Port Dickson International Triathlon 2009 - the Day Before

 Finally the day came, for my first triathlon; Port Dickson International Triathlon 2009 on 12 July 2009.  The word 'International' put some glamour into the event. Yes, it is true, this is an international event, participant came from may corner of the world.  In fact, more than half of the participant was foreigner.
I came a day earlier. Since Port Dickson is a holiday spot, I brought my family along. The bike won't fit into the family MPV with 7 other people in it , so I have to drive my wife car alone and carry my bike with me.
Arrived at Avilion Admiral resort, the race venue, around noon. The registration was pretty straightforward. Got my goodies;  t-shirt, timing chip, my numbers tag (bib), bike tags, and few other race stuff. The timing chip sound a bit techno-gadget, but it actually look like a piece of cheap plastic.  I was given number 449.  Wow, this is my first sport number tag in many many years.  Maybe the first since primary or high school.  I also get myself a race belt from the stall inside the hotel.
Later checked-in at the nearby hotel, at one of those vacation apartment, which I despised so much staying there. Ideally I should have stay in Admiral resot, but this place was fully booked.
My family (wife, our 4 children and our maid) came around noon.  My parents, brother and sister also make their way from my hometown (a village near Gemas town). So I have quite a number of supporters going to cheer my up.
Later in the day, I went back to the Avillion to see the Sprint triathlon race. Got the chance to see the route for the swim the next day. The water looks murky, which is common for Port Dickson.  The water near the barrier close to Avillion hotel was down right dirty.  I'm so used to swim and dive in crystal clear water, and looking at this water I knew that I may not going to enjoy the swim that much. That is the reason I have never came to Port Dickson for the past many years even though it's only one and half hour drive from home.

This is how the swim area looks the day before.  Look pretty calm.

Swim entrance into the Marina. 

Part of the marina. The water here looks calm.  Good for swimming. But tomorrow, who knows.

 The swim route overlay on satellite image from Google.  The swim began from the beach, then into the marina, make a u-turn at the end and swim back to the starting line. Total 1.5 km.

Some short distance triathlon events were held on Saturday 11-July-2009.  Since tomorrow going to be my first triathlon race, I spend the afternoon watching the event to see if there any tips I can pickup from those races. 
My only concern is the swim.  For some reason long distance open water swim feel intimidating. Probably natural human instinct who are naturally afraid of water.  Too many things bugging me about the swim.  What if I get a cramp, what if the current too strong, what if I got sucked by the downcurrent, and there are so many things that made me think twice about the race tomorrow.  On the other hand, I spent most of my training on the swim. Couple of months back I'm struggling to finish 200 meters, but as of last week, I'm becoming quite comfortable to do 2 km continuous swim.  

Later in the afternoon, spent some time with my my family, and went for some sightseeing at the beach.  That night I went back to Avillion resort for some pre-race briefing.  Before that, I joined the other triathletes for a carbo-loading dinner.  The word carbo-loading implies that everybody will eat like a real hungry gentlemen; i.e. eating a lot.  We were served with a feast of high carbohydrate meals; pasta, spaghetti, potatoes, rice etc.  So concerned that I may not have enough energy for tomorrow's race, I actually eat quite a lot that night.  So ashamed to others who share the table with me, I move to another table after my third refill. 

Then back to the hotel to get my things ready for tomorrow.  Bring my bike up to the apartment, and get it checked and prepared.  Set-up Garmin GPS, replace the battery for the cadence sensor,  sticked the number tag on my bike etc.  I find it hard to choose what to bring for the race tomorrow.  I do have have my checklist, but somehow my checklist is a bit overkill. I don't think I need the heart rate monitor. Don't think i need the sock for the bike, but I bring them anyway.  I knew I will need the sock for the 10 km run.  My legs need all the support that it can have.  After all, I'm still in physio therapy for my knee injury because of running few months back.  Talk about running, I can feel good about my run now after many sessions with the physio therapist.  Those physio did works wonders on me, but still I can't run they I way I want it to be.

Can't sleep well that night.  I'm still concerned about the dreaded swim early morning tomorrow.  The apartment only have 2 rooms.  With my brother, sisters and parent coming in the last minutes, now we have 11 people sharing the whole apartment.  I shared a single bed with my 10 year old boy Hafiz.  He claimed majority stake on the bed's real estate.  Can take my mind off from tomorrow's race, especially the dreaded swim leg.  Maybe, maybe because from what I read, most fatalities in triathlon happened during the swim.  And at this very place 2 years ago (2007), a competitor died during the swim.  This is my first triathlon, and my first long distance open water swim in the sea. So it's natural to be a little afraid.  But there's no turning back.  I want to do this so bad.  After all, I set my goal to do the Putrajaya Ironman this year, and this is one step closer to that.