Reminiscing IM

This year, not attempting =) Its actually a very tempting race, a race against yourself. Looking back into previous IM, it is definitely a measure on how well you have prepared. Its actually not the race that I will remember most, but its actually the journey towards it. How much discipline you put into, how much sacrifice, & the love of doing so. How well you have trained, how well you have prepared & etc. Those doing it this year, all the best & outdo yourself. Training has been done, its now the time to flaunt what you have got. Butterflies in the stomach? That will just make you sail through the race. Being nervous is one good sign that you care & looking forward to really do your best. Even me, I was actually not quite prepared attempting Ironman last year. I just did it =)

My first IM attempt, back in year 2004, when I was just merely a uni student. Credit given to Peter for persuading me, Christina & Alex for accompanying me, Faisal & Kuluq for being extremely understanding in my involvement for this race. Training were divided into 2, weekdays & weekends. During weekends, I would join Peter's group if I'm back in KL for long rides, Christina, Alex & Cheng would be the loyal cyclist. We always do the KL - Sepang route. Believe or not, no long runs were done then. Apparently the leader dislikes running =) I just followed blindly their plan. Long swims were favourable too. This point of time, my tri-time was terrible as I always come after tri-women aged 35 above in our geng.

Weekdays, I would be stranded in UTP, Tronoh. There; occasionally i rode Tronoh - Ipoh; swim; then bike back. Again, only short runs done. I was also actively involved in adventure races with my uni team back then. Once, i ditched my team to focus on IM instead of going for adventure race , which i regret later on. Faisal & Kuluq also did some long distance MTB ride together, Tronoh - Ulu Kenas; Tronoh - Ulu Licin; Tronoh - Lata Kinjang & many more. We gather few of us, the group is usually 20 below. Though it was more picnic style rather than training, it did help me alot. I finally finished my IM just 30 mins before cut off time. Official time; 16hrs 30mins. I had Christina to pace me during my last leg; the painfully slow marathon. Thanks to her, I managed. At that time, I was lucky to be the only Malaysian woman doing it, hence some amount of money was rewarded. That, was used to contra my entrance fee back then.

The second IM was much later, in 2009. This time, more studies have been done. I had some sort of structured training. IM training this time is more balanced, with longer & slower distance. I guess, i need to do much more to reach a competitive level. However, I only could target to finish with a better timing. Hence all training were done on longer hour, w/o speed involved. I really enjoyed LSD training =) Joined a few groups for long ride; especially the Le Tuangers =) Did some solo rides as well, and once did managed to ride KL-Cameron-KL. Early runs started at 5.30am itself, some times nite training ends at 9.30pm. I had regular 9-5 office hours. I knew running would take the largest portion to train for this race. I think i went abit insane. Nearing IM, i guessed i did something not right during training & my biking did not turn out as I used to ride earlier training phase. However, it was one satisfying race as timing turn out to be much better, 13:34. The weather helped alot too.

As the IM heat is hitting now, i share the anxiety, the passion, & the eagerness for all those attempting IM this year. Hope for the best for all & outdo yourself. When we look back, the journey & race is as important. "Tukang citer nak cakap senang.. nak buat yg susah.. hehe.."