1st Triathlon in Singapore

A solid 4-weeks of training and never a cold day... seems like paradise right? When never-a-cold-day means everyday is 80F+ and 98% humidity [at 5:30AM], the training plan needs to be adjusted. It has been challenging acclimatizing to the heat and humidity as it relates to my training pace. So far, it looks like I'm a good 10-15 secs slower per km on the run than when I was in Melbourne. Of course, Melbs couldn't be anymore different than Singapore. People would complain when the relative humidity cracked 55%. "Oh no, we're becoming just like Sydney!" people would say.

The Tribob Singapore Triathlon is the only sprint distance race on the island consisting of a 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5km run. This first race will give me an indicator of how my training is going and what to expect during a race in these conditions. The goal is to have a new PR for the Bali race in June. The race was a good one to break off the rust. I have not raced since Noosa in early November. With the move in March, I really stopped training all together and didn't start up again until April.

You'll notice from the pictures that something else is new. I'm now donning a black race suit. Since my traditional [smurf] blue suit is still on a cargo ship somewhere on the ocean, I needed to improvise. I suggested and Melissa vetoed my Nike shorts and Noosa Tri singlet. A shame and a good thing all the same time. So I picked up something new that would be a good long-term addition to the collection. But going from blue to black, I dunno, I feel like it's my alter-ego version - like in Spiderman.

Overall, my performance was pretty good. My time of 1:13:34 was good enough for 15th out of 262 competitors in my age group and 59th out of 647 male competitors overall. Not my fastest time, but now I know what I really need to focus on - other than ultra light-weight, portable air conditioning.

Next up is the Bintan Triathlon [Olympic distance] and the Adidas Sundown 1/2 Marathon.