Week 4 to IMWA: Lose Some, Gain Some

Ever since I started triathlons in 2008, I have changed 3 bikes. First was a 2nd hand Wilier aluminium frame. Had a good intent to buy a cheaper bike because I just started out and wanted to find out whether I would continue with it. Then 3 months later, I bought a LOOK carbon road frame. Also 2nd hand. But realised that it was set up too big for me and had severe neck ache. Then decided to change to current Cervelo Soloist, with so called proper fitting. Why so called fitting? That story for another day. Anyway, that was 3 months later in the same year, thereabouts. Sometime in December 2008, I bought the 2009 model. And had been with me since then.


From then on, looking at the amount I had wasted changing bike frames, I decided that I should not stinge anymore and just get something that I like. And it was the same thing when I bought my car. Probably the same reason why I would not be changing cars in a while. Besides the insane soaring COE prices.


And as cyclists or triathletes, we know that changing tyres can be a pain in the butt. Especially when the tyres are brand new. They can be so stiff and tight that getting them out and in of the wheel would take a lot of energy and effort. With this in mind and that my A race is looming, I thought I should use the more seasoned tyres. Despite knowing that the soft side walls of the Pro3 had frayed a little as the tyre lever went round the rim during the change of tube, I had thought the tyres should be able to withstand my dragonfly touch on the pedal while pedaling. Besides, the tyres were not exactly that worn through. Probably 1500-2000km only? They looked quite ridable still. No point wasting money right?


Wrong.


Was up and about riding with Enrico at Coastal. Coach said to simulate ironman pace and nutrition, and work each other up and encourage each other as well. Everything went fine. Weather was great. Clouds covered the skies at 8am still. Light wind but seemed to be picking up. We were moving along cruising at about 31-35kph but averaged 30kph on the first loop. Body was warming up to the ride. And the inevitable happened.


45km mark, bang! I was hoping it came from the ego-too-big-for-their bikes roadies that overtook me. If not for the 200km plan, I am pretty sure I would have smoked them all. Hated the grins on their face thinking they had overtaken a disc wheel bearer. Hmm... I suppose I had my pride too. But I let them go nonetheless.


Back to the Big Bang. Front tyre was flat. And I just changed on Saturday after Friday's flat. Enrico stopped at the top of the crest and I was about to change out the tube when I realised that the tyre had been ripped open. And that could have resulted in pinching the tube and burst it while under the duress of riding.


Tyre was old. It was soft. It was just waiting to happen. And fortunately, it happened today, which was NOT race day. I lost the day's training and could have made it up by restarting again in the early afternoon. But that could have meant not spending almost the whole day with the family. Not withstanding the fact that I spent the whole day working on Saturday - which explained my rest day yesterday.


Coach agreed that I should forgo it and spend the time with the family. And that I did.


Got home, put on spanking new tyres both on the 808 front and the disc. Made a trip to the LBS to buy and replaced the "old" rim tape as well. I was not about to take any risks again. Might as well do everything and test out the equipment for the next 1 month and ensure that mechanically, the whole bike is fully functional.

Yes, penny wise, pound foolish clearly holds much water. Its a lesson that I had learnt and relearnt many times over. Sometimes, it is just so hard to know how much the dollar can be stretched. Definitely not worth it at all in a race that I had spent thousands to get to with the family for sure.


What did I gain? A nice breakfast with the family - I got home and they were still sleeping - and relaxing outing with them. No doubt, a session lost, but not all lost was in vain.


And as I told Coach, I will be ready for hard sessions right from tomorrow onwards. My body is full of energy from the loading on Saturday. The energy has to go or they will become fats really fast. Better dispense of them really fast or I will regret it. (Although I think a day of loading would not make that much a difference in weight gain.)

Rain Aint Stopping Me This Fool

Went on a 120km bike ride with 10km run today. Half way through the ride, could see the clouds building up. Why am I a fool? Because there were no shelters along Coastal. And just trees and loads of trees. What did we learn when we were young? When there is lightning, DO NOT stand under trees. And I was doing just that. Biking instead though. I was just praying that the lightning would just pass me over. Strange enough, no lightning where I was. Some bits of heavy drops of rain. Got me wet but I would live.


Was pushing quite hard. Even with headwind I was cutting in above 30kph. HR remained quite stable and this was good . Most of the time above 32kph while cruising and at some point with tailwind, the disc helped pushed up the speed to above 35. But it would be unlikely I would push for the HR today during the race. Maybe just slightly lower. No point trashing my legs before the run.


The best part was this. 300m from end point, I hit a front flat. And the ironman in me, got off the bike, took off the shoes and jogged to the car while pushing the bike along. All this done while it was still drizzling. The BBQ people must have thought that this guy (me) had gone bonkers. I think I deserve a prize...


The 10km run was a good ironman pace. It felt good and I think with proper nutrition I should not be too trashed. Did 1st km with pace of 5:43/km and the nxt 9km in 5:45/km. May have to slow it down a bit more in case I get too tired out for the 2nd half. After all, the real race starts from 28km. So my Coach told me...


And to confirm it, yes, the distance markers were off by 500m yesterday and the day before as well. Today I ran with GPS instead.


Tomorrow would be rest day. Got to go back to work. Had to convince my wife to let me ride long on Sunday instead. After all, the rest is drawing near. Would be having Enrico for company during the 200km ride. Stressful to ride with 10 time ironman finisher...

Best Swim By Far

Did a 4km swim today. At the 3.8km mark, the time was 1:10:33! And I wasnt even trashed that badly. Looks like the Monday swims and Coach's swim sets all contributed to this. 4km was 1:14+!


I remember being envious of Matt's 1:10 timing - which he said he could improve even - and now I have done it myself! Am very happy!


Did a 10km run just now at East Coast Park. I am not sure if its my footpod or the location. I seem to run very much faster. I think its the footpod problem coz I wasnt running that fast. So my pace for yesterday's 6km run would probably be off too. And thanks to the footpod, made me happy for a day. So it would mean that I covered less than 10km today. Arghhh...


Yes this Polar footpod had been giving me so much problems with distance. Think I will have to run with the GPS module from now on instead. I suppose I will have to depend on experience to know what the cadence may be. Will have to be guess work...


But nonetheless, I am still happy with the swim time. This is probably the fastest I can get for this year. Maybe, just maybe, I can press it down further next year...


And also the bike time...


And also the run time...


...

Raise The Bar For 2011

Yesterday's bricks was a good outing. 100km bike with 6km run. Surprised myself with an average of 5:17/km pace for the full 6km run. Hope it was not a footpod calibration but I think the distance was about right.


Although the year has yet to end, I am looking forward to new goals for 2011 races.  So will there be a off season for me after WA? I doubt it. It will be time to raise the bar for Aviva 70.3 which may be the 1st race for the new year. I will likely pass for Biathlon and focus on long distance running races and triathlons. No point doing so many races when I could probably put the time to training sessions instead. Also to reduce the amount of money spent on race fees. I think I have spent close to $2000 this year on registration alone. Not including overseas travelling costs. Fees have been increasing over the 2 years I started on triathlons. So have to be wise and choose the races carefully.


I was evaluating Norway just a few weeks ago. Planned to holiday with just my wife there for the Bergen ironman distance tri. This will be more affordable than a whole family holiday. But wife said that it would be too costly and not our lifestyle. So, it had to be shelfed again. Like I have been telling my friends," Where is my money tree?"


I checked the old ironman Japan website and apparently they are planning for a race next year. I emailed them but no response despite them asking readers to email for more information. Needed to find out if it will be in June again. Otherwise it will be back to WA for 2012. Wife says I can only do 1 ironman in a year. I missed the 2 ironman this year and seems like she is quite firm about it. Darn! Anyway, the site mentioned to wait for news in November. I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Miraculous Sports Massage

Nearing the race, I have my sports masseur come in more frequent. Yesterday' session was the start of bi-weekly routine, to build up towards WA. For a period, I did wonder whether sports massage was truly beneficial? And if you had read Triathlete, there were some reservations about it as well.


But yesterday's session was mind blowing. I had been feeling aching sore near the upper end of the quads. My masseur pressed on my hip flexor and the pain immediately disappeared! It was like a volcanic release of built up pressure. I was totally in awe.


So for its worth, sports massage may just be necessary to keep the body in tune and in shape. Well, at least for this time round. Perhaps it was coincidental that the symptom was related to the hip flexor. But since there is no sure way to know, sports massage will still be one of the solution to relaxing the muscles.

***

I had not realised that some of the blokes at Monday swim squad were more than a decade younger than myself and Julian. It was no wonder they were always zooming ahead of me. But that cant be used as an excuse for me. I learnt today that a 45 year old ironman triathlete, completed his Kona in 10:45 and a 36 year old did in 9:05 or so. And they were all age groupers. The only consolation I had was they had been in the game for 6 years. Maybe, just maybe I have a chance. In 6 years. Yeah... right.


Anyway, I missed the bike trainer session because I had the massage. Oh well. Cant pack everything into the little time I had.


Today I did an easy 12km run. Coach told me to keep it easy and not to blow myself up. I do have quite a long week coming up, starting from tomorrow. Did a very short negative split between the 2 halves, pace of 5:43/km and 5:39/km on the return. Although I must say that I did not feel that strong. Could be because I did not bring any hydration along with me. Fortunately there was no prescribed HR nor distance. Just complete it. And that was what I did.

Week 5 To IMWA

Rain had come and haze had gone. Where I was, the lightning and thunder were in abundance and threatening but very little rainfall. Still the haze had somehow lifted. So all was good to go on Sunday.

I was suppose to ride a short 50km in the morning but chose to have breakfast with my family instead. I was too tired to wake up early for another ride and just wanted to give my body and mind some rest. Intended to ride in the early afternoon, but felt sleepy so took a nap instead. Essentially, I was a bag of lazy bones.

But took off for a 3x8km run at about 1530. Cloudy skies, what more can I ask? Furthermore, it had just rained for an hour, an hour before I left the flat. Weather was really really cool. Such a nice weather, I could not possibly have asked for any more.

Started with a fat burning zone HR pace of 6:15/km. Walked 1km and did a 2nd 8km at 5:55/km pace. Walked 1km and went on a upper end of zone 3 HR. Probably average pace of about 5:30/km. Actually was going faster at 5:15/km before I forced myself to slow down so that the HR would not shoot up too high. Was quite confident I could have continued with that pace for a while more. Legs and stamina looked sharp. Seemed that the fatigue from the races 2 weeks ago had dissipated.

Its 5 more weeks before race week. I sure am getting the butterflies. The thought of having to be working out for more than 12 hours continuously just scares the living daylights out of me. Oh well, I have trained 10 months for this race, I should be fine. But whether the body and equipment will be fine on race day is another thing altogether.

One For The Weekend

Friday's haze was not too bad. The little droplets of rain did a little relief to the condition that enveloped the island. Started out the run in the late evening after work and though the environment did look misty, the air did not smell as bad as on Thursday.

Did a 4x4km run with 500m walk in between. Greedy me ate 2 curry puffs just 2 hours before and paid for that moment of folly. It was tough running when the puffs wanted to find their way out of the stomach. Fortunately, they stayed right in. Paced 5:32/km, 5:38/km, 5:46/km and 5:23/km. HR was ironman pace. If only these were the actual ironman race pace...

This morning started on the 180km bike. Again I decided to hit out to Coastal flats. Did 7.5 loops before heading home. Getting there was 20km and back would be the same distance. Pretty disappointed in the speed despite not having very strong headwind. For 170km, my average speed was 30.8kph. The purpose for today's ride was to sustain the HR and complete the whole sitting. If I were to be hit by Busselton's winds, this average speed will definitely go even lower. Looks like I will have to manage my own expectations again.

***

I realised that my wetsuit has been in the cupboard since December 2009 IMWA. I think it is really time to take it out for a swim to see if there are any problems with it. The last thing I want is to buy a completely new one while in Australia.

Gotta find time to do a sea swim this coming week. Its going to be tough time getting into the suit all over again...

F.u.z.y... B.u.z.y... Dammit! So H.a.z.y...

The last we were hit badly by the haze was a couple of years back. Something like over 100 points. I remembered I brought my kids out and had to put on masks for them. And they thought it was very fun. Well, when things are out of the norm, there would always be some sense of adventure for the kids? Absolutely no understanding of how dangerous the haze could be, for personal health, as well as how hazardous it can be for all forms of transportation. It got so bad that even tourism was badly affected during that period. It was for quite a long time even.

Now the damn haze is back. PSI of 84 today. In the early morning, the surrounding buildings around the college were hazed up in the distance. In the evening now, I could smell the foul air just by standing at the windows of my flat.

In the midst of this bad air, however, I still went out for a 120km bike and 6km run bricks session yesterday. Not that I was oblivious to the bad air that was getting into my lungs, but thought it was not too bad. Just yet. It was a good session. Made my way to coastal to tackle the flat terrain and managed them reasonably well. The run was done at pace of 6:13/km for 1st km and 5:30/km for subsequent 5km. And good thing was that I still felt good on the run.


When I got back to rest however, I could feel my lungs felt constricted. As if it was all bunched up inside. But after the shower and 15min later, all was clear again. Yes, I think it was the haze and yes, it was a good thing I do not have any respiratory disorder just yet. I have 5 more weeks including taper. Really hope this haze will lift in the next few days. Otherwise my outdoor training will be badly affected. I cant imagine riding 180km on the trainer... And I dont have a treadmill...

In the evening today, I spent like almost 3 hours in the pool, thereabouts?! 400m warm up, 400m kicks, 3x400m (3min break), 6x200m (2min break), 9x100m (1min break), 12x50m (15s break), 100m warm down. Yes, that worked out to be 4.7km swim! I was feeling very, very tired out! Came out of pool feeling so hungry and wolfed down so much carb when I got back! 200m average of 3:38, 100m average of 1:45, 50m average 51s. I think I am making good timing with my swim. It was a stark improvement over my swim times in the beginning of the year. I really think that the breakthrough came from the Monday swim sessions. I started swimming with them since June and that was when my timings started to come down, strokes and gliding got much better. Basically, efficiency improved as well. So Coach was right to get me to go through with them even if it were just a short 1hr. Great stuff!

***

Newton 30km run updated their timing sheet and my result was up. Time was as expected, 3:09:58. But ranking dropped to 417 out of 1376. Still top 31%, but I suppose it can still be better? Will try again next year to go under 3hours then - if the event will still be held?

This year, I have moved up in terms of timings for all the repeated events done. All were PBs compared to last year. That's really a confidence booster. It just meant my training is on the right track. Perhaps slowly, but surely. And I dont want to rush it, I want the fitness to be sustained and to remain injury free as well. Triathlon is a lifestyle and I would like to keep it that way for a long time to come.

NorthFace 50km Duo Results

I was quite amazed with the ranking my partner and myself got in the 50km Duo field. I got a time of 3:19:25 and combined total time of 6:48:20. Ranked 70 out of 284 teams! The thing was, we could have been ranked even higher if I had gone at my own pace! Wow! This goes to show that it was indeed a very gruelling route. I had thought that we would be ranked in the middle or even lower! I told my partner we will try to do this again next year and try to better the timing. If the race were not too near WA 2011, I will want to try the 100km duo. We both know it will be terribly tough and punishing, but are game to try it out.

***

Monday did a 60km bike at Coastal in the mid afternoon. Decided to drive all the way there instead because I wanted to train with constant HR given by Coach. Riding at Mandai is tough to keep HR in check as well as speed. On top of which, I was suppose to time 3 sets of 10km at specific HR. As usual, the wind slowed me down a lot but the tail wind was sweet...


Last night was the usual swim with Trifam Monday Swim at Buona Vista. Was tired especially with 2 sets of 100m butterfly and 2 sets of 100m breathing on 3-5-7 strokes! They were really really tough. But having said that, I think I really benefited from swimming with the blokes. I think the efficiency in water some how had improved with the drills we do on Mondays. So it was a good thing I decided to do a night session with them. Just to bad I cant join them for dinner thereafter. Perhaps one of these days I will. Not too friendly and not too nice, I know.


Just completed an easy 8km run today. The haze was really bad. This was by far the worst haze in the past few years. I remember it being really bad back in 2004 or 2005 (cant really remember when) when my kids were still very young. Then we even bought masks for them to put on because it was air was so polluted that the burnt smell was very distinct. Hope the haze will lift soon. I sure do not want to do long rides and runs in this. The last thing I want is to fall sick now. Looks like it is time for supplements overdose again...


Second session tonight will be bike trainer. Good thing it would be done in the comforts of the home. Nice...

Stretching Benefits

Looks like the ride today was better than the stammering ride done yesterday. Although it was only a 35km short ride, the moment I mounted the bike, I could feel the difference. With more sessions of training, I could tell the difference between a good day and a not so good day. From the moment I get onto the bike. And yes, today, the legs fired very well. Maybe the mindset was positive because the body knew it was a short ride?


The 4 sets of 5km started really humid during the 1st set. Had to slow down to prevent the HR from shooting  up. Managed pace of 6:13/km, 5:48/km, 5:16/km and 4:44/km. Coach wanted me to go all out for the last set and it was a 5km worth of anaerobic set for me. By the last 2km, my lungs felt as if they were going to burst and my mind was telling me to stop. Funny that my glutes were the ones aching away thereafter. Was I using the glutes to run? Or was that the remnants from the bike session yesterday?


On the 2nd and 3rd set, my left knee started to ache a bit. During the 500m walk before the 4th set, I stopped to stretch the quads and hammies. I remember Coach telling me that his problems was sometimes due to different tensions in the muscle group near the knee cap. And voila! The pain went off for me!


After having read about how stretching may or may not help and that it was an age old theory never been proven right, about how deep tissue massage may do more harm than good, I think for all that they are worth, stretching and deep tissue massage must have their merits. As for me, besides the sports massage I get, I use the foam roller. Frankly, the foam roller is a good compliment to all of that. Take for example, today after the run, the legs felt so jelly but after the roller session, the muscles felt more at ease. It just takes a bit more discipline to roll them up instead of resting in front of the TV. Not too expensive an investment I must say? And with WA around the corner, I will really have to take care of my legs and health as well.

Week 6 To IMWA

The last time I did the countdown to ironman race was in June for Japan. And of course, nothing came out of it and the countdown was till Week 1. The next day of course I recieved an email informing me that the race had been cancelled.


I was doing the pool swim on Friday and a thought dawned upon me. The picture of the actual doing of WA gave me the butterflies in my stomach. Urggh... This is what happens when I am inexperienced. But I have also read that the pros also get the same sick feeling when they were in the water at the swim start. I suppose it would apply to all athletes?


Then the next thought was this: after the 3.8km swim, there is still a 5-6+hr bike... followed by a 4-5hour run. This IS really quite a sport! How did I convince myself to get through this? I am still amazed with myself, a movie freak and couch potato in the past. Seemed like that was a thing of the past.


To start off the countdown would be a short 35km ride followed by 4 sets of 5km run with 500m walk in between. Slowly but surely, things will be picking up. I have done what I can to prep up till now with Coach's help. All the training races are over and training is done. It is now time to peak during the race. With Japan gone, the whole year's training boiled down to this A race. Will just have to wait and see how much I have improved over last year's ironman.


Deep down, I am still hoping that IMJ will be scheduled for next June. I sure would love to try out a more hilly course. Although I know that I am not good with bike climbs, but it will be something new for myself. Perhaps IM will announce in a couple of months time? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Crazily Hot!

On Friday evening I noticed that the sky was clear. Few streams of clouds that were made pinkish red by the setting sun made it a beautiful sight. A beautiful sight it was the next day as well. A few huge clouds here and there to start off the morning and as it got nearer mid morning, the sun was powerful, as if daring me to go on pedaling on my 200km bike routine.


I had started on small chain ring but the HR just would not go up. Not till a group of cyclists went past me. That was the 80km mark. Already. I decided to make a dash pass their leader and maintained the lead for a while till their breakaway group drafted a truck and sped past me.


But it was the heat that really got into me. By 130km I was all hot and sticky and could doze off on the bike! This had never happened before and got me to start looking for a toilet to get water to pour over myself. There was a toilet with bathing facilities and I stood in the shower to soak myself. The water quickly evaporated after a while and the my portable bathing facility - my water bottle - was a very good companion.


Did 3.5 loops of the Coastal and the head wind really got into me. It was very nice with the tailwind initially but the return was bad. But I kept it up and pushed it harder than usual. Not sure of the speed but I know it would be good training for Bussleton winds too. Looks like I will have to do this more often from now on.


I told Coach I want to up my bike mileage. Will see how it goes with the little time I have left.

***

After 2 no results races, I got the timing for Desaru long distance triathlon. 42:46 (swim), 2:56:58 (bike), 1:59:24 (run) and a total time of 5:39:08, as estimated by myself. Ranked 25th in my age group of 148 triathletes and 113 overall of about 438 individuals (not sure if the overall ranking includes the relays, but I will presume not).  And my wife was right, swim time among the individuals was top 40-50 swimmers. Not too shabby!

No Timing... Yet Again!

Newton 30km run results were out. And my name was not there. So there will be no official timing for me. I can only rely on my Polar watch for timing. SAFRA Half Marathon it happened. Now again?! I heard the beeping sound distinctively when I pass the various checkpoints. But the 2nd last one on the final loop I know the beeper did not go off as I passed. Apparently I was not the only one. Enrico and some of his pals also did not receive any timing as well. Oh well... such is life when we are dependent on technology.


As I looked through the list, my timing should slot in just at the end of top 400 runners (or thereabouts, depending on how many missing runners are slotted in front of me) of the almost 1300 participants (list had 1280). That's about 70th percentile. Well, I will have to work on improving it. There will always be next time.

***

I am amazed at how Coach would be able to tell what condition I was in despite being so many thousand km away. He told me to take an easy run yesterday of about 6-10km. And he was right that I would not be able to go hard. My legs felt slightly heavy after Wednesday's bricks session. So in the end, I did a 8km jog plus a 1km walk, and proceeded to self massage using the roller.


Today would be a swim. warm up 200m, 2x500m, followed by 10x50 with even laps doing fist swim, 2x500m and 200m warm down. Most of the time I do not calculate the distance I swim. And just last Friday, I did not even realised that with repeated sets, the total mileage was a hefty 3.5km! I had told Coach that maybe I should have an easy day in anticipation of the running weekend and that was his definition of easy!  It was only after the session that I realised I had gone that distance. But all's well that ended well.


Tomorrow will be a 200km bike session... Here comes the big mileage to build up for WA. NICE... *faint*


6 weeks out to the ironman, counting from this Sunday onwards.

Retrolicious 2010

I have to admit. I was never a Debbie Gibson fan when I was a student. I was more into Indie groups and went on to heavy metal genre. And that included groups like The Cure, Joy Division, Depeche Mode, The Alarm, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Judas Priest, Meat Loaf and all. My particular favourite would still be Depeche Mode. And believe it or not, I heard Bon Jovi back in 1987! And he is still raking out hits till a few years back?

But I did listen to Johnny Hates Jazz and Rick Astley. So the concert brought back memories especially during the videos showing the years of 1987 to 1989 before each group's appearance on stage. It showed George Michael and Wham, Mili Vanilli - lip synchers, BROS and their trail blazing fashion, Richard Marx and his mane... So much so much more.

And this was 80s. More than 2 decades have passed...

Of the 3, Debbie Gibson had the highest entertainment value. She was full of energy and had stage presence. Followed by Rick. Johnny Hates Jazz was probably past their time. It was surprising that they and Rick would be cutting new albums. Wonder how they would appeal to the pop generation of now.

Kona - Ford Ironman Championship

Arghhh! On Sunday when I just finished Newton 30km and Enrico told me:" Have you heard? Macca won! Crowie came in 4th! And Chrissie was down with flu, did not race and Mirinda Carfrae won!"


My favourite to win for this year and thought may just be his last, lost his crown to Chris McCormack. I suppose we all have our favourites. Anybody else but Macca would have been fine. Alright. Its just that I cant appreciate Macca's confidence. Crowie had a quieter, seemingly more humble disposition. Maybe its because he is my age... Chrissie apparently had a flu and had hoped to be at the swim start. But her bike remained racked and unused on race day. Well, Crowie! Get on the bike and do it again next year, just for this year's loss! And Chrissie, you have next year and more years to come to make up for the no show this year!


Apparently Macca had a very good, nail biting, neck to neck race with Andreas Raelert. Cant wait for the 2010 Kona Championships video to be made and ready...

***

After the weekend, the dip in the pool on Monday night was refreshing. From pounding on the pavement and forest ground, it was a nice change to work on the arms. Although the water was warm, but nonetheless enjoyed to buoyant self.


Coach put on on a 3hour spin on Tuesday. Completed only 2.5hrs worth of it coz legs felt a bit slow. Rode with Julian for a short while but he uturned after Mandai Shell coz he had some errands to run.


Today did a 120km bike with 50km on small chain ring. Did 3 loops of undulating Old Choa Chu Kang and 2 times triple hump at NTU. Could feel the lactate build up but slowly dissipated after a while, when cruising on the flats. Legs were not completely recovered but were definitely getting better. At least, it was not as bad as after the Army Half Marathon race. This meant that it was good I took the weekend as training rather than races. Otherwise, it would have taken me much longer to recover.

It Is Finished...

No more races till WA in December. Managed to complete North Face 50km Duo and Newton 30km runs.


I just created my own record. I had doubted whether I would even be able to start today after Saturday's gruelling 25km of trail. My thoughts of the trail? My goodness! I think I will improve more if I can overcome the trails! North Face lived up to its repute of tough runs. And Saturday was no different. I can only take my visor, my tri top and my shoes off for the blokes who did the 100km! I was barely surviving on the trails despite it being only 25km!


Probably made a mistake with creatine on Friday night. I havent been taking it for the past 6 months. And because of the weekend's crazy runs, I thought I should keep myself from hitting the wall. Turned out that the creatine was a terrible mistake. My HR shot up so high during my warm up run from home to Macritchie Reservoir. Throughout the whole run, HR just refuse to come down. Not to mention the horrible queasy feeling in the guts after consuming it on Friday that last till Saturday morning. Lesson learnt: dont try anything new before a race. I have consumed before but probably long absence had resulted in this. And this lesson was taken for granted by myself. Learnt it the hard way. Yet again.


Back to the run. As it got deeper into the woods, oh yes, literal meaning to that statement. It was like getting into a blackhole and totally unsure of what was going to happen. I was pretty familiar with the terrain up till the 6-7km mark. The moment it hit unfamiliar grounds, I became more cautious with descents. And the ascents, were manageable till it hit severe climbs, which I told myself, it was of no use trying to run them down (or up in this case). It would be pure waste of energy. So yes, I had to walk up the crazy slopes. Not one, not two, but perhaps 4 or 5. I cant recall. Weather was really humid and on top of that, the heat was quite relentless.


Waited for my partner a couple of times. Probably in all of 15min. After the 20th km mark, I decided that I should just continue on my own. Returned in a time of 3:18 thereabouts.


The North Face run revealed a new territory that appealed to me. I like the challenge. It had made road run looked simple...


When I got home, I hung up my legs and snoozed for a while. I was really hammered big time...

***

Newton 30km run this morning. It was planned to be an easy pace run for myself. I just wanted to complete and save some space for training next week. And having done North Face, I had a good reason not to go hard? Hmm... not that I am able to go hard anyway. Go hard to my limited ability, perhaps.


Anyway, 1st 20km I did about 2:09. Could have shaved off 5-6min coz I needed to get to the toilet. Of all times, I needed to go during the run. Cursed were the noodles I ate at 130am after Retrolicious Concert. Oh yes. Stood for 4 hours and my back was aching. More about the concert another time.


The last 10km I completed in an hour. So all in, 3:09. Weather was great. Windy, cooling. No climbs, no heat. Simply fabulous. Definitely less punishing than North Face. Met Nigel who did in 2:50+ and Enrico did in 2:30+. Simply awesome athletes! And Mok Ying Ren, the winner of the Men's category? A whopping 1:47! Which planet is he from? What does he eat? How does he train? I have no idea. And its perfectly fine with me, I have no wish (nor able) to get to that level. I still need my family to be with me. Triathlon training sessions are only a subset of my life. I will not want to give up everything else to TRY to be at the podium. That would not be what I want in life. Too much of any thing just is not healthy.


All in all, having clocked 55km over 2 consecutive days, this had given me some confidence in tackling future sessions. I would not have thought I could do it, even up till the event. The hurdle was crossed. Now looking for the next monster...

Legends

What are the attributes for a person to be a legend? What type of legacy should we be looking at?


In sports, many had left their legacy for us to remember, in the likes of:


Muhammad Ali. Heavyweight champion boxer. Considered the world's greatest boxer.


Carl Lewis. Multi talented track and field world record setter in his time.100m, 200m, long jump. He owned them all in his time. Of course, there was the brief emergence of shamed Ben Johnson who stole the show from Lewis.


Michael Jordan. Basketballer who retired from NBA's Chicago Bulls. Multi time MVP and dubbed "His Airness". I was a huge fan of the Bulls back then, again when the NBA games were shown on free to air channel in Singapore.


Mike Tyson. Bad boy and much feared boxer. Left the scene with a whole load of controversies and distaste. Still, perhaps still one of the more powerful boxers of that time.


Michael Schumacher. Seven time F1 driver for Ferrari. He really made the contestants a good run for their money when he was at his peak of his game.


Lance Armstrong. Now, who doesnt know Lance? Cancer survivor, 7 consecutive times Tour de France winner, with still a lot to prove till this year when he declared he will retire for good - a 2nd time. Last I heard, he is going back to his roots of triathlons.


David Beckham. Reknown for his ability to curl the ball wickedly into the net from free kicks. Also further marketed for his Posh wife and lifestyle.


Diego Maradona. Infamous for his "hand of God" handball in the 1986 World Cup. However, this soccer superstar was later on plagued with much controversies.


There are many other legends in my lifetime. It is really difficult to name them all. Some are household names, some are known only to the enthusiasts. Regardless of whether they left behind a positive or negative legacy, they would have impacted the sports that they came from.


I cant be a legend like those mentioned above. But how would I want to be remembered by my family, especially my children when they grow up? Do I want them to remember me as somebody who was hardly around to support them? Or would I want them to remember me as being there for them all the time? How would I want my colleagues to remember me by? Someone who could be relied on at work? Or seen as somebody who would do anything to get up the corporate ladder, including stepping on them? Should the people I know remember me as believing in doing my best in all that I do, or should they think of me as skimming?


Legends are made, not born. (Now, where have I heard this before?)

***

Not much of a recovery swim in the afternoon. Did 2x400m (2min rest in between sets), 4x200m (1min rest in between sets), 8x100m (1min rest in between sets) and 6x50m (30s rest in between sets). Almost called it quits after the 1st set of 400m. Fortunately I persevered coz as I swam, the body warmed up gradually and strokes felt better. For the 400m, I clocked 1:51 per 100m; 200m, I clocked 1:51 per 100m; 100m I clocked 1:48 per 100m; 50m clocked in 50s. Pretty decent as this has been consistent for the past few weeks. If this keeps up, a 1:15 should be within reach. *Cross my fingers* Not good by the age group standard, but it will still be an improvement of 6 mins for myself.


2 hours later I did a short 6km run. 1km warm up, 2km slightly faster pace and 5x200m of surges with 200m easy jog in between and final 1km warm down. Legs felt quite oiled but lungs were achy. Perhaps from the swim. I hope with good rest tonight, I will be able to survive the 25km race tomorrow. Here goes nothing!

***

Some people will claim,"XXX coaches really well. You should consider changing." Or the common saying "XXX bike really goes fast. You should get it."


Besides having good sports genes, excelling in sports need not only a good coach or good equipment, but also self motivation and discipline. What is considered a good coach? To me, a good coach is one who understands the ability of the sportsman and slowly builds him/her up over time, without risking injuries. I think my Coach did a fantastic job with me. Brought me up from nothing since last July to a level of fitness I never would have dreamt of myself. The best part was, I never got into any serious injuries. Most of the aches and pains I got were my own doing, due to my negligence of failing to massage and stretch after every session. All in all, yes, I think I have improved compared to last year's preparation for my first ironman race. Yes, I believe I can still improve. But it will take a lot of time, although time is not exactly with me and doing me justice. As long as I can keep my mind focused on the sport, I should be able to progress. Slowly but surely.


So, changing coach is really synonymous to changing to a "faster" bike. How naive...

Recovery Week

I cant remember when was the last time I witnessed an accident. Met with one myself with a motorbike many years back. The blood just completely drained from my face then. I must have looked like a corpse or Edward in the teen vampire movie series, Twilight.

Anyway, I saw an incident while driving up to Desaru last Friday. A typical one lane but 2 way street.  A Malaysian driver got out of the lane and attempted to overtake another car but unknowingly, the motorcyclist was going to make a right turn off the road. The car hit him and the bike somersaulted. I could see the rider being thrown off like a ragged doll onto the opposite lane. Fortunately, there was no incoming traffic. Or the accident would have been made worse.

Reminded me to be very careful while driving. Overtaking along Malaysian roads are just so dangerous. The night before coming back to Singapore after dinner, a car in the opposite direction to mine also tried to overtake and I had to brake really hard so that he had enough time to cut back into his own lane. Some of the local drivers overtake 300m before a crest with no vision of the incoming traffic at all.

Maybe its just timid me, I cant live with such driving habits. I may be fast, but being reckless with my whole family onboard just doesnt make any sense.

End of the day, will the couple of minutes savings matter so much as to risk losing lifetime of minutes, or even lifetime of regrets?

***

Did not intend the week to be a recovery week. Had already spent 2 weeks training very little after the half marathon. And with WA coming in 8 weeks time, I dont have much time left. Yes, as it turned out, I was pretty stretched from Saturday's 70.3 distance tri. Body was still recovering from the heat and frenzy.

Monday's swim session boosted my confidence. I could still have a go with the sets with little problems. My arms were still working fine.

Tuesday did a 60km bike session. Tried a different route and rode to Changi Coastal directly. I dont like the afternoon traffic at Mandai. It can get quite crazy sometimes. It was during this ride that I noticed that I dont have much twitching power in the legs. Fortunately, it was suppose to be a spinning session only. A loss of power and motion for sure.

Wednesday did a 12km run in the mid afternoon. Did a slow 6:20/km pace run. Again, I couldnt find the pace and movement too. Legs were lead heavy. But ran off the 12km anyway. Was suppose to have a session on the bike trainer but I figured I would be better off resting. It was a good rest I must say! Watched Ironman II on Bluray.

Good thing was that I had the sports massage at night. Straightened out my ITB, hammies and calves. Today spent another session spinning out a 60km ride to Coastal. Felt much better this time. I held back from pushing it in hope that I will have some legs to run out this weekend's races.

Not races. Training sessions. 25km NF and 30km Newton run. My predictions? 3hours and 3.5hours respectively. In the middle of this all, I have Class 95 "Retro-licious" concert to attend on Saturday night. I have no idea how I am going to survive the concert, with Johnny Hates Jazz, Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley. Oh yes, its back to the 80s! Its a date with my wife and another couple who are our family friends for a long time. Going to be so retro!


And hopefully I will recover fast enough to kick start WA training sessions again the week after... Oh dear...

Desaru Long Distance Tri 2010

My 3rd triathlon and the 2nd half ironman distance for 2010. Between Aviva and this, this had to be the more difficult of the two. The weather conditions, the terrain, basically the elements were much tougher than Singapore. Although I have trained in the heat, the so called rolling terrain and the hills at Faber and NTU, the bike leg in Desaru will win hands down and the shelterless run, cannot make it any worse.


I did the same race last year. Then they discounted the swim leg because of the low tide in the morning. This year, I believe the swim leg was about right. But the bike was about 5km short and the run was 3km short. Nonetheless, it was a race that was definitely nice to come to.


The swim start was at the beach and not at the banner. Probably because there were just too many people. I found the swim pretty alright. Water was gentle lapping away, unlike last year - which I thought there was an incoming storm. Again, I could not find anybody to draft. I am just so tired of having to do this swim leg all the time by myself. I did feel somebody touching me feet which meant that somebody was sitting on my draft. Oh well, you take some, and you give some. I asked my wife how my swim went and she said I was one of the top 50 maybe? Hmm? Really? I didnt realise I could go that fast. I was gliding more like I did in the pool. So the pool training had helped for sure. Julian said he thought I passed him on the swim. Now, Julzz is a strong swimmer but me passing him? I am not too sure. He was quite confident because he knew how my legs always sunk while swimming. Damn! No wonder I cant seem to press down my timing in my swims!

I ran pretty strong out of the swim. No sense of dizziness like I usually have after swims. And out of transition perhaps in 3-4min because of the distance from the beach? The usual stomach cramps came in after the swim. Wasted 15min trying to get it out of the system by spinning away. Just could not get onto the aerobars at all. The moment I bent down, the pain set in. Coach had said that this is likely due to the long time spent in horizontal movement and sudden onset of vertical motion. Whatever it is, I really have to get use to it really soon. Hope that it will not come in when I am doing WA.


As I mentioned, the bike was a mess. I was following a couple of blokes initially. But the moment they uturned, I lost them. And I just could not get myself to play catch up. So I decided to just go at my own comfortable pace and not blow myself up on the bike. The stronger cyclists were catching up on me despite me having a good swim leg. And yes, it just goes to show triathlons are not won at the swim leg. The rolling terrain just would not allow me to go fast. Everytime I hit a good speed, the slope loomed ahead of me. According to my Polar watch with bike reader, I averaged 28.8kph. Sigh... At Aviva, I averaged more than 32kph and that was despite the Sheares Bridge and other bridges to climb. So yes, Aviva is considered a flat course now...


But some how I also felt that my legs were not up to the mark? My ITB started to feel strained after 40km which would not usually happen. Somehow this has been coming up. Maybe its the past week of training. I can only hope that this sudden loss in power will go over the crest soon. I have but 9 weeks left for training for WA.


So in short, for a 85km ride, I took 2:52.  Not strong, but I lost all my "lead" in the swim. I dont know my swim time. Probably 40min? Will have to wait for the official time to be out.

T2 probably took another 2min. Weather was scorching hot. It was just insane. My watch actually had a maximum temperature of 39 degrees. I dont know which part of the leg it was, but the bike had a reading of 38 degrees, the run leg had 35 and 36 degrees. I had not trained for this. And I thought Singapore was hot riding and running in the afternoon?


My run took 1:57 for 18km. This was a far cry from my AHM. But that was done without the crazy rolling bike terrain, in the crazy hot sun. And I concluded, even though I am training for the IM, the half ironman was no walk in the park either. Then again, any sport is no walk in the park the moment timing is taken into consideration.


I estimate my total time taken to be in the region of 5:35 to 5:40. Compared to last year's time of 6:08, I think it was a good effort. Discounted distance or not, it was a good race. Not to mention the seafood I had with my family. For both nights, I just could not wait for the rest of the tri blokes. My family and I were starving too badly to wait for them. My family had a good time at Desaru... while I was getting beaten up in the race by the elements.