New Balance Aquathlon Challenge

It has been a very cool and wonderful Sunday today, with the rains coming down at around noon and lasting till the early evening before it finally ceased. I was out hiking with 2 friends from Bt Timah to MacRitchie in the morning. The 2 of them had wanted to come and cheer me on for my race at Sentosa yesterday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they did not come! Sigh! There were some miscommunications and all because of some 'non-fated' timings, a friend ended up spending her whole day at home! AIYE! I had wanted so much to spend time at Sentosa after the race!
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Now for the New Balance Aquathlon Challenge report:

I don't know why they would call it the aquathlon, when it's actually a biathlon. The same distance as an Olympic distance biathlon of 1.5km swim and 10km run. I arrived at Sentosa at about 10am, and then took the bus to Siloso Beach and reached there at only about 1020am. We were told to report at 930am. The queue for registration was quite long, but I had no choice! It was pretty fast though. 15mins. I saw the group of runners from sgrunners.com forum and would join them after I got my race pack and had my body marked.

The flag-off time for my wave was at 12.15pm! Under the hot afternoon sun! I walked over to the shelter where the runners had gathered and Sukaimi, the guy who started the website and is the host, waved and I was introduced to some other runners. It was fun having a group there, since I joined the biathlon in March alone. I had written about it in my blog before that it would be great if u have a group of like-minded friends whom u could participate in such events together.

Well, got my stuff out and went to change into my swimsuit and when I came back, Eric, a runner from the forum, told me that there was an announcement that my wave seemed to have been moved up by 2 slots, which means that we would be flagging at 1145am instead. Geez. It was already 11 then and I had yet to get myself prepared yet! Yikes! Started to get a bit panicky. The group then decided to shift to a shady place out in the open under a tree. Off we went.

I then took out the stuff I needed and went to my box in the transition area to place them there. Darn, forgot my sunshades. Walked back to get it. Then I decided to eat a banana although it was nearly 1130 already. I did not feel hungry, hence only ate 1 banana out of the 2 I brought there and did not eat my muesli bar too. Was feeling a wee-bit panicky.

There was quite a bit of confusion as I asked fellow women participants if it was confirmed flag off at 1145 or 1215. Nobody was sure. We just had to hang around and not go too far incase they call for you to assemble on the sands for the final briefing. Geez. That means I got to really warm up soon!

Finally, I made my way down to the flag-off area and we were told that it would be a wet start which means we got to swim to the middle of the 'sea' and then thread water before official flag-off. We asked the race director when is our flag-off and he said it's not time yet and that we are actually ahead of time. Being the good-humoured him and knowing the girls who actually asked him, no one actually complained about the confusion caused earlier. Well, we just have to wait.

2 other waves were flagged off before us. The dark clouds were rolling in before we started. They were just above us and gave a somewhat ominous feeling(actually all dark clouds do). We flagged off and I felt good, simply swam as I would in the swimming pool during my own trainings. In fact, I thought I felt too relaxed, because this was after all, a race! Shouldn't I be swimming a bit faster?

The raindrops began pattering down hard and furious on the surface of the waters. While u're swimming, u would not feel it so much as the underwater would be relatively calm and Sentosa being such a protected cove, would not experience strong waves from the open ocean.

It was a very interesting experience, swimming in the midst of a biathlon event while raining so hard. We got to get onto the shore to u-turn for our 2nd lap(there was a total of 4laps in all) and when I turned around, an angmoh lady behind me exclaimed, "it's so surreal!" Guess what I answered? "Yeah!" with an exclamation mark!

To a girl who loves the seas and Nature and watching dark clouds tumbling into the clear sky before a storm, it was indeed a fantastic experience. What's more, there was no tall building obstructing your view on Sentosa. I had a good view of the clouds before starting the race.

Alas! Thunder and lightning accompanied the rain. Someone tapped on my shoulder and I thought the swimmer beside me was in trouble. I turned and it was another angmoh lady(or was it the same person?). She said, "We got to turn back. They are asking us to turn back." I threaded water for a while, apparently reluctant to do so. Whistles were blown and I saw swimmers already making their way back to the shore. Sigh! I had no choice but to concede.

As I was walking up shore, I started a small talk with another swimmer whom I found out later was actually another runner who's active in the sgrunners' forum. She joked about refunds and said there would be none. I mentioned it was a disappointment. However, they might just continue the race after the rain stopped. She said they should have just let us continued. Reckoned that I have already swam about 450m, taking about 13mins. Geez. I could only console myself by treating it as a warm-up. It was quite a disappointment.

My bag was in the shelter as the other runners had grabbed everyone's stuff and brought them into the shelter. All the participants were in the shelter and some are eating, some reading, some playing cards, some simply waiting for the rain to stop. I chatted with some other runners and we hoped that the sky would close its floodgates soon.

I went to the transition area to pick up my stuff. The towel I left there to wipe my feet dry, my running top and shorts were all wet! Luckily my shoes and socks were dry as they were covered by my run gear.

At about 1pm, the rain stopped! There were still dark clouds in the far distance and Penguin (this other runner on the forum and one of the participant in the Women's Open) and I were worried that it might just rain again halfway through the swim. They announced the reopening of the race officially and the 'Women's Open' flag-off would commence 1st. Ah!

Guess it must be the excitement before the race, and the adrenalin rush during the swim. I felt all right during the 2nd flag-off, but as I swam on, I could feel that I was not as strong as the 1st round. Just continue swimming as per normal, I told myself. You're already here, just enjoy the moment.

I gulped down 3 big mouthfuls of seawater during this 2nd leg, especially after the Men's Open flagged off after us in 15-20 minutes? time. Whoa! There were 1 or 2 guys that actually overtook me! Waves were created as they charged their way through. Geez. And we poor girls got to suffer. Penguin also had her share of seawater after the guys took to the water.

My left shoulder felt a tinge of tightness as I neared the end of my swim. It's an old problem: Muscle spasms. I have not had it for a long time during swimming. But it occurred during the Milk Run when I did not warm up properly and pushed myself too hard during the end of the run. It's an old injury, if u might put it that way. Dated back to the Judo days.

I got onto the shore and immediately knew that I was not going to have a good run. I did not feel strong at all, like I felt during the Navy Biathlon. Some kids splashed water at me. It would be better if we could just help ourselves to the water. Ran to my box, struggled with my tee. My head went into the arm hole instead! Thus, the number tag was detached at the side sue to the violent tug. I ran the whole 10km with the number tag flapping in the air at times. :p

It was a 2 round run, with various water points along the way. I had taken a large mouthful of my 100PLUS that I froze the night before. Grabbed the fluids at 2 waterpoints, 1 for H20 and the other for plain water. Hard to drink while u?re running. Slowed down and took 1-2 sips, that's all.

Stitches in abdomen set in. They got tighter and more painful. Breathing in deep helps a bit, but too tight for them to cease. Could be the excessive amounts of seawater I gulped down earlier, or simply just tired muscles from lack of proper warm up. The stitches were the tightest during the middle of the run and towards the end when they came back. My left shoulder also 'spasmed'. Darn. This has not occurred for a long, long time! The one at Milk Run was a slight one. Yesterday?s one was quite bad. The pain spread to the entire left upper region. Needless to say, my left shoulder is feeling rather tight today.

Throughout the run, because it was a loop thing, I met the other runners several times all in all. Sukaimi did the relay with his boss and he was obviously the runner. Everytime I ran past him, he would cheer me on. I saw Penguin, Jesse, Balasing and Eric as well. Only waved to Penguin and Balasing. Jesse and Eric did not see me.

As the stitches set in again towards the end of the run, my legs were struggling with the lactic acid that was forming fast too. It was quite a battle, having to will myself to forget the pain in my abdomen and my legs to forget the tiredness. It has been a long time ever since I did such a hard run.

I actually ran past the route which was supposed to lead me to the end point! I ended up at the turn-about where there were officials taking down your number to make sure u passed through the checkpoints. Gee! They asked for my number and I shouted '520' and said 'Finished!' they then said that the finish point is the other route! I turned around, ran on some grass patches and across a puddle of water and then to the end point! Sharks. Took me an extra 1 minute or so. Darn.

I was handed a bottle of ice-cold H2O and my finisher's medal upon reaching the end point. Returned them the race chip and allowed myself to catch my breath before I walked over to join Sukaimi who was standing at the end-point cheering other runners on.

Actually I did not feel very breathless, just pain in my abdomen and legs! ARGH! The fact that I could still go hiking this morning with my friends says a lot about my body. In the past, if I were to feel such pain during exercise, I can be very sure that I would wake up the next morning to horrible muscle aches. But now today. The recovery time for my body has been reduced so much, probably due to the intake of proper isotonic drinks or simply cuz my body is so much stronger now!

We actually waited for the other runners to finish their runs and then made our way back to the shelter where we left our bags. Showered and then met up with the last few of us who were left there. Jesse and I were the only girls left and Sukaimi then offered to ferry all the 6 of us out to HarbourFront in his Honda Jazz! Haha! Jesse sat on my lap and the back seat squeezed 5 of us. It's quite weird, cuz I hardly know them. But all of them are nice people.

4 of the guys made their way in Sukaimi's car to Mount Faber to collect their race packs for next week's Army Half Marathon (Sheares Bridge Run). These people are damn on man! Some of them still had a run at 730 this morning! The Mizuno Wave Run!

I had a hard time deciding what to eat. I was not feeling hungry, but bloated instead. Due to the stitches I experienced. Settled down for good-old Subway in the end. Read a book and chill there for an hour plus, bfore Penguin came along after she collected her pack at Mt Faber! She sat down with me and we chatted. Btw, we did not plan to meet beforehand. It just so happened that she decided to grab a sandwich before going home cuz she was so hungry!

Made my way home at about 630pm. That more or less concludes the day for me. Would love to have chill at Sentosa after the race though. :)
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U would have funny thoughts about feeling stupid having paid money to come and torture yourself when u're going through a rough patch anytime in the race. That's what happened to me. I was so afraid that I might puke or just blacked out, for the stitches were very bad! My legs were aching very much too! And the sun was shining down on me on the stretches when we had to run along the beach. (It was fortunate that the rain cooled down the weather and the route itself was quite shady actually.) I had thoughts of giving myself a BIG break after the race and not take part in anymore for the weeks to come. HOWEVER, just like how my friends who trekked would put it, "Everytime u're at the summit, u would be planning for the next peak to climb, although u might be cursing and swearing during the climb up!" Hah! Such is the irony of Man! It's also the demonstration of one's love for the sport/hobby. I have landed in such a predicament too!

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I have pushed myself that much. 1:32:42. The timing on my watch. The actual timings are not out on the website yet. I could have done better, but I'm satisfied. Another milestone. I have proved to myself that I can do a biathlon even though I have already started working.



"Running is many things to me: survival, calmness, euphoria, solitude. It is proof of my corporeal existence, my ability to control my movement through space if not time, and the obedience, however temporary, of my body to my will...I'm flying now, that golden feeling, as if I could run right into the air, and I'm invincible, nothing can stop me.."
*Excerpt from The Time Traveler's Wife*