Saturday, April 28, 2012

Koh Samui Long Distance triathlon

HOT, HOT and HOTTER

We all new when signing up for the Koh Sumai Long distance triathlon it would be a hot one, much hotter and humid than Hawaii. Conditions more reminiscent of the later Ironman China. There where a few other "local" issues to deal with also, such as the dogs, motorbikes and cars.

Up until race week when out training I was thinking the ride could be very interesting but the organisers did a much better job in controlling the traffic than I thought would occur. You still had to be super careful with cars but we basically had one blocked off lane to ourselves, saying that I did have one super close encounter, that had me fishtailing past about 20cm past the edge of a scooter.

Back to the race, a 4k non wetsuit swim two lap swim. I had a boomer start, was with the lead group of 4 until the 300m mark, then my arms exploded, I got real hot in the 30-32 degree water and started going backwards, the second group came past and I could only hang with them until the 1k mark before dropping some feet. I then ended up swimming with Armando and Justin for the remainder.

Out on to the 120k bike and the plan was for a steady ride and hopefully get to the run in good condition to be able to run through to a good finish position. I didn't feel the pace was too hot for the first 90k but then I really lost a lot of power in the last 30k. The 35degree + temps + high humidity had taken there toll.

Off on to the 30k run and I soon caught up to Guy Crawford, we where both out side the top 10 and feeling not to flash, so we jogged/walked for quite a few kilometers, drunk alot of ice cold coke at the aid stations and then about the 10k mark I got running properly again. Once I was going I was moving along quite well but the gaps to the guys in front where to big and I ended up rolling home for 11th place.

So I am reasonably happy with the race, after a short 4 week build up after a break following IMNZ and the conditions it was good to get through it relatively unscathed. Even though the ride home after (about 15k) took about 2hrs as I had a massive bonk and had to stop at the first restaurant I came across and guzzle down some food. I am looking forward to a good period of training and getting back to Challenge Roth and Copenhagen.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

Koh Samui Photos, resorts, dogs and bikes

So Candice and I have moved to the race hotel for the inaugural Samui Triathlon, we have basically went from 1 star to 5 star plus at the Hansar resort :)
I am also looking forward to racing on my new QuintanaRoo and Challenge Tubular tyres.  

Check out some photos below
Challenge Tri Tyre


New Roo at Nids

Big fish at Nids

After walk to town during new years

Nids Bungalows


Hansar Resort

Inside Hansar

View out room



Random dog asleep on restaurant table

Friday, April 13, 2012

Thailand - Koh Samui Triathlon

So I am writing this from my room at Nids Bungalows, Candice and I have been here two days getting ready to race in the inaugural Koh Samui International triathlon. Its raced over a distance I havent done before, a 4k non wetsuit swim, 120k bike or 1.5 laps of the island and then a 30k run. Gerald the orgainser also runs the Embrunman triathlon in France, which would have to be the toughest race around. He has put together a great prize purse, 30 thousand New Zealand dollars for the win and a super field is due to line up on the 22nd, Faris, Bockel, Brown, Farlow, Dellow, Zamora just to name a few are on the start list.

The training has been interesting compared to back in New Zealand, quite similar to what I experienced in the Phillipines. Its quite humid and hot, lots of scooters, quite a few dogs and some water buffalos to keep things interesting. Definetly no wetsuits here, as the water temperature must be 27 odd degrees.

Today is the start of Songkran, which is the Thai new years, which means one big water fight. We rode this afternoon but it was a little pointless, we probably covered 20k in about 1hr15min and got water bombed 1000+ times. Check out some photos below of what it is like