Remorseless Nuttiness

Completed Port Dickson Sprint triathlon in, I think. about 1:45-1:50. Not too shabbby. Racing in Malaysia is quite different from racing in Singapore - well, for one thing, the scenery's a lot more varied! Port Dickson takes place in a marina, so there are less currents (nearly none, in fact - dead calm) to contend with, and I was able to do a proper swim all the way (tho I was still slooow as molasses). The bike route, in a word: hilly. my lord. The run? Hot, unsheltered, and in the midst of roaring Saturday traffic.

 

I went up with Sam and her friend Mike in his car. He had a nifty bike rack that just fit three bikes (he had the most awesome-looking Guru, aerobars and everything...). Met up at 6am at Longhouse and took a long ride into Port Dickson over about 4 hours with a few rest-stops here and there. We made it just in time to settle in, grab some lunch, and wash off before I hurried to my sprint event at 2pm (don't ask me why 2pm!). Today - Sunday - Mike and Sam did their ODs. This was Sam's first and she finished 3:25!! howsabout that??

 

Anyway for once I have photos of the event :). Sam and I plan to do more overseas races next year (East Coast Park and Marina Bay are getting old after five years) and build up to a half Ironman and, finally, hopefully, a full Ironman. Sam even wants to do Kona! Speaking of which, the oldest OD participant at Port Dickson this year was 71-year-old Mr Yee, a FOURTEEN-TIME Ironman finisher, four of which were in Kona. No kidding. I snapped a photo of him. You'd think he was fifty-five or sixty, and that's only cos of the grey hair.

 

I love triathlon!

I did it!! I accomplished one of my life goals and completed a Olympic Distance triathlon by the age of 30! WAHOOOO!

 

After being rained out at Triladies and OSIM last year it was wonderful to finally, finally, FINALLY get this finisher medal. I finished 25 out of 26 in my wave but that's nothin new, and I hit my 4hr target (4:02) more or less. The swim was terrifying - currents like whirlpools trying to drag you anywhere but in a straight line. Took me at least a minute just to navigate around the damn buoys. The cycle was good - I hit 23kmh, which is excruiciatingly slow really, but I wasn't in a hurry for my first OD - and after doing my RPM course two weeks ago I changed my bike setup so I managed to not only avoid going numb in the fingers, I can now de-cage my water bottle, drink from it, and re-cage it without having to stop the bike. Little victories win the race!!! or, well, finish it, at least. The run was very comfortable. A whipping storm came up in the last 5km loop but it was nice and refreshing really. I ended the race knowing I can probably pull off a 70.3 IF, and this is a big IF, I get my swimming up to the mark. Swim coach time! sigh. next year maybe. gotta save some moolah. I may need a new bike or at least an upgrade too. 2hrs is ok on my Schwinn but 4hrs plus I'm gonna need proper toe clips and a less weird gear system, not to mention a friendlier handlebar.

 

Further updates:

Got promoted. very much against my will. I dislike being a manager.

Got published - well ok it's a wee little story in Jerome Hinds' Tales of the Lion City comic. But it's a good re-entry. I haven't published anything since Best of Singapore Erotica last year, if you don't count the usual articles here and there.

Going to India - hopefully! - in November. I need a holiday desperately.

Going to Port Dickson this weekend for a Sprint tri, soon followed by AHM on 24 Aug, Nike Human Race 31 Aug, FINA Open Water Swim 2nd week Sept, Triladies 2nd week Oct, GE run 26 Oct, Stanchart (probably 21.1) Dec, and possibly Angkor Wat 21.1 following after.

 

I'm a happy cheap battery bunny.

Yesterday I got a last-minute scriptwriting gig with Jerome Hinds which I completed yesterday. He and Zaki Ragman are doing a quickie adaptation of a bit of local folklore. It'll be the official comic of the comic/toy convention later this month.

 

Did you know Singapore actually has a legendary Herculean hero named Badang? Me neither! I did the research - Badang's legend is actually originally Indonesian. He was a servant of some kind and was in charge of catching fish. One day he pulled up his net and found nothing but bones. When it happened a few consecutive days, Badang - what else? - laid in wait for the culprit, who turned out to be a kind of demon. Badang captured it by the hair with his parang, and the demon asked him what he wanted in return for letting him go. Badang chose what he felt was the most practical gift, immense strength so he could finish his tasks and work harder and faster (very, er, Asian mindset huh). The demon said he could give him immense strength IF Badang ate whatever he, the demon, vomited up. So, eeuw, yes, Badang consumed the half-digested fishy puke of the demon (some legends say he also ate three magic gems) and became incredibly powerful.

 

Later, he was challenged by an Indian King (which one is a matter of dispute) to pick up a massive rock that couldn't be lifted by a thousand men. He not only picked it up, he flung it across the sea. It struck Temasek (aha!) at the mouth of the (now) Singapore River, and Badang was made King of Temasek.

 

The rock actually still existed in 1819 at the mouth of the River. Well, legend SAYS it's THE rock, and in any case there was a huge rock there covered in script that none of the white folk could read. The Bengali sailors in the ship which discovered it, COULD read it and refused to translate it out of terror, so who knows what the hell it said cos the silly Brits never bothered to find out. The Rock was blasted to bits in the building of Fullerton Fort (now Fullerton Hotel) and a tiny bit of it, indecipherable, is now kept in the - I think? - National Museum.

 

How cool is that huh? Look out for the comic :)

SIGH. So this is going to be my first DQ event due to a stupid FAILED LAP COUNT. It happened cos 1) the pamphlet said do 4 laps, 2) the marshals said 4 laps, enter on the fifth pass, which USUALLY means 4 laps, but alas, it was 5 laps. I was wondering why it seemed so easy. Oh well. law of averages says at some point I'll screw up and DQ sometime, after all I do at least 5 events a year. I still got the medal, I've still burned the calories, and still got my training in for my OD, so I've really lost nothing but the official cert and timing which is no biggie. My timing short one bike lap was 3:29, so with the completed lap it would have been 3:45 or so, still slightly faster than last year, so all's good.

 

Otherwise it was actually a pretty good race. The weather was cool and overcast the entire way, the courses all pretty flat. I picked up a good comfy 10km pace - started too fast and tanked out a bit at around 7km, but managed to pick up and finish ok in the last 3km. Think I clocked around 1:10, by no means fantastic, but I tend to go slower in multisport runs.

 

The bike leg was good (except for the stupid lap count!!) - flat, a bit bumpy only here and there, and relatively straight except for the turning points. A few overturned cones caused some havoc but I wasn't caught in the crash, thank heavens. Only complaint - not really the organisers' fault, there was construction going on - was the course was waaaay narrow. There were places it could barely fit 4 bikes abreast, and road bikes are pretty skinny. navigating past slower mountain bikers was an exercise in sheer guts - on the good side I had no choice but to draft a faster cyclist if I needed to overtake, cos there was no space to overtake without being in someone's draft!! so I was forced to keep a ripping cadence which I seemed to do better now, probably from biking with my Cute Redhead who cycles like the bike's done something nasty to him. Lots of yelling from the speed cyclists "KEEP TO YOUR LEFT!! LOOK OUT ON YOUR RIGHT!! KEEP LEFT KEEP LEFT WILL  YOU KEEP LEFT!!" all over the course. no space! no space! fortunately, not that many slow mountain bikes or silly fools just hogging space.

 

The last 5km I managed to jog - last year I had to walk it due to extreme dehydration. It was an excrutiatingly slow jog! but I finished it still jogging, and I'm confident I can complete an OD now, if perhaps rather painfully. For the half ironman I will probably have to run-walk. my legs won't handle a full 21km run-only after an 80km cycle.

 

Another good thing, met up with some of the facebook tri-ers! now I've got more people to wave to over the turnarounds, heh. It's always nice to meet with more mid-packers, it shows how great it really is to be in endurance sport. It really is the most democratic of sports in that you, the humble 9-to-5er, trying not to place last, can compete in the same race and same field as Christina Liew-Gin (yes, there she was! haven't seen her in years!), trying to place first. I actually started the race three feet from Christina. Within 100m she was out of my sight. Mind you, this is the START of the race. She wasn't even properly into her pace yet. You don't get that in any other sport. You can play tennis or soccer or whatever, but you'll never eat the same dust as Sharapova or Beckham unless you actually prove yourself worthy of being in their field.

 

I've finally wikipedia'd the name of the woman who holds the overall world record (for both men and women) for endurance athletics: Astrid Bonegrehn, housewife and mum of 3, never had a coach. She completed the DECA-IRONMAN - ten ironmans, back to back! - in 77 hours, beating the first-placed male by 5 hours. Can't find photos of her. Apparently she prefers to remain low key. I think that's a pity, cos it must surely be the only athletic overall world record held by a woman. More women would believe in their natural athleticism, if more women knew about Astrid Bonegrehn. Instead of doing bloody yoga and pilates and other wobbly wiggly wimpy things (ok, I apologise to all yoga enthusiasts, for the record I'm a pilates instructor - I refer to women who do yoga because they think it's "ladylike", not women who really challenge themselves), and telling me things like they don't exericse when their periods are on (seriously?? people? what era do you live in? I've done a MARATHON on my period), and they don't want big calves (again for the record, it's HIGH HEELS that give you big calves - running hardens your calves, but actually shrinks your entire leg), blah blah blah... instead of that, they should think about Astrid at home cooking and cleaning for her three children, buying running shoes one fine day cos she felt like she might like to start jogging...

 

I really wish I could tell all women, stop thinking about your stupid weight and stupid fat and stupid waist size and really, really stupid fair white skin. Run. swim. cycle. buy shoes. buy a tennis racket. buy a gym membership, kick a punching bag, dance in front of a giant mirror, load a huge barbell, make your heart beat, your muscles pump, your mind go "HAIYAAAH WHOOO HOOO!" and fuck the rest.

 

Go! now! GO NOW!

 

It's fess up Friday the First. I've been distracted I must say by preparing for the City Duathlon. good weather! good weather! c'mon weather!

 

I've banged out around 14 pages this week of raw manuscript. I gotta turn off the literary diarrhea. most of it wasn't story even. it was bits of carthasis.

 

recently met a complete fuckwit who took exception to my having graduated from a Australian university. She felt she was a - I dunno, a more WORTHY individual cos she graduated from NUS. furthermore she felt Singaporeans in Australian universities only buy their degrees. Her eyes went big and round when I pointed out that I had to TURN DOWN an offer from NUS in order to accept RMIT.

 

I had to suppress the longing to point out that, education aside, she's still a loser with no friends and a shit job where all her colleagues thinks she's a blooming idiot. Then I thought, no. I'll write about it instead. ppl won't even believe idiots like that still exist. but alas. they do.

 

Duathlon! focus!