Ironman 70.3 Syracuse 2012

Background
My purpose for this summer is to complete 2 Ironman's within 3 weeks apart. Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman U.S. Championship. So, I decided early on to do a 50 Miler and 1/2 Ironman to get me ready. My biggest concern was whether my injuries have subsided and this would be a great test. Unfortunately, my training has been minimal because of taking care of my rental property; but that's not really a good excuse...

Pre-Race
It's about 5 1/2 hours from where I currently live in New York to Syracuse; so, I decided to drive up 5:30AM in the morning to give enough time to obtain a wetsuit rental (forget my in Hong Kong) and check in my bicycle and stuff. Well, I have to admit; I didn't read the paper well and I figured everything was in one place. WRONG. lol. When we arrived at the lake, the police wasn't allowing us into the park even though there was literally 3 minutes before 10AM. What gives? When I talked to some of the early people, they already had their bike sticker and I figured I made a little mistake. So, about 10 minute away by car - registration is in the Crown hotel. With a lot of time to spare we headed over to find that the pre-race meeting was going on in hotel building one (by accident) and then figured out that the race packet was in the next building. It seemed a bit much; but I had to come into the city to head over to Syracuse Bicycle shop to obtain my wet suit rental.

Swim
The IRON-GOD was good to me and the water was wet-suit legal by a degree or so. So, that was good news since spending $40USD for a rental would kinda suck if I couldn't use it. The only peculiar issue with this race setup was that in the race papers, the swim would be heading along the shore and back in a rectangular fashion. But, the course was setup heading out from the beach directly to the other side and then creating a rectangular box. Well, not a big deal. With the swim being completely wakeless; I was pretty stoked. Granted I am a terrible swimmer and needed all the help especially since I haven't done any swim since 3 months.

I love to not do more work than I have to, so being next to the left of the buoys is where you can find me on any swim race. Unfortunately, I don't do the 3 strokes and look - so I easily meandered outside and probably could have cut off a minute if I was more straight. Finally, I broke sub 50 minutes on the swim (Yes, I told you I am a terrible swimmer; especially being that I learned how to swim less than 2 years ago for the very first time).

Out of the water, and the volunteers pulled me off the ground as I struggled to remove the wetsuit from my body. And off I went passing my brother as he cheered me on to the bike transition.

Bike
The first few km out are easy flat and then you make a turn onto the first hill. During that period, I lost my salt nutrition :(. In the past, in every single race, I would cramp up quite easily. Luckily the humidity was low and the wet-suit helped me in terms of less kicking power to stay afloat and I didn't require it at all. But, if this was in the humid southeast Asia, I would have died!!!! The first hill, I was seeing terrible things ahead. People getting off their bikes, people pushing their bikes.. I was thinking?? Is it that steep? But as I was being passed by faster age-groupers, I pushed the cranks and kept on moving.

This course has a series of hills that increase in elevation up to 500m taking about 18km. Each hill takes a bit out of you but not so bad compared to Ironman Nice, France! Once you hit the top, you know it and the bombing starts.. At this point, I hope to add a few more pounds as people who were heavier were passing me at ease and I was gunning it full crank all the way.

I don't know the hill name, but there is one place where you can go down in less than 1 minute for 1km and then unfortunately, you get it by a wall of hill (probably the highest grade). It's never too good to be true!






One thing I want to note. I lost gears when coming down a few hills. How can I fix this??? Please PM me if you know! I hate not being able to go faster!

Run
The run is 2 loops and a bit hilly in 3 sections. When I started out, a little cramping occurred in my muscles above the knee. I was able to eat the pain and it subsided. After turning left off the main road, there is a bit of incline. I'm talking to myself and saying, "DO THIS! Don't give in. If you walk it you will be over 2 hours". Yes, I know, my mind is too weak and yes, I walked it. Overall, this is considered one of my better runs. No major cramps! No major walking. At the end, I put it into the next gear only to find out I ran out of steam about 50m from the finish. I like to push it hard at the end to make it look like a 'strong' finish.

The North Face 50M - Washington DC

Hi Endurance Athletes + fans! It's been a while, yeah? Well, after being injured last November, my blogging has plummeted - but I have endured and did some races; just not blogged about it.

Well, I decided to run The North Face 50 miler as a pre-race for the upcoming summer Ironman races. I felt like it was the right race to do since I used to live in Virginia and why not hit a race there since it would be a nice way to meet my old friends and get a good run out of the way.

Unlike Hong Kong where stone and cement is replaced by Virginia's lush green trees and dirty trails; where hot humidity is replaced with cool dry weather; where pollution is replaced with pollen, it would be my first debut to run a race on American soil since 23 years ago. Unfortunately, my training hasn't been consistent because of injuries; but I felt pretty good going into the race and had ample servicing at the physio and sports massage bench.

The race started at 5:00AM with about 45 minutes of night running. A headlight was required and so, I wanted to wear my camera since I didn't know when the light would be ample for the camera. I held the headlamp in my right hand and used it more like a flashlight. The course started/ended at the same place. It runs past Trump International golf course east into Great Falls where there is a 3 loop run. It's about 20km to the drop bag location which includes a few steep hills through the forest. The initial 20km was a mud fest and very slippery. If you ever thought about doing a mud run, there are many in America. I just wasn't planning to do one this year but the rain was torrential the day before stirring up overflowing streams.

As always, Jogger style; I went out pretty fast and then cruised about 35km afterwards. My biggest problem is that it's hard to not go fast initially. I think I should concentrate on 10-20km races as I might be better at them, but anyways; I'm not trying to be the fastest.

I think the overall going to the physio and doing many strength training and more stretching help a lot on this race. There was no occasion where my legs cramped up like previous races; but I did have a bit of cramping in my lats around 60km.

I saw probably around 4 other people wearing the new Spyridon LS Vibram Five Fingers. The shoes really were meant for these trails and the mushy soft mud felt like velvet. There were some rough rocks in a very small section of the race; but overall, the run was quite comfortable compared to the other old VFF KSO versions.

Overall, I'm very happy with my time based on my preparation and happy to see that I am back on track for a decent running season. I think the most important learning experience to tell is keep care of your body and please see a professional person whether it is in physio, chiro, accupuncture, voodoo or whatever your religion might be. Just don't be a hero and think you can heal the body yourself. That's just my opinion from a 9 months disability.

And if you get a chance to run in America, there are definitely fine places to race off road. Take a look at TNF and if you need more distance; I'm sure there is a race right around the corner if you search for it.

My results:
place: 136/320
bib: 188
time: 10:36:18
chip: 10:36:12
pace: 12:44/mile
AG: M36-45
AG Place: 39/86
Gender Place: 117/248
21.7 Mile Split: 3:51:22
28.6 Mile Split: 5:21:17
35.5 Mile Split: 6:57:14

Vibram Five Fingers Spyridon Quick Review

Vibram Five Finger Spyridon Quick Report. Meant to go out for a quick 10k, but ended getting a bit lost and doing 28k taking close to 4:00. Here's the report:

Asphalt: [v] check
Pot Hole: [v] check
Sidewalk: [v] check
Gravel: [v] check
Monkeys: [v] check
Diamond Hill: [v] check
Concrete Staircase up: [v] check
Concrete Staircase down: [v] check
Single Track Trail: [v] check
Large Stones on Trail: [v] check
Trip over Root x 2: [v] check
Trip over Speed Bump: [v] check
Climb over Fence: [v] check

Summary: Of all the shoes I've worn, this one is PERFECT for Hong Kong! Very stiff and sturdy on the toe tops and arch support. Wearing toe socks make it even more comfy! I feel the LS version really beats the velcrostrap hands down. Everything I hit over or ran by felt like a knife cutting soft butter.

I think everyone will agree that Shui Sham Po, Monkey Long a** hill, Diamond hill, Shing Mun Reservoir Trail, Raleigh Wilson Trail, and sections of MacLehose Trail - I've covered all bases. I would have definitely raced with these if they were available before the HK100.

As an 'official' Vibram Team Tester, I give my full approval with this shoe type for most terrain in Hong Kong. The littered stone you might find on KOTH: Lantau or HK100: Section 4 might still have issues, but we'll see...

I think it's a good shoe to wear for my Ironman 70.3 Singapore. The feet feels quite tired on asphalt.. I think this could help!

Too bad I won't be doing any more trail races until fall...

Standard Charter Hong Kong Marathon 2012

Start of the 5:30 Half Marathon


Intersection of the 8:30 Half Marathon


Willy Wong



One more Full Marathon 6:45 later in the week...

Video cast #1: ESCAPADE Sports Triple Storefront Run

Happy Chinese New Year!

King Of The Hills: Tai Po 2011

Yes, if you are reading this. I'm actually quite late on this race report!

Since I'm now training for Hong Kong 100, I really like to do this local race as it will prepare my body for the stairs and trail running. As always, I registered for the full marathon which is usually more than 30km. Trust me, even though it's not exactly 42km, the body feels like it did 2 marathons afterwards. Unfortunately, I am not able to compete in all of the KOTH races even though I'm enrolled for it, but I hope to also hit one more KOTH before the big HK100 6 days earlier.

The weather was perfect for running. It was quite cool in the morning. I stayed back a bit from the front and really pushed it initially. I really didn't have much knowledge of the course beforehand, but within a kilometer, the course is all steps leading up. I felt like I was getting past by a lot of racers on the hills. I suppose it's never been my strongest. This race I decided to run in my Solomon shoes.

The latter leg of the half heads down to the finish of the half marathon and this requires pure concentration as you weave in and out of brush and trees on a single track.

As the half marathoners finished their race, the second part for me was fairly flat. Around the 30km mark, I had some serious quadriceps spasms. Luckily the total race was under 36km.

I finished with a time of 5:14:30

Sunsmart Ironman Western Australia 2011

Facebook Pictures: Ironman Run 1/2

Facebook Pictures: Ironman Run 2/2

Facebook Pictures: Ironman Swim


I've been on vacation mode and haven't provided a much reporting. Since I consider Ironman my A-race for the year. It would be a shame to not report.

My objective for this report is to give those who (especially coming from Asia Pacific region) are interested in Ironman Western Australia some information that might help them out for 2012.

Air Travel
I chose Cathay Pacific and luckily for me the rate was on special. Unfortunately, my weight for luggage was a measly 23kg. My bike and box is 18kg so it doesn't leave me too much room to spare. So, I filled the bike to 28kg, and then had to tear up my luggage to bring it down to 25kg which then they let it through without cost. One important thing to do is to make sure that you take your time packaging your bike and other essentials. You don't want to pull the wrong thing out like CO2 cartridges or scissors.

Accommodations
Perth is the closest city to arrive to Busselton via international travel. In most cases, you'll probably have to sleep over at least one night before you head down 220km south. There are many choices you can choose but, if you want to take it on the cheap; here are an idea:

Choose a backpacking hotel
I decided that I would save my money and spend about 6 hours close to the train station heading down to Busselton. My flight arrived around 10pm and I crashed at a motel called The Emperors Crown $33AUD/night. It is less than 500 meters to the train station. But getting there from the airport will cost you in 2011 around 40-50AUD, but at least it means you don't need to hail a taxi in the morning if you choose this route. If you choose this method going back to Perth, your choice is only by bus and it will not stop at the train stop. It will stop at the bus depot which is about 4-5km away from the mentioned hotel; it's around $20AUD for this distance at night..

Transportation to Busselton
There are three choices: bus, train/bus, or rent-a-car.
I decided to take the train, but it only has room for 2 bikes; so you have to book in advance or be lucky on arrival. I did the latter. The cost is around 25AUD + 10AUD for bike. It's the same for the bus, but you have to get to the bus depot which is around 4 km away and you need to be there around 7am unlike the train which leaves at 9. The train will head down to Bunbury and then you'll wait for about 10 minutes to take the bus. The conductor on this trip loved to rhyme the city with some other dumb saying like: "The weather is fine in Serpentine." It was amusing for the first one, but 11 times?? It's a little annoying.

Busselton Hotels
All I have to say is BOOK early. I think the best place to stay if you got the dough is Esplanade Hotel. It is minutes from the carb loading/awards tent and super close to the Jetty where the start of the race is. If you aren't so luck, prices can range from 60-300AUD. If 4.5km isn't an issue then you can try Restawile hotel; it's tricky on day of race since who really wants to walk when you have 220km+ that day. You can try to hail a cab, but book early and it'll cost around $20 AUD

Eats
Busselton isn't cheap! For an omelet and orange juice, it'll cost around 23 AUD. Lunch and Dinner is  usually more than 30 AUD. The waitress don't accept tips since they are paid hourly 20AUD minimum. You'll get used to the fare hike if you live from the South Asia area especially Hong Kong where an honest meal is around 7-10AUD for breakfast. There is pizza at the Fat Duck Cycles and Espresso Shop which is the official bike repair shop. I was somewhat disappointed that basic repairs aren't free compared to other Ironman 70.3 and Ironman Nice. But, it makes sense when you think they have to eat breakfast too.

Communications
Australia cities don't seem too kind when it comes to Internet access when you are a tourist. You are probably better to get a plan from you local area. If you are in Hong Kong, it appears that data only for an Ipad can be sought for around $10AUD. Three has a good international package and around $15UAD if you have text/data like an iphone. Make sure you figure out the roaming setup so you aren't surprised. Another choice for voice is to buy a $30AUD pre-paid sim card at the POST

Tourist
If you aren't a wine tasting type, there is MTB trails down in Margaret Rivers. I tried it the day after the race and it was pretty amazing course. Tell Rob from Dirty Detours that JoggerJoel sent you ;) And if you like skydiving, there is a local airport nearby Busselton. I wanted to do it but the weather turned sour.

The Pre-Race
Schoolies as they say "Down Under" just get out of school, so you might find some young drunks early in the week. This means - be very careful when you ride your bike around town. Traffic is more congested than normal (I hear). I arrived on Wednesday and left the following Tuesday. If it is your first time to Busselton from an International arrival; you'll want to buffer 2 days for travel. So, I wasn't in a hurry like I am in closer cities where I arrive on Friday and leave Monday. For some who are lucky, Monday is winner's night... Those who aren't it's nice to be part of the scene - come on, you're an Ironman! I pretty much swam for the 3 mornings when they had life guards in boats, from the beach and bridge. Don't be too concerned, but after I left Busselton, I heard there were a few sharks in the area and someone did get attacked. Also, there was a dolphin in the area that week, but I missed it.. The bike course is a little hard to complete with traffic, but they are bicycle aware since most of them are for the race. Although, it is still pretty scary on the main roads which I went to Dunsborough and back (~40km). Don't be too excited there as there is just a small mall and beach.. For running, the beach is awesome - it's easy to do 5-10km and the road near the beach is used for the course which is pleasant. I will warn you that there are a lot of flies and they are a big swatting nuisance; also the night flies are thick as well.

Swim
If you read my other blogs, you'll quickly understand my background as a swimmer. I just want to get through it before the cut-off time. Well, I'm a little faster than that, but not by much. In the beginning of the race, the water looked so calm, but as I was heading toward the jetty point, I was being pushed to the left and into the buoys. After the jetty turnaround - around 1.9km; the jetty or bridge helped break up the waves, but unfortunately in the end, my time was about the same as Nice, France. Actually, it was a little slower but I will blame it on the video!

Bike
Obviously my time should be faster than Ironman France since it was very hilly and this is not. But, Busselton shouldn't fool you - the track is fast because it is flat as a pancake, but the wind can really slow you down. And as the day goes by, it gets even stronger! A few things to note about my ride: After 90km, my aero pad holding my forearm was tightened too much (not by me) and it broke. I had to come up quickly with an ingenious plan and I used electrical tape and GU packet to help me the rest of the way. The other issue was the wind, it caused my eyes to become very blurry and it took a few kilometers on the run to see again.

Run
Supposedly, I should be stronger as a runner than a cyclist and swimmer. But, after those two disciplines, well; I'm not. It takes me an additional hour to run a marathon than a 'regular' marathon. So, I was about 5 minutes slower on the run than in my first Ironman - Nice, but I will point fingers to my bike as I road much harder and faster. With mountains, you get to rest on the downhill. In Busselton, there are not hills!

Ironman wrap up
I'm overall happy with my first two Ironman participation. I know that I still have a lot of work today, but now I have a base to work off of. I hope to continue participating in at least 2 full Ironman distances a year and several half Ironmans. I hope you find my report useful and feel free to keep in contact by 'friending' me on facebook.