Numbers

Life is full of numbers. We remember the birthdates of our loved ones and friends. We remember our car registration numbers. We remember the numbers in our addresses. We remember our age as well, although many women will want to forget them. One other number that is important to the ladies would be their weight. So secretive whenever they jump onto the weighing scale.

I used to be a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) while in the army. PTIs were probably the most hated personnel in the army back then. Maybe feared as well. They ruled the physical training (PT) fields like demi-gods. I remembered when I had my 1st PT as a recruit. I had no idea what it was all about. This tanned and lean looking chap, standing on the PT platform (about 1m cube) with the cross swords PTI emblem and motto "Endure and Excel", barking out commands with strings of expletives - when I say strings, I really meant the whole sentence with only a few English vocabulary - and we recruits did nothing else but followed them.

One of the exercises that we did was the run to "Pizza Hut". Now, in the PT field were 6 lampposts, labelled 1 to 6. Just what is Pizza Hut? The number to dial is 2353535 (back then was only 6 digits) for home delivery. And what we had to do was run to lamppost number 2, back to PT box and touch the ground the demigod stood, run to lamppost number 3, back to PT box, and on and on and on...

Another one that I remembered very well was, run to the obstacle and only the first 20 will need not do again upon return. This basically created a mad rush, clearly. And we would be in push up positions while waiting for the last man to come back.

So yes, army was fun and I learnt much from my PTIs when I became one myself. There were log PTs, rifle PTs, ALL "fun" sessions for the recruits under me. But I was not that bad. I have heard of others who were charged for overdoing it and causing physical hurt, eg. leopard crawl on the parade square! That was really bad I must say and seriously uncalled for. And some sessions, the heli-evac had to be called in for emergencies like heat exhaustion, etc.

In any case, yes, I was a lean bloke then. About 68kg. An easy 10km run was in the region of 45min. 15 chin ups were the minimum. Fitness was at the peak. 1 year into university, I put on 10kg. Yup, that was really hefty and my hall mates noticed the bulge in my tummy. And the weight slowly climbed up to 92kg over the period of studies and work. And I was still holding that weight in 2007.

End of 2007 during my Nepal trip, I got stripped down to 86kg - mostly muscle loss as well. I came back and my whole body was sagging badly. The 2 weeks spent trekking and with no idea how to carb up, my body was feeding on my muscles as well for energy. And it was then that I realised that muscle wastage was a real effect in times of hardship.

I knew I would gain back the muscles in no time with the good nutrition back home. But I wanted to stay at 86kg. Started on more regular runs and slowly, the muscles came back but with little weight gain. And it was in the same year, that I picked up the duathlon, triathlon and marathon.

At IMWA 2009, I raced at 82kg. Throughout this year, my weight continued to drop. Am now at about 78kg. Shedding this 4kg would put me in better shape for IMWA 2010. And I think I should continue to shed some more. Hopefully at an ideal weight of about 75kg by race day? What is amazing is that the weight can still decline, even with the huge amount of rice that I eat at every meal with 2 other small meals thrown in.

My weight has been a roller coaster ride, literally. My body fat content is yet to be ideal for an athlete - ranges from 12.5 to 13.5%. Although I am not on the look out for weight loss and body fat reduction, but it sure would be a nice consequence?

***

Monday's swim squad session went without much complaints. I suppose I had enough stored up energy from the past 2 weeks. But Tuesday's ride I rode with just water and no carb - I had put on some flab and Coach says anything under 2 hours, I can go without carb and that should help to trim off the extra weight gained. I stretched it a bit to 3 hours without carb and felt the effect I suppose? Either that or my legs were still not optimum after the 28km run.

Today's swim session was great - yet again! Usual warm up, and main sets of 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m, 50m and 10x50m leaving on 55s. All the 100m were clocked in under 1:50 and the 10x50m were completed under 55s (mostly in 51s) with only 1 lap that I took an extra 5s breather. Tiring, no doubt about it, but felt good that they were all accomplished.