So.....what went wrong today?

"In those races where I fell apart, I saw the darkest parts of myself; the parts that were not strong, that were weak, where expectation did not meet reality..........."
-Mark Allen, 6 time winner of the Hawaii Ironman, and my very first sports hero

Well, today I had my worst race of the season at the city duathlon. I had a solid first run, had a solid bike for 3/4 of the way and got passed by many people on the final run because I was cramping badly. Honestly, I am disappointed because running and biking is supposed to be my forte, and I got passed by people who are usually slower than me :(

So what went wrong?
1. Expectation did not meet reality?
I ran a 41 min (i think) first 10k......which was not really fast for me. It was a controlled hard; I was not red-lining at any point. But when was the last time I ran a hard 10k? In January. Maybe my legs were simply not ready for the kind of pounding that it was taking. To want to run a fast 10k and then followed by a fast bike and run requires a certain amt of strength that I do not have, but I was running like I had it! For quite a while, I was running stride for stride with Tan Yeow Chung, Singapore's fastest Ironman, and I was thinking that it was an honour to be running with him and how nice it would be if I could beat him........wishful thinking!

2. Poor preparation for the race
I have raced six times in the last 7 weeks. Some of you must be wondering......am I nuts? No, I am perfectly sane. I just wanted to experiment what works for me in racing. For the last few years, I only did two to three races a year, and these are spread far apart, where it is hard to build upon each race's performance. So I decided that this year, since I am fit and injury-free, I will do as much racing as I safely can. The logic being that if I want to be good at racing, then I better be doing more of it.
However, this racing is not doing me as much good as I thought it would be. I was racing almost every weekend, therefore it took me some time to recover on the weekdays, and because I wanted to arrive fresh for the race, I neglected my speedwork. I could feel my run fitness dropping over the seven weeks. Perhaps, in future, I can still race often but space them like maybe once every two weeks?

3. Wrong timing of the race
Honestly, I wasn't even sure f I wanted to race. I am having my holidays now , went to Vietnam for a couple of days on a school trip - the food there was wondrful and by the time I got back, I was already feeling sluggish. I have planned to do much training but have not had the self discipline to get myself out of bed in the mornings. I find that I am actually training better during school time because everyday when I return home, I tell myself that I have to get out of the house by a certain time, otherwise I lose the opportunity to get my workout in. Basically, I was in switch off mode for the last 2 weeks and the results show today.

4. Weak hamstrings
I always cramp in my hamstrings and cramps are usually caused by electrolyte imbalance or fatigued muscles. I think my problem is more of weak hamstrings. Well, the solution to this would be to strengthen it by lifting weights. However, I have not been going to the gym due to lack of time. I really need to solve this problem, otherwise it will forever be a race limiter for me:(

Well, I have another important race coming up in August - The Desaru Half Ironman. Exactly 9 weeks to get everything sorted out. That's life isn't it? You try, you fail, you get up again and try some more.