Tick Tock Tick Tock...

Met my wife's gynaecologist at Borders in the afternoon today. My older girl was in the queue waiting for her turn to pay for the books both of us bought. The lady doctor looked her usual self 10 years ago. Nothing much had changed. But it has been 10 years since she delivered my older girl and 8 years since my younger one.


I could still remember the day we had to induce Nicole out of the warm grasp of the womb. She was getting too big and the doc said it would be advisable for her to come out. Induced at 5pm. Waited till the next day 5pm because the dilation was just too little and would not go any more. In the end, it was a Cesarean delivery.


Yes, it has been 10 years since I saw Nicole as a tiny baby, all wrinkled up. You know, new borns are not exactly the most pleasant of things to look at. Those pictures that you see, they have been cleaned up thoroughly before the photographs are being taken. The first thing that came to my mind was: oh my, what an ugly baby! Since then, I have learnt.


Time really passed so fast. From learning to crawl, progressing to walk and run. Now she is a pompous, grumpy primary 4 kid, who showed her emotions freely, with no regard. Alright, this is an exaggeration. She is quite cheerful and considerate. Just need to be taught a few manners here and there. Needless to say, my wife and myself are 10 years older since then. But still as happy and optimistic as ever. We havent really changed much, besides the haywire physical bodies and my much simmered down temper.

***

Brought my disc wheel out for a 120km ride. Whatever that people had mentioned, about it taking harder to take off, it is true. The acceleration is slow. But the moment you whisk it up to speed, it just goes on. However, I do think there is a certain terminal velocity achieved. Not really sure, maybe it is just my feeble and untrained legs that is the cause?


Somehow, after 50km, my legs started to feel fatigue. I think it is because of the 12-23 cassette I have put in. Silly me. I should have just gone for the usual 12-25 which I have been using for my training wheels as well as my 808s. I think it will be good though to continue training on the 23T? So that I will be able to strengthen my legs further. Will be getting the 11-23 for my training wheels. Hopefully there will be sufficient time over the next 3 months to get my legs into action for WA.


Didnt like the attention the disc wheel was getting me. Cyclists were turning their heads and looking. Yup, I passed couple of groups and they didnt want to try to race me - thank goodness! And I did not have to live up to the expectations of disc wheels. At the Keppel Flyover, I was cruising at over 42kph at some stretches. It was simply awesome!


But of course, my run was affected because of the gear change. Partly because of the hot weather as well. Running from 1030 to 1200 was not exactly the best thing to do? The 16km was split into 3km and 13km. First 3km I was doing 5:58 pace, while the 13 was a 5:57 pace. However, the HR was really shooting up towards the end of the run. Even right from the start, I was suppose to start low but HR was going beyond the planned session. Had to slow down so as not to go over by too much. I had to douse myself with so much water that my shoes were wet. Visited the kiosks 3 times to top up my empty fuel bottles, both for cooling myself and for drinking. Weather was HOT HOT HOT!

Oops... I did it again...

Yup, I spent money. Yet again... Bought a ZIPP disc clincher 900 and with a 12-23 cassette. It should be last piece of equipment I will be getting for the bike. It is with the hope that with this little aid, I can go slightly faster in the ironman at the end of the year.

It is not a new piece, but lightly used. In any case, I dont think many people will ride the disc wheel on a regular basis? It is probably too much risk to be put out there for training purposes? Am preparing to try it out on Saturday morning on a 120km ride. Will see how it feels out there and hopefully, it will push the speed up a notch, with less energy sapped from my legs on the run. Will be doing a 16km thereafter on Saturday as well. Cross my fingers...

Did some basic research earlier and had found that there is another alternative to the disc - wheel covers. But realised that it was too much of a hassle because it will include removing the cassette at everytime the covers are installed or removed. Also, it is advised against using the covers for training purposes. It is a very much cheaper alternative I must say? But weighing the fact that I will be doing a few more times of IMWA, I thought I might as well own it instead.

Now that I have gotten whatever that I can get my hands on on instruments of speed, it is back to basics. Train, train and train.

***

Completed 3 sets of 3km at night. I am really working on overdrive at work. Because of the project I am heading, I have to put in more hours. But it is all coming to an end soon. I cant wait to get my life back. With increasing HR, eased in the pace at every set, with average pace of 6:23, 6:02 and 5:34 with a last km warm down. Not exactly considered as fast intervals because the HR were IM pace, I think?

Losing my swim session tomorrow because of work. Oh well, such is life.

Endurance Training

Ironman training has been about taking bits of trainnig everyday. For me, occasionally I have a day off in a week. The bite size form of training provides me with the ability to recover in time for another session the next day and the next and the next. Coach does not believe in trashing the body at every session. And I think it makes perfect sense. Ironman triathlon is about endurance, to last the full race and not breaking down at any one leg.


Somehow, I draw this as a parallel to many aspects in life. My children gets by with just doing their school homework. I am only too glad that I need not push them to sit down to complete their assignments. They will do them themselves and finish them in time to be submitted to their teachers. However, as we all know that in Singapore, primary school students dont just get by with doing the minimal. In order to be ranked higher in the percentile, they have to work on extra assignments. So my kids have their fair share of assignments but have not been too overzealous. Partly the parents fault, because we would want them to have a more fulfilling life in play as well.


Last night, they got another "gentle" reminder that they need to follow through with their assessment book. And today, my older girl did just that. But in her enthusiasm, she got herself really tired out by the end of the day. I noticed that this has been a prevalent situation. Everytime I serve a "gentle" notice, she goes full steam ahead for a couple of days. Thereafter, the fire in her just died and all faded away again.


Some students also prefer to work last minute for the examinations. But I do find that after the examinations, there is a tendency that they will forget quite a fair bit of what they have learnt, which no doubt will return thereafter with a bit of revision. Still, it takes time and effort to relook the content again.


However, if my kids and students were to perhaps follow the ironman training, of taking in things in bite size, perhaps they might be able to last longer with their assessments, as well as channel more of the knowledge into long term memory? Over time, perhaps there can be some improvement in their grades as well as discipline? Perhaps, this strategy could be useful, not just in ironman training, nor just studying skills, but work as well. There is a limit anybody can do in a day, no matter how much we push ourselves. But when the body shuts down, the mind stops being alert, productivity will diminish. Law of diminishing returns applies, I am sure.

***

On Tuesday, I did my swim at Ang Mo Kio pool. TPY is closed for YOG, Bishan is overcrowded. AMK is cool. Small and quiet and empty. Found a treasure in the heartlands.


Did my normal warm up of 400m and 400m kicks and proceeded to the main sets of 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m and 50m. Followed by appetiser of 10x50m with 10push ups at every 50m. Pulling myself out of the pool after the main set, and jumping back for the next lap was really tiring. But it sure breaks the monotony of lapping. Today, my chest is aching from the 100 push ups done...


Yesterday, I did a leisure 8km run early in the evening. Didnt push too hard and ran at an average of 5:36/km. I had another bike session later that night on the trainer. Yes, while watching Glee (again) and bits of the crap Wipeout game show. 1.5hours on the saddle. Yes, a simple double session. Still sufficient time for me to recover for my 3km intervals later in the evening...


Bite size...

TV Series vs Movies

I spent a lot of my dates with my wife watching loads of movies. We catch a movie every weekend to a certain point that sometimes we could not find a movie that we wanted to watch. At times. Funny. I think there were so many movies on going. Back in the 90s? Of course, all this dwindled to nothing ever since we started the family. We hardly had any holidays when the kids were young too. Yup, like I tell my friends, get ready for a change in lifestyle once you start a family. Unless the support for child care is very good, otherwise there will be changes that we will need to adapt to.


Recently, I have started to catch the TV series again. Use to like CSI but seemed getting kind of stale already. Be it Miami or Vegas. Desperate Housewives... Pass. Cougar Town can be quite entertaining since it is a short flick. Glee is pretty alright, simple and kiddy storyline, light enough for a brain dead bike trainer session at night. Use to have a good laugh with comedy flicks like Friends and Seinfeld. The latter is still my all time favourite. In the words of Jerry, its basically "a show about nothing". Really, nothing goes on in the dialogues between Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George. But they still kick up hearty laughs for me. "Whose line is it anyway" shown too late at night in the past, saw a few times and liked the quick wit and fast reactions.


Notice all these are on free to air channel. I do have cable but I hardly have time for it. Or rather, I do not place priority to leave time to catch my favourite series. Its really not that crucial. Recently tried to incorporate my reading during the advertisements as well. Like I tell my buddy, its about time management if I want to have so much things happening in my life?


Currently, my all time favourite is Fringe. In the 90s, I followed X-Files quite keenly for a period. Thereafter, aliens, Area51, Mulder and Scully lost its appeal. Fringe is pretty similar to X-Files. EXCEPT that there are twists in each episode and the events revolve around more than just 2 or 3 persons. Complications are nice cliffhangers at the end of the each sitting. Though I wonder how much longer I can keep up with it without getting myself too confused if I missed any episodes. Its just like Lost - yes, I was Lost after a while and stopped watching it because I did not enjoy it when my head was all muddled up.


In comparing movies and TV series, I have noticed a trend that the latter is getting more creative with the story and character development. I am not much of a film critic, but I do find that movie industry has gone a different route, CGI and effects, neglecting the software part that may still appeal to audiences - just look at Avatar? Perhaps, the time has come to pass, of developing visuals, because the new audience is now just that, and perhaps less wanting a more appealing write up? I enjoyed M Night Shyamalan's movies. 6th Sense was a good example. The Village was... not that bad. Cant seem to recall what else he produced that I watched. Although stylistically he was doing the same stuff repeatedly and lost its novelty over time too.

***

Did the usual squad swim just now. Some of the chaps just got back from Port Dickson tri which I did not take part in over the weekend. So Dion gave easier sets. Whatever could go wrong, went wrong for me. I not only forgot my flippers and paddles/swim gloves but my goggles too - but had spare pair in the bag. Asked Dion if could do sets without the usage and he agreed! Cool dude!


Nothing too tiring yesterday though through some of the sets, still had to heave and puff. But not too bad a session at all.

Fat Burning Run

Got a nice dressing down by Coach for not following the HR yesterday during the 180km ride. And cause of the ride, today's legs did not function that well during the run, 4x6km. Holding fat burning HR. Coach had wanted me to hold at low rate so that the body will know to burn the fats for fuel, and the intention is not a weight loss programme.


Started off the session with whole body totally not warmed up. But after the initial 2km, things started to get better. The legs' cadence started to get back to normal. 6:50/km, 6:32/km, 6:16/km and 6:04/km, with 500m walk in between sets. Only did not managed to clear the last 500m walk because had to rush home to bring my daughter to the docs.


Speaking of which, both the kids have had fever for the past week, like domino effect, one after another. I am still holding out and I hope that the bacteria wont come to me. So far, so good. The stiff neck is diminishing, really the worse case I have ever gotten. There is still a lingering ache but nothing more.

***

Had the 6700 shifters set up. Think I am probably not used to it? The feedback is really spongy. The feel is just not as resounding as the 6600 shifters. Have I made a mistake with this? No turning back now, I will just have to get accustomed to it. I will know this week to see how it really works. Silly thing is that I will have to set up hoods position again. Time to revisit ELITE. What a bummer!


At the same time, changed out the bar tape TBB fixed up for me. And its the return of the Lizard Skins. Realised that it was much cheaper in CRC than in Singapore. Something like 25% less. So I suppose it is worth the buy from the online store. Although I must say that not everything is that much cheaper? And if it were like $5-$10, I wouldnt bother too much and let the local blokes make the money. I will rather support them anytime? But some times, some things are just marked up way too high. Either that, I just dont have the time to go hunt for the goods. Let the fingers do the walking for me - this sounds all too familiar, Yellow Pages? They must be so dated!

Ride with a Roadie

Did a 180km ride today with Andrew the bike guru. He was with me for 100km before he called it a day. First time I rode with him and it just blew me away. He is a true blue roadie and like another friend who rode with us said, one of the better roadies he had seen so far.


I suppose with a mileage of 300,000km under his belt makes up a lot of his experience on the road? If I had thought that 10,000km on my Cervelo Soloist was a big deal, this bloke had done 100,000km or more on his Cervelo Soloist! Lets see what he did today: stretched his quads by putting his feet on the saddle while on the move (??); he held on to a lorry to help rest his legs while on the move; he hung on to container trucks as well; accelerates really fast to catch the draft of a bus even for a short distance; rides out of a junction while having anticipated the traffic that were coming his way - basically he studied the traffic conditions really fast and early. Really had to take my hat off!


But some stuff I still disagree. No helmet, no lights and dashing red lights. Coming out of traffic junction so fast is also a no no. That is just me. Maybe because I dont have 6 digit mileage under my belt? The mechanical bike is still not flowing and integrated with my physical self yet? Only time will tell. I will rather consider myself as cautious. Overly maybe, but I do have family to support. Any wrong move will be selfish on my part.


Did a new route today and headed towards Tuas using the service road. Nice and flat. Some big trucks peppered here and there, otherwise still nice. At least the heart rate can be constant. Also took the Keppel Flyover for the first time, not done in a race. This flyover is part of the AVIVA 70.3 route which I dont usually ride on to head towards Shenton Way. It was nice I must say. Little traffic as well and was able to go quite fast.


All in all, I spent 6hrs 10min worth of saddle time for the 180km ride. I suspect mainly I had Andrew sitting behind me for the 100km which made me push my cadence higher and used heavier gears, while the bloke was spinning with even higher cadence on his front chain ring! Oh bollocks!


Was at Coastal battling the wind. But was glad that I could still cut through the wind at 30-32kph. Not easy definitely and was very tiring. Fortunately it was just like 5-6km per loop with the darn wind.


Reached home and ran a 6min/km 4km, trying to imagine if I could complete the 42km with this pace. I hope so but I doubt it. Not yet anyway. If not this year, maybe next year or even the year after? Only time will tell.

Pillow Science

I had the stiff neck for almost 2 weeks already. Went to see the chiropractor on Wednesday. Fantastic skills he had. Did ultrasound as well as cold laser treatment. Apparently, due to the stiff neck, there were scarring tissues near the shoulder blade as well.

I have been using the Tempur contour pillow for a few years already. Cost me two hundred plus bucks then and probably still in the same price range. I spend many hours on the bed, just as I bought a good mattress, the pillow should come in too right? It was suppose to be NASA researched pillow. Explains the high cost?

BUT guess what? My chiropractor thinks otherwise! "What works in space, does NOT work on earth!" I blurted out laughing. He sure had a sense of humour. Apparently a former President's scholar who has since set up his own practice. His thought was this: if memory foam can have a depression, how much support can the material provide? The pillow has the provide the neck support. If the material compresses, the distance between the head and mattress decreases and causes the neck to be in a strained position, which thereafter causes the pain?

I use to get stiff neck and that explained why I bought the Tempur pillow. It must have worked for the past 4-5years? I think it is high time to change. 2 weeks stiff neck is a pain in the neck.

Different At What Cost?

After having worked for a while, I have seen people who had come and gone higher up, while others out. I observe that it takes a particular character to move up the organisation: as long as you dance to the beat of the same drum. Perhaps, it is just what they want to achieve in their lives. Work is what they get the most satisfaction from. To each their own.


Was pretty upset at work today. Started the run with the event replaying in my head and badgering me. I almost gave up my run and succumb to the noise. Concentration just was not there. But I pressed on and as I continued, it dawned upon me that perhaps this was a good opportunity to test out the organisation? I know some people would not have appreciated it but I did it any way. Knowing full well that there could be repercussions. Foolhardiness? Maybe. But to me, it was an illustration that they are not what I visualise them to be? My recklessness may not seem right, but I think neither was I wrong to bring out true character in them. May have made a fool of myself, but hey, I had planned it that way anyway. I have presented before a high profile cabinet Minister and former President of India before, and not felt the butterflies in my stomach without a slight tinge of nervousness. What is a small presentation to the organisation?


And yes, as I continued on the run. I asked myself. If I can do the ironman with all the training that comes by, just what else can be harder in life that my mind cant cope with?

***

Biking in the evening was such a breeze. Although the traffic in the peak hour was heavy, the weather was cool. It was a simple 32km ride followed by a 12km run. Running has been so effortless nowadays. May not be blistering fast, but gone are the days that I get heavy legs, sore knees and aching lungs. I dont run like the wind. But neither do I go on a trotting mode. At least I am doing a decent run, not a jog. Today's 12km run was averaged at 6:00/km pace. I started slow to warm up the body and legs after the bike. Gradually picking up speed till I slowed down my legs again. I am pretty confident I will be able to do a 5:45/km for a 21km run? Would probably be a PB at least? I will find out in September during the Army Half. It would be a good test of how far my run has come, considering that I am a non runner base, failing 2.4km when I was student and passed only when I went to the Army? I am just glad I have come thus far.


I cleared my wardrobe today. My old working clothes were size 17. I am now ranging from 15 to 15.5. The last time I went to one of those custom shirt shops, I needed a 15. My old working pants were also dumped. They were size 36 and now 34 is still slightly loose but can fit in fine. Tried on my wedding suit which is 11 years old? The pants and jacket looked as if I could fit in a couple of chickens.


It is nice to drop the weight. Worrying initially. But coach told me it is fine. Feels trimmer, fitter and more than 10 years younger? Have not felt this way in a while. Although not all the bulk around the waist has trimmed off yet, but it is slowly going away. No, I am not looking to have nice washboard abs. I just want to be fit and healthy. Pink of health, definitely.

New Shifters!

Alright! I have lived with my battle scared shifters for a long time. Crashed and dismembered beyond recognition, corroded by my toxic sweat, I decided to give the bike a new breath of life. Bought over new the pair of Ultegra 6700 shifters from some guy in the forum. Again, vanity more than functionality. I dont foresee myself going the Dura-ace gruppo, neither do I see myself good enough a rider to warrant a change to Di2, so I shall just live with my old Ultegra gruppo since they still function just as well. Andrew, the bike guru, asked me this when I wanted to change my old gruppo out: what is wrong with the old set?


Err... nothing. Case closed. He suggested that if I were not going the Di2 way, no point changing back to Ultegra nor Dura-ace 7900. The price disparity does not justify the technology. Might as well downgrade to 105 and suffer the minor weight gain but better monetary savings. So here I am, stuck with my old Ultegra 6600 with the new black 6700 shifters. NICE! Still in the wrapper though. Yet to switch them. Will wait for the weekend to do it and swop out the crap replacement bar tape TBB gave me. Lizard skins are great to grip! The previous set lasted me only 2 weeks? Got shredded when I crashed at Neo Tiew in June.

***

Training was in the wet and cold afternoon. Road was wet and the new training tyres were just not the best combination to put on the road. So I was especially careful in the corners, downhills and over drain covers. Not going to risk slipping at all. Did a 75km with HR specific sets. The old heart was good because they responded to every stroke of the pedal. Despite the good weather, I was still able to elevate the HR. The run was an easy 5:40/km pace for 8km. Running seems to be getting more consistent. Let's hope this keeps up.


Funny that the stiff neck bothered me when I woke up. As the day drew to a close for me, the ache was still bothering me. I was worried that I would not be able to watch over my shoulder when I biked? But turned out that the neck outgrew it during the training session. Hopefully, by tomorrow it will disappear. Such an irritation. Was so tempted to see a chiropractor to check out what was wrong. Wait a few more days and see if the pain dissipates.

Stiff Neck

This stiff neck is really bothering me. I thought it was all gone after the massage on Sunday. But it came back this morning. Despite the stiff neck, I still went for the morning run around the campus. Started at 0645 after leaving the car in the school. School starts late on Mondays anyway. So hardly a soul. Cool clean air in the morning, refreshing for the soul and mind. Started out slow and slowly warmed up to it. Was trying to keep it below the prescribed HR but found that it was just too slow? So edged it up a bit. Just found out that I clocked a 5:49/km pace for the easy 8km. Hope there is nothing wrong with the monitor though. It really did not feel fast at all. Maybe it was all the downslope that helped.


Worked throughout the day and went for the squad swim at 1930. Traffic conditions are really unbearable. I have no idea how long I can put up driving to Clementi pool for the next 2 months till YOG is over and Buona Vista pool comes back. Sitting at traffic light and not moving is just not my way to spend the time in the car. If not for the good company of music, I would have been cursing and swearing away at how some drivers jump queue. The surge of the ethicless drivers. The curse of Singapore roads.

***

Over the weekend on Saturday, the rain came and flooded Orchard Road and Bt Timah again. The residents and business owners must be asking themselves just what is happening to the island. Cars that became submarines in the basement carparks, businesses that just cleaned up after last month's wash up. And hit them again? I have my own theory about what is going on, besides the fact that the weather has been erratic of late, but probably best left undisclosed. Anybody who had been following the series of events that happened since last year, will suspect that something has gone wrong somewhere. This is probably going to be in line with the local coffee shop talk.


Anyway, it was a good thing I did not have a training session on Saturday. Or I would have ended the 180km bike really late. Also, instead of the 32km run on Sunday, it was replaced by an easy 40km ride. My leisurely ride took a turn when I found some other ride sitting on my tail, feeding on my draft. I tried to shake the dude off but he stuck to me like glue. Ran out of gears at Mandai and cadence was probably hitting 110 or 120 and when I turned back, the bloke was still behind. Darn! I just aint fast enough to drop him. And guess what? He was riding an old steel bike. So, the conclusion is as all cyclists would have known by now: it aint the bike, its the rider.


I was joking with my cycling friends. One fine day, I will buy a Polygon, or any of the low end bikes and see if I can outride the Cervelos and the Pinas on the road. And the day that I am able to do that, I would have pushed myself up a notch.

***

I realised that I would not be able to race in Europe for the next 2 years. For 2011, I will need to garner some more money for the whole family to go. For 2012, my older daughter will have a major exam. So I have discussed with my wife and decided that I will go with WA for these 2 years. Boring perhaps? Same race course for 4 IM. But I could look forward to setting new PB for the course every year. And I plan to do that.


With this, I was studying the option of getting a disc wheel. Course being flat, it may be a good chance to raise the bar on the bike. Still studying and deciding if I should go that way. The only thing is: it is such an expensive wheel because the number of usable rides is really low. Cost of usage per ride will be very high. Will ask around for opinions.

Slow Week

Told Coach that I have not been feeling quite right. Besides the uturn in the evening on Thursday, my neck had been aching since Tuesday. Stiff neck? Not quite the same feel. And it is taking longer than it should to recover. Probably caught some bug but not quite enough to knock me down maybe? Seems to be getting better today. Getting my deep tissue massage later. Perhaps that will help to relief some tension?


Because of this, I got the day off on Friday and today. And tomorrow, an easy 40km ride in the morning and that's it! I did not like the idea of getting so many days off this week? Low intensity would had been great. And I know the rest would have done me a lot of good. I have to reconcile, I have been doing multiple sessions of bricks and couple of dual sessions for the past 3 weeks. Might just be a good time to let the body recover? August issue of Triathlete emphasised this concept that all triathletes know but the article put it nicely - there are 2 other transitions besides T1 and T2 in a triathlon. And that would be Heal and Recovery. This piece of advise has been so commonly ignored that even me, a new triathlete tend to get overzealous and not listen to the body. I must say, the notion of resting and staying idle just makes me uncomfortable...

***

Got this new trail flare for the bike. Hopefully with this bright pesudo Darth Vadar's lightsabre will wake up the sleepy drivers in the dawn and dusk and notice me, the lone rider. It looks really nice I must say!


Speaking of lightsabre, I have yet to have the opportunity to buy Darth Vadar's lightsabre by Master Replicas. Been in my mind for many years already. Costs about $400 I think. But I think my wife will hang me by the ***** if I were to bring it home... One day, just one day... The defiant boy in me will buy the toy back...


Here's a picture of my small collection of Star Wars figurines...

It's too bad the old range were out of the box when I was young. If kept in the box and in pristine condition, would have bought me a new bike with Di2 many times over! My all time favourite besides Darth Vadar is Darth Maul. Wait till I get my hands on the sabre replica... Oops...

High Knee Lift Anybody?

Introduced to this by Coach. And I thought, how difficult could today's intervals be??


Started on the wrong foot in the evening. Went out of the flat all ready to run. 200m and I stopped and uturned back. I was exhausted. Work was not that great today and mentally fatigued. Decided to rest a while and continue at night.


Intervals of 4x800m, 4x400, 4x100m, 4x50m high knee lifts, 4x50m and 800m warm down. How difficult cant that be when the intensity and distances are not as high as previous ones? With the fatigue despite the 1.5hr sleep before dinner, the high knee lifts were the toughest of the lot! I could not even last 100m without stopping! Coach told me to research on Arthur Lydiard's proven method of training. I am still in the midst of reading the articles online and will be buying one of his books when I get the time to do it. Apparently, this was one of the routines... Oh my... Dare I ask for more?... We will see about that.

***

Age does change the perspectives, at least mine? I was communicating with a friend from work. I like the VW Scirocco. The contours of the car, the new small engine, BUT I just cant see myself driving the car any more. Its just like a couple of years back, I wanted to buy a Crumpler bag for work purposes? My wife told me to act my age? So yes, gone are the days of such young flashy cars. I will probably have to go into the "older" badges, Volvos, Audis, Mercs and at best a VW Golf R? Amusing. Maybe a few more years down the road, perspective will change again. Never know.

Easy Week

Easy week did not mean that I will have shorter distances and less to do. Easy as in working with a lower HR for all the sessions.


Tuesday was a rest day after the Monday swim. Was feeling the fatigue setting in on Monday night. Coach said to take the day off and rest up. Was suppose to do a swim as well as a 10km run thereafter. So that did not happen and I stayed home to watch over the kids.


Wednesday's session started late. Did an easy 90km bike followed by a 12km run. Ended only at 2230 - partly also because I was spinning with small chain ring for the full distance of 90km! By the time I finished my dinner, cleaned up the plates as well as my water bottles used during the sessions and hung up my bike, it was already 2330... Did not manage to massage my legs and this morning legs felt a bit tight. Oh well, that's work and training for me. Also, only managed to kiss the kids goodbye when I got out the door. Tonight will be a good time to spend more time with them - I hope...


Some interval training today - longest at 800m. Should not be too bad?

Alternative Perspective

Emerald Lodge. The same cafe that I pass every Saturday during my bike training at the top of Mount Faber (or hill). A nice and different perspective for me today? I was sitting INSIDE the cafe having a nice cool smoothie with my wife after lunch, enjoying the gentle breeze as well as the sea view that broke through the short canopy. At least this time, I would be not be huffing and puffing up the crest.

***

Spent an hour doing the sets with Monday Swim Group at Clementi. The irritating thing was: I spent the same amount of time getting there from my home! And this usually would have taken no more than 20min! The peak hour plus the numerous traffic lights plus the large volume of cars on the roads were the root of the problem.

Introduced to this Total Immersion (TI) technique - side stroke but using freestyle kick. All it took was 50m and my legs were all lactated up! 3x100m of paddles and I was left with no bubbles to draft. 8x100m with flippers was the main course for the night. Tiring but not too bad. Its with the aid of flippers after all!

This morning, I measured my resting heart rate to be 41 beats per minute (bpm). For the good part of the year, it had been hovering at 43. In fact, it had been 43 since last year when I started IM training. Good sign I suppose, now that my heart if more efficient in pumping the blood all over my body? Mohd Ali, the reknown boxer, and Sean Kelly, Lance Armstrong, the pro cyclists, both in their hay days had a resting heart rate of 30-32 bpm. At the age of 19 when I was in the army, my resting HR was 42. I may be almost twice over that age, but the heart is beating as young as it was then.

As many would say in denial of their actual age, literally "young at heart".

Music Reminiscence

Remember The Cranberries in the 90s, "Zombie", "Linger" and "Animal Instinct"? Bought their "best of" collection yesterday after so many years. Irish Indie/pop group whose lead singer, Dolores O'Riordan - actually I dont know what her name was until I found their website - has a distinctive vocals that "linger"s, pun intended. Also realised that the songs were shortened in this collection, as compared to the longer versions in the album.

I am probably one of the last few people to buy CDs in this time and age. Most of the people are downloading them from the internet? But I kind of like to own a hardcopy - in this case, the CD and the box? I still prefer the brick and mortar kind of shopping. There is more satisfaction, isnt it? You get to talk to people who sell the items, you get to physically touch them, inspect them? Where is the thrill in "in front of monitor and purchase with a click", really? Am I old school, I dont think so. I do online purchases as well, but that is because these items are not readily available in Singapore, or more costly, or I already know how the item is like, or they are not so crucial that I have the need to inspect them.

***

Today I started my 28km run at 1530. I think it was the worst time to start a long run today. The clouds were sparsely spaced out. I could see the blue sky and the rays were just so scorching hot! Sunscreen on and I was out. Within the first 5km, I was feeling the energy drained from me and I know I was in trouble already. Of course, this was not entirely due to the heat? I was feeling tired from Saturday's bricks session.

HR was not climbing at all, despite the same cadence of about 85. I know my stride was definitely not strong and probably very short as well. Nailed the whole distance at 6:44/km pace. Coach told me to take it easy and cap it at under 140 HR. Even if I had wanted to push it above 140, I would not have been able coz my legs were just not cooperating and firing. Actually, my lungs felt tired too. Ok, 3:09 was the same timing as the previous 28km run I did.

I will have to get a new pair of Newton runners soon. Will have to retire this pair soon. The good thing about my gait is that I am evenly wearing off the sole. I use to wear off the heels faster than the front. Now, I am wearing off the middle more than the rear. This means I have been landing well on the front to mid sole. Let's hope this will continue to improve.

Time to crash to my bed...

Latest Purchase - Bike Shoes

This purchase is pure... vanity. Something that I could have done without. Like it white and the feeling was snug with the insoles. But on the bike? The heel cup seems to slip off. And probably the new cleats are a bit off as well, the crank arm rubs the strap. This went off after some adjustments of the strap. Initial thought of it, not as good as it looked, sadly.

***

Probably need an eye check or a brain scan. Made a terrible mistake on Thursday's swim. Did 10x200m instead of 10x100m. Clocked in 3:40-3:45 for 8 of the sets and the last 2 sets at 3:50 and 3:55. I was trashed big time! Thereafter, had to do 20x50 leaving at every 55s. Managed the 55s but had to take 20s break in between each lap. I was tired and almost gave it up after the first few laps.


This mistake cost me my swim on Friday. Shoulders were achy during the warm up and with Toa Payoh pool closed for YOG, Bishan pool was FILLED with loads of kids and adults. It was almost impossible to swim in a straight line. Decided to call it a day as I knew I would not be able to do the 1km time trial besides other sets I was suppose to do.


Today's 2nd half of the brick session was great. Did a 116km bike and 3 sets of 5km thereafter. Gerald overslept. So it was just me and Pheng Kuan. I knew today was going to be a hard and fast ride after looking at the precribed HRs. And true enough, fatigue set in very fast. On top of that, I met another young rider on a CEEPO bike who was pretty steady and strong. I had to let him go because my friend was already dropped.


Ah! The run. 1st set at 6:01/km, 2nd set at 5:48/km and the last 5km at 4:54/km. Although I was fading (due to lack of carb more than anything else) towards the end of the 5km, but I thought I held on pretty well and am very satisfied with the run. I contemplated dropping the run during the bike. I had thought my legs were quite wasted. To my surprise, they were not.


The runs are getting better and beginning to enjoy it more. No huffing and puffing. Just constant breathing. Great! I like it totally!

If there can only be one ironman distance tri event, which would it be?

I know of one teacher who does this: take no pay leave and complete an ironman or 2 a year. But I think the money factor is too much to consider it as an option. So, if I I can take leave once and attend one ironman distance tri, which would I do?

There is only one that will come to my mind: Norseman. Now lets see why is it that tough?


Swim
1) temperature of 15.5 deg C to 17.5 deg C. Water in Singapore is a nice 25 to 28 deg C maybe? For Singaporeans, this will pose a huge problem because there is no water that can train our bodies to acclimatise to.
2) I understand from Enrico's blog that swimmers will have to swim against the current for the full 3.8km.


Bike
1) No service stations. The support must be engaged by ourselves.
2) Out of T1, straight climb for 40km, from ground level to about 1250m. Thereafter a decline and some rolling hills to about 600m, then 10km climb to about 1200m. Then a descend to T2. Bike times of 8-10 hours is common! Bt Timah or Faber will be a molehill in comparison...


Run
1) No permanent support stations for first 25km. After 37.5km, leave for 4.7km straight up the mountain, from 300m above ground to end point which is about 1900m. No support crew, no entry, or wait till next runner with support crew to gain entry. And there will be special check points to check that athlete's fitness is suitable to continue.


Am I ready for this race? Definitely not. Will I be game to do it? Yes! Since most likely I wont be allowed to climb Everest nor do any more trekking ventures in future, I would love to carry on endurance triathlons and end off with a sweet tough, extreme one. It will be the icing on my tri-cake. Swwwweeeetttt!

***

Did my intervals today in the evening. 2km warm up, 2x2km, 2x1km, 4x500m, 4x100m, all at hard intensity. Stamina seemed to have improved lately. Hitting the hard intensity HR seemed more and more bearable now. I think the 4km intervals in the past had done me a lot of help. However, I am still not able to hit the maximum intensity yet...


Later at night, will be mounting my bike for a trainer session for just over an hour. Double session again today. And tomorrow too! But seems like the body is able to take in all the heat this week. Feeling good and energetic somehow.

Supplements

Last year's ironman, I fell sick 2 weeks out from the race. Laid off training totally and took about 1 week odd to recover. This year while training for Japan, I was freaking out and kept telling myself that I cannot fall sick. Which I did not. And that was even despite my kids, my wife and my mum-in-law who stays with me on weekdays, fell terribly ill. I was so paranoid during that period that I did not even share the same cup - which very often I do.

It was thus very surprising that nothing happened to me. I read that with heavy work outs, the presence of free radicals in the body will tend to cause the human body to be more susceptible to illnesses. Such free radicals also speed up aging. Anti-oxidents are supposedly useful in preventing aging and help to reduce damage by these free radicals.

I read that I should take supplements and have been dutifully taking them. Now, whether my remaining relatively illness free is due to these supplements or not, I do not know. After all, I have always believe in this: what if you do not take? Ok, it's a "what if" mentality. "What if the plane crashes?", "What if the building collapses?". I cant possibly be living in a life of "what if" but I think this is the only "what if" I live with. Not much of a pessimist and always remain optimistic even when vehicles whizz pass me on the roads.

Alternate days I will take Berocca multivitamin, daily 1000mg of Vitamin C, daily 1 capsule of vegesamine (vegetarian glucosamine) and recently I just added 1 more, alternate days 1 capsule of 150mg Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). I read about the last supplement from Triathlete magazine and that Samantha McGlone consumes it. Oh well, if the pros take it, I presume as a mere mortal myself, it should be alright for me yeah? I also read that CoQ10 is found naturally in the cells of the body and is important for the health of cells and tissues. The thing is that CoQ10 diminishes as the body ages as well as high activity. Apparently a good anti-oxident too.

The reason why I take vegesamine is because I have to avoid the shellfish that is found in normal glucosamine. Fortunately for me, there is such an alternative. Otherwise, I think I would have suffered even faster degeneration of the knees. Seafood has a huge impact on my quality of life - I have gout. Only found out probably half a decade ago when the pain in the ball of my feet simply refuse to go away. And I had thought back then it was some spate of over training or over running until my doctor told me it was a result of high protein diet. After so many years of trial and error, I have a list of foods to avoid like plague.

***

Today was a good bout again. Felt good on the bike and the run. Did a 54km bike with high HR thrown in. Surprisingly I was able to push to meet them all. Did a short 4km run at 5:35/km pace thereafter the bike. Had higher HR average and found that I was still able to hold it at that pace for more if I had wanted to. As I told Coach, this might be my OD triathlon pace in future, which I think is quite good for myself. Another jump from this year's OD race I must say?

Hmm... Maybe it is the CoQ10 that is giving me the extra boost. Hope it is not some EPO similar drug...

Passion

My family had dinner with family friends. We have 2 girls, they have 2 boys. What a match eh? Anyway, it was a quaint and quiet place called Woody Pub Cafe. It is located at end of Sembawang Road turn off into Andrew's Road. Just next to another bigger establishment called Buckaroo.

It was quiet set up and served by husband and wife. Somehow, they were short handed that night. Wife was the cook and mainly served Peranakan style food. Spices were used in considerable amount and generously. The complimentary soup tasted amazing! As we were waiting for the food to be served, they played music from Gold 90.5. And I found it particularly soothing. To all our amusement, we concluded that age has finally caught up on us. Perfect10, Power98 are just too noisy for us - occasional would be fine but not the constant badgering of the fast beat. My favourite all these years had been Class95 but seems like I may have to switch over to Gold90.5 soon. GLEE-fully (Aha! Yes, I have caught a few episodes of this TV series as well! Maybe I aint that old after all...). As a matter of fact, I was very surprised that Gold played Sting's 80s piece, "Fragile". Has it been THAT long? Oh dear...

Jenny, the lady owner and cook, spoke to us and talked about passion. That she is passionate about her cooking and in this way, it made her food all the more mouthwatering-ly tasty.

And I somehow relate this to myself. How I enjoy the classroom teaching and really, how this interaction with my students had been the main motivating factor for me to wake up at 6am everyday during term time. And this has been for the past 12 years. In the past, I had to deal with kids dysfunctional families. This was emotionally draining because it really sucked me dry. How sometimes the help provided would turn out to be black hole-d with no returns. Then it got on to the gifted kids and how some of their seemingly naive but matured thoughts can be thought provoking and perspective changing. And now, how some of the brightest kids in the nation, sometimes can think of the best feasible ideas for a project.

What drives me on in ironman distance triathlon? Passion? Maybe. After all it has only been 2 years since I embarked on this journey. Do I still find the need to go on? When I am pushing hard during the intervals, sometimes not. But when I find that my split times in all three discipline are decreasing after a while, yes, I find it all worth it. The healthier lifestyle, the better fitness, the clarity of mind, the energy, the new friends I made, and best part of all, the exclusivity of the sport to only those who dared. I liked the idea that I am on the path less taken, the minority. The rich have their exclusive country clubs, jets, yachts and cars, etc. But I have my exclusive endurance fitness, which really, money cant buy.

So yes, passion is important and is the driving force of many outcomes in life. And I am glad I still have that for now and hopefully for more years to come.

What is your passion?

Good Run!!!

Did the 30km run today. And as per what happened yesterday, the foot pod claimed that I ran 33km! BUT I worked out a simple mathematical proportion to do adjustments in my mind. Appeared to be 10% more for every 10km I had done. So this means I would have to do an additional 3km on top of what the HR monitor claimed. So 33km it was then.


Checked that I did the 30km run in 3:09. I think it is kind of fast for me? So I presume that my proportions could be wrong still. But it was a good run  nonetheless coz there no aches from the 3 over hours of pounding. Usually during the long runs, knees will complain. Thereafter the run, usually I won't be able to walk without feeling sore and sorry for myself. All of that were not present today. Fantastic! I feel GREAT!

10000km and Still Counting!

While going and about doing my 182km ride today, I met Tofuman and Lee from Trifam on the road. Met Tofu at Jurong West, he was heading towards Tuas service road, also on a 180km ride. The latter I saw at Changi Coastal doing his laps.


Today's session was a much better ride than last week. Although I could feel the lactate building up in the legs at 160km and realised that I was getting undercarbed, I was still able to push all the way back although the spinning home was not exactly at a very fast speed. But I was suppose to warm down anyway.


Did NTU slopes - double hump and long slope - twice. And finally decided to try Mt Faber from Bukit Merah - the non Morse Road side. It was an eye opener! The slope just kept going at a steep gradient. But the accomplishment was immense. I could do this again! Morse Road pales in comparison now! The only problem is that the lane was narrow and if there were a vehicle behind - like today - I would slow them down by a lot.


Coach prescribed decreasing HR sets which I followed in terms of the decrease, but kept the HR higher than what he gave me. I was feeling good and thought I should not waste it. After all, it was coastal flats. Maintaining the HR was much easier than rolling terrain.


After the bike I did a 4km run. I think the sensor was not accurate today? Probably because my cadence was much higher than usual. Probably ran 3.7km only. Legs felt ok but physically tired definitely. I dont know how I am suppose to do a marathon after this distance.

***

It is finally official that I have hit above 10000km on my bike today! It should been much earlier, because this was my 3rd speedo on the bike. But I guess the previous 2 dont matter too much because the mileage probably would not be very high anyway? So! Depreciating this machine over the distance, I think I have managed the best bang for the buck! Oh yes, imagine the amount of time I have spent riding too! My my!


I bought this bike in December 2008. Most of the mileage was probably clocked from October 2009 onwards. Likely from this year's training mileage as well. 250km a week at least? NIIIICCCCEEE!!!

Wassup People?

I have always kept myself to just a circle of colleagues, whom I can relate to, laugh with and joke with. Many have since left, some will be going on leave. Only a handful are left whom I would say I can let my hair down with. People come and go. Oh, not being emo - favourite term among the youths nowadays - but I learn to appreciate good company. And really, sometimes these friends are hard to come by.

I found out that I got badmouthed in the organisation. Somehow, somebody just not happy with me for God knows what reasons. Fortunately for myself, it didnt matter to me much? I was just pretty amused by the accusation. Am I that threatening to anybody's career? I think if they check out my blog, they really have gotten everything wrong! Funny that this is the first time I have known to have been badmouthed against. Perhaps in the past I have gotten it unknowingly and probably unwittingly. This is the virgin incident that I hear of in my 12 years of teaching.


Remember "Whats up, doc?"? This is like Elmer Fudd trying to hunt down Bugs Bunny when the latter was all cute and harmless. Alright, I aint all cute and harmless. But you know what I mean...

***

Yesterday I did my 8x500m and 8x100m intervals and 8x50m easy run through. Good and short session. Yet to download my data but I doubt it was any fast. Today was suppose to be my pool session but all I did was sit in the office to mark. A total wash out till night time. In fact, it is still drizzling as of now. I shall call it a rest day then.


Will try to have an early night tonight. A long 180km ride tomorrow to occupy my day and part of afternoon. Nice!