Laguna Phuket Triathlon 3.07:29

Back from the little holiday in the Land of Smiles, and had a good 9 days or so since the race to enjoy some sunshine and reflect on the race itself.
Left here on the Thursday before feeling in pretty good form and even went out on the bike course with others on the Friday to check out what was in store as the course was slightly different this time around, then went out for a bite to eat and a few drinks early evening with friends and was enjoying the night when all of a sudden.............BANG, A quick visit to the toilet, followed hot flushes and i was barely out of the main drag before bringing back up my best Thai Fish Snapper from an hour earlier. Stumbled back to the hotel and the next 12 hours or so were perhaps the worst i have ever felt. I thought it was all over for me at that stage and was getting set to write the blog for a final time as i couldn't get out the room at all.
Started to feel a little better about 9pm on the Saturday night, and knew that i should eat and get something into me but couldn't make myself leave the hotel which meant racing on absolute nothing inside me.
Race Day is an early start and up at 4am, all set up and watch the sun rise before the start of the swim leg that sees us swim 1.2ks in the ocean and then a further 600 metres across the Lagoon to transition. I settled nicely and was delighted to stand up out the water in only 32 minutes and was away out on the bike in under 35. Held back a little to begin with as there are 3 mammoth hills to contend with in the first 16ks of the 55, i seemed to labour up the hills but was very happy to be passing loads ( even people walking the bikes), Was working very hard and didn't think i was going that well but when i checked the time on every split i found was doing OK time wise and was going past people throughout which was also pleasing. Came in off the bike in 94 minutes for the 55ks and was delighted to be out on the run with the clock not yet reaching 2hr:10 min - meaning that i only really had to run 4 min/ks (48 minutes for the 12k) to break the 3 hour mark in 2.58 and give myself every chance of a top 20 overall and a possible A/G win?
This unfortunately was about as good as it was to get as the next 57 minutes were pure HELL, I shuffled out on the first k working no better then 4.30 pace and just had nothing. Made it to the 2ks mark before my first walk of the day (which was the first of many) and took drinks aboard and the Ice sponges that were on offer. Happy to see the first 6k lap done in 27 minutes (4.30 pace)  and just prayed i could hold that, put on a brave face for the "Thai Tims' around transition before yet another walk, as an overweight guy came running past me - Pride kicked in at this stage and thought 'No Way' is this geezer faster then me as i run past him only to stop again 50 metres further and him to fly by again.  This was getting embarrassing as it must have happened about 10 times over the course of 3ks, and with 1500 left to go i thought OK, lets just get this over and done with as i was now reduced to running 5 min/ks - But even then i had to stop ONCE more :(
Never been so happy to cross a finishing line as the run leg took me 57 minutes averaging 4.45,  in my overall time of 3.07:29, 55th overall and 6th in the A/G
Race results here;
http://results.championchip-thailand.com/lpt2012/show.asp?On

Its all 'If's and buts" but i felt had i run anything like i should have done i reckon a top 20 and 2nd spot was on the cards BUT Triathlon is like that and you need ALL 3 disciplines to get the required results. Was delighted with my swim leg of 32 minutes and all those swim sessions did pay off for me in the end, the bike leg was strong yet again but with nothing left inside me since the sickness i was then running on EMPTY from the very beginning
Although initially disappointed i wasn't as bad as i imagined i would be as i knew I'd done the training and everything was pretty much spot on this year and basically had no control of the sickness that was to take me out for 24 hours.

That's 4 on the spin now for this particular race, and as i sat pondering over a beer or two will i go back for number 5 ? Well... I'll always go back to Thailand ( i have to as i have 3 wife's, 8 kids and sponsor Enda's 7 children over there)  but not sure if I'll do the race in 2013 as Berlin is set for the end of September/October time and will be the main focus, and not sure if I'll have recovered from the Beer Festival that follows.

Had a great 9 days that followed the race just beaching, eating and drinking everyday as the Lindop Harem looked after my every need, with Saucy Sue on hospitality duty and new 'on the firm' Naughty Nori taking care of repairing the damaged body on massage duty all was good and with 'Bang' around as well.... with a name like that I'm not sure what she could bring to the party? but seeing i am a decent guy i thought I'd take a chance on what she had to offer to join Team Timmy :)

All photos will be up once i sort them out ( and edit them) , but here are a few from the race.
http://www.shopfinisherpix.com/photos/my-photos/pctrl/Photos/paction/search/pevent/laguna-phuket-triathlon-2012/pbib/563.html
I am not sure how to download them so if any techno geek out there knows how to - give us a call

Back to reality tomorrow , as back to work - lets just hope i can run faster then 5 minute ks

Korp Koon Krap
Chok Dee