Batam Triathlon – race recap

Friday March 28th 2014
– Had late dinner in Pizza Hut Batam Centre and arrived back at the hotel much much later. I even slept on PH’s couch for a while to save energy. Pushed myself to bed around midnite. Both kiddos had fell to sleep already

Saturday, march 29th 2014

• woke up at 5’s something, reassured myself. This is it. No turn back 😀
• prepared both kiddos for breakfast at the lobby. Already prepare my bag for transition area and brought the bike along down hill…135 steps. Gee.
  A navy helped me and said “Sadel-nya kerendahan nih. Jangan lupa tinggiin”
• There were roti cane with curry served for breakfast, one of my favorite dish.  However to minimize any digest problem during the race I picked plain pancake, bunch of watermelon for hydrate purpose and tea with sugar. Sending both kiddos to 95A, where The Lubis and the Yuzars stayed. The kids would wait for parents during the race. it’s another uphill walk
• at 7.30 am, transition area were open. As I prepared my stuffs I forgot to bring two hydrococo which I had bought a day earlier. So i have to pickup those ready-to-go-drinks at the room, whiiichhhh another 135 anak tangga ke atas. ho’oh. PR banget kan! 

transition area

• After I had my 2 packs of hydrococo, I took a glimpse on  participants besides me, I was in doubt as I only had a bottle of water hanging on bike, tap water to wash my feet after swim, 600ml bottle of aqua (sealed was opened to save time), saltsticks, 2 bars of Snickers, gel Chomp. Then thinking to go back to room — ingat naik 135 anak tangga lagi — to bring the 2L of Aqua along. Akhirnya diambilin Dewi, karena dia ngga bawa swim cap yang disediakan panitia. in swim leg, participants should wear the cap provided by committee
• waiting, praying, taking pictures in beach. Son and bang Omar came to wish each mommies good luck :-*
• 8.30 am the race start. there I went, jumping to the sea to have my 750 swim leg. Asliiii, ketendang sana sini. Padahal sengaja paling belakang biar mgga ketendang. Mana air laut asin yaaaa. Menurut ngana…? 😀 
• while swimming, dengan dasar laut ngga kelihatan dan warna air gelap *scary yes?* bahahahahah, I checked my watch it said I’d complete 650m. But why oh why daratan masih jauh? Gw nyasar ternyata. So based on garmin, my swim leg was 900m
• out from the sea with bebeb and jurian. Jurian had  finished his race due to his back bone injury. At transition area, I put my pink singlet from Nike as cover. Plan to change swimming hijabs with one from raqtive.com, but I forgot. Consumed 2 salt sticks to prevent cramped legs. Had sip of hydrococo and water. Then off I go for a ride…in which, lupa ngelap kaki pake handuk. Jadilah kaki lembab -___- *Teheeee*
• the moment I jumped to my bike, that the very same moment we have to deal with tanjakan dan berbelok. Fortunately, sudah diingatkan untuk set gigi sepeda paling ringan (depan paling kecil, belakang paling besar)
• when i was still struggling in first km, I turn the racebelt with bib number to my back. Tapi pengait nomor bib-nya jatuh. Pret. Secara racebelt minjam Marion, ngga mungkin balik balik hilang satu komponennya. Walaupun tuh racebelt hadiah ultah dari gw #pamrih :p . Mau ngga mau turun dari sepeda, ngambil lagi tuh pengait yang gelinding
• Keluar dari area hotel, pas tanjakan mental gw sempat down. Gw liat bebeb turun nuntun sepeda, gw ikutin juga sampai track agak lebih ramah. There goes the hilly track.WOHOOOOO ….BIGWOHOOOOOO

• 

  hilly track at  Jalan Hang Lekir. Picture was taken a day earlier. We were forbidden to carry mobile phone during the race

• About 2-3 km, a marshal from Navy yell at me while cheering me up “sadel-nya kerendahan! Naikin dulu. Capek nanti kau”.
  Pret, Gw lupa naikin sadel
  Double Pret, I forgot to chew Chomp (kayak jelly gitu) for extra energy
• At km 10 or so, we made a U turn, I passed Ira and realize I was #3 among 8 female triathletes in Sprint Distance category.

• Few mins after this, I felt like I’d gain my speed back. The track wasn’t that hilly but still undulating. I was alone, no participant within my  sight. Literally in the middle of unfamiliar land with woods on both side of the road. I screamed to motivate myself. It was scary yet excited. There were no marshal, no km markers. I kept looking at my Garmin 11.2 , 12.7 km , 14.5 km… Reassured myself again, I can finish this. Sebelum lomba memang yang paling gw takutkan leg sepeda ini karena baru 3 bulanan ber-roadbike dan tracknya yang sulit buat pemula gw yang latihan di Bulevard doank.
• At km 15, Sari, being audax participant every here and there passed me. I was glad she did which mean I was in the right route 😀
• The route  was looping, we made final turn going back to the hotel. And of course another hilly track .Disini, gw tuntun lagi sepeda. 2x :D. I was tired
• Masuk area hotel, a marshal was talking over his handy talkie “female 007 masuk” . Gila berasa VVIP
• 

  about to finish bike leg

  going back to transition area means going downhill with sharp turn. Gw ngerem sekuat-kuatnya. Mind the speed, all I wanted to do is to finish this bike leg without falling of. And yes I did! Yay!

• Took another salt stick, chew Sniker, put on my running skirt as back  cover :D. There I went running walking. It was 10 am Batam time with 32 degrees celcius. Thank you very much!
• first km was hotel area, I passed 95A and the kiddos cheering me up. Rani was saying “bunda aku udah duluan…”
  Jahahahhaha
• running track was in golf course with undulating track. I passed a guy who works in Batam and saw me on start pen “ibu-ibu aja bisa ikutan triathlon ya mbak”. Nah tuh! He also reminds me that
  “Hati-hati suka ada ular melintas”. 
• after went out from golf track, finished line is literally just around the corner. I ran as fast as I could! Yay!!!!
• So there It goes!
  First triathlon race before 40 *checked*
  

  when was the last time you did something for the first time?

• Had both kiddos cheering me up *double check*
• Finish strong dan kayaknya keren *triple check* 😀

Fa-biayyi alaa’i Rabbi kuma tukadzdzi ban

my timing was 2:18, 42 mins before Cut Off Time.

 

PS : Sprint Distance category : 750m swin – 20 km bike – 5 km run

Olympic Distance category : 1,5 km swin – 40 km bike – 10 km run

More pics on Flickr!

swim leg

 

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