Ironman 70.3 Singapore - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

It was fairly busy off the start, cos I don't bolt off like a flog at the start.
I had to overtake half the field cos they shot off. Never mind.

Rounding the first lap and getting out to run as hard, and I tripped on the way back into the water, but luckily it was a quick drop off and I just covered it up by starting to swim again lol. And I actually ran alright so that's good.

I got overtaken a bit towards the end of the swim, because a jet ski got a bit close to me and I swallowed some two stroke. Disgusting. They shouldn't be allowed that close to the swimmers unless they need some bloody help.
Anyway, not too bad a swim, good position, let's move on.

(non-wetsuit swim and hot arse water as well btw. And the two lane swim meant I didn't catch up to any of the waves behind, because we were the first wave after the pros :))

Not a lot. I think it went well overall.

Had to walk into transition, because the paths that they put out were too slipperly to run on. Need to mention something about that.
But, because I had no wetsuit on, it was a fast transition.
It was so packed though, I had to get my bike out from between some tiny singaporean bikes. Argh.

Nothing. It was a good transition. All I had to do was put my helmet on and leave.

Had a grouse mount. Some lady in front of me literally stopped on the mount line to get on so I ran past her and mounted like a pro.
Lisa got a good photo of it actually, I will post it on my blog later.

But just some of the things people were doing on this bike course were getting to me....

On the first lap, I felt terrible. I couldn't get comfortable on my bike, and that was annoying the hell out of me. I had some water and electrolyte, and just kept pushing on.
Same as in any tri that I do, there are a LOT of fast people that overtake me at the start of the ride because they just can't swim.

But I just couldn't push my legs. Not from the start, not from the middle, just not at all. My quads hurt the whole time.

The course was scary. We were on a lane on the freeway for part of it. There were water barriers seperating a lane, but we were heading in the OPPOSITE direction to the freeway traffic...
Then we headed over the freeway, and out beside the airport. Now, planes are pretty loud.... but when they are taking off to your left ear, it's pretty freaky.

I struggled on the first lap. At the end I told Lisa I wasn't going to finish. It was too hard. I didn't want to be out there.

On the second lap, I felt a little bit better. I wasn't impressed with the size of the drink bottles however, they were only 500mL biddons and unless you grabbed two at the aid station (and you had to be quick!!) you weren't getting enough fluid in. Not to mention that somehow, I was the one going fastest through the stations and grabbing bottles.
Maybe I'm just not as retarded as some.

On the second lap I almost took a few people out, and that was annoying. They just don't understand keep left, get out of the way, or genuinely need to slow to a stop to get a drink bottle.
Ridiculous.

Anyway, I was eating lollies on parts of the course, and taking my double gels at the main aid station out near the air base.
I genuinely think I need to work some more on my food intake. I knew this race was going to cause me trouble because of the medication I have to take every time that I eat now, so I guess that might have been part of it.
I was drinking a LOT of water because it was just hot.

At the end of the second lap, I knew I was at least going to finish the ride. At the very least.
And it was ok that I couldn't keep up 30kph. It was hot, I was not used to the conditions, and I overtook a few people so who cares.

The third lap just made me angry. The TOs has mostly gone in from the course by this time, and there were people drafting all over the place to the point where I felt like yelling out STOP CHEATING YOU IDIOTS because I was out there doing all the work on my own and these people are cheating their arses off.

Anyway, I felt better once I started coming back from the third lap and saw all the people still behind me.
There was a LOT of aero floggery behind me. Disc wheels, aero helmets, the full thing.... for not a lot of speed...

I already had my left foot out of my shoe coming into the finish of the third lap. I'd been getting hot spots on my left foot, so I am going to have to go over that with my podiatrist/bike fitter again, because it was ridiculous. I never got them until we changed the shims and shit on my shoes, and I've had enough of them. They hurt.
Anyway, my left foot was already out, and I get to the mount line and there are three people struggling to unclip their shoes while I come in at full noise... And then they walk off the line.

I hit the ground and ran into transition. I have no idea where that came from.

I've got ten weeks now to work on this nutrition strategy.
I can't go into the bike with an empty tank.

I get to my bike rack, and some bitch had taken up literally ALL my space, so I chucked a tanty and a volunteer came over and moved the bike so I could rack mine.
At this point I have decided that I don't care if I take my time, so I just put my socks and shoes on calmly, stopped and stole a bottle of water from somewhere, and slowly walked out of transition.

Not a lot to be honest. I am never going to be fast in T2. I always hurt so much.

I ran for probably the first 4km, and I felt alright. I started having a bit of a walk at the aid stations when my body temp got a bit higher... I had to take some of their electrolyte drink that I'd never had on the last ride aid station because they had run out of water, so I needed to go to the toilet, and I tell you what trying to do that in a disgusting, sweaty tri suit is hard. I think I might have to roll with a two piece very shortly. Pity we've done our uniform order for winter... But I have my tough chik kit coming very shortly, so hopefully that's good so I can wear that for Cairns...

Around about 9km, my feet had swollen so much that I could hardly fit my feet into my shoes.

Into the second lap, after struggling my fat arse past all the clapping crowds and shit and forcing myself to run, I basically had to tell myself that it's alright if I walk the rest of it, as long as I finish. As long as I don't bail. I had to give myself such a big pep talk.
There were tears. I had had enough.

At the end of the second lap, I started to rage at people who were going "you're almost there!!!" And I am like FUCK YOU I HAVE ANOTHER LAP!!!

At the start of the third lap my feet were so sore that I actually took my shoes off for a while. Until I got told off and told to put them back on. Seriously, lesson learned, I need bigger than normal shoes for a race like this. I think I need to order my new race shoes before Cairns. It's going to be similar sort of humidity and temperature.

Anyway. About 5km from the finish line.... the sky literally opened up. The lightning and thunder was so scary, I almost fell over at one point is surprised me so much. But I tell you what, I wish it had rained earlier, because once my feet were wet and the rain came down, My feet felt a bit better!

Anyway. I almost raged another guy out who says to me "When you come back (from the 1500m loop before the finish line) we're going to put you straight up the finish chute because of the storm" and I am like I GET TO FINISH THIS LAP ANYWAY SHUT UP!!!

Through the run I did contemplate stealing another hair band so I could finish early.
I thought about dropping out.
I didn't want to do it.

But I got there in the end. It was nothing special.

I can't think of anything that would have made this easier for me.
I just wasn't prepared for the heat.

Warm down? Are you serious?

It rained on me. I went for a walk. Got changed. That's about it.
Gimme that medal and let me go bitches.


Nutrition.
Heat.


I think the race was well organised and stuff.
But the expo was crap, the volunteers were plentiful but not quite trained as well as they could have been.
I paid for an extra event shirt that I didn't get, and the merchandise was not available on the Friday and all that sort of thing...