Olympic Sized Endless Pool?

Not many people in the world will be to afford an olympic sized swimming pool in their own backyard. So how do some of the triathletes overcome this? The invention of resistance based tub that can fit into a reasonably sized backyard or something. Its called the endless pool. Apparently you can do laps and laps of it.


I dont have one and have never tried it. But I came across something very similar and it was olympic sized! Oh well, it was a public swimming pool and there was resistance somehow in only 1 direction. I blogged about my childhood pool at Queenstown and I was there again today for a 1.5km leisure swim. In W-E direction, I took 27strokes while in the other direction, I took 24 strokes. My usual is about 24-26 one direction. Time wise, I was clocking 58-60s for that W-E direction while total for 100m was 1:53. The undercurrent was definitely there.


Last night I did a 4km swim instead of 6km. I was contemplating for a long time and half hour just before Fringe started, I got into my runners and set out for a run. Took about just over 20min thereabout coz I wanted to get back in time to watch the series. Couple of short surges, as my Coach would say, "to keep the legs alive".


Qantas managed to reduce the number of excess passengers to 3 as of today. I am hoping that this will be gone by tomorrow. In which case there would be no need for me to get up too early on the 2nd Dec.

***

Japan Triathlon Union announced that they would have a race on 19 June 2011. Not sure if this were firm but I am contemplating whether I should take the risk and register for this rather than Challenge Cairns. I have to decide by tomorrow before I fly to WA or I run the risk of having no WA to race for as well - registration opens on 6th December.

***

Packing the bike was a brisk after I confirmed that my seatpost did slip. Took me about 30min I think, to unscrew the parts and slip in all the gear. Everything went into the box except for helmet and trisuits. Last year took a lot longer. With that one time experience, did make things a lot easier. Still going through in my mind if I had left anything behind...

Race Week!

THIS IS IT!


No, it is not Michael Jackson's movie. My only ironman for this year and it is finally here! Preparation started immediately when Ironman Japan announced its race cancellation. Its only my 2nd ironman triathlon. To say that I have no jitters will be a lie. But my preparation has been done. There is nothing much I can do now.


I am packing. And as usual, packing the bike is such a pain. I still need to go back to ELITE tomorrow afternoon to check if my seat post had slipped - which I think it did and I did not notice it. Oh well, the woes of the carbon bike where bolts and nuts cant be over tightened.


Anyway, the main concern now is that my silly Qantas flight is overbooked by 26 people. Airline gave me silly options that were totally ridiculous - either flying up to Hong Kong and down to Australia, or reach Perth at past 11pm on the 2nd by a budget airline! And what I have to do now on 2nd December is to do a physical check in early to ensure that I get confirmed seats on the flight.


Quite frankly, the airline really did not try to resolve the problem amicably and this might just be the last time I will be with Qantas. If I did not get it wrong, they changed the plane to a smaller one and this had resulted in this situation and total no regard that I booked this flight like 6 months before. The best part was, although to my advantage definitely, Singapore Airlines had a similar timed flight that was not full, and yet, not offered to anybody? If an organisation is trying to resolve a problem, should they not be going to all extent and not look only at the cheapest option, when the repute had taken a big hit with the couple of plane incidents the past 3 weeks?


Besides this thing - which actually is a BIG deal to me - everything is falling into place like a jig saw. Rested on Sunday with a sports massage. Today was suppose to swim but played in the pool with my kids instead. Basically chilling out. Decided not to join the squad swim coz I needed to look after the kids. May do a run later. Short 6km. Tomorrow will try to do the swim and clear some work as well.


And continue packing...

Possible Flight Change...

Tapering for the big race did not feel as good last year. I was sick 2 weeks out last year. Pretty sick I believe. this time I was slightly ill but still managed to train. And with better health during the taper, I spent quality and quantity time with the family. With the kids school vacation, it made all things even sweeter.


I received 2 emails over the course of last week. Quantas changed my flight times for both trips. Today, I received a call, requesting that they put me on a different flight with different flight times. As I understood it, they have changed it to a smaller plane and somehow have to shift the passengers around. The only alternative I gave them was an earlier departure but I have yet to confirm with them. I suspect that this was a precautionary measure after the Quantas series of events recently - the A380, the technical problems. Not sure what the outcome is going to be like yet.

***

Did a big swim yesterday. Not quite close to my PB for the 3.8km swim, but a 1:11:37. Suffered from some shoulder ache today. Could be the swim, or my 1st session of yoga last night. And the yoga? An interesting session. Most of the positions I had done before - the stretches, lunge, tree, rest, etc. Pretty basic but good.


Did a 50km bike and 10km run this morning. Weather was not too hot on the bike but heated on the run. Somehow my legs havent been feeling quite fresh. Perhaps it was the week's sessions? Kept both disciplines to ironman pace. Run was manageable and finished it on the hour.


Somehow I have a problem with people whom I dont know drafting me - maybe I am just being a selfish ass. Last week I had a clown who drafted when I was riding at 30kph? Today I had another fella drafting me at 34kph. If I were riding with friends, that would not have been a problem? Or perhaps have the courtesy to ask? I am not sure if there is such a practice? In any case, I chose to drop them by hitting above 45kph. I think they got my point. Of course, my legs burned and HR monitor went crazy. Good training for myself still?

***

Brought my kids to watch Rapunzel: The Tangled Tale in 3D. This is my 1st 3D movie at the cinemas. And seriously, I am not too sure what fanfare is about? It is really not a big deal? Or maybe the cartoon just was not that well done? I saw a 3D movie at Tokyo Disneyland that surpassed this quality. I think I will pass on the technology for a while. So in the mean time, I will take advantage of the relatively low cost LED/LCD televisions in the market, and the declining prices of Blu-Ray movies.

***

Thereafter I caught "I Am Sam" on HBO. An old movie starring Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer.  I remember watching it in the past but could not remember much of the movie. A touching film with top class acting by Penn. And without a doubt, a GREEEEAAAAAAT looking Pfeiffer.


And yes, my wife was sobbing away. Natural reaction from her with tear jerking movies like these.


And to all doing the Standard Chartered Marathon on 5th December? GOD SPEED!

Political Power

I caught the 2nd half of the movie Frost/Nixon on HBO. It was about the interview David Frost had with former US President and the only one who ever resigned, Richard Nixon. The incident was before I was born and covered Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal.


A simple google of the Watergate revealed that it was a complex issue that was highly politically driven as well as personally motivated. The shocking part of the interview (perhaps dramatised by the movie - I did not look up for the transcript of the interview) was when Nixon said that as long as it were done by the President, it cannot be considered as illegal. Again, revelations of the abuse of power, this time, with full self awareness.


The power granted by the people to a single individual, or a government, is binding and sometimes blinding. This is but one example. Recently, we hear of Aung San Suu Kyi who has finally been freed from political arrest and how just yesterday, North Korea fired artillery shells at their neighbour, South Korea.


Even in Singapore, scandals among top management in the like of SPH, SLA, not mentioning those who had been entrusted to look after the welfare of charitable and even religious organisations, like NKF - TT Durei, Chief Abbot Ming Yi, and on going investigation of Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church. The education sector had its fair share with the Principal of ACS (Independent) having to step down for "behaving in an inappropriate manner".


I too have the power - the power to make my kids happy with the simplest of things. During this period of taper, I spent more time with my kids who are having vacation. I brought them out at night to enjoy the cool breeze at Changi coastal, and hear the roar of the airplanes taking off. Usually, nights were spent chasing them to bed coz they had to rise early. Last night was a good change and I could see their faces beaming with joy. It was so soothing to see them doze off in the car while on the way back. It is times like these that I appreciate parenthood.


My little one sent me a SMS the day after spending a night at her maternal grandma's place - "Good morning. Rise and shine. Hope that you had a pleasant sleep." - were her exact words. Brings a whole new definition to joy.

***

Last night I did a 10km run. 1st 5km at pace of 5:17 and next 5km at 5:14/km. The start of 3km took a while to warm up to the cadence. Thereafter, it just got better. 53min is still far from my PB but I am not expecting to do a PB all the time. It was a negative split though - just a couple of seconds faster (haha). Hopefully this will go down in time.


Did a 40km bike and 6 km run today at Coastal. Ironman pace for the bike but slightly faster than IM pace on the run: 5:27 for 1st 3km, 5:31 for next 3km. I will have to be realistic. If I can even manage a 6:00/km after 180km bike, I will be getting away with murder. I have done my homework, the rest is up to the elements, nutrition, strategy and execution.

Cairns or Not? That is the question...

Miscommunication with my boss and I thought I would not be able to race next June. So I signed up for Sundown Marathon. After registration, my boss clarified that he was ok with me racing next June! Oh darn! Woes of SMSes! Wasted my registration fees. Aristole said he would take over from me and I am going to hold him to his word!

So yes, almost all set for Challenge Cairns in June. But holding back because I am not sure with 2 weeks gone for reservist in April - yet again - whether it will be detrimental to my training plans.

Or should I give myself more time to prepare for WA 2011 and get stronger for Cairns 2012 instead? Problem is, I will not know which month Cairns 2012 will fall on. If they change the  race month, I will have to race WA again.

Decision, decisions, decisions...

***

Swim felt good on Monday. I was not too far from the fast blokes during the set drills. The last couple of fins sets I was on their feet. Most of the time when I train with the swimming gang, I would trail behind these fast guys buy 15m or more. I think the rest from the not so hard sessions since last week had given my body time to recover for next Sunday's ironman. Just what I needed as well. Spend more time with the kids. This is the time I return the favour to my family.

Last night I joined the Eastern Night Riders for the usual fast and furious 30km ride. There were just 7 of us, one of whom was a young chap who just joined the riding group recently - so I heard since I havent rode with this bunch in a while. For a good part, we were riding constant pace of 40-42kph. The last straight stretch I helped to pull at 46kph for about 300m. Lactate for the legs did not build this time, which was surprising. Could be because I was holding back so that I could last for a longer distance at that speed. For the whole ride, the HR must have been sky high - no HRM last night - and I was breathing really really hard. Overall, a good hard session for the taper.

Gout Attack!

Cousin had his wedding buffet dinner on Saturday. This was the same cousin I went trekking at Annapurna back in 2007. Havent seen him in a while. When he saw me, he said I looked completely different - lost weight and darker. Sounded as if I were a dried up banana...


Gout is the result of high uric acid in the blood which crystallises at the joints. Commonly found below the big toe, I had it there as well as the ankle and this time, by the side of the ball of the feet. Frustrating because walking is a challenge.


Think I had too much protein intake - little beef, some mushrooms. Had gout since Sunday morning - yes, despite that I still ran because I had my medication - silly thing is still around and seemed to be getting a bit worse today. Will let the day pass and see how it goes, controlled with medication of course. If it gets worse, I will have to take a shot from the doctor - I want to be free of it by end of this week. Dont need any tender sensation when I start the race next Sunday. Darn! I was just thinking that it hadnt come in a while, with a much more careful diet. Come to think of it, this is the 1st serious one this year I believe. And not that serious, seriously.

Week 1 to IMWA: Taper Week

I AM BACK! Yup, the lethargy was gone by the time I started on my run just now. Not before I had my sleep in the afternoon though...


For the past 2 days, my sessions saw elevated heart rates. Today's run saw the usual HR for the pace I was running. Did 3 sets of 6km, 1st at 5:29/km, 2nd at 6:09/km and the last at 5:18/km. Had a very slow 3km as warm up - really crawling. In between sets were 500m walk while the last warm down was a 1.5km walk.


It sure felt good to be back again. It had been 1 week of rubbish feeling.


Am I ready to face IMWA? Err... Not quite sure. But I have done my best for the most part of the year and with Coach's guide, I should live to see another year...


This is the last week before race week. Following Thursday I will be gone with my family, down south for my second ironman attempt. And 3rd time to Perth in 3 years. And yes, it will be likely that next year will have to be Cairns. It is time to change to a new place for a holiday.


Planning ahead, A races next year will be AVIVA Singapore 70.3, Challenge Cairns and if still around, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

***

Noticed a hole on the tri suit that I planned to race with. Scouted around and decided on a 2XU. Not much of a choice, it will have to do for now. This week will try it on to see how it functions. If not good, I will bear with the hole on the old suit...

Wonder who sells Rocket Science 20BPM in Singapore. Always liked a white tri suit but it sure is hard to find in Singapore. Will scout and ask around again when I have the time. In the mean time, anything goes...

Challenge Cairns 2011

I will have to make up my mind really soon. Cairns or Busselton... Cairns or Busselton... If Cairns, no Sundown Marathon but will be Standard Chartered in Dec. If Busselton, I will have to register for the Sundown Marathon really soon. Slots run out very fast. Running a marathon in Singapore has become a daily affair for many. It has gained popularity in recent years.


Doing Cairns will be refreshing. New destination, new place to holiday, new route. BUT same distance. Good time to visit the Great Barrier Reef as well. Only snorkeling though coz nobody in the family dives. My heart is with Cairns. But the flight time is really long. Driving from Brisbane will be quite insane, whole 1700km straight!


Will have to make up my mind or I risk losing the Busselton slot as well coz it opens on 6 December, the day after the race...

***

Did a 130km bike today. Was suppose to be 140km but I shortened the warm down as I took a lift from my family who was in the east. Slacker... Heart rate was again very high. I think the illness had left some memories behind. Hope tomorrow's run will get better.


During the ride, riders were passing me. Got me mad that I could not go any faster. The HRM was beeping away. Speed was no more than 30-32kph consistently. Oh well, better sick now then later. I still have 1 week to do some short but intense stuff. Hopefully the body will feel better then.

Yoga!

I finally signed up for 10 sessions of yoga starting from next Friday. I signed up early so that when I get back from WA, there would be continuation. These are really cheap classes with the community centre in my area. My wife said not to have too high expectations and I really am not expecting much. I just need some time to have some stretching exercises to compliment the so called off season sessions. Will be missing 2 sessions while I am down south, but its fine coz the cost is really no big deal. I hope to continue for as long as I have the time. My discipline with stretching after my training sessions are really poor. Usually no more than 5-10min stretching, sometimes nothing even. It is just by sheer luck that I am not getting that seriously injured just yet. Explains the yoga sign up before I get any bad injuries in future.


I think I fell slightly ill on Monday evening, unknowingly, but still went for a 12km run on Tuesday while feeling giddy. Wednesday suppose to swim but did not go proceed and swam on Thursday instead. Clocked 1:12:55 for 3.8km swim after a 200m warm up. Strokes did not feel right after 4 days absence from the pool and was touching the wall at 1:55 average per 100m. Not that ideal and explained the deviation from my personal best of 1:10 for 3.8km swim. But I suppose I cant be expecting myself to swim 1:10 all the time, so 1:13 would have to do.


Did an easy 10km run at East Coast this morning after sending my wife to work. Heart rate was surprisingly high even at slow pace. Possible reasons were the fact that I am recovering from the illness and the unusual high caffeine from coffee that I do not usually drink. Whatever it was, 1st 5km with 5:45/min pace and over all of 5:44/km for 10km. Far cry from the run I had with Enrico but the HR just would not allow me to run any faster. Plus body might be recovering still, so no point in pushing it at all?


Sickness did not hit me too hard, fortunately. Just some nausea and fatigue. Body seemed to fight it off pretty well. I tried to sleep as much as possible as well, so that could have helped. Today the running legs felt good, just unfortunate that HR was unusually high. Hope that by Saturday I will recover fully and be able to do the last semi long ride and semi long run on Sunday. Taper is still about a week away. Will see if I can still fit in another 3.8km swim in the evening. Rest now and hope to get better from the bout of whatever-it-was-illness.

Power & Peace

I caught Megamind with my family and our family friends. Hilarious cartoon, highly entertaining, witty at times. And with the events that happened around me, the stories I have heard, I was reminded of the power Man has and how much it can affect those around us.

Remember the Spiderman series from the movies? Peter Parker's uncle Ben with his last breath told Peter, "With great powers, come great responsibilities..." How apt and how true...

- Hitler was highly influential, he brought up the nationalistic nature of the Germans and look at how he was able to garner support from the nation and soldiers to create so much suffering and chaos in the world

- Parental power, how much we have been given to be able to influence the minds of our young ones. Sometimes, even the mistrust of the loved ones can turn to abuse, physical or mental. Just look at the number of sexual abuses and even deaths caused by their own family members. BBC had reported about Haitian child slavery even in present times.

- Bosses have the power to make or break an employee's working life and career prospects. My friend shared an article in Business Times, that employees leave not because of the company but because of the bosses. Some truth, though not completely right. My wife had her fair share of nonsensical bosses. And I have my own as well. But the power is very obvious.

- Cheating and abusive spouses. I have heard enough stories to write a book on it.

And I can go on. Power does not lie in the hands of leaders as we often think. It lies in everybody's hands. How we use it, will have an impact on the lives of those around.

My nightly routine with my kids was to lie on the bed and talk for a while. My kids had always wanted to go home on their own - an attempt to gain independence - but ever since we shared about the child molester in the estate, still uncaught, they had been quite weary. My older girl commented just tonight: why must there be bad people; why cant we be nice to one another?

One for the adults to think of. If only Man were so easily understood and had more common sense, perhaps there can be - as many of the Miss Universe wanabes would say - "world peace".

Still Long Sessions

Friday's long run was a toughie. 2km warm up and 4 sets of 8km with 500m walk in between. Before I started, I already knew I was in for a rough ride. 1st 2 sets were manageable pace - 6:03 and 6:00. 3rd set was 6:17 and the last set? I walked some and I ran some - 7:00. Besides the fatigue, I was running in No Man's Land. A stretch for about 12km, I was out of water. Completely dehydrated but just had to get back to civilisation. I had never ran this stretch before and I totally regretted it. I should have stuck to East Coast and not onto Coastal.


The only good part was that the sky was overcast and it was breezy. But my legs just could not move. All I wanted on the return was to get back to the water point and get myself hydrated. Cannot just blame it on the hydration, it was probably the accumulated fatigue from the past few days of training sessions. I was just too eager to clock the miles before I leave for Malaysia over the weekend and too little rest. It was a painful session.


Managed a 3km swim on Sunday morning while at the golf resort. Yeah, it comes with an olympic sized pool. Still tired from Friday's run but completed the swim nonetheless. Not as fast as I would want to go though.


Today did a 70km bike session, strewn with 1km of sprints for every 9km. Good to come back. Better if I get more rest. But not just yet. The time is not now. The rest will come in a while. Coach is still putting me up on some long mileage but not too long and yet not taper short ones.

Week 2 to IMWA: Race Equipment 2010

Heart Rate Monitor



Polar CX800PTE. Communicates with S3 footpod, G3 GPS as well as the WIND bike speed. Yeap, its an all in 1. 1st CX800 died on me because I crashed with it on the bike. This replacement has served me pretty well since, except for the footpod, which may give some problems once in a while with inaccurate measurements.














Swimming gear

 My wetsuit used in my 1st ironman 2009 - Blue70 Synergie. Suppose to be the 2nd highest range to the Helix. But really, I dont think it matters to a normal swimmer like me. I bought this because TBB did not sell the entry level model. It has finally come out of the cold storage and tried on at home. It still fits and made me feel like a seal. It doesnt give me any comfort that there had been Great White sighting and attack couple of weeks ago. Keeping my fingers crossed.






















Trisuit is an old piece used since beginning of this year. Last year I donned a black one and I told myself never to buy black again. So I splurged a bit more to get some form of white in the suit. Maybe the next one I get will be all white - if I can ever find in the 1st place? This is a Zoot.

VIEW goggles. Fantastic fit that looks like a snorkling mask. You can press it into the face and it will stick on like a suction pad. Had 2 pairs since last ironman and both still served me well still.

Bike

My pride and joy that has faithfully followed me since end of 2008 - Cervelo Soloist. Served me well and seen me through all my races. This is what I will be racing with - Zipp 808 front and the Sub 9 disc rear. What is missing from the picture is the large Profile Design aerobottle attached to the aerobars. The bike will be really heavy with the 3 water bidens (plus aerobottle) and the extra bottle for spares - tubes, CO2, tyre levers, etc.


I should be absolutely self sufficient in terms of nutrition and will likely only depend only on water bidens for hydration provided by the aid stations along the bike route.


Specialized Trivent cycling shoes. My 2nd pair of biking shoes. Will be going back to this because I dont really like the new and loud white pair I bought a couple of months back - I find that the front did not hold the feet too tightly. This pair really looked quite old and trashed and it is pretty much that. It has seen many adventures with me, crashes, long rides, rain, errr.... not to mention pee. Yeah, Coach told me that I should practice doing that on the bike. To stop and use the portable toilet will cost me many positions, even within the span of just 5min. And I cant really afford it? Since I am not fast on the swim... and bike... and run... Darn...

Rudy Project probably has the nicest mirrored lenses that comes with clip on prescription. Oakleys do not come with clip on. Otherwise, Oakleys would have been my 1st choice. The Rudy served its purpose. But somehow the quality is not as good? Despite its plastic looking material, my sweat and probably the sunblock still corrodes the frame somehow. Looking forward to replace this soon. But not yet for the race though. So it will still have to be this pair.

My gloves get really smelly despite washing. So I vowed to use cheap ones so that I wont feel the pinch when I have to throw them away. So this is the latest addition to my equipment. Used once or twice only so far. Trying to keep it as clean as much as possible for WA. Over 6 hours is a very long time to have the scent on my hands...














Running gear

The shoes that have kept my knees injury free thus far. For the past 1 year, I have moved over to Newtons and managed to keep my knees still in ok shape. This pair is my 6th pair already. Just seasoned for IMWA. Will go into the pack soon with a few more runs. I have tried the Stability Trainer, Stability Racer as well as the Neutral Racer.


They do not really last long but how long would I want my shoes to last? After all, if I want to remain injury free, I would want to make sure the shoes will still be able to protect me and not the other way around. The opportunity costs will be too high.

Nathan fuel belt. My 3rd belt since last year's prep. Started with size L, went down to M beginning of this year. This is size S. Not that I have shrunk this year but the size M stretched too much over the year and was not suitable for the race any more.


The black module is the new Polar G3 GPS module. Last year I strapped the old one to the arm and was not very glam looking in the picture. This year it will be strapped to the belt instead. Hidden from view.






Head Gear


New helmet this time round. My 3rd MET Inferno. 1st one was bought in 2008 - yellow piece. 2nd one - white - was bought for the eluding IM Japan race. This one is bought to retire the 1st helmet. No particular reason why I am always going back to MET besides the fact that for the price I am paying, it is well worth it because it is made in Italy.

The Halo visor is my old trusted one. Been with me since last year and gone through all my run sessions as well. Best part was it remained white after washing despite the grim it goes through with me. I think the material must be pretty good.

Gloomy Days Now and More Ahead...

Rain rain go away...


It came on Tuesday morning and washed out my scheduled 55km ride. I was suppose to be on recovery ride on Monday which was also not followed through. though nothing to do with the weather. In any case, the Monday swim went on and I took it as a rest for Tuesday.


Rode 120km on Wednesday followed by a 10km run. Averaged just over 31kph and did a comfortable pace 55min run. Had planned to ride 120km today but decided against it. I didnt think I would be able to recover in time for the long run planned for Friday. So instead, I did a 60km ride and even gave up the 10km run after 1km. I was trotting along during the run and decided not to do junk miles. If I cant do a proper run, might as well save it for another day. (Or maybe it was just the ill disciplined me taking over the senses...)


From the 2 days sessions, I realised that I am really not that strong (hopefully, yet), regardless of the amount of time and mileage put into it since January. I suppose it is important to recognise when the body can take any more of it, otherwise, the session would have been in vain and counter productive.


It was a good ride today. Some headwind on certain parts but I could still cut through above 32kph. The average speed for the 60km was 34kph. I know the HR was still within range. What I cant understand was why I couldnt run thereafter. Sickening feeling, but the only reason for it was that I was too trashed from the 2 days of biking. I have never done 2 times biking I think.


But yes, will be resting and gearing up for the long run tomorrow afternoon. It had better go through or I will be resting too much on my lazy bums for too long a period considering that I would not be able to do much over the weekend.


Taper will be 10 days out from race day. This meant that I will still be training long till mid of next week. I have no idea how I will be able to slot in a 150km (or more) ride. But I will try to find a day to slot in...

Week 3 to IMWA: Probably the Last Hard Week

Yesterday was probably my last big 200km ride plan. This coming weekend I will be away in Johore for a working weekend. All is not lost apparently. Resort is supposedly to be well equipped with treadmill and cycling machine and even an olympic sized pool. But this will mean that the weekdays will be jam packed with at least a couple of 100km bike rides, followed by runs.


I will soon need to start packing my equipment for the race. Maybe after I come back from Johore.


It was a great morning today. Family woke up late so I sneaked out to run in the cool morning. The kids slept late because they had a Halloween party with their Speech & Drama school - yeah, 1 week late but better than not having it.


Coach gave me the plan of 2km warm up, 4 sets of 7km with 500m walk in between for today's session. As I was running, I asked myself what was with the walking. I suspect the main reason is to get the muscles to rest a short while so that the legs could go on a harder bout thereafter. I was always on increasing HR training sessions - started with relatively gentle set and end with a hard round. Its like a negative split kind of training. Not too sure of the science behind it, but I think this logic made some sense. At least to me?


I felt good on the warm up. Did a 5:49/km pace. The main sets were covered with paces of 5:44/km, 5:24/km, 5:30/km, 5:28/km. I was not at East Coast on flat terrain as I was back pounding on Thomson to Mandai. Almost hit the entrance of the zoo but did not as it would be beyond 16km one way. So it was a rolling terrain and probably explained the difference in pace. But the HR for the last set was in Zone 5.


Couple of guys I know will be going for IMWA. Enrico, Coach, Wilson, Benjamin and Kevin. There could be others but I am not sure who they are. Will be there to find out. Also read that a 26 year old guy called Leonard Ong will be attempting it as well. He had gotten into an accident and climbing out of his injury with this race. Good on you, mate!

195km Ride

Qantas A380 to Sydney took off and returned to Changi on Thursday. One of the engine apparently caught fire and the moment it landed, the fire trucks got to work immediately. As to what was the cause, I am not sure coz I havent read the newspapers for the past 2 days. I saw the plane on the runway on Thursday while Enrico and myself were biking along the coast. It was a massive plane.


Having biked Coastal for a couple of times already, today I heard the A380 took off. It was a real deafening roar, so unlike the 747s and smaller air crafts. It was distinctive and you can tell which was which aircraft. The sister planes just sounded like wounded kittens.


Rode with Eng Boon and Enrico today. The former was out to ride 90km while Enrico and myself for target of 200km. Eng Boon was shocked that we were doing the loops coz he was bored stiff. Enrico had to call it a day at 135km thereabouts coz he had a sore shoulder/neck/back. I suppose they were all related. So I was left alone to venture on the rest of the journey.


Completed 195km all the way back to the car. I was still going fine all the way till 160km. Promised myself that I would spin back when I reached 180km because my mind was getting weak and kept telling myself to succumb to the fatigue. I still managed to keep up my HR for the whole 180km. Thereafter, it was downhill all the way. I had planned for a 6hr nutrition but I finished all up by the time I hit 180km in 5:45. Wind was slack but my speed was not too fast, although the average was still a reasonable 31.3kph. With Busselton wind, I am pretty sure this average will dwindle even further.


Time to carb up for tomorrow's long run. The good thing is that I have sports massage tomorrow night too. Am looking forward to it.

No Free Lunches

Promised the kids to bring them to Wild Wild Wet Theme park at Pasir Ris. The usual rain came and we had our breakfast at Macdonalds to wait it out. The couple of times we were there, we stayed till dinner time. But today, everything was thwarted by the rain again in the afternoon. So we were there only for 4hours, which was unusually short. Had fun nonetheless.

I was suppose to have an easy 12km run today while at Pasir Ris. Think it would have to be abandoned coz I slept after the theme park outing, have wedding dinner tonight, and not forgetting the 200km bike session tomorrow morning. Rain or shine I would be starting out - this would probably be one of the last few long rides in the build up to WA. So a self imposed rest day today after the hard run yesterday.

There are no free lunches, really. Was at the bookfair - really crappy though - when we had to leave the theme park coz of rain. Met a stranger holding a box and told my kid," Sure win lucky dip. No strings attached." Yeah right. As it turned out, I had to give my particulars in exchange for a small bar of chocolate. It was an insurance sales gimmick. But I was quick to get out of it.

Anyway, as I have experienced for myself, to be able to swim, bike and run with decent timings take loads of time to train. Not that I am very fast now, but I have gone faster than when I just started in 2008. Stronger, fitter and faster. Like my wife said, "The amount of time you spend away from us, you had better be able to go faster..."

Yeah, no free lunches. It all comes with a price.

10km PB

Did a swop between Wednesday and Thursday session. So that I could ride and run with Enrico. Swim was the usual except that now, Coach push the time down to 6x50m on the 50s, 100m easy breaststroke and followed by another 4x50 on the 50s. The 1st 50m always below the mark at 45s. So I got 5s breather. But subsequent ones I had to touch and go coz I was clocking in at 51s. Before that were the usual 400m warm up with 400m kicks. The main sets were 2x400m, 4x200m and 6x100m. The toughest was the 50m sets. Just not quite nailed it yet.


Rode 60km with Enrico and ran my fastest 10km - 50:33. Started off with 5:08/km pace for the 1st 4.8km while overall of 5:03/km pace for the full 10km. Met Jacko and his friend who trained with Animiles. I think these blokes are Animals. They are so freaking fast. And without a doubt, Enrico blazed ahead during the last 2km. The consolation I got was I could keep them in sight - yes, I got dropped - probably about 30s ahead of me. I should have dug deeper to try to keep pace with them. But everything on hind sight is always achievable. But not at that point in time. Jacko abandoned his run after 2-3km because of his bad knee.


It felt good to be able to be able to keep pace with these fast guys. It will be good training for myself. 5:00/km for 10km is quite an achievement. I never thought I would be able to do it. Perhaps one day I will be able to extend it to 21km. Then I can evolve to be an Animal myself.

Frailties of Life

Life is like a box of chocolates - You never know what you are going to get.

We all know the quote from Forest Gump. My colleague underwent an operation recently. She was on medical leave for a month. I just heard that she had to undergo chemotherapy as a precautionary measure. She had only discovered the growth after her general practitioner recommended a scan. I had another colleague who was also diagnosed stage 4 cancer beginning of the year. She had since returned to work and seemed to have recovered well.

I dont think it was job related. Or maybe it was. But whatever it is, we will never what will happen to life. How will we want to live it? In any way which we think it will be fulfilling. To each their own. There is really no model answer to what one wants in life. As for me, I just want to be with my loved ones and friends and continue to stay healthy. For the record, I have yet to take a day of medical leave for 2010. Lets keep it this way for a long long time. I would say, thanks to triathlons as well as all the supplements.

***

Before the squad swim yesterday, I did a 13km run - 2km warm up, 3 sets of 3km with 500m jog plus 1km of warm down after the last set of 3km. Coach did not give me very tough HR to follow but the weather was punishing and unforgiving. Managed 6:07/km, 5:32/km and 5:05/km. Somehow with the GPS, my pace seemed to be getting faster, compared to when I was using the footpod. Not quite sure why but at least I am certain the distance covered were right.

Squad swim was manageable now. I still cant catch the faster blokes but at least I could get through the sets with ease. I think the strokes were getting memorised by the muscles. I hope they will remember till race day.

Today was a timed ride but it turned out to be about 97km worth of riding. 3 sets of 30min increasing HR, 2 sets of 10min high Zone 4 and 1 final set of 10min middle of Zone 4 ride. I was pretty shocked by the average speeds, 33.7kph, 34.4kph, 35.5kph, 36.5kph, 36.9kph, 35.6kph. And the winds were blowing in all directions for some of the sets. After the headwinds in one direction, I thought the tailwinds would come but the wind decided to change direction. Some parts were strong while others were not.

5km run thereafter, with 1st half in 5:12/km pace but over all of 5:17/km pace. HR ran high on the return leg. I was trying to catch people on the run as a means of motivating myself. Fortunately, all the fast blokes were not around. Otherwise I would have been passed and be demoralised.

Overall, it was a nice session today. Weather was not over hot. Managed to take a nap in the car before the ride. Felt so sleepy after a heavy amount of briyani lunch. Not quite the best type of carb, but oh well...