MMDS1 (Dataran Merdeka) 23-Apr-2006

Welcome again the MMDS series of duathlon for 2006 beginning with this one at Dataran Merdeka today 23-Apr-2006. I have prepared mostly the first 10K running and the cycling portion of the race. The last 5km running.... I leave it to my body and most probably walking+jogging la kot.

1. The morning
As usual, set my alarm clock at 6am. After subuh, hit straight to Dataran Merdeka. I called up Yusri who was suppose to meet me somewhere at Dataran. When I was about to reach Dataran, Yusri called me and said he's already there (near the big TV screen), at the parking. Park my car beside Yusri and began preparing our stuffs.


2. Pre-race
I decided to use my "new" Orca one-piece suit that I bought from Razani a month ago for the race. U know la, just to get use with the suit because I seldom do races so this could be a good start to try it out in preparation for the PD tri later in July :)
All set, me and Yusri went to the transition area to put our bikes and other gears at our allocated slot. Overall, my body today is feeling good. No stomach ache so far... malam semalam dah flush out semua I guess because I got a terrible stomach ache last nite. Hopefully today my stomach does give any problems la kot.
Since Yusri will be taking the Sprint race (5km run, 15km bike & 3km run), he'll not be starting with me. The time now is 7.15am and my race starts at 7.30am SHARP! Alamak, butterfly in the stomach has started la. Whadda hack la.... I hate this feeling. I told to myself, this is just a fun race so nothing to worry about. Just personal best is ok and it works, I'm feeling better. Anyway, I started my warmed up in preparation for the start.

3. The Start (10km run)
Bang!..... off we go. I just follow my pace. My main aim for the first 10km was to complete without stopping and hopefully can finish within an hour.
First 5km, breathing ok...legs ok, rythms ok.... so far so good. I don't even bother getting a drink a the water station. 6KM point pass the hoki stadium and climbing towards Jln Duta, my legs start to feel the tireness but still manageable. At 8KM, I felt lazy already and start to slow down, my time shows 40min and I know by this time all the pros in front had just completed the run already, damnnn fast they are man. At 9km, my lost mentally and stop (for about 10 seconds) when suddenly my old FRIM running geng coming from nowhere and give a pad behind me and encourage me to continue.

This is me and the two of the FRIM running geng. They have saved me from stopping forever. Lucky me.

I don't know why but after I run with extra energy and even faster then both of them. After about 3 minutes, I already left the two guys behind and my running was great until the finishing line and I clocked 1hr 2min approx. Not bad, still within my margin la.



4. Run-Bike Transition
The transition to bike was a bit frustrating with my Suunto Bike Pod not working properly. I was fidlling with my bike Pod (aka integrated speedometer) to work but failed. It works initially when I set it this morning but after running 10km, the sensors probably has lost the reception for a long time during my running and the bike will need to be reconnect. Lost 3min here trying to make the speed sensor working. Finally give up and continue my biking.

5. Cycling
I don't expect my cycling to do any better due to lacks of endurance training. We have to do 15km for 3 loops (45km). First loop was ok and still strong. The second loop, my leg started to cramp on me and force me to stop for a short stretching to avoid major cramps. I just hate this cramp problem. It turns out , the next 2 laps my leg wasn't good enuf and I had to stop every now and then to recover the cramps. Internally I still have plenty of fuel to push the ride but the cramp thing does allow me to do so. But I saw one thing great from my training in Ulu Yam. My climbing was not giving me any problem, in fact during the flat I saw many people overtake me but when it comes to climbing I normally overtook them again and left them far behind. This must be my short training to climb the Ulu Yam mineral water station. Ok, at least something.
From my watch I clocked 1hr 45m on the bike, terrible la..

6. Last 5KM running
Earlier before the race I have set to complete the MMDS1 below 3h 30m and by now I have complete the first 2 events in 2h 45m. meaning I still have plenty of time to cover the 5km i.e. in 45min. Wow... 45min is a lot of time I thought to do 5km. Lesson... when u aim something low, u will (most of the time) never get something high. And that what happen to me, I aim 45min to complete the last 5km and I finished it in almost 45 min. What a waste...

7. Conclusion
So in total I finally completed the race in 3hr 27m. Still achieving my goal la, so to say :)
I figure if I can complete the last 5km in 30m then would be better la kot, may be 3hr 15m in total .. ha ha ha.... after race everybody say like this one...during the race... pancit giler siut.
Anyway, this is a great race for me and I intend to improve my current running pace since it's getting better now. So,

running - need extra mileage for the last 5km, maybe take up some half marathon soon :)
cycling - need to do more endurance training to avoid cramps. Need to familiar the leg muscle with long rides.