Ironman 70.3 Bangsaen was my first half distance race, it also where my first half marathon took place. Combine those both event was not a good idea. Although its already more than a week ago, i still remember how it felt. The awful memories would probably last for quite some time. There was no such thing as finished strong, I emptied all tanks I got left, I finished all out.
The reason why me and Daud chose Bangsaen was because last year, TOYOTA Bangsaen Triathlon 2018, we had our race here. Placing 1st in 1500 m open water swimming, then the next day I was 1st place Olympic distance in my age group. So we thought it would be a familiar course and undemanding race for me to do my first 70.3. But it was a perfect day, flat water no wave at all, the wind on the bike course was in my favor, I was averaging 32 kph with my road bike, then just a little rolling hills on the run.
THREE MONTHS PRIOR
At the time, it was right after Beijing Triathlon, I was still not sure either to pursue my triathlon dreams or became an OWS swimmer. I did a few training, then suggested why didn’t we try something new like training with a new coach for a fresh start.
So he contacted some of his friends in Malaysia, then found coach Lini Kazim. She’s one of the best coach in the region, I would say. She's the head coach of Team Time Triathlon, some of her athletes had qualified for the major games like Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympic Games.
So we started online coaching via training peaks for twelve weeks then when the time was convenient I went to Malaysia training camp in her place. I managed to train 15-18 hours in a week on average. Ohh Jeez, it was the loneliest the most stressful time of my life. I spent 3 hours riding solo or 90 minute running alone on the streets. But the best part was that Coach Lini always believe that I can do it. Somehow she trust me more than I trust myself if I could do it. The fact that I thought I had enough training, made me confident about my first 70.3.
THE RACE
To begin with, it was not an easy day in Bangsaen compare to last year.
But the ambiance, race environment, all the good volunteers, the hype before and after the race was stayed the same as incredible as last year. One more thing; FREE PHOTOS for all the participants. Made me wanna come back here again next year.
Kudos to the organizer, volunteers, photographers, and everyone involved that made this race was very enjoyable.
SWIM
The race start on 6.30 am, as a swimmer i have to admit that was the hardest open water i had ever swim. The wave was high, very choppy on first 750 meters. If you’re on the canoe, I bet you would get sea sick. But on the way back I managed to body surf a bit. And as always, I became the first female came out of the water.
BIKE
It was nice that I was leading for the first 20K, so I got escorted by police, marshals, and cameraman. Okay, perhaps I pushed a little hard on the first halfway, because it was headwinds. Then after 60K cycling, my lower back pain started to increase gradually, at last ten kilometers, I couldn’t be in the aero position. and it was hard to generate power to my legs when my lower back so fatigue. The bike course was relatively flat, just few rolling hills, and bridges to climb. It supposed to be a fast course, but that the winds kinda holding me back.
RUN
off the bike, I walked very slowly out of transition. Trying to stretch my back, and glad that I didn’t cramped at all. I ran on pace 6’ on the first 7K, I thought i was fine and still on track, but after thirty minutes run, when I looked at my watch my heart showed 170, and ohh it was the beginning of my miserable run.
Last year we only had two hills in one loop 10K run. This time, there were three hills in a 7K loop, so it would be nine climb in a half marathon. I did cry at some point of the run, because I was too tired. I walked run the last 14K.
THE AFTERMATH
I did finished with a decent time of 6 hours and 2 minutes. Just two minutes slower than the third place in my age group. My coach was quite happy with it. But i was so disappointed with the results, he said let’s try again, let’s sign up Langkawi.
But let just be clear, I wouldn’t sign up for another half distance if my endurance didn’t increase naturally. Because to me three months preparation was not enough, it took years build such endurance.
So now back to speed work!
P.S: my super cute trisuit supported by Catfish Design. Check out their website for more cuteness overload https://catfishdesigns.com.au/
Race Summary
Swim 00:28:40
Bike 03:04:05
Run 02:23:20
Overall 06:02:26
