OSIM Singapore International Triathlon (UPDATED)

SATURDAY 28 July 2007

Bern was running in the sprint relay with Clem's sis (swim) and his aunt (bike). We headed to East Coast Park at 10am. It was cloudy and cool. Perfect. Except, the grass at transition/changeover area was SO DAMN MUDDY!!!! sick! my slippers were getting stuck in the mud and my legs and feet was caked in mud.

Here are some pix of the race:

Swim start for Sprint Open Relay. Carina (Clem's sis) is in the dark blue suit.
Clem and I waiting for Bern to finish warming up.
Bern finishing her warm up jog. Looking pro eh. haha.
Bern showing off her flexibility in transition area where she's waiting for Aunty Linda, their team's cyclist.

Bern stretching her arms more than her legs. This is a running race not a squash match...

Strapping the ChampionChip band onto her ankle. Bern flying down the finishing straight in the pouring rain. 20m from the finish line, running herself to a massive PB of 25.58!!! WELL DONE!!

Well, thanks to rigid marshalls on the course, I had to run one big round around transition area in the rain to get to the finish line to find Bern. ARGHHHHHHH. I was soaked, and my legs, shorts, top and bag entirely caked/dotted with mud!! Piss me off.

Oh wells, it was nice being a spectator =)

Oh Tony called me from Melb again this morning to give me a pep talk pre-race. It was good!!! Thanks Tony.

SUNDAY 29 July 2007

Got to East Coast Park at 7am to prepare for my race. OSIM International Triathlon Elite Under 23 Category. It was a large field since this is an ITU/ASTC race and also a qualifying race for next year's Beijing Olympics. But for us Singaporeans, it was the SEA Games qualifying race.

Elite Women lining up on the swim start line. There's me in red, 5th from the left.
Getting ready for the starter's horn.

Start! Off we sprint to the sea.
My supporters: Val, Bae and Mum (taking the photo).

Me running in for my second lap of the 750m triangular swim course.
Me finishing my swim. Guess why there's only one person behind me and I'm swimming alone? Coz I SWAM BLOODY OFF-COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH!!!! I am so pissed with myself for being so stupid.

I was getting worried coz I knew the other girls had gotten away. And the swim felt very long. too long. Shit. Shit happens, but the race's not over. I reckoned Jina and Christine Bailey (HKG) were about 2min ahead after the swim.

I rushed thru transition, jumped onto my bike and...crashed into the barricade. Good thing I didn't fall down. haha. what an emarrassment!! Obviously too disorientated from the swim haha.

On the bike. I didn't feel great at the start, but it got better. It was a 2-man pack (Jina and Christine) about 1km ahead of me so I was just hoping to limit the losses on the bike leg. I was hoping Sandra Arullo (PHI) would catch up with me on the bike so we cld work together. I saw her coming out of the swim some distance behind me. But she was dropping back on the bike so I just tried my best to push it on the bike.

I kept reminding myself the race is not over. And I kept praying that I trust God, and He will guide me. I was looking out for the 2 ppl just ahead of me and finally spotted them roughly 1.5km ahead of me. That's roughly 3min, which is ok, and which means they were not going much faster than me despite being able to work with and draft off each other.

Going into the run I felt strong and confident. I have been running MUCH stronger than before, and I knew I could run myself up. It was hard but I was determined to make up for my horrendous swim and having to ride alone on the entire 40km.

I passed Jina after about 4km and stayed strong, keeping off Sandra who is a strong runner. Oh, but my right quad was threatening to cramp. So I took some isotonic drink and PRAYED. Yup, it worked. Oh, Wang Dan, our coach here was encouraging me along the way (she was on her bike). It helped.

Finally, the FINISH LINE!!! I crossed n 2.28.41. Not a bad time for OSIM course. If I had not swam off course, and stuck with Christine/Jina pack, I would easily have done about 2.24, a fantastic time. Oh wells...now I know what to work on.

Talking to Val and Bae who braved thick mud to watch my race!
Being an idiot walking to the stage for prize presentation.

It started storming so we got ponchos. Very unglam!! haha
Saw Bae n Val standing in the rain waiting to take photos for me. Thanks guys! So i gave my poncho to Bae who looked far worse and unglam than me!!!! HAHAHAHA
3rd place in Elite U23. 1st Hoi Long fom Macau, 2nd Wang Yi from China and 3rd Elaine Chan from Singapore.

I'm glad it's over =)

My Clem on the run
Mok on a good run

Gino

While waiting for me to pass by on the bike and run, Val, Mum and Bae had some ways of entertaining themselves. Bae tried out the funfair games.

Throw the loops into the poles.
Shoot suction bullets onto target squares.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Mum enthusiastically played those kiddy games...many many MANY times. HMMMM.....

HAHAHAHA. Val was busy snapping evidence of Mum playing those games.

I had a wonderful day today!

First, went for a short spin with Clem at 5.45am in the morn. then went for brekky with my family.

Second, met Clem in town at 12.30pm. He turned up with a suprise! A big Country Road paper bag with the CR duffel bag we tried on in Melb! YAYYY I love surprises, and I like the bag alot. Great for stuffing my training gear and school books =) Thanks dear!!!



Third, we had a delicious lunch at Yakitori Restaurant, top floor Far East Plaza. Clem had a Horse Mackeral set and a salmon-wraped-in-bacon yakitori. I had a yakitori set. It was super good!



Next, we went to buy my grey Mango slim fit jeans. Man, I suddenly had no prob putting on a size 34 black coloured "Lizzy" slim fit jeans!! 2 weeks ago I couldn't get it past my thigh. haha. Anyway I got the "Bianca" one.

Fifth, we caught Knocked Out. It was an ok show, some funny bits, light hearted, predictable trash but entertaining nonetheless. Oh, we polished off a family combo popcorn even before the movie started. haha.

At the ground floor of Cine, we saw this Jap ice-cream cart. It sold WEIRD ice cream--green tea flavour, Black seaseme flavour ("EXTRA LOW FAT"), Wasabi flavour, Sakura flavour, Bubble Milk tea flavour, etc. There was even weirder toppings--mini "bouncy pearls", seaweed pearls, etc.


There! The menue. I would've been glad to give all their flavours a try but alas, I was too full from lunch.

Sixth, Clem sent me home and I fell asleep without having dinner. Which is why I am feeling hungry now.

Let's see...post SEA Games Duathlon trial on Sunday, I was knocked out that arvo, body stuck to the bed and had to peel myself off to go for my very painful massage. But i felt better after that and had dinner at Din Tai Fung with my family. Had my fill of red bean xiao long bao.

On Monday, I took a day off to go shopping! Had salad at Simply Bread then went to Marina Sq with Val and i just bought some accessories since I couldnt find the pair of Mango slim fit jeans i wanted! RARH.

Anyway, after that we went to The Chocolate Factory for tea. We feasted on a Flourless Choc Cake with fresh cream, a Pleasure (ferro roche cake), green tea milk shake and some gourmet chocolate. Fabulous fabulous!!!! hahahaha. We bought some choc home and I bought Clem a nice pretty box of choc i picked myself.

Rushed home to meet my darling Clem and cooked dinner with Val. Unorthodox methods of cooking which Mum should never see. haha anyway Clem was happily sitting in the backyard helping out n tasting the food. haha. We made Spaghetti with garlic, cheese and sausages. there was a white wine version and a tomato based one. Dessert was chocolate and durians! good for those who were stuffing their faces coz i was too full from tea and hardly ate.

Tuesday I went for training and jsut did some easy swimming. My legs were still hurting and aching man!! I had duck and salted veg soup for dinner--cooked by Clem's dad. yummy n nutritous.

Wednesday I had some bad news that my poor Clem was down with a stomach flu. So i went to buy him August's Triathlete mag and went to visit him. Ran 1000 reps on my own since Clem had to rest. It was good. My 1000 rep timings have been getting faster and faster over the last few months. I did 4x1000s at an average of 3.54 each. WOOHOOO.

Thurs I went for a ride at 4.40am. It was good, fast and my legs are currently feeling very dead. Did an interview and photoshoot with The Straits Times in the arvo. It was fun but I'm nervous to see how the pictures and article will turn out. It seems the most unflattering shots of me tend to make the papers. haha.

Was done with the interview at 5pm so I decided to start training earlier. Guo jiao lian was there already anyway. Swam ok, not great but I was feeling so tired! Muscles were heavy n dead. This just means one thing--rest. hehe.

So it was rest this morn. Woke up piggishly late at 10.40am and went for lunch with Val and Mum at Tanglin Mall. We ate at Spageddies. YUMMYYY. I had fried cheese for starters, and a crayfish-tenderloin combo. I'm just fueling up for some tough 600 intervals later!! hehe

Ohoh, there're several things i have to eat before leaving, in less than 2 weeks time. 1) Mango pudding from Crystal Jade and 2) Ice Kachang with only the brown sauce and milk.

AHHH...tis the life man...=)

SEA Games Duathlon Trial

This morning was the duathlon (10km run, 40km bike, 5km run) final selection trial for the SEA Games.

The whole week I was feeling a lil unsure since I just recovered from a flu last week, heartrate was throught the roof earlier in the week. My left calf felt funny, I was a lil tired and muscles felt tight. Haha i'm not sure if these are all just psychological.

anyway, last night, I slept a grand total of about 45min. I was lying in bed restless from 10pm to 4am. Even got out of bed at 2.30, ate brekky and chatted with val for half an hour. My stomach felt a lil queasy and full of gas.

anyway when we got to coastal the trial was shifted to 7am coz it was too damn dark and the ambulance hadn't arrived. I felt good, legs good everything good except my stomach.

There were 5 guys and 4 girls competing in this closed trial. Jeanette, Bao Ying, Jina and me.

I felt really good during the race, especially the 10km run and bike. I'd planned my race pace but ended up running much faster than I'd planned at the beginning, but that was ok. My overall runs were faster than my planned pace--dont underestimate yourself.

My rough estimate is that i finished the 10km run abt 2min in front of the second placed girl.

Jumped on the bike and started ahead, rode the entire 40km on my own. The other girls did too so it's fair i guess. Well everything was going fabulously, I was feeling very happy and smiling all the way...until my left adductor started cramping.

ARGH! I had to slow down coz it was hurting quite terribly. Good thing it was the last 10km of the bike alr, and my legs still felt alive so I stood up and pedalled occassionally just to stretch out my legs a lil. Despite the cramp, I extended my lead on the bike.

Started the last 5km run and I was TIRED. It was quite warm also. It was a tough run.

Overall it was a very good race and I won by over 5mins.

I have to thank all the people who were out there cheering! It definately helped HEAPS!!! All the encouragement. Thank you my darling Clem who finally agreed to watch me race, and was constantly egging me on. I really appreciate it, it kept me pushing.

AHHH...time to eat and sleep and then enjoy a painful massage later.

Next Sunday (15/7) is the SEA Games Duathlon final trial. How exciting. Tho' duathlons are not my main focus, I've done surprisingly well in the 2005 and 2006 Singapore Duathlons, being the first local female in 2005 and overall champion in 2006. Missed this year's Oakley Singapore Duathlon coz I was still in Melb.

Despite being down with a mild flu the past 2 days, i'll go into the trial pretty strong since I finished 1st in the SEA Games Triathlon trial on 24/6, in a time of 2.24 which is good considering the drastic climate change. From 5-15deg low humidity Melb winter to 30+deg humid Singapore.

Anyway, I received another FABULOUS FABULOUS news today. I got straight H1s this semester!! 4 First Class Honours for all my subjects this sem. WHEEE...

Life's great isn't it? Praise God =)

hmmm...picked up the training on wed after the triathlon trials. 2 days of recovery n it's back to the yummy sessions.

Anyway, Val's back! Great, someone to have brekky n lunch with, and chat =)

Clem's dad is back for the weekend n he is cooking SOOOOOOOOO MUCH good food! I had noodles on fri nite, claypot rice n soup sat arvo, hokkien mee n curry fish sun nite. YUM! been craving the hokkien mee he cooks the entire 4 months i was in melb! oh yes, and i've got fresh supplies of chilli! hehe.

Ohoh, mum and dad are great, they just bought me brand new Zipp404 race wheels!! WHEEEEE...i can fly now! hahaha. thanks dad, thanks mum!!

Oh saturday i watched Transformers with Clem. Great show and i'm not even a follower of the cartoon series. After that met up with my RJC classmates. Fabulous. But it seems everyone's still stuck in time, ur j2 year 2 years ago. that's prob coz the guys are applying for uni now. Somehow i just hate it. comparisons of who went where n got what scholarship. is that impt?! Bleah. Enough of that shit man.

And they talk abt NUS, NTU, SMU and the same old ex-RJC peeps whom I dunno. why's everyone living the same old life, aren't they sick of it already? the same ppl, the same issues, the same goals, the same activities, the same mindset...

Yea i'm still doing triathlon, but it's not the same ol' same ol' anymore. life's so much more than sch.

Ohoh yesterday I baked a double decker raspberry n white choc cheesecake, and assorted mini choc cups with Val. It was fun n nonsensical. Clem came over for dinner n dessert. Lots of yummy food. Smoked salmon with bread, spaghetti n meatballs with cranberry/cream sauce, mashed potatoes, fruit juice and fruits. And cheesecake n choc cups. hahaha!!!

Burned it off this morn with a bike-run session at 4.30am. Then ate it all back--I cooked scrambled eggs and sausages and bread for brekky. yum.