My China IM Race Report, 10 months in the making! Options

[Junior]

Alright Everyone,

10 months after getting my bike, 3 sprint triathlons & 3 notable crashes (+ many not worth mentioning)…Here’s ‘The Race Report’ that you’ve all been waiting for…

Pre-Race Activities

Things went really well upon our arrival in Haikou, although it was a bit windy…

BTW, Edkor & JP did survive the plane ride with me…


However, the weather got really bad on Friday morning as the Grade 9 Typhoon was approaching and I was reminded by my fellow travellers to bring kite strings along when we went out, just in case the wind blew me away…

This is what we saw when we reach Sheraton Hotel…(photo evidence of Sheraton Hotel taping up their glass windows!)


When we arrived at the swim site for a short swim, I took a look at our very well-built IMIM being tossed around like a rag doll at the shore & decided that it would be suicidal for me to go for the planned swim rehearsal…So, I tip-toed gently to the edge of the water, just to get my feet wet.

Windy…


Boy…was I embarrassed to see our very fit IM 70.3 Racers, Gugugaga & Xiaopang, walk out of the water after their swim without any wetsuit. Some say it’s gotta do with their youth…I say it’s gotta do with their guts!!!

Carbo Loading & Race Briefing

That evening, everyone gathered for dinner with our very own VIP Trifamer


Here’s another photo of the VIP giving the Race Briefing…


Here’s a couple of violent Trifamers trying to rig the outcome of Junior’s Challenge Cup by assaulting the Hope of Team Underdog!

[Junior]

Swim – First Round

Waiting can be stressful from some & stress can lead to hunger…Hunger can lead to one eating Bodyglide in addition to taking a Hershey’s Cookies & Crème Bar & downing a bottle of Perpectuem!


My IM Nutrition Plan


Here’s me trying hard not to look cool…


Here’s me predicting that the wind direction would affect the positions of the buoys & thus, adversely affecting those who used to be able to swim much faster than me…Hooray!!!


The Swim Start


Me taking a break at the mid-point @ 55mins


Swim – Second Round & T1

It took me 10 mins longer to do the 2nd round as Nature decided to test my resolve by teleporting me to the wrong buoy, resulting in me having to swim to the correct one that I missed and then swim back to the wrong one (which by then is the right one) and then proceed to shore.

The thought of taking a shortcut did cross the lazy part of my mind, but as I was one of the last swimmers in the water, it would have looked very obvious to the jellyfishes and volunteers on the boats / canoes…and so, I pressed one with pride & integrity!!!

T1 took kinda long as my wetsuit strippers had problem understanding the fact that wetsuits do not come off if they are bunched together at the legs…Tsk, tsk, tsk…

[Junior]

Bike – First Round

After a nice long pee, I proceeded to bike out of T1…


And as planned, I started cycling at 15-18 km/h to warm up my legs for the first 3-5km.

However, I started to feel that something was wrong when my speed did not pick up after I made the first left turn towards the “duck farm” direction, despite putting in much more effort. To make matters worse, my heart rate monitor (HRM) died-ed on me not long after & refused to come back to life despite numerous attempts to re-start it…

Just as I was gaining momentum, I saw Khina looking distressed at the side of road in front. I slowed down to ask her if she was okay & she shared that her chain had broke!

(Khina subsequently impressed the rest by finishing strongly ahead of IMIM & me, despite waiting an hour to have her bike fixed…R.E.S.P.E.C.T!!!)

As I struggled on along the 1st 10km part of the bike leg, both my front thighs & calves started cramping (a.k.a. the straight legs cramp), which was much worse than any calf cramps that I had experienced during the worst of our BSKL rides…and my speedo was still showing only 16-18km/h!

By the time I reached the first water point at the 15km mark, I nearly fell flat on my side as I slowed to a stop to re-fill my water. I guess my face must have looked pretty contorted, as the medical crew ran towards me with a plastic chair in tow…

When they arrived, they asked if I was okay & I replied, “My legs are cramped!”…Before I could do anything, they tried to shove me into the chair, only to realise that I could not move at all…

Instead of slowly putting my bike down and making me step away from it, the crew proceeded with military precision to carry one of my legs over my saddle & me outta the bike (boy…it was an ugly sight!)…

After 5-10mins of standing massage (as I couldn’t sit or bend without aggravating my cramps), I thanked them & proceeded to pick up my bike…At this moment, all I could see was a sea of baffled faces from these kind souls who thought that I was crazy to want to carry on…But I told them, “If it’s easy, we would not be called ‘Ironman’!”

As I pedalled out of the unscheduled pit stop, I kept wondering if my body would hold up…What followed during the ride was a series of stopping for massage & repeated requests for sodium or deep heat cream, which was never available…

After the second water point at the 30km mark & no sign of the cramps getting better, I decided that all I could do was to keep pedalling stroke-by-stroke & go as far as my body could take it…By the 70km mark, I had already finished all 7 salt tablets that I had prepared for my bike leg…Arrrggghhhh!!!

However, things were not all bad during the ride…Although it got kinda scary when I saw Danny showing me the “cut throat” sign as he rested below a tree on the other side of the road…

Before that, I had seen IMIM & Craig zoom pass me at the opposite direction, followed by Roger, Tofuman (now known as Teppan TF) and one of my arch rivals of the race, Edkor…Son of the Great Marathoner!

Just as I was feeling kinda demoralised, I saw Inda cycling happily & smiling widely at me and saying, “Junior…Be a good boy & finish it…” This really got my engine into overdrive, as I felt that I would rather lose my life trying, but not lose my face not trying…& so, I soldiered on despite the cramps & crazy heat!

Just as I was gaining momentum, one of my pre-bottled Perpectuem popped outta my bottle cage…Alamak! There’s goes ¼ of my nutrition plan on the bike, or so I thought…

Before long, I realised that I won’t really need the bottle as I started vomiting whatever I ingested…Here’s another experience that I’ve not encountered during training & I thought that the best way to deal with it was to keep pedalling, since my body would probably tell me, if it can’t carry on…

All these happening & I’m not even halfway through the ride!!!

As I approached the ulu village area, I was very excited as it represented another milestone of the race…This soon changed into frustration as I turned into the padi field…


Notice how the plants on the sides are not moving? This is the Twilight Zone where bikes also would not move despite an apparent calm…Another 16-18km/h zone!

After riding for what seems an eternity, I soon came saw the Village! I was very happy as I thought that it would mean a brief respite from the elements…But I forgot about gravity…



And more gravity…To be followed by even more climbs after the villages…


After struggling for 3hours plus & covering only 70km or so, I was starting to panic a bit as my cramps did not go away (they eventually did around halfway through the marathon)…That was when things literally went downhill…

For the part after the village, I was ecstatic to find that I could travel from 33km/h up to 46-47km/h for a large part of the remaining 20km.

And just as I was starting to enjoy my downhill cheong-ing…My bike chain jumped outta my Q-ring as I was travelling down the last long slope that was heading into town…This coupled with a sudden gust of wind from the right caused me to swerve and jam my brakes…& once again, I donated some skin to the road...As I struggled to pick myself up, bike were zooming passed me & people were asking me, “Are you alright???”

Frankly, I had no idea as I was feeling kinda concussed…All I could do was to stand facing the oncoming traffic & hoping that nobody would run into me or my bike, as I waited for my cramps to subside before walking slowly over to pick up my bike.

The accident site…


After ascertaining that it was okay & inserting the chain, I dumped the other bottle of Perpectuem and proceeded to ride back to the first 90km check point. Just before I reached, I noticed that I had half-an-hour left before cut-off & stopped at the last water point (actually the first for the run) for some water and massage, although I refused treatment for the open wounds as it might have caused me to miss the cut-off time.

The damaged chicken wing…


The damaged drumlet…

[Junior]

Bike – Second Round

The second round on the bike was not as eventful as the first, but I did notice that the volunteers at the water points looked pretty shocked to see me back for a second helping…Some did say, “Your willpower is very strong!” or “You very can!”, although I was kinda sceptical as some did give me the ‘You are crazy man!’ look when ‘encouraging me…Haha!

Before long, I noticed that the roads were getting clearer as fewer bikes were left. At the same time, water was also running out at many water points...I guess this is part and parcel of having the road to my own…So, I donated all my Snickers, Hersey’s and Bonk Breakers, which I could no long absorb and pressed on…Again!

One very interesting phenomenon that I noticed while cycling along the West Highway was that there were lotsa of dead butterflies, just as there were many riders who dropped off by the road side waiting to be “rescued”…I subsequently learned from the faster ENRers that the butterflies were still alive when they were passing the road…I guess one of the perks of being slow, is that you can avoid attacks from the Kamikaze Butterfly Squads!

As I went into the dreaded stretches of hilly climbs after the village, I started seeing more cyclists again. This time, I was actually overtaking them as they had gotten off their bikes and were pushing them up the slopes. And even though I was tempted to do so, I knew that I may not make the cut-off time if I did so…Worse still, my legs might cramp up more if I stopped pedalling. So, I just looking at the ground in front & took things stroke-by-stroke while managing my cramps delicately, without pushing them beyond the point of no return…

Interestingly, there was a strong looking Caucasian who was riding side by side with me until the last slope, where a ambulance was waiting at the top…He had turned left and collapsed at its side once we reached the ‘summit’ & I proceeded to T2 with newfound enthusiasm…

Run – T2 & Beyond

I turned into Sheraton & charged up the final ‘hill’ to T2 like a maniac, as I knew that I had slightly over ½ hour before cut-off time. As I got off my saddle, I realised that my legs were cramped and unmovable…

Once again, the rescue team rushed to my aid and lifted my left leg off my bike in an unsightly manner and dumped me into a wheelchair, as I utter the word, “Cramp!” Before I knew what had happened, they carted me towards somewhere faraway from the timing mat!

I started protesting loudly & demanded that they push me back towards T2 as I told them that I wanted to move on…They again, gave me the ‘You C.R.A.Z.Y.’ look…

With this, I jumped off the moving wheel chair & hobbled towards T2 with my cleats on…& yes, I made it, albeit after a 10mins or so delay…

After topping up my salt tablets and passing some to Khina (who’s caught up with me by now), I headed out for the run without changing as intended, as I realised that I had only 6.5 hours to run 42.2km…And since I’ve never walked a race before, I don’t intend to start now…just dunno if my body can do it, perhaps I’ll start walking after the halfway mark???

[Junior]

The Actual Run

By this time, everyone’s probably tired from reading…So, I’ll cut the long story short.

My cramps were still bothering me but as I bumped into Coconut & Roger at the 5.5km mark (their 15.5km mark), and our generous Coconut gave me a “power” plaster to be used in the event of an emergency to deal with my cramps…I decided after 50m that the emergency had occurred & proceeded to plaster myself…

See the plaster on my right calf?


Unfortunately, my vomiting did not go away like the cramps after the 20km run mark & so I adopted the 'sip-&-vomit' strategy throughout the run. At one point, I realised that my fingers were starting to wrinkle & I suspected that I was over-hydrated (since I pissed 7 times) despite drinking very little, but I just continued to sip & vomit, just in case I was wrong...

And what was supposed to be a jog to the halfway mark, soon became a jog all the way to the Endpoint (except up & down Century Bridge at the 35-36km mark, where walking was faster than jogging for me), as I bumped into Edkor again before the midpoint of the run who then showed me the ‘cut-throat’ hand signed & also told me (previously), “I’ll be impressed if you ran all the way”.

That really got my engine into overdrive again, as I felt that I would rather lose my life trying, but not lose my face not trying…& so, I soldiered on again despite the cramps & not so crazy heat!

Century Bridge (Daytime)


Century Bridge (Nighttime)


Me at the 10km mark…With 2 breakfall devices in front to safeguard against crashes!

[Junior]

The Endpoint & After

Me with the Winner of the No.1 Supporter of the Inaugural IM China Race!


Me trying hard not to look cool again…On the day after the Race…


Here’s my Race booty!


Here’s another souvenior…Fresh Haikou Bak Kwa!


Apparently, I had become such a celebrity that many people started copying my hairstyle after the race…Here’s a couple of photo evidences:





This is too much…Even the Pilot of TG937 came out during mid-flight to take photo with me…THE LEGEND!


That’s all, Folks! The Legend needs to rest now…

[Junior]

And before I forget...Thanks to all Team Underdog Supporters (Official Team Doctor: Tri-a-little-harder), Water Survival Coach (Alex Tung a.k.a. Sea Monster), Team Tri-Hobbit (only member: Zoomway) & most importantly, my training kakis from Team ENR (a.k.a Team BSKL)...The Underdog won the Challenge!

[barry_h20]

the best report ever writtenn!!!! 5 stars!!!

enjoyed every word of it

i look forward to race with u as an underdog one day...

[eugeneljj]

Good job man! well done!

[jellybean]

Great report, interesting, entertaining and the best part was the spirit behind it! Well done Junior!

[GiZmO]

But I told them, “If it’s easy, we would not be called ‘Ironman’!”

Congratulations Junior! Your words above will certainly serve as a reminder to me and I think... many of us.

I've to add... it was indeed the most "painful" race report I've read. I hope there'll more great races for you (minus the Ouch!)!

[shutehelup]

Well done....... inspirational... truely inspirational.

[Yanglyn]

Great report and job well done.

I now know the secret to completing an IM. You must be damn afraid of losing face.

[waitforme]

Great report and job well done.

I now know the secret to completing an IM. You must be damn afraid of losing face.

so u are heading underdog team for IMWA 08??

[ignatius]

And before I forget...Thanks to all Team Underdog Supporters (Official Team Doctor: Tri-a-little-harder), Team Tri-Hobbit (only member: Zoomway) & most importantly, my training kakis from Team ENR (a.k.a Team BSKL)...The Underdog won the Challenge!

Hey Junior,

With Sheer determination and perseverance, you did it!

Congrates. Next Langkawi?

[skiz]

yo
bro junior

when can you start training me for IM
haha

[Trigeek]

Hi Junior, your IRONMAN journey has only just begun..............

[kops21]

did someone mention he jog all the way.

[Yanglyn]

so u are heading underdog team for IMWA 08??

How you know. I waiting for people to give me handicap.

[slow_bike_slower...]

did someone mention he jog all the way.

Junior may have mentioned to us all (300 or more times that he RAN the course....). A picture tells the whole story.... that is not running :-)
 junior_walking.jpg ( 216.51K ) Number of downloads: 48