PD Tri Clinic

Took Megat to the PD tri clinic yesterday. I'll admit now that I haven't spent enough time training him for the race, only taking him out 3, sometimes 2 times a week, once for each discipline. His swimming has improved but his cycling is still so-so and his run pretty much doesn't exist.

Anyway, I took him to PD so that he can put all three disciplines together and see first-hand what a tri feels like. From there he would decide whether or not he wanted to go through with the actual race. It was to be a tough day for the young lad.

First off, he didn't get much sleep the night before. In fact, he didn't get any sleep at all. Then, we had to get up and meet Edwin at 5.15am. So it was a very early start following a very late night. So the trip down to PD was spent catching up on sleep.

When we got to PD, we went through the usual routine of setting up. You could see hew was a bit nervous. Can't blame him, really. It's his first open water swim. Luckily, the sea was calm, unlike the first PD tri clinic.

The whistle went off and we were off. I swam with Megat all the way. It wasn't long before we were dropped off the main pack. But Megat was a picture of determination. He soldiered on. At the first bouy, I asked him to hang on to the bouy to rest but he said, "No, let's keep going." So we went on. Midway through to the second bouy, he had to stop, so he was hanging on the ropes that formed the swim lane.

At the second bouy, we turned around, along with a few others. As we approached the beach, I asked him how he felt. So far so good, he said.

On to the bike. Now, here's something I'll need to work with him some more: his bike handling skills. He's still not very steady on the bike, weaving left and right on the road. At one point, he managed to weave all the way to the opposite lane! Not good. And he needs to learn to pedal a steady cadence. He would pedal furiously, then coast to rest. Pedal furiously, then coast.

We had a couple of wipeouts during the bike leg. As we turned the corner onto the kampung roads, there was a slippery patch, where a garbage truck had left some slime on the road. First victim was Randy, who immediately got up to warn the others of the slippery patch. Affter that, someone else took a slide and senn, who was right behind him, took avoiding action and went down on the slime.

In panic, I pulled up besde her and asked her if she was ok. Her reply, "The bike's ok!" I asked her again, "Are you ok?" Her reply: "The bike's ok." Finally, I said, "I don't care about the bike! Are YOU ok?" Finally he said, "Err... oh... Yeah, I'm ok!" Typical cyclist, more concerned about the bike than themselves!

Anyway, we went on cycling. I caught up with Megat again at about 7km and asked how he was doing. The lad was suffering. His balls had gone numb! Gotta do some more tweaks to his position, methinks. Or maybe get him to do the race in bike shorts.

As we got back to the marina, he had a little spill on the bike. His foot slipped off the pedal and he bike went down. Luckily, he managed to land on his feet, so no damage there, then.

He was so tired after the bike that he didn't want to run. I forced him to do it. How else was he going to see what race conditions would be like! So off we went. Before even the first km, he was already walking, complaining of pain in the shins. Now I know what this feels like, having gone through the same pain during the first clinic. I also know that if you brave through the pain, it'll go away. So we went through the next 4kms doing a run/walk. We would run the length of 3 lapmposts and then walk one.

We finally made it back, even doing a sprint to the "line". He was tired but he had gone through the whole thing, albeit with long transition times. And to top it off, he even won a prize during the lucky draw: free entry fee to the race!

Later on, I asked him if he was going to do the actual race. His reply: I already won the entry fee, it would be a waste not to go.

So, could we soon be seeing the making of a new triathlete? I hope so.