Seri Manjung...revisited

Returning to Seri Manjung was like years back when I kept on returning to Penang for the Mountainbike Jamboree. I think I frequent Penang for 5 years in a row to scale up Penang Hill on two wheels and descending the gorgeous singletracks with insanity. Now the path took a detour which started in 2007 when I first signed up for the Sprint Duathlon. The name was a deception. It was meant for the shorter distance duathlon for newbies and not a fast duathlon. I skipped 2008 which I don't remember why. Returned for the individual long distance in 2009 and got severely koyak-ed and burnt. For the last two days, I was with the bestest peeps for my second individual age category race.

I only managed to capture photos before and after for camarederie part. No photos in action and hoping for photos of me from fellow friends :)

Meet up point at R&R Sg Buloh.
L-R: Rahim, Azmar, Panjang, Det, Hancik, Bahri, Syeikh Jamil

We planned for an easy drive through the coastal way, so we met up early. Easily access from Sungai Buloh, the route took us through the gorgeous padi fields of Kuala Selangor - Tanjung Karang - Sekinchan - Sungai Besar - Sabak Bernam before entering Perak State. Too bad I was behind the steering wheel, or else I could've captured those awesome vastness of greens. Lunch at the Setiawan - Teluk Intan juncture with delicious ikan keli sambal all around the table. Was that coincidence or should we call it syncronization? Lol.

Shuk and Ziff focusing to the race briefing in calmness

Arrived safely at Seri Manjung for Ziff's bib collection and timing chip deposit. Weather was pretty much the Seri Manjung way. We need to get to our lodging and cool off for the noon. Thanks to CK and Jaja for hosting us with the magnificent shelter. It was splendid! We met the Snap-Attack team staying there as well and laze around before returning to Seri Manjung for the briefing. I was told that the biggest turn out this year reaching 950 participants!

Listening to Yusran's lambung about 2011 Berlin Marathon

From previous visits, the ikan gerut masak halia offered by M.I.B. just near to Outward Bounders School was simply irresistable for a post race dinner. And I think it was the safest menu before a race yet totally yummilicious! With sotong goreng tepung thrown in and sayur campur, everybody dug in with hands across the table sampai terbelit!

Peeps in starving mode. Last year same spot & time with slightly different faces.
Saiful, Nizam & Alwin replaced with Shuk, Ziff & Det.

Kumpulan Ekamatra, Teluk Batek Chapter

Main carboloading dish, ikan gerut masak halia (belum dihidang)

Men In Black (Medan Ikan Bakar daaa...)

When it comes to multisport, preparations were a bit tedious for a newbie like me - once a year only what. So the checklist was gone through a few times. The whole house was busy and of course lambung sessions were intertwined in between the havoc. Once in awhile, shouts from the Manchester United vs Aston Villa's game forced us to run down the stairs to join the suspense. Helmet, cycle shoes, run shoes, vest, short, shades, hydrations, gels, Vaseline, Banana Boat, Nuun, Camelbak, Rocktape, Spibelt, racebelt. You name it. We have almost everything from the triathlon shops.

Due to the hectic hour, we ended up hungry again. Thanks to me from a gentle lambung, everybody joined for a plate of maggi goreng and teh tarik at Lumut town for supper. We hit the sack almost mid night. It started to drizzle and stretched away till morning. Blessing for a perfect weather on race day? Aku terima se-ada nya.

Our lovely mysterious shelter *Twilight zone song playing

However, the night was not quite simple for me. Yes, Shazly did told us about a few mysterious happenings at night. I didn't expect that it happened on our welcoming night! Six of us in a room. Shuk slept alone downstairs since he didn't know about it. Hahaha! Well, those Twilight Zone thing happened from the minute I lay down until 4.00 a.m. Darn it! I missed my precious sleep. 4.30 a.m. alarm went off. With only 30 minutes of eyes shut, I have to obliged.

Drizzling was at the same intensity for the last few hours. I sensed a perfect race day and perhaps a PB for everyone. We stocked up our gears into/onto the cars and left for the Seri Manjung Stadium at 6.00 a.m. It was still dark and drizzling. Two toilet visits, no chance for warm up but sempat lagi cam whoring, suddenly I realised we were flagged off! Something different about this year's race, I have no jitters. Perhaps I don't expect too much. Perhaps I eased myself and relax for not wanting to repeat the same mistake. My plan was to easy peazy for the first 11km run, subtle effort on the bike and whack on the second 10km run. That's about doable kan? Hope so.

I started way back. Back behind Bahri. Behind CK. Laif and Adeline were also on the easy pace. Without much running lately prior to the race, I just stayed with the jog pace. It was still cold and pretty much a great moment to enjoy the run, while I still can. Considering breathing and pace were syncronized in perfect melody, I push the pace, slightly, at the second loop of the 5km lap - Gel 1 was swigged. An hour to complete was perhaps pushing my luck, so I decided to settle with 1:03.

T1 was a bit jumble up. Deciding to wear the Oakley or not took me 10 seconds already. Aiya! Because the weather was still overcast and no sun yet. Anyway, the best place was just to put it on considering other jumbles might come anytime into the race later. It took me awhile to get the right cadence and adjust the position but all was good as I sailed away towards the U-turn. Only a few meters after the the turn, I did my only mistake. I shifted to lighter gears, thinking not to weigh my legs. Cramp struck at the slightest chance of a window. Zap! I slowed down and held out my secret Nuun tablet. Popped it up and sipped all the way back for the second 30km lap. Targetting to average out half an hour for every stretch to and fro, and popping gels on each attempt, the cycling leg was improved. Much better, I felt great! 5 gels downed.

The moment of truth came as Det and me arrived at T2 together. I stretched the calves and back on the bike prior to reaching T2 (last minute tips from Youtube). Det left early only to find he forgot the mp3 player. Hehe. I on the other hand saved it to plug in those precious songs I've selected just for the 10km run. Again, I took it easy to accustom the legs. Voila! I can run! And slowly increasing the pace while tuning in to AC/DC, Blind Pilot, The Cardigans, Stepphenwolf and CCR. My Favourite Game by The Cardigans really pushed the pace for a perfect first loop. With generous water stations at every 2km or so, I stopped for a sip and cold bath. Ziff was safely snugged beside the running track at the stadium, after finishing his race. Thanks for the shot of support and picture bro!

I saw comrades suffered cramps and overheating. Those were bad memories which I don't wish to go down again. I pity them but I don't have Nuun anymore with me. I tried to provide pacing for Zairin and Fadil but they simply don't have the response. Shoot to Thrill tuned in perfectly in time as I reached the last corner and headed straight back to the stadium. There was nothing more describable than to finish strong with good running gait. I was surprised they held up the finishing tape for me. It was an awesome welcoming gesture. Heads up to watch the clock and smile for photos - kalau ada la. Lol. It was 4:20.

I was simply lazy to get my camera in the car and just stood around enjoying juicy watermelons, oranges and tau fu fa with friends. Fellow peeps rolled in one after another. Saw Yim at the medal table and shook hands for a great battle. The final finishing was CK. We waited for him at the finishing gantry. He was surely glad that to finish in style at the very last hour of the race just like Kak June's celebration in KL Marathon. Hehe.

The OBS, Teluk Batek Gang.
L-R: Azahari, Shuk, CK, Jaja, Pipi, Hancik, Det, me, Bahri & Ziff

Overall, the race was made perfect with the extra water stations at the run leg. The rest was sweetness, just like previous years. If only they resurface the road for the cycling leg since potholes and puddles were a little bit dangerous for cyclists. Weather was a blessed. I was prepared for the worse actually, but this year, it was a bonus though the streaking hot at the second run was never close to what I felt last year. Fellow comrades were as usual the fun people and easy going. Hope you guys had a blast with the trip as well. So I read that 2011 will be Powerman's 10th edition. Are we talking about X-Powerman?! Sure is. *wink!

Mee rebus Restoran Gulam post mortem. Mostly cerita hantu. Lol