop: 15:48
Percentile: 43

Honor roll: DeSoto speedsuit