Races

Finally found some time to post something on my blog! It has been quite a while since the last time I had some personal time to myself.

Quite a few things happened since the last time I blogged. (Oh btw, I figured that to stay out of trouble with my workplace, I won't be blogging about work or bitch about my work online!! haha)

Did the Malaysia Powerman in Nov. It was a tough race. Hot and humid. They didn't give out isotonic drinks and the distance was darn accurate (quite abnormal for Msia races...hehe) - means I had to run every bit of the 21km and cycle the full 64km. Pushed myself to finish within the cut-off time of 5 hours. Came in at 4:55 eventually. Was totally exhausted and felt my fingers starting to go numb. Went to lie down for a while but that didn't help. Was lying there for 2-3 hours and things got worse! People started coming and check out what was happening to me...was grateful for those who kept massaging my legs. The cramps were really bad and my whole body went into spasm. They couldn't do much and was afraid that I was going into a heat stroke, so they evacuated me and sent me to the local A&E. The doctor put me on IV drip immediately. Amazingly, my cramps got better by the minute! When the drip was done, I could stand on my feet and walk out of the A&E (barefooted...)! Amazing!!!

Anyway, Swee said that I lost too much salt and didn't replenish enough. It was a painful lesson but an important one too cos' Stan Chart was coming and I didn't want to screw that up.

Stan Chart's just over. It was surprisingly much better than I expected. Swee had prep-ed me for a 6:30min/km pace but I played it safe with a 7-8min/km pace, with the target of coming in by 5hr 30min. At 4:50, I hit the 38km mark and started calculating the pace that I could go at with 4km to go, so I started walking!!! Swee wasn't too happy about the walking bit... :D But I figured that since I could hit 5:30 with a bit of walk in between...might as well just enjoy the last bit of my marathon. My final chip time - 5:25:09. Haha...quite happy with my timing despite feeling a little guilty for walking.

Swee said that she'll start gearing me up again for Stan Chart Hong Kong (I'm only doing the half marathon!) in Jan 09. Arghhhh!!!! The thought of having to do intervals again gives me the LS feeling!!!!

The amazing thing about the SCM - I had no cramps, no stitches, no knee pain, no ankle pain, and I didn't even need a knee guard!!! Swee must have done something very right with our training... :)

Now I'm thinking about the races to do next year. Contemplating the Busselton Ironman in Dec 09. That would mean that I need a new bike and arghhh......the training starts all over again!!! X_X