TriFactor Triathlon (OD): a new PB

To my family who were there to cheer me on, the most spectacular part of the race was witnessing a participant crash into the railing at the skatepark. This was what I pieced together:

Right after my fifth lap, D saw a cyclist wavering on his bike. He crashed into the railing and according to MBH, he was hanging over the rails, with his head down, motionless. It took some time before the marshals got the medics to attend to the poor chap, and even more time before the ambulance came. Someone said there's blood, and apparently he had a gnash at the back of his head. More time to wait for a head/neck immobilizer, and there was a fair bit of commotion.

I only saw the ambulance on the last lap, and could see the poor chap in a stretcher. According to another couple, the ambulance door closed onto the guy's legs (shin?). Incredible!

Hope he's ok.

Another incident due to me. No, it's not an accident. Just that I was using the multisport mode for the first time and did not hit the start button when the swim began. Only on the second lap did I realize this, and hence I had no idea what's my race time. Only that from lap two of the swim to the end, I took 2:48 thereabouts.

Swim: the route is closer to shore, but the middle segment of the triangle course was longer, in comparison to OSIM. Small groups, by waves. I was in the veteran wave 11, and it was a small group, less than 30. Of course, with a small wave, there's more room to swim and less chance of being kicked in the face. This time, I swam easy, or could this be due to more experience. Bilateral breathing, freestyle all the way. Might have passed a few swimmers, but more passed me as usual.


Bike: I knew this would be a shorter course, as the turnaround point was at the skatepark instead of past the transition area. Forgot my rubber bands, so had to resort to manual counting with the help of the odometer. For some reason, my electrolyte drink tasted bad right from lap 1. It only went bad after the run during OSIM. So I stopped at the water point, discarded my electrolyte drink and asked for water. As it would turn out, there's a difference between electrolyte and water.

For a change, I kept to only one gear most of the time. Large chainring, number 4 rear clog. The one time I changed to a smaller rear clog, I found myself slowing as my cadence was affected. Not very high cadence, just averaging 68. Average speed of 29.0 kph for the 36+km.

The first few laps were fine, but subsequently when the sprint and freshmen participants came on the bike course, they tended to crowd the lanes. Many ladies on their mountain bikes, as well as a few kids. Saw two hand-cyclists with bike escorts.

There was this gentleman who was probably new to aerobars, some weaving about.

Run: Pace was close to 6:00 for first two km. Somehow, I tended to run too fast when off the bike. At the third km, I felt a cramp on the right thigh. A few stretches and I was back to a 7 min pace. Attributed the cramp to the water instead of electrolyte.

A few drops of rain just to tease us before the sun came back up. Good thing I had my sponge and water bottle with me. The extra weight was worth it. Last two km in the 6's. The run distance was only 9.6km and it took me 1:05.

Unlike OSIM, the younger participants were in the earlier waves. So I felt no pressure whatsoever on the run. In fact, participants from the earlier waves felt the pressure. A number of them were walking and when they saw me overtaking them, they immediately started running and overtook me. In quite a few instances, I ended up overtaking them again. :)

Fancied it was more crowded at the finish line, but perhaps due to my later finish and the sprint & freshmen events. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but only had water to rehydrate. What happened to isotonic drinks? As it turned out, I paid $1.50 for a bottle of Boost. Not really complaining, since the registration of this event was low.

Met up with the family. And then had a free shower on the way back to the car.



When the boys witnessed the accident, their first thoughts were whether the participant was me. I feel bad that my participation causes them worry and stress. Have to constantly reassure the family that safety is my first priority, even if I get a DNF.

Provisional results:
swim: 00:38:23
bike: 01:21:04
run: 01:06:35
overall: 03:05:59.70

So it is a new PB, albeit with a shorter bike leg!

Congratulations to KL and AY for their personal bests! Both under 3 hours!!