Ironman Singapore 70.3

Critical Thoughts
I have concluded that when you start the Ironman series for the very first time - you really don't know any better. Thus, the first being at Phuket Thailand 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships (even though anyone could enter), I really felt except for the local traffic issue - the Phuket race was done quite well compared to Singapore. It just seemed as though the race logistics, race gift, and overall race wasn't prepared as well as Phuket.

(Friday) Race pack collection
I landed on Wednesday to take in some Singapore touring and try to be more prepared compared to my time at Phuket Thailand 70.3. The race registration commenced on Friday and it was across from my hotel at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. Of course, I missed everything as I was being a tourist and spent the day at Sentosa Island. My friend, Danny, gave me the low-down on the 'Compulsory' race briefing. He also viewed that this location made his travel quite difficult since the official hotel was 'extremely' close (4.5km) to the race venue which is not the case for regisitration and bike support. He was less impressed with the Carbo loading dinner 2 nights before the race. How much does one need to eat before to keep the carb loading effect 'working' for the race day?

(Saturday) Day before race
Danny and I met early in the morning after I got lost cycling trying to locate his hotel. I went over the East Coast Parkway bridge and found myself lost near Raffles Blvd because the sidewalk ended abruptly with staircases going down from the bridge. I spoke to a security guard and asked him for directions to Marina Bay (where I just came from). I really meant East Coast Park, and he looked at me for a few seconds with a loud laugh stating that I was really lost. I met up with another early rider and still under the impression that I wanted to go to Marina Bay, he showed me the way. After crossing Nicoll Hwy, I realized that the ferris wheel was in sight and told him I was going the wrong way :(. A long story short, I ended in the Park only to cab it to Mecure hotel. Finally meeting up with Danny, we rode our bikes along the route and saw massive groups of cyclists preparing for Sunday's race. We also got in a 1km swim near the race course and even a 3km run. In the evening, it poured while we were checking in our bicycles. It was a little refreshing as the weather was quite hot and humid, I guess carbon fiber doesn't rust, but some of the screws can and gear can...

I came across Nora (ultra distance runner from Hong Kong) and was able to secure a bus full of Lantau Buffalos for the morning race. It was nice because somehow I was thinking of walking??? Of course all this information was available on Ironman Singapore's website, but it's always great to meet up with friends.

Race Day - Pre-race
Prepared for a long day, Danny and I headed over to the Buffalo herd and arrived safely to the transition area. As usual, there was a lot of noise before the sunrise as everyone was double checking the equipment and layout. We headed over to the beach as the race would begin in a half hour. The sea looked calm initially, but as the women were heading in for their first lap - a few got clobbered by the Men age grouper. There wasn't any rope to prevent the mass swimmers from the ones who were exiting the sea onto the beach start and on top of that there was a strong current. It was a sight to see.

Swim [pictures]
I'm not a swimmer! Although I've increased my speed in the pool by 10%, it's still very slow. The start of my race, I had my googles knocked off and kicked on the top of my head amoung other clawings. It took a while to finally find some space as everyone sped off except the breast strokers. Once I exited the first lap, I looked at my watch and noticed over 30 minutes. I knew it was going to be a long day, but even at the pool, I can manage 1km under 30 minutes. I got shifted around in the water a lot and probably swam a lot more than I needed to in terms of distance. The current didn't help at all as for the second loop, I found myself hitting the rope with my left arm - A LOT. While I turned back into shore for the last loop, I saw a man turn over on his back and backstroke it 'home'. I haven't seen that before and just thought when the hell am I going to be done? Once I finally arrived out of the water, 63 minutes passed. My thoughts of swimming disappeared as I past 8 people on the run to the bike transition to the transition. btw, can you believe I'm taking swimming lessons every week???

T1
It took me 1:55 minute to jog back from the swim to the bike. I then spent another minute putting on socks and race belt, and 1:05 minutes moving the bike to the start line.

Bike [pictures, more]

3 loops for this course. For the first 24km, I was roughly under 1:50km/hr. My friend kept on saying I needed to get a bike fit (sorta late 1 week before the race). My back was hurting and I had to go to the standard non-areo position for probably 80% of the course. I started to get disgusted with my performance when I saw over 2:00km/hr. After the first loop, the elites were already starting their run. I had around 2 hours more to go...  Being quite slow on the bike, it was un-eventful. I enjoyed the partial course the day before as I had a few km under 1:30. I guess the swim and the back issue didn't help.

T2
My transition took longer than usual as I had to slip into Vibram Five Fingers.

Run [pictures, more]

I ran with Vibram Five Fingers KSO and my first 4km was around 4:35/km. The heat and humidity got to me again and I started to stop briefly at the aid station after 10km. I maintained under a 7:00/km for all but two kilometers. As the rain started to pour around 18km, I decided to not stop at the aid station. It really didn't matter since most of the food and drinks were gone. I felt sorry for those who were going to have a long day on the run/walk.


Garmin



My swim isn't that bad. This occurs when the garmin in on your wrist. If you put it undernearth the race cap, you'll see more of straighter line.







Top 5 [official results]

Overall	Name	Finish time	Category	Gender position	Category position	Swim	T1	Cycle	T2	Run
1	Kris GEMMELL	3:50:56	Male Elite	1	1	0:27:45	0:02:25	2:06:30	0:00:37	1:13:39
2	James CUNNAMA	3:51:45	Male Elite	2	2	0:02:29	0:02:33	0:00:36	0:03:12	1:14:24
3	Peter JACOBS	3:54:25	Male Elite	3	3	0:02:25	0:02:39	0:00:43	0:01:09	1:16:59
4	Patrick VERNAY	3:55:50	Male Elite	4	4	0:02:30	0:02:33	0:00:46	0:01:42	1:18:23
5	Faris AL-SULTAN	3:56:13	Male Elite	5	5	0:27:58	0:02:17	0:01:04	0:01:08	1:18:13

Below is a list of prominent triathlon clubs in Hong Kong, (Yes, I took time out to gather this information; so I hope someone appreciates it): Hong Kong Team Color:

Tritons [blue]
Dragons [red]
Buffalos [grey]

Overall	Name	Finish time	Category	Gender position	Category position	Swim	T1	Cycle	T2	Run
33	Dane Cantwell	4:32:18	Male 30-34	29	4	0:33:55	0:02:32	2:19:18	0:00:51	1:35:42
WTD	Clinton Leong	4:36:52	Male 3539			0:40:45	0:02:33	2:10:34	0:03:12	1:39:50
55	Oliver Baillet	4:43:22	Male 4044	48	7	0:36:09	0:02:39	2:19:12	0:01:09	1:44:14
72	Scott Stanton	4:49:33	Male 2529	62	6	0:37:47	0:02:33	2:23:52	0:01:42	1:43:40
79	John Pesci	4:51:35	Male 40-44	69	12	0:40:49	0:03:10	2:18:39	0:01:08	1:47:50
93	Jason Keg	4:56:49	Male	83	15	0:42:54	0:03:21	2:18:11	0:01:38	1:50:45
109	Shunsuke Tanaka	5:00:06	Male 3034	98	16	0:40:05	0:03:24	2:22:59	0:02:07	1:51:32
115	Sven Maier	5:00:59	Male 3539	12	1	0:44:02	0:02:53	2:27:02	0:01:11	1:46:15
117	Laura Walsh	5:01:23	Female 4549	104	1	0:44:02	0:02:53	2:27:02	0:01:11	1:46:15
118	Julie Shelley	5:01:37	Female 3539	13	21	0:47:27	0:03:53	2:25:03	0:01:10	1:43:26
122	Paul Thompson	5:02:33	Male 4549	109	7	0:38:48	0:02:32	2:19:23	0:01:22	2:00:28
151	Etienne Faure	5:08:25	Male 3539	135	28	0:47:26	0:03:36	2:31:58	0:01:21	1:44:04
161	Liam Choen-Ruhle	5:09:49	Male 3034	142	27	0:41:56	0:03:29	2:28:33	0:01:48	1:54:04
174	Rebecca Kynaston	5:11:55	Female 4044	21	2	0:41:23	0:03:19	2:33:16	0:01:51	1:52:06
DQF	Bruno Lebeda	5:09:50	Male 4044			0:46:08	0:03:34	2:18:40	0:01:26	2:00:04
196	Claudia Soldati	5:15:22	Female 3539	24	5	0:42:14	0:03:28	2:25:48	0:01:34	2:02:19
212	Barry Day	5:17:08	Male 3034	186	32	0:41:29	0:03:05	2:35:35	0:01:08	1:55:52
238	Sian Abate	5:21:00	Female 4549	28	4	0:54:24	0:03:01	2:38:06	0:01:26	1:44:04
240	Paulus Schram	5:21:13	Male 4044	212	64	0:48:46	0:04:37	2:23:11	0:01:55	2:02:44
288	Frank Marriott	5:26:38	Male 5054	255	7	0:49:02	0:03:16	2:33:25	0:01:11	1:59:44
292	Nora Senn	5:27:04	Female 3539	34	8	0:48:24	0:04:24	2:32:19	0:01:38	2:00:18
296	Karen Fairley	5:27:30	Female 4044	35	4	0:40:54	0:04:05	2:42:40	0:02:24	1:57:27
306	Anders Kind	5:29:06	Male 4044	268	74	0:59:03	0:04:40	2:33:42	0:01:41	1:49:59
314	Rudolf Fleischmann	5:30:12	Male 4044	276	77	0:55:22	0:03:24	2:38:39	0:01:39	1:51:09
324	Christiaan Straatemeier	5:30:57	Male 4549	284	31	0:43:04	0:02:52	2:24:12	0:02:12	2:18:38
334	Nicolas Sordet	5:32:41	Male 3539	292	69	0:44:08	0:04:25	2:31:54	0:03:03	2:09:11
338	Alejandro Tripodoro	5:33:15	Male 4044	387	94	0:33:12	0:03:57	2:36:14	0:02:12	2:05:10
346	Eduard Wehry	5:33:59	Male 4044	303	87	0:54:17	0:04:05	2:30:23	0:01:40	2:03:36
373	Martin Wray	5:37:44	Male 4549	328	37	0:45:43	0:03:29	2:33:48	0:02:35	2:24:40
416	Daryl Albury	5:42:29	Male 4044	365	103	0:50:38	0:03:51	2:40:55	0:02:48	2:04:17
440	Danny Mcfee	5:45:24	Male 3539	295	84	0:49:52	0:03:52	2:33:35	0:02:12	2:12:36
450	Bea Desseigne	5:46:48	Male 3539	57	15	0:53:09	0:04:00	2:47:32	0:01:33	2:03:51
541	Hyun chang Chung	5:55:50	Male 4044	470	111	1:11:05	0:05:01	2:43:25	0:02:52	1:53:27
579	Vincent Ypersiel	6:01:50	Male 4044	502	138	0:47:27	0:05:22	2:42:04	0:02:48	2:24:09
598	Rob McVie	6:03:58	Male 3034	517	86	0:53:40	0:04:03	2:44:58	0:01:32	2:19:45
603	Joel LaBelle	6:05:09	Male 4044	522	145	1:03:18	0:03:57	2:52:50	0:02:28	2:02:38
670	Claus Schuermann	6:13:04	Male 4549	580	72	0:55:07	0:04:54	2:45:07	0:06:20	2:21:36
820	Luke Miller	6:29:02	Male 3539	711	163	1:02:11	0:04:04	2:46:35	0:02:57	2:33:14
887	Julia Stanton	6:38:32	Female 3034	118	20	0:50:10	0:05:41	3:15:10	0:08:27	2:19:04
901	Sergio Fernandez	6:39:55	Male 5054	782	31	1:05:09	0:05:09	2:58:48	0:02:05	2:28:44
1012	Lindsey Coen-Fernandez	6:56:02	Female 4549	132	19	0:55:53	0:04:56	3:07:22	0:04:13	2:43:38
WTD	Richard Thornton		Male 4044			0:47:57	0:03:42	2:40:51	0:02:26