Just Keep TRI-ing

12 May 2017 Dukhan triathlon is always popular and the one that can't be missed by any triathletes in Qatar. The venue is amazing and always well organised. I was so looking forward for this race because it will be my first race with my new club MAD Triathlon. The race 3 of the series was originally scheduled in March. However it had to be postponed due to the crazy weather to May. It was very windy and the organiser did not want to take any risk on the health and safety of the participants which is fair to me. The problem now is the heat in May. Swim I have worked on my swim quite a bit with coach Isora for several months now and I am starting to see some improvements. Being the last race of the season, there were about 200 athletes lining up the beach at the start of the swim. Big for an event in Qatar. I positioned myself on the second row straight opposite the buoy. It was a normal chaos at the start but I somehow did not panic...

20 January 2017 This was hands down my favourite Olympic distance triathlon so far. Not only because I did my PB (unintentionally), but mostly because it was a local event where I had my family and friends involved either competing or spectating. I wasn't planning to race in this event considering it was announced very late and I was about to start training for a marathon in April, but since this was a local race, I was obliged to participate and lend my support. I even managed to convinced Malaysia's national triathlete, Riki Shinozuka and Bahrain's Abdulla Attiya to come and join the pro athletes which include Olivier Goddart and Olympian Lawrence Faynous in this inaugural race. Took Riki for a spin at Losail Circuit The swim took place in the sheltered Museum of Islamic Art bay while the bike course was along the beautiful Doha Corniche before finishing with the run in the lush MIA park. There is only one word to describe th...

Here are the top Malaysian finishers in Ironman Malaysia 2016. Mohd Amran reclaimed his title from 2014 after DNF in 2015. Great job everyone. IRONMAN MALAYSIA 2016 (TOP MALAYSIAN MALE) RANK NAME AG TIME 1 Mohd Amran A. Ghani M35-39 10:09:04 2 Rupert Chen M30-34 10:31:29 3 Mohamad Allie Helmi Sabtu M35-39 10:56:31 4 Muhamad Rafik A. Raof M25-29 11:38:19 5 Benjamin Chew M30-34 11:48:33 6 Choo Wooi Sing M35-39 11:49:10 7 Kevin Siah M30-34 11:52:53 8 Lim Chee Yong M18-24 11:57:18 9 Eugene Lee M30-34 11:58:34 10 Muhammad Hafiz Wong Abdullah M40-44 12:00:11 11 Julius Lim M40-44 12:07:52 12 Afiq Syazwan Mohd Shahru M30-34 12:12:38 13 Wong Kee Kwang M40-44 12:19:31 14 Mohd Sayuti Mohd Zahit M30-34 12:25:10 15 Ooi Sin Hoo M40-44 1...

This race was in my bucket list for a long time. It is known for being one of the fastest courses in Europe, great atmosphere and very well organized. What's more, my old friend Joost from DBRC lives just outside of Rotterdam. I badly need a PB in marathon so I put triathlon on hold for three months and focus on running.   I was targeting a sub 3:30 but could not hold the effort after half marathon. But I did get a PB by 1 minute. I did what I came here to do, so no complain.   The race was perfect. I cannot find any flaws to it. I would encourage anyone to do this race. The city is fantastic, and very easy to get to from Amsterdam by rail. I also took the opportunity to visit beautiful cities of Den Haag and Deflt after the race.      

6 January 2017 The second ITT was held at the Ceremonial Road. I have only ridden once since Bahrain and really was not fit for a race. I just did it to earn some points for Royal Air Maroc Championship. It was really windy and with Ceremonial Road, you will have a long stretch of both the tailwind and headwind. I was planning to ride slightly above my FTP at 160w but could only managed 157w average for the 18 km time trial. I was happy with my effort considering I the non existence of training I did in the last month. My 33:08 timing put me in the 9th place of my category. Result HERE You cant hope for a result if you have not done anything to earn it.   

Bahrain 10 December 2016 D-2 This was my second half distance race in Bahrain after Challenge Bahrain 2014. The race was held on the same course more or less. I went to Bahrain with my mates from PSY Tribuddies, QA_tri and Triclub Doha. It was a big contingent from Doha. With Triclub Doha Contingent  We went to the Bahrain International Circuit in the evening for registration and supporting our friend, Yeen who ran the Irongirl race while the 3M (Myra, Maqeeel and Mishel) did the Iron kids. It was great to see that everyone in Aizal and Yeen's family got involved while supporting their daddy. Maybe I should do the same when my kids are a little bit older. The best thing about this Irongirl and Ironkids race in Bahrain was the presence of many top triathletes in the world (most of them are a member of the Bahrain Endurance 13 team) supporting the event. It was a fun evening for everyone especially...

Sprint Distance  Started the day with a bad swim. I forgot how to swim in a wetsuit since it was my first wetsuit swim since April. I also had major sighting problem and ended swimming 200m longer than I should.  My pace was 2:12/100m. I knew the swim was bad but I didn't expect it to be that horrible. As a comparison I swam much faster in Oman and the last DWS Triathlon. Both sub 2:00 and non wetsuit. I was beaten by pretty much everyone including those who usually swim much slower than me.  I tried to recover on the bike but I can't seem to produce enough power to ride close to my FTP especially in headwinds.   I guess my race was over 10 km into the bike. There's no point pushing myself to the limit and risk getting injured one week before IM70.3 Bahrain. I backed off and continued the race without any urgency and just enjoying what's left of the race. The run was just a protocol. I took the opportunity to focus on correcting my form foot strike. I hope I can repl...