Osaka ITU Sprint Triathlon Asian Cup

 Osaka was lovely place, especially the fact that our hotel was just right in front of the Universal Studios Japan. There were restaurants nearby with pasta and pizza, which was a real thumbs up.
The race was an Elite Sprint Distance event, meaning that everyone would be giving it a full on race and it would be a fight right from the start to the end.
78 athletes were on the start list; by far the largest and most competitive environment I have ever competed in. All athletes lined up for the dive into the start and as my number was called out much later (No.70), I dove into the cool sea and went for an inner spot hoping that I would have a better advantage if I got in a quick start. But before I could really prepare (It was hard to tell what was going with no one posing in a straight line), a very fast "Take you marks-GO" horn was sounded and I only began sprinting after realising the rest around me had already started. I cost me the chance of getting out of the field, meaning I had all 70 or so guys swimming into me. It was a tough fit with lots of hitting about, and losing the front group, I ended up leading the chase group out of the water.

I sprinted into transition and popped on my helmet before sprinted back out, hoping I could catch back up to them, but I was out of luck with a gap size too large. Instead, our group worked together to try to chase the riders ahead. There was little to no rests throughout the bike course, working up the bridge, flying downhill before a 180° U-turn and back up and across the bridge again. Down that side would be a 90° turn, and another 90° turn again. At the end of this was another U-turn to repeat the loop another 3 times. It was basically a "hook-shaped" course, with a climb on the long stretch.
Working hard, our group finally caught a large pack ahead on the last hill of the last lap. It almost completely restless, with not much help drafting up the hills, speeding down the hills and 4 accelerations after corners u-turns. At the end of the first loop, there was a crash directly in front of me right after the u-turn to start the 2nd loop. Luckily though, I was well aware that something wasn't right when the man in front had started to lose control. Managing to manoeuvre around the fallen cyclist, I was able to stay with the group for the rest of the ride.  The amount of effort put in throughout the bike men't that we would soon pay a immense debt to the legs, and would be running 5km after that with legs practically gone.

By the dismount I had already realised that I had over-exerted myself on the bike, so I had to really pace myself well to avoid burning up with a DNF (at this point it felt like finishing was the primary goal). The 1.6km run loop consisted of a gradual incline up till the turn before running back down. More climbing, wonderful! It was mainly open paths as well, meaning we were exposed to the scorching sun of about 35°C and a clear blue sky.
I kept my head down and continued to push as hard as possible, keeping the pace up no matter what.
On the final loop I had a good sprint finishing, which in turn helped put me up a few positions as well. I would have had it in me to push past the others without the sprint.
In the end I finished in 41st place.
Mixed feelings I'd say. I expected a different outcome, but sort of had this coming as well. The fact that I pushed like never before was a good thing as well, and most importantly it was a great experience and learning curve. Arrows pointing slightly closer to "Pleased" than "Disappointed".

June Happenings

Sorry for not having blogged up anything "proper" in awhile. Haven't really got much of an excuse other than sitting on my butt and flickering through the telly (when I'm not training regularly, obviously). At least I'm doing something right.

Btw you must be wondering, "why on earth is Riki's blog all pink and stuff??"
Before you go all ewww on me, let me explain that this is because our Team has just endorsed a new sponsor, and extremely proud of it.
With the generous amount of support coming from Time Internet (Time.com.my), they have taken over us to be officially now known as Team Time. Thus, we are immensely proud to wear their corporate colour "Magenta".
So huge thank you Time for the support, especially with the recent event Port Dickson International Triathlon, as well as plenty of press interviews and such!
With their support, the team is able to travel more to race, have more support in training, and altogether be able to achieve greater goals and soar beyond the stars.

-Pink is manly.

After I had my crash, I was basically missing swim sessions for about a week and off the roads for nearly a month, meaning I had to skip the final leg of Malakoff Duathlon Series, which I was so anticipating. With a flat first 3km run (before a technical 12km bike and another 3km run), I was really keen on testing my legs to see where I was at. *guts thrown down the pipes*..

Aside from that, I was unable to do any running or cycling on the roads. This men't painfully boring 3hr turbo sessions, and 30min water running sessions that feels like a day. Swimming itself was great fun too, with chlorinated water rubbing around my 50cent-deep bruises and scabs tearing apart. Mark Cheong named it "50cent, rotten crater" just to make sure people were given a good visualisation. 

It wasn't all that bad though, as this gave me the opportunity to really focus on the use of core muscles for running (in water), striding, strengthening of glute flexes and keeping the arms compact together.

More time spent in the water also men't working on better swim technique (and pain tolerance!).

Hitting the roads again definitely felt awkward after having gotten use to moving your legs around water, floating, tied to a band, and looking like a complete fool to others.

I began to regain confidence as the end of the month creeped in, during which I would be racing in Port Dickson.
I was a going through a bit of the Gollum, saying "You're not ready! You crashed and haven't been running at all". "Yes I am! I've been training well", "No, you can't handle the roads yet", and so on.
Of course, the first few days back was awful, but it all came back surprising quick.

16th June was when the first event of Sentul Race Series was held. A 2x10.25km looped Individual TT (Time Trial). The results would be used to group use in the respective categories A, B, C, D, based on performance (Timings).
Being my first proper time trial race, it was really exciting. Completely different way to how we would usually race. No energy saving for the run, just hammering the paddles all the way through, correct pacing, not to mention the fact that we aren't getting on the bikes wet after a battle in the open waters!
I finished in 22nd Place with an average of 36km/hr. It may not sound fast (and most likely isn't), but the route was fairly punishing, with constant hills and that one section where it was a crazy headwind on an uphill.
I loved it. Not the painful parts.. The experience of it all, trying out a bike race like that.
This race I think helped kick myself back up as well after the crash.

Port Dickson triathlon was definitely tougher than it was last year, with a bigger age category (16-29), but mainly with the majority of the junior HK squad flying over. The race was a fast 750m (or more..) swim, 20km cycling through the open rolling hills, before a gruelling 5km run, including about 2.5km worth of sand/beach running. Yes, plenty of toes bled that morning.
The swim went smoothly, coming out comfortably with the leading group.
The moment we got on our bikes there were already some break away attempts, but it was resolved smoothly too. Not much to say except it was a fairly good paced ride, sitting comfortably at 38km/hr.
The run was all about pacing and technique. Watching the boys take off right off the bike, I held back making sure to keep myself in control and not get too carried away. Throughout the run I gradually ate back some ground from back in 6th, still saving a little bit in the tank. We ran by Dave Spence, sat in the wheelchair out under the scorching sun just to give us that support and guidance of direction. He made a huge difference, encouraging us to push on till the end. So thank you Dave, for always being so over supportive.
Though it was only a 5km, I knew that some energy needed to be reserved so I could hammer through the most agonising parts which were the sands. By then I had secured myself a solid 3rd placing and held it all the way through to the finish shoot. Though I had a good race, it definitely could have been better. As Dave said to me later that day: "Never look back", that's where I realised that if there was any mistake made in that race, that was it.
Never look back to at who's behind you. It shows you're concerned of failing, wanting to stay where you are and afraid of going back. Look forward. Strive for more. Ask yourself: who's next.

Post race was my favourite. Big tent set up by Time Internet for us, with goodie bags, lockers, drinks, seats, constantly active camera crews, and physiotherapists! It was absolutely amazing and I can't thank them enough for it.

All the water running definitely made some improvements!

The next day our Team Time had 3 teams entered in the relay. The mixed team, junior mixed team, and men's relay team (which I ran for). I had to run 1km on the beach after the swimmer swam his 1600m, before passing onto the cyclist for his 40km ride. I would then run another 9km on the extended version of the 5km run loop. I think I did very well. No, the team did very well. We all (Hendrik, Danny Feng, Me) did all our best, relying on each other to push harder and managed to put in a solid performance to take 2nd place (overall in relay too).

So yeah, that rounds up late August and June. A great 2 months flew by and now I am in the midst of packing for my next major trip- Osaka ITU Sprint Triathlon Asian Cup.
A full start list of 70 men.
I'd say the race down at PD gave me a good confidence boost and some race preparation for it. What better race prep then to actually have a race?
I will be flying of this Thursday midnight, so wish me luck!

Riki