Ironman Malaysia success!

Hiroyuki Nichiuchi 2nd Male Pro (Adamo Racing)
Edith Niederfriniger 2nd Female Pro (Adamo Racing)
Hillary Biscay 3rd Female Pro (Adamo Road)
Jocelyn Wong 5th Female Pro (Adamo Racing)

Congrats to all. Check out Hillary Biscay's 3rd place race report below:


I kicked off my 2010 season last weekend with Ironman Malaysia. Because you will be subjected to at least seven more ironman race reports this year, I thought we would start with a slightly different format for the first one. Ironman is inevitably a contest of maximizing the day's highs and managing its lows in order to make the best of the circumstances one is dealt, so I've recapped my day here in these terms.

Highlight: Winning the swim: first woman out of the water.

Lowlight: Realizing within the first hour of the bike that the reason I was sliding off the front of my bike seat was because it had moved and was like this / .

Highlight: Getting ahold of an allen wrench about kilometer 70.

Lowlight: After spending several minutes on the side of the road removing my back bottle cage system to access the bolt to tighten my seat clamp, my sweaty hands couldn't do the trick, and I soon found myself riding in the same funky position I'd been in . . .

Highlight: Even after 39 ironman finishes, I come away from every race with important lessons learned. I love my new bike, but no matter how good the bike, two weeks is simply not enough time to get a new bike dialed and all of the kinks sorted out. I knew better; I took a risk, and I paid for it. I will not make this mistake again.

Lowlight: I lost a lot of time on the ride, and came off the bike well down on Belinda (Granger) and Edith (Niederfriniger).

Highlight: I started the run in third and was determined to hang onto this position.

Lowlight: The prevalent sensation in this marathon is one of running in a sauna. There were certain particularly-hot sections of each of the five run loops during which I felt as if my head were about to explode and/or one of my shaky legs was going to buckle beneath me.

Highlight: Amazingly, none of these things actually occurred. I stayed focused on myself and my own run, knowing that I could control only this and not the girls chasing me, and managed to have several stretches of the run during which I felt relatively "good."

Lowlight: The outbound portion of the final run loop: I felt like I was doing a slow-motion impression of running, better described by my Australian friends as "running up and down on the spot."

Highlight: I had to deal with a few challenges on race day, but in spite of this being a hot-and-sweaty sweatfest, blisters were not one of them. Ironman Malaysia is a true test of run shoes, as many athletes are taken out by things like blisters. Yet I had the luxury of drenching myself with water every couple of kilometers without worry, because my K-Swiss K-Onas drain in a second. I was so thankful for them!

Highlight (Yes, I realize I am interrupting my pattern here, but of course I've got more highs than lows--why else would I engage in this crazy business?!): Not getting run down. I crossed the line in third place, accomplishing my goal of an Ironman Malaysia podium finish, and my 15th career iron-distance podium finish.

Lowlight: New WTC rules say that I am not eligible for the third-place $4000 USD prize money: after 10 hours and 10 minutes of hard racing, my time falls 2 minutes outside of 8% of the winning time. According to the new "8% rule," finishing 8.3% off of the winning time means I don't get paid. Unfortunately, this money does not get redistributed to Belinda, Edith, or the four men who finished within the prize money cutoff. It "disappears."

Highlight: My amazing sponsors who help make it possible for me to make a living in this great sport: K-Swiss, PowerBar, ISM, Zipp, Wilier, FSA, and CycleOps.

Highlight: Celebrating the big 4-0--my fortieth iron-distance finish--by completing one of the toughest ironmans on the circuit here in Langkawi.

Lowlight: New WTC rules say that I am not eligible for the Kona-qualifying slot because I finished outside of 5% above the winning finish time.

Highlight: I have four more Kona-qualifying opportunities before this year's World Championships. It's only February and I will only get faster and stronger as the season goes along!