This is my opening triathlon race for the 2011 season. Kenyir was the place where I started my 1st triathlon last 2 years. So here I am again doing triathlon here. The famous Kenyir triathlon’s tag line : “Malaysia’s toughest triathlon race”.

Breakfast stop at Gambang RnR on the way to Kenyir (photo by Julie)

Went there by car pool in Julie’s car, Hancik (Rusfarizal) on Saturday(9/4/2011) 5.30am. Arrived at Kenyir Lake Resort & Spa at 11.15am. Checked-in, registered & went for a delicious ikan patin lunch Heavy rain started to pour.

A unique way to do election campaign, somewhere near Ajil, Terengganu

The rain stop for a while in the evening, that’s when we took the chance to try swimming at the swim course. The water was quite warm, and a nice swim we had.

Ready for tomorrow action! Notice my racing number sticker, so hard to stick it neatly

After the dinner & race briefing, we prepared our race essentials for tomorrow morning. And the rain still pouring heavily. Wondering how the weather will be tomorrow morning.

As I wake up tomorrow, it’s still raining. Wow!!! This is gonna be a tough race!

There’s a bit delay on the race start because of the bad weather. Mr. Chan, the race director announced that there’s a stranded lorry, blocking half side of the road on the bike course. Waiting the confirmation from the police whether the road is safe or not, or else, it will be just swim and run only After a while, the police confirmed it safe to cycle there, then the race started at sharp 8.30am, in heavy rain. Yeahhhh!!! This is gonna be an exciting race!

With Jaja & Hancik, while waiting for the race to start (photo by Ah Yim)

The race is about to start. Notice the heavy rain. Everybody are shivering in the cold!

The usual chaos of the swim start

Started with a cold body, fear to get cramp in the water during swimming. but it all went well…
Quite a chaotic swim start as there were lotsa 1st timers. Kick and slap here and there, there’s also a panic women hold my hand tight as she struggle to float, i lead her to the buoy. Finished the swim in about 38mins.

Quenching my thirst after the 1.5km swim (photo by Ah Yim)

I really like the cycling course. It’s a new route this year. Its a rolling course. Except for a one long (about 800m long) steep uphill climb. I managed to crank just 3/4 of the climb, then push the bike laaa the remaining climb Very mental challenging! I loike!!! hahaha …

It was still raining heavily during the bike course. Some part of the road was covered with water and small rocks that are dangerous to the small bike tires. Have to be careful for not to puncture my tires this time.

Clocked about 1 hr 40 mins for the bike course.

The running course also has a slight change this time, and i love it!!! Mentally & physically challenging! Lotsa steep hill climb.
The best part of the running course was we get to run on the road on top of the Kenyir dam. The view from the top was very nice, a beautiful panoramic scene of the man-made lake. Stunning! I wish i had a camera that time…

The finishing line getting closer and closer. Suddenly heard somebody shouted my name, a familiar voice. Its Julie, “Go Fairul go!! Sprint to the finishing line, beat the other two triathlete!” hehehe. I took that challenge. I sprinted to the finishing line, side by side. I win!!! hahaha yeahhh!!! No laa… i won the sprint to the finishing line only

All in all, it was a great triathlon race. Clocked 3hrs 20mins (unofficial timing), probably a new PB for me! A new experience for me, doing a race in heavy rain from the start till the end. Nice experience i must say. The cold weather helps too for not getting too tired.

Alhamdulillah, i survived another triathlon in my life. 6th triathlon done! And Alhamdulillah i managed to overcome the fear to get cramp because of the cold weather.

A view of Lake Kenyir from my room, it's raining heavily

Another view of Lake Kenyir

• I highly recommend the Lake Kenyir Resort & Spa as an accommodation option if u are having holiday here. Nice, spacious & cozy room, big bathroom, nice lake view. For more info, click here>>

• My two other triathlete friends, Julie & Hancik are first time doing Kenyir triathlon. Glad to know that they enjoyed the race so much! They even did their PBs! Congrats guys!!! Extra congratulations to Julie also for the 6th placing in her age group, entitled her cash prize of RM400! Happy to tag along & carpool with them, and be the unofficial tour guide for them.. hehehe

• A friend of us, Ajis has DNFed the triathlon. He got panicked during early stage of the swim. He was pushed, kicked & swam over by faster swimmers as he started the swim at the front row. He felt can’t make it through the swim anymore.

The new course map

• After lunch on saturday, we surveyed the cycling route, according to my last 2 years experience racing here. But the route seems impossible to race as the road was too badly damaged. Potholes here and there. We decided that it will not be the bike course this time. Later on the nite at the race briefing, mr Chan showed the new race course. Phewww…

• We had a great lunch at Jeti Pengkalan Gawi. The “Ikan Patin” there was tasty & so fresh. Highly recommended! And after the race on our way back to KL, we reward ourselves with “Ikan Patin” again. This time was at Temerloh RnR that is famous with “Ikan Patin”. Slurppppppp!!! RM12 damaged

• It took nearly 6hours to get to Kenyir (with half an hour breakfast stop)

• Not much photo taken this time because of the wet weather, not dare to take out my camera phone to snap pix

 

Kenyir mission accomplished, had lunch, tired, loads of satisfaction.. time to sleep. See ya again next year, Kenyir (paparazzo: Julie)

Click to enlarge

Look at my T1 timing. 5:30 minutes? Hahaha. I took my own sweet time before starting my bike. Lepak2, drinking 100+ & even i managed to pass my camera to my cameraman. Rileks giler…!

Congratulation to all other participants too!!!

The tagline says "Malaysia's toughest triathlon race"

Tahun lepas, aku decided nak masuk triathlon tahun ni (2009). Dan Kenyir Triathlon menjadi medan pertama aku utk menguji kemampuan triathlon aku. Ramai pro kata Kenyir adalah triathlon yg plg mencabar di Malaysia. Dah ler Olympic Distance jer yg ada. Kalu aku lepas yg ni, bererti triathlon yg lain takde masalah utk aku masuk. Well, itu tak menjadi batu penghalang utk aku masuk Kenyir Triathlon ni. Aku terus register online di http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/. Once dah register, aku dah ada komitmen & ada semangat sket nak training.

Bas ke Kenyir

11mlm 27/3/2009, aku bertolak ke Kenyir dgn bas di Pasar Rakyat. Basikal aku simpan bawah bas. Bas berenti pertama kali di RnR Temerloh. Aku pekene teh tarik kejap. Next stop di Bukit Besi, Dungun. Next berenti sembahyang Subuh di mana ntah lokasi nyer. Sejuk betul cuaca pagi tu, berkabus. Dah ler aku demam, flu. Risau juga aku takut flu ni teruk, tak dpt aku berlumba. Aku mkn ubat flu utk legakan. So far ok, bleh kawal lagi.

Bas sampai di Kenyir tepat pukul 7am. Kami semua turun utk breakfast. Aku kenal sorang member baru, Syukor & membernya. Dia takde bilik. So aku offer diorang stay sebilik ngan aku since aku dok sorang. Amik gambar Tasik Kenyir sket & naik bas semula pegi ke hotel.

Pemandangan pagi Tasik Kenyir yg menenangkan

Cari ketenangan jap sblm race esok

Check-in & lepak2 kat bilik. Kul 1pm pegi register kat lobi. Ramai gak muka familiar. Brother yg selalu jaga gerai Powerbar tegur aku. Dia pon bukak gerai Powerbar kat situ gak. Surprise dia tgk aku ada kat sini. Aku kata, 1st time, nak try2. Hehhee.

Lake Kenyir Resort & Spa entrance

Siap ada banner utk peserta triathlon lagi. Ni yg semangat nih

Chalet tempat aku beradu

Ingatkan petang tu nak pegi swimming di swimming pool hotel ngan roommate aku. Tp hujan selebat2nya plak. Tido jer ler kat bilik. Esok jer ler berenang di tasik kenyir terus.

Penulis bergambar dgn bunting Kenyir Triathlon

Race number aku, 212

Mlm tu kul 7.30pm, ada “Carbo-loading dinner”. Eat all you can. Aku belasah mkn cukup2. Bagi menyahut kempen Earth Hour, jam 8.30pm organizer tutup lampu dewan, tp tutup seminit jer laa supaya tak menggangu perjalanan majlis. Syabas pihak organizer kerana turut serta dlm kempen Earth Hour. Lepas makan, Mr. Chan memberikan race briefing kepada semua. Terkejut aku bila dia kata cut-off time 3jam. Iskkk. Bleh ker aku buat? Tp tu hanya sekadar target time jer. Supaya race tak drag lama2 sgt.

Carbo-loading dinner

Mr Chan memberikan race briefing selepas dinner

Lepas briefing, balik bilik utk prepare brg2 utk race esok. Tri-suit, goggle, swim cap, running shoes & lain2. Malam tu bancuh air isotonik siap2. Kul 11.30pm masuk tido.

Tgh malam tu aku terjaga sbb tiba2 betis kiri aku crammed. Pergh.. Apahal laa tiba2 crammed ni. Takde mimpi takde apa2 tiba2 crammed. Maybe mlm tu sejuk sgt. Dah ler luar baru lepas hujan. Dlm bilik pasang aircond lagi.

Pagi esok 5.30am aku dah bangun. Mandi & siap2. Solat subuh. Kul 6.15am aku & Syukor terus gerak ke tempat permulaan race. Caya tak caya, aku org first sampai di tempat tu. Hehehe.. punya ler tak sabar agaknyer. Aku juga ler org first yg buat body marking. Lepas tu aku pegi setup tempat transition aku. Pastu pegi melantak Powerbar plak. Then, pegi amik gambar sekeliling tempat permulaan.

Bike & brg2 dah di susun di transition area

Peserta2 lain sedang bersedia. Meriah betul

Tempat race bermula. Amacam, ada berani?

Aku agak excited kali ni, takde rasa gelabah & takut pon. Tak seperti full-marathon pertama aku di Penang Int. Marathon 2008 yg lepas. Kali ni lebih tenang. Malah rasa tak sabar nak start triathlon pertama aku.

Swim – 1.5km

Beberapa minit sblm start, peserta dibenarkan turun ke tasik utk warm-up. Aku pun turut serta warm-up utk swimming. Dalam jugak aku tgk. Tak nampak dasar. Tp tu tak menggentarkan aku.

Tepat 8.00am, race pon bermula. Macam tak caya jer aku dah nak start triathlon aku. Betul ker apa yg aku buat nih? hahaha.. Ahhhh.. dah berbulan aku training, semuanya tu utk detik & ketika ini laaa.. Jebushhh.. Aku pon masuk dlm air & memulakan renangan.

Just look at how chaotic it was. How to swim like this (photo courtesy of ivie - http://ivieong.multiply.com/)

Perghhh.. aku agak terkejut dgn suasana di atas air. Chaotic. Aku hilang arah, hilang rentak, hilang masa. Semua jadi tak tentu arah. Keadaan terlalu sesak. Pukul sana sini, tarik sana sini. Aku berenang mcm2 kuak dah, hehehe. Lama jugak keadaan camni. At least 250m yg pertama masih kelam kabut. 250m yg kedua, keadaan lega sket. Bleh aku berenang freestyle mcm biasa. Tp kene tengok2 depan jugak takut berlaga lagi. Sesekala aku berlaga jugak ngan float kecik penanda trek ditengah2 tu. Aku tak ingat ntah berapa kali betis aku crammed dlm air tu. Aku cuba recover balik dgn meluruskan kaki, & teruskan renangan. Dalam pusingan kedua, pada 250m kedua, aku bleh tersasar dr trek. Tengah syiok2 swim, tiba2 aku tak nampak peserta lain. Aku stop & tengok keliling. Rupanya aku dah hanyut keluar dari trek, makin ke tengah Tasik Kenyir. Aku cepat2 ubah haluan aku. Takde plak aku tgk penyelamat jaga kat situ. Tinggal lagi 100m nak habis swim, kaki kanan aku plak crammed. Kali ni memang sakit giler punya. Aku tak bleh tahan, aku berpaut pada float. Aku cepat2 recover balik, pastu teruskan renangan bila dah ok sket. Aku naik dan toleh belakang. Ada ler dlm 20 org lagi perenang yg tinggal. Aku terus lari terhoyong-hayang mcm org mabuk ke T1. heehhehe.

Bike – 40km

Penulis semasa di T1, bersedia utk mengayuh

Permulaan kayuhan

Mengayuh mendaki bukit yg pertama. Tak jauh lepas ni laa aku cram lagi... huhuhu

Aku tengok byk lagi bike. Perenang yg tinggal tak lebih 20. Mana yg lain. Maybe ada yg surrender masa renang kot. T1 lebih kurang 3 minit kot. Aku agak jer. Bukit yg pertama masa bike ni aku dah surrender. Punya laa tonggek bukit ni, aku tak bleh tahan. Kaki aku crammed lagi. Aku turun dari bike & cuba recover kaki yg crammed ni. Perghhh. Gilers aaa.. race yg penuh ngan cram. Aku pon teruskan menolak bike aku sampai puncak bukit. Sambung semula kayuhan aku. Pastu, aku melalui the first & the fastest downhill. Kelajuan yg aku catat 71.4km/h. Plg laju dalam sejarah tunggangan basikal aku seumur hidup. Sib baik aku tak buat style superman jer. Kalu tak mau terbang.

Bike section ini melalui jalan naik turun bukit. Memang azab aku dibuatnya. Selepas 7km mengayuh, aku berselisih ngan peserta paling depan dah patah balik. Laju betul dia ni. Berdesup. Aku teruskan kayuhan. Ada satu bukit tu, jauh betul dakiannya. Aku cuba laa dptkan momentum. Tp akhirnya aku lost momentum kat tengah, kayuhan terus jadi acara tolak basikal. Huhuhu. Jauh plak tu aku menolak. Ader ler dlm 300m. Rugi masa dah tuuu. Dlm masa lebih kurang 1:10, aku sampai u-turn. Sedut Power-gel aku, minum air 2 gelas & teruskan kayuhan pulang ke T2.

Perjalanan pulang ni lebih laju dan lebih byk turun bukit. Tp bila tiba naik bukit jer, aku tak laju gak. Maklumler battery dah low, dah banyak guna masa mendaki tadi. Nak dekat sampai T2, aku terpaksa menempuh bukit yg aku turun laju giler tadi. Bukit ni mmg tak bleh blah aaa. Aku tengok semua pelari2 pon jalan jer kat sini. Aku pon apa lagi, menolak ler basikal aku. Maklumler battery dah ciput. Jauh gak menolak, dlm 300m. Bukit ni lagi tonggek. Sakit pinggang aku menolak. Aku sampai di T2 dlm masa 2:05 kot. Aku tak berapa ingat.

Run – 10km

Cuaca amat panas. T2 aku tak sampai 2 minit. Aku minum segelas di water station lepas T2. Teruskan larian. Larian di Kenyir pon melalui jalan berbukit2. Lagi byk dr bukit2 di larian2 di KL. Mula2 larian jer dah naik bukit. Kaki aku dah tak bleh nak langkah besar2. Rasa sakit cram tadi masih ada. Aku tak bleh nak push lebih2, takut cram lagi. Larian kali ni berjarak 10km. Kene buat 2 loop melepasi sebelah finishing line. So org2 yg dah habiskan race & crowd yg menyokong bleh nampak laaa kalu ko baru nak start lari. Sib baik aku pakai cap. Bleh cover sket muka ni.

Larian di Kenyir ni mmg bukit tak hingat. Kalu tak naik bukit, turun bukit. Jalan yg mendatar hanya 1 atau 2 tempat shj. Setiap loop kene collect 1 ribbon. Tak byk yg aku bleh citer pasal larian ni. Cuma sakit hati bukit yg melampau2 tonggeknyer mencecah 45 darjah.

Setelah lebih kurang 3:45 akhirnya, aku berjaya tamatkan race. Sampai jer finishing line, aku dikalungkan finisher’s medal. Kaki rasa nak cram. Tp aku terus berjalan tak henti2 nak elak cram. Cara yg aku buat tu berjaya & kaki aku dah tak sakit lepas tu… Legaaa. Kalu tak kene lepak medic tent.

Muka puas hati & penuh bangga, hidung pon kembang

Lepak2 minum milo, 100+, mkn tembikai & pisang. Mejar Kalam sempat ucap tahniah kat aku sbb berjaya habis 1st triathlon aku. Thanks Mejar atas tips & support yg diberikan! Lepas tu balik terus ke hotel, mandi & kemas siap2 sbb bas nak bertolak kul 3pm.

Bergambar bersama rakan2 triathlete yg lain. Semuanya budak2 lagi. Aku paling muda.

Mr Richard Habeya turut mengambil bahagian acara relay.

Alhamdulillah. Impian aku tercapai. Aku adalah seorang TRIATHLETE skrg. Thanks kpd mereka yg memberi moral support kpd aku, especially my wife. Without you, i don’t have any idea that i’m gonna do this. Alang, Halil & all the Slowmovers team, mak abah aku, member2 opis. The rest, you know who you are. I dedicate this victory to all of you.

See ya in the next triathlon!!!

I’ll do the report later. Too busy to do the report today.

This time, I will go there alone, without my wife & the usual Slowmovers family. All of the participants are strangers to me. I dunno anyone of them. I wanna make friends with them, I have to. I wanna be in the triathlete circle. Yeahhh!!! 5 days to go, the training still going on, but in a slow pace. It’s time for tapering before the race day.

Time to packing up my stuff for Kenyir. Swimming goggles, tri-suit, swimming suit, swimming cap, running shoes(also will be use during cycling, I don’t have cycling shoes ), socks, cycling helmet, … hmmm… what else.

Some race info from the organizer’s website(http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/):

Race Details:
Venue : Kenyir Lake, Terengganu
Date : 29-Mar-2009
Type : Triathlon Olympic Distance

Race Format:
Triathlon Olympic Distance
Swim : 1.5 KM
Bike : 40.0 KM
Run : 10.0 KM

Will update later.