Daily Log 18 June 2011 - How can lightning strike a person twice in a day? Hoohathlon pre-race prep

DAILY LOG 18 JUNE 2011 PRE RACE PREP - HOOHATHLON Tomorrow is the Hoohathlon which is a mini sprint triathlon organised by hooha.asia. It's got all the trimming of a proper triathlon and it's touted as a fun triathlon. This will be my first ever triathlon and regardless of how short it is, it gives me a chance to put all these months of hard work to a test. The Hoohathlon comprises of a 150m swim, a 10km bike and ends with a 5km run. I am used to doing brick workouts of 20km and 5km so I am not expecting any drama for those 2. The swim though only 150m is something I;m really looking forward to. Since the triathlon clinic earlier in the month I have really put in a lot of attention on swimming and despite the numerous setbacks in my swimming, I know that I will be able to get through it. I am not really putting any time for the swim portion though I would be happy to get it done in under 10 minutes. If I face significant challenges in the freestyle I can always revert to the breastroke. We have checked in at the Putrajaya Pullman Hotel which is fantastic as the race venue is literally 1 3 minute walk away.

SWIM Went for a short swim in the hotel pool just to get warm up the arms. Tomorrow I'm going to focus on long smooth strokes and I'm not going to rush it. Slow and steady is the order of the day. Once I get past the swimming then I can let it rip.

BIKE After the swim, we went for a bike ride around Putrajaya. It's actually my first time on the highways and believe it or not, I had a great time on the bike. Finished 10km in about 30 minutes and that was with very easy pedalling. Unfortunately disaster struck as we had a flat tyre. Luckily for me, I had bought a spare tyre tube and some Co2 catridges and had gotten some instructions on how to change the tube. I managed to change the tube quite easily and things were going well until it was time to use the CO2 cartridge (which I didn't ask for instructions on how to use- I saw that it came with written instructions and thought I was going to just read it). How difficult is it to use the thing? As it turns out, not knowing how to use it was a disaster. I had to figure how to use the damn thing (well figure out maybe not be right word. More like guess how to use it). I guessed quite well and the tyre got inflated but I didn't know how to get the thing off my tyre. After much pulling and twisting I managed to get the thing out but the air had gotten out and the tube was flat again. Had to use the second cartridge and this time I guessed wrongly. None of the CO2 went into the tube and instead just horrifically dissipated into the air. Managed to get back to the hotel (the bike went into the car which we had to go get) in one piece and I started to use the pump to inflate the tyre. Shock horror. The second tube was also punctured. Sigh. Having one flat tyre maybe is something that any cyclist needs to get used to but two in the space of 1 hour? Who says lightning doesn't strike twice. Anyway, a friend is bringing another tube tomorrow so all is not lost. I'm glad all these things happen tonight. It would have been worse if it happened during the race.

So, I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me.