This morning, the husband asked a very thought-provoking question.

On the scale of 1 to 10, how did you rank yesterday's race - with 10 being the most pain you've ever felt in your life?

I had a think about it carefully and decided it ranked a 5 or 6 on the pain scale. It definitely feels a bit of an anti-climax now that it's over and I can't help but ask myself: "Was that it?!"

I guess in hindsight I can't help but feel as if I ought to have done a lot better. But in a lot of ways, I suppose, yesterday's race was all about self discovery. I now know what to expect in a race that's part-endurance, part-speed. Prior to this, I was either doing little sprints or long drawn out races, where any speed above 'conversation' speed was considered too fast. I knew I wasn't supposed to be going 'balls to the wall' yesterday, as Hubba terms it, but I definitely felt a little bit more might have been better.



I must say I was pretty chuffed about the swim. Those few sessions with Trifam must have really helped - I was totally surprised when I got out of the water the same time as 2 athletes I respect greatly, but I proceeded to take ages in transition dealing with a stitch. Hubba and Hansel came up to me whilst I put on my shoes and helmet: Hubba gave me a mini pep talk and handed me a bottle to rehydrate with, while Hansel gave me a few words of encouragement. As I ran out of the transition area in my bike shoes, I could feel the patella tendonitis creeping in... Already?!?! I thought. Uh oh. Ignore it.

Once I clipped myself in, I was off. I usually try maintaining 29 to 30km/hr during a sprint, but I decided that would totally kill my legs this time for double the distance. So I was keeping a 27km/hr pace for a bit - But Aquaman aka Chi cheered me on with a 'Go Janice, pace yourself!' and my immediate thought was, you know what he's right. I'm not going to be able to run if I keep this up. I was definitely getting tired. The cross winds on the way back were crazy and I felt like I was being blown about quite a bit. My speed was dropping big time and by the 4th lap, I knew I was at the stage where I couldn't wait to get off the bike.

Less than 1km into the run and my knee totally acted up. Not fun. But I remembered Papa Smurf's advice about keeping a steady shuffle and not trying to go all out and ruin it. The strengthening I've been doing definitely helped, coz I managed to find a pace and get into a rhythm where the pain was definitely still noticeable but yet bearable. It was at this pace that I plodded along, not oblivious to the participants who passed me by. But a work contact once told me to live to race another day, so I stuck to the mantra as I contnued the run.

Stopped to stride quite a bit when the pain got a little overbearing.. I gave my ITB a good ol' stretch once or twice as well. That's when Shemboy passed me and I figured my time was getting a little ridiculous. I turned the last corner and decided to give the homerun a good enough shot. Hella Good came on and all hell - in my head - broke loose.

I upped the pace and ran the final 2.5km back to the finish line.

Like I said earlier, I'm definitely feel like I should have given it a bit more. I didn't suffer as much as before and I think that's where I feel like I've shortchanged the race.

Still, I guess you never really know in your first one and that's where you know you need to sign up for a second one. The husband's brought the challenge up to another level - The Half Ironman. I'm definitely feeling the itch, but I sure as hell know the run is where I need the most work. And a half marathon at the end of a triathlon is just a little bit much for my left patella to handle at this moment in time. But the gauntlet has definitely been laid down and I feel a sense of duty in taking it up... Let's just get a few more triathlons out of the way before I come to that, alright darling?

Speaking of the devil, the husband did very well on his race yesterday and came in 5th in 2:29:45 - a definite improvement on his time last year. He never fails to amaze me... And I always come out of the event feeling a hundred times prouder to be Mrs Fang than ever before.


my hero

A quick comment about the OSIM Singapore International Triathlon 2006: It was one of the friendliest races I've ever been in. I expected the participants to be all pro and unfriendly, but I've never met a more encouraging bunch. Everytime my knee acted up, some kind soul would come along and give me a few words of encouragement or a pat on the back to keep going. Really great stuff, and really renews my faith in my fellow sports and countrymen once again =)

Special thanks must go to Debs, Andrea and Sehsuan who helped capture moments that we would have otherwise been unable to capture on our own now that both the husband and I are racing the same race. Thanks, especially to Debs, for dragging herself out to watch the race in the blazing hot sun. I'm sorry but you've been branded by the triathlon!


from the organisers..