Ironman Putrajaya 70.3 - Pre Race

Took the late evening flight to Kuala Lumpur last night and now staying at a friend's place in Cyberjaya, which is about 10 mins car ride to Putrajaya.

Went to the Pullman Hotel in Putrajaya this morning to register and pick up my race pack. The place was very quiet as most of the athletes have done theirs yesterday, including the race briefing and carbo loading dinner.

The swim start. It's a man-made lake. Looks amazing and the water looks reasonably clean.

The Swim Finish area with the showers

T1 - still empty in the morning

Start and End of the bike leg

Came back in the afternoon to Check-in my bike

Bike being checked by the technician from bike boutique - he is also a Top Malaysian Triathlete (Wong Ah Thiam)

Racking my bike

Just making sure everything is running properly

Met my Ironman friend Zulhassan for the first time at the swim area.

Did a few minutes of swimming. The water was ok, clean but murky, couldn't really see anything in the water. The swim route was properly marked, but only with small buoys, which are quite hard to sight when you are swimming.

This is my first time to Putrajaya and I'm quite amazed with the place. The area is just amazing with all the infrastructure, sceneries and buildings. Looking forward to the bike leg tomorrow as the road looks smooth and fast. I just hope it won't get too hot.

I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow as I know I'm not really well prepared in terms of my fitness, as my training slowed down during the fasting month. I'm just gonna try my best and go with the flow. I don't think I'll be able to beat my time in Singapore last March.

But.. you never know, a miracle might happen.. AMIN.. (just being optimistic)

Good Luck to all my friends who are competing tomorrow. All the best!!!!

Ironman Langkawi 2010

New Game Plan

Due to the H1N1 pandemic and the government’s directive to restrict travelling overseas, I have cancelled my 2 weeks holiday, which was supposed to be for the Ironman Putrajaya and Desaru.

With these, I’ve had to come up with a new game plan.

I’m still going to do the Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya in October, which I hope will still go on and on the same date as postponed to, as I have managed to change the dates on my ticket without any extra charges.This new date will be about 2 weeks after Hari Raya.

I just hope I can keep the rhythm in my training during Ramadan and during the Hari Raya festivities. I know it would be a real challenge, especially swimming as I can only swim after breaking the fast. I'll need to start looking for a swimming pool that would be open in the evening during Ramadan, as all the public swimming pools are usually closed for the whole month.

Since my friends Hamsul and Zaki have bought their tickets and registered for this race, I’ve decided to do the same.

The flight to KK is just less than an hour from Brunei and I managed to buy the tickets for B$37. The registration fee for the 42K marathon is RM70 (early bird), which is considered very reasonable compared to other races overseas. It’s a good bargain for an overseas race.

And considering how well it was organised last year, and the route being quite friendly (no hills), I would certainly recommend this Marathon.

Will try my best to beat my time last year (3hrs 32mins).

Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya - POSTPONED!!!!!!