I've came across the Tri-factor series from general word of mouth & recommendations online and was convinced to give it a shot.
I've decided to enter the sprint category of race as I felt that it would be a better suited to my current fitness level. It also feels a lot safer as the swimming component is done in open water where you cannot screw up in the sea, otherwise it's gg.
The sprint category of the triathlon consists of a 750m swim, 18km bike ride and a 5km run. Essentially, everything is ½ of an actual full Olympic distance race.
As I've registered on the 21st of June this year, I had about 7 weeks to train for the actual event and approximately a month left to the swim trial, which is a necessary 'test' for all first timers to show their swimming competency.
Training
I don't exactly intend to follow any sophisticated training plan. Keeping it simple is probably the way to go for me. It'll probably involve 1 run, bike and swim session every week in between my usual gym sessions.
Cost
Triathlons can be pretty costly for a poor bloke like me. Here is the general breakdown:
1. Event registration - $99 (standard price for sprint distance, missed the early bird price)
2. Swim trial registration - $10
3. Tri-suit - ~$100 inclu. shipping (ordered a Pearl Izumi online)
4. Road bike + helmet rental - $80 (If you were to buy one for yourself, it would cost approximately $1k for a decent entry level bike)
Total : ~$289, which is almost 2-3x the cost of a full marathon.
Swim Trial
Headed down to East Coast Park, took attendance and was given a swim cap. The cut-off timing the guy gave was 20 minutes for a 600m swim which was quite manageable.
It was actually my first time swimming 'proper' in the sea. People tend to overstate the difficulty of swimming open water (does this make them look better? Idk), but it's just basically watching out for a few extra things if you've trained at a conventional swimming pool before:
1. Slow assholes rushing in first, thinking that they're hot shit, then blocking you after when you need to overtake them.
2. Lower visibility due to murky Sg waters
3. Need to correct your direction more as the current may pull you along with it.
Overall, I still feel that if your general conditioning is there, it should be fine as long as you swim sensibly.
Race Pack Collection
The collection date for the race pack spanned from the 29th to the 30th of July at Velocity, Novena Square mall. Surprisingly, unlike the other mass 'marathon' kind of runs like Stan Chart, Sundown or 2XU, there was literally no queue when I arrived. (I went on the 30th, which was a Sunday)
Race Pack Collection Booth
I was surprisingly pleased that I was there and out in like minutes. The staff were very helpful in briefing me on the start timings and the various kinds of tags that were to go around my wrists, bike helmet or attire during the different phases of the race.
The race pack is essentially a black draw-string bag, with the essential number tags, stickers, swim cap, energy gels, promotional items and brochures from the various sponsors.
Race Pack Contents
Bought an extra berry flavor energy bar and citrus gel just in case. The intention is to consume them during the transitional phases, so that my body doesn't crash on the actual day itself.
Looking forward to the actual race day. So far, I've been keeping up with my training and progress has been rather satisfactory. 1 week more to showtime!
Race Day
Reached East Coast Park approximately 2 hours earlier from my flag off time. Idled around the beach for awhile before heading over to the transition area to set all my stuff up.
Transition Area
My Gear
I tried to organise everything as neatly as possible as the space allocated to you was a little narrow. Arranged my shoes, energy gel, towel and water bottle from bottom to top so that it would be slightly easier for me to get my stuff during the transition phases.
15mins prior to the start, I stretched and prepped myself mentally, before heading into the 'starting pit' at the beach, where people were pushed off in waves, based on their event type, denoted by their number tags.
The Swim
After the horn, everyone was in a mad rush to get into the sea (as expected). The swim actually felt longer than I thought it would, with the usual dose of people kicking/blocking you, but it's just something that everyone has to deal with.
Compared to the swim trial, the swim out is a lot further, which means that somehow if you get stuck, your gonna be having some problems lol.
Managed to complete the swim leg in approximately 28mins, which was good as I was aiming for a time that was <30mins, so everything was on track thus far.
The Bike Leg
I dried my feet off with the towel that I had prepared at the transition area, before putting on my socks, shoes, number tag and helmet. Proceeded on to grab my bike to begin my laps around ECP.
As I normally train with a mountain bike, I was kinda appalled at how riding a road bike (mines a rental btw) felt so much easier. (Feels like using hacks to me)
Due to the weight difference between a road and mountain bike, I really felt like I was 'flying'. It was a lot easier to go faster and it felt GOOD. Despite being a little worn out from the swim before, the adrenaline kept me going.
The Run
This part sucked for me. I was quite 'punctured' when I got back from the bike leg and only had 1 packet of energy gel before.
I believe that I only ran the first and last quarter. Walked the middle half of it.
Regardless, the view was nice and it was already quite crowded around. There were even people BBQ-ing close to the trial, which tempted me for sure, but you just gotta suck it up and throd along.
--
Finished with a time of 2h 6min. Really wanted to do it <2hours, but the run screwed me good.
Collected my finisher medal and found a nice spot under some big ass trees to catch my breath.
That's a wrap!
Had a nice post-race lunch at the nearby food village - pineapple rice and a chilled coconut drink, before taking an uber home.
Overall, it was quite a delightful event and I'm glad that I got to experience what a triathlon is like.
Doing all swim, bike and run simultaneously may seem daunting and troublesome to do at first, but tbh, anyone could probably do it so long as your willing to take the time to train and do all the necessary prep work. I'd recommend that you give it a shot!
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