JoggerJoel - Trials & Tribulations of multi-sport endurance amateur

UTMB 161.5km

2014-09-20T16:31:00.000+08:00

Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc 2014

I've been running since 2009 doing various endurance races including multiple Ironman and ultra trail running mostly in Asia. While I consider myself an 'average' runner, I wanted to push my limits by racing in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). In 2012, I pre-registered for a lottery slot as this race is considered very popular, but unfortunately my luck wasn't so good and had to re-enter the following year. If you don't get accepted; then your odds double the next year and so, the second time your odds are much greater. You need to keep also in mind that you need to get official accredited points based on previous affiliated races that are greater than 42km.

To prepare for this race, I wanted to start the year by adding more load prior to my 100km races which included both Vibram Hong Kong 100km and Translantau 100km. This effort was named HYPERMAN which would include 10km swim, 300+km bike, and 100km trail run. Both run events were obviously slower but I was able to manage to complete both of them in under 21 and 24 hours respectively. Moving on the momentum, I decided to include 2 full Ironman races during the late and early spring in Australia.

Unfortunately, 3 months idle from summer commitments back in the United States prevented me from much long training. With only a month left; I planned to complete an Ironman 70.3. After this race, my plan was to do as many 30km runs as possible without breaking the system.

Quickly days past and I found myself in Chamonix, France with hours toeing others at the start line. The pre-race excitement was at its high with many sporting companies at the expo. This also included my sponsored shoe sole company Vibram which have been with me for over 4 years during my trail running adventures. They set me up with gear and apparel for the race which included:
* Compressports Socks

* Compressports Shorts
* Compressports Shirt
* Compressport Calf

* Northface Jacket

* Julbo Trail Sunglasses

* Hoka Tor Speed WP with Vibram soles

Unfortunately, this race became my first solo DNF, 7.8km from finish; the sad thing is I would have technically been DQ'd at 139.7 because I was 1 minute over the time limit. So, happier I was able to at least completed 161.5km.

Learning Points:
1. I am very very poor climber
2. Always get water and nutrition prior to leaving CP otherwise it will haunt you.
3. For more stability, don't run downhill with your poles..
4. Don't stay too long at CP (5-10 max)
5. Don't make this a team run, it's a solo race
6. If it rains, check feet no matter what; see foot doc if required. Don't wait until it's too late.
7. Extra phone, pictures, video, goPro WILL slow you down
8. Force yourself to shuffle on flats, walking eats time!
9. Get a watch that actually can hold a proper charge
10. DNF stands for Duke Nukem Forever!

Here are some segment Highlights:
The Start - rain, rain, rain!
Downhill to Saint Gervais: 343 runners passed
Downhill to Les Chapieux: 201 runners passed
Downhill to Courmayeur: 170 runners passed
Uphill without water/food to Catogne: 106 runners passed

I couldn't have done the downhills so 'fast' if it wasn't for HOKA One One + Vibram sole = Tor Speed WP. This shoe was meant for the trails with a sensational aggressive grip. With the muddy rocks and slippery sections of UTMB, Vibram soles provided great control and offered faster downhill speed. I've tried an older model of Hoka at UTMF (Mount Fuji) and found myself falling on my butt multiple times. It's really a stupendous shoe! This has cushion and grip.

In hindsight, it's obvious that my (lack of) training in the summer really hurt me. This is really a difficult race. To give you a comparison, my fitness certainly hasn't decreased much in 2 months; and when I did HYPERMAN this early year; my HK100 and Translantau 100 was under 21hrs and 24hrs respectively. The first 100km of UTMB was over 25hrs :(. The most important thing is that I didn't get hurt and can do this again sometime in the future.

Ironman 70.3 Syracuse 2012

2012-06-24T13:26:00.005+08:00

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

2012-06-02T18:00:00.000+08:00

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

2012-03-03T00:29:00.002+08:00

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

2012-02-07T17:08:00.001+08:00

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

2012-01-23T11:40:00.003+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

King Of The Hills: Tai Po 2011

2012-01-22T05:08:00.000+08:00

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

2011-12-15T08:00:00.066+08:00

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.

Oxfam Trailwalker 2011

2011-11-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

DID NOT FINISH - 25km

HKTriA Aquathon - South Bay Beach

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000+08:00

This would be my last swim/run combination before the big Ironman Race down in Busselton, Western Australia happening a month later. I joined this one right on the deadline thinking that it would be a good drill since I would be on vacation for a week with less fitness.

This race didn't have many competitive athletes since most of them went to Taiwan, Ironman 70.3 and also my heat was 40+ males and women. But, I knew I was far from winning any placement.

I had to take a cab and the funny thing is that the cost of the cab was more than the race. Once I arrived it was still dark and the HKTriA was just starting to begin preparations.

The transition was on the beach. I basically just put my bag containing street clothes in the basket since I was not going to do any transition stop today. My goal was to see how VFF would stand up to an beach aquathon.

Today's event consisted of 4km (really 3.4km) run + 540m swim (270m x 2 swim + run along the beach) + another 4km (really 3.4 km) run. I'm not sure who measures the distance but 800m is quite significant.

For the first section of the run leg; I just wanted to give all I got and deal with my slow swim later.. Apparently when the gun went off, I was first place until the top of the hill which lasted for about 2 minutes. On a side note, I believe VFF isn't really good going downhill, I find myself breaking on my toes. It's actually interesting to watch on video because as I peak to the top, I gained 30 meters (2 seconds) from the runner who won it, only to lose speed and position coming back down from the other side. As I was foot striking, he was heel striking. At the bottom of the hill my gap from the rest of the group was around 7 seconds behind me as I grabbed my first band and turn around. Apparently, I had a very explosive first 1km; probably the fastest ever if it is correct with a 3:31 minute kilometer. Unfortunately, my speed at this level was unattainable and dropped to 4:18 for the 2nd kilometer. Before I made it up to the peak of the hill, I was passed and in 3rd place with another right behind my tail. Once I reached back to the bottom of the hill and turn around; I already moved back to 6th place. The second loop, no one passed me and I headed toward the beach without stopping passing 3 people to place me in 3rd.

Once I hit the water, I knew my times would slow immensely with packs of swimmers passing me. The runner behind me was able to catch me in my 12 strokes. Approximately 8 minutes later for a 270m swim and one minute of beach running, I would go back into the water and do it all over again. My second swim was 8 minutes and 13 seconds.

After getting out of the water; I was able to pass 3 swimmers. It would be harder to catch up to other runners by this point. As I passed the finishing line to complete 2 more laps, the second place finisher passed me :(. But, each kilometer; I went a little faster than the previous one and was able to finish knowing that I gave the first run leg all I could give.

Unofficial Camera Results
Run: 13:43.19
T1:01:10.07
Swim: 8:00.22
T2: 0:59.19 (Beach Run)
Swim: 8:20.16
T3: 0:53:05
Run: 15:34.08

Official (but not accurate) HKTriA Results
Run1: 00:13:52
Swim: 00:19:02
Run2: 00:15:48
Total:00:48:42

Moontrekker 40 2011

2011-10-22T21:00:00.000+08:00

Facebook Pictures

I ran this race last year; and my only goal was to beat my time and of course beat the morning sun. I decide to wear my old solomon trail running shoes and notice severe wear and tear on the outer edges of the sole. This race is not for those who are interested in running with VFF. It is a very rocky course and I'm glad I didn't think twice in wearing them.

I actually don't know how some of the runners can run without any hydration pack. Although the air was slightly cool; the humidity appeared to be quite high. This year I decided to start at the race line because the gate is quite small. After sprinting out of the court; I didn't feel comfortable being in front since I actually forgot the way to the trails. No worries because there was a pack behind me upping the pace. Once we headed into the trails, the fast group sprinted off into darkness. I felt happy with my time so far, but I'm sure I went faster out than I wanted. The next 14km is total darkness and undulating with rocky sections more on the western side of the peninsula. Around 9km into the race, my arch was giving me some pain in my right foot and I also notice that a pool of sweat was splashing around inside my solomon gortex shoes. This was my first indication that I should take a salt tablet. Luckily, I had 3 tablets. I drank all of my water by the time we arrived at CP1 16km later.

After a water refill, the 200m ascent climb would start to the next Checkpoint. I had plenty of water at this point so there was no reason to stop, but unfortunately the time I gained by passing it was lost with a wrong turn, I lost 3 minutes only to realize that I had the compass on my garmin watch showing me last years route.

I started to get in a rhythm again with 2 others quickly walking up the hills and jogging the descents for 5km. We ended all together at CP3 which is near Tung Chung Rd. There is a steep paved road downhill connecting back to a trail which passes a monastery and then some long inclined paved path to Ngong Ping entrance connecting us to the based of Lantau Peak trail.

Every time I climb this peak, it never appears to be easy. Again 700m ascent with little downhill is never a walk in the park. I was able to pass just a couple people this year only to get passed by a different others. Finally reaching the 'summit', Vince Natari was there to greet all the Moontrekkers with camera in hand.

Starting the climb down from the peak, my legs spasmed forcing me to dead stop and take a stretch. I didn't have any salt at this point. Another runner passed me but I was not going to get left behind and my time at this point was 25 minutes faster than last. Eventually after the descent became easier on my legs, I was able to keep a decent pace and pass the runner again. As I knew I was close to Tung Chung Rd and very close to finishing. I heard someone behind me making giant leaps down the stone path. I gave it one more push, turned the corner and barely beat him as I was forced into the road.

This year my legs are much stronger. I haven't done a lot of trail running, so I actually feel very happy with my time. I shaved off 37 minutes from the previous year. My official time was 5:45 minutes.

HKTriA National Triathlon Championships

2011-10-09T17:07:00.002+08:00

Morning
Today is the final wrapup of Triathlon in Hong Kong season. I've been working hard on the bike and somewhat on the run. So, at 4:00AM, I woke up and wanted to prepare myself for a hilly day. I ate oatmeal which is quite unusual nowadays. But, it certainly was needed since I decided to bike at 5:00AM from West Kowloon to Tai Mei Tuk where the race course was moved this year instead of Walt Disney.

Swim
I noticed once I got toward the water that the left buoy was not orange. I knew my sighting would be an issue today. Once we entered the 'chilled' waters (76F?), and headed toward the buoy, not a second later and bam: siren horns. I wasn't quite ready and so off we went. The first lap was overall pretty non-eventful. It was the second lap that I stupidly followed two guys who of all people were breast stroking to the 3rd buoy and not the 2nd. I realized quickly and headed back on course; but lost at least 50m. Then, thinking I was close to the buoy, I 'sighted' and found myself backtracking and swimming the opposite way to reach the second buoy. I had another mistake and followed a guy to the right of me and he was headed off to the first buoy and not the last. So, I had to re-align myself and finally made it to shore. I'm pretty sure I would have had shaved off 5 minutes from my swim-time. Oh well, I need to start sighting better and not rely on others.

Bike
The bike course is quite hilly and once you get out of transition; there is a big incline for about 300-400m. As I pushed hard and passed a cyclist, he asked me 'Do you know this a hilly course?" I guess he doesn't know that I've been training over here. The course is out and back 4 times. I started to lose track of the number of times I went around it and even became more concerned when my watch showed a shortage of distance. I actually thought I might have not completed a lap. However, it just appeared my watch had a malfunction.

Run
The run course is very flat for the first 2km and then a gentle incline and back down. We had to run it twice. I didn't pass as many runners as I thought. Is it possible that my cycling is getting better? Overall I was pretty happy with my time for such a hilly course!

facebook pics

Sportsoho Triathlon Challenge Race (香港三項鐵人挑戰賽) 2011

2011-09-25T17:43:00.005+08:00

What a difference one year of solid training will do! I'm very happy with my overall sprint triathlon. The course is similar to the one last year for two exceptions: rough waters and a stronger me. Unfortunately, I almost DNF because of I lost my goggles when I jumped into the water. Luckily Danny was able to locate them quickly in the choppy sea :). Also, I got donkey kicked about 600m with a bruised eye..

I reviewed my blog from the previous year's similar event, and 11 minutes extra in the water. Yes, I am still considerably slow but much improvement has been made. This includes a 23k bike ride over Tai Po Road before the race started.

But it is not just the swim that I was faster. My bike time increased by over 4 minutes and the run by a whopping 30 seconds per kilometer with a consistent 4:14 average.

I however did get lapped by the stronger athletes, but considering that I've been only doing this for a year. I am happy with my results.

For those who think they could have tried a little harder today. No worries, commitment and desire will prevail!

-joggerjoel

Revolution Asia Double Triathlon

2011-08-28T08:55:00.089+08:00

It's been a few months since I've competed in a local race. This triathlon race has a unique format of super sprint times 2: 300m swim, 12km bike, and 3km run. The week earlier I had a nasty cold virus which prevented me from exercising about 6 days. On top of that, the night of the race as I was retrieving my bicycle from the window, I stepped down hard onto an electric plug. I drew blood and it really hurt. Luckily in the morning, I was able to walk on it and only penetrated near the arch.

Although I doubt that I really save much time, I decided to wear Vibram Five Fingers throughout the race without changing in transition. Actually, I'm glad I did because my sore at the bottom of my feet was stinging when I entered the water. The transition between the bicycles seemed around 200-300 meters and being in barefoot on the stony asphalt would increase my chance of more issues with my feet.

Unfortunately, since the waves are spread out so much to accommodate the traffic, our age group start would be at 8:40AM. This meant a hot/humid run for the second leg. I biked over from my house to the starting line which takes around an hour (35k). I've raced over here multiple times so I knew what to expect; although the second time would be much slower.

Swim (7:11; 24/47)
The swim started in the water supposedly behind the pier. I enjoyed this swim because it was relatively quick. Once again when I exited the water, I wasn't last. Out of the water, I was able to pass around 16 people in my squishy VFF. I put away my camera and quickly went off on my cervelo.

Bike (25:16; 16/47)
This bike leg, I felt pretty fresh and was able to increase my place by 8. The first turn around came quick and I saw an injured guy on the road. I also had to slam on the brakes!

Run (17:14; 13/47)
The run leg, I felt pretty good as well but tiring at the end. I was able to pass another 3 people. But, once I hit the water.. I felt really sluggish. At the point, I was only 7 minute back from the winner Luke Wimbush.

Swim #2 (10:31; 17/47)
I lost a lot of steam on the second swim. Adding an additional minute per 100m. I also didn't have the camera for the second swim. I did notice and confirmed with others that there was definitely an increase in current.

Bike #2 (29:27; 17/47)
Usually I'm able to pick off some riders, but with the age group competitors being so slim and the fact that I was getting tired. I was able to keep my placement, but was neck-in-neck with a guy named Kevin Lam.

Run #2 (19:39; 18/47)
This is probably the first time I got picked off on the run and lost placement. But, personally; I was happy I could run at all with the troubles I had earlier in the week and the night before. Although, I wasn't able to pass Kevin and he beat me by 10 seconds.

Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines

2011-08-18T14:03:00.006+08:00

definately more Video and pictures WILL follow: 340 visits in 2 days tells me you want MORE.
subscribe to my videos as I will be going turbo on Ironman - next stop (before I'm 90) qualifying for IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!

facebook pictures:
Before/After

Swim
Bike

The experience of participating in any triathlon (Ironman Full/Half; Sprint, OD) is all about the ride. Just coming off from Ironman France - 7 weeks later, I felt very strong. I did a string of half marathons, brick runs with speedy 20k loop, and even some sprints on the bike; although I totally didn't go to swimming class. I loaded up on Magnesium, flax seed and other multi-mineral supplements. I felt that this race with all I've done would be under 6 hours. WRONG! 3 weeks back, I had a spill in the rain and bruised my right hip. I went to the physio and she said that my muscle was weak from the accident and couldn't keep my hip aligned causing a clicking sound whenever I bent my hips. Fortunately, it didn't really hurt but was annoying.

Registration
Initially, I was quite concerned about travel arrangements once I arrived at Legaspi which is 80km from the venue. But, after calling them, I was more comfortable to hear that a bus would be arranged. So, I headed out late on a Friday for Manila Philippines and would arrive around 1AM and re-board at 6AM. It's not ideal as I would have preferred proper sleep at a hotel. I couldn't really sleep in the airport, so I did a power nap on the way to Legaspi. After landing, I was really surprised by the welcoming committee. They had the banners and lei in the airport and outside a band with cheerleaders. Way cool. Once arrived, my good friend I met in Singapore 70.3, Ebbie, was able to get a villa at Camarine Sur Watersports Center. It was really close and convenient to registration and transition. I grabbed some grub as I had very little to eat and assembled my bicycle as I waited for Ebbie to arrive. Ebbie really showed me great hospitality and got a car for us to recce the bike route. At 45k, the turn around point, we stopped and grabbed some snaps of us painting the dot M. It was great painting the town red!

Pre-race
I got up at 3:30AM and prepared my final steps. I took my tire pump and other gear to the bike transition area. I went through the usual laundry list. The funny thing is that my run bag was in the bike area, so I removed my KSO VFF shoes out of the bag to save some time. I had nothing in my bike bag as everything was mounted and ready to go on the bike. I was really feeling good about transition time as this sometimes can easily creep up to 5 minutes based on location from the swim and locating the bags. There was a big bullfrog in front of my bike. I wasn't sure if it was the triathlon 'gods' telling me I would have a decent race. I headed back to the villa and Ebbie had some guys from CMC to deliver hot water. It was nice since I could have my morning oatmeal breakfast. Afterwords, I did a double check on the bike setup and then headed to the man made wake-boarding lake.

Swim (0:53:43)

The swim is comprised of two segments. The first lake is bigger and at a distance of 1.25km; and the second being smaller was 550m meters. I saw a lot of swimmers holding onto the ropes while swimming. As usually, there was much jostling for space; but it wasn't just at the beginning but the whole race. Many swimmers seemed to constantly push on my legs and feet. My camera wasn't really adjusted properly, so I wasn't able to finger out anyone particularly - next time; I will make sure and create a most wanted for swimming worse than me. Once I came out of the water, I completed the first lake in 34 minutes. Doing the math, it would be another 15 minutes until I completed the second, or that's what I would think. The second lake was really murky and brown. There were a few times where my hands could touch the sand, I think it would have been faster walking.. It turns out my total time was 53:43 minutes. Boo hoo. I will blame it on my go-pro and my ability to swim like a rock! As a note, my pool time without wetsuit is around 45:00 minutes...

T1 (1:45)

This required only belt and helmet, no transition bag. Off I went...

Bike (2:48:56)

The transition into the bike segment was great. Under 2 minutes to get my stuff and onto the bike. The initial road out has a lot of twists and turns, but once outside of the complex, it was easy to keep the speed. The weather looked good with a cloudy overcast. I was really happy with my first 20km. Kilometer #4/#5 were exceptionally fast (maybe downhill); both under 1:40km/hr. The next 10km has somewhat a uphill to it and I was 30km/hr for most of it. The next part until hitting back to the small hill was on average 1:55km/hr. I remember a lot of back-and-forth between the other cyclists. During this part it was heavy rain all the way through. Somewhere around 60km, my garmin turned off. I mean - come on... This is a race and it's the 310XT - water proof but not with rain? Anyways, everything changed after 80km: I decided to start overtaking a guy in front and headed toward the middle of the lane. I saw another cyclist 100m in front on the other side of the road and didn't take too much of thought until my wheel hugged the uneven slope in the middle of the road. It kept on hugging and I tried to get out of the 'groove', but I couldn't hold on and the bike tilted left. Take a look at the video! I think it should explain what happened next.. It appears after I fell, as it should be obvious; my time was around 30km/hr on a very flat final finish. I did have a small abrasion on my left hip and arm, but no blood. Overall, I am glad that the fall went so smoothly. But, that's what it's all about - triathlon is about overcoming problems and moving on with your life.

T2 (1:50)

Transition here was seemless. It didn't take too long to put on my KSO Vibram Five Fingers. I decided to use this version of VFF because the sole is a bit thicker and I heard that there were some dirt roads meaning more rocks. I am glad I did!

Run (2:22:26)

The run went rather good for the first 10km. My first split was 4:30, which is pretty fast. I told myself to slow down and overall maintained around a 5:30/km for the next 9km. Then I smelled trouble.. my quads above the knee were in spasms and I had no salt because it was washed out by the torrential rain on the bike. Next time I will make sure to carry more than required salt tablets. My time slowed down ferociously to a walk-shuffle pace. There were plenty of drinking stops; every 1.5km and the local crowd was quite amusing especially them shouting out 'camera'. At the end, I passed a local Hong Kong triathlete woman that I wouldn't expect to beat. I guess she was having a harder day than I.

Physiotherapist
I went to see the therapist 5 days later to fix my injury to the right hip. Wow, it's cool to know about your body... It appears from the fall, it created some stress on my lumbar area - this is probably the reason why I my shoulder became very tired after 12km. So, the fall had an impact on my performance... Sometimes finishing is considered a WIN.

Epilogue
Camarine Sur Water Complex is a great venue. I would definitely do it again and beat my time. I was really hoping to get low 5:30-5:45. Hey~~ I'm cool with my time. That's the great thing about being a wannabe professional amateur triathlete. (This is someone who trains like a professional, but has no pressure from sponsorship)

- JoggerJoel

Also congrats to those who participated from Hong Kong...

Place	Time	Number	Lname	Fname	City	Cnt	Cat/Tot	Category	Swim	Tr1	Bike	Tr2	Run
1	03:51:43	1	JACOBS	PETE	SYDNEY	AUS	1/6	MPRO	24:17	1:35	2:05:56	1:17	1:18:40
2	04:12:30	820	THOMAS	JESSE	OREGON	USA	2/6	MPRO	27:26	1:20	2:09:35	1:20	1:32:50
3	04:12:54	3	BROWN	CAMERON	DANNEMORA	NZL	3/6	MPRO	27:38	1:31	2:19:27	1:23	1:22:58
4	04:17:44	80	FELBABEL	ERICH	HONG KONG	HKG	4/6	MPRO	30:38	1:14	2:15:29	1:36	1:28:49
5	04:18:08	372	ATTAMIMI	ASSAD	SINGAPORE	SGP	1/121	M35-39	29:59	1:28	2:22:35	1:20	1:22:47
6	04:24:25	212	CANTWELL	DANE	HONG KONG	HKG	1/133	M30-34	28:39	1:46	2:25:11	1:29	1:27:22
17	04:39:03	824	BUCEK	MICHAEL	HONG KONG	SLK	3/133	M30-34	28:26	1:46	2:23:57	5:26	1:39:31
44	04:58:37	768	PATRICK	ANDREW	HAPPY_VALLEY	HKG	2/27	M50-54	33:12	2:38	2:33:46	2:21	1:46:42
45	04:58:55	592	FESCHE	ANTHONY	SCENIC RD	HKG	1/141	M40-44	32:42	2:07	2:32:03	1:47	1:50:19
46	04:58:56	527	PESCI	GIANANDREA	HONG KONG	HKG	2/141	M40-44	34:46	2:30	2:33:31	1:43	1:46:27
78	05:10:14	284	DURY	MARK	HONG KONG	HKG	17/133	M30-34	42:14	1:55	2:36:14	2:28	1:47:25
96	05:19:05	407	WONG	KENT	HONG KONG	HKG	12/121	M35-39	44:04	1:50	2:38:25	1:46	1:53:03
102	05:20:35	688	STEINHAUER	PETER	MID-LEVELS	HKG	5/61	M45-49	44:27	3:06	2:44:03	2:11	1:46:50
115	05:24:34	341	WHITMAN	JAMES	HONG KONG	HKG	18/121	M35-39	34:32	1:58	2:42:27	1:51	2:03:48
132	05:29:09	491	SOLDATI	CLAUDIA	HONG KONG	HKG	3/19	W35-39	35:23	3:14	2:41:17	2:44	2:06:33
153	05:34:47	307	BUTLER	KATIE	HONG KONG	HKG	5/23	W30-34	43:28	2:56	2:56:14	2:29	1:49:40
195	05:45:37	511	HARLEY	FRANK	HONG KONG	HKG	28/141	M40-44	44:32	3:37	2:46:41	5:04	2:05:46
252	05:55:39	528	TORRES	HECTOR	HONG KONG	HKG	40/141	M40-44	43:56	2:52	3:00:54	2:27	2:05:34
299	06:04:09	655	PIMENTEL	ROLANDO	NEW_TERRITORIES	HKG	54/141	M40-44	51:15	4:29	2:50:13	5:15	2:12:59
325	06:08:37	523	LABELLE	JOEL	HONG KONG	USA	60/141	M40-44	53:43	1:45	2:48:56	1:50	2:22:26
328	06:08:47	495	JONES	LISA	TUNG CHUNG	HKG	6/19	W35-39	40:02	2:14	2:41:16	1:49	2:43:28
340	06:10:54	505	LIEW	ARTHUR	POKFULAM	HKG	64/141	M40-44	45:09	2:04	2:56:17	1:47	2:25:40
366	06:15:32	772	THOMAS	NICHOLAS	HONG KONG	HKG	10/27	M50-54	41:48	4:51	2:54:34	4:02	2:30:19
386	06:18:13	239	BROWNLEE	JARRAD	HAPPY_VALLEY	HKG	76/133	M30-34	36:27	3:29	2:57:55	3:45	2:36:40
399	06:19:50	322	WONG	GIGI GI WAI	HONG KONG	HKG	15/23	W30-34	45:51	4:53	3:14:05	3:08	2:11:55

2XU South Bay Head Challenge - Open Water 3k Swim

2011-07-23T08:39:00.002+08:00

I've yet to be last.... I still need a lot of work :(

				Time		Overall
7	Name	Male/Female	Category	Race No	Minutes	Seconds	Place
8	Taylor Williams	M	Junior	19	37	35	1
9	Callum McKinley	M	Masters	29	40	25	2
10	Myles Williams	M	Junior	18	41	21	3
11	Greg James	M	Masters	33	41	41	4
12	Doug Woodring	M	Masters	31	41	45	5
13	Tony Sabine	M	Seniors	84	42	33	6
14	Peter Saidel	M	Masters	6	42	45	7
15	Dane Cantwell	M	Seniors	49	43	8	8
16	Mike Coglan	M	Legends	56	43	36	9
17	Nick Dargan	M	Masters	89	44	10	10
18	Katerina Vichou	F	Seniors	4	45	29	11
19	Joy Stevenson	F	Seniors	3	45	35	12
20	Sheryl Slater	F	Masters	2	45	41	13
21	Bert Shi	M	Masters	24	46	12	14
22	Shaun Mullen	M	Seniors	21	46	24	15
23	Brian Goldberg	M	Seniors	83	46	35	16
24	Mary Kwoh	F	Masters	43	46	44	17
25	Andrew Loong	M	Seniors	44	47	18	18
26	Rocken Wong	M	Seniors	90	47	25	19
27	Richard Hall	M	Seniors	65	47	31	20
28	Olivier Courret	M	Seniors	75	47	33	21
29	Paul Hilton	M	Masters	46	47	34	22
30	Ka Yee Tark	F	Superfish	35	41	40	23
31	Cam Kosmal	M	Masters	82	47	43	24
32	Ruth Morrison	F	Seniors	51	47	47	25
33	Andrew Russell	M	Seniors	1	47	56	26
34	Clinton Leong	M	Seniors	47	48	9	27
35	Jeff Chasnov	M	Legends	25	49	5	28
36	Warren Lockner	M	Seniors	45	49	14	29
37	Jeff Tang	M	Junior	36	49	20	30
38	Claire Fairley	F	Masters	7	49	42	31
39	George Applegarth	M	Masters	30	50	29	32
40	Cirara Waller	F	Seniors	72	51	6	33
41	WK Cheung	M	Seniors	28	51	27	34
42	Will Marsden	M	Seniors	91	51	33	35
43	Albert Ho	M	Superfish	92	52	35	36
44	Mike Murphy	M	Masters	9	52	38	37
45	Chi Yin Wan	M	Legends	5	52	50	38
46	Tim Kramer	M	Masters	52	53	49	39
47	Martin Hoogerworth	M	Seniors	20	53	53	40
48	Wolfgang Aicher	M	Seniors	76	54	34	41
49	David Gething	M	Seniors	66	54	56	42
50	Keung Lam	M	Seniors	58	55	10	43
51	Dale Simonson	M	Masters	68	55	24	44
52	Luke Southorn	M	Masters	32	55	31	45
53	Sally Gentle	F	Seniors	70	55	35	46
54	Steve Boddington	M	Masters	78	56	33	47
55	Grace Fong	F	Legends	62	56	53	48
56	Nora Senn	F	Seniors	8	57	26	49
57	Lisa Jones	F	Seniors	50	57	30	50
58	Sean Ho	F	Seniors	61	57	31	51
59	Wilson Wong	M	Junior	37	57	32	52
60	Olivia Chan	F	Seniors	42	57	33	53
61	T Wong	M	Masters	74	57	56	54
62	Marvin Jones	M	Seniors	40	58	13	55
63	Yee Keng Wong	M	Masters	27	58	22	56
64	Richard Yong	M	Masters	13	58	29	57
65	Jinny Wong	F	Seniors	77	58	33	58
66	Richard Lightbound	M	Masters	69	58	48	59
67	Guy Horne	M	Masters	79	58	53	60
68	Sean Cheng	M	Masters	26	59	20	61
69	Phil Shirley	M	Masters	64	61	34	62
70	Alex Sevron	M	Seniors	87	61	47	63
71	Michelle Pinato	F	Seniors	73	62	32	64
72	Hayley Goldberg	F	Masters	22	62	43	65
73	Dandan Zhu	F	Seniors	88	62	55	66
74	Pearl Taie	F	Seniors	86	63	43	67
75	Henry Cham	M	Legends	34	63	58	68
76	CH Heung	M	Legends	67	64	12	69
77	Winnie Lau	F	Seniors	55	64	15	70
78	James Johnson	M	Seniors	16	65	21	71
79	Gordon Parker	M	Seniors	81	65	25	72
80	Peter Ng	M	Masters	80	65	27	73
81	Oliver Thirwall	M	Seniors	15	65	29	74
82	Paul Myers	M	Masters	11	65	30	75
83	Candy Chan	F	Seniors	17	65	39	76
84	Christina Kui	F	Masters	57	65	42	77
85	June Liew	F	Masters	63	65	46	78
86	Lap Tsang	M	Masters	60	65	49	79
87	Jacqui Saffrey	F	Legends	41	65	58	80
88	Billy Chow	M	Masters	85	66	33	81
89	Carmelia Tang	F	Superfish	39	67		82
90	Ricky TANG	M	Legends	38	67	43	83
91	Fergus Lam	M	Legends	54	67	55	84
92	Woody Choy	M	Superfish	10	68	4	85
93	Eve Young	F	Legends	23	68	9	86
94	Ian Dacre	M	Legends	48	68	39	87
95	Torston Bruce	M	Seniors	12	71		88
96	Danny Ong	M	Masters	59	74	15	89
97	Joel Labelle	M	Masters	53	77	40	90
98	Hyuan Chung	M	Seniors	14	80	52	91
99	Phil Penazola	M	Legends	71	83	27	92

Ironman France

2011-07-01T05:55:00.001+08:00

more Video and pictures WILL follow:

facebook photos: swim

The experience of participating in a first Ironman isn't necessarily about the specific race; but the journey to get there. With this journey, I was able to know more about my abilities and acquire a great training friend. My best friend and racing partner, Danny McFee, is the reason why I raced an Ironman. It all started about a year ago after completing the Hong Kong Standard Charter Marathon. Danny was getting tired of running, and decided to get a bike. I went longer on the runs and participated in ultra marathons. When I came back from Vietnam Ultra, we went to a local bike shop and I bought my first time-trial bike. I really didn't have a clue about bikes, so somehow within the few minutes looking at several bikes the Cervelo caught my eye and it looked cool. I'll admit in hindsight, buying it turned out to be a good choice, but not necessarily the best choice for an amateur doing hilly routes. Hong Kong is full of hills, steep and short. A lot of people were adamant about using a road bike for this course, but after plunking down a load of cash, my thoughts about getting a road bike wasn't high on the list. I felt a lot better when Danny bought his Cervelo and decided to race with it as well. The biggest challenge for me was the swim. As you know from my blog, my swimming is really weak. I was initially very concerned about making the cut-off time once I realized I had to complete within 2 hour and 20 minutes. Luckily, training with Ginny from 3rd move using Total Immersion techniques helped tremendously.

Registration
One day out of the blue, Danny texted me and said, we should really think about doing an Ironman. I replied that it needed to be some great destination where we can vacation after a long hard day. He mentioned Brazil and I thought it was too far. Within 5 minutes, I texted him back and told him I already signed up for Ironman France - Nice. I didn't bother to look at the course or know anything about the history. It just seemed like the right place to go. Later, it dawned on me that the course is considered tough for the bike leg. 1100m altitude with over 2600m of total climbing. I'm thinking, whatever comes up must come down. With that out of the way, over the course of several weeks, I registered for a couple half Ironman. I never had second thoughts, but I was becoming a little concerned about cycling with my Cervelo P3.

Once I landed in Nice, the weather was perfect and pleasantly cool. Unfortnately, each day closer to the race, the temperature incrementally became hotter. The registration was simple and fluid. The registration area was very close to the Promenade and within 5 minutes walk to the swim start line. I didn't go crazy on the product binging, but did walk away with a nice long IRONMAN bento-box, and Skins tri-suit + compression calves. I wanted to feel comfortable for this race; so since this race was going to be hot, I wanted to try the compression suit which had a zipper in the front and pouch in the back unlike my current club tri-suit.

Pre-race
The last few weeks before the race, I really took it easy. I mainly concentrated on the swim and bike. Before coming to Nice, I stopped over in Dubai and only did a 9km run. It was so bloody hot, that I noticed some blood pressure issues in my hands as they seemed very stiff after the run, similarly to my blowup after the HKSCM where I went into heat exhaustion. With that in mind, I would only run an easy 5km in Nice before the race. Danny and I did 80km on the bike and road some of the course to a little town which had a grade steepness of less than average of 4 percent. The total swim preparation was probably less than 600m in total. I felt ready!

Morning Check
I left 4:30AM in the morning and headed toward the bike racks with my bike pump in hand. The current inner tube tires will slowly leak air (by design) after 7 hours which was a big mistake that I learned from my Ironman Singapore 70.3 race. Knowing your equipment is very important if you want to reduce unnecessary problems. I met Danny inside the bike transition and told him I needed to return my bike pump. By the time I came back, they were already closing the swim warmup. I headed down the ramp and ensuring that my swimcap was on properly that it ripped over my head. It really wasn't a good start since I was experimenting with my new camera. Well, I placed the ripped swim cap on my head and then placed my camera head band over it. With little time for replacement, I had to make due.
Danny found me at the beach and we took pictures. I prefer to be next to the inner course edge as Danny prefers the outer. The human washing machine doesn't bother me as I know I'll be at the back and my thoughts are the further I'm away from the line, the longer my swim!

Swim
Music blaring, athletes clapping, fans cheering! What a rush. The countdown began and I now felt part of the biggest triathlon franchise sport in history and I was making my own history in the French Rivera! In the first 100m my googles got knocked off. Luckily, I trained before in these conditions, so I didn't panic and patiently waited for a good time to remove the water. The first leg of the swim was approximately 2400 meters. I made a quick estimation of 1 hour for the first and 30 minutes for the second. When I exited the water, the announcer said; "we've just went over an hour". It seemed like I was on target. But the moment I hit the water, my legs started to spasm. Luckily, wet-suits are awesome to keep the legs afloat if you have no leg power. The second segment, I had a little navigation issue, but the lifeguards were quick to point the way. Also, in a few locations the water change temperature and was certainly noticeable, it was certainly an interesting feeling. Exiting the water required extra effort as I stumbled up to the exit ramps with the help of the volunteer. I trotted under the shower overhead to slip my arms out of my wet suit sleeves. As always, I passed a couple of people to the bike rack.

Bike
Hills are my friend. I'm light and I brought my TT bike - cervelo P3 (my only bike). It'll take approximately 25km to hit the first hill. My garmin showed 17% grade. There were a few who had to disembark on their bike and walk up. It would be another 15km of light undulating hills to the next small town which I reccee with Danny. The difference on race day would be that we would not be drinking any beer and would have to haul 140km before any rest. The ride was going well and easily passing the weaker riders. Since after 40km was unknown territory, I knew whatever small decent would quickly turn into longer and steeper ascents. Each rider I saw within 50m was a target to catch up to them. Then up the first of many long uphills, I met Danny after 50km. "You must have flew up here", said Danny. We spoke about the swim and he exited around 10minutes before me. We didn't even hit the harder section, so I was actually feeling good about first part of three. Between 70-90km, the grade is averaging 6% and with switchbacks allowing you to see the riders above you and below the riders behind. This is also where I saw the name 'GUNTER' on a rider and thought.. FACEBOOK! Snap. I yelled out his name and said JOGGGERJOEL. In addition this area is absolutely has fantastic views of Nice. I'd recommend this route if you happen to look for a cycling tour vacation, or better yet, participate in an Ironman France - Nice! Once we reached 100km and 1100m altitude, the rest and fun began. Some people pulled over to get their 'special needs' bag. I'm thinking, my special need is going downhill without hitting the brakes! I also wanted to minimize my overall time, so I kept on riding and pushing the pedals passing cyclists on the down hills. With a lot of air in your face, we were faced with one more incline. The legs were getting used to light riding, but I kept on pushing knowing that I must be pulling more away from Danny. There is a section where thr route is out and back allowing you to see riders in a 10km span. The weird part of this section is that you think its going down but actually a small incline. I couldn't keep over 29km, but coming back was easier. Right before exiting the out-and-back route, I saw Danny again. I calculated the time and estimated a lead of 20-25 minute lead. Now with less than 50km left, the road becomes much more twisty. The road became very busy with cars and cyclists. I seem to spend a few times on the wrong side of the road, is it perhaps being in Hong Kong too long? Well, a motocycle pulls next to me and shows a yellow flag. I knew it couldn't be because of drafting. He said its because you were riding on the wrong side of the road. Bad luck! I would come to find out that this would cost me 5 minutes in the penalty box. I finally reached to the last 30km where its basically flat, but I couldn't push mysef to do anything greater than 31km/hr. Also, I figured why should I kill myself on the last 30 when I have a marathon to go.

Run
I estimated my run time to be around 4:00-4:15. With the heat and multiple walks through the aid station, it would be a little longer. It would require 4 loops to the airport and back. First 10km was under an hour. I was happy about that! Approximately 8km into the run, I saw Danny again and shouted at each other. 20km I was still around 2 hours. My estimated time was pretty accurate. 30km I seemed to hit the aid station too much downing cola, water, bananas and crackers. My last time coming from the airport, I ran into Danny for the last time and told him I estimated 13:15. He still had 25-30minutes more to run. The last km, I was full of energy, well not necessarily my legs; but in less than 8 minutes, I could call myself an IRONMAN finisher! The last stretch of blue mats with a cheering crowds, cheerleaders, fans, family fueled my final strtch to the finish line. I gave a big high five to the announcer and walked my daughter through the finishing line. My goal for 2011 was completed successfully!

Epilogue
I hope you enjoyed my journey of almost 21 months from not exercising to completing an Ironman. This is really not the end, but just the beginning. Feel free to drop by or add me on facebook to follow my adventures. Thanks for your interest!

- JoggerJoel

The 8th Daegu City Mayor Cup Triathlon OD 2011 (제 8회 대구시장배 전국 트라이애슬론 대회)

2011-06-07T12:35:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since I've updated my race blog. Most of the 'spring', I've decided to stay away from the smaller races and concentrate on going long with a swim or bike for the weekend as Ironman France is just around the corner. Now three weeks left, it's time to taper (well, maybe one more long ride/run/swim?), It's good to keep the energy but with shorter distance.

Now that this weekend happened to be my 40th birthday, I have to say it's gotta be one of the best birthday weekends I can remember. Korea seemed to be a good location for this occassion. I was going to meet my long-time New Jersey friend, Richard, who currently is staying the last year in Seoul. Since this will be his first, it's great that I can inspire him and others to try this type of sport. I was suppose to initially race last month with him in Seoul, but found that it would be a duathlon. After reviewing http://www.triathlon.or.kr/, I realized that this event would be perfect.

The night of my flight which departs at 2:00AM Saturday June 4th, 2011, I came across the idea of just riding my bicycle from Busan International Airport to Daegu's Hotel Ariana. Richard and his wife setup the hotel which is only minutes from the transition and check-in location near SooSung Lake (수성못). I've realized waiting for the last minute to gather a map of my ride is quite challenging. Fortunately, there are crazy people who like to ride their bicycle. I searched garmin and basically Korean's/ex-pats don't really upload here. I went to another site called mapmyride.com and found a map exactly for my purpose: http://classic.mapmyride.com/find-ride/south-korea/daegu-(daegu). Unfortunately, my Garmin 705 won't work if it's backwards and being in GPX format. So, I needed to locate 2 more utilities: reverse the route and convert from GPX to TCX (Garmin required format). As I was waiting at the airport at 1:30AM with literally 4 minutes to go.. I was able to locate and download the necessary requirements. The first one is: http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php. Upload your GPX file and instantly reverse the route and then download it back to your computer. Then convert the GPX file to TCX using http://www.teambikeolympo.it/TCXConverter/TeamBikeOlympo_-_TCX_Converter/TCX_Converter_ENG.html. I'm inside the airplane and uploading the file to my device. Wow, talk about being close to the cutoff. There isn't really a way to access internet at Busan's Gimhae Airport.

I landed around 6:30AM KST at the airport and I located the baggage service to keep my bike box for 2 days. It costed me $20,000 Won. ($20USD). It took about an hour an a half to complete my bike setup and determine what I should carry. My triathlon bag weighed close to 10kg and I would be cycling for around 110km. I filled my water bottles and off I went to Daegu:

The bike route was perfect and technology once again prevailed for a smooth and wonderful ride. Along the way the traffic was somewhat busy in Busan, but very managable. Initially, I made a small mistake and headed up a ramp that would go across a river and realized that I needed to backtrack a bit. I then followed a cycling path led me to the route and I was smiling when my Garmin stated, "on course". Somewhere along the way, I ejected all my 3 water bottles :(. Luckily, I had another stashed in my backpack. Also, a small city, Miryang, had a 7-11. There were basically 3 major hills on this route, a 200m, 400m, and 800m. I believe the highest grade was 8% near the 400m incline. The weather was perfect and the downhills were the most enjoyable. The roads were very good except for some construction area where it became muddy. I definately would tour Korea more when I get a chance. I think Japan and South Taiwan are good too... My birthday ended with a smile as this is the first time I didn't have to go in circles (e.g. Hong Kong) to complete over 100km. At the end of my tour, I stumbled across the lake I would be swimming the next day; and rested by taking a nice shower in the hotel as I waited for Richard.

Race Pickup
Once Richard arrived, we headed toward the park to register and get a bike checkup. I only can speak about local Hong Kong races outside of some international Ironman 70.3, and I feel that Korean races are much more organized. I had to bring my identification and they located a small crack in my helmet. Although there wasn't any bike mechanic, they did test the safety of my bicycle for loose handle bars, brakes, etc.

Pre-Race
The start of the race was at 9:00AM. I felt this is kinda late.. but, during this time of the year in Korea; the humidity isn't as bad when you are running at 11:00AM in the morning. Maybe it's because Daegu city is sponsoring the IAAF World Championships this year, or it's because the Mayor is sponsoring this event. Whatever the reason, whenever I race in Korea; it always seems so ceremonial at pre-race with a warmup from some sports medicine bachelorette loosening our muscles up to the government acknowledgement ceremony right up to the start of the race.

Swim
I missed the swim warm-up window, but maybe it was for the best since an hour later it wouldn't matter since I would have to deal with the lake temperature at the moment of splash. I was in group D and each group was given 1 minute interval window. Everyone queued on land and jumped off a man-made floating dock and off you go. As always, there was quite a bit of arms and legs in the way of the initial start. To the right was rope to guide us around the quadrangle of 750m. I stayed near the right and saw quite of people hanging on to the rope. As a pioneer on active technology, my swim cap tore and filled up with water quite a bit and I had to keep pushing it down onto my head. I guess, that's the price I have to pay for to video a dizzying swim. Surprisingly this time, I didn't see a lot of breast strokers. Has my TI training paid off? Well, all I can say is once I exited the water to complete 1500m, my time was a little over 34 minutes, compared to 50 minutes 8 months earlier.

Now there are a couple factors with this time:
1. I had a wetsuit on (mandatory)
2. It's a lake, no waves

Bike
The bike course consisted of 3 laps. Going out was super fast and mostly downhill. Coming back was a easy incline. I still feel I need to work on my drafting skills and overall cycling fitness. I was only able to shave off a couple minutes.

Run
Although I passed a lot of people, my run time was a minute slower than before. I even sprinted in the last 50m to pass around 4-5 runners at the end.

Completion
I'm overall very happy with my performance given the fact that I road 110km the day before. 27 minute improvement is nothing to be disappointed with. This is a very fast course and the weather was perfect this day. Now, spending 80,000 won for entry fee; it was really worth it. They gave so many goodies. Popsicles, rice, lunch box, soju, and a handshake by some official at the end after you 'break' the ribbon line. If you ever wanted to try a different location to race whether it is running or triathlon, then I would suggest you try any local Korea competition. I believe you won't be disappointed. Just want to note that Richard finished a little more than 3 hours. I'm really proud of his performance as it is his first triathlon competition. Great Job Richard! Hope to see you doing an Ironman Race.. If you do - I'll do my best to be in the competition for 2012/13 in the states!

First Bike Fit

2011-05-06T09:38:00.015+08:00

Bike Fitting Assessment Date: 10th April 2011

Name:
Joel Labelle

Riding Experience: Regular cyclist.

Goals:

1.
Ironman. June-France,
Aug-1/2 Philippines, WA full ironman

Height: Weight:

Type of Riding:
Comfort Sport Competition UCI
legal required?

Current injuries /
complaints:

1.
Tightness into
quadriceps

2. Stiffness/ache into back muscles during long
rides.

Bike:

Manufacturer: Cervelo Model: P3 Size: 48 cm Year:

2009

Bicycle Geometry Chart	Size mm:
Seat Tube Angle (degrees)	Initial 78° / Post fit 75°
Head Tube Angle (degrees)	72°
Top Tube Length (effective)	Initial 490 / Post fit 514
Seat Tube Length (effective)	480
Chainstay Length	368
Fork Rake	*
Trail	*
Head-tube Length – Integrated	110
Bottom Bracket Drop	73
Saddle Length / Model	265
Crank Length	170
Handlebar Width / Model	Aero bar c-c pad initial 175mm/post 200

Bike Set Up	Initial mm	Recommended mm	Final for current set-up
Seat tube angle recommendation	78°	75°	75°
Head tube length recommendation	Approx 130-150mm
Top Tube length recommendation	Approx 495 mm
Headstem Length / Angle°	80 / - 17°		80 / + 17°
Seat height	650		660
Crank Length	170	170	170
Tip of Seat to Handlebar	490		444
Tip of Seat behind BB	+50		10

Observations on bike before adjustment:

From Behind:

Lateral Tilting Ilia L. R.
Comment: PSIS drop. Decreased left gluteal
activation. Increased gluteus medius to compensate.

Rotating Ilia (Ant./Post.) L. R.

Comment:

Lateral Flexion of Lumbar Spine L. R. Comment:

Rotation of Lumbar Spine L. R. Comment

Thoracic Spine Rotation L.
R. Comment:

Elevated Shoulder L. R. Comment:

Scapula Protraction L. R. Comment:

Toeing of the feet L. R. Comment:

Heel Dropping L. R. Comment:

From the Front:

Shoulder Position L. R. Comment: Protracted and elevated due to excessive low
position of handlebar.

Head position L. R. Comment:

Knee position. Frontal plane deviation L. R. Comment:
very slight outward deviation.

From the Side:

Foot position in relation to pedal: Normal Foot
too backward L Foot too
forward

Knee position in relation to pedal: Normal Knee too backward Knee too forward+++

Saddle Height appears: Normal Too High slight Too Low

Handle Bar Height appears Normal Too High Too Low+++

Thoracic spine curvature Normal Excessive
Kyphosis Other

Neck Normal Hyperextended Other

Lumbar spine Normal Hyperlordosis Hypolordosis

Musculoskeletal Assessment Outcomes:

Flexibility:

a.
Hamstring: Normal Tight Hypermobile:.

b.
Calves: Normal Tight Hypermobile:

c.
Hip Flexors: Normal Tight Hypermobile: Iliacus+, psoas++

d.
Gluteal: Normal Tight Hypermobile:slight

e.
ITB: Normal Tight Hypermobile:

f.
Thoracic Spine Normal Tight Hypermobile

g.
Cervical Spine: Normal Tight Hypermobile

h.
Lumbar Spine Normal Tight Hypermobile:L3 T12-L1

Neural
Tension:

a.
Upper Body Normal Excessive
tension: Tenderness at
right infraspinatus tendon.

b.
Lower Body: Normal Excessive Tension: positive in hamstring. Possible adhesions to
sciatic nerve at hamstring.

Muscular
Control:

a.
Multifidus Control Normal Requires re-education Some excessive use of paraspinal muscles.

b.
Core stabilization: Normal Requires re-education Abdominal control is quite good, but need to
focus on gluteal control and activation.

c.
VMO control: Normal

Requires re-education. Initaites with lateral quadriceps muscles,
needs some vmo exercises to assist.

d.
Active Hip Extension: Normal Requires re-education Decreased gluteal activation on and off the
bike. Excessive paraspinal & hamstring muscle activation to compensate.

e.
Single leg squats: Normal Requires re-education Ankle ok, hip drop and medial knee deviation
left<R. Less stable in cycling than running position.

4. Knee: Normal Tight lateral structures Tenderness

Photographs:

·
Your torso is too arched, with
excessive kyphosis in the thoracic spine which would make it more difficult
to optimize your diaphragmatic breathing.

·
Inadequate pelvic tilt leading
to an arched back.

·
Shoulders are dropped downwards
from the upper back.

· Shrugging of the shoulders compressing neck tissue.

· Knees too close to upper chest, and too far over
bottom bracket increasing quadriceps contribution and not allowing adequate
gluteal activation.

· Wrists deviated, increasing tendon strain.

Before:

After:

Improved torso
lengthening over the top tube which reduces back muscle strain, improved
breathing and allows the body to be more stable on the bike

Better pelvic tilt
allowing the torso to reach forward and assists in improved gluteal
function.

Knees with less shearing
through the knee joint and a more muscle balanced position to allow all the
hip and leg muscles to activate correctly.

Physical Assessment Summary

Riding
position directly influences the power that can be produced by the athlete,
physiological efficiency and resistance caused by wind drag.

Pedal
technique + riding position = optimal cycling biomechanics.

Changes made:

1. Moved cleat on shoe forward

2. Moved saddle backward approx
60mm

3. Raised seatpost 10mm

4. Flipped over headstem to +17deg
to raise handlebar height.

5. Re-angled aero bar to approx 7-8
deg. Made aero pad wider to 200mm c-c

I moved your cleats on the left
side to a more stable position under the ‘ball of foot’. The ball of foot is a
more stable and rigid part of the foot to transfer power to the pedal.

Your position was much too far
forward over the bottom bracket. The forward position encourages you to utilize
more quadriceps and tensor fascia lata contribution to the pedal stroke, and
decreases your gluteal function. We have moved the saddle rearward to balance
the contribution of all cycling muscles throughout the pedal stroke, and to
discourage excessive hip flexor and psoas involvement. This forward position
but increasing tensor fascial lata contribution also increased the tension of
the ITB which you have an underlying problem.

Your gluteal muscles were in a
shortened position, which does not encourage the optimal length-tension
relationship of the muscle to produce optimal force. This is not only due to
the forward seat position, but also due to your inability to sit with enough
anterior pelvic tilt. This position also encourages you to overuse your hamstring
muscles. I would like for you to focus on not initiating the hip extension with
the hamstring and paraspinal muscles, but rather the gluteus maximus muscle.

In order to help you to better use
the right gluteal muscle, it is important to keep the muscles at the front of
the hip relaxed.

I have already provided some
gluteal activation exercises. It is very important to ‘activate’ the muscles
correctly before undertaking a strengthening program.

Your forward position and probably
habit is to over-activate the long back muscles called the paraspinals. These
overwork and become tired. By stretching your position over the bottom bracket
and encouraging better gluteal function you should find you can relax these
muscle better.

Please look at improving the vmo muscle
which is on the inside of the knee. This will help to stabilize the knee and
assist the gluteus maximus to activate.

Your left gluteus medius was quite
weak. This links into why your knee moves during single leg squats and
contributes to the tight ITB which is likely to become a problem in the future
if left unresolved.

Please also note that we found a
tender tendon on the infraspinatus at the back of the shoulder. This is likely
to be from your swimming and can cause shoulder injury. This was on the right
side.

Finally:

Bike position is an ongoing
process, as your core stabilization and muscle flexibility and function improve
we can further fine-tune your position.

Please keep in contact about your
new position, any aches or concerns. We may need to make adjustments. Your new
position puts you into a ‘neutral’ position within the limits of your body. Any
change to seat, handlebar, or feet will effect every other part of your body,
so take care if you change anything yourself.

Happy cycling!

Elissa Whittington

SKY BLUE BIKES
No 4 Bonham Strand West
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
+852 9669 5037
elissawh@yahoo.co.uk

AAE - Sprint Tung Chung

2011-04-04T16:27:00.005+08:00

"Watch out for sharp barnacles." - AAE Newsletter, (You've been warned - it will turn out bloody :)

facebook photos

The run was going really well for the first 2.8km. I could see the lead pack and under 4:10/km pace. Then the little 20m swim caused a lot of grief. I thought free style would be better, but with no goggles; I became blinded by the water.. I came hard on the other side and hit the concrete stuff forcefully. Apparently there were a lot of barnacles and it ripped into my middle finger. I was bleeding profusely and 200m later I grabbed an Action Asia danger red/white ribbon (now really red) off a post to help stop the bleeding. It would require another 2.6km before I could get assistance since the gully provided little support. Once I arrived to the Tung Chung Road, the bleeding still wasn't stopping so I decided to have the volunteer call for help. Finally the medic team arrived and patched me up. GO! GO! GO! A starcraft was waiting for me up at the ascent...

I decided that I could still finish the race and not be last. So, it was 230m ascent to the top and back down. I passed a lot of people.. It's great because now they will have some video/pictures for their individual accomplishment. This blog after all is for all the Jogger Joe's and Jogger Jane's of the world. It wouldn't be not Action/Adventure racing without some blood. It's important to have the right equipment on this type of terrain. I did have gloves, but they were bike glove. I know I should be more careful on the 'ocean jump and swim to shore'...

Overall	Name	Finish time	Category
1	Clement Dumont	1:05:51	M 30-34
2	Cosmo Richards	1:10:21	M 35-39
3	Mark Western	1:11:18	M 45-49
4	Jeremy Ritcey	1:12:25	M 35-39
5	Seth Fischer	1:13:38	M 35-39
153	Joel LaBelle	2:03:40 (01:36:11 garmin)	M 40-44

Ironman Singapore 70.3

2011-03-24T13:05:00.021+08:00

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

AAE - Sprint Repulse Bay

2011-02-28T08:19:00.006+08:00

I'm very happy that my fitness has increased over the last half year. I was able to quickly recover from the Standard Charter Marathon to run a quick adventure sprint the following week.

Being that I've been so busy wearing Vibram Five Fingers, I forgot where I put my Solomon trail running shoes :( I eventually had to grab my Nike flat road shoes. Not the wisest pre-race setup. But, I certainly won't wear barefoot technology on an Action Sprint. You'll see why after seeing the videos.

Pictures: Facebook

Official Results

Finish	Name	Place
1:10:27	Clemant Dumont	1
1:14:10	Safrey Sumping	2
1:15:22	Jeremy Ritcey	3
1:16:16	Mark Western	4
1:39:00	Joel LaBelle	40
3:30:08	YAU LAI SHUN	235

Standard Charter Hong Kong FULL Marathon

2011-02-21T08:44:00.021+08:00

So, I have a video of half marathon start. Figure out where you are, if it took longer than the song I recorded, sorry. Try next year to get there at the start on time.

Pre Start
I woke up actually pretty early. It was around 3:30AM in the morning. After consuming oatmeal and water, I headed toward the starting line. It's actually pretty cool to be 1km from the starting line. The police were doing their last preparation and I headed toward Nathan Road realizing that the half marathon would start in about 10 minutes. I climbed up on the divider and recorded the start start of the Half Marathon Challenge starting at 5:45AM. I appologize if you can't find yourself. It's pretty dark where I was standing. It is actually pretty cool to have 6,000 runners come dashing at you.

Start
This is my first time running with Vibram Five Fingers on full marathon smooth road surface distance at a very high energy output, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This year I was much closer to the start which helped shave a few seconds off the initial kilometer of bottleneck. But, man - was it packed. I felt like a sardine.

If you find yourself, send me a facebook message and i'll grab the picture for you. You must state which video and exact time. Thanks

Highlights
Okay, I personally don't want to hash out every kilometer because seriously, it's a road, highway, bridges and tunnels, quite mundane. So here are the highlights:

Last Year (Cushioned Shoes)	This Year (VFF)	KM
00:23:02	00:22:00	05
00:46:21	00:44:49	10
01:39:46	01:39:30	21.1
02:28:05	02:28:11	30
03:41:53	03:41:19	42.2

Last year in cushioned shoes -
Avg Run Cadence: 87 spm
Max Run Cadence: 94 spm
...
Avg HR: 166 bpm

This year in VFF -
Avg Run Cadence: 98 spm
Max Run Cadence: 107 spm

Avg HR: 167 bpm

Last Year (Cushioned Shoes)	This Year (VFF)	Best/Worst
00:04:20- 1km	00:04:12 - 1km	Best KM
00:04:30- 2km	00:04:13 - 6km	2nd Best KM
00:05:03 - 12km	00:05:02 - 8km	Over 5:00/km
00:06:18 - 36km	00:06:08 - 35km	Over 6:00/km
00:07:03 - 39km	None	Over 7:00/km

Start: very very crowded
5km: need to pee, see others run for the bush
27km: spent 2:38 minutes at toilet :(. Next year definately sub 3:30.
32km: muscle spasm, consumed salt tablet
35km: hitting over 6:00/km :(
42.2km: hold hands crossing finishing line with Hyun Chang Chung.

Lastly, Out of 10s of thousand runners, I made the media again! Now that's twice in a row.

look at 1:21 in the video...
hk.applevideo.nextmedia.com

HKTriA Duathlon #1 - Run 5k, Bike 28k, Run 5k

2011-02-01T09:49:00.003+08:00

check out my facebook pictures of the race.

VFF vs Cushioned shoes for a duathlon? You be the judge. Being an amateur gives me freedom to experiment. So, here is my 'crazy' idea and well.. just watch the video. It might not be so crazy when you are looking for that extra edge. I, unfortunately, need to work on a lot more than shoe transition.

Pre-Race
I had my usually breakfast of oatmeal and whey powder.

I'm not sure if riding 22km before a race is such a good idea. Well, in the long term it has to be and that is where my focus really is since the next big race is Ironman Singapore 70.3.

Run #1
Not too much I can really say about running around a circle 3 times... except I went hard and stayed close to the lead pack. The Vibram Five Fingers KSO work best on this type of surface, or possibly VFF Bikila which I haven't tried. My first 2k were under 4:00/km, which I'm pretty happy with since I just came off of running a 100km in Vibram Five Fingers KSOTrek. I wish they measure the course more accurately. Garmin says 5.12 and I know the start sign was a good 5-10 meters from where we actually started.

Bike
I really need to work more on the bike. I know I am not strong enough to stay with the pack, but - anyways, to get closer would make me feel happy. I felt a little tired at the end. I really don't like the 14x cornering. I easily lose the pack when I have to grind away at the crank to get back up to speed.

Run #2
I think overall, the run was just okay. I'm happy I stayed below 5:00/km. I don't recall passing too many runners in my group and somewhat disappointed when I saw people 1 or 2 laps in front of me from the initial run meaning - I have to work more on the bike. When do I have time??

Overall feeling
As you can see - I rocked the 'transition'. Every bit counts! It's good to think differently and spark a revolution. I will take some time off and go skiing. Hope I will be good to go for the Hong Kong Standard Charter Full Marathon... See you then!!

Race Result
01:49:38 AG 40-49 13/30
Overall 69/162

Vibram Prize goes to

2011-01-26T11:23:00.001+08:00

As a jogger, I felt like this would be a great way to contribute to the amateur runners in Hong Kong. The heat, humidity, and hills make it a tough place to run. But, if you do it enough, the body will adapt. So, I took it upon myself to create an internet campaign. The idea is that I would video people while I jog and then later find photos of them on the course. This is very time consuming, although I know those who found their photos where no photographer would dare to go would enjoy the picture. Since facebook is social, I went ahead and made a contest based on the fact that I would be jogging in Vibram around 200km in a month. So, after uploading the pictures, racers would then tagged themself or a friend, they would be part of the lucky draw. So, the Vibram shoes were sponsored by Escapade Sports only if I finished the race and I decided to give them away. I hope the winners appreciate the pain I had to go through for their gain. I believe one thought or one action can start a revolution!
So, here is my revolution and the winner is...