Ironman 2005
IMWA
I have always wanted to do an Ironman distance race since I started doing triathlons in 1990. The video footage that I got to see of Kona, Hawaii (the birth place of triathlon and now the official race site of world Iron championship) and the race report and the sheer distance of the race scared me off.
To swim 3.8km in the open sea, bike 180km with strong winds and heat and finally run a marathon was just daunting. I figured that I could always do it when I got older, when I had more experience and hopefully more money. I waited. Maybe I was just too scared to try to do it.
To celebrate my 36th birthday, my friends and clients came together and decided to give me a present, a kick-start to my Ironman dream. They passed the hat around (instigated by FATA) and collected about half of my entry fees and got the first millionaire among us to donate his air miles.
I was nursing an ITB and piformis muscle injury then. I was really unsure about training for the Ironman. Seeking treatment and doing all that I could, the injury was soon under control. In July, I signed up in July for the race. Along with it, I got into an online coaching program, told the people around me about it and committed myself to the training.
Getting to the starting line was hard. It was a daily struggle to fit everything in my schedule while being a youth pastor, coach, friend, daughter and Ironman triathlete wannabe. It was a daily struggle to get enough done at work so that I could train earlier, to train despite the weather, to work my diet and sleep hours into my training schedule.
You never race alone. Even the juggling around my training schedule would not have been successful if I were to do it alone. Friends helped ‘taxi’ me to and forth from bike training, students came to train with me before dawn, friends bought me meals and nagged me to make sure that I was training and resting.
By September, which was less than 3 months from the race, I was only done 80% of the workout and could hardly complete it as prescribed. I was really getting worried about the coming race. With my DNF (did not finish) due to a strain on my foot in Desaru Half Ironman in mid September, I was WORRIED. Then I was down with flu the week after and could only wait out my injury again.
Two months away from the race, I only have 4 weeks before the mandatory taper. I did all I could; 1 long bike of 130km with numerous stops, 21km long run and my longest 80km easy bike with 20km run. With that, I started my taper and countdown to IMWA.
I prepared for my race, emotional, physical and logistical. It went ok, and I got to the race with a borrowed bike box from Bike Butler, free accommodation in Perth, and a friend who traveled all the way there to support me (and who had to endure all the unpleasantness of traveling with not-too-friendly and gregarious athletes).
Race check in
I got down to Perth with my Singaporean friends, Esther and Sam, who did all the driving. However it was not too smooth sailing. We got the address of our accommodation wrong and unknowingly booked for rooms with shared toilets and showers. But the excitement of the race and the shopping at the expo got the better of us. Singapore will be proud of us. Between the 3 of us, we bought new race gear, back up warm gear food, wetsuit and even merchandise of the race.
At the carbo dinner, we met another triathlete from Gold Coast. Sharon is a 60-year-old cab driver, grandmother of 4 and 7th Ironman veteran who was sharing with us tips on nutrition and mental strategies for the race. Going to Ironman is also a very humbling experience. Back in Singapore, you were branded as mad. But here in Australia, the senior citizens made you look like a whim.
More nerves went in with all the preparation of the bike and gear for race day. It was 35 degrees in Perth, but it certainly did not feel like it here in the southern region of WA! It was 15 degrees in the morning and going to pee at night was a tough decision! We bought arm and leg warmers, wore beanie or lookalike most of the day and thought about what other cold weather gear we could use. Trash bags were certainly one of our more creative ideas.
The night before, we had cooked dinner at our trailer and had Mike and his family over for a simple meal of grilled meat with pita bread and salad. Then it started to raining at 8pm. Lightning and thunder accompanied the rain through the night. At 4am, there seemed to be no letting up, and the thought of the rain changing from triathlon to dualthlon (biathlon?) was constantly flashing across my mind.
The next day, when we got to the race site, the thunderstorm had persisted. Everyone was just anxious, but we still went ahead to prepare for the race. I also started preparing my bike, pumping up tires, checked in all my bags for different transitions. I then changed into my wetsuit. The race was delay for a half hour before the organizer that the race would go on! Yes!
It was cold! Even in my 5mm wetsuit, I was shivering uncontrollably. I could not wait for the final call to start. The town of Busselton tried to be the best host for the event by arranging for their flying club to perform aerial display, but all I could think of was the long long day ahead.
The swim was a swim around the longest wooden jetty in the world. The water was clear and calm during our training swim so we were just hoping for the best.
The gun went off, and we started our swim. The sea was choppy and many a times I was smashed by the waves and was swept a few meters off course. But the sea was really clear and I could see schools of fish swimming under me as I went around the jetty. It was a tough swim, but I got out ok at 1:28hr. I was feeling thirsty and worrying about my bike.
The first easy and short portion was then over. Next came the bike… The long bike ride… The volunteers were great at the changing marquee. They helped you pack and calmed you down.
The bike course was 3 laps of 60km on the freeway and highway around the town. There were cross wind, head wind and a bit of tailwind. We were leaning into the wind at some sections and grasping the handlebar with our lives to steer straight. I remembered Terry’s incident last year where he was swept off his bike when he took his hands off to drink, so I was extra careful and stopped completely to refill my jet stream (drinking system on the handlebar so that I didn’t need to take my hands off to drink).
Singaporean should never complain about our roads. It is baby smooth compared to the roads in OZ! The vibration was so bad that my speedometer could not read the magnet on my wheels accurately for quite a distance. I could feel a headache coming on.
The sun was out(???), and it was really one of the most beautiful day. However, the wind never left us. For most of the way, we had headwind and crosswind. I only felt the tailwind for less than 30km of the course. Coastal wind was nothing in comparison.
The aid stations were great, and my recovery plan was executed without a flaw. I peed 6 times in the portable, drank at least 4L of fluids, ate 8 powergel and 2 huge NZAC cookies. I stretched and aired my feet every opportunity I had. That would be at least 30mins of my race time spent on recovery, but you could never not take those times into consideration.
I got back without any foot or back pain in 7:01hrs and was dying to get to the run.
The transition was great. The volunteers helped me to whip down and put lots of sun block on me.
The run was a 2 lapper by the coast that runs into some residential area. By the time I was running, the sun was slowly setting. The orange hue over the sea was truly God’s doing, and then it started getting tougher by the minute.
I could still run but my foot was hurting. It hurt with the pounding from the run. I tried walking but I did not want to. I could still lift my legs to run but it was just the pressure place on my foot that was stopping me.
My remedy was to take off my shoes to walk on the road. That put different pressure points on my feet every time I came to the aid stations. I ate and drank lots since there was one aid station every 2km for the 42km course. I wobbled, and hobbled and jogged and walked my way back.
And the supporters for the whole race were great! Through the bike and run course, the strangers would look for your name from your race number and locate it on the list of competitors and they would shout, “498, Pek Ya Poon from Singapore ! GO Go!”
It was so encouraging to have these supporters especially when you knew that the winners had longed cross the line and gone off to clean up and rest. These people had never met you and would never after this race. They were there from 6am till late to cheer not just those who won, but also those who were just there to finish the race.
My last 1km was simply magical. It was dark, and I was running in my two-piece (I was really getting quite cold by then) and holding a glow stick. I had some pain, but I found strength to power home.
I am so thankful to God for sending friends to support me, people to cheer me on and for keeping me injury free to finish the race, and I enjoyed it! As I approached the chute, I could hear my name, and the crowds were cheering me on my last 200m. There were lights and music and kids wanting to high five you all the way in. I was only a finisher (I was 480 in the field of about 650 finishers), but they were there because they saw all of us as winners, and not just the first one who crossed the line.
"I want God, not my idea of God; I want my neighbour, not my idea of my neighbour; I want myself, not my idea of myself." C S Lewis
Ironman is one of the most grueling events in sports, and I think this is a claim that few will dispute. Yet it is one event that you can say everyone is a winner. Anyone, who steps on the starting line, has already has won 90% of his or her race. Preparation is harder than the race. Like all things you see, the finish is the result of much more work before it.
I want know the real me and the race was a channel for me to be pushed not just to my physical limits but a test of my patience as well. The preparation and the race show me things about God. It was a great experience and journey of self discovery and that I cannot be more thankful for.
