London World Championships / Eton European Junior ITU

 Just thought I'd start with;

I finished my first Junior World Championships!!

 On the 21^st of August, a blurry Wednesday afternoon, I woke up from a nap to an email buzzing on my phone. Taking a look at it, I couldn’t tell what was going on with words such as “good news” and “move athlete ** to start list…”

As I the words began to make sense as they structured in my head, I still spent about 10mins just sitting on my bed and looking around, confused.

Now my reaction would have been different at any other time, but obviously my system was still “booting up”, so I honestly had a very hard time deciding if I was still asleep or not. Pinching myself hurt, so I ran down stairs to my mum watching telly and danced about in front of it. She thought I was going a bit mental for a moment…

I originally had planned to join my team to fly to Bangkok for the Hua Hin Triathlon Queen’s Cup the exact weekend, but the plan changed drastically. I immediately had to inform my team members of the unexpected but exciting news, and chucked all the travel/race management over to them (sorry about that guys!). That very evening was just so happened to be Time Internet’s Open House (Our title sponsor), which men’t I had the great opportunity to spread the great news too all that support us. Afzal (Our boss) was definitely just as excited as I was! That evening upon arriving home, I got onto my laptop and immediately booked myself a ticket to Birmingham in less than a week.

Flying to Birmingham via KLM was great! (KL-Singapore-Paris-Birmingham), until I arrived to learn that they’d managed to leave my obvious, massive bike box and luggage at Singapore. I thought I did the smart thing of splitting things up between the luggages, but nope! I spent a day and a half without clothes (other than the ones I wore, obviously…). I got it all back the following afternoon, so I was able to rest easy.

I was fortunate enough to be provided a place to stay at Steve’s mum’s house in Redditch. It was a very warm and pleasant stay and I enjoyed every second of it. Thanks Joan and Jo Lumley!

Perfect long roads with scenic fields of green, sheep and cows occupied me throughout bike rides and runs.

Jess, Abby and Emily (Steve’s three nieces) were my favourite parts of the stay (other than stuffing myself to great food Joan cooked daily). It wasn’t long before I became Emily’s football coach (the youngest niece, and future football star), and played plenty during my off-times, in the back garden. She kicked my butt countless times.

George Goodwin took me down to Eton Lake on Friday for the race course familiarisation and race briefing for my very first European ITU Junior Cup. The next day Paul and George took me down for the race. George did great in his race, finishing in 7^th place (well done!) and then it was me turn to race.

Suddenly turning into a non-wetsuit swim, I struggled in the cold lake and swam out with a gap behind the chase group. Sprint hard out of the water and into a very quick transition managed to bridge the gap, but upon mounting, I found myself far behind the group with the legs just not responding. Another chase pack behind me caught up so I stuck to the back of it. Within half a lap, I was dropped by them again, with legs irresponsive. I rode on solo for another lap before Steve pulled me off, knowing that I was just absolutely shattered. That was the end of that.

The long travels and jet lag probably had a lot to do with how that race went, aside from the unfamiliar (but not new) experience of cold waters.

I was very glad to have raced it nevertheless, getting my system started and into the game, especially as I had been so relaxed before I knew I would be traveling this far...

That was race no.1 done.

As I continued to train using the facilities of Birmingham Uni, I felt myself get back into speed gradually. Running felt amazing (probably with such an amazing weather that lasted two weeks) as I felt a different gear driving me through the track. Swimming went better than I hoped as well, which was great.

I also joined BRAT Triathlon Club and took part in their small Aquathlon races, which was great fun. I think Malaysia could do with more of these small £4, “Race-&-BBQ” events!

On the weekend Steve took the challenge to compete in Ironman Wales, I trained together with Phil Wolfe. It was great and I was glad to have done so, as I’m sure it benefited both of us with the company.

“The Big Week” (London World, Sept 11^th – 14^th)”

We headed down to London on Wednesday and I gave the Serpentine Lake and had the race briefing later that day.

There had been some issues with trisuit design legitimacy, as my NF could not submit my current trisuit design.

I could not order any approved trisuits from my NF, as they only informed me of it the same time as my notice about the participation, so time was not a luxury I had. It was a relief that ITU had accepted my current trisuit as I had informed them of the issue in advance. Cheers for that TRIAM.

The word is cold. Utterly, Britishly cold. I had hoped too much for a wetsuit swim, thinking it would suit me better. The rain poured before my race which cooled things down even more just to play with the tropical kid a bit more. As we all lined up at the "Olympics Transition set-up", it all felt surreal. Watching it on television was one thing but seeing it all from the athlete's view was completely different! Then my name was called, and I jogged across the perfectly laid out blue carpet, and onto the pontoon start.

About 100m into the swim after the horn blast, I could immediately see a gap growing between the mass of splashes and I, but was hopeless with arms that felt like I had taken on 15kg weights each. It was the worst feeling I had ever experienced. It could have just been not being used to the wetsuit, the lack of movement with an additional compression top underneath, or the icy waters. I don’t know, but it was a bad time for that.

Coming out of the water 2^nd to last, I knew that my immediate goal would be to work hard to keep from being lapped. And I did, with good legs for once and a good ride time (considering I was alone..). The bike route was totally flat, designed for high speed. The tarmac was wet and slippery, putting more danger to the technical corners. There were some very bad crashes! I noticed a Japanese by the side picking his bike up from the side of the road, so I carried on not realising he would fly be me without giving me the chance to stick to his wheel for someone to work with (he never finished… Smart!). A different response could have had a different outcome.

I jumped of the bike and managed a 17:31min 5km run, which I was very pleased with (especially after riding all by myself the entire way!). It was good enough to step me up a placing, while others behind me called it quits. The roars from the crowd and cheers of support were nothing I had experienced before. It was spectacular. 

So there you go; furthest I had ever traveled, first European Cup, first wetsuit race, first World Championships, and first Malaysian Man to compete and complete a World Championships. Not a bad achievement in just one month, with only a week of notice in advance!

Thank you everyone for the great support that you have given, especially my friends, family, coach and all team sponsors as well as individual sponsors. 

These include Rudy Project Malaysia, CEEPO Bikes, Powerbar, Airasia X, FHL Sports, Kenanga, DSA, and our biggest support coming from TIME dotCom. Thanks Steve for the arrangement of everything! I’d have a full essay if I talked about it (It’s long enough as it is…).

I’ve now got FHL Circuit Cycling race next weekend, then Singapore ITU Triathlon Asian Cup (my first “proper” Elite category for full distance). The following month I will be racing around Hong Kong Disneyland (Lantau ITU Asian Cup), and hopefully Laguna Phuket Triathlon! Phuket would be a great place to just race for the joy and soak up the beach salt, sun, and everything amazing about Phuket.

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

A little something about dangers, safety, and my life being saved

It all began on a day like any other. A morning weekend long ride with the team up and around hills.

This time though, I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Random chuck of  road missing

It was a Sunday morning just a day after our second round of Malakoff University Duathlon Series, a short, fast and exciting event. I say that, but the bike loop of the race consisted of two loops of pain inducing steep hills and technical descents. That was something I favoured though. With my weight I had the advantage on the climbs over the rest, saving much more energy, putting less watts in and producing less lactic. It all made the difference in the final 3km run, where I was able to put a good distance on the field to finish first.. Great event as always!

Back to the story, the team and I had a good ride up Hulu Langat, doing our hill sessions while enjoying the "interesting" sightings.

As we finished our final repetition on the hills, it was time for a descent back before a good lunch and home.

That is, until ME happened.

As I was descending (the rest were ahead of me and out of sight as I had a short stop to clean off some vines wedged in my rear brake), I came to this corner where a massive sign board was placed in the middle of my side of the road, leaving only the right lane to be free. Knowing the dangers in the tight, blind spot, I slowed down a little and tried staying as close to the board as I could to avoid incoming vehicles or other ascending cyclists.

This sign board

But as I approached it, a large group of motorbikers (in their fancy sports bikes and full biking kits) flew up. It was a large group of about ten or more, roaring up fiercely (or rather recklessly) and took up the entire lane. As if that wasn't enough, some idiot even tried overtaking the leaders in rows of three through a tight spot to their right (my left)..
That was what they had been doing just as I approached, and did not even care to give any space for me to pass through at all. I was already at that position when the motorists came so I did not have a chance to spot to let them pass, or ride through before they approached.
Knowing I was facing grave danger of colliding head on with the motorists speeding at 80kph or so, I leaned as far left as I could, when I notice another rider from the back making a wider turn, about to ride into me.
I only had a split second to react.
I immediately jerked my handlebars further to the left, smashing myself into the pole supporting the sign post, barely escaping the motorist, and was sent hurling off my bike to kiss the tarmac road.
Obviously I wasn't feeling rather found of giving the road a peck at 40kph so I tucked my head in in an attempt to roll through the fall.
The side of my head and shoulder took most of the impact (Shattering my few months old great helmet) before doing a barrel roll for another few meters.

Yes my leg did that... Ouch?

I must have been exploding with adrenaline for I immediately jumped to my feet in (what I think) was my body's way if saying it didn't like being on the tarmac very much.

What really did me head in was seeing that group continue to ride off and out of sight.
So much for road safety...

Surprisingly the injuries were minor, other than road rashes and bruises, as well as a swelling left leg from smacking into the support bar (which was what caused my crashed).

I made a decision to take a fall, rather than a risk of being hit by a speeding vehicle head on. I basically made a life and death choice...

As well as that, there's one HUGE lesson to be learnt from here, for everyone.
Casual cyclists, professional, whatever- ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET (Preferably a quality one that guaranties safety).

When I fell, I took majority of the impact on the helmet, completely smash my beautiful Rudy Project Windmax. The force was large enough it compressed my head (where the impact was), and caused blood to swell beneath the helmet line. A big lump across my right eyebrow. I was lucky to have tucked my head in too or I'd be in a neck brace right now, probably in a hospital bed.
So just imagine, I had no helmet on, or if my helmet weren't designed to withstand that impact.
Imagine the impact directly on your forehead (or a helmet that just wasn't use at absorbing the shock.

As cheesy as this may be, or a cliche (truth though), my Windmax saved my life.

-Time to pick a new helmet as well!

Subic Bay ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships

Since coming back from Palembang, I had a good few weeks to put in a bit of solid training before the Asian Championships came up. It was a great timing to have Radka Vodičková stop by for a few days in KL (before heading off to Vietnam and San Diego). Definitely a quality few days of training for me.
Not long after, it was packing time and off to Subic Bay. We would've preferred flying some nights earlier, but Friday morning flight seemed much better than a Thursday night flight (plus it arrived on Friday midnight anyway).

It was definitely a very rushed and tiring day. Delayed flight and time costing immigration meant arriving late for kit check - rushing through the bike set up - quick lunch - bike test - little swim - shower - briefing - dinner - water/food shopping - change of rooms due to broken aircond - race kit packing - sleep. (Try not to sing through that with the "Friday" song..)
So our original structured day plan was trashed..
Come to think of it that was one hell of a day!!

We were up very early (most of us would consider it as midnight) at 3am for a little bit of food and dropping off our shoes and T2 equipment at our allocated spots along a massive stretch. T1 and T2 areas were 10km apart.

Had a good warm up spin to Dungaree Beach swim start, and a bigger swim warm up this time (to avoid Geelong all over again!). I definitely felt a little drained from all the travelling and stress from the rush, with literally no time to settle in. Felt good though so that's alright.

49 Junior Elites on the start list. That's a record breaker for me! Unfortunately for me I had to take the inner start, knowing I would have everyone swimming into me. Lacked a strong start in the first 100m of the swim, meaning I was absolutely battered with 40 or so guys squeezing in.

It was a full-on war, people swimming over me, pushing me into the lane ropes, pulling, kicking and one-eyeing the swim after a kick leaked water into my left goggle. By the time it had settled, I was in a
smaller group of 5 about 50sec down the leaders, somewhere in the 20th placings. I would say my start dictated my race outcome. Not a bad swim, but could've been better.. Though a 9:30 swim is definitely reassuring especially after Geelong!

Onto the bike, there wasn't much of sitting around with all of us sharing the load throughout the 10km +8km rough, sandy loop, shorter than the usual 20km (the 200m long stretch to transition makes up for it though!). Legs felt strong from the start to the end so I put in a bit of work as well to keep to pace going. A large pack tried to chase us down but we managed to hold them off all the way to the end. Nearly lost my group twice. Once riding through a large patch of sand, and another after missing the U-Turn point. Other than that the we stayed together the whole way, picking up some other bikers we caught up to. Putting in those Watts was sure to do some damage on the run. At this point I knew I didn't have the legs to run with most of these guys, but I did what I could, saving as much as I can before the dismount.

Immediately off the bike the group took off to leave me solo, running at a more reasonable and manageable pace. A stitch came on early and never went away, but I kept the pace going the first lap, and gritted my teeth as I pushed harder, speeding up on the second lap and managed to narrow the gap to my group but not enough to finish with them. Probably the smartest thing I did, knowing I would have blown up if I went off too fast too early, proven when I caught back and also overtook some competitors in the end to finish in 21st positioning.

Mixed feelings with this race. Glad that my race went pretty well, but not what I had expected in the field and ranking.. To know that a better starting could of potentially made a significant difference to my placing. Initially really disappointed with how it went until the results and splits came out, which proved otherwise. Something to learn from, but never to dwell on!
No thanks to Matt Denby, Leon Knight and Benjamin Ross Proud for distracting me with endless Candy Crush requests.. (Just kidding, but NO I don't want to play!)

So now I'm back in KL and ready to take on a good solid block of training, entering myself into some good races here in KL. I know what's missing now after a great experience in the competitive field, where the gaps need filling and to continue building blocks. Glad to be back home after a fast paced weekend! Looking forward to the Malakoff Duathlon Series this May and some more ITU racing after!

Once again huge thanks to Team MET sponsors, Rudy Project, CEEPO, K-Swiss for their wonderful support as always.