After swimming in the pool (Chin Woo Biathlon) and open sea (Port Dickson International Triathlon), next up: swimming in the lake at 103 Triathlon 2016

Recently, I have started swimming again. Not by choice though. haha!

Well, in order to meet the 1 hour 10 min cut-off time to swim 2 km in the lake at 103 Triathlon Bukit Merah 2016 to be held in September, I'd better prepare myself. :)

I don't want to end up embarrassing myself screaming, splashing water or DNF at the first leg - swimming. It would not only be great disappointment but also great embarrassment. If that happens, i will need a paper bag to be over my head to hide my identiry. haha!


Prior to this, I have never swam such a long distance before. The longest I have ever swam was 1.5 km in the swimming pool back in mid 2015. At that time, I was training for Port Dickson International Triathlon 2015 sprint distance event. But my eyes were on the Olympic distance (1.5 km swim).

But I'm so happy that I could finish swimming 2 km in the swimming pool in less than 1 hour. Very snail pace time but I am already in cloud 9 that I might not need to be disqualified in September!! haha!

So far, I have tried to swim 2km threee times already since April. All 3 times I still managed to swim within 1 hour. 

But I wonder if swimming in the lake will be the same as swimming in swimming pool or swimming in the sea?




Well, I had the same fear last year before participating in the Port Dickson International Triathlon 2015 Sprint Distance Category. I was worried about swimming in the open sea for 700 m because I had never swam such a distance before too in the open sea.

Anyway I told myself,"Fear Not! Just go for it!"

Similarly, in September, I will not look underneath me to see how deep the lake water would be, whether there are big fish, crocodile or scary creature, I'm determined to focus on swimming to complete it within 2 hours 10 min. 



Swimming in the swimming pool @ Chin Woo Biathlon 2011 

I had my first taste of multi-sport race back in 2011- Chin Woo Biathlon. At that time, I had to swim 800m in the swimming pool then ran 7 km around the Merdeka Stadium area.

Some good points swimming in the swimming pool:

• Less human traffic since swimmers took turn to swim.
• Fresh water and body didn't feel so sticky.
• High visibility - could see what was inside water and also the moving forward direction.

The only setback was that the lack of competition feel as all started by batch. It would have been more gan cheong and exciting if all participants were to start together. But I guess the swimming pool was too small for such arrangement

Swimming in the open sea water @ Port Dickson International Triathlon 2015

My 2nd time in a multi-sport event was Port Dickson International Triathlon 2015, Sprint distance category ( 700 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run). And this time around, I had to swim at the OPEN SEA WATER.

Swimming in the open sea was much scarier than swimming in the swimming pool. 

• Low visibility: couldn't really see what was ahead and below. It took me a while to get used to sticking my head out to see my direction. I didn't dare to look below me to see how deep the water was. But I did take a peep towards the end. It wasn't that bad after all.

• Unpredictable wave: at the start before making left turn, I was swimming against the incoming wave. Quite tough in fact.

• Salty sea water drinking: I drank a few mouthful of salty sea water. It was hard not to taste the natural sea water - God's creation. lol!

• Congested human traffic: As it was open sea swim, I bumped into other swimmers easily with low visibility. I also got kicked on the face and body until a point I stayed a bit further away from the main human traffic. Slower but less swimmers. haha! More peace of mind!! I was also worried I would kick on someone's face or body!

Bonus point:  

Strong competition / race feel and the cheering crowd was awesome!!

Swimming in the lake at 103 Triathlon 2016 @ Bukit Merah 


MY 3rd time in the multi-sport event? 

Upoming 103 Triathlon Half Marathon ( 2km swim, 90 km bike, 21 km run)!

This time, it would be swimming in the lake with fresh water for the longest distance I have ever done.


How is it to swim in the lake? I heard from past participants that it's going to be tough as it's harder to float compared to sea water.

Well... I will find out in less than 4 months from now. And I look forward to the different swimming experience this round.

Gan cheong? Definitely! 

Wanna lao sai? Most certainly! :)

But gan cheong or lao sai - no matter what I must give it a shot for the sake of living life and experiencing life! :)





Written on 2016.05.20