We are finally here in Langkawi - home of Ironman Malaysia! It's awesome to be at an Ironman event again, even if I'm not racing. I still have to train for IMCDA of course, and it's great to be training around all these athletes who are ready to attain their goals next Saturday.
I wanted to get outside for a run as the last two had been on treadmills. IronGreg was headed out for a short one so I figured I'd follow him as long as I could. Needless to say that was about a millisecond, haha. Not that I'll ever be able to keep up, but one must also factor in that he's at the peak of his training and I'm in base endurance mode, which means working out at low heartrates.
We thought it would be fun if I ran one of the IM loops, so that's what I did. All I can say is I sure as hell hope there isn't that much traffic out on the course come race day! It's insane here! There are cars, trucks and a million mopeds.
For safety reasons I decided to run towards oncoming traffic so I could see if I needed to bail. This was definitely a good plan as I realized in short order that the mopeds, and bicycles will ride on the road edge, which is where I was running! I was a bit nervous as I had two options to get out of the way, either into the traffic, or into an concrete irrigation ditch that ran along the road. It was about a 3 ft drop into that one - not a great option. At least with having to be totally aware of all this it kept me occupied!
I should mention that Malaysia is predominantly Muslim. I wasn't sure how it was going to go over with me wearing shorts and a t-back sports top. Overall, no one minded. However, I did say hello to a Muslim L.O.D. (little ol' dear) as she was walking by me and she just looked ahead but persed her lips in a way that made me think she wasn't too pleased I spoke to her.
I also had a fellow say something to me out his car window... not sure what he said really, but I'm assuming it was 'Hey! Nice running technique!'. haha.
Oh, did I mention that they drive on the left side of the road here?? When I had to run across an intersection I had to look in a million directions because I wasn't sure where people were coming from. I also would run very quickly across the roads to get the hell out of the way fast! My heart rate did some interesting jumps then. haha.
By the time I got back to the hotel (I ran about 1:35 hours) I was soaked! I think it was about 30C outside and quite humid. I got into the elevator and one of the young boys that works here said, 'Were you out swimming?'. haha. Uh, no. This is all sweat. Good stuff eh?! haha.
Don't worry though, I'm not complaining about the heat, in fact I loved it!!
Later on I went for a swim. I was hoping to get an hour in, but the pool here is ridiculously short. So short that I could swim a length in FIVE strokes! Yup, you read that right.
At one end was a tile outcropping that was just about forehead height when you come out of the water to grab the pool edge. Nice....
I managed to swim 30 minutes in this tub of a pool, but that was it. Tomorrow I'm going to run to the jetty - Greg will bike there - and then swim some of the course with him. Then I'll go for more of a run after the swim. Hopefully there are no scary fishy's in there!! No wetsuit to protect me. Gulp!
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