30th SEA Games Triathlon and Duathlon Mixed Team Relay Trials
Written on 05 June 2019
I pushed off the pool wall and swam as hard as I could.
I swam the first 100m in 1:18 — the fastest 100m I have ever swum. But even then, I was falling behind.
This was the SEA Games Triathlon Mixed Team Relay trials, and I was toeing the line alongside the best triathletes in Singapore. It was a short and fast race. 300m swim, 7km cycle, and 1km run. For such a draft-legal race with only a handful of triathletes, it is crucial to stay with the main pack for the swim so that I can cycle with them and take advantage of the draft.
But I came out last of the water. Quite a distance away from the main pack.
Fortunately, my good training buddy, Sumedha, was not too far ahead. He had agreed to help me on the bike leg as a domestique so I rushed through the transition, flew onto my bike, and caught up with him.
We worked together for the first 2km, trying to go at about 40km/h. After the second lap, he said he was done and I had to finish the race alone. The main pack was already way ahead, and it felt like the race is over for me.
There's a saying, "the race is not over until it's over." Anything, like a crash, could happen, and it was too early to give up. I pushed through the remaining 5km, almost being lapped by the leaders.
By the time I was back in transition and heading out for my run, I saw my teammates Luke and Bryce coming in to finish top two. As exhausted as I was, I couldn't help but feel happy for them! Step by step, I pushed myself over the 1km run to finish the race.
I came in 10th, out of 12th triathletes.
That wasn't the end. There was still the duathlon race the following day. I spent the rest of the day mostly refueling, stretching, and napping. Like every other day, I headed to bed at 9:30 pm to get a good amount of sleep.
The game plan for the duathlon was the same: go all out right from the start. Because my fitness level was the lowest among the athletes, that was the only way I could get a decent position.
If I could keep up.
I took the entire box of matches and struck them all at once when the air horn blasted. I (surprisingly) hung onto the main pack for the first kilometer. But when we were heading out for the second loop, they picked up the pace (or maybe I was too exhausted). I couldn't keep up and fell back.
As per the previous day, I finished the rest of the race alone; this time being lapped by the race leaders.
I didn't want to waste the experience so I biked and ran as hard as I could to finish the race.
I finished 11th, out of 14 athletes.
It was a humbling experience to finish pretty much last for both races. But given this is the first time I'm racing at this level and understanding where I stand in terms of my current fitness level, I couldn't be happier with the experience.
It was a huge honor to race with those athletes, something that I have looked forward to for a long time. Having only done age-group races, racing at this level blew me away. I also got to work on my skills in a super fast pace race, taking corners at 40km/h, doing quick transitions, fly-mounting my bike and inserting my feet into my shoes immediately, and more. (Big shoutout to Sumedha who spent many hours coaching me these!)
I'm grateful to many people for this amazing weekend — Triathlon Association of Singapore for giving me the opportunity to race, Coach Eugene for pushing me to participate in both races and coaching me along the way, Yizhong and team for coordinating and organizing the logistics, Sumedha for driving me to Educity and back and helping me on the bike, Club Breakaway (Aaron, Bryce, Cedric, Herlene, Jill, Luke, Nicholas, Shuwie, Sumedha, and Yizhong) for the awesome company, support, and entertainment, and my fiancée for always supporting me when I train and race.
Thank you!
Triathlon might be an individual sport but we work and have fun as a team. Best team! 
