Yatim Zainal Abidin
KOTA KINABALU: Seasoned triathlete Yatim Zainal Abidin is satisfied with the progress made as he looks forward to competing in the The Championship race in Samorin, Slovakia at the end of May.
Yatim, 44, said he has been training non-stop for the world triathlon event, where he will compete in the Middle Distance (individual – age group) race featuring swimming 1.9km, bike (90km) and run (21.1km).
“So far all good,” Yatim replied in a Whatsapp conversation yesterday.
“I’ve been doing progressive non-stop training and I’ve made improvement in all three disciplines…swimming, cycling and running.
“As of now, I will put myself at an eight…I’m happy with the progress that I’ve made,” added Yatim while describing his current condition on a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best.
Despite the steady progress, Yatim however is still missing an important element that could have made his preparation even better.
“The one missing from my preparation is races. So, the plan is to keep on training hard,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yatim said he had cut down his training from seven days a week to only six days as he did not want to risk injury with only around three months before the race take place.
“The race is getting closer and I want to prevent injuries while doing training.
“I want to give my best and it starts from training…my only hope now is that the race will take place as scheduled,” he said.
For the record, Yatim qualified for the The Championship – an iconic world triathlon event – after he secured a fourth place finish in the Men’s 40-44 age group category of the 4th Challenge Iskandar Puteri in Johor in November 2019.
The race was originally scheduled for May 31, 2020 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was twice postponed before the organiser settled for the weekend of May 22-23 this year.
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