Race Report (Sorta) : Kenyir Lake International Triathlon 2013

Well, this isn't gonna be a very thorough race report or maybe it doesn't qualify as one. But I'm just gonna briefly mention as my observation as a spectator and casual photographer. Well, I'm gonna kick in a bit of our "road trip" adventure too. ;)

The DR gang at Kenyir Tri 2013.
When all is done.

It all started a few months back when the DR gang were on the subject of triathlons. Kenny was aiming to do his soon and the others were still quite apprehensive of the idea. The idea came about when someone suggested of doing relays for the Kenyir International Tri 2013. Meaning a group of 3 participants doing each discipline of swim, bike and run respectively. This was just to get into the idea of what triathlons was all about and not to "kill" ourselves as we know we aren't ready to do individuals yet.

Team 1 was formed earlier on with Mark on swim, Kenny on bike and Yvonne on the run. There was supposedly a Team 2 with me in it. Unfortunately that didn't happen as I wasn't able to commit due to personal reasons that period of time and we couldn't get anyone else to commit.

With that, Team 1 went ahead for registration.

Closer to the date, Kenny invited me to tag along to Kenyir. I immediately said YES! Although I was disappointed that I wasn't able to take part but at least I get to support my buddies and to absorb the whole Tri atmosphere.

Our morning started early on a Saturday morning. Kenny, Von and myself headed to Ipoh to fetch Mark and we headed straight to Kenyir from there. Our road trip was a long one (combined of almost 8 hours driving) but we never felt short of topics to yak about throughout. From highways to challenging bumpy trunk roads, we finally reach our destination at the Kenyir Lake Resort.

Getting the race pack.

Arrived at Kenyir Lake Resort!

After registration and getting the race packs, we headed to our accommodation for the night. We stayed at a boat house called Bahtera. Unique, I would say. However it was a "cooking oven" at noon and freezing cold at night. But at least the beds were firm and nice to sleep on.

The Bahtera. Boat house we stayed on. 

The short nap...

I took a short nap while the guys did a short recee around the race route cum "warm up". By 7pm, we headed back to the resort for dinner and briefing by the organizers. We were surely entertained by Uncle Chan during the briefing with his hilarious one liners. He surely brought the house down.

Taken during carbo laoding dinner. 

Once briefing was over, we headed straight back to our accommodation and had a good night rest. I quickly knocked off in an instant.

By 6am, many were awake and I could hear loads of moving noises. Kenny was already up and prepping and so was Mark. However, Yvonne was still asleep! I tried to wake her up and her only reply was "My run is gonna be around 11am onwards. No need to wake up so early la...." I laughed my head off at her comment. She slowly made her way up as I slowly prepped my camera gears.

Kenny gazes to the horizon.
Added 10 secs to it?

The DR relay team.
Kenny , Yvonne & Mark.

We headed to the race site and it was really a sight to be behold. Many were already starting to warm up near the lake and getting their arms stamped. I started shooting away as I observed the whole event.

  

All I can say is this : I've seen many triathlon events on video and I'm always been inspired by them. But seeing this event right before my eyes is really an eye opening experience for me. I'm truly humbled by all of the preparation that is needed to do a triathlon and I salute every triathlete's hardwork and dedication. As a spectator, it was very daunting just to see one swim 1.6km, bike 45km & run 11km. Back to back; right under the hot sun and with a throw in of hills, hills and hills. I've found a new found respect to this sport.

And here are the full sets of photos taken during the event.

Misc shots : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300019303460274.1073741826.215755491886656&type=3

Swim : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300024763459728.1073741827.215755491886656&type=3

Bike : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300033053458899.1073741828.215755491886656&type=3

Run : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300040293458175.1073741829.215755491886656&type=3

All and all, I have to say it was an exciting event and I've learned much from it. I'm sure my buddies did too. So the next question is, when will it be my turn? I'm not lying when I say that I'm eager to do a tri. Many have shown their support and said I could do it. Well, one step at a time. It takes planning and it's definitely in one of my "to do list" in the future. In the mean time, I've still much to improve in my running techniques. Of course I still have to master my biking skills and my swimming techniques as well.

I'll skip the part when we were returning home. It was a long tiring journey home but we had loads of happy and positive memories of Kenyir Tri. Till the next round. ;)

Quick Cooking : Spinach Fettuccine in Vegemite Sauce

Brooks HM is just around the corner. Have you done your proper carbo load yet?

More often than not, I'm often hit with what I'm gonna carbo load with. Most of the time, I'll just make pasta to eat. Lately I've been trying this recipe from Nigella Lawson about the use of Marmite. Nigella once got a fan mail asking her to whip out something using marmite as the main ingredient. She just quickly made a rich marmite sauce with butter and chopped garlics and poured it over a beautiful bowl of pasta. It looks delicious just viewing it on TV.

So I've decided to make a spin on Nigella's recipe with a few additional tweaks. 

First of all, I used Vegemite as opposed to Marmite. I also used olive oil instead of butter (health reasons of course). As for the pasta, I used a wholewheat spinach fettuccine; which I love!

The main ingredients.

 I made this version vegetarian, so I mainly used chopped onions and roughly chopped garlic only. Tossed them onto the pan with olive oil. I've used some dry basil herbs, pepper, salt and a dash of cinnamon thrown into it. Fry them to almost brown.

Onions, garlic and herb mix.

 Next tossed in the cooked pasta. Mixed it up with some vegemite and some water and slowly cook the sauce down till it almost thickens.

Slowly simmer till sauce thickens.

 Once done, serve it immediately while still hot. For additional flavour and texture profiling, top with grated cheese to serve or use a raw egg and mix up the pasta to give it a more thicker consistency.

Ready to serve and eat.

That was good for my carb load last night and Bon Appetite! :)