The 113 Melaka OD Triathlon was actually not in my 2018 race calendar for my preparation for my upcoming “A” race in July 2018. However, when given an unexpected chance to race on Klebang Beach in the historical state of Melaka, I immediately jumped on the opportunity for a fitness check from my past few month’s training.

Due to the last minute opportunity, I didn’t have enough time to alter my training plans from an endurance-based to a speed-based plan. Hence, all I could manage to do is to push the pace a bit more during training on my current plan as part of my preparation for this race.

Come Race Day, I found myself at the starting line of Olympic Distance (OD) event waiting to be flagged off, with batches of 10 people per wave.

As the horn blew, I entered the water quickly and tried to find a sweet spot in the 1.5km swim to draft behind someone.

Soon, I found someone with a similar pace to swim with but he slowed down and therefore, I had overtake him and swam the rest on my own. Exited the water at 35 minutes, and sped off towards the transition area.

T1 was packed and the runway was tight, so I had to be careful not to knock the other participants or injure myself. Once I mounted my bike, off I went! Since, this is my fitness test, I was not looking to draft behind anyone but more to look for someone to work with on the bike to push the pace. Soon enough, I found someone at almost the similar speed and we worked together to push the pace.

The bike route was 2 loops of 20km each with a few sharp corners and sandy patches, so I had to be very careful on those sections.

I was happy that my legs didn’t give way and I finished my 40km ride with a time 1h 03m, an average speed of 37.3kmph. Back into transition, I quickly racked my bike, put on my running shoes and shot off.

The first kilometer of the run was going fine, but then cramp hit me on the second kilometer until the fourth slowing me down to a slow walk/jog/walk.

After awhile, the cramp went away and I manage to find my running legs again pushing the pace trying to gain lost time. For the next six kilometers, I was not looking at my watch but rather pushing the pace and running by feel. I ran past my coach, Aldrian Yeo about 500m to the finishing line whom shouted to me to push harder and so I sprinted to the finishing like. All in all ended my 10km with a time of 1:12hr @ 7min pace.

I finished my race with a total time of 2:55:59. Quite happy with my results and I’ve also learnt a few lessons which I need to improve on for my next race. A race is always made better with teamwork, support and ‘makan makan’ aka gastronomical experience in Melaka from my team, GoGetter Triathlon Squad (pic above).

More about the triathlete Peter Teh – From being overweight during his younger days at over 130kg, Peter has come a long way transitioning through a few sports and finally found his current favourite sport – TRIATHLON. A double finisher at IRONMAN Langkawi, he is not done yet and is attempting yet another challenge to improve further. He currently trains under the GoGetter Triathlon Team under coach Aldrian Yeo.