First wave was women's. Second wave was men's numbered 1-30, I was part of this wave. The starter prompted us to get into the pool. Everyone but me jumped in, I looked on not too keen on joining the 30 people squeezed into a single lane especially since it's at the deep-end. It didn't look safe. Starter counts down, ready, set, GO! I'm still standing there while the rest were off. Finally, room for me to jump in and I do. Almost immediately I swim into someone. I move to pass, strokes are fast, frantic and tense, I swallowed enough water to keep me hydrated until at least the middle of the bike portion. Particularly cool was squeezing in between two swimmers to pass. Lost quite a bit of time during the turns at the wall as I didn't practice going under the rope and back, in fact at one point, I pass a breaststroker only to reach the end of the pool on the wrong side; he, being closer to the rope, was able to overtake me under the rope and back.

Start mid-pack, practice turns, relax in the water.

Not sure, but I think T1 time is included in the swim split. It was a long run to T1, maybe 200m but downhill. Wore my socks and shoes from the pool (an option given to us), foregoing bikeshoes and clipless pedals, not that I had much choice as I hadn't learned how to ride with them yet. Forgot to put on my sunglasses, left them hanging on the aerobars. They fell off somewhere... Some lucky person picked them up I'm sure. The sponge thing in the aerobar bottle... well, let me just say, as soon as I unracked the bike, half of the bottle's contents (sticky mix of Gatorade and water) was on me and my bike. Perfect!

Be more mindful. Practice transitions.

Felt pretty good coming from the swim. Took a deep breath before mounting the bike. Downhill immediately and I think, "wow, this ain't that hard." I'm flying in aero position. Wondering exactly how fast I was going, I look down at my computer, alas nothing on the display. Turns out the sensor was not aligned with the magnets, must've moved during the transport or set-up.

I pass a few people during the first 3-4 laps. Then it begins to hit me, I'm not sure what "it" is, but "it" was not fun. The people I pass end up passing me. How embarrassing especially after I'd yelled out "on your left" as if I was a speeding freight train a couple laps back.

The uphill while at first appeared to be nothing more than slight gradient, now seemed like an interminable ascent up a mountain. Man, I was really moving slow up that stretch.

To make matters worse, the clasp on my watch gets undone and I spend two laps trying to fix it.

On my sixth lap, I lost count of the laps thanks to my computer malfunctioning. I stop and ask the marshalls but of course they don't know. Fudge. It retrace the race and guess that it was my 6th lap so I do two more. It turns out to be the right guess.

Train more, a lot more. Prior to this race my longest ride was 12km on a bike trainer no less. Drink water (I completely forgot to drink water, drinking only gatorade from the bottle mounted on my aerobar).

Nothing eventful here, I had my runners on already so all I had to do was remove my helmet, wipe the sweat off my face with a towel, and put on a hat. Off I went.

There was nothing else I could've done.

I just plain suck at running. That's all there is to it. There was an abundance of drink stations but no water just energy drinks. I found out too sweet, to be more accurate, my top found it too sweet and sticky - I got more it on me than in my mouth. Anyone I passed on the bike leg returned the favor on the run. 500m left and I slow down even more to catch my breath so that I can at least run through the finish line as if I'd run the entire race comfortably (the crowd doesn't know that a few hundred meters back, my face was contorted from exhaustion). I finish the 5k at 30:40. This seemed odd because it's a PR for me (in training or in a standalone race)!! Methinks the course is short.

Train more. Log more mileage and start doing intervals/speedwork.

Warm-down?


Run, inexperience with the swim, lack of training with the bike.


Turns out I won in the law student category but it also turns out that I was the only one in the category. Got a medal, umbrella, coffee, a special singlet for it, too bad I didn't stick around for the awarding, I wasn't expecting that. A job well done for the organizers, congrats to them and the volunteers.

Thanks Cha and Roland for the support, they took care of my stuff, took some photos, kept me calm, and cheered.